She had been woken up in the middle of her ap, a quick look at the watch said that she had barely been sleep for two hours. The watch she had stolen a week ago and now rested on her wrist told her it was barely nine in the m, too early for them to move. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she felt the girl at her side sob in her sleep.

  They hadn’t been able to get a good night's rest since half a year ago. Fog inwardly trying to get a vibe for what was happening gave her the answer about why she had been roused from her sleep.

  “G????????????????????I???????????????????????V?????????????????E???????????? ????????????????????????????H????????????E???????R??????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????B????A??????????C???????????K?????????????????????????????”

  The voice was ing closer, if she was interpreting the pulses within the mana stream, they had around half an hour if all was going well.

  “Wake up…we o move.” She said to the irl, the blonde’s eye fluttered open, and she could see the irl wasn’t dealing well either with the missing sleep. If it was only the two of them it would have been even worse. At least they had their helper to keep guard, even if they couldn’t sleep as much as she wanted.

  “Is he ing again?” Asked the irl in a tired tone, “’t he leave us alone? We don’t even know him!”

  The blohrew the pseudo c she had been using, really, it was some papers they had found in an alleyway. At least the clothes seemed to themselves on their own, if they had o get new clothes….

  “I know, but there is nothing we do. If we try to get help…” She didn’t like their odds.

  “You still think they will sell us to him?” The blonde girl asked back, she was the hopeful of the two.

  “Yes, he is powerful. And you remember what happehe st time we tried to get help?” It had happened after one of the first times they found the Shadow Man.

  “Ugh…don’t remember me that, at least my arm is back to normal…That week sucked.” The blonde girl said turning to look at her right arm.

  It had been an eye-opening experiehey had tried to reason with the Shadow Man, and what did they get from it?

  The blonde girl, her sister, had ended with one of her arms cut by the Shadow Man. All because she had wao try and reason with him, and what did she get from the effort? He tried to cleave her in two, if her sister hadn’t reacted with that speed she would be dead…

  Or well, “Hey! Look at me, I’m fine okay. We learned plenty from that. At least we found we don’t o eat! Now we don’t o worry about that!” The blonde girl said trying to cheer her up, “Besides, thanks to that we found that Reginald help us keep a lookout!”

  Yeah, they found out plenty from that experience, first…

  They weren’t human, not normal humans anyway. If there was even a normal Human, as far as she could tell they seemed to be something closer to a Magical Girl, as the Healers had asked her sister to [Turn off her shift]. And dismissed their worry, she may have gotten…a little heated up and ended up getting them both thrown off wheemper got the better of her, and she started using her skills to threaten the healers.

  Sed, they found out that both of them had special powers. Her sister was a Magical Girl, she could summon some kind of elemental type spells and could somewhat use them to fight. They were weak and feeble most of the time, but they had helped them deal with the need for water and warmth. She oher hand…

  “Besides, you looked so cool summoning those shadow things! Really, the Shadow Man could learn from you!” Her sister really liked her powers. But the look in the healers that day taught her plenty.

  She had powers, yes, but her powers were the kind that no one wanted and made the looks she was getting more obvious. They eyed her warily as soon as they saw her bck hair…And when they got a closer look at her eyes? They seemed to recoil with disgust. Her red eyes seemed to symbolize something. She hadn’t seen anyone else with red eyes like hers, she hoped that it was because it was something rare. And not because her kind was hunted.

  So far no one had tried anything, but that robably something to do with Reginald.

  “Rwaaaar!!!” The little thing was gettiless, the shadow man must be close.

  “Kay? I’m getting ready Reg, wait a sed.” Her sister said to the small reptile, they had been mostly ign the thing when they woke up.

  That had been a very stressful awakening six months ago. They woke up in a dark basement with the Shadow Man trying to use his powers to tie them down…No, to tie her down. He had ignored her sister, it had been the fast thinking of the blonde girl that had saved them that day. As soon as she noticed the Shadow Man ignore her she had cast a teleportatiohat let them run away.

  “We o do something about oo, it is getting awkward using fake ones every time.” Her sister said to her as she finished getting all their belongings into the small backpack they shared.

