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homura walked down the quite school halls, her shoes echoing off the high ceiling. mami had spoke to her earlier, courtesy of kyubey's telekinesis, asking for assistance with a wraith during lunch hours. although homura preferred fighting wraith's alone, she would still help out.
she found herself out on the rooftop courtyard, where mami was waiting, golden hair blowing in the wind. she had already transformed, holding her comically large gun.
kyubey sat next to her.
homura had learned to reign in her previous hatred for the damned creature, but the sight still made her blood boil, even though it had been almost a year.
a year since she had rewritten the laws of time.
but now was not the time for that, since mami had seemed rather worried about this particular wraith.
"hey. what's the situation?" she asked, walking up behind her.
"a rather strong wraith has been getting dangerously close to school grounds, which could cause serious trouble for us," mami explained, "so we should take it out before it can get any stronger."
homura nodded, looking over the fence into the school yard. it was empty, despite wraith's usually showing themselves out in the open from what they'd seen. she frowned, looking for the older for an answer.
instead, kyubey provided an answer. "homura, the wraith that has been appearing in this area seems to be lurking somewhere in the shadows."
mami crossed her arms, nodding. "we've been looking for a while, but we haven't found anything. we were hoping you could come along and search with us."
"why not. any idea where to start?" she asked.
"I have my suspicious of it being in this general area, so I proprose we search this rooftop together." kyubey cut in, winding around mami's legs. homura held back her urge to grab the dumb cat away from her, even though she knew he was friendly now.
"alright. let's get this over with…"
the three set off across the large rooftop, checking behind every large building and shadowy area, eerily silent except for the whistling wind. it was a bright sunny day, but the cold and damp shadowy areas sent chills down homura's spine. she didn't fear wraith's, but something about this particular hunt seemed off-putting.
every other wraith homura had hunted since they'd begun appearing had been sitting out in the open, flickering in and out of existence like tv static. mami stared out over the city, seemingly staring at a distant building, far away on the horizon. homura normally wouldn't care about it, but something felt off today. she felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu.
"mami."
"yes homura?" the older girl asked, turning her head.
homura took a moment to formulate her question. "do you want to go home?" kyubey looked at her, confused as mami.
"oh, but why would we do that? we have to kill this wraith after all." mami said, reaching out a hand for the cat-like creature, who gladly jumped onto her shoulder.
the wind had stopped blowing.
homura's eyes widened as the towering black form appeared behind mami, casting them into a plunging darkness. homura felt herself falling, grasping at nothing, disoriented and confused.
wraith's shouldn't be able to do this. the last time homura had felt something similar to this sensation, the feeling of being in a child's dream, was the last time she fought a witch.
this felt like a witches labyrinth, but it also didn't. homura stared into the pitch black surrounding her, the only indicator she was falling the rushing wind.
her body suddenly flipped upright.
her eyes opened.
mami's worried face was the first thing to greet her. she looked confused, behind her usually calm exterior.
"oh thank goodness! I thought that wraith had done something to you!" she gasped, pulling homura up by the hand. the black haired girl frowned, looking around. it was still the school rooftop, and the wraith was nowhere to be seen. evidently, mami had taken care of it.
"wait. where's kyubey?" homura asked, suddenly noticing the absence of mami's companion. the old panic she felt when that creature was involved still tended to happen.
"he had to talk to sayaka. you don't need to worry, homura." mami told her, a comforting hand on homura's shoulder.
"I know…" homura said slowly, "I guess I just felt out of it today. I'm sorry you had to fight by yourself." she could hardly explain why she felt this way, without having to explain her entire story. homura doubted mami would believe her anyways. she didn't even remember madoka kaname had ever existed.
"alright then. I'll be going. just make sure you take care of yourself, ok?" mami waved as she walked away, almost looking ethereal as if she walked among the clouds. homura sighed, slumping against the fence. this school always felt dreamy, a reminder of what could have been.
homura missed the original madoka.
not the madoka's that had died and passed away fighting walpurgisnacht, but the pure hearted magical girl that she had met what seemed like centuries ago. she looked up at the blue sky, wondering if she was watching, looking down from whatever heavenly space she may be in now. it almost felt peaceful, sitting alone. homura could pretend madoka was by her side, smiling that beautiful smile. just the two of them, like it should have been.
homura glanced in the direction mami had gone, her friend already vanished from sight.
it was hard to look at her without imagining her bloodied neck, snapped and twisted, corpse hanging in the air as the witch ate her head.
that had been one of the times she wanted to take madoka away from all this, run far far away somewhere she could be happy. but of course the foolish girl had to go and be righteous, watch all her friends die, just to become merely a concept, practically a figment of homura's imagination. what she wouldn't give to spend one more moment together, just a minute more.
madoka kaname had been unselfish when she made that wish, uncaring of what became of her, as long as she could help others who had been wrongfully tricked.
homura wished she was half as brave as her, because if she had one more wish, she would only want madoka back. she wanted to be selfish, to fight together one more time.
it had been nearly two years.
but everyday homura walked through life, feeling incomplete and empty without madoka.
she often wondered if madoka felt the same way, lonely up there and hoping for her friends to talk to just once more.
homura tugged at the ribbon in her hair, the pink fabric spilling into her hands. she clutched it tightly, fighting back tears she didn't know she had.
madoka had worn this, touched homura's hand and gifted her this, before fading away into some unknown god.
she wanted to scream, let her frustrations out, jump off this rooftop and forget this awful life. it was miserable, and homura wanted nothing more than to die and move onto to the next life.
but she couldn't do that to sayaka and kyoko, or mami.
so homura stood, slowly walking back towards the school, ribbon dangling from her clenched fist.
death could wrap his cold arms around her and she would not put up a fight, but she refused to leap into them.
her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
maybe god would take pity on her and end the painful life she'd lived.
if god even existed. homura only wanted to believe in madoka's existence, waiting for her wherever she may be.
so she'd wait until they could be together.