Pretty Cure Fan Fiction ❯ A Mirror Darkly ❯ Chapter 4

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Things started early the next morning.

Phone calls were made. Appointments canceled, work notified of a rare need to use sick leave, and families notified of sleepovers at each other’s houses that would never materialize. Around the country, girls disappeared from their normal lives. If anyone thought it unusual, it was only because it was “that close-knit group” who always hung out together, a discrepancy easily explained by sharing food from the same restaurant.

The first to arrive at the Yotsuba mansion was Cure Happy, arriving from a bookshelf at the top of the meeting room. One moment, there was nothing going on, then the bookshelf glowed with a light not unlike the sun, and then another pink-clad Cure stepped out and was there.

Gemini bowed. “Pleased to meet you. I understand your team will be bringing many of the others here today.”

“That’s right,” Happy grinned, allowing her transformation to fade and becoming Hoshizora Miyuki. “Pleased to meet you. Please, call me - “

“..Miyuki.” Gemini suddenly looked pale, as if she had seen a ghost. “R..right.”

Miyuki tilted her head curiously. “..is something wrong?”

“No...nothing you can do anything about. Tell me, is Yayoi with your group?”

“Yeah. So, you’re from a magical land beyond the mirror where everything’s the same but evil or something? But then how did you get to be good?” Miyuki leaned in with a grin.

Gemini shook her head. “It’s...not exactly like that. I’ll have to let Regina know…” She sighed. “I’d rather explain all this again at the briefing, but I have one other question for you.”

“Uh-huh. Sure, what is it?” Miyuki’s smile would have been infectous, but Gemini just sighed.

“...Do you still have the Cure Decor, and did you bring them with you? We’re going to need all of them.”

Miyuki jumped. “Uhm, I can go get them...what do you need them for?”

“We’re going to need to be able to move quickly, and the Decor should work on both sides.” Gemini explained carefully. “I know how they work, and we’ll have a few days to teach everyone.”

Miyuki thought about it for a second. “Sure. I’ll grab them when I go through.”

“Excellent. I look forward to working with you, Cure Happy.”

“Miyuki.”

“Right.”< br>
xoxoxoxoxoxox

Alice sipped her tea in the sitting room. It was a sign of just how nervous the normally collected girl was that she was tapping her fingers on her knee. The rest of the team wasn’t doing much better - Mana running about the place trying to remember if she forgot anything, Rikka leaning against the wall, and Makoto and Davie fielding phone calls over the engagements canceled.

There was a cough at the door, and a woman with only a very slight hunch in her back and some serious wrinkles to betray her age stepped into the room. “Well, now, what interesting young children.”

“How did YOU get in here?” Makoto snapped. “Wait, never mind. You’re obviously not supposed to be here today...”

“Relax, child. My name is Hanasaki Kaoruko, or Cure Flower.” She gave a respectful bow. “And I just wanted to meet the girls who had enough guts, or maybe sense, to break down and be the first to bring everyone together on their own.”

Makoto winced. “I’m - I’m deeply sorry ma’am. I had no idea there were senior Precure on this world.”

“It’s not common knowledge,” the woman conceded. “It used to be much rarer. I had actually kind of hoped I wouldn’t see another in my lifetime. Still...let me get a good look at you.”

Mana swallowed. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve all fought together.”

“Yes, the last few years have been very interesting. Fusion, Shadow...the threats are getting bigger,” Grandma Hanasaki narrowed her eyes. “But those came up and brought everyone together. You’re saying you found something. Are you sure you can’t deal with it on your own? I mean really sure?”

Alice put her tea down slowly and gave the old woman a look with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “First of all, we weren’t the ones who requested this meeting. Secondly, while I respect your experience, ma’am, we want everyone to hear this and everyone to have their say. That will include you, if you want to attend the meeting.”

The old woman smiled. “Good. My partner and I will be there. I just wanted you to understand me. There have been Precures on this world for a very long time. I knew the original Cure Black and Cure White, fifty years ago. We even fought some evil together, now and again. But the past ten years have been….hectic. There’s more magic than ever before, and now we’re having meetings. Just be sure that you’re not just asking for help because the going got a little tough.”

“What’s wrong with asking for help if you need it?” Rikka walked towards the old woman, only to have Mana put a hand on her shoulder.

“Need? Nothing at all. But if you don’t need it...well, there’s good reason everyone tries to keep to themselves in this line of work. If we escalate, there’s a chance the next evil power will find out and escalate more.” Grandma Hanasaki turned and walked out of the room. “Oh, and would you be a dear and tell me where I can hang my coat?”

Alice couldn’t help but smile. “Sebastian should be outside the meeting room you came from, he can help you.”

“Ah, yes, such a charming young man.” And the old woman left the four Cures very confused.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Makoto found herself staring in silent wonder. The room was filled with the sounds of laughter and joking, between old friends and new. There were scientists talking with up-and-coming athletes on the Olympic circuits.   Artists, martial and traditional, joking about old times. Off in one corner a woman who Makoto had been told was a schoolteacher was sharing something alcoholic with an idol that Makoto had been asked to do a joint concert with. She'd turned down the offer because the other girl's career was obviously near the end and it could have hurt her chances. The agent had been persistent, but ultimately relented.

Makoto wondered if the real point of that had been for Cure Lemonade to introduce herself, maybe offer help. Because, if Makoto were to be honest with herself, at the time she would be forced to admit she wouldn't have thought of the possibility of this world's Precure actually wanting to lend a hand.

She was an idiot.

The faeries, at least those who couldn't or didn't want to assume human form, had mostly congregated in their own separate party area set up from cat toys. The rest, plus a rather familiar looking stuffed lion-thing wearing a hakama, wandered among the human guests having their conversations.

Sebstian leaned down into her ear. "M'lady said that you wished to call the meeting. Everyone has arrived."

Makoto winced. Everyone present looked happy. Like this was just another party. That incident earlier in the year with Shadow hadn't let her get a close-up look with these people, but now it was obvious that they treasured these times, not just with their own teams, but each other.

If only Gemini had come out to join them, but instead she was in the room, drinking down yet another sugar-laden espresso drink from the kitchens and finalizing her notes.

At least she had agreed to give everyone a few days after the meeting to get their lives in order before they actually did anything. This was just to decide on a plan. Maybe once they had one, she'd be able to loosen up.

Makoto sighed and raised her hands, clapping them together. "Everyone? May I have your attention?"

"Aww, can't we have another five minutes?" Someone asked. A few others echoted the sentiment with various plaintiveness.

Makoto shook her head at the first one. "Nozomi, wasn't it? I know it's been awhile since we've been together socially, but our guest is somewhat impatient. I'm told there'll be dinner and snacks for everyone afterwards, and bedrooms have been made up as well. We're prepared to go late into the night, so."

"Business first," A woman in a black suit with a pair of sunglasses propped up on her head said firmly. She brushed her rose earrings, and incongruously messy hair aside. "Besides, I'm curious to meet this 'Cure Gemini.'"

There were various nods of assent, and Mikoto waited a moment for the chatter to die down again. "All right. If you'll follow me then. Seats have been assigned by your teams. I've also been told to ask you to remember that the system for voting is hard-wired so that it can't be reset unless the entire system is reset - when it's time to cast your vote, you can't change your mind once you push the button."

Slowly the room began to fill, as everyone separated into the groups they had come in with and took their seats. Makoto couldn't help but notice Doctor Hanasaki from before whisper something into what must have been her granddaughter's ear, and abruptly realized. Cure Blossom...so that must be Marine next to her. Her eyes moved on, counting over forty human-forms, and more faeries than she could track.

