Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Homura Akemi was ready to cry as she once again failed to save her first friend. Madoka was dead, this time without having considered Homura her cherished friend. Sure, she'd tried, but Homura had kept her at a distance, thinking it would hurt less. But Madoka was dead, Walprugis Night was defeated and Kyuubei was still a bastard.

“So this is where you were...”

A voice Homura had never heard before spoke and the ravenette managed to look up just in time to see a man in white and gold robes grab the Incubator by it's neck befroe the thing had time to so much as utter an “Uh-oh.”

“You little cockroach. This time there will be no mercy for you and yours.”

Homura watched as the man, whom she noticed was glowing, shook the white creature before conjuring a globe of energy and dumping it in there. The little demon seemed unable to escape if the panicked scrabbling was anything to go by.

“Who... who... are... you?” Homura asked painstakingly.

The man turned to her and Homura flinched at the glowing golden eyes peering at her as the man started to bounce the sphere holding the Incubator with restrained glee “Ah, we are the Collective Consciousness, we govern the worlds. You've done us a great service in containing the fugitive, albeit unknowingly.”

Homura scrunched the eyebrows “Fugi...tive?”

The man, being? Entity? Nodded gravely “Yes, the Incubator race was to stand trial for their... genocidal tendencies, but escaped across the multiverse. This particular one is the last, thankfully, but it was also the smartest and trickiest, not to mention the most sinister of the bunch. Our realm is unaffected by outside influences such as your personal time-loop, which gave us ample time to search while it was unknowingly trapped here by you. Now that we have found it, execution is inevitable.”

Homura sat there for a moment before she started crying, either in relief or something else, she did no know. As she wailed, she could hear the sound of something being squished, before there was a bright light and the Incubator's presence was cut off from her senses. Once she calmed down a little, tears still streaming down her face as she tried to wipe them away in vain, she could see what could only be the remains of the little white devil as the man knelt in front of her.

“We would grant you a boon, though depending on what you desire, you may have to pay an additional service to us.”

Homura looked up at the entity, glad for the absolute honesty that contrasted heavily against the Kyuubi's half-truths, avoidances and lies “I just- I just want to see Madoka again.”

The being hummed “Kaname Madoka... a soul filled with potential, connected to others intimately... to bring her back, others should be too... to do this, we would need to reset time. This we can do.”

Homura felt hope and joy swell up in her, but before she could thank him, he held up a hand “However, the cost of this will be a task given to you. Should you succeed, we will grant you this boon.”

Homura leant forward, on hands and knees “Anything!”

The entity stood up and waved his arm, a ripple forming through the air before displaying a planet with similar to Earth, only with more ocean and a red line running all around it vertically.

“This world was the home to a member of the Incubator race. It created fruits that give the eater strange powers, but takes away their ability to swim. A very dangerous thing on a world with seafaring as the only method of transportation and very little land.”

Homura nodded, it wasn't as diabolical as the Magical Girl system, but it was deadly and the powers certainly came with a price people weren't necessarily warned of. If she was correct, it was also irreversible.

“These Devil Fruits as they were named by the people of this world, also cause the eater to become powerless in water, seawater especially, and their powers will be negated by a special mineral called sea-stone.”

Homura corrected her previous thoughts. The powers came with just as bad a set of setbacks as the Magical Girl system.

“This world now houses a system of Marines and Pirates, due to the nature of their world. It is not a kind world, but there are people with the power to change it... one of these people, due to the machinations of one of the Incubators, is set to die due to a man in possession of an abomination of a Devil Fruit. The death of this person triggers far too many negative happenings and far too few positive ones.”

Homura watched enraptured as the entity explained further. About Marines, about Celestial Dragons, about Pirates, about the Revolutionaries. About Whitebeard, about Roger, About Shanks, about Dragon. About Ace, about Sabo, about Luffy. About their potential. About the loss of their potential were Ace to die. The devastation should Whitebeard die.
He explained to her her task. A rather simple one in theory, but Homura knew it would be more complicated than it sounded. She was proven right when the entity explained what happened to Devil Fruits once their user died.

