When I was younger, I thought it was odd to name magical girls after playing cards.  Surely, I thought, there must be better ways to describe our powers, our mission.  I didn’t mind my alter ego’s name much, but I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what it meant.  I asked my mother about it once, and she simply replied, “It’s not something you need to know.  You may be Lucky Sword, but you are also Gisela Branton, and Gisela Branton has no business interfering in celestial affairs.”

That was enough for me back then.  Those who know nothing want nothing.

Now, though, I understand.

Here’s how I like to think of it:

There’s a saying about the way the cards fall.  I forget exactly how it goes, but I know the meaning well enough.  Fate, magic, even the world — all may change in half a second.  There’s no point trying to reverse these changes; you have to take things as they are and use them to your advantage.  Is that not what magical girls do?  What I do?

Not that I was ever one to play fair.

----------------------------------------

It was a trap, of course.  It was always going to be a trap, and Aiko knew that, and yet she’d walked right into it.

She’d been thinking — what had she been thinking?  Something about hoping for the best but expecting the worst.  Something about how Yukari would never, ever forgive Aiko if she really was in danger and Aiko didn’t come.  Something about how she could defeat a monster or two, then hurry to the Skytree; if she could just purify whatever magic bomb thing the Shades put there before 2:15, everything would be all right.

Now, though, as Aiko’s back hit the wall, hard enough for the brick to crack, those thoughts were far from her mind.

At the old theater.  Need backup.

That was the last message Yukari’d sent through her Trump Card, and Aiko, optimistic and stupid as she was, had believed it.  She certainly hadn’t expected two Shades to ambush her the moment she walked through the door.

Cursing under her breath, Aiko forced her body to the ground just before yet another bolt flew from Conquian’s crossbow, immediately exploding as it made contact with the wall.  There was a hole right where Aiko had been two seconds ago, no doubt, but there was no time to contemplate yet another near-death experience — a flurry of bolts were coming her way.

Her chest burned as she got to her feet — at least one rib was probably broken — and leapt forward, sailing above the bolts and over Conquian’s head.  He turned around, but he was too slow, and Aiko grabbed him by the wrist, forcing her magic into his body.  This wasn’t the time for a finisher, not when it was two against one, so she’d have to take him down by “normal” means.

A second later, she was forced to let go of Conquian and jump away again; Pinochle’s staff hit the ground right where she’d been, cracking the floor and sending a shockwave through the whole building.  Aiko almost lost her balance, but she managed to grab one of the seats half a second before she fell.

Pinochle put a hand on Conquian’s shoulder.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine.  Just a bit…”

Conquian certainly didn’t look okay.  His face was pale, and he was bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.  It didn’t look like Aiko had disrupted his heart rhythm enough to kill him, but he’d be out of the fight long enough for Aiko to turn the tide.  Good enough.

Pinochle lunged forward, but Aiko sidestepped, then jumped back several feet — Pinochle was strong and annoyingly bulky, but he wasn’t great at long-range combat like the other Shades were.  If Aiko could just stay a good distance away…

Another shockwave hit, the walls creaking under the assault, but Aiko was ready this time.  Ignoring the sharp pain in her chest, she crouched, then launched herself into the air as hard as she could.

Midway through the air, she grabbed the Heart Bracelet on her right wrist with her left hand.  A finisher would drain her, but if she could hit both Shades at once…

Aiko was nearly to the roof now.  Down below, Conquian was still hunched over, while Pinochle was bracing for an attack.  He wouldn’t go down easily, but if Aiko could just hit him hard enough…

Aiko held out her right hand, red light gathering in her palm, and aimed right between the two Shades.  “Lovely Heart Final—”

Her final word was cut off as a blast of energy hit her right in the back, shooting her down to the floor.

She landed hard, barely able to catch herself on her arms, and pain immediately flared to life in both her chest and one of her forearms.  Shit, had she just broken another bone?

Before she could even look up, Pinochle’s staff came down on her back, and this time, Aiko cried out in pain, involuntarily curling into the fetal position.