She was definitely an idiot. But then, they wouldn't have all helped, probably. Doctor Hanasaki's words were plain - this could only be about an emergency.

And Gemini was definitely an emergency.

Alice bowed to the crowd as soon as everyone was seated. “Thank you for coming, everyone. Miyuki, did your friends get everyone up to speed?”

“Yep! Evil mirror clones and something about an invasion from the other side of the mirror.” Miyuki grinned, only for Rikka, another blue-haired girl, to stand up to speak.

“While I suppose we can’t speak for those groups Miyuki retrieved,” she said with no hint of the exasperation she must be feeling, voice formal and precise, “The rest of us conveyed your message in full.”

Alice’s calm expression didn’t change. “Then I’ll allow Cure Gemini to give you the specifics.”

Gemini, her hair successfully combed out into something straight and presentable but still dressed in the bargain bin outfit she had managed to acquire, took center stage. “Alice...everyone...thank you.” She took a breath. “I wish circumstances could be better. But please, make no mistake. The YTF sees the existence of your world as a threat, and seems to have no intention of simply allowing you to ignore them. We strike them first, or they will strike you first.”

“How can you be so sure?” One young woman, with straight black hair, blue eyes, wearing much the same business attire as her partner who had spoken up in the room asked. “Why would they bother with a world that doesn’t mean to attack them?”

“Paranoia,” Gemini responded simply. “You don’t have what they see as a strong defense against faeries, so the fact that the two worlds can reach each other is reason enough.” The room was dead silent for a moment. “If I may continue, then?

“The Youkai Task Force is an intelligence and pseudo-military agency of the Japanese Empire of our world, responsible for the observation, control, destruction, and ultimately implementation of all of the world’s magic. They have operational authority over police, fire, rescue, and military services. In addition, there are recent international agreements that heavily restrict travel to and from the Empire.

“But despite that, trade is booming. The YTF has managed to attract heavy investment with the promises of practical implementations of magic-based technology, and since so far no faerie has been shown to be able to use internet telepresence to escape the quarantine, international business is pretty much unaffected.”

Regina couldn’t resist adding commentary here. “Basically, as long as you’re not a teenage girl aged eight to eighteen and you’re willing to accept that you might turn into a monster at any time at all, Japan’s a great place to live if you want to make a fortune these days.”

Gemini sighed. “Right. The basic consequence of this for you is that the average person on the street will be the enemy. They will see you as agents of the Youkai, no different from a Jikochuu, Akanbe, or anything else the bad guys might be dreaming up these days.”

The screen came to life behind her, showing a picture of a black silhouette wearing a relatively simple white blouse, miniskirt, and bicycle shorts. Their heads were covered in a simple mask. “Girls like this will be the primary opposition on the other side. They’re called ‘Artificial Precure’ and don’t have individual titles. Their performance in all aspects is peak human- they can run a mile in about four minutes, bench press about a quarter of a ton, and before they enter the field they’re required to hold a dan ranking in at least one martial art.”

The image split into four near-identical images, one white, one red, one blue, and one green. “In addition, they each have one limited magical power. Force, fire, ice, or enhanced physical capabilities - the greens can each handle about fifty percent higher numbers on each of the categories above. There may be others as well, but if there are they’re not common.”

“Cure Bloom. Cure Egret. Cure Dream. Cure Peace. Cure Blossom. Cure Marine.” Gemini looked extremely nervous now. “Your alternates are the most powerful agents the Youkai Task Force deploys on a regular basis. There’s no artifical process with your counterparts - they turned and either kept, or enhanced their powers. Your partners work with them willingly, where that applies.” More pictures appeared on the screen, and the named Cures gasped as their counterparts were seen.

Bloom and Egret, hunched over a map with a picture of a traditional Japanese-style mansion. Next to that another, both standing with their backs to the same mansion in flames.

Cure Dream, clearly laughing in childish delight, surrounded by a crowd of people laying on the ground around her. In the background, one woman was holding a child in her embrace and crying.

Cure Peace, polishing the metal plates on something that, until then, everyone had believed only existed in science fiction. It was ten feet tall, and roughly humanoid in shape. The arms and legs sported thick, heavy-looking metal plates at sharp angles to deflect fire. The whole thing was various shades of yellow, leading to comments that it couldn’t be the gold robot that it looked like. There was barely room inside for the pilot, and then only if she were about the size of the four foot tall girl rubbing a cloth over the leg. It would almost be a joke, and Yayoi, the blonde girl in the picture, almost grinned at her counterpart...until she realized there was a deadly-serious minigun mounted on each shoulder and a pair of rails along each arm.

Cure Blossom, sobbing while being embraced by Cure Marine in front of the body of a man. There was a clean hole in his chest, simple inky blackness, in the shape of a heart. He was pale, unmoving, and clearly dead.

“Believe me, I didn’t want to have to show these people to you.” Gemini let some bitterness creep into her voice even as the named individuals, and most of their friends, went pale. “But these are the YTF’s most deadly, dedicated, and dangerous weapons, and when they realize what we’re coming to do, we will be facing all of them trying to stop us.”

“Finally, there’s something new. The YTF has found a way to take an existing Precure and cut her off from her partner, then replace the power source.” Rikka gasped as a picture of herself appeared, wearing something that looked rather like her standard Cure Diamond outfit as re-imagined by the tailors who design those leather outfits she was rather sure she wasn’t supposed to know existed. “You’ll probably note a theme in the costume design, yes,” Gemini said dryly. “We don’t know a lot about the process, only that they’re more closely related to Artificials than to you girls. They lose a bit of power in the process, but not much. This is Cure Rune.”

Rikka stopped, and took a closer look at the photographs. Each one was definitely of herself, but the looks on her own face were both sad and twisted into anger. Tokyo streets, turned to battlefields and covered in ice.

“As for the others, I’ll only discuss two of them right now, since they’re the only ones relevant to the parts of the plan we’ll actually be voting on. It’s…” Gemini frowned, obviously trying to find the right words.

The woman in the severe business attire spoke up. “Operational security. If we fail to contain them, you’re afraid they’ll interrogate someone and find out what we’re going to do.”

“Thank you Ma’am.” Gemini bowed gratefully, head nearly impacting the podium. A few moments later, the images changed to several other suits of the powered armor seen with Cure Peace earlier. “The first of the two is Kise Yayoi. No offense to you, Miss Kise, but your counterpart was something of a disaster in the first half of last year. I’m sure you’re just fine.”

The girl shook her head. “No, I wasn’t useless, but I’m not really the best person for this…”

“Well, okay,” Gemini shrugged. “But the thing is, she was put in charge of a squad, the way most true Precure are, and nearly got them all killed when she was startled and ran. It looked like they’d probably just take her powering artifact away from her and send her home, but one of the scientists noticed that she was a fan of those tokusatsu shows,” Gemini sniffed in the manner of someone trying to deride when their heart isn’t really in it. “Biggest pain in the ass for me they’ve come up with.”

“See, they examined her more closely and realized that, when she’s transformed her body’s surrounded by electromagnetic radiation. That suit takes it and does SCIENCE and turns it into power for the artificial muscles. So now, Cure Peace goes into battle as the first viable power-armored soldier in the history of warfare.”

Yayoi grinned. “Well, I think that’s cool. Do you think I can get one?”

Gemini looked startled for a moment, then returned the grin with a feral one of her own. “Consider it done, Miss Kise.”

“Awesome!” Yayoi jumped up on her feet and rocked back and forth for a moment, then blushed furiously when she sat back down.

