Chapter Text
The day sky above Yuuma's head is pebbled with starlight.
It spreads over the city, brilliant and blinding, cold warmth that tingles on her skin, rings in her ears. It drowns out the screams, almost, the fear that had seized her like everyone else when the school's emergency bell rang and they were all called out for evacuation (too late, the older students in charge were muttering, too late). She'd been scared like everyone else at first, or maybe not quite--fear, yes, but also a kind of curiosity, watching everything unfold around her like time itself slowed down, students running past her, Kotori grabbing her hand to pull her along...
When she had come out into the courtyard, she'd heard the voice of the stars.
A monster, Kaito had explained at Kotori's urging while Yuuma stared up, wordless. And a big one, at that, one capable of creating its own reality to enter this world. Without Master Eliphas--
Yuuma extends her arm and reaches towards the sky.
It feels like plunging her hand into an ocean of light.
"The sky..."
It's just barely out of her reach, just a breath away, and maybe if she runs, like she always does when she's trying to catch up to the wind itself, maybe if she jumps--
"Yuuma!"
Her foot pushes off the ground without so much as an impulse, and she's flying, the light in her hand hauling her up towards the sky as she tries with all her strength to catch it.
Under her, she hears screams again, of her name this time. She looks down, briefly, catches Kotori's panicked face and Kaito's hardened one, but the call of the stars is too strong and she looks up again, towards the sky and its eerie, wonderful canopy of starlight. She wonders if the monster is as big as the city, or if it's simply its spell that takes this shape.
The higher she goes, the thicker the stars' tingle on her skin gets, like fur brushing against her. But the closer she gets to the source of the light, the... colder it feels.
Cold, and almost sad. Somewhat dead.
Stars shouldn't feel dead.
She gathers her courage, repeats to herself her parents' prayer, the one that saw her safely to Lowood in the first place, and lets herself hover towards the core of the monster's power.
It's so blinding that the world around her seems to almost disappear, the ground below her looking almost completely dark, just a mass of dim movement, crawling at the surface.
No wonder it's trying to light it up, in its own way. She looks back up, and catches sight of a figure, entirely made of space and twinkling starlight, its skin like the very fabric of the sky.
"Hey!"
It turns towards her, and its shape isn't entirely human--there are limbs, yeah, but the proportions are a little off somehow, like it's built for more harmonious movements than humans are allowed.
It does have a face, though, and eyes almost entirely black.
Human.
The voice resonates through her skin but not her ears, like it's carried by the little particles of light that have been sinking into her all this time.
"What are you doing?" she asks, out loud because she doesn't know how else to, and maybe she should be angry--everyone was scared after all--but now that she's so far up, all she feels is curiosity. Fascination. And this strange feeling that this monster, like the one she'd talked to before Kaito reduced it to shreds in the attack last month, is infinitely lonely.
I am bringing order is the simple response, neutral and factual as can be. And then a slight pause, and Yuuma thinks she can hear a hint of something more human in the monster's mind-voice. Or maybe not hear, but feel. Human, why are you one with the sky?
"I am?" She giggles a bit, unsure, because she's pretty sure she's still human, not made of starlight like this creature, but when she looks at herself it's like the light has covered her skin, shining in turn, and it feels like maybe it should hurt but it doesn't.
It should, is the creature's confirmation, as if it read her thoughts.
"I don't know--maybe cause I'm fly--" It hits her. "Hey, do you see something around me? Like a circle or something?"
I do not, it answers, and there's still that inflexion of curiosity in its voice, like they find Yuuma's existence intriguing.
Well, she's not going to complain.
"Aww, and there I thought my field had finally opened," she sighs, pouting slightly.
But if it's not her field, what is it?
What is a field?
"It's, uh--like a space that comes from your magic. And in that space the rules are different, it depends on the type." She smiles sheepishly. "I never opened mine so I don't know what it is." The monster looks at her with quiet curiosity, so she floats up a little closer and continues. "My friend Kotori, she does something with music--we're not sure how it works yet, but when she opens her field, her voice sounds different and everyone can hear it and sometimes it helps others open theirs too... Still not mine, though."
Why do you want your field to open?
"Well, I want to know what it is!" From the look on its face (Yuuma thinks she can sort of tell expressions by now, as if it was growing more human at her contact, or maybe it's just because she's closer), the answer isn't enough, so she continues. "It's like having this huge thing inside of me and I don't even know what it does! I want to know what it does, I want to do things. I want..." she trails off, a sudden wave of weariness washing over her. "... hey, why are you trying to 'bring order' anyway?"
