My sparklee is none other than @rosepetalrevolution, and as soon as I saw the prompt “PMMM-style AU”, I knew what I had to write. I had a lot of fun with it (and a lot of trouble, lol) so I hope you enjoy it! ~2400 words, and I’d call this BroTP focused, though HaruMichi and Reinako are present.

Minako Magica

“Listen, there’s something off about her lately. “

Haruka rolled her eyes and kept walking. “I’m not asking you two to get along. But—“

“This isn’t about me.” Mina dug her nails into her palm. “I’m worried for you.” There was something in the back of her mind she couldn’t quite call forward. Whenever she saw Michiru, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and her body tensed as if ready to fight. Something had changed. Minako had never been afraid of the girl, no matter what power her family’s money gave her. “You can feel it too, however much you want to ignore it.”

“She’s… she’s just Michiru.”

Mina noted it wasn’t a no. “Haruka…”

The sunny road around them went dark. Purple shadows danced around them like snakes charmed out of the darkness. Images of smiling faces rained down from a domed black sky.

The most startling thing, to Mina, was that it didn’t feel startling at all. Her immediate thought was Not again and her hand reached for something on her belt that wasn’t there.

Haruka’s back pressed up to hers, and she knew she felt the same way. “What the hell?”

“Another witch.” The words were out before Mina could process them. Another? When had she faced this unreality before?

The shadow struck at them. Despite their insubstantial appearance, every hit they landed stung.  Mina and Haruka split to dodge.

“What do we do?”

“Run,” Mina called out.
“Where? There’s no end!”

“There has to be.” Mina spun around the way they came, but it was the same rounded darkness as in front of them.

“Stay still!” a sharp voice called out. A stream of arrows followed, piecing each shadow and dissolving it into a poof a glitter.

“I’m surprised Miss Deathbringer herself hasn’t come to save you,” came a deeper voice, soon followed by the appearance of a tall brunette girl. Her muscular frame was offset by a green dress bedecked by pink bows and frills but matched by the large hammer slung over her shoulder.

“She’ll be coming.” A smaller girl with streaming black hair leapt down from somewhere Mina couldn’t see. Her outfit was simpler, a long white tunic with a red sash, but she too carried a weapon– a long, exquisitely curved black bow. A bright red jewel was set into the strap of her quiver. “She has felt the danger now.”

“What is going on?”

The new comers turned to Haruka. “It’s a witch,” the larger one said.

The smaller one, who, Mina couldn’t help but notice, was strikingly pretty, squared her shoulders. “You don’t want to know anything more than that.”

“We do.” Mina faced her. “There’s something that’s been happening for awhile, and you’re going to explain it.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t take orders from you now.”

“Rei. We don’t have time.”

She scowled. “Fine. They’ll have to come with us.” Her hand wrapped around Mina’s wrist. A spark leapt up her arm, from a memory she couldn’t grasp or something else Mina couldn’t be sure. They ran forward until the shadows broke upon a larger dome. At the center a dark mass writhed and twisted, flickering like static.

“Mako, go left.” The larger girl nodded and darted away. “You two, stay close.” Rei drew an arrow.

“Aim true,” Mina said automatically.

The smallest smile played on Rei’s lips. “Always.” Her shot landed at the heart of the writhing mass. A screech like crumpling metal washed over them. “And Michiru will be coming right about… now.”

Mina didn’t see her at first. It took a long moment for her eyes to notice the dot of green amongst the black. Her outfit called to mind a Victorian mourning dress, though it was short enough to show her knee high black boots. She bore no weapon. One pale hand reached out to the shadow.

They were back in the light of day.

Michiru picked something up from the street. Mako’s hammer slammed down next to her. “We kept her safe, so you’ll share.”

“Naturally. I’d think you’d be more trusting by now.” She handed the thing, a small black needle with a stylized eye, over. Mina noticed how careful they were not to touch each other.

“I told you something was up with your girlfr…” Mina turned back to Haruka. Her face was in her hands, her whole body was shaking. “What’s wrong?”

“You… you…”

“Minako. You need to leave.” Rei grabbed at her arm, but she shrugged her off.

