Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

I was up far too late. Winter Break was over tomorrow, so it was back to school, but I was worried. I've been bullied since high school started. Just before break, things had lightened up, but… I was worried that it would pick up again tomorrow. I took a deep breath and got out of bed. I went over to my window and looked outside. It was a clear night and I could see most of the brighter stars.

I don't know how long I'd been looking at the stars when I saw the bright light of a shooting star. On a childish whim, I decided to make a wish.

"Please, let things go well tomorrow," I said. "Just. I wish that they'd get bored with me and move on to some other fucked up hobby."

It was then that I noticed that the shooting star had curved around and… Holy shit it was heading my way! A meteor was heading my way… Or maybe a cape. No time to panic, no time to wake Dad, and no time to get away… I just went back to my bed to wait for whatever was going to happen to happen. A bitter thought crept up to me, and for a second I hoped that it was a meteor. Getting hit by a meteor would certainly be a fitting end for my shitty life.

Less than a minute later, I heard a tapping at my bedroom window. After a minute of tapping and my house not getting destroyed by a meteor, I decided to investigate and found the most peculiar sight: A stick. A white stick, completely smooth, with a small crown charm dangling from a short chain. The stick was topped with a hollow circle containing a four-pointed star, with a pair of golden wings-like what you'd see on a depiction of the Greek God Hermes and his famed sandals, framing the circle. The stick bent in a gentle curve, in a way that made me think it was looking at me, and then tapped the window again.

I didn't know what else to do, so I opened my window and let the stick in. It floated in and twisted around in such a way as to make it seem as though it were looking around the room, before turning back to me.

Then it spoke, in a cultured voice not unlike a noblewoman's. "Hello. What's your name?"

Well, this night can't possibly get any weirder. "Um, my name is Taylor. What are you?"

The stick laughed, "Ohohoho! Where are my manners? I am a magical wand of love and justice, left in this world by my creator, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, in order to investigate abnormalities in its mana flow." Oh god, this was like something out of one of those Japanese cartoons. The stick twirled, "I am the Kaleidostick, Magical Opal!"

Okay, either I'd fallen asleep after all and this was a dream, or I was insane. Either way, I figure playing along couldn't hurt. "So, Magical Opal. That's... interesting, but do you think you can keep it down? I'd rather not wake my Dad."

"Oh, sorry, sorry," the stick said in a quieter voice.

"So," I asked. "What brings you to my room?"

"Oh, that's easy: In order to use my powers to their full extent, I need a master." The stick bent forward just a bit. "I've been looking far and wide for a fitting person and I've finally found one!" The stick was just as loud as before. "You, Taylor, have the greatest potential for magecraft that I've ever seen!"

"And um, why should I help you?"

"Oh, it's simple," the stick replied. "In exchange for helping me, you could become one of the Heroes that are so popular in this world. Think about it, with my help, you could go out and defeat all the world's evils!"

"Look that's all very tempting bu-" the stick cut me off.

"All you have to do, Taylor is…" The stick curved, with the bottom part, pointed towards me "Make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!"

I suddenly got a very bad feeling about all of this. "Well, um, look, Opal... I'm flattered that you'd choose me for this," I grimaced, "but I'm not interested."

This was apparently the opposite of what the stick thought I'd say. "...What?"

"It's a tempting offer," I answered, "and I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested."

"Butbutbut" The noblewoman vibe I'd been getting from it was gone.

"Look, it's late and I'm tired, do you think you could leave so I can go to sleep?" I'm pretty sure that I'm already asleep and that this is some weird dream, but…

"Oh-okay." The stick was quite literally bent out of shape as it floated out through my window and out of sight. After a minute, I closed the window and went to bed. I almost felt bad for it, but this was all too weird. I fell asleep, though whether it was for real or me just dreaming that I was sleeping is a question for a philosopher.

F/KLPT

After last night's possibly dreamt weirdness, everything this morning was actually going well. I'd gotten up in time, I'd gotten to school, and so far there was no sign of… them. Or any sign of anyone planning anything at all. Everyone else in the hallways was ignoring me, and I was just fine with that.

I started to notice a bad smell as I made my way to my locker. Did something crawl into the vents and die? The smell was almost unbearable by the time I got to my locker. All I wanted to do was get my stuff and get away from the stench before I lost my breakfast all over the floor. I could barely concentrate on my combination, it took me three tries to get my locker open and… Fuck!

Well, I knew where the smell was coming from now. Someone had… Someone had filled my locker with… I don't even know what that shit is, it's just… I threw up all over the floor, and all over myself. I tried to stand up caught the odor of rotting... something again mixed with the smell of my own vomit and I had to bend down and puke again.

After a minute of puking and coughing, and another minute of dry heaving, I was finally able to stand up… Just in time to see an entire hallway full of students staring at me.

"Oh my god Taylor," came a familiar voice, "what do you keep in there?"

I turned to face the speaker, but I didn't need to see her to know who it was: Emma Barnes. My former best friend and the leader of the Trio of bitches who were trying to ruin my life.

"Seriously," she said, "were you keeping your collection of used tampons in there?" Then she pointed at me and started laughing.

The whole hallway was soon filled with laughter as more and more students began to follow her lead. I, I couldn't handle it. I had to get out of there, so I ran for it. I ran through the halls and out the front door, across the street, almost getting hit by a car in the process, and into town. I didn't know where it was I was going-all I knew was that I had to get away from the school.

F/KLPT

I was down by the docks by the time I managed to calm down enough to think. I couldn't go back, not today, and not after that. I needed to leave the docks. The only safe place here was the Dockyard, and I couldn't go there. My dad worked there, and he didn't know about the bullying. I-I didn't want him to know about it.