It is what I was made to be. And what the universe was meant to be. I am merely reverting this place to its natural state.
And the stars feel so cold on Yuuma's skin, cold and sad, and it's not how it's meant to be, her heart cries out. Stars are supposed to be warm. Stars are the light of hope that children follow in the dark.
"Won't that..." she shivers. "Won't that be lonely?"
Lonely?
"If you turn everything to nothing... you'll be all alone."
I am always alone.
It's sad, all of it, the dark light in the creature's unblinking eyes, the way it doesn't even have a word for the feeling Yuuma gets from its cold starlight.
Suddenly, caught up in the sky with only the silent glitter of the stars, Yuuma feels very lonely herself.
"... hey, you're not in a hurry, right?"
The creature meets her with silence, but there is no hostility in its feeling against Yuuma's skin. Only patience and curiosity.
"Will you come with me? I want to show you something."
Why?
"You see..." she shudders, and laughs a little, because she feels pretty stupid, suddenly, and its head tilts slightly, watching her. "... I think I was wrong. I think I opened my field after all." And then quietly, because of course it wouldn't know what that means, or why there's this fear rising in Yuuma's lungs when she stops to think about it: "I'm going to die."
What do you mean?
"To die--stop moving, stop existing. Witches can't leave their field alone, you see, and I don't have a familiar, so..." She chuckles, half nerves and half actual ironic amusement. "Well, you were already trying to do that, I guess."
Why did you open your field?
It sounded confused, like the idea of fear was becoming familiar. Yuuma shrugged, hiding the urge to sob behind another chuckle.
"I didn't do it on purpose. I just looked up... and the stars were really beautiful... so I wanted to touch them... so I reached up and it happened." She smiled. "I kind of wanted to see you."
And you are dying. Is that why the energy in your body is draining?
"You don't have to remind me, I'm scared enough!" Yuuma huffed with a shudder.
The creature stayed silent.
"... hey, do you have a name?"
Astral.
"Astral..." She nods. "Come with me, okay? I want to show you something. It won't cost you anything, right? I'm dying and you have all the time in the world. I just... I just want some company... and you know, it'd be sad if you destroy everything before seeing what it's like before, okay? You can barely see anything from here. I'll show you what the city is like. It's really pretty."
Astral stays silent, but there's a slight shift in their face and the feeling of their light on Yuuma's skin. Curiosity, hesitation.
"I'm Yuuma," she adds with a small smile. "Come on, let's have fun for a bit, okay? Take my hand."
She extends her hand, maybe not quite as slowly as she should have, but she's pretty sure Astral can sense her intentions by now, and she puts all of her warmth into it. Astral stares at it quietly, before finally extending one of their arms, as slow and graceful as Yuuma herself is not, and delicately lets their fingers meet.
The starlight on Yuuma's skin flares.
It's like she herself is made of stars for one blinding second, and suddenly there's power rushing through her from where her hand touched Astral's, power like the burn of a newborn sun, grinding inside her limbs and she wants to scream, scream at the feeling of it inhabiting her flesh, her heart.
In that second, she feels like she could destroy the world, just by craddling it.
Yuuma.
She can't hear anything through the blaze of starfire in her hears, but Astral's voice resonates in her body anyway, and it's urgent and wary and surprisingly affected.
"As-aaaa--"
She screams, and Astral's hand moves to grip hers, pull her close, their other hand resting on her back.
And suddenly it changes, the power no longer burning through her but flowing, from Astral to her and back, brushing inside her flesh like running your hand through water, choking her a little with its intensity but no longer as painful, no longer as destructive. It's like being held in Astral's power instead of just their arms, and she takes a deep breath, and another one, trying her best to blink the blinding white out of her eyes.
Yuuma. What did you do?
There's concern, she notes through the daze on her mind. But at her, or at Astral themself? Did it hurt them too?
"I--" she panics a little and her breath catches a little again, forcing her to take another deep breath. "I don't know! I just took your hand and--"
I can see it.
"Huh?"
I can see the space of your sky.
Her sky?
She blinks at Astral's face, confused, for a few seconds before the "space" part makes it click.
"... you can see my field?"
There is a space around you that follows its own rules. I can see its edges. It is resonating.
She nods, dumbstruck but suddenly hopeful, swallowing before asking the fateful question--
"Can you pull me out?"
Astral may be a monster, but if they can see it...
No.
Something hard and painful catches in her throat.