Gemini chuckled. “Well, that’ll make the last parts easier. Anyway, usually Cure Peace is deployed with her armor in cases of mass faerie incursion, when everyone’s given up pretending we care about the collateral damage.” Somehow, she missed the various mutters and looks of alarm while she continued. “In addition to the miniguns, Peace can still use her magical lightning, both as a sphere on its’ own, and to charge and fire the two railguns mounted in the armor’s arms. In short, she can wreak a massive amount of devastation in a very short time. This is why I think she’ll be first through the portal.”

“Well then how are we supposed to handle that?” Someone called out from near the back. “Why not just leave the portal shut?”

Gemini sighed. “Because if we don’t open it, they will. At least this way we can pick the timing. Any other objections?” While there were some mutters, no one else voiced dissent. “Now, she’s not invincible. So, what I propose is this. Regina here will open the portal, with Cures who have access to elemental attacks stationed in a semi-circle around it. Regina teleports out of the way, and the second you see anything, open fire with everything you’ve got. With luck, that will take care of her armor. Peace doesn’t like to stay in the fight when her armor’s been disabled, so she’ll probably use the quick-eject to get out and run back.”

Gemini glanced up at the room from her notes, and nodded to Regina as everyone still seemed to be paying attention. “Once Peace retreats, they’ll probably send through Artificials. Our best estimate is that there are about two hundred and fifty or so, but most are going to be needed for Jikochuu attacks on Tokyo, so I’d guess no more than fifty of them will come through. Since Peace will probably babble what sent her packing, expect them to be armed with firearms.

“The counter is reasonable. Every one of us is going to be stronger and faster than they are, so before Peace can get through the portal, every one of us with melee experience will move in close and take out the Artificials as they come through. Don’t let them get into cover, and the guns will be useless.

“After that, we’ll move everyone but the defenders through the portal. Regina will close it from there, and we’ll secure the portal facility. We can’t let one person in the facility get away, or it’ll get harder from there….”

Gemini took a deep breath to go on, but suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. She looked back to see Mana’s hand on her shoulder, and her head shaking. “Gemini. We’ve heard enough.”

Makoto’s jaw dropped as Regina stood up and shouted “You promised you’d hear us out!”

Mana shook her head. “I know, but there’s nothing you can say that would make your case better. You’re not asking us to fight a threat, you want us to go into a war. Most of the people here are busy. They have their own lives. You’ve said what needed saying. Please, don’t waste more of their time unless they agree with this plan.”

Gemini’s jaw dropped open slightly. “...I don’t have anything else. I’ve thought of everything...this is the best way…”

Mana gently pulled the two back to their seats. “I know...and I’m sorry.”

“It’s for your world too!” Regina tried, but her voice started to die out at the last word as Alice stood up again.

The rich girl gave Regina a sad smile before turning to the podium herself. “Very well….are there any questions?” No one said anything. “All right, begin casting your votes.”

The room was filled with a low muttering sound, teams conferring among themselves. Immediately two votes for ‘Yes’ popped up on the screen, and a few moments later a few more appeared, Gemini smiling and giving Mana a rather reproachful look.

...then the first vote for ‘no.’ Followed quickly by five more. Shortly after, two for ‘yes’ appeared, and then two for ‘no.’ Mana sighed, and quickly pressed a button, an “abstain” popping up on the screen. Rikka actually glared at Mana before pushing her own button for ‘yes’.

After that, the pattern was established. A few votes for ‘yes’ would come up as each team finished their own internal deliberations, but they would always be outvoted. Within five minutes, half the remaining Precure had made their decisions, and the ‘no’ had already passed the 50% mark. Alice glanced at the screen. “Please finish voting quickly, we still need to de - “ Her voice died on seeing Gemini had already stood up and was walking up the stairs, her head hanging down almost as if the visitor needed to pay close attention to where she was going or she would stumble on a stair. “Gemini?”

She didn’t look back over her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I tried.” she suddenly shouted, sprinting for the back of the room and the bookshelves. “One!” A book was quickly slid aside to the left.

Miyuki stood up. “She’s got a Decor! Gemini, where are you going?!”

“Two!” Gemini ignored her, sliding another book to the right.

“MANA!” Regina screamed, toppling over her chair as she scrambled out of her chair, the Mana of this universe following only a quarter second behind. Everyone else was slower to comprehend what was going on, only barely starting to get up when...

“Three.” Gemini opened a space between two of the books on the highest shelf, and vanished.

The room erupted into confusion.

Mana quickly turned to Regina. “Has she ever done anything like this before?”

“...only...only...please, please. Mana, help her!” Regina started gasping for breath. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Regina, calm down. Miyuki! You know how that works, right?” Mana snapped out suddenly. “Where can she go?”

Miyuki paled. “She...she could be anywhere.”

Mana started to pace. “Not good. Aren’t there any limits?”

“There need to be books.” Miyuki stammered out, only managing to be intelligible around her own teeth with great effort. “And if you lack focus you won’t necessarily come out where you want to.”

“...books…” Mana looked at Regina. “Regina, focus! Has she done anything like this before?”

The blonde was pale, her eyes starting to turn blue. “....she...I...yes…”

Rikka said, quietly “She was going to jump off a cliff.”

Mana swallowed, but now wasn’t the time to be uncomfortable about her own feelings on that. “Jump. She said she wanted to see her own death.” She relaxed very slightly. “We’ve got time. She’s gone to a building, a tall building.”

“Maybe the Empire State building?” Miyuki tried. “I know they’ve got a place where you can stand and look out.”

Mana shook her head. “No...I don’t think that’s it…” She paused. “We do have a minute, though. She’s not going to take a risk she won’t go to the right place, which means she’ll go to the bookshelf she knows of closest to where she’s going.”

Rikka stood up. “Mana, how do you know that?”

“Because it’s what I’d do if I wanted to make a point.” Mana’s voice was very quiet. “...but…” Her eyes widened. “Alice! Call Clover Tower. They know what I look like, right?”

“...y-yes!” Alice jumped, brought out of her own efforts to figure out the problem. “But..”

“Good. Tell them...no, don’t tell them to stop anyone who looks like me, she could get violent,” Mana suddenly decided.   “Tell them to shut off the elevator. Regina, you’re going to need to teleport me to the observation deck.” The Jikochuu princess nodded. “Alice, call and get a security guard to send us a picture of your father’s office. If anyone can think of anything to say to her, have Miyuki or one of the others take you there.” She wrapped her arms around Regina, who got a rather goofy expression on her face for a moment before Mana whispered to her “Focus, Regina. I’m not your love.”

“...right.” Regina nodded, turning serious. “I know the place. Please, Mana….save Gemini.”

“I’ll do everything I can.”

They vanished.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Gemini opened the door to the roof, one floor above the observation deck. It wasn’t quite where everything had started, but it would be close enough. No records, and Aida Mana was plainly still alive, whatever the records might show about her body. In a few years, she’d be an entry in one of those “weird documentaries” alongside spontaneous human combustion, if this world lived that long.

That was okay. Everyone really wanted that, even if it wasn’t what was best.

Then she looked up, and standing across the roof was “...Cure Heart.” Blonde, just like Cure Gemini, her hair done up in the same style, but with a skirt and much less armor. “Did Regina bring you here? Where is she?”

Heart was smiling warmly. “I asked her to wait down on the observation deck. I thought we could talk for a few minutes while we’re alone again.”

“Sure you just want to talk, traitor? My Commune still has a charge left from the fight yesterday,” Gemini managed to keep the hostility out of her voice. “Showing up like that, you seem to be looking for one.”