After a moment of thinking, it came to me: The repair shop! At the edge of the docks, there was an appliance repair shop. Dad knew the owner, Mr. Saito, and while he wasn't exactly a friend, I knew I could trust him. I began walking in that direction when I noticed that I was being followed.

I slowed down and, trying to not to let them know I knew they were following me, turned. I saw two Asian men in green and red. Members of the AZN Bad Boys, the all Asian street gang that operated down here.

I discreetly tried to pick up the pace and turn back forward, but there were two more heading my way. I looked around, but there was no way out. I was trapped, and four Asian gangbangers were closing in on me.

"What'cha doing here, girl" one said to me as they got close.

"I-I"-I didn't get to finish as a second grabbed me.

He asked me, "shouldn't you be in school?"

A third answered him for me. "The girl's clearly skipping."

"We saw you running around earlier little miss," said the fourth. "You know, coming down here, to our docks? Running around and making a scene? That's very disrespectful. Disrespectful to us, and disrespectful to Lung."

Lung was the leader of the ABB. A powerful parahuman with the ability to slowly turn into a scaled monstrosity as a fight raged on and to summon blasts of heat and flame. Some rumors say that if a fight lasts long enough, he'll turn into a real dragon, wings and all.

"Maybe," asked the second man, "we should teach the girl a lesson."

"Maybe we should," said the fourth man, the apparent leader of the group.

Then they all started dragging me behind a nearby building. I tried to struggle, to kick and scream but one of them punched me in the stomach and I gasped as the fight went out of me.

Soon I was being held there, behind a building in the docks, and then the first thug punched me in the chest. I couldn't even scream, he'd knocked the wind out of me. While the second thug kept holding me in place, the other two began beating on me. Punching and kicking, in the chest, and the stomach, and the face. Breaking my glasses, breaking my body. It hurt worse than any other pain I've felt. I tried to leave my body, to just wait until it was over, one way or the other.

I felt the second thug let me go, and I fell to the ground. The thugs each kicked me a few times and then… I felt harsh tugs on my hair as they grabbed it… Oh god. I was covered in vomit, and they'd just been beating me up. They were wiping vomit off their hands with my hair and now it's in my hair and… I couldn't help myself, that's when I finally started crying.

I heard the fourth guy, the leader, say something in Chinese or Japanese, and two of them, I'm not sure which two, started walking away. I couldn't see from where I was lying, but from the sounds of their footsteps, they didn't go far. The leader and the last one started talking in another language. I-I had no idea what they were talking about.

I was just beginning to feel the blood flowing down my face when I heard a whispered voice, "Taylor?"

I opened my eye and saw "...Opal?" That, that wasn't a dream?

"Taylor," the stick said to me. "I can save you, but I can't do it on my own." She or it, or whatever came right next to me and, using one of her wings, wiped some of the blood from my face. "Reach out and grab me, accept my contract, and we can drive them off together."

She extended her handle to me, and I reached out and grabbed her-I had no clue what the contract she asked about last night would entail, but it couldn't possibly be worse that waiting for those bastards to kill me or worse.

There was a flash of light and I could feel something flowing over my body. Within moments I was clad in a white outfit, though I was in too much pain to tell more than that. I began pushing myself up and turned back in time to see that the four thugs who had beaten me were facing me down.

"Taylor," Opal said to me as I pulled myself up. "Swing me at them while thinking something along the lines of 'begone you cretins!' "

I swung Opal like she said while yelling "Fuck off, assholes!"

A crescent of white light with flecks of reds and blues and other colors in it flew from Opal towards the four gangsters… who all ducked it and took off running moments later, one of the screaming "Fuck, she's a cape" as they left.

"Well," Opal said, "that's not what was supposed to happen, but I suppose all that matters is that they're gone. However, Taylor," Opal said in a condescending tone, "language like that is not becoming of a young lady-Especially a Magical Girl."

"Whatever." I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to get home. I started walking away but I stumbled and lost my balance.

"Taylor, be careful," Opal said as I braced myself against the wall. "You've taken a great deal of internal damage. I can heal you but it'll take time and-Taylor!"

I fell and everything was going dark, there was a flash of light and I was back in my normal clothes. The last thing I noticed before I passed out completely was the sound of footsteps coming my way.

F/KLPT

I woke up in a bed and… Actually, things didn't hurt as bad as they should have. I opened my eyes and couldn't see a thing. I tried to look around anyway, but with my glasses broken, it was a futile effort.

.

"You gave me quite a scare, Taylor."

"Dad?"

"I'm here. Taylor… you're very lucky to be alive, you know that?" Dad sounded… Dad was mad. "If Shirou hadn't found you..." Mr. Saito found me? "Taylor, what were you doing down at the docks?"

I started crying. "Dad, when I got to school..." I took a deep breath. "There's a lot of stuff I haven't told you."

So I told him, about the harassment I've faced every day since I started high school. About finding my locker full of used tampons and… Everything. I told him everything, except that Emma was the ringleader. He, he was still friends with Emma's dad. I didn't, I didn't know how he'd react and…

Dad had taken my hand while I'd told him about the bullying. "Taylor, tomorrow, I'm going to go down to that school and give them a piece of my mind. But, there's one more thing."

"What?"

"Miss Militia was here earlier," Dad said. "Apparently, some people saw a few flashes of light coming from where Shirou found you, and a couple of Asian gangsters were overheard saying that the made the mistake of picking a fight with a cape."

Oh crap, oh… I could see something floating a few feet above Dad's head. I couldn't make it out without my glasses, but it looked vaguely like Opal, but without her handle. Dad didn't seem to notice that she was there.

"Taylor, do you have powers?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. Did I tell Dad about Opal, or did I try to keep her a secret? "I-I don't know."