Shit, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die —

The staff slammed into her side, triggering another scream.

I’m gonna die and nobody will ever find my body, I’m gonna die and Yukari’s gonna get killed, too —

The staff came back again, this time hitting her knees.  Aiko, having lost her composure after the first strike, could feel herself sobbing, could feel her left kneecap cracking —

And another hit.

I’m gonna die, I’ll never know what happened —

Pinochle held up his staff, aiming for the head this time, and Aiko could only squeeze her eyes shut and pray for a miracle, for Yukari, for anyone to save her before the final blow came.

It didn’t come, of course.

Instead, an all-too-familiar voice rang out.  “Enough, Pinochle.  Let me talk to her.”

Aiko opened her eyes to see Tarot crouched down, smirking at her, his face only inches from hers.  She instinctively tried to jerk her head back, but Tarot grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look at him.

Bastard.

Tarot’s costume was black, indicating that he’d drawn the Magician card for his transformation.  A rather weak card, yes, but it was enough to catch Aiko unawares.  His eyes held the smuggest look Aiko had ever seen, and she fought the urge to punch the smirk off his face.  He’ll just hurt me more.  He was the one who hit me mid-finisher, wasn’t he?

Tarot chuckled, tightening his grip on Aiko’s chin.  “Aww, don’t look at me like that, sweetheart.  You really put up a fight.  I doubt that finisher would’ve killed Pinochle, but maybe Conquian…”  He trailed off, glancing at Conquian, who was walking over to them, seemingly having shaken off the heart palpitations.

“You could’ve stepped in earlier, you know,” Conquian snapped, putting his now-broken glasses back on.  “You didn’t have to wait until the last moment.”

“There’s no suspense in that,” Tarot replied, then looked back at Aiko.  “Anyway, how’s my princess feeling?  Sorry for Pinochle’s rudeness.  He’s like that.”

You literally let him hit me four times before you stopped him, Aiko growled internally.  She glared straight into Tarot’s eyes, refusing to say a word.

“C’mon, it wasn’t that bad.”  Tarot grinned.  “Well, it won’t feel as bad in comparison to what happens next.”

Aiko couldn’t bear to look into his hungry gaze any longer, so she glared at his hand instead.  It was the one with the burn on the front — one of Tarot’s many scars.  He had them all over his body; he’d shown her one night after they’d finished, telling her the story behind each one.  The stories were probably all lies, but even so, he’d seemed so vulnerable that night.  Then again, that might have been exactly what he’d wanted her to think.

Fucking bastard.  Why’d I ever think he was redeemable?

Tarot flicked her on the forehead, trying to get her attention.  “What’s on your mind?”

Aiko simply growled, glaring back, trying to hide her fear and the way her whole body felt like it was on fire.  She was failing miserably, of course.

“Come on.  Say something.”

Aiko said nothing, only grabbing her Heart Bracelet again.  She was in pain, she was going to be killed soon, but if she could just take Tarot with her, take just one repulsive Shade out of the world…

Conquian sighed.  “I think she’s done with your shit, Tarot.  Frankly, I can’t blame her.”

Pinochle remained silent, only nodding.

Tarot whipped around to glare at his fellow Shades.  “I don’t remember asking for your opi—”

The moment Tarot’s grip loosened, Aiko slammed her head into his chin, forcing him back, then aimed her hand and shouted, “Lovely Heart Finale!”

A heart-shaped blast of red light flew out of her palm.  It was weak, flickering, a pale shade of red, but it was there…

And out of the ground, two shadow hands rose up and caught the heart, then dragged it down into the darkness.

Aiko fell back, body splayed out on the ground, all of her energy gone.  All for nothing, because of —

“Piquet!” Tarot called out.  “Took you long enough.”

Piquet swooped down from the ceiling, coming down to hover a few feet over Tarot.  “You’re welcome.”