Heart gave a short nod. “If giving me what you think I deserve will make you feel better. I would prefer to live through it, so I decided to bring Sharuru for that part.”

Gemini’s fingers tightened around her sword for a moment, then sighed. “What’s the use? Even if I went back now, you stopped me and made me look like an idiot. They’re not going to take me seriously now.”

“I stopped you because you were starting to sound like an extremist nutcase,” Heart explained patiently. “If I’d let you say anything more you’d be going on about riding gloriously into the fight and dying for the world. That’s not what Precure do and you know it.”

Gemini barked out a short laugh. “Oh, that’s cute. Was I ever really this naive?”

“You tell me. We’re the same person.”

Gemini stopped short, thinking about it for a moment. “Yeah, I was pretty close. A lot of people paid for that. I don’t know what went wrong, but the Youkai Task Force isn’t going to play by your silly children’s rules. You have to know that.”

“I know.” Heart’s voice was grim. “Some of us could well be killed on any reasonable plan. But that’s not a good excuse to lead most of us to our deaths on purpose. This world still needs Precure too.”

Gemini stopped, then sighed. “Okay, so is this mostly about you and yours? I didn’t think there’d be that many in the room, I suppose I don’t really need you, and you’re the best suited for fighting King Jiko - “

“THAT ISN’T IT!” Heart snapped. “Why this plan? Why won’t you listen?”

“Because I’ve considered everything else!” Gemini shouted back. “I tried to save my world too -”

“WHAT?!” Heart’s jaw dropped open. “....you mean…”

“...this was all I could come up with. They won’t stop. There’s only one way to make them,” Gemini fell to her knees. “I...I can’t….”

“That’s why you turned to us. You needed a distraction.” Heart said with a tone of dawning realization. “What were you going to do?” Gemini just turned her head. “Gemini...what was your plan?”

“I wasn’t completely sure,” Gemini said. “I needed to get inside the YTF’s headquarters. From there I could do the wiring and Sebastian’s contacts could open the system up and figure out who knew about the portal technology. After that...well, I’d tell you that we had everything, sent you home and destroyed the place they built the first one. It might take awhile, but...I’d stop them from coming back the hard way.”

Heart shook her head. “They’d just find someone else. You can’t stop it from being possible.”

“I could try...but now it’s meaningless. Especially now.” She stood up, slowly. “Please, don’t tell Regina. And take care of her.”

“I refuse,” Heart said. “Because you’re going to be there for her yourself.”

“Please, Mana,” Gemini’s voice turned to pleading. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t see the world fall apart. Not again.”

Heart sighed. “Aida Mana, I never give up on helping people, and neither should you. Your plan wasn’t wrong but we need to work on the details. And this time we’ll figure out how to solve the problem. Not just buy time.”

“What?”

Cure Heart beamed at her double. “The truth of the matter is, we don’t need to stop the scientists in their labs. What we need to do is stop the YTF. Not just a building, or a few idiot politicians. We need to expose everything they’re doing for what it is. Wrong. If we can get inside, we can get all the details and put them out there, then they’ll have no choice but to stop being so cruel.”

“...do...do you really think that’ll work?” Gemini’s eyes widened slightly, shimmering in tears. “People have tried that before, and they just disappeared.”

“Hey, I’m the Student Council President. I can do anything!” Heart grinned jokingly.

Gemini wiped a tear from her eye. “Don’t...don’t do that. Please, Mana...I need to know that you’re not just trying to give me hope again.”

“I don’t have a plan, if that’s what you’re asking,” Mana said slowly. “But the plan is locked up in your head.”

Gemini paused for a moment, and shook her head. “It...it really is impossible. I’ve thought about that before, but it’s just too well guarded. You need too big a force to crack the defenses on the place just to force enough of an opening…”

“Maybe.” Heart walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “But you got through that portal, and we’re going to go back. Gemini….are you sure you’ve talked to everyone who can help you on the other side?”

Gemini’s eyes widened even further in wonder. “You….do you have any idea how much you’d be risking? For yourself and anyone who got out?”

“No, but the YTF’s about to get your world destroyed. Or don’t you think Jikochuu will take advantage while they’re busy with us?”

Gemini stopped, sniffled once, but then closed her eyes. Heart wrapped an arm around her, waiting for her to finish thinking. “All right. I know some people who might be able to help with that. But it will take time once we’re through, and we’re still going to need ten people or so for the YTF headquarters itself. It will still be dangerous…”

“...but our world won’t be unprotected, and it will be less dangerous.” Heart agreed. “Is there any guarantee we can come back?”

“No.” Gemini admitted. “We won’t be able to stay in the portal building. That thing takes a lot of power….but there might be a prototype in the main HQ. It will be unpowered, but Sebastian can probably get it working if we bring him.”

Heart smiled. “So plan on a one-way trip.”

“Of course not,” Gemini grinned. “Who do you think you’re talking to? I’ve got the portal schematics on that flash drive. If we have to, we’ll build another one later.”

Heart practically bounced. “Perfect. Now, are you ready to stop being silly and get off this roof?”

“No.” Gemini’s voice echoed with far too many crushing losses. “...but I’ll go anyway.”

“Good. Regina?” Gemini’s eyes widened as Mana called out, and suddenly the two girls found themselves in a group hug with a certain royal girl.

“Oh thank god. Mana...Mana….Please, please, stop doing these things!” Regina was crying openly on their shoulders. “I get so worried!”

Gemini choked back tears of her own. “Oh...Oh Regina….I…” She broke down, starting to cry as well. Sharuru appeared and did her best to join in, while Mana just held on to the both of them.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Rikka paced worriedly in front of the bookshelf. "Oh, she'll be the death of me one of these days," she fretted, hands carefully behind her back to avoid letting anyone see her shake. Alice tried to gently restrain her long-time friend with a hand on the shoulder, but Rikka brushed it off. "No, really. Why can't she leave stuff like this to the professionals?"

Alice, quite reasonably, tried again. "Gemini doesn't exist. That kind of help comes with checks, you know. Would you rather Mana be down as a suicidal person when it's time to apply for high school?"

"Dammit," Rikka restrained herself from hitting the wall, but it was a visible effort.

One which was suddenly cut off when she realized Alice had slipped between herself and the target. "Worried about your prince again?"

"You saw the state Gemini was in. One wrong move..." Rikka tried, but Alice interrupted again.

"...and we'd hear about it in two seconds, and be on the roof in thirty." Alice said firmly. "Mana was using her powers at the time, she'd last that long."

"I know."

"If you know," Alice said in her sternest voice "Then why aren't you trusting her?"

"I thought that was obvious." Rikka's voice went slightly dull.

Alice got so exasperated she actually raised her eyes slightly heavenward at that. "Gemini?"

"Mana figured out exactly what she'd do in seconds."

Makoto looked between the pair with sudden confusion. “Wait, why is that a problem?”

Alice shook her head. “It isn’t, really. It’s what she would have done to think she had some idea what to do. It’s been busy lately with Aguri’s training and all, but usually Mana likes to spend an hour or two every day reading books on...well…”

“How to solve other people’s problems,” Rikka finished lamely. “I think it’s her bedtime reading, she’s busy the rest of the time.”

“Wait, so you’re saying you think Mana actually thought ahead to look up how to deal with someone wanting to jump off a tall building?” Makoto gave them a look of shock, but then shook her head with a small smile. “That is like her…”

Rikka blinked, staring for a moment before exploding. “WHY? Why would she do something like that?”

Alice suddenly squeezed Rikka’s shoulder. “Because she doesn’t just think of the little problems.”