“Buddy, you gotta talk to me, come on.” Mina reached out to pat Haruka’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” Haruka reeled back, her eyes wide and full of tears. “I remember… I remember what you did… you were… I… I…”

“Haruka.” Michiru’s voice was sharp and soft at the same time in a way Minako could not comprehend. “None of that matters. It no longer happened.”

“I remember,” she repeated as though she hadn’t heard. “I remember.” Something glowed at her chest, a pure yellow rapidly blotted out with darkness.

“No.” Michiru dove for her, but Mako tackled her down.

“Rei!”

Before she could draw an arrow, the light exploded. The same sort of needle Michiru had held a moment ago appeared and burst open. The street again was gone, replaced by a tumultuous but shallow sea. An island of swords lay before them, pinning down something the water hid from view.  Where the light hit each blade a different memory played. Mina and Haruka as kids in the park, Mina and Haruka passing notes at school. Mina and Haruka fighting back to back in gaudy capes.

Mina could not remember the latter.

She felt its vital importance.

“You will tell me what is going on. Now.”

“And then there will be three witches,” Michiru spat from under Mako. “But go on, find out, maybe then you can help protect her for once.”

“No one else is turning.” Mako pressed the first needle to the gem on Michiru’s waist clasp. “Not you, not her.”

“I won’t let you kill Haruka.”

“She’s gone. For good this time.”

Michiru threw Mako off with a strength Minako wouldn’t have believed had she not seen it. Mako’s skin was gray where Michiru’s hands had touched her. She lay panting in the water. Michiru approached the island of swords.

“Let her go,” Rei said quietly. “There’s nothing she can do.” Her eyes landed on Mina’s with unparalleled intensity. “She might be right about you though. It’s not a pleasant memory. And if Haruka can become a witch without being a magical girl, even I can’t know what may happen with you.”

“Have an arrow ready.”

“You couldn’t forget your role as commander, could you?” Rei grunted, but she drew an arrow and pressed it into Mina’s chest with one hand.

“Might as well cop a feel, might be your last chance.”

Rei did not smile. “Are you ready?”

“Absolutely.”

She touched her other hand to Mina’s forehead. The truth opened up in her mind like a storybook. Kyubey’s approach, Mina convincing Haruka to make a wish with her. “We’ll be heroes, isn’t that what you always wanted?” I wish to never be overshadowed, I wish to be admired. She’d hounded Haruka for her wish.

“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”

“That’s not how this works, dummy.”

Kyubey agreed, but Haruka never gave in.

They fought for months just the two of them, back to back, side by side. It was glorious. Mina won talent show after talent show. That was glorious. All life had to offer was theirs. Other magical girls began joining them. Minako lead, and they listened. Rei bickered, but it was charged with something more than insubordination. Minako delighted in the inevitable end of their games.

It was right, until it all went wrong.

Nothing had felt dangerous, really, not until Ami’s soul gem lay shattered next to the grief seed of their latest kill. Doubts crept into Mina’s mind.

And then she found her sister, small precious Usagi, in the belly of a witch.

“Look, Mina! Now I’m just like you!”

I wish to be admired.

The witch launched a bolt through Usagi’s chest. Her eyes went wide as blood poured over the costume that replicated Minako’s so closely.

Minako lead, and people followed her straight unto their deaths.

The echo of her despair washed over her now, how her grief had hatched from her body into something so big and destructive she could only remember spurts. But she remembered Haruka pleading, and she remembered Haruka crumpled at what might have been her feet. Michiru came, and then Kyubey.

“What would you do to bring her back?”

“Anything.”

Mina gripped Rei’s fist, pressed the arrow tip hard against her sternum, but her grief did not hatch a second time. She had killed Haruka, had as good as killed Ami and Usagi, and it hurt but she did not change.

“We’ll fix this.”

Kyubey appeared in the water. “You’ve all made your wishes.”

Mako’s hammer slammed down on him. “Damn you for misleading us all.” Her knuckles were white against the hammer. “He’d lead us all into despair. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”

“We can’t save her,” Rei said. She lacked gentleness, always had, but Mina felt her trying. “I doubt, even, that we can save Michiru.”

The green haired girl stood in the surf. The swords had begun to awaken. They lifted themselves slowly, playing images now of Haruka reaching for Michiru, and Michiru turning away. Michiru keeping her hands in her pockets as they walked. Haruka trying, trying to figure out what changed, to figure out what she’d done.