  It was mostly stuff they mao steal when the Shadow Man got too close, some thermos, a pillow they only brought up when they could guarantee no one would steal it from them. And some rations they saved for special occasions.

  “Nothing we do about that Sis. If you mao remember our hen we -” She had started saying when the feeling became stronger. “We o move, he noticed our presence.”

  It was both a blessing and a curse really, the fact that she could feel the Shadow Ma that they could run away, but it was also the reason she khat they couldn’t run away from him.

  “I still think you have a Lizbeth face, if not a Beatrice face more than I do” Her sister was still insisting on finding her name, she wasn’t sure if it was a way to distract herself from their situation or not.

  “Aher stick with me, besides you are more noble looking with the golden hair and everything. If anything I’m more of a Mary material, maybe Margareth?” She bantered back, she really envied her sister’s blonde hair and blue eyes.

  If she had also blonde hair maybe it would be easier to move around in more rich areas, as it was if they wao go to one of those areas they would be kicked out, her sister could move in them of course. But a look at her bck hair was all it took for them to get kicked out. Germania (The try they had been stu) didn’t like her ilk it seemed.

  “Maybe I do something with my Magic? I haven’t been able to get a hang on how to get the spells work. It looks like all the magic I use re-selected already. Whoever picked them up was dumb. It looks as if whoever it was didn’t think it through. All low-power spells, where is the Death beam? The Healing spells? Only elemental and attack spells… “And there it was, her sister loved to pin about that, she felt bad for her, and couldn’t help her either. Unlike her sister, she didn’t have problems with her powers. If anything, her problem was that they were too free-willed, she could do anything she could imagih her shadows.

  Her problem was limited by the amount of energy she could el. Reginald seemed to be able to help her in some limited ways.

  “Rwaaaar!” The small little reptile was weird, when they arrived he was bigger, but nowadays he was almost as big as a lizard. At least he had stopped shrinking.

  “Okay okay, we are leaving. Say goodbye to our house Reginald.” It was closer to an abandoned hotel room. But it had been home for a month or so.

  “Bye home!” Her sister said cheerfully to the empty room.

  “Bye home.” So she said it too, she hated this life. She hated the fact that they had no memories, she hated the fact that her sister was stu this too.

  They both khat the shadow man only wanted her, but her sister was too stubborn to leave her alone and run away, and for some reason, if she tried to run away, her sister had a way to always fihe blonde girl had some way to find her, even if she didn’t want to share it.

  “RAWR!” Reginald also growled and so they moved. Leaving this pce was easy enough, just a trip to the emergency stairway and they got into the ground level.

  At the distance, she could see the inky-like tide of shadows moving in their general dire, and the people running away from it trying to get ahead of everyone.

  “Please cooperate with the rescue efforts, we are trying to tain the [Vilin]-” And in the sky there they were. The shining and bright beas of hope. “We have brought specialists to deal with this, please be reassured-”

  The eaking was dressed in a light blue mini skirt with a police officer as a top, she was wearing high white stocks and was floating in the air while her hair flowed under her blue beret cap. A Magical Girl.

  At her side was another ohat was such a great diy that she found it amusing. “Look big sis, you could be one of them, just get the Gothic Lolita look and grumble a little and done!” Her sister teased her as they started moving away from the shadow tide.

  The ical Girl was smaller than the first, she was dressed in dark colors and as her sister stated, she was dressed in a gothic Lolita outfit. The only thing out of pce was her eyes, unlike her outfit would indicate, they shone in blue light.

  Such a strange phenomenon. Something told her that the girl’s eye should be red, was she projeg herself in her? Why?

  “Oh…they looked our way.” Her sister said while waving at the two girls flying in the air.

  And ihey seemed to be speaking among themselves while looking their way, something wasn’t right.

  “Let’s move, we don’t want to get attention from their type.” She didn’t like how the gothic Lolita magical girl ointing at them while speaking with the blue magical girl. Something about her mannerisms didn’t sit well with her.

  So she pulled at her sister and moved with the flow of people, this was one of the few perks of her red eyes, as soon as people turo berate her for f her way, they noticed her red eyes and gave room, so she was able to get her sister and Reginald away from danger fast.

