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"Go to hell, IT said," Elise, or Audrey, muttered. Her words crackled over the fire she created with her hands. Even though she was standing outside near the entrance of the cave despite the maid's stern warnings, Audrey's voice was loud enough for her to hear. Madoka lay on her side, silently resisting the urge to tend to her Princess's blistered hands. She heard her chuckle bitterly. "Heh. The last time I checked, God, or whatever you are, I am in it already!"

The girl angrily threw a stick off the mountain.

"Why, did you, and ALL your friends think it was a good idea to throw me here?" She raged. "Put the pitiful girl who got killed in a Princess's body, fair. You didn't even send a truck to run me over with! Then have her kingdom get torn to pieces along with everyone in it, also fair. Who even was Elise? She's gone and replaced by... this. I'm not even main character material, like, are you kidding me? No plans. No back up. No idea. That's a bit unfair, okay. But this?"

Madoka nearly flinched when something dark emanated from Audrey's chest, but the feeling of terror made her feel like she was going to sink into the dark mountainside itself.

"Why?" She fell into despair. The aura she exuded ceased, quietly suppressed by the frosty wind. Who, or what, was she talking to? "Is existence merely this? Every path slanted. Every step uphill? Why grant me this power? Is this world just a place you wanted me to destroy? I'll find you. I'll find all of you. I'll rip the answers out of your thick throats with my hands."

The snow began to melt around the girl as she howled in the wind. Madoka shut her eyes tightly, too scared to look at the former princess. The mountains were quiet to her shouts, the snow crumpling around her boots as she thrashed moved without any resistance, and the stars continued to blink above. Audrey ignored their indifference and raged again after heaving a gulp of air.

"I prayed to you like I did back in my old world to a silent god. I heard nothing from that damn god at all. But I heard you! Back then, so now why are you quiet? I believe in you, why don't you explain to me why I'm here?" Her hoarse demands thinned in her desperation and her hands flickered out from her magic. "You must have heard me, every night during the Summer of Light, the Fall of Roots. Why, must Brother do this? Why, did my Mother do this? Why must I suffer in her place? Why? Why, why, why?"

She paused, tilting her ear upward as if she was truly waiting for something to respond to her. Madoka worried that she would slip off the mountain, but just as she was about to move over to the troubled girl she suddenly heard something. A voice? Goosebumps instantly spread up her skin like ice shards and snow flakes batting her face. Horror paralyzed her as the snow flurries began to calm down for an ephemeral moment. Something was definitely speaking to her!

「Do you hear me? I await you in the Beast's Eye, Madoka.」

Madoka sprang up, screaming. The air suddenly stopped being chaotic and the former princess whirled around. Instantly, her angry eyes suddenly dropped to guilty concern and a hint of embarrassment as she ran over to the maid.

"Madoka!" She grabbed the maid's shoulders to steady her as she shook violently. "I— I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm sorry, so sorry, please—"

Madoka was too spooked to respond, unable to even utter a single word to stop the princess from giving heretical apologies to a servant like her. Whatever look she had on her face instantly quieted the girl, while Madoka nearly threw up from the revelation that something reached out to her. Why her? Why did it not speak to Audrey? What would happen if it did speak to her? The harsh words the princess spoke must have scared the kind goddess, did they not? The mountain, this Hall of a long dead Royal, spoke to her. Her, of all people? Madoka had already forgotten what it actually said to her, still reeling from the intense alien feeling that something contacted her.

"A-Are you sick?" Audrey's eyes shifted back and forth. Madoka realized that habit of hers. She was searching for a way to fix something that was not her fault, placing a blame on herself like a guilty punishment that nothing the maid could ever give to her. "Your face is so pale, Madoka."

Pale? Madoka snapped out of it and threw herself into Audrey's arms.

"P-Please, Your Highness," Madoka whispered in the girl's ears. "Please don't blame yourself anymore, please? Just for tonight, please."

Madoka knew the guilt she had probably could not stop from rolling down these forsaken and abandoned cliffsides like an avalanche, but her plea was from the deepest parts of her heart. She had served Her Highness with it all this time. From girl to Princess. From Princess to girl again. She swore herself to Elise and now she swore herself to Audrey. So, could she not just exchange it for one moment of peace for now? Even if they were in a cliffside cave, huddled and scared out of their wits, Madoka clung to her. Soon, they both were weeping their hearts out together.

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Wind tussled their hair, entwining the strands together as the campfire illuminated Her Former Highness's bone-white skin. Audrey heaved in again, hiccupping as the tears finally vented out to a soft whimper. Madoka was still a mess of fear and sorrow for her. It was true— whenever Audrey was sad, so was she. The snow began to pick up again, throwing itself in the cave entrance like clumps of wet sand now. She managed to prop herself up, moving the girl further away from the cave's maw.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Madoka," Audrey murmured like a chastised child. A powerful shiver rattled through her, making Madoka instinctively shove her into the nook of her armpit for warmth. "I'm scared."

