Chapter Text
“Ah, Ms.Akemi, what is it you think you are doing?”
Homura barely even shifts her eyes to look at the incubator before turning back to her hands as she finishes tying the last of the wires together around the poles under the podium. It’s not like its actually interested in what she’s doing, not really, only asking to determine whether or not it should stop her plan. The less the damned rat knows the better it is for her and Madoka in the long run, maybe if she keeps ignoring him, he’ll leave her alone.
Kyubey, unfortunately doesn’t take the hint, “You’re pretty far from Mitakihara, and to Okinawa of all places, I don’t think you’ll find the climate here all that pleasant, if I do speak frankly.”
“I didn’t think your kind cared about silly pedantics like the weather,” said Homura in a clipped tone as she pulled the wires as tight as possible, cutting into the skin of her hands as she did.
“We don’t,” replied Kyubey, “You just happen to wear a lot of black, and that absorbs a lot of heat under the sun, but I guess that doesn’t really matter to you either, you magical girls don’t produce waste anymore, let alone sweat,” Kyubey shakes its head with a sigh, “You act so irrationally like a human that even I get confused sometimes.”
“Shut up.”
Kyubey continues like it didn’t hear her, “So I ask again Ms.Akemi, what is it that you hope to achieve by planting your improvised explosive devices all over this podium? And right before one of the inauguration speeches too, I didn’t think you were big on politics.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh! But it is Ms.Akemi, for you see I have a very vested interest in who is coming to speak on this podium and I’d like to know why.”
Homura steps back from the podium to quietly inspect her handiwork before replying, “Oh? Makes sense, takes a rat to know a rat, I’m sure you have lots in common with Mr.Shindo.”
“So it is Ainosuke Shindo that you’re so interested in!” said Kyubey, its little white ears and feelers perking up to attention.
Shit.
She said too much, maybe she can still salvage this.
“What’s it to you?”
“Oh nothing, he’s just someone we’ve been keeping an eye on for some time, he’s really not all that special.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Come now Ms.Akemi, we’ve known each other long enough–”
The knife sticking through Kyubey’s lying mouth is enough to silence its incessant talking for a little while, letting Homura do a couple touch ups on the bombs in complete and total silence before she looks back up and another incubator has already taken its place, chewing on the still warm corpse before continuing their conversation.
“Really? A knife? You’ve never hesitated to shoot me up when I toe some imaginary line of yours, you must really not want to get caught if you’re not using your guns, Ms.Akemi,” said Kyubey in between bites.
“Are you going to stop me, Incubator?”
The Incubator stops to think for a moment, “Hmmm, I haven’t decided yet, why do you think I’ll stop you?”
“He’s been working with you for a decade at least now, I’d think that you’d be a little more curious on why I’m doing all this, it might even set your plans back a couple centuries” says Homura, checking to make sure that the bombs and wireless remotes were properly synced.
Kyubey pauses to blankly stare at her like it always does, when it’s trying to figure out how to phrase something in an appealing manner, “I will admit, it would be quite the setback, but as of late, Mr.Shindo has gotten a bit…unruly, we’re not really sure why, and at the rate he’s going at he’s becoming more and more of a liability; not to mention we’d hate for a decades worth of energy to be wasted just like that.”
“You make me sick.”
“I don’t see how I could, your body can’t get sick due to the simple fact you’re not human anymore,” Kyubey very unhelpfully chirps.
“So you’re not going to try and stop me?” asked Homura, trying very hard to keep the hope out of her voice as best as possible, lest the Incubator pounce on her weakness like a cat would do for a mouse.
“Whatever quarrel you have with Ainosuke Shindo, we the incubators are a neutral party in all this, we have no reason to interfere,” said Kyubey as it started scratching at its ears with its hind leg.
It’s moments like these where Homura can’t help but think that Kyubey approaches a moment in which he kind of looks cute, but only barely, her hate for the little bastard outweighs whatever irrational feelings she has at the moment.
“Good,” and with that final remark Homura takes a few moments to survey her general environment before walking out of the room to get the rest of her plan underway. The remote is only there if the sensors don’t detect his weight properly, which they should, she’s checked, double checked and triple checked for good measure to make sure that it would properly register seventy-three kilograms perfectly, no less and no more would be able to set it off.
This would ensure that the bombs would only go off when Ainosuke Shindo was taking the stand.
Hopefully the collateral damage wouldn’t be too bad, and if not, well, the world would probably be better off with some of these old fools getting offed, not like it really mattered to her, but a clearer conscience usually made her work more efficiently in the long run.
She waits out in the hallway outside the auditorium, he should be here any minute, it’s a wonder what you can get away with when using time magic and a janitor’s uniform stolen from the work room. She’s actually kind of proud of her bombs this time, no one should be able to tell that something’s amiss when he steps foot in the room this time.
She wonders how she’ll explain this situation to Madoka when she finally saves her, Madoka would probably hate her for that, it makes sense, she’s far too kind to understand that this was the only way to save her. It’s probably for the best that Madoka never finds out about this particular event then.
Probably for the best that Madoka never finds out all that she’s done for her.
This place is suffocating, worse than any witch's labyrinth she’s been in. If she stays any longer, she might actually go insane this time…that was a joke, obviously. Madoka would probably scold her for making such a dark joke, she’ll need to come up with better material when they meet next time, or something. She shakes her head to clear it of silly nonsense that she should have stamped out years ago as she finally steps outside.