"... it's okay. I shouldn't have asked--should've known--"
It seems I have entered it by accident, Astral continues, their voice tilted slightly like it's working out an interesting puzzle. My power has linked with it. They frown. ... bound to it.
Yuuma gasps.
"I'm sorry--I didn't do that on purpose, I swear--"
You are no longer 'dying.'
Yuuma blinks. In the wake of pain and shock, she hadn't taken the time to pay attention to the state her body was in, but. It's true. The horrible weariness is gone, replaced by a softer sleepiness, the kind you get after a long, well spent day. Her arms work properly again. She feels drained, a bit raw from Astral's power in her, but not empty.
"... you're right." And then softer: "How..."
I am in your field, Astral repeats. And maybe that's it, maybe they're linked enough that Astral's power takes her own magic's place. Astral looks at her, straight in the eye, and for once Yuuma isn't sure what they're thinking. It's not blank, not neutral, but not an expression she can really pinpoint either. It seems I have no choice but to accept your invitation, for the time being.
"Won't it drain you too?" she blurts out. "If you're linked to my field, then it's gonna drain you instead--"
My resources are not as finite as yours.
Oh. She shuts up, suddenly reminded by how far Astral's powers actually outstrip her own. That even though they had been beautiful, Astral had still been about to destroy Newton, as casually as one might step on a line of ants.
But then, they're not killing anyone right now, are they? Not... not even her, she suddenly realises.
If Astral was bound to her, all they'd have to do to free themself is kill her, right?
It must have reached them through the still-flowing link between them, because Astral looks her in the eye again.
You are interesting. I have no pressing need to kill you. Things will go back to their natural state eventually.
Which means they're just waiting for her to die on her own, she thinks, caught somewhere between bitterness and amusement. But right now, the relief of not dying today is too big to resent them.
And for now, at least, no one seems to be dying either.
"Dodged that bullet at least," she chuckles under her breath.
Bullet?
"I'll explain--" she yawns, suddenly, and her mind starts scrambling, because oh god, if she's coming back with Astral in tow there's going to be a lot of explaining to do--on both sides-- "later..."
Yuuma?
She grows aware, again, of their linked hands, of Astral's hand on her back, of how much it looks and feels like an embrace. I barely know you, she mentally cries out, tired and helpless, because here she is, up there alone in the sky, and her entire life has just changed.
And yet...
Not alone, another part of her claims, and she laughs, tears falling down her cheeks, because it's true, she can already feel the safety in Astral's hold, and is that what having a familiar is supposed to feel like?
The thought that runs through her mind and makes her laugh, as Astral's voice calls her name again, confused by her tears, is that hey, I was a witch after all.
Even if things didn't exactly turn out as planned.
Yuuma, Astral's voice calls again, and this time there's definitely some kind of concern to it. She wonders if it had always been there or if her own humanity is bleeding into them, like their power into her.
"I'm all right. Just tired."
Your human body is not built to channel this kind of power, Astral agrees, as if they were trying to sound wise, and she'd laugh and make a comment about you sure know how to talk to girls if she didn't know they meant it completely honestly. It's not about showing off.
"I'll get used to it," she says with a dismissive wave. "It's a challenge, okay? I never back down from a challenge."
Astral studies her like they're about to ask something along the lines of what is the point of a challenge, so she just grins and winks.
"There's no point in giving without trying, right? The harder the challenge, the better it feels when you succeed, and the more you get to do. You just have to bring it. That's what my dad always said." Before he went and died, she adds mentally, but that kind of detail can always come later.
So surviving my power is 'bringing it'?
"That's right! Although--" she yawns again, "right now I'd rather bring myself to bed."
Will you require help?
The offer takes her by surprise, almost suspiciously gentle in intent. But then again, what reason does she have not to trust Astral? If they wanted to kill her, they would have done so already. They would have nothing to gain from lying to her, if they could at all.
"... yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." She smiles faintly. "'And then when I'm rested, we can tour the city, okay? If you're sticking around, I can show you a lot more."
Astral's arm around her tightens, and they're floating down, the cloak of starlight contracting on itself and following them before being absorbed in Astral's body, revealing the normal day sky above the city.
Coming down feels like a dream. Just a couple of hours ago she'd been dozing off in class, and now...
Now you have a familiar, she tells herself, and maybe it's not what she had hoped for or expected, but it's better than being dead, and besides, who is she to back down from something just because it's unusual.
No one's ever had a monster familiar before? Well someone had to start someday.
You are a strange human, Astral's voice tells her from inside her body.
"I hear that a lot," she answers with a smile.