Rikka got a chill down her spine. “We’re just kids, Alice. Mana shouldn’t think like that.”

Makoto shook her head. “Please speak for yourself. I’m enjoying school, but I’m a Precure first. Defending the Trump Kingdom is...well, was and will be, my life’s work.”

Alice nodded at that. “I really doubt Mana thought she’d have to actually do something like that, but you know full well she likes to have a plan for every contingency. And if she hasn’t thought of something in advance, all that time thinking of them has made her really good at it, so she can usually manage something on the spot.”

Makoto couldn’t resist laughing. “Even if it was as hare-brained as forcing Bel to bring us home from the Trump Kingdom.”

Rikka couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But...but...that was ridiculous. It would never have worked, it was just a fluke that we managed to find that shard of glass to bring us home.”

“A bad plan ‘now’ is better than a good one ‘after we needed it,” Makoto pointed out.

A light flashed from the bookcase, interrupting Rikka’s attempted response. Mana was carrying an unconscious Gemini in her arms, Regina riding on her back and looking sleepy and exhausted. “We’re home.” Mana said weakly.

Rikka refrained from tackling her friend in relief, but only because it looked like Mana might collapse if a feather dropped on her. “You’ve got to stop doing these things Mana. We really need to talk about this one…”

“Eheheh…” Mana chuckled uncomfortably as Regina slid off her back and wavered on her feet.

“Can we get to our bedroom?” Regina asked, eyes closing briefly, then opening again. “I guess we’ll just skip the rest of the meeting.”

Mana grinned. “And I need to talk with our actual soldier. Makopi?”

Makoto jumped in surprise. “What?”

“I kind of get what Gemini wanted to say, but I was never really interested in what people do in a warzone. I know you’d probably never been in battle before the Jikochuu attack, but you studied how, right?” Mana’s question got a weak nod from Makoto. “That makes you the best we’ve got.”

A fifth voice spoke up. “Not...exactly.” It was the woman in the black suit from earlier. She smiled at the two of them. “I’ve got a little experience with planning this kind of thing.”

Mana grinned. “Sure. Uhm...just so we’re clear, who were you again? Back at the last party things got a little hectic.”

“Misumi Nagisa, at your service.” The woman, Nagisa, bowed low. “Oh, Sebastian, was it? Why don’t we ask everyone to move back to the lounge? This could take awhile. And Miss Aida, maybe we should send the basic info to everyone’s phones, I know a few of the girls who can probably make more sense of it.”

Mana grinned and gave a salute. “Yes Ma’am!”

xoxoxoxoxoxox

The party was somewhat more subdued than before, as the seriousness of things hit home. Even Kurumi Erika, the blue-haired fashionista who could breathe life into almost any party, was downing her third beverage from the punch bowl.

Tsubomi did a double-take, realizing that Erika was, in fact, drinking out of the punch bowl set aside for the adults. She was about to go over to scold the girl when a hand on her shoulder restrained her. She looked up to see the fiery-haired Hojo Hibiki shake her head. “You’re the smart one, right? Check your cell, I’ll go help restrain Erika.”

Tsubomi brushed her darker hair out of her eyes, quickly opening up her phone to realize that an email has been dropped into it with a large document file. She quickly opened it up and started reading.

The physics were highly theoretical, and quite a bit beyond her, but she retreated to a corner to put on her glasses. There were extensive footnotes that helped, and within a few minutes she realized that what she was holding on her phone was the first steps in the idea of exploring Precure magic with science, all laid out with careful attention to detail. “Those two are telling the truth,” she mumbled under her breath, chilled to the bone. “With this much already done, you could do…”

“...almost anything,” a tall woman kneeled on the floor to look up into her eyes with shining blue ones. Tsubomi jumped back, to the woman’s amused chuckle. “Yukishiro Honoka, at your service.”

“Oh my! Doctor Yukishiro!? The Doctor Yukishiro?” Tsubomi blushed and bowed deeply. “You’re one of us?”

“Please, call me Honoka. After all, we’re going to be working together very soon.” Honoka grinned. “Although you’ll still need a few years to catch up, from what I hear about your test scores you’re a shoo-in for any school you want.”

Tsubomi’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

Honoka found herself chuckling. “Your grandmother was right, you really are cute. And I said, I’m looking forward to working with you.”

Tsubomi shook her head. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about...even if I get into Tokyo university, I’m going to be studying botany.”

Honoka’s gentle smile didn’t waver. “And I’ll be needing a good botanist for my own projects very soon. Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing your thesis on?”

Tsubomi blinked rapidly. “I’m still in high school. I’m not a prodigy like you professor. I won’t be starting anything like that for years.”

“Well, I might be able to help you with some ideas.” Honoka chuckled. “But for right now...”

“For right now?” Tsubomi echoed faintly, momentarily overcome with a sense of doom before suddenly she found herself in the grip of a very affectionate blue octopus, with limbs everywhere. It took her a moment of struggling to realize that she had been mistaken, though. It was just Erika. “Erika! Lemmie go!”

“You’re so cuuuute Tsubomi! I could just swallow you riiiight up!” Erika’s grin was tinged with something Tsubomi found decidedly unwholesome, and she started to wiggle all the more. “Nuh-uh, you’re not getting awaaaay!”

“Gack!” Tsubomi kept on trying to wiggle, but it seemed hopeless.

Honoka’s soft chuckle brought them both up short. “Well, I don’t think anyone here has any right to object, but you may want to get a room…”

“Professor, haaaaalllp!”

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Mana rubbed her forehead in frustration, kicking her feet up on a table so she could angle her chair to look up at the projected screen on the wall.. “This is a lot harder than I thought. Gemini’s less organized than I am.”

Makoto flipped through a few pages on a tablet that Alice had helpfully provided. “Can’t argue there. They must have been under a lot of stress when they threw this together. Are you sure you can’t make sense of it?”

Mana turned around to face the others. “Maybe if I knew what I was looking for. Then I could at least try to follow the train of thought she’s taking.”

Nagisa sighed, tossing her own tablet down carelessly. “This is UNBELIEVABLE! She jumps from talking about patrol patterns to where you can stop to pick up ice cream to personal notes on various prominent personalities in the YTF. We need an actual analyst to figure out what might be important here.”

Makoto shook her head. “It’s almost like she’s doing this on purpose. I’m going up to ask her.”

“No!” Mana shouted. “She’s exhausted, if we wake her up now…”

Nagisa rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation. “You’re both right. We either need Miss Gemini or we need a professional to sort out her thinking. But we can’t afford to bother her while she’s recovering. Maybe we should try another angle. What do we have?”

Mana thought, and picked up a tablet herself, quickly accessing a Precure rumor site. Makoto looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow in askance. “Well, at least these people have organized everything.”

Nagisa laughed. “You know, all the times this has come up I never thought of that. Thanks.” She quickly typed in the address for the site while Mana beamed. “All right, I think I’ve got this…I think we need someone from each group of us to go, based on that resonance stuff. That way whatever either group runs into we’re ready for it. But for me and Honoka, and for Saki and Mai that won’t work…”

“Well, we know Saki and Mai’s counterparts are alive.” Makoto said…

“Yeah, but they’re also working for the enemy.” Nagisa frowned, starting to concentrate. “Mana, did you run across any references to biometrics?”

Mana thought for a moment. “I think there were a few references to that stuff. That’s where you use a handprint or an eye test to check who someone is, right?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, kid.” Nagisa grinned broadly. “All right. I think I’ve got it. There’s a lot of stuff on ex-Precure in Gemini’s files, but it’s useless so we’ll just focus on getting you through today.”