  She could feel the presence of the magical girl looking at her, something iold her that she was being observed. So while moving through the mass of people she guided her sister toward one of the empty buildings he evacuation site.

  “We should be fine here for a few minutes, we o pn our stop.” The blonde girl was also getting tired, her sister wasn’t the most athletic person.

  “I……. still…. go….” Her sister said as she y on the flasping for air.

  “Also, those Magical Girls may have reized us. Were they in the ic at that time? I don’t think so…then when did they see us?” That was also a problem if they were in the ic…If they got a warrant for her for that…Well, if they seo prison she could use them as a wall against the Shadow Man, but she knew her sister. The girl was stubborn like no one else.

  If she thought that the shadow man was ing she may try to fight him again….

  “Of course we reize you, Alice. So you were a Germanian Citizen?” The preseerialized in the door and spoke, it was the Gothic Lolita.

  “Tch…Quick the-” She turo grab her sister and make a run for the window. It would hurt like nothing else, but she could probably survive the nding.

  “Lunar Shade I told you to stop spooking other former tainted, look. We-” The Blue Magical Girl was already sitting on the only windooiowards the street, the others poio other buildings or to alleyways. All the pces that made it difficult to mix with other people.

  All pces that wouldn’t ge their situation.

  But that wasn’t her main problem, the main problem she was dealing with a sudden headache that struck her as soon as the gothic girl spoke.

  “So the blonde girl was your sister? Then why did you stalk her in Camelot?” The voice of the girl was even, but her blue eyes seemed to search for an answer, “And why are your eyes still red Alice? Do you still have the [Taint]?”

  Alice? Alice? ALICE? A????????????????L?????????????????I????????????????????C???????????????????????E??????? ?

  Her sight was turnihe world seemed to be trembling with each mention of that name, who was Alice? What was Alice? Where was Alice? Taint? No…[Taint]? Was she [Tainted]? Was that why the Shadow Man was after her?

  “Sis? SIS?!?” Someone eaking to her? To who? “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!?!?”

  She felt the wave of energy from the blonde girl as her eyes seemed to shine in yellow light, magic circles maing around her, it was always so pretty to see her doing magic. It was almost as if she era master, and the magic was her instruments.

  “Calm down [Elemental Weaver],” Then she felt her sister stumble as she grabbed her head and blood started ing from her nose. Was that how she looked? No. She wasn’t bleeding from her nose.

  But what kind of name was Elemental Weaver? That sounded more like a-

  “Why are you dressed in civilian clothes while having your [Shift] up? If I hadn’t been searg for ical Girls I wouldn’t have noticed you. If you want to use your [Shift] to move in public you o be wary of people matg your appearah yical Girl persona.” The blue oke while turning to her, “And you. You are her sister? I get faint feelings of a [Shift] from you too. But [Lunar Shade] said that you were a powered. uess that you were one, did your sister teach you the [Shift] skill?”

  What? No, there was something important that they were all missing.

  “Either way, ditch the civilian clothes and put on your dress, we need all the help we get. [Elemental Weaver] was in area Zero of the [Advent] so she should be in what, third year? She should have enough power to help us fight [The Shadow Tide].” The blue magical girl said, her sister was still recoiling from whatever they had doo them.

  “Heheheheh.” And for some reason, she started ughing…was something funny? “I knew you had a pretty name big sis. [Alice] has the right ring doesn’t?”

  “What kind of name is Elemental Weaver then?” She said back to her sister who seemed to be gettier already, she could still see her legs trembling, “So should I call you Ele-something? Ellen? Eleanore? Elzbeth?”

  “I think that Elzbeth is good enough.” Answered her sister, the name didn’t seem to quite match, but it was close enough. And they had some important things to deal with at the moment. “So…Do we…?”

  “G?????????????????I???????????????V??????????????????E?????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????H??????????????????????????????E????????????R???????????????????????????? ???????????????????B???????????????????????A??????????C??????????????????????????????K?????!????????????????????????????”

