Chapter Text
Homura was having a normal day. Emphasis on was. She stared at the kid and skeleton. The skeleton wasn’t the weird part, it’d been a while since monsters came back to the surface, and besides, she’d seen weirder as a magical girl. No, the weird part was…well, she wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. It was like there were traces of time clinging to them. More so to the kid, but it was present on both. The same way it was present on her.
“Hey buddy, you got a problem?” the skeleton asked, and Homura realized she’d been staring. She didn’t startle, she didn’t do that often anymore, but she did blink, mind refocusing.
“...No, my apologies. It was simply…” she didn’t know how to say what she was thinking without sounding crazy. Then she decided that she wasn’t going to get answers any other way, and continued. “Well, I’m going to sound a little crazy, but I can sense traces of time on you two. Were the two of you also in a time loop?”
‘Also?’ the kid questioned in sign language. Homura nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t think I’d be able to sense it if I hadn’t looped so many times.”
‘You know sign?’ the kid asked, and wow, Homura should really get their name.
“Yeah. I’m Homura Akemi, she/her, by the way.”
‘I’m f-r-i-s-k.’ Frisk looked at their companion.
“Frisk uses they/them. And I’m Sans, he/him. If we’re going to talk about the time stuff, we should really go somewhere more private.”
“That’s ok with me.” Homura agreed.
– - –
Homura knew it probably wasn’t the best idea to bring two strangers to her home, but she didn’t really care. This was the only way to get answers. Soon, she was stopping in front of her place.
“In here.”
“This your place? Won’t your parents mind?” Sans asked, and she shrugged.
“They’re dead, they left me this place. So no, they won’t mind. Follow me.” Thankfully, Sans didn’t seem too put out by his misstep. Soon, Homura was gesturing for the pair to sit. “I suppose I should explain first? Considering I’m the one who stopped you on the street to sound like a crazy person.”
“Well, I wouldn’t complain.” Sans replied.
“Ok. I should probably start by explaining how I was able to time travel, which is a very long explanation because I’ll end up explaining a bunch of unrelated things for context.”
“That’s all right. We’ve got all the time in the world.” Sans said with a smirk. Homura let out a subtle sigh. Of course he made puns.
“So, I’m a magical girl.”
‘Like anime?’
“Kinda. We can transform into cute outfits, but in reality it’s an incredibly dangerous job that comes with some really nasty side effects. Side effects that the fucking incubators don’t tell us about. Ah, the incubators are a species of aliens that create magical girls. I’m fairly sure they’re a hivemind of some sort, and they all go by Kyubey. Anyway, All magical girls get magic weapons. That part is pretty cool. Anyway, the reason being a magical girl is so dangerous is that we fight witches. Witches are magical girls who’ve been taken over by negative emotions. That’s one of the things Kyubey doesn’t tell us about. The other big one is about soul gems.” She let hers materialize onto her palm. “This is mine. Kyubey tries to claim that this is just the source of our powers. What Kyubey doesn’t tell us is that this is our actual soul. Oh sure, they try and justify it by citing the benefits of your soul not being in our fucking bodies , such as dramatically increased pain tolerance and stuff, but I can tell you agree with us that clearly this is not a good thing.” she explained, observing Frisk's pale face and Sans’ expression of horror. She sighed. “And we need grief seeds, which one gets sometimes from defeating a witch, to keep it clear, otherwise we turn into a witch ourselves. Anyway, The one big thing I was saving for last, because it serves as a good transition, is how magical girls are formed. Kyubey technically can’t force anyone to become one, but he can wait until we’re at our most desperate.” She took a deep breath. “My wish was time travel. My best friend had died fighting an incredibly powerful witch, a witch on the scale of a natural disaster, and I wished to go back in time to when I first met her. However, I didn’t succeed in saving her that time either. So I went back Again. And again, and-” she cut herself off. She couldn’t have a breakdown, not now. “Not the point. One side effect of this is that I can stop time for semi-short periods of time. This is because, depending on the wish, some magical girls will get some sort of extra power or benefit. So…yeah.” She finally stopped talking. “Would you like some time to process all that…?”
“It’s fine kid. Frisk, you were the one doing the actual time stuff.” he turned to Homura. “I was just along for the ride for some reason.”
‘I’ll go. My loops worked much like a video game. There were what were essentially save points, and I could either load my most recent save point or reset back to the beginning when I fell into the underground. I would either load or reset whenever I died.’ Sans winced a little at that, and Homura assumed there was some sort of story there, but didn’t press. They’d only just met, after all. ‘That’s all, I think. Much less to explain compared to you.’
“Thanks for telling me.” She paused. “I suppose I should apologize. I don’t really know where to go from here. I was just…excited, I suppose, to meet someone else who’d been in a time loop.” She was looking for something else to say when someone started banging on the door.”
“Hey! Homura! Let me in!” Of course it was Kyouko. And Homura was pretty sure she knew what she wanted. She held up a finger to her guests, in a universal gesture for wait a sec, and went to the door, opening it.
“Hello, Kyouko. Let me guess, you’re here to steal my snacks again? Or invite me to go eat something with you? Or go to the arcade? Because I’m afraid I’m busy.”
“...Snacks.” Kyouko admitted. Homura sighed.
“Fine. But I have guests over, so play nice.” She stepped out of the doorway to let her fellow magical girl in. She didn’t quite know why she kept indulging the red-haired girl, but oh well.
“Wait a sec, I don’t know either of you! Homura! I didn’t know you knew people I didn’t!” Homura sighed, walking over.
“Is it that inconceivable? But anyway, I just met them today. Guys, this is Kyouko Sakura.”
“I’m Sans, he/him. And this is Frisk, they/them.”
“Nice ta meetcha both! Don’t mind me, I’m just here to steal Homuras snacks.” Homura let herself smirk slightly.
“I hope you know the ones in the cabinet are mostly meant for either you, me when I’m particularly tired, or guests in general. I keep the ones I care about in my shield.”
“Wait, what! Why are you just now-wait. Did you tell these strangers off the street about you being a-”
“A magical girl? Yes. It’s a long story.”
“You know what? Fine. Let’s go back to the other thing. You seriously stock your cabinets just for guests and/or me ?”
“Or for when I’m particularly tired.” She confirmed. Kyouko growled slightly before turning, grabbing her snacks, and leaving, presumably to talk/rant at Sayaka. She turned back to her guests. “Apologies. Shall we figure out what to do next?”