Makoto suddenly frowned. “What did you say you do for a living, Miss Misumi?”

Nagisa laughed. “Oh, I’m with the government.”

Makoto’s eyes narrowed. “What part of the government?”

“Eh, nothing important. I’m with a branch of the police.”

“Which branch?” Makoto asked, a little more insistently.

“Classified.” Nagisa deadpanned. “Now, if you’ll let me get back to the job…”

Makoto nodded ever so slightly, and while she listened as Nagisa began to outline her plan, she resolved to pay much closer attention to the older woman.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Gemini slowly opened her eyes, for a brief moment wondering if she had just been dreaming all of this and was just waking up at a sleepover at Alice’s before the memories came rushing back, along with an awareness of the warmth of Regina next to her. She hugged her best friend more tightly, and smiled as she felt a pair of lips on her forehead.

But when she looked up, Regina’s eyes were slightly redder than usual, and those lips were narrowed. “Mana…”

“I’m sorry, Regina. I...I wanted to tell you but the others…” Gemini tried to protest, but she was cut off with a single word that cut straight to her heart.

“Liar,” When Gemini couldn’t bring herself to deny it, Regina continued. “When were you going to tell me, love, that you planned to sacrifice our world to save this one?”

Gemini winced. “The others wanted to tell you after it was done. I….I don’t know if I wanted to. I just wanted you to be safe, I thought maybe we could just leave you here…”

“So you were trying not to hurt me after all.” Mana winced as Regina slid out of the bed. “You were crying a lot. Humans need water and salt after that, right? I’ll go see if I can find something.”

“Regina…” Gemini reached out of the bed.

“Gemini, I get it,” Regina said softly. “But I need some time. Time to work out how to deal with what you told me...and what you didn’t. That was my world you were going to throw away!”

“You want this world too, don’t you?” Gemini asked. “I’m not sure you can have both.”

“I can try. Please, don’t wander off.” Regina actually whimpered. “I’m mad, but I’m still scared.”

“I promise, Regina. My love. I swear to you absolutely that I will not actively try to do that again.” Gemini said softly. “Until we see what Mana can do, I will live, all right?”

“You broke that promise before.” Gemini winced at Regina’s accusation. “But I’ll give you one last chance, because that’s what friends do. Still, please, don’t be gone when I get back.”

“All right.”

Regina walked out the door.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Mana stretched her arms over her head. “Miss Misumi, thanks. You sure it’s all right asking everyone to stay an extra night?”

“I don’t see why not,” Nagisa’s smile was bright enough that it could illuminate the hallway as she finally snapped the cover shut on her tablet. “Don’t worry about it, it’s summer vacation. You kids can have some fun, right?”

“I guess so,” Makoto yawned. “It sounds like everyone else has gone to bed. I should head back to my apartment.”

Mana chuckled. “What, when you’ve got a perfectly good bedroom here?”

Makoto started for a moment. “Yeah, what was I thinking? ‘night you two.”

“Night.” Mana grinned. “Bright and early tomorrow?”

“How about noon today? It’s well past midnight.” Nagisa rubbed her eyes but still had that grin on her face. “You are crazy, you know that?”

“So I’m told!” Mana returned the infectious grin with one of her own. “But really, I’ll be fine.”

“If I know some of the others, they’re probably gonna want to sleep in,” Nagisa pointed out. “We’ll explain the plan over lunch and get a vote.”

“Okay.” Mana sighed. “Good night,” she turned down the hall, prompting Nagisa to frown.

“Where are you going? Isn’t your room in the main wing, not the guest wing?”

Mana shrugged. “I just wanted to be sure no one was having any trouble sleeping before I went to bed myself.”

“Good thinking. I’ll let you handle that then, I’ve got to call in for tomorrow.” Nagisa sighed. “Ah well, gotta love the federal service vacation package when Precuring comes up. Can’t recommend it enough for someone like you.”

Mana laughed. “No thanks, I’ve got dreams. I’ll probably be your boss some day though!”

Nagisa laughed. “Well, we’ll see. Good night, Miss Aida.”

“Good night.” Mana turned and started down the halls, taking care to walk carefully enough to make no sound. That was the only reason she caught it when a door opened behind her and someone walked out into the hallway. When she turned it was a girl, only a little older than Aguri, glancing around before catching her gaze. “Miss Aida, I want to talk to you.” The girl’s melodious voice sounded unsure of herself, but then the girl hardened. “I want to go to the other dimension with you.”

Mana blinked. Sure, she’d expected bravery and no shortage of volunteers, but this girl...she wracked her brain. “I’m sorry, you’ll need to remind me…”

“Shriabe Ako,”

“Ako...Ako…” Mana frowned, placing a hand on her chin in concentration. “I’m sorry, there are just so many names to remember, it’s hard to keep track of everybody after only meeting you all once before...oh! I remember, you’re with Hibiki’s group.”

“That’s right. I can’t just not defend my home, but Hibiki and Kanade won’t let me go.” Ako pleaded. “It’s not just this world, they’ll come after my kingdom too.”

“Your kingdom?” Mana asked, not quite sure that she’d heard that correctly.

Ako covered her mouth in embarrassment, then nodded. “Yes, I’m from Major Land. The crown princess, in fact.”

Mana looked sternly at her. “Then you’re not going, and that’s final. The other world isn’t kind to people who aren’t from Earth.” Ako drew in a breath to protest, but Mana continued on. “I’m sure you’re very good, but if things go wrong we’d have to spend more time protecting you than we could afford.”

“You don’t have to protect me!” Ako hissed. “I can do this without your babying!”

Mana shook her head sadly. “Ako, I can’t tell you what they might do to you if they catch you. Most of the rest of us, we’ll probably just be thrown in a cell...you’d be...a specimen.” Ako paled at that. “I’m not trying to belittle your skills or your power. I think it’s admirable that you’d risk your life like this. If you were from Earth, I’d consider your request. But it’s not worth it. If you want to help, stay here in Tokyo on the defensive side, all right?”

“Agreed.” Ako nodded, sounding formal. “As you wish, Miss Aida. I bow to your wisdom...and your respect. It’s more than I was getting from my friends.”

Mana chuckled softly. “It’s all right, Ako. And please, call me Mana.”

“Okay Mana. I’ll see you in the morning”

Mana gave a thumbs-up and a wink. Ako returned to her bedroom, while Mana resumed her patrol.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Nagisa wiped some imaginary sweat from her brow. Really, those kids are gonna walk all over me one day. Although she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face at the thought. Still, Alice’s family must be loaded. Why room us by group if... and Nagisa opened the door to what she had expected to be a single bedroom. Oh. It was not.

Instead what greeted her could have been described as an apartment, or maybe a hotel suite. With a couple of couches, its’ own widescreen television, and three doors, one open to a bedroom and the other to a private bathroom, the entire area could easily have slept ten of them.

On top of that, there was even a computer set up in the corner. And Honoka was sitting at it, hard at work over some diagram that she barely recognized as being some kind of magic. “Honoka, we’ve talked about this.”

“And I still disagree,” Honoka responded easily. “But that’s not what I’m doing. I was just looking over the data that Miss Gemini brought us. I think I can use it.”

Nagisa’s jaw dropped. “Honoka, you’re a genius!”

“Thank you, but not this time. Gemini’s hacker was very thorough.” Honoka grinned at the compliment. “It’s not complete, but there’s only a little bit of the engineering missing, at least for a one-way portal to a known dimension, and we’ve got that already.”

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?”

