Magical Girl One-Shots

Pain, Pain, Go Away

Series: Fresh Precure
Date completed: 12th June 2020 (yes I know it's been like a year, please forgive me >~<)
Content warnings: Death, as usual

"This is it...huh?"

Despite everything, Peach asks the question with a smile. She doesn't receive a response, but she hadn't expected one in the first place.

Still craving one regardless, Peach's smile melts into a silent sigh. Then her teeth grit as pain suddenly wracks her body, ruthlessly ripping away at her brain and stinging every fibre of her being. Through tears, she sees a flash of shaking black and silver, and hears a gentle sob which widens her eyes.

"This is where we die," a voice whispers, shockingly fragile.

Peach just stares helplessly. She's never seen her friend this vulnerable. Suddenly, Peach's own pain doesn't seem to matter so much.

It hurts so bad, but she rolls over regardless. Slowly, silently, she reaches out. Her fingers brush pale, soft skin, but Eas jolts away like a frightened cat. And like a cat, she lets out a short hiss, likely born from agony.

"Try not to move too much, okay?" Peach says softly. "It hurts...bad. We can stay together instead, if you'd like to?"

"Like hell I do," snaps Eas, but she's already wavering. She looks away quietly, and Peach takes that as a sign of regret.

The two girls stare up at the black, bleak sky, only broken by rainfall. The grass is cold beneath them. Minutes roll by, and Peach can feel time slipping through her bloodied fingers. She's never been very smart, she knows that all too well, and yet even she can estimate that the minutes she has left are probably in the single digits now. She closes her eyes and tries to focus on the happier days.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes snap open. Her mouth opens, and almost on instinct, she turns her head in the direction of Eas.

The other girl looks absolutely broken. There's no other way to put it. Her gaze is empty, tears wordlessly forming lines of sorrow on her cheeks. Her chest heaves, and she lets out strange, strangled sobs every few seconds.

Peach watches with a feeling she can't describe. Her first instinct is to reach out again, but this time she shows restraint.

"I'm so sorry," Eas repeats, words frantic and heavy with despair. "I'm such an idiot. All this time, I've...I've never hated you. And yet I still went along with whatever Moebius told me to do. I hurt you, and your friends, even when you gave me everything I'd ever wanted. I'm so sorry, Love."

Peach blinks at being called her real name. "Setsuna..."

"Love. Such a strange word, isn't it?" Eas says. "It makes people do such crazy things. I always thought it was nothing but a fantasy for fools, but now...I suppose I've become the fool myself." She locks eyes with her friend. "Do you understand?"

Peach's heart is slow now, but it lets put one sudden beat. "Eas...you?"

"I love you, Love. I always have."

Peach can scarcely believe those words. She craved them for so long, but now they've come too late to relish. It's all too cruel. Instead, Love reaches out one last time. To her relief, this time Eas doesn't recoil. The two of them tentatively lock hands, their fingers cold and weak against each other.

"I love you too. Setsuna."

Every inch of Peach's body wants to writhe in agony and go out screaming, but she refuses to let her story end that way. If she has to die, she'll die the way she wants to.

From by her side, Eas smiles grimly. "I'm glad I got to tell you that. I hope that perhaps, someday...you can forgive how long it took. And all the sins I've committed."

"I already forgive you, Setsuna."

Both of them share one last look.

"Thank you...My Love."

Love is too exhausted to express her delight at those words. They warm her heart, even as the life fades from it, in a way she can't describe.

"Maybe Moebius will be merciful on our souls," Eas says. "Maybe we'll meet again. In another life."

Peach gives the graying sky one final stare. Darkness swirls above her, broken by lightning like pure-white cracks. In a strange way, it's beautiful. Her throat strains with her last few words. "I'd like that."

Silence. Precious seconds roll by. Peach doesn't have the strength to dream about the past, so she focuses on the present instead. It's not exactly pretty, but it's all she has to cling to.

This is where her fifteeen-year tale will come to its end. This is where her memories will fade like the life once sparkling within her, leaving behind nothing but a hollow shell to be discovered by a search party. She feels the light trickling from every cell of her body, and realises she's de-transforming against her will for the very first time.

Eas is beside her. Their hands are both so weak, as limp as those of broken dolls, but they still manage to hold eachother. They lie in a pool of their own intertwined blood, death looming like a dark cloud above their head, but at least they're together. Love closes her eyes.

"Goodbye, Setsuna."

"Goodbye, Love."

And then the world goes away.