As she approached them, her details were clearer. Her weapon, too, was more visible, and could be more specifically be identified with a naginata, glaive or harpoon, based on its apparent design.
"Excuse me please, there is someone who needs my attention," she says in a soft tone as she points her weapon to the odd whiteness that Holden and Hiruko had just left - the path to Nemurin's room. "That someone needs me right now."
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"Did you say Nemurin? How do you know that name?"
The girl with the naginata seemed a little shocked, yet she was able to hold enough focus to prepare to counter any bullets that Jade might launch with a single swift slash of the blade.
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"I am always prepared for a fight," the girl spoke before she inserted her weapon in a small pouch. The way it entered the pouch made it seem as if the pouch was bigger on the inside, at least big enough to serve as a sheathe, a fool could infer. "Whenever there's trouble, there's a threat. Something tells me that I came after the threat, but I know it's not too late."
"Wait, you've known her for a short while? She's been in quite a fight already? How long ago was that? Nemurin was a friend of mine... until she... until she..."
A single tear from the girl was quickly wiped with a hand.
"... she was the first of many fatalities in that incident... it was so unfair... someone as sweet as her... after her, nearly everyone fell, even someone I really treasured..."
"What might you speak of, Miss?" Luna questions, "Nemurin is alive. Healthy and well, not so. By the way, she got badly beaten... not too long ago. I'd say about an hour or two ago."
"An hour or two? That's impossible! But I thought she- I-"
"I have no clue what you speak of, but if it concerns Nemurin, it is likely that she will know her side of this story. Any questions I have for you, I will have to ask Nemurin as well. By the way, what is your name?"
"Snow White. Magical Girl Hunter. Don't worry, I only hunt Magical Girls who have commited heinous crimes. Horrible crimes. Nemurin will never fit the bill for that."
"You're Snow White? I always thought you'd look a little different... you seem less... happy than Nemurin said you'd be."
Luna looks at Holden, Hiruko and Jade. "Oh, Nemurin didn't tell you about Snow White? I suppose she was getting busier by the time you all were recruited. She used to tell Silence Dogood and I about her old life, but nothing about... her death."
"I think the person I am meeting is Nemurin. Care to lead me there?"
"Well, everypony- uh- body, what do you say? Anything we need to do before heading back?"
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"I am always prepared for a fight," the girl spoke before she inserted her weapon in a small pouch. The way it entered the pouch made it seem as if the pouch was bigger on the inside, at least big enough to serve as a sheathe, a fool could infer. "Whenever there's trouble, there's a threat. Something tells me that I came after the threat, but I know it's not too late."
"Wait, you've known her for a short while? She's been in quite a fight already? How long ago was that? Nemurin was a friend of mine... until she... until she..."
A single tear from the girl was quickly wiped with a hand.
"... she was the first of many fatalities in that incident... it was so unfair... someone as sweet as her... after her, nearly everyone fell, even someone I really treasured..."
"What might you speak of, Miss?" Luna questions, "Nemurin is alive. Healthy and well, not so. By the way, she got badly beaten... not too long ago. I'd say about an hour or two ago."
"An hour or two? That's impossible! But I thought she- I-"
"I have no clue what you speak of, but if it concerns Nemurin, it is likely that she will know her side of this story. Any questions I have for you, I will have to ask Nemurin as well. By the way, what is your name?"
"Snow White. Magical Girl Hunter. Don't worry, I only hunt Magical Girls who have commited heinous crimes. Horrible crimes. Nemurin will never fit the bill for that."
"You're Snow White? I always thought you'd look a little different... you seem less... happy than Nemurin said you'd be."
Luna looks at Holden, Hiruko and Jade. "Oh, Nemurin didn't tell you about Snow White? I suppose she was getting busier by the time you all were recruited. She used to tell Silence Dogood and I about her old life, but nothing about... her death."
"I think the person I am meeting is Nemurin. Care to lead me there?"
"Well, everypony- uh- body, what do you say? Anything we need to do before heading back?"
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And so, all returned to Nemurin's room.
"You all took your time," Silence Dogood spoke while having a look at one of Nemurin's photo frames that was previously on the desk. "Snow White? How did she get here?"