Her task was to save Portgas D. Ace from being executed, eliminate Marshall D. Teach, and search and destroy the Yami Yami no Mi once it reappeared. If possible, then she should save Whitebeard too.

They would take away her time-travel, but return her soul to its original form, back inside her body. The gem would still manifest on her person, but it could not be parted from her. Homura was grateful for this fact. She would not turn into a Witch if her gem turned black and instead of using grief seeds to cleanse it from taint, should there ever be any, she would have to wash it in ocean water.

Homura took a big breath, before steeling herself “I am ready.”

The entity which had called itself the Collective Consciousness nodded regally and waved his hand in her direction. Homura felt her fatigue disappearing and her wounds healing. With another wave of his hand, Homura felt herself falling downwards, as if a hole had appeared under her feet.

The last thing she heard before the scenery around her changed was: “Good luck, Akemi Homura.”

Chapter Text

Homura found herself overlooking a battlefield. Bodies of pirates and marines were strewn all over and the buildings and ground were heavily damaged. There seemed to be a pile of rubble that might have once been a tall platform, but the magical girl paid little attention to that, instead scanning the battlefield for her objectives. She spotted Portgas D. Ace making his way through the chaos with his brother and a wounded but still standing Whitebeard. Blackbeard was sadly nowhere to be seen.

Nodding to herself and briefly brushing her hand against the Soul Gem on the back of her other hand, Akemi Homura readied herself for a sprint, her shield splitting and turning as the world faded to gray.

The first time anyone realized was wrong was when Whitebeard was suddenly covered in bandages and seemed to stand even straighter. The next thing anyone noticed were the explosions that seemed to move in a line across the ice, freeing the ships. After that, multiple marines went down without an obvious reason, they all sported bullet-woulds even though no one could hear the sound of gunfire that would have been connected to it.

There was a new player in the war, and nobody could claim they knew who it was.

Homura was running around the battle field, leaving bombs in her wake and shooting Marines left and right. She didn't stop to think about the death-toll. Less opponents meant less opportunity for her to fail.

She was glad she'd been able to patch up the giant man called Whitebeard and even more glad she'd been able to use her magic to heal him some, it was the first time she'd tried anything like it.

It was freeing not having to worry about her gem being tarnished, about whether or not she had a grief seed to purify it with. Sure, she could see it darkening a little but it lightened extremely fast afterwards, most likely because Homura wasn't using as much magic as she could be.

She'd become quite efficient in using as little magic as she could get away with. It was strange to be able to squander in that aspect. She prided herself in her control, but she liked that she didn't necessarily need to keep an extremely tight reign on it anymore.

She cannot turn into a witch.

And she loved it.

Jumping onto a Marine, she restarted time long enough to force the man into the ground, before stopping time again and running off. For the first time ever, she was actually having fun while fighting. It was odd. She didn't know if this was how it was supposed to feel, or if she was high on dopamine.

Either way, she needed to find the armory. She had shit to steal.

She momentarily paused as that thought entered her brain. That was not normal for her... but she didn't dislike it.

Perhaps it was the absence of the Incubator, or the danger of turning that was responsible.

She shook off those thoughts as she ran towards what had to be the Marines HQ, cutting down enemies as she went. The Marines would soon find themselves robbed.

Chapter Text

There was some chaos when a random Marine ran out of the weapons storage screaming that everything was gone, before promptly being silenced by the same unseen force that had been decimating the ranks half the battle. There was no time to actually dwell on that, though, since everyone's sole focus was on either getting Ace out of Marineford or stopping said pirate from escaping.

Which was how the situation had come to this.

Homura had no idea exactly when she'd lost sight of them, but when she laid eyes on the pair of brothers again, Luffy was on his knees while Ace had just been smacked around by Akainu. Homura saw the Marine Admiral's line of sight. She saw Luffy looking at something on the ground, reaching for it. She saw Akainu move. Saw Ace move.

She'd been in too many battles not to know what was coming next. She acted just as Ace did. On instinct.