“Wha — how?” Aiko stammered, barely able to choke out those few words.  The pain was coming again, worse than ever, but she gritted her teeth and refused to scream again.

Piquet pointed up at the projector on the ceiling.  “The lens.  It might be small, but it can still reflect things.”

And if an object can reflect things, it’s a gate between this world and the Other Side, where the Shades dwell.

Jack’s words were echoing in Aiko’s head — Jack, the fairy who’d given Aiko and Yukari their Trump Cards, who’d watched over and guided them, who’d left them one day with no warning, only a note.  If he’d still been around when this all started…

Aiko shook her head, trying to get his soothing voice out of her ears.  There was no point in thinking about what-ifs.  

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The four Shades had gathered around her now, and —

Wait.

The four Shades.  All of them.  They were all here, except perhaps the Ultimate Shade, but he was just a theory.

Aiko began to laugh.  It hurt, but did that really matter?  She was going to die soon, but Yukari…  Maybe Yukari could live.

Piquet gave her a confused look.  “What’s so funny?”

“You’re all so stupid.”  Aiko had barely been able to speak a few moments ago, but now, the words poured from her mouth.  Perhaps it was because she was about to die?  For whatever reason, she couldn’t bring herself to care.  “I know you forced Yukari to send me that message.  I know you’re keeping her somewhere.  And you might feel so smart, ambushing me like this, but you’ve left her unguarded.  She’s going to escape, and then you’ll all —”

“Piquet, go get it.”

Aiko froze at Tarot’s words, and when he leaned down and laughed in her face, she could only start to tear up again.  Deep down, she knew what was going on.  She’d known since Yukari didn’t show up at the meeting place at the appointed time.  She’d tried to ignore it, laugh it off, deny it, but she couldn’t.

At the same time, Piquet nodded, then flew up and vanished, presumably into the projector’s lens.

“You do realize,” Tarot began, “that anyone can send a message through a Trump Card?  It doesn’t have to be a magical girl.  Even I could do it.  And I did.”

“Shut up.”

Tarot crouched down, leaned in even further, and whispered the truth, what Aiko had known this whole time.

“Lucky Joker — Yukari — is dead, Aiko.  She’s been dead for about five hours now.”

It didn’t hurt.

Nothing hurt.  The broken bones, the bruises, her chest — all had gone numb.

Yukari was dead.

Aiko felt her whole body go completely limp.  She didn’t register Tarot’s continued taunts.  She didn’t register when he picked her head up off the floor and kissed her roughly, even biting her bottom lip.

“Knock it off, Tarot.”  Conquian’s words sounded odd, like they were being spoken from far away.  “If you’re going to kill her, just do it already.”

Tarot shook his head.  “Just wait a minute.  I want her to see the body first.”

The body came a few seconds later, carried down by Piquet.  Yukari laid completely motionless in his arms, no longer transformed, T-shirt soaked through with blood.  Piquet laid her on the floor next to Aiko, almost gently.  Aiko, despite her weakness, managed to prop herself up on her elbows to look at her best friend.

Her best friend.

She still didn’t feel anything much.  Just numb.  Only yesterday, she’d been talking with Yukari on the phone, discussing Yukari’s recent vision of an explosion at the Skytree, arranging a place to meet before they went to stop it, even daring to laugh about Yukari’s latest crush…

And now Yukari’s corpse was laying on the ground, eyes wide open, as if she was staring at some vision Aiko couldn’t see.  Her shirt had rolled up a bit, exposing part of her abdomen, where something had clearly pierced right through her.

God…  What am I supposed to tell her parents?

Probably nothing, because Aiko would be long dead by the time they found out.

“She went deep into the Other Side all by herself,” Piquet said slowly, softly, as if that explained everything.

“Still don’t know why she did it,” Tarot muttered.  He gave Aiko a kick.  “Do you know why?”

“I don’t,” Aiko whispered, barely audible.  There was no point in lying.  Still, Tarot’s words had sparked a bit of curiosity amongst the numbness.  Why had Yukari gone into the Shades’ domain alone?  She was the one with the divination powers, so had she seen something?  Something so urgent that it had to be investigated immediately?