"Wait, how do you know that's Snow White?" Luna asks.
"I make it an effort to investigate people I am required to work with for an extended period, and Nemurin's room was easy to access compared to other mediums. Saw this photograph quite a number of times while doing so, did the crossreferencing based on information Nemurin shared..."
Silence Dogood showed all the framed photograph in question. In addition to Snow White and Nemurin smiling in it, another girl was in the picture too.
"Silence Dogood, you know you can't just sneak into people's rooms without their permission," Luna sighs.
"We were building trust back then," Silence responds.
"What is done is done... for the most part anyways, please refrain from doing that again," Luna says, dropping the topic.
"There won't be a reason to do it again, well, aside from admiring this picture. Look at how happy they were."
Meanwhile, in the same room, a heartwarming reunion was about to unfold.
"N- Nemurin!" Snow White's tears fell, drop by drop, as she exclaimed the name of what seemed to be a long-lost friend. "You're alive..."
"My my~ Is that you, Snow White?" Nemurin smiles, "you don't look too different from before. Cough... cough..."
The two interconnected and embraced for quite the period of time.
While Luna decided to allow the two to have an emotional moment in peace by remaining silent, others may want answers or explanations as soon as possible.
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The voice laughed.
"No particular reason, really, no particular reason. I just know a lot about this little get-together that my Master and her little friends have created, and every member in it. Apologies for any prior invasion of privacy - but I do not believe it is any different from peering into the dreams of others."
The owl's head turned to the direction of Nemurin's room for a bit, before turning back.
"It appears that they will soon be ready to head out. There's no important reason to head out, except for one - the faceless entity that all have seen not long ago. In simpler terms, it will soon be time for our current conversation to come to a close. A shame, really, since we've only just begun. Anything else you need to ask about?"
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As Nemurin got back on track, she replied to Holden, "Ah~ you mean the giant one? Well... she has a dark, purple, silky dress which shimmered like stars in the night sky, and I didn't see her face! Maybe she didn't have one... cough cough... I didn't see her shoes, either... she made all kinds of noises - screeches, roars. Maybe it's audible speech in another language~."
With the broken silence, Luna decides to step in to ask her question.
"Nemurin, Snow White, would you tell us about... Nemurin's death?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about... cough... Nemurin has been alive for a looong time!"
"The day that you were said to be revoked of your status as a magical girl, or so we thought," Snow White adds with a still expression, "that was the day you died. We even had evidence of your death..."
"Oooh, that. That, I know," Nemurin smiles, "I can tell you aaall about it on the way. It's kind of funny how it wasn't exactly my last..."
"I think it is best to tell my side of the story as well, if you have to."
Silence Dogood stands up nigh-immediately.
"What do you mean 'on the way'? Nemurin, you should rest your-"
A pillow-shaped structure lifted Nemurin up in an effortless fashion, her belly down and her back up.
"-legs. Fair enough. Fair enough."
"It's OK~" Nemurin said, "Nemurin is strong~ even when weakened, she can put up quite a... cough... fight!"
"Nemurin?" Snow White asks with a worried expression. "If you're insistent on this, take it easy and let me protect you, alright?"
Nemurin has a light chuckle. "Sounds like you know that no one can talk me out of this... cough... not even you, Snow White... I'm the only one who has actually seen our target close-up... so I'm definitely going..."
Nemurin started to leave her room...
"Easy, you ask? It is only easy if you are prepared, and difficult if you are not," the telepathic voice echoes. "Your question is one without a concrete answer. A journey is easy or difficult based on the combined wit, skill, cooperation and experience of those taking it - factors that will forever constantly twist, turn and change."
The door to Nemurin's room opened as the owl's head turned to it. It appears that everyone was preparing to leave. Leo would also notice one more individual among them.
"Well, that is my cue. Benjamin, Franklin, you both too."
And so, the baku, the spider and the owl flew towards and circled Silence Dogood, creating a glowing ring that shrunk merged into her body.
"I've done this so many times and it still feels weird," Silence Dogood briefly comments. "But seriously Nemurin, you should reconsider your choices."