“I did it for you. It was the only way.”

A sword launched at her, and for a moment Minako was sure she would not dodge. Michiru turned just in time. The blade buried itself in the water.

Michiru’s gem clouded again. “Please, Haruka.”

Minako clenched her fists. The power she’d once had would not come now. It hardly mattered. “We will save Michiru. It’s what Haruka would have wanted.”

Rei sighed, but a spark of determination flitted across her eyes. “Go.”

Minako made her way towards the swords. “It’s me you want, not her. I did this to you, to her, it’s my fault.”

The swords stilled. Minako had the brief thought that maybe reason could work, maybe Kyubey had always lied about being able to talk down witches. But then the thing beneath the swords ripped itself up.

It dripped like water—no, too thick, like blood. Hunks of it stayed pinned beneath the blades, but it was doggish in shape, with navy goop instead of fur. Luminous yellow eyes bore down on Minako.

To Michiru’s credit, she did not flinch away.

Every drip hissed as it hit the water. Minako had a sinking feeling she would find out what sound it would make when it hit skin. “I’m sorry isn’t enough, I know. I should never have convinced you to do this. I should never have done it.”

One large paw shot out. Mina dodged and the whole thing fell into the water, only strings of liquid holding it to the main body.

“I can’t blame you for lashing out. I did the same thing.”

Michiru touched the fallen paw. It shrank down and disappeared. “I have become ruinous. I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to remember.”

The doggish shape whined. The swords turned upwards from the ground and pierced its underbelly. Dark goo poured down. The shape lashed out at them again, again. It struck Michiru. She fell with a bright white burn contorting her face. The beast turned on itself, contorting into painful shapes to bite its own flesh.

“Haruka,” Michiru breathed.

Two realizations hit Minako—one, that this really was still Haruka, two, that she had a plan. A stupid plan, maybe, but a plan. She turned back. Rei had an arrow drawn, aimed at the beast’s heart, Mako had her hammer ready to launch. “You will hold your fire until I say, or until I am dead.” She looked to Michiru. “You will make sure they do.”

“I will do more than that.”

You’ll kill me yourself if Haruka dies again. But it didn’t matter. Maybe it would even be enough to keep Michiru alive if she failed.

Minako walked forward. She was not a magical girl. She’d spent her soul and become a witch. By rights, she should not exist.

Kyubey had said they’d all made their wishes.

But maybe, just maybe, there had been a but on the end of it. If no one asked, he’d never say.

She gripped the hilt of one of the swords. “I wish to find Haruka, whole and alive.” She pulled it out of the dripping belly. Dark liquid came with it, splashing and burning her skin. “I wish to find Haruka, whole and alive.” Another sword, more burns.

“I wish.”

Her arms were covered in blisters and angry red welts.

“I wish.”

Tears stung at her eyes, every splash and splatter stung at her cheeks, her neck.

“I wish.”

Her strength began to fail, a sword came out and swung into her leg.

“I wish.”

The world narrowed to this pain.

“I wish!”

And Kyubey heard.

She felt her soul separate and condense into a gem. She transformed, not into her old costume but into something like her school uniform, how Haruka had known and liked her best. The dog’s legs gave out, Minako dug into the dark liquid as it crashed down on her.

Her hands found Haruka, warm and safe and alive. The witch world faded. Minako cried into her shoulder.

“I’m so, so sorry.”

Haruka held her tightly. “Do you know what my wish was?”

Mina could only shake her head.

“I wished we’d both get through this alive. And you made it come true.” Her grip tightened. “I’m so sorry I doubted you.”

They sobbed into each other for a long while, from relief, from grief, from guilt. Finally, Minako’s eyes met Michiru’s. There was, likely, more grief yet to be had. She prayed it could wait. An hour, a day, just some separation between tragedies.

“Well,” Mako said gently. “I think we all could use some cake.”

They walked off all together. Haruka held Mina’s right hand, and, to Mina’s great surprise, Rei took her left. Minako felt a warmth much quieter than their usual fire. On the other side, Michiru let Haruka link her arm through hers, careful to keep her jacket covering her skin. Mako flanked Rei. She lacked her usual smile but was somehow still reassuring; she would keep them from despair.

Whatever would happen later, in that moment Mina felt sure that they could keep making it through.