It never seems to end.
Uraraka Ochako’s footsteps keep echoing through the strange, twisting hallway she walked into, her breath and the strange clicking of invisible gears keeping her footsteps company. The variety of black-and-white patterns throughout offer no answer to when she’ll reach the end. They barely tell her when she’s supposed to turn until the last possible moment, not letting her rest at all while they continue to blend together in a trippy picture. She's the only splash of color throughout this maze, as if it doesn’t naturally exist here.
A new voice enters the scene, one in her head wondering why she even went through the door into here– why she even opened it in the first place. She tightens her fist. It’s not exactly an answer to the question, but it’s the best one she has right now. Truth be told, Ochako knows she should be back at the storm shelter with her parents and everyone else. A freak mystery storm made up of howling wind and rising tides is nothing to scoff at. She knows what she’s doing is stupid and downright dangerous, but there’s something in her heart pushing her forward. After all, she had to see the door for some reason, right? Especially one that wasn’t there before.
Looking ahead, she sees new walls, these ones standing firm in place. The floor rises up, each staircase step switching between black and white. They lead her towards what looks to be a gray metal door, one with an “exit” sign producing a soft red light.
“Finally…” An exit to this supernatural labyrinth. Maybe she’d come out to the same place she was before coming into this place? Perhaps she was just dreaming, that hit her head hard from the earthquake shaking everything again. Yeah. That made sense. This is just her Wonderland, and it’s time to exit the rabbit hole.
She walks up the stairs, each step slightly heavier than the last. The light seems to shine brighter the closer she walks up, and the handle almost bites her hand from how cold it is. It’s enough to make her jerk her back, and she takes a deep breath while holding that hand with her other one.
“Calm down, Ochako. You’re freaking yourself out here. Everything’s gonna be just fine.”
She releases her hand, places it back on the handle, and twists it. The door creaks like it hasn’t been used in forever, and she finds herself having to slide it to open it. The metal resists her efforts, and she places both her hands on the edge of the door to force it in. Wind from the outside begins to brush her face, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing. With one final push and a grunt, the door finally opens all the way, and she closes her eyes while letting out a sigh of relief. One hurdle out of the way. The rest should hopefully be a piece of cake. She takes a few steps forward. Yeah. Anything after this will be completely normal. It’s not like anything could get weirder.
Wind slams into her, pushing her back while the water droplets said her clothes. She places her arms over her face and digs her feet into the ground. The wind continues to lash out at her, her hair practically flying behind her. There’s one last hurrah from the weather, nearly knocking her off her feet before it decides to leave her alone.
Ochako takes a couple steps back, nearly falling back into the monochrome room. It doesn’t take long to re-establish her footing, and she lowers her arms to get a better grasp of where that wind came from.
“What the–”
The sky is some sort of murky purple filled with gray and brown dust clouds. Debris of all sizes hang in the air, chunks of buildings casually floating about. Bare tree branches sprout forward from the platform she’s standing on, twisting and turning as if they were reaching out to grab the sky by force.
And in the center of it all, there’s some sort of giant woman in a ballgown of deep blue, her face a cloth mask, her legs a multitude of gears stacked on top of each other, and her body framed by lace rings made of light.
It’s almost amazing how something you thought to be incredibly strange can suddenly seem so normal.
At least the hallway obeyed some kind of rules of physics.
Ochako’s eyes scan the scene in front of her, like looking at it further will make everything make sense. This time she sees someone on one of the broken buildings, a figure wearing gray, dark navy, and purple, their tanned skin and flowing green hair helping them stand out from the scene. The mystery person continues to run forward, passing floor after floor before bursting off the edge onto a chunk of concrete debris. They barely stay there, charging from piece to piece as if they were ordinary steps. The giant anomaly fires off arrows of pure energy, each one destroying the piece they had just left. One arrow nearly hits them, but the mystery person pulls a shield out on their arm from nowhere and crosses their arms over their chest. The shield should be far too small to protect them, but it deflects the attack before said attack can even touch it. The arrow splits into multiple beams, each one tearing into the scenery upon contact. New clouds of dust fly into the air, and Ochako plants her feet back into the ground to resist the force of the new gusts of wind.