Something she wouldn’t even tell her best friend about?

Tarot shrugged.  “Maybe she wanted to kill herself, but was too afraid to do it, so she went somewhere she knew she’d be killed.”

Aiko couldn’t take her eyes off Yukari’s corpse.  “She would never.”

Was it just Aiko, or was there still a glimmer of fear in Yukari’s lifeless eyes?

She died alone, afraid…

The numbness finally receded a bit, replaced by an intense wave of guilt.  Yukari had been acting weird the past few days — staying home from school, barely replying to Aiko’s texts and Trump Card messages, divining with her Joker Ball over and over — and yet Aiko hadn’t seen the warning signs for what they were.  She’d let Yukari, her partner, her best friend, go and die on her own.

I’m a terrible excuse for a friend.

Hell, I’m a terrible excuse for a magical girl.

It was then, as if brought up by Aiko’s thoughts, that the explosion rang out.  It was slightly muffled by the theater’s mostly-padded walls, but even so, she knew exactly what it was.

The bomb in the Skytree.

She was too late.

She’d always thought that someone’s blood running cold was just an expression, but now she felt as if her veins were pumping mountain runoff.  The blast, according to Yukari’s prediction, wouldn’t be enough to bring down the Skytree, but it would severely damage the first five floors, killing a ton of people.

Her parents both worked in the Skytree.

She’d officially fucked up.

And Tarot smiled, triumph radiating from his smug face.  “Looks like we win, sweetheart.”

Conquian nodded.  “I bet we’ll be getting a new Shade soon.”

A new Shade, spawned from the fear, despair, and hatred the bombing had and would bring about.  Another monster who’d cause as much destruction as he possibly could.  God, Aiko hated the idea, and yet she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Right.  She couldn’t manage to get her parents to ditch work today, she couldn’t be trusted with whatever information Yukari had that made her go so deep into the Other Side, she couldn’t help but fall into an obvious trap and let the bomb go off.  Magical girls were supposed to help people, protect them, and yet…

I couldn’t protect anything.

There was something bubbling within her, an emotion she’d struggled to keep down since Tarot had betrayed her for the first time — hatred.  Hatred for herself.  Hatred for the Shades.  Even a bit of hatred for Jack.

Conquian spared her another haughty look.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll stay out of Tokyo for a while.  Can’t be seen in the same place too many times in a row.”  He narrowed his eyes, summoning his crossbow again in a burst of shadow.  “Unfortunately, you won’t be around for what happens next.”

Tarot held out a hand, not even looking at Conquian.  “Hold on.  I want to try something.”

Conquian sighed, his crossbow dissolving into darkness.  “Fine, but I’m not taking any chances.  Piquet, hold her down.”

Aiko didn’t struggle as Piquet’s shadow’s hands stretched out from the ground, wrapping around her torso.  She had a pretty good idea of what Tarot wanted to do, and it was nothing she hadn’t experienced before.

As such, she was completely blindsided when Tarot said, “Aiko, you want to kill yourself, don’t you?  You should.”

Kill myself?

Somehow, the idea didn’t sound as terrible as it should have.

“I mean, you’re going to die anyway,” Tarot continued, his words seeping further into Aiko’s mind.  “And even if you weren’t, why would you want to keep living?  You keep claiming that magical girls are here to protect the world, but exactly what have you been protecting?  Yukari’s dead, your parents are probably dead by now —”

My parents…

A brief burst of rage pushed Tarot’s magic away, if only for a moment.  “My parents,” Aiko hissed, “are dead because of you four.”

“Good for you,” Piquet interrupted, his voice level.

Aiko wanted to lunge at him, make his heart burst, tear him apart.  These Shades — monsters, every one of them — had killed Yukari, killed her parents, killed so many, and now they were trying to make Aiko blame herself?

No.  She wouldn’t stand for this, and she wouldn’t let Tarot get to her, compelling voice or not.

“Come on, Aiko,” Tarot said softly.  “Name one reason you should live.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Aiko snarled, “maybe so I can kill you all?”

Aiko could feel her hatred surging through her whole body, numbing the pain once more.  Yes, she was going to kill the Shades — she wanted her face to be the last thing they saw as they died in agony, in fear, just like Yukari did.

She didn’t realize she was writhing in her bonds until Piquet stepped back, making some sort of signal with his hands.  Half a second later, the shadow’s hands were around her neck, squeezing so tightly that she couldn’t breathe.

“Enough,” Piquet murmured, glaring at Tarot.  “Stop dragging this out.  If you’re not going to kill her, I will.”

The hands dug in tighter, gripping harder and harder as Aiko flailed, growling, still shaking with rage.  Black spots were flickering before her eyes, but she could feel something rising within her, some sort of power she’d never even considered before.

I’ll kill them all.

Magical girls were supposed to love, to protect, but right now, Aiko didn’t care.  All the love in her heart hadn’t redeemed Tarot.  It hadn’t saved Yukari, or the Skytree, or her parents.  It hadn’t killed a single Shade, not in all her time as a magical girl.  If hate was what she needed, so be it.

Aiko took her hatred, her rage, the power, and flung out her right arm.

“Gloaming Heartache Finale!”

Darkness, still in the shape of a heart, blasted out of her hand, then pulsed, sending a wave of energy out in a circle around her.  The energy wave slammed into the Shades, sending them crashing back into the walls.

Dimly, Aiko realized that if her normal finisher had been that powerful, at least one Shade would’ve been killed, dissolving into black smoke.  Perhaps it was because she was using a power like theirs?

Whatever the reason, there was no time to waste.  With renewed strength, Aiko stood up, though her legs still shook.  The pain from the blows she’d taken earlier was still there, and she knew everything would hurt terribly later, but right now, she was running on adrenaline.  Her face was still wet, hair clinging to it —

Wait, why was her hair black?  That was her natural hair color, as opposed to the red it took on when she transformed.  Had she gone back to her civilian form without realizing?  No, she could still feel her gloves, the bow around her neck.  A quick glance revealed that her costume was still there, but the color palette had changed.  Instead of wearing red and pink, she wore red and black.  Black like the darkness she’d just fired out.  Black like the river on the Other Side that the Shades came out of.

What did I just do?

Pinochle was the first Shade to get to his feet, an expression of terrified recognition on his face.  “We need to get out of here.  Now.”

Tarot stared at him, then back at Aiko.  “But —”

“Now.”

Grabbing Tarot by the wrist, Pinochle crouched, about to jump.

Like I’m letting you escape.

Aiko aimed her hand up at the projector.  If she could destroy it with another blast, perhaps —

Faster than she’d expected from him, Pinochle slammed his staff into the ground, and the resulting shockwave knocked Aiko back onto the floor.  By the time she was up again, all four Shades were gone, leaving her alone with Yukari’s corpse.

For several minutes, Aiko stood where she was, staring down at her best friend’s dead body, thinking.

Then the pain kicked in, and she cried out, collapsing to her knees.  With the last bit of strength she had, she pulled out her Trump Card.

Her warped, blackened Trump Card.

Only the hearts remained red, one last thing tying her to her identity — her former identity — as Lucky Heart.

Exactly what had she become?

For the last time, Aiko held her Trump Card to her mouth, then whispered a final message.

“Heart to Clover: Joker’s dead.  Her Trump Card is gone.  The Skytree’s been bombed.”

Aiko could feel herself trembling with exhaustion, but she had more to say.

“I’m not giving up.  I’m leaving Tokyo.  Don’t message me again.”

Putting the Trump Card back, Aiko finally gave in and allowed herself to de-transform, almost immediately passing out afterward, slumping to the ground right next to her best friend.

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Then again, I don’t suppose anybody really plays fair.