The sun’s bright rays are blinding when she steps outside, it’s so bright out that she barely makes out the entourage of people walking past her and into the building. It’s almost impossible to tell which one is Mr.Shindo, but it would be unlikely he’d take the front entrance anyways. The possibility of him getting attacked in such a densely populated place is laughable at best, and there’s no way that she’d make such a sloppy mistake after all this time.
She checks the time again to be sure she didn’t mess up, as expected, he should be speaking any minute now. She’s sure the bombs wouldn’t kill him, after all she designed them to chemical perfection, you don’t just live for over a decade after making a contract with Kyubey and not have some trick to escape death. Really, this whole thing is just an attempt to weaken him long enough to ambush him in order to take that trick for herself. She hopes that the rumors are true, or else this trip was a complete waste of time, and she of all people knows how important it is not to waste it. If she succeeds in her endeavors she’ll have to make a mental note to come back to Okinawa for her plan to take down Walpurgisnacht.
She fiddles with her hair absentmindedly wondering when she had become this callous, ah well, it was all for Madoka’s well-being anyways. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her most beloved…friend.
Yes, it was easier to just call Madoka her very best friend.
Easier to compartmentalize at least, she decides.
She then idly wonders when Mr.Shindo starts speak–
A loud boom, rattling the windows of the building, causes her to snap back to attention.
Not long afterwards she can hear shrill screaming over the chaos, civilians running back out the doors in a panic,
After assessing the damage, which was thankfully, minimal, and with that final assessment, Homura spins on her heel in the opposite direction to finish up the rest of the preparations.
Ainosuke blinks awake to Kyubey’s blank face looking down at him.
“Well, I can’t say I wasn’t expecting that, how are you feeling Mr.Shindo?”
He groans, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes, barely even noticing the IV’s attached to his arm, “I feel like I just got hit by a truck.”
“That’s not far from the truth, you were actually in the blast radius of several improvised explosives, I’m surprised you didn’t notice when you walked on stage.”
“And nobody was surprised I survived?” Ainosuke asked blandly, already dreading the whole process of pretending to be in mortal peril until he pauses to look at Kyubey with a sharper look, “What do you mean you were expecting that explosion?”
Kyubey looks away for a second, seemingly ashamed at its slip of the tongue before answering, “Ah well, you see, there was a dangerous magical girl that was aiming to take your life–”
“And why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“Well, I did, you just didn’t believe me,” said Kyubey in a dry tone.
Ainosuke wants to close his eyes and go back to sleep, too tired to deal with it before realizing that he wasn’t in his usual suit that was ironed and starched to perfection but instead a hospital gown the facility had forced on him. His hands blindly flying out in a panic to pat himself down, frantically feeling for his most precious item.
"Are you looking for this?" Asked Kyubey, nudging the grief seed on the drawer next to him.
Ainosuke gives him the meanest death glare he can possibly muster before snatching it away from Kyubey's paws, "Don't touch him."
Kyubey tilts his head in confusion, "Honestly, Mr.Shindo, it’s a little strange how much you insist on treating the grief seed with so much care, it’s not like it can feel anything.”
The grief seed in his hands is frustratingly reactionless to any of Kyubey’s words, it infuriates Ainosuke to no end because he can feel the power and the energy emanating from its tiny form, just begging to be released any moment now. It’s been over ten years since it had last hatched, Kyubey had told him that he simply just needed to wait until it had absorbed enough corrupted energy from the other’s soul gems before emerging once again, freeing the person trapped inside at long last.
Just a little longer…
He only has to endure this torture for just a little more and then everything will be alright again.
“Whatever, so who am I supposed to thank for this…welcome gift into the diet?”
Kyubey licks his paws in response before answering nonchalantly, “Her name is Homura Akemi, she’s beyond anyone or anything you’ve ever faced, even her powers are a complete mystery to me.”
Ainosuke can feel an eyebrow twitch in frustration, “What do you mean you don’t know what her powers are, you’re the one who contracted her right? Everyone who makes a contract has to go through you, you’re basically a magical walking archive.”
“That’s the thing though, I have no memory of making a contract with her,” said Kyubey like he was discussing the weather instead of this completely monumental piece of information that pulls everything he did into question.
“What?”
“I said, I have no–”
“No no no, I mean, how can she be a magical girl if she didn’t contract?”
Kyubey looks at him like he’s a particularly slow child, and it makes him want to squirm in place but the cat-like creature just continues speaking, “We don’t really know, and we’re doing our hardest to try and understand this frankly impossible event, but we do know that she’s from the city Mitikihara.”
“And that helps me…how again?” said Ainosuke, fiddling with the IV needles wondering if he’d set off any alarms if he yanked them out.
“Why, Mr.Shindo, it’s also the location in which Madoka Kaname resides.”
Ainosuke Shindo looks at Kyubey blankly, hands still fidgeting, “I have no idea who that is.”
Kyubey stares back at him before looking out the window for a moment, “Ah, I see, she’s quite a big deal actually, but to someone like you she’d have no meaning at all, or at least she shouldn’t but I think our interests are aligned for this one moment.”
“Spare me the monologue and just tell me why I should care so much about some random girl on the other side of Japan?” replied Ainosuke, waving a dismissive hand towards Kyubey’s direction, already clocking out of the
“You know how I told you that your potential wish would be so powerful because you’d become the youngest member of the diet in the future?”
“Yes yes, how could I forget?”
“Well, Madoka Kaname’s innate potential is so great that compared to her, your own innate potential might as well not exist.”
His hