Private High March Synchro-Connection

[Magi Heart]

High March

"Still like this. I wonder if it'll be like this 100 years from now?"

"A hundred years? *Giggle* you really need to change your perspective. Gosh...I guess that means I do too."

Magi held a circle of starlight in her hand. It reflected her face into it much like a mirror. Magi's gloved hand pulled out her hair ribbons and a small shadowy creature came running up her arm with a brush-shaped head. It began to run itself through her pink and white locks as she stared at herself.

"Weird, I wonder what these little guys even are? Dissonance? They always come out when 'm alone and need stuff... it' feels funny but it's a good brush in a pinch eheheh!"

Magi's eyes pulled away from her "mirror".Wendy was in control now as she undid her other ribbon to let the tiny dissonance-like critter continue its work.

"Probably. I dunno. I'm not an expert on these things just because we're related. I don't give a shit.."

"Cursing just sounds wrong coming out of my mouth. Please stop Wendel..."

" Says the one who said fuck deflecting that dragon ray gun thing *giggle*."

Shaking her head with a pout. Magi clapped her hands and dismissed the starlight mirror... then made a sudden grab for the little combing creature. It quickly squealed in an eery way and scattered off of her into the crevices of the March. While Magi had chased after it she had just missed with her hands and now stared down the crack with her pink eye...

Nothing.

"Awww I should have just pulled him back with magic, but... oh well.."

Sitting on her knees in the barren land. She put her hair back into her preferred do.Wendy and Wendel fighting with their fingers for the best way to tie. One wanted to reverse the other.

Wendy and Wendel, the two parts that both played the same identity of Magi Heart in a fake virtual world, permanently. The duo had been through a lot. Giant spiders, mind-controlled soldiers, crazy doggos, sisters VXII members, some glowing girl that separated her from Blank, and a crazy dissonance hunter that really had it out for her. Then there was the most recent...

Red Magia Mommy, aka Szozo, aka Szofrit,

That fight changed some things about Astorea and to be honest. It wasn't something either Magi really was good at understanding. One was confused and not the most educated or mature enough to deal with the cruelty of politics. The other couldn't care less regardless and just saw it as another reason to "grow up".... which Wendy had begun to realize might just be a very bad thing. Still, they were the same and they felt what each other felt.

"Raina-chan is coming soon, right? She isn't going to get lost?"

"Remember how fast she found us when we saw Cain?! And besides, I have this cool beans thing! The radar magic... I attached to this!"

Spinning her finger a red thread began to generate out of the ether. The magic in the High March was weak but she used her own rather than drawing from outside herself. Once a fate thread was generated she dropped and focused her astral magic. Her eye blinked gold for a few seconds and the thread started to move like a worm. Then bounced about and seemed to be waiting at attention like a dog. Magi pat the thread on the head lightly.

"Okay little thread! Go find Seigi! She's close I know it!"

The wormy thread danced about before rushing off stretching out from where Magi still knelt down.

"...not just for guiding a punch huh? I should use that more.. would be cool beans to find some needy people persons and keep them from running away."

"No. You can't anyway. It's not a rope. It's a ummm... thread thing. I miss having the names of stuff."

"Weneggy, you barely remember what the UI was... I don't even know what that stands for and memories don't help!"

Magi just sat still in her magic form chatting with herself in the wasteland of dissonance... strangely the peace and nothingness weren't anywhere as depressing as they once had been to her. It was comfy actually. The Naryu chasm was close but she didn't feel any threat today. Just quiet time with herself.

Hopefully, @Seigi Ling Ling will come to hang out with her soon. She really wanted to talk with her best friend again after so much has happened.

 

[Seigi Ling Ling]

Wendy, her best friend. Magi Heart, the Magical Girl of Love and Justice. Wendel, the Dissonant Harbringer. Wendi, the Enigma. Benevolence, her alluring facade. Malovelence, the bitter truth. Forward and backward. A singular duality; personified. A finale brimming with delight, tainted by the entropy that threatened to return them all to oblivion.

"Urgh..." Thinking about all this ended in but one thing: A major pain in the head. There were just so many moving parts. So many unknown variables. So much she would consider. Could consider. Should consider. Yet, thinking so deep just wasn't like herself. Not that she was stupidly running from one risk into the next but... well, the heroine was hopeful that as long as she gave it her best shot, things had to work out, somehow.

Yet, for that to happen, she had to be there.
Yet, for that to happen, she hadn't been there.
For her. For them. For us.

So much time had passed once again, but it felt like an eternity. Each time they met, there simply had never been enough time. Never been a certain peace of mind. Always action, always enemies, always others.

"Shuush you..." She whispered the taunting voices to the back of her mind. For once, she hoped it'd be different. For once, she hoped it would just be the two of them. The Guiding Star and the Lost Girl. Hoping that, eventually, Raina could demonstrate that the ideals they held so firmly were more than just childish fantasies. But for that, she had to be there. Here. By her best friend's side.

There was a saying, one that Seigi disagreed with. That a hunter that chased two rabbits would end up catching neither one. No. The hunter simply wasn't skilled enough... thus, she wouldn't make the same mistake. But for that, she had to take a step forward. Sure, somewhere deep within, she felt scared. Scared of what?... Well, it didn't matter.

Ultimately, to move forward, one had to act.

"Hey there!" How she got there, when she got there, why she got there it... all didn't matter. With all the time she spend thinking useless thoughts, Raina had arrived at her destination. A sad place in dire need of light.

Long time no see, Magi.

Raina gave her the brightest smile she could muster. A farce; turned truth. For her Flame could at the very least bend her own reality. And if Wendy's heart couldn't love anymore, then Raina's own had to be just that much bigger.

"I've missed you! How are you feeling?" And with that, a hug followed.

@Magi Heart

 

[Magi Heart]

High March

The Titanius Wastes

"Long time no see Magi!"

Had the thread found her? Had she found the thread?
In the end, it didn't matter at all. Seigi had appeared and that was enough for Magi. Both of them

This time was different though. When Raina hugged her. Both Magis wondered if Seigi ever felt the same thing Erick and Kyanna had. Just the act of touching her caused pain when that wasn't what either of them wanted. Unlike before at Falderen with Cain. Magi's arms were hesitant to wrap around her friend. Wendel fed off of the energy their pain would give off but...

Gee whiz.
Why were they different?
What was it that kept her strong and kept Magi broken?
Was the difference between the sources of their problem that different really?
Too soon to say...

Still, behind that smile, Magi could feel the tension. Raina wasn't quite as clueless as she was when they first reunited in Falderen last year. Magi finally returned the hug to her taller friend. Still, after the standoff at Camp Hope, after seeing what happened to her during the Szofrit fight. After losing Cain. Magi barely needed to astral sense Raina Raythean, she knew her enough to know that this is a little different.

There was so much to talk about. Yet Magi as a whole wasn't crazy good at communication. Back then... they just talked about their interests, their dreams and aspirations, how cool it would be to make them real and so on. Now... Wendy barely held on to those memories and Wendel even less so. Even though those memories are why Wendel's madness manifested itself the specific way it did.

Two things always remained.
Magi Heart existed to help people.
Raina was the only person that held such a close belief system.
Or these days... did she?

"Hi Seigi!"

Seigi didn't use either of their non-role play, non-masked names.
So Magi too felt odd considering the other entity within the fist-fighter.
Wendy didn't want to be rude and so they would never be truly alone. Magi and Seigi shared their lives with something else. What that something else was... for both of them wouldn't matter right now... but would before the talk was over most likely.

It was dead here. A little too fitting considering they both likely were. What did that even mean? Were they just... this was a game, right? It felt so hard to even think of it that way and Wendel for sure didn't. So ghosts or just... sprites? The thought of someone making her run around with a controller in a old school indie Steamoh game suddenly came to her. It was funny but weird.

Funny how these thoughts hadn't come until now. Arcia made it easy to forget a lot of things. Some of those things were forced back by recent events.

"I know this is a creepy place. It's not the safest either. You... died near here once right? I... or Wendel or... we were really angry then. We took it out on people we shouldn't have. Gee whiz, sorry. We shouldn't talk about stuff like that."

She dismissed her form and walked up to Seigi with her hands clasped in front of her simple dress. She seemed relaxed. Surprisingly so for the place they were in. It belied how nervous half of her felt. How much it leaked to the other self... The benefits of Wendy dehumanizing to become strong and Wendel being humanized to control her...

If dissonance was weird enough. Then the prism explosion only pushed it further to "what even is going on with her" territory. It's not like all of Vermillion's other corruptions were multi-personality weirdos like this. Were they?

"Um... so Seigi. How have you been? Punched any supervillains recently? Eheheh... what do you do when you're done leveling up right?"

Wendel cringed internally. Done? She wasn't even close to done! Not until EVERYTHING was done.

"I guess I don't have much to say *giggle*. Since everyone can't stop suffering for even a second so we can have some private time. Raina-chan... Thing-chan....ehhh."

Nervousness, stop making me feel that! I don't need this!
It's okay. We can try to umm... work through it together.
...sure. I'm going to say it you know.
...not yet please just a few minutes.

"You helped create the Lion people right? How does it feel to do that? Cain told me, you have a place for lost children?"

A place? They don't need a place. They need not to need.
Quiet you. How do I think like this... how long does that rose last. I thought I would be normal after a while but it's been years and I've....
I'll let you be bossy for now. Raina-chan opens up to you. If I'm stuck with human logic then I will take advantage...

@Seigi Ling Ling

 

[Seigi Ling Ling]

Seigi didn't spend too long thinking about whom she was hugging. Magi was Magi, and whatever else was in her head was as real and unreal as Nanami was. Which... really didn't say much. Though ultimately what would be important to the small hero was who'd end up in control. And so far, she had a hard time telling... even acknowledging.

"I never died!" @Magi Heart really had a lot to say. And for all the little things Magi spoke about, it was important that Raina listened! She usually didn't like people using complex words or many sentences, so it was that much more important to have an open ear... and mind. "Technically... but I'm still very much alive and kicking!" It was very important indeed. Some people ran around with the ridiculous thought that just because one became UI locked and their body on earth dying didn't mean they were dead! Something Seigi had to make sure to put through Magi's skull... and other people, too. "Buuuttt you're not wrong... but I'm not keeping too much count of it... ehehehe..." With that, she could let this more light-hearted topic that Magi called 'depressing' go.

Instead following with some form of small talk. Which somehow just felt weird, but also right. They were best friends, so there was no reason to feel that way around each other? And there was so much to talk about anyway! So the state of the weather was the least of their concerns. Had Wendy always been like that? Though the tone in Magi's voice, and her entire body language, shifted for just a moment. Seigi noticed.

She had... always noticed, but sorta turned a blind eye to it. 'If I close my eyes it can't see me' sort of deal. But really, Wendel wouldn't just go away. What Seigi would give for... whatever she was to just leave Magi alone! It could bother Magi instead! Hmpf. Or maybe it was an option... the young hero had decided to no longer turn a blind eye, after all...

But more to that after going through all the questions Magi had asked her! Quite a bunch.

"Well, well. I could be better, but it could always be worse! So I am fine and dandy." You know, apart from her best friend hosting some eldritch weird thing, Cain having abandoned her listened to her advice, lots of people still suffering, and still pretty clueless about returning to the real world!

Truth be told, I've been struggling with myself a lot recently. I guess in super-hero-speech it'd be, having a hard time staying on the right path! Buuut it's been getting better recently. Also thanks to finally having found you!

Yeah, she could go on and on about that, but her heroic antics about hope and all that would probably become relevant later on anyway....

"You're like the, first person, to acknowledge that!" Indeed, thinking about it, Raina stared at Magi with wide eyes. She was a founding member of the lions, but not even a senior like Hanno seemed to be aware of that. N-Not that Seigi tried to flatter herself at all!... Well, maybe a bit. "I did, but... it sorta turned out different than I... imagined? And cuz of my own struggles I've run away for a long time... now... well... I talked to Levi and-" It was too late? Levi denied her... but, really, has it ever been in her to just give up? Even if Seigi would ever be a part of the Lion's officially again, it wouldn't stop her from trying to influence them, right? Right.

"You're a genius!" Seigi called out, pulling Magi in another hug as if it was Magi's fault that she had gotten that idea! Letting go of Magi, there was still the orphanage.

Don't you dare tell her-!
But I-
You know what she would do? Could do?
Shuush! I trust my dear friend.

"Yes. Yes, I do! It's the least, and best, I can do without having to be around... it's... really more monetary aid. I am not getting around the place that much anymore... I've mostly been focused on UI-locked kids too scared about all of this. Though there are some others, too. It's in good hands..." As Seigi spoke about it, Magi could clearly see how genuine she was about it all. Kinda like speaking about one's own family... assuming they were on very good terms.

"Buuuut what about you?!" Seigi finally got around asking, before Magi would drill another five questions into the girl. "What has been up with you? I've been looking and searching!" Though, unlike her best friend, Raina was a tad more direct? "You... we... we're still on the same page, yeah?" Raina closed her eyes for a moment. Recalling onto her vast elephant memory that only remembered the relevant bits of lore and information that were absolutely important.

"You know, ahem, Magi Heart was coming! The girl who spreads love and justice! Struck down evil meanies wherever they lurked!... The one and only, Magi Heart!!!"

 

[Magi Heart]

High March

The Titanius Wastes

She didn't die?

Magi wanted to believe that. For the longest time, she believed she was probably just in a bed all this time. That her family was visiting her and dropping off flowers and doing other sad but not Wendy's dead things. It was just a game. If she was dead, how could she be here? That is also how she got by with Wendel's more despicable acts. After all, if Wendel was her brain just freaking out somehow in the headset...

What did that headset even look like? Her house, her dog, all those things were vague. Recently she had her memory jogged with what real life might have been like but it still wasn't really that way. There was always the chance there was no real life and they had always been here. Having years of your life turn to mush with a rose rotting your heart away can do that to your senses of time and place.

Still, Wendy believed. Just like with Haito and her own coming back from "death" after several situations to keep Wendel from being the only persona of Magi. She believed and hoped so hard that it had led Wendel to learn about those traits. Wendel was a baby dissonance compared to the rest but she picked up on things from her unique situation sharing the body she should have fully turned into a shell by now. Did that make things worse or better in the long run... oh well, that wasn't now!

"You're right. As long as we are alive here. We have to be alive out there. I-I've got a lot of things that would strip me of any magical girl heroine title pretty fast, but as long as it's um, just a game. Gee whiz that's hard to think about now but if it is. I am sure it will be okay. I'll ge-"

"Get what? Rid of me? Raina-chan, don't you think it's funny that I kept Magi Heart alive all this time and she wants to be rid of me? When I'm the real thing? Everything she ideals to be I am. I'm just more grown up. *Giggle* soon I'll be... eheh. I'm more of a magical girl than she ever was. Wasn't Magi Heart just a big fake, shooting wooden arrows before she finally woke up as me? You know what I mean Weneggy!"

Wendel quickly evoked back into her magical form, did an exaggerated one of Magi's old super sentai poses, and returned to base form. It was better than her attempts in the past when faking for others, even though it was meant to be purposely mocking. Wendel truly had adopted the magical girl obsession of Wendy. If it wasn't such a dark reality to live with, it would be pretty ironic and a little funny even for a dissonance to be the total weeb and not even know the source of such things first hand.

"Gosh, see Seigi? She's so difficult. I... I could use magic before I was um, stuck I guess?"

When Seigi talked about how finding Magi made her own burdens lighter. Both Ws smiled in a sincere way. Neither wanted their best friend to suffer. Straying from the right path though? That was shocking for Seigi Ling Ling to ever say! Now it was up to Magi to support her.

The orphanage? Looking and searching...? Same page?

Hmmmm.

"You know, ahem, Magi Heart was coming! The girl who spreads love and justice! Struck down evil meanies wherever they lurked!... The one and only, Magi Heart!!!"

Magi blushed a deep pink. It had been a while since her ever less human body did that. No illusions or makeup to appear less inhuman. It was natural.

That song... nostalgic and embarrassing!

Ewwww! Wowzers I hate that song! You're so dumb Weneggy!
Stop calling me that and no you're dumb! Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that! I was practicing that... I forgot about it!
A cool beans lullaby would be better. That sounds like you're making people die of laughter which is fine too I guess...
B-But laughing is good.. wait not if they die!

Magi Heart made an awkward expression as her inner halves argued but finally just laughed happily at her friend remembering that when even she hadn't.

"Thanks Seigi. I needed that. Wowzers it has been a long time. Spreading love and justice is a real toughie eheheh! I had a long journey alone. Coming back to Astorea to find you was always on my mind I... don't mean to sound obsessive. It just happens."

She tilted her head.

"But I still try when I can to do heroic things. We saved Szofrit, right? I think...? Oh, those children. I'd like to...."

S̴̩͐à̶̖v̷̬͋e̵̟̕ ̵̦̇t̴͇͝h̴͍̽e̴̖̔ṃ̸́.̷̦͂

"Ummm uhh... help them. Not like that... I... you know Seigi. That I'm not normal anymore. I can be dangerous. I'd love to see the orphanage but I don't know... I have urges."

Shaking her head to avoid that topic yet again. Magi decided to focus on Seigi's pathfinding problem instead!

"Seigi! Of course I acknowledged it! The biggest fan of Seigi Ling Ling was always me when we played in real life right? (the truth was she didn't remember enough to be sure of that but it sounded nice!). The Sunset Sage of Seven Strikes never gives up and abides by the hero codes (it would be nice if she remembered what those were). You can't ever stray Seigi. Ever! I know you wouldn't! So... we will always be on the same page! Same manga! We are in the same show!"

"Happy ending happy ending happy ending *giggle". You promised me! I will never give up on that! Heroes always get the best ending ever!♥"

Wendel did a small swaying dance of joy at being with her chosen perfect person and being well... Wendel.