  The voice struck at her like a wreg ball, but unlike before she mao ground herself more easily. “IT’S HERE!” She said pointing with her hand to the wall at the left.

  The Gothic Magical Girl quickly turned her attention to that wall and sure enough, a sed after the wall burst intments as the shadow man walked into the room. She could still see the shadow tide ing in the distance, but the shadow man was here.

  “...he got us. He wasn’t with the shadow tide.” The blue-haired magical girl said as she put one of her hands at the side of her head and started speaking. “[Law Bringer tinel] rep, we have made tact with the suspect. firming the identity behind the [Shadow Tide].”

  “[Shadow Pact], yiving us former tainted a bad he Gothic Lolita said as she poi the man with a teddy bear. “Return with us in peace, you may have stood at the peak of the [Tainted], but even so. You o accept your sins.”

  “My sins?” The shadooke as he threw his mask away, behind it stood…what could pass as a handsome man at aime, right now his face was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and like her. His pupils were crimson red. “MY SINS?!?!?”

  As he spoke the shadows around started trembling.

  “[Shadow Roses]!” The gothic Lolita magical girl said as a magical circle maed from the teddy bear and in an instant, from the shadows, bck roses started sprouting.

  In each shadow that one rose sprouted from they stopped trembling, was she taking ownership of them and in turing the shadow man from trolling them?

  “THEY TOOK MY SISTER FROM ME, AND THEN THEY ALL FOT AS IF IT WAS NOTHING!” The shadow man said as he started g blood, with his hands he started pulling at his hair as he screamed, “YOU ALL FOT ABOUT HER! SHE WAS I! SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! AND YOU ALL FET ABOUT HER?!?!?”

  Alice had thought about using this opportunity to try and sneak away, and while her sister seemed to be preparing to fight, she wasn’t. She khe level of power anding so many shadows implied, she could barely trol her own shadow to attack. The fact that the shadow man could and a tide that big from a distance?

  The fact that the Magical Girl Lunar shade could prevent shadows from moving? It meant that she was outcssed here.

  “AND THEN THERE IS HER!” The shadow man said pointing at her, “I WAS TRYING TO SUMMON MY SISTER BACK, BUT SHE SHOWED UP! SHE KNOWS SOMETHING! SHE HAS SOMETHING! SHE GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER!”

  Was that the reason she had been in that basement? This deranged man had tried to…what? Summon his sister back?

  “The dead ’t return back, that is the domain of the [Gods] you should know this [Shadow Pact].” Lunar Shade said as her blue eyes seemed to shine just a little brighter. “I am truly sorry for your loss, but you have caused too much destru, too many wounded…You o answer for your [Crimes].”

  “Oh, but she isn’t dead.” The Shadow Man smiled at them, “I know it, she gave me this!”

  As he said that he raised his right arm, on it was a bracelet with a yellow gem, somehow, she could sense what was i. It was…her energy? Mana?

  “So long this gem shines my sister is alive!” The shadow man said as he turo look at her, so was he using that to chase her?

  “[Shadow Pact] think about your standing, think about what you are doing to us former tainted!” Lunar Shade tried to reason again with the shadow man. Why did she keep saying that name?

  “I am not [Shadow Pact]!” The shadow man screamed once more as from his shadow other copies of him started walking, “[Shadow Pact] was someone who couldn’t protect his sister. He was a man who couldn’t help his sister…”

  As he spoke more and more copies of himself kept showing, one by ohey all started to fill in the room. “I am Maximilian Windsor, I am [The Shadow Tide]. “

  She felt it before it happened, a ping spreading through the shadows all around them, somehow, she was able to feel it, as it spread across the city.

  “?????????? ?????????????????????????????????A????????????n?????????????d??????????? ?????????????I???????????? ????????????????????????w???????????????i???????????????????????l???????????????????????l??????????????? ????????????????????g????????????e???????????????????????t???????????????????? ?????????????????????????m??????????y??????????????????? ??????????????????s???????????????????i??????????????????s??????t???????????????????e?????????????????????????r????????????????????????????? ????????????????????b???????????????????a????????????????????????????c?????k????????????????????????”

  …. They o leave this pce.

  Annou