Those two words nearly broke Madoka. She knew that she was terrified more than ever, of course. Scared enough to finally say it aloud. That lone display of vulnerability was rare for the girl. She knew that weight was something the princess could barely hold alone, yet she did not know how to even share the load together with her. Even bringing up that the mountain spoke to her would probably bury her. No, it would definitely cause immeasurable stress and harm. So Madoka remained silent as always, waiting for the girl to open up again.

"Not of what's to come, heh," Audrey spoke into her side as if she was too scared to come out. "We're way too late to back out now. I'm scared of what my mom thought of me. How she's like, going on without me. You know? How could someone go on, knowing that all they have left was a mental image of their daughter was the life being choked out of them?"

Madoka's throat constricted. Audrey was speaking of her old life again. That strange place, like an impossible door, spooked her more than the voice that spoke to her moments ago.

"I used to think, why not, you know? If a god was real back there, maybe he'd hear me if I toss a few screams for help out there. Of course, he didn't hear me. In that house, where I was left alone all the time— it's no wonder why he couldn't hear me. Like, he's got a universe to run and other things to do, right? The toughest thing I ever experienced didn't hold a candle to whatever or whichever God of my old world's problems. I don't know where I'm going with any of this but... I'm terrified that the so-called gods here will do the same to me. Keep quiet while I flail in absolute terror. You're all I have left, and I'm scared."

The fires waned as the Princess fell silent. Madoka took a moment to gather her scattered thoughts like the clothes Audrey tossed everywhere in her room after a training session back in the Estate. The shirts go into one basket, the pants in another— then, all of them went to the wash room. Then she finally spoke.

"When I died, I," she began softly, still feeling shaken from the mysterious voice from the mountain and the princess's earlier rage. Audrey immediately pushed herself from Madoka and looked at her all over, as if checking to see if she was still alive. The maid did not shy away from her inspection. She was here for Audrey and she was going to tell her what she felt this time.

"I was scared, too. Not of death, because before I died, I remembered what you told me back in the Estate: Your Brother would stab me in the heart. That— happened." She felt the skin over her rapidly thumping heart. "I was scared of what I left you instead. Guilty, for not being able to hold my vow to take care of you all my life. The same thing I guess, goes to you. I really didn't know what else I would do without you. I could have chosen to walk away, to live like you said to do. I could have given you a calm memory of me saying goodbye and walking out with the other maids to who knows where else, but I— I would have felt empty without you. Scared of leaving you forever with only a terrible memory and regret over my death. It's not the same scared feeling as you, I know, but that's what I felt back then. I just thought you should hear the truth from me."

Audrey stayed quiet for a long time, her brows narrowed as she took in Madoka's feelings. Then, she pulled out wood from her storage talisman and snapped her fingers. As the cave became illuminated again with new warmth, she suddenly threw herself into Madoka's arms again. Her weight barely budged the maid, but the strange relief from pent-up emotions being released into the wild bore down with more heaviness than any boulder could.

"I don't want your sorry's, Audrey," Madoka whispered softly. "I should be the one who's sorry, I really couldn't help you save Fiara. Couldn't save you from your... Old life. Couldn't be there for you enough when Prince Fiara..."

"No, no," Audrey murmured. Madoka felt Her Highness's head press deeper into her collar. "I'm truly lucky to have you. Back then, here, and from now on."

The new firewood sparkled with the moons and starlight outside in a melancholic blend of blurry heat and soft violet. The princess looked so sad and small in her arms, Madoka thought. Beyond anything, the rage or her fear, she looked hopelessly lonely. So she tightened her hug. Even though Audrey went rigid for a moment, her shoulders relaxed and the wetness pouring on her collar ceased. It seemed like they both managed to make up their scarred minds on one thing.

"Each other," Madoka said softly. "We— We have each other. Okay?"

Audrey pulled away from her, the light illuminating her eyes. Determination sparkled within them now, replacing the vulnerability. Madoka knew there would will be many more times that she would break down and fall into her emotions, even further along in their journey here on this mountain, but she made the declaration anyways.

"I— I'm going to be fine, with you," Audrey declared. Her shaking voice evened out as she continued her declaration. "Gods or not, you're the one who made up my mind, okay? But—" She quickly added before Madoka could even nod her head. "There's going to be times where I'll need you to remind me. Okay? A-And, I'll remind you too, don't you forget! Don't ever—"

Audrey yawned. Madoka nearly groaned as she set the sleep deprived girl on the mat in her tent. She had no doubts she would stay by her side for her whole life.

"We have each other," she repeated. She rested against the log again and watched the fire slowly dwindle into ashes when she heard it again.

「The Beast's Eye awaits you. I await for you and you alone, Madoka.」

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