"You do need someone to lead you to it, don't you, Silence Dogood... cough cough..."
"And you need rest."
"As long as Nemurin is in the dream world, she's always resting, isn't that right?"
"I'm unsure, actually," Silence Dogood says, shaking her head, "but since you can just snap your fingers and teleport out of your bed either way, it'd be a waste of my effort to halt your actions through force. That is my sole reason for not stopping you."
"Leo," Luna's hooves clopped across the cloud-like ground as all prepared to leave the premises of this humble abode, "we're going to find The Faceless One. Are you accompanying us?"
The journey would soon begin. Soon, Leo would get the answer he wanted.
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"Everyone is going, as a team," Luna responds to Leo.
The Dreamscape was ever so warped. The sky and ground were not parallel in the slightest, and doors of all varieties floated about - from ancient stone gates to modern, automated contact sliders.
Behind them, Nemurin's house, their base of operations, sunk into the swirly floors, as if being assimilated by quicksand.
"I'll bring it back up later~" Nemurin smiles as her cushion hovers along. She herself appeared to be in a state between a slumber and simply lying down.
"Aaanyways, about Nemurin's... uh... supposed death," Silence nudges Snow White, "want to spill the beans?"
"That is what I promised," Snow White replied, "I don't think I can give too many details, but I'll tell what I can.
You see, there were originally sixteen Magical Girls in the city Nemurin and I were from. This number was deemed too large, and we had to be halved. Every week, us Magical Girls would collect magical candies by performing various deeds around town."
"A point system?"
Snow White nods in response to Silence's voice. "Whoever got the least number of magical candies would be eliminated. At first, we thought elimination would simply amount to a loss of power and memories, but soon, we discovered that it resulted in death, and Nemurin's life was the first to go. A woman that we believe is her just... died on her bed that day. The name, the approximate time of death, and to add to that, no wounds, no internal damage, just a stopped heart. Nemurin was the first of these deaths, but definitely not the last. It was only a matter of time before Magical Girls began killing each other so that the elimination rounds could be skipped..."
A single tear dropped from Snow White's eye.
"I guess you don't want to continue," Silence says, "understandable, understandable. So, anything happened after that event?"
"A lot, actually," Snow White replies, "a lot. Including a few events inspired by the one I just described. It soon became my job to put an end to them."
"Magical Girls cannot catch a break these days."
"I remember transforming a little while before I was supposed to lose my power~" Nemurin explained. "My transformation's a bit different from other magical girls - my physical body will be having a nice nap in the real world, and Nemurin will be having an even nicer nap in the Dream World~."
"That's not transformation, that's just Astral Projection.... I think."
After a bit of pondering, Silence Dogood came to a conclusion.
"So, you did die and you're a ghost?"
Nemurin feels her arm, before replying, "no, too solid to be a ghost~."
"I am appreciative of light humour after a grieving story, but..." Luna says as she points a hoof to what appeared to be three, purple, shadow-like beings emerging from three seperate doors. These doors turned slightly dull in colour, indicating that a nightmare was in play. These three shadowy figures merged into one. The purple appearance and the manner in which the odd body sparkled as if like the night sky seemed pretty similiar to the supposed Faceless One. A non-visible face seemed to contribute to this namesake, too.
The purple shadow charged at Hiruko, unleashing a what seemed to be a slash-based attack upon him. If the attack were to land, the dagger Hiruko held would emit a strange power - represented as a faint surge of energy that only Hiruko would be able to feel.
The purple shadow then began to buzz away at great speeds.
Silence Dogood, conjuring a his spider-shaped Dreamcatcher-riding familiar Franklin, looks at Hiruko. "I believe that now would be a good time to test-run that dagger. I will see if I can slow the Faceless One down."
Meanwhile, Luna's horn would glow.
"Whatever the creature did caused the three dreams to be linked, and it isn't just these three dreams being linked, but many others," Luna explains, "I will enter this shared dream. Anyone else wish to accompany me?"
The choices presented were to either chase after the purple shadow or see if the apparent nightmare caused by it could be resolved.
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