"This is bad," Scarlet murmured, wincing a bit behind Green's barrier. "We need the others. Now."

She glared at the Witch that was attacking, trying to ignore the stinging of the cuts and wounds layered on her body. The Witch was gigantic, towering over most of the fabric buildings. Despite looking like a muddied black blob of nothingness, its body could morph into shapes sharp enough to cut cleanly through whatever it sliced. The girls were having trouble against the Shifter, the Witch's body-modification ability allowing it to evade their attacks and strike back.

"We are Busters!" Scarlet heard Pink yell, an explosion going off near the Witch. The monster however seemed unaffected by it, seeing the damage more of an annoyance than anything.

"Until we're able to stop or slow its shifting," Yellow said, her voice shaking a bit, "There's not much we can do."

"Damn it all!" Pink shouted in frustration, landing inside Green's barrier. "My attacks don't seem to be doing anything, Green's losing energy, Scarlet's words aren't having an effect, and going in close combat is practically suicide!"

"It's not that my words aren't having an effect," Scarlet retorted with an annoyed humph, "It's that they're not taking effect long enough for us to move in."

"Green, are you okay?" Yellow asked in concern, moving over to support the tired girl.

"I'm fine, Yellow."

Despite her words, she was visibly getting tired, her barrier already having started to crack in places. The Witch was hacking away at the thorny barrier, the impacts starting taking their toll on Green's stamina.

"Don't push yourself so far!" Yellow exclaimed, embracing Green's body in hers. "Look at you, you're shaking all over!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Green replied, her voice quiet and trembling. "I can't let everyone die. Everyone here has family, friends, a dream. I can't… I won't let them die!"

"Велесъ! Trap in your realm the sight before you!"

There was a hearable sigh of relief throughout the group, the four of them glancing behind them to see the rest of μ;s dashing up to them.

"Sorry we're late!" Snow apologized, kneeling down to heal the tired girls.

"What took you so long?" Pink whined. The others knew that she was grateful internally however.

"We can talk about that later," Marine said, drawing an arrow back. "We need to hunt this Witch."

"C'mon, guys!" Orange cheered. Her energy was contagious, causing the others to smile to themselves. "We're not going to let this Witch end us!"

"There's a core at the Witch's center," Violet noted, her tarot cards floating around her and shuffling themselves. "It controls the body and enables it to reshape itself."

"So we have to destroy the core?"

Violet nodded, closing her eyes to pluck a tarot card and turn it over. She opened her eyes and smiled, her energy brightening as if in tune with her mood. "The Wheel of Fortune smiles upon us," she announced, replacing the card into the deck. "Fight with all your strength."

"Love Arrow Shoot!" Marine declared her attack, shooting her bow towards the Witch's core.

The Witch made a keening noise, its body shifting to protect the core. Marine's arrows sunk into the goo of the Witch's body, but didn't penetrate far enough to reach the core. The archer made a noise of disappointment, drawing another arrow.

"Marine, wait a bit," Violet told the other telepathically. "Wait for the Witch to be distracted and then strike at its core!"

"Got it," the other muttered, eyes narrowing as she waited for her chance.

"Scarlet!" Ice called, wincing as the Witch tried escaping from her magic. "Help me keep the Witch in place!"

Scarlet nodded in response, calling upon the little power she had left to help Ice in stopping the Witch's movements. The combined efforts seemed to work better than before, the Witch having to get through two layers of magic before breaking free.

"C'mon, Scarlet!" Orange cheered, letting her magic wash over the tired girl. "There's no way you'd fall this easily!"

Orange's magic, a weird mix of optimism and determination, made its way to Scarlet. While Orange's magic wasn't particularly of any use offensively, it served as a way to keep spirits and determination up in order for them to power through hardships. It was a magic taken for granted, and yet it was what unified the group in times of need.

"That's right," Scarlet murmured with a smirk. "There's no way I'd let something like this beat us down!"

The increase in morale caused the Witch's movements to slow down even more than before, and soon its struggles seemed to be slow and sluggish.

"Love Arrow Shoot!" Marine called out, having waited for this moment ever since Violet told her to. Her aim was deadly accurate, flying straight into the core despite the Witch's efforts to stop the arrow. It let out a low keen before exploding into a shower of black sludge.

μ's was silent for a bit, breathing heavily and taking a moment to catch their breath. A loud exclamation of disgust shattered the silence, everyone turning to see Pink desperately trying to brush the sludge off of her outfit.

"Eww! What's with this idiot? Shouldn't she know not to defile the image of the number one magical girl in the universe!"

With that the others broke into laughter, Scarlet putting an arm over the other in a friendly gesture. Eventually Pink joined in, the joy of having defeated the Witch practically contagious. Ice couldn't help but smile internally at the shared happiness μ's had, thinking about how all of them worked together to get each other through the struggle.

"I think now's a good time to go head home and take a long nice nap!" Orange exclaimed. Almost on cue, Green let out a tiny little yawn. Once again they burst into a series of laughter and chuckles.

"I agree with Orange," Snow finally said through bursts of laughter.

"Today was a long and challenging day," Marine added on thoughtfully, "But we pulled through in the end."

"I'm proud of everyone," Violet murmured gently, attracting smiles from everyone, even though they couldn't see.

The nine girls acted in unison, putting their fingers down to make a 9 pointed star.

"μ'sic Forever!"

I was back in Nozomi's apartment, practically falling asleep on Nozomi's couch. My mind was a bit hazy, and I kept replaying the events that happened in the Magical Girl World over and over. The feelings that we had, the feelings of being a team, I knew they weren't faked. It made me wish to meet them, to get to know them in real life.

But I knew such a thing would only spell disaster.

"You look troubled, Eli-chi." Nozomi sat down next to me, letting my head fall on her shoulder. It seemed whenever I was tired, Nozomi was always there to lend a shoulder.

"There's been a lot of paperwork at the student council office," I lied, feeling a pang of guilt.

Despite that, Nozomi gave a hum of understanding, starting to stroke my hair. I let myself lean into her, feeling very much like a cat. It was a pleasant moment, just being able to share a moment with Nozomi. The more I think of her, the more I realize how much she means to me. The words from before echoed in my mind.

"I suppose I too have someone I wish to protect."

In the relative calmness of the real world, in the small moments when it feels like it's just the two of us, I felt like I understood that more than ever. Nozomi must've felt the same in that moment, as she continued to stroke my hair with her soft gentle hands.

Nozomi knows me better than anyone, and I know Nozomi better than anyone.

These moments were our own secret garden, and as I fell asleep in it, I dreamt of a maze of lilies blooming up from the fertile earth, butterflies fluttering about.

Author's Note: Sorry I'm a really bad uploader, I just end up having to take breaks from writing pieces a lot. Most of the times inspiration doesn't strike until it's been months since I've last written, and then I write a bulk at a time. Sadly, that ends up as not the most consistent scheduling, but it's the way I write. Sorry!

If you really care that I write more, just bug me on my Instagram honestly.

I feel like I have a bit of a struggle with writing this due to the fantasy and action elements. I'm much more of a slice of life writer, and my strong points have consistently been in voice and dialogue. I don't write action or fantasy very often, so I apologize if those elements are a bit lacking in execution. I feel better dealing with themes that delve into character analysis, and while I believe I can put that in here, the main plot is much more of a linear path based on: "How will we stop these Witches?"
That's not to say the plot doesn't allow character development, but the main focus isn't just the characters. I'm better with writing a character driven story, where the plot comes as a result of the character them-self rather than a main villain or a treasure.

Thank you for reading!

Even if I don't update for months, I haven't forgotten.