The gowned being flicks a sleeve, and a chunk of building approaches the mystery person like a man made meteorite. It cuts through the air, and it looks like they barely have a chance to respond before the building and debris make contact, their attempt to jump up cut off from the collision. That barely slows down its descent, and the building digs into the ground right as Ochako finishes processing what happened.
“Did they just–?” She can’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
“She’s still alive.”
Ochako nearly jumps out of her skin at the mystery voice but can’t get herself to look around for the source, fear locking her into place.
“Look to your left.”
Ochako adjusts her eyes, and lo and behold, the mystery fighter is standing on what looks to be a piece of floating tile flooring not too far away from Ochako. Said fighter holds some sort of object made up of pipes and wires.
The relief releases Ochako, and she can’t help but stare at the girl. She looks to be her age. There isn’t a single scratch on her, and she’s quite a ways away from where she just was. The wind blows her ponytail back, curls trailing behind her along with her skirt and trails of ribbon. It’s a strangely noble looking image, a lone fighter refusing to leave the battle to try to save everyone. It takes Ochako’s breath away, and she wants to know more about her. Who she is, how she gained these skills, why she’s even here to begin with.
“She’s still trying to win this battle by herself, even when greatly outclassed by her enemy.”
She snaps out of her daze and amazement, following the direction of the out-of-place cutesy sounding voice. Her eyes land on a pure white creature, something cat-like with unchanging pink-red eyes and large tufts of fur coming out of its ears. It casually flicks its tail, which brushes against the metal beam it sits on.
“She refuses to give up, though I’d imagine she knows she’s trying to do something impossible.”
“What the Hell is going on here!?” Ochako pivots towards the unusual cat, words falling out of her mouth before she can think. “What caused all this!? What is gonna happen to her!?”
“This is a battle, one too much for her to handle. It’s highly likely she’ll die during the fight if she doesn't abandon her task.”
“Die!?” Her attention turns back to the girl, who has returned to trying to chase the giantess. She spreads both her arms out, and even more arrows fly forward. The fighter summons her shield again, but the arrow slams into her chest the second after the shield appears. The pipe item falls out of her hand, an explosion going off in the middle of its descent. She crashes into a multitude of windows, and her scream is loud enough to echo throughout the whole battle field. Glass shards enter the sky. She tries to stand up, but a chunk of concrete flies into her and sends her rolling back. She pulls her arms close to her chest, left hand looking to cover her right.
“Indeed.”
“Someone has to be able to stop her!”
“There is.”
Ochako opens her mouth, but an inhuman laugh drowns her out. It’s a choir of voices mixed into one, the sound near deafening. She covers her ears. The rings behind the blue-gowned woman turn like the gears in place of her legs, and Ochako instantly knows she made that sound.
“Then what’s keeping them from going out there and doing something?”
“Because they’re currently busy having a conversation with me.”
Ochako gasps. Is this cat trying to claim someone as average as her can solve all this!? That she could end all this fighting and destruction!? Out of all the chaos she’s seen today, that might just be the craziest thing she ran into.
“Uraraka Ochako.”
A gasp escapes her. She never told it her name.
“You want to stop this fight and save her, right?”
She curls her hands into a fist. “Of course I do!”
“You can do that. You can change anything you want in the world. All you have to do is grab the power to do so.”
“How am I supposed to do that!? I can’t keep up with her out there, much less with that being in the sky!”
Ochako sees the girl fall out of the sky out of the corner of her eye. She swears the girl is reaching out for something.
“It’s quite simple, really!” The cat flicks its ears and tilts its head to the side. “Just make a Contract with me and become a Puella Magi!”
“A Puella Magi?” Something fills her spirit. It all feels like a fantasy brought to life, but fantasies always end with the day saved. It would be foolish not to take the chance and bring fiction into reality, especially if she’s the only one who can change things.
She nods. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Perfect! Now, let your soul shine bright with a wish and grab your destiny!”
Light emerges from her chest, the feeling from her spirit overflowing. It’s warm and invigorating. She reaches out for the glowing orb emerging from her and–
Her alarm clock blares, the familiar yet annoying noise snapping her awake. She’s still reaching out as she sits up, still trying to grasp the offer from her dream. Ordinary sunshine pours in from the window, average white clouds decorating a normal blue sky.
Ochako stares at her hand before pulling it towards her, the other hand grabbing it and pressing down on her palm.
“All a dream, huh?”
Then why did it feel so real?