Honoka chuckled. “Well, that’s what I’ve been working on. I’ve finished the design, but it’ll take a lot of money to actually build. If you’d let me actually talk about this with the department at Toudai…”

“Absolutely not,” Nagisa deadpanned. “Besides, we’ve got plenty of money at work.”

“But then I couldn’t publish!” Honoka turned around to look at her best friend. “They’d take everything and I couldn’t even reveal it later!”

“Fine, fine.” Nagisa sighed. “Are there any other problems?”

Honoka frowned. “I have to be honest. I don’t know where we’re going to get the electricity to power this thing. In fact, I’m not entirely sure where Japan would get the energy. We’d have to pipe in enough to light South Korea for a year as well for the startup procedure.”

Nagisa blinked. “Wow. Science was never my strong suit, but that sounds like almost as much as you said our powers would need.”

“Well, if they operated on any sort of rational principles of physics as we understand the subject that would be tru…” The physicist blinked a few times as her mind caught up. “Wait, Nagisa that’s it!” She spun around to start tapping out figures into her spreadsheet. “It’s not purely efficient, of course, but a number of faeries could use the information on that mecha that Miss Kise’s counterpart has.” The numbers on the spreadsheet started to turn green. “Yes! Once the portal’s open, we can run one off a generator for awhile, it’s just the startup procedure.”

Nagisa grinned. “I think I followed that. How quickly can you build it?”

“Six months.” Honoka said bluntly. “Most of that would be building an appropriate lab and workshop.”

Nagisa sighed. “I suppose I could make this a work problem after all.”

“I’m sorry, Nagisa,” Honoka shook her head. “Not even they have what we need. It’s about building the tools to build the tools. This is why I wanted to work on this.”

Nagisa sighed. “And I told you, we’ve been over it. If you work with the university it becomes public record. I think we just got a pretty good demonstration of where that line of thinking leads.”

“I guess.” Honoka tilted her head back. “Wait, it said here that their butler built most of the Precure magitech that Gemini uses.” She grinned. “I think maybe I need to have a chat with Sebastian.”

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Mana didn’t get very far from where she had chatted with Ako before she passed the “library”, really just another sitting room with bookshelves put in the guest wing so guests wouldn’t need to walk to the main wing. The door was shut, which was unusual, but even moreso was the lamp-light streaming underneath.

The soft giggling coming from the other side was a pretty good clue as well.

Mana sighed, and opened the door, somehow not surprised to see Yayoi curled up on a sofa with a stack of manga next to her up higher than her own head. A sizeable pile was laying, carefully stacked, on the end table as well. “Yayoi? Have you been here all night?” Mana’s exasperated question startled the poor girl. With a yelp, she fell off the couch and into the larger stack, sending it into the endtable. Mana winced as manga went flying around the room. “...eheheh….” After a quick glance around to be sure no one had woken up, she closed the door behind her. “I’ll help.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have too.” Yayoi blushed in embarassment. “It was my fault.”

“It was our fault,” Mana said simply. “We’ll both clean it up. And while we do that, you tell me why you’re staying up all night instead of getting rest.”

“I’d rather not,” Yayoi’s voice was quiet. “It doesn’t matter anyway. But . . . is it all right if I stay here?”

“I was kind of hoping you’d come.” Mana sighed. “You can use those suits of power armor too. You were so excited before.”

There was a very long pause where neither spoke. Finally, Yayoi sighed. “The mecha are really cool, and a mecha just for me would be the best, but...“

“You’re scared of your other self.”

Yayoi nodded. “She’s...she’s really scary. Even just the picture, because that’s what I’ve always wanted. I mean, being a Precure was the same thing, but that would be. . . and I. . . I don’t know if I’d be like that. So I shouldn’t get one.”

“That’s not true, Yayoi. I’m sure you’d do fine.”

Yayoi winced. “Do you need me that badly?”

“We might.” Mana admitted.

Yayoi sighed. “I’m sorry. Cure Peace is sitting this one out.”

Mana nodded. “All right. But you’ll still be at the portal, right?”

“Yeah, sure thing Mana.” Yayoi didn’t sound sure. “But that’s all.”

Mana grinned and patted her on the back, putting the last of the manga on the pile. “That’s enough. Don’t worry about it.”

“All right. I think I’ll get back to reading.” Yayoi grinned shyly. “Want to stay up with me?”

Mana shook her head. “I’m gonna finish checking the wing and then sleep myself.”

“Oh. All right.” Yayoi sat back down on the couch with a wave as the doors closed. When she turned though, she found herself looking deeply into a pair of purple eyes.

“Hi Mana!”

Mana heard the sound of snapping fingers, and suddenly wavered on her feet. With a yawn, she found herself curling up right on the floor.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Gemini glanced at the clock. It was 3:30. Regina had been gone for so long….she considered calling Sebastian, but the man had to sleep some time. Although she’d never actually seen him do so, and she was living in the same cave as him.

Putting that little mystery out of her mind, she sat up and looked around, immediately noting the mini-fridge under the counter. She had just pulled out the Ace Tea placed prominently in the front of the rack when she realized.

Regina might be a touch ditzy and unfamiliar with human emotions, but she was pretty quick with the fine points of modern technology. She knew what a fridge was, and that there was food in it.

So where had she gone?

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Mana floated above the city, stars twinkling like jewels what seemed like miles below her. The glass vessel gave a clear view all around, an impression of drifting lazily through the night sky. She heard soft music playing from somewhere, a melody that at once seemed familiar and so impossibly beaufitul that she was sure she’d have remembered it if she’d heard it before. She leaned back into the impossibly thick seat that she couldn’t see, and looking up realized that she was sitting in the carriage of an impossibly huge Ferris wheel, the super-structure so long that it would obviously collapse under its’ own weight.

In a moment of panic, she bolted out of her seat and looked at...Regina? Not the mysteriously older doppleganger who had turned her life upside down. No, this was the girl who had approached her wanting to be friends. “Re-Regina…”

The girl, however, didn’t react with surprise or shock as one would expect from someone in a moment of heart-stopping panic. Indeed, the sudden motion, which should have sent them careening, instead found them on stable footing. “Mana. Isn’t this perfect?”

Mana smiled for a moment. “Yeah, it is.”

“Then come sit back down and enjoy it.” The girl who wasn’t her Regina pleaded.

Mana shook her head. “Regina, this isn’t right.”

“...I’m sorry. What should I change?” Makoto said to her. Mana blinked, but one moment it was Regina’s girl-form, and the next it had been replaced with Makopi.

The sudden shift only disrupted her for a moment. “Regina, that’s not it.”

Alice smiled, wearing a dress that was just a little too well-tailored. “Perhaps you’d prefer this? None of this is real, of course, I can make whatever you want.”

“Regina, stop!” Mana interjected as Rikka hugged her from behind.

“I know you’re close to her, and wouldn’t this be the best to find out what it’s like?”

Mana sighed. “Yes it would, Regina, but that’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“Oh, don’t worry about your body, I put you to bed before I started. You are so silly, you need sleep.”

“I’m fine, I should really check on the others.”

Miyuki tried to gently pull her back into the seat. “The dance troupe girls are all all dividing up who stays and who goes and planning which engagements to cancel with their manager. It’s really complicated, so they’re not going to sleep tonight. The music faeries finally settled down after you talked to them, the two girls with them are busy. No one else is awake.”

“STOP!” Mana shouted, pushing Regina - her true self - into the chair. “You were spying on everyone?”

Regina pouted. “Just sensitive hearing. I’m not an idiot, you...oh, wait, you don’t know, that’s right. Yes, Gemini’s taught me about actually using my magic to peep on people. Only the ones who have given permission or we need to do it to stop them from hurting people.”