Splat

Homura stood still even as she shook. She'd never taken damage quite like this and for a moment, she absently thought how grateful she was that her Soulgem was on her hand and not her torso like Kyoko or Sayaka's. Or Madoka's, for that matter. In this particular situation, any of those would have been very bad. She let out a choked sound as the limb retracted, blood spilling from her mouth and the gaping hole that took up her chest and stomach. Even as she fell to her knees, she created a barrier around herself and the brothers. Just in time too as an explosion rocked the ground behind her, extinguishing the life of a man who deserved nothing less.

Ace had moved on instinct when he saw what the bastard had been aiming to do. He had lunged and braced himself, knowing that had he even been able to, he would have stopped himself from going intangible. But Akainu had already proven that his magma burned hotter than Ace's fire, thus canceling the Logia-specific power out.

However, when he felt nothing, the Fire Logia was confused. Had he not been able to see Luffy's kneeling form, he would have thought he'd been too late. But if he wasn't, then why-?

The sensation of warm droplets against his back made him seize up, but the sick sound of someone choking on their own blood caused him to slowly turn his head, his arms lowering as he came to the only logical conclusion. Someone got there first. What he saw horrified him.

It was a kid. A young, female kid who couldn't possibly be older than Luffy. Heck, there was no way she was anything but younger than Luffy. Much, much too young to be anywhere near a battle such as this.

A kid younger than Luffy, with a fist made of magma right through her torso, arms stretched to the side, eyes wide and glassy, blood flowing down her chin from both sides of her mouth, slowly dribbling down her throat and staining the gray and white outfit she was wearing, not that much of it was free of blood anyway.

She drew in a very painful-sounding breath around Sakazuki's fist, which was pulled out soon after by the bastard himself, who looked only slightly shocked, but otherwise unmoved. Apparently, even he hadn't seen her coming. The girl fell to her knees at the absence of the, morbidly, only support she had and Ace was reeling, since it shouldn't even be possible for her to still be alive. Sure, he would have died from that too, but she was so small you could fit two of her behind him, side-by-side, and still not see her. He then flinched at the purple dome that sprung up and encircled the three of them, made up of weird glow-y circles, before the space behind her exploded. Not even the air around them was disturbed, probably because of the barrier, and Ace waited for the smoke to clear.

Once the smoke had been blown away by the wind, everyone could see the very dead, very mutilated body of one Admiral Sakazuki. Ace couldn't help but stare, but was snapped out of it when the glowing dome disappeared and the girl pitched forward. On instinct, Ace caught her, before shifting her so that she was lying against his left arm, taking in shuddering breaths, somehow, somehow, still alive.

Ace looked at her, horrified beyond words “Why did you-?”

The girl only gasped, tears flowing from her eyes as she choked out “It hurts-” before saliva mixed with blood flowed out from the corner of her mouth as she choked on her words. And her own spit. Probably.

Ace wasn't sure what to do, but he flinched at the flickering purple fire that came from her gaping wound. His eyes caught sight of the gem on the back of her left hand and he grabbed it, bringing it closer. The amethyst seemed to be changing colour, darkening in somewhat malevolent swirls, but staying light enough that it didn't go black.

Somehow, he got the feeling that black was bad.

Looking up and behind him, he was relieved to see Jimbe picking up his little brother. Ace stood up as he gathered the kid into his arms before legging it. He needed to get her out of there. Luffy, too.

Chapter Text

Homura couldn't think straight. She could feel the significant drain on her magic as she struggled to heal herself. A large, gaping hole was difficult enough to heal, but when the edges were burnt by lava? So, so much worse. Gunshots, blade wounds, those were child's play compared to this.

Every step Ace took jarred her, but she was grateful he had decided to pick her up. He was a good person. No matter what the world may call him, be it demon or the son of the devil, Portgas D. Ace was nothing but a kind man who'd been dealt a bad hand. At first she had only accepted this job for Madoka, but perhaps... perhaps, even if she never got to see her again, it would be ok. Protecting someone like this... Madoka would have done it for no other reason that doing the right thing. The data she had received and the data she had collected gave her plenty enough reason to want to make sure this man survived.

This pain was nothing. Nothing, in comparison to what would happen without this man. Without his Captain. No matter her condition, she had to see her mission through. Whitebeard, Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy. They were all too important to let die here.