“That’s wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to begin.. And at the same time I can’t figure out how to argue.” Mana admitted. “Okay, why the heck are you doing this to me?”

“Would you prefer to be awake?” Mana’s head found its’ way to her hand. “What?”

“Regina, I’ll say this again. I’m not Gemini.” Mana said, slowly and patiently. “She’d be upset with you if she knew you were doing this.”

“Probably.” Regina admitted. “But right now I don’t care. She broke her promise.”

Mana glared daggers at her. “So you’re just doing this to get back at my counterpart, who happens to be your girlfriend?”

“No. Not just that.” Regina grinned. “I really do want to have fun with you.”

Mana sighed. “Because I look like Gemini.”

“Because you feel more like Mana to my heart,” Regina hugged her knees. “She’s changed, so much. I love the new Gemini, but I loved the old Mana. And now I can have both!”

“I’m sorry. But that’s not fair to Gemini.” Mana sighed. “Or, really, the forms of anyone you’re taking.”

“Okay.” Regina glanced down at the ground. “This is really a nice dream too. One of my best.”

Mana gave her a solid, but chaste, hug. “Then save it for your true love.”

“It’s not just the Ferris Wheel, you know. The whole amusement park’s down there. Roller coasters, a haunted house….a tunnel of love.” Regina tried hopefully.

“No.”

“Okay, we can skip the last one.”

“Wake me up now, please.”

“...okay.”

xoxoxoxoxoxox
< br> Mana’s eyes flickered open. It took a moment to realize she wasn’t looking into a concerned mirror, but Gemini’s eyes. “Wake up!” The other girl was hissing urgently. “Come on!”

Mana groaned, pushing Gemini aside to sit up slowly. “Ugh….my head is killing me. I take it she’s done this before.”

“I’m sorry to say yes, although it’s the first time she’s done the dream world bit without permission. I didn’t think to talk to her about that,” Gemini admitted. “I really am sorry, Mana. She is trying her best.”

Mana grinned through the pain. “I guess reforming an evil faerie is harder than we thought. It’s fine, it’s fine.” She waved off an offer to help her up. “Is it worth it?”

“At the moment I want to strangle her.” Gemini responded. “...but...most of the time, when she smiles at me, when we manage to have dinner alone, or when she’s finally mastered some silly little thing that we probably learned when we were toddlers...yes.”

“Then please, don’t yell at her.” Mana said. “I already scolded her.”

“She’s going to need an explanation, at least.” Gemini warned. “That can get a little contentious.”

“That’s fine.” Mana confirmed. “Besides, I should thank you. I’m sure you’ve made bringing Regina back to me will be so much easier seeing this.”

“Heh. Offer’s still open, you know.”

Mana shook her head. “Focus on the job.”

“Right, speaking of which....” Gemini found a USB stick being shoved into her hand.

“It’s your world. Look it over and tell me if this is workable.” Mana flopped back down and stretched out. “Where’d Regina go?”

“Probably back to my room like nothing happened.” Gemini admitted. “You want to be there?”

“I’ve said what I needed to.” Mana decided firmly. “Now, after that I really do need to sleep.”

Mana didn’t hear the door shut behind Gemini, already being gone before the other girl had opened the door.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Honoka was getting frustrated. The Yotsuba manor house was ridiculously large by any standard, let alone that of Japanese life. While she had noted the careful landscaping outside to make the grounds seem larger than they were, there were limits to how big a three story mansion could be.

Unless, of course, you not only built deep underground, but ignored the property lines once you were under the subway levels.

Except Honoka was reasonably sure she wasn’t that deep, and she was completely lost. The tasteful wood decoration had long since given way to plain concrete and exposed pipes, but while she had seen an underground vehicle garrage, there was no sign of the secret lab that would have to be here if the man she wanted to talk to had the same abilities as his counterpart.

Frustrated, she turned on her heels. “Oh, where am I?”

“Somewhere you are not supposed to be, Miss.”   Sebastian’s voice suddenly said from right behind her. Honoka jumped straight up and nearly hit her head on the low ceiling. Sebastian was right behind her, standing ramrod straight with mere centimeters of clearance. “Please, follow me. I will show you back to your room.”

“Don’t you have any other staff?” Honoka blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

“They are well-trained. Did you need something?”

Honoka calmed herself down, pulling out her tablet. “Have you been….erm, researching Precure down here?”

If Sebastian was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it in the slightest. “There was one effort to duplicate your powers, but it did not end well. I’ve had the resources for another attempt for awhile, but the young Miss hasn’t needed the help as much as she’s needed my support in other areas.”

Honoka took this in for a moment, then handed over the tablet silently. Sebastian’s eyes looked it over for a moment. “I would need to clear this kind of expenditure, but I can see no reason the Master would not agree. Please, keep that to yourself.”

“Right,” Honoka was only a little surprised. It seems we have an unknown ally. “How long would it take you?”

“With your assistance, two days.” Sebastian quickly estimated. “Now, you’re in no condition to be giving that assistance. I will lead you down to the lab after lunch. For now, please follow me.”

Honoka could see there was no use in arguing.

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Standing right outside the door to her bedroom, Rikka stood waiting in the sunlight streaming through the windows. Mana, still conscious of how many people would be sleeping in the surrounding rooms, resisted the urge to hug her friend and instead walked more slowly.

The stinging sound of a slap caught her completely off-guard, as did the faint pain in her cheek. She gave her childhood friend a look of utter disbelief. “Rikka?”

“You can’t keep doing this Mana.” Her voice was quiet, anguished. “I know, I know you need everyone to be happy. But this...this...I’m frightened, Mana. What if the next time it’s not someone who thinks just like you? You’re going to get yourself hurt, or worse, if you keep this up.”

“Rikka…” Mana swallowed.

“No, Mana, listen.” Rikka kept her voice soft, but she couldn’t manage to keep the plaintive plea out of it. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened. It’s fine when you’re just helping out around the school, but you can’t possibly have a plan for everything where you, personally, save the day.”

“Rikka, that’s not it and you know it.” Mana suddenly gave her friend a hug. “Yeah, I’d thought about this ahead of time, but getting involved myself was always a last resort. But we didn’t have time to call the police, and Gemini wasn’t stable. She wouldn’t talk to anyone else, and she might have hurt someone. Just this once, it had to be me.”

“What about next time?!” Rikka’s voice rose ever so slightly. “That’s exactly the attitude I’m talking about. ‘If I don’t step in, who will?’ But you’re a kid, Mana, it’s not supposed to be your place to step in to help everyone in the world who needs it. You’re not a goddess.”

“You’re right, I’m not.” Mana admitted. “You’re not saying anything I don’t think every day.”

“Then why? Why, why, why? Why spend every night thinking of every unpleasant thing that might happen around you just so you know what to do? I thought it was just broken bones and bad sports scores, but this thing with Gemini...how many real nutcases are you planning on talking down?” Rikka stopped to take a breath. “What is driving you to be like this?”

“Because I’m not a goddess, I have to do the best I can.” Mana sniffed. “I...I knew you were always worried, but…”

“So the same answer as always.” Rikka wiped a tear out of her eye. “Mana, I need you to promise me. Don’t make the world’s problems yours. There’s a time to admit you can’t do everything on your own and ask a...a specialist.”

“Of course!” Mana grinned. “That’s why I programmed the emergency section of the phone book onto my cell phone. Organized it by reputation and prefecture too.”

“...”

“...what, something else?” Mana asked.