Slowly, slowly, her flesh regenerated and her spine came into being again, allowing her to actually move anything. Any normal human would have died from their entire spine being pretty much vaporized. She'd been unable to move and had Ace not picked her up, she would have been left lying there on the ground with no way to defend herself.

Painstakingly, Homura turned her head to look behind Ace, guarding his retreating back. Her long, loose hair obscured her vision due to the speed at which the pirate was running, but she had long since developed reflexes fast enough for her to register exactly what she was seeing and acting accordingly.

The response of reaching into her shield and pulling out a gun was second nature by now and it took no time at all for her to draw, aim and shoot the entire magazine at her target. She realized her mistake a moment later when she felt Ace start to stop and turn around, most likely to see exactly who she'd been shooting at.

“No!” she yelled, extending her left arm above her and stopping time.

Shinng-whirr-click!

Ace blinked in confusion at the strange sound from the weird shield on the girl's arm, but froze when he realized something was very wrong. Everything had stopped. There was no sound, no movement, and the colours of their surroundings had bled away.

“What the hell?” he muttered, glancing around.

“Never mind that, just run!” the girl screamed at him, her right hand gripping her left arm and Ace could see the hand with the amethyst spasm painfully, the gem once again darkening in colour.

Ace looked at the frozen Jimbe, holding his brother “But, Jimbe and Luffy...”

“If you want them to move then touch them! But more importantly run! I can't do this forever!” the girl cried, her eyes scrunched shut as tears fell.

Ace wasted no more time as he shifted her and reached his hand towards the fishman. He didn't know what kind of Devil Fruit she had eaten, but he didn't need to. The important thing right now was getting to the ship in one piece.

Not everyone noticed the quartet disappearing from the battle. What they did notice was the pillar of flame from the Moby, signaling exactly where Ace was. With this, Whitebeard ordered a retreat. Ace was safe, they had accomplished their goal. As the retreat was sounded, a series of explosions rocked a single spot on the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, all anyone could see was the mutilated Marshall D. Teach, along with a group of people that he'd made into his crew.

Onboard the Moby, on top of the whale figurehead, Ace stared, slightly dumbfounded at the carnage, his fisted hands on his hips. He turned to look at the little girl, sitting legs sprawled on either side of her, on the very same figurehead, surrounded by the weapons she'd have to have used to cause that same damage.

“You're a little scary, kid.” better he not say what he had been actually thinking... which had been 'You're a scary little kid.'

The younger ravenette flicked her hair, before laying that same hand on the almost closed up hole in her body “Am I really? Well, whatever. The important thing is that I get things done.”

“Hmm...” Ace hummed, crouching down “C'mon, you need rest, you've done enough.”

She looked like she wanted to protest, but eventually let Ace pick her up. As he jumped back down on deck, the Fire Logia wondered exactly why she had even been at Marineford. He couldn't think of any reason for her to be there or want to help. Well, her reasons didn't really matter. What mattered was the fact that he owed her his life. And had he not been there... Luffy's life. He was in debt, and he'd repay it, somehow.

The retreat proceeded relatively well, especially when Shanks appeared to cover said retreat. It took an embarrassing amount of time for the Whitebeard pirates to notice the girl. Ace was only barely not laughing at them and Homura? Well, she was too busy resting on the folded up blankets Ace had gotten her to notice. Her powers were working full-time to close the wound and repair her organs, especially since she'd been forced to use her time-freezing ability more than once afterwards.

Marco eyed her, before he turned to Ace “Who is she, yoi?”

The Fire Logia shrugged “No idea, all I know is she has some really interesting powers and regeneration powers rivaling yours.”

The Phoenix looked dubious, before he seemed to realize something, looking at the girl from the corner of his eyes “How old is she?”

Ace became silent, before grimly stating “She can't be older than Luffy... she's probably younger than Luffy... honestly, I'm afraid to find out just what her age is.”

Everyone became grim at that. If the age-difference was that noticeable, then the girl could be really young. They all got a small scare when the girl was suddenly covered in purple energy, before it shattered and scattered away, leaving the girl in different clothes than what she had been wearing at Marineford.

Ace stared for a moment before he quipped “Like I said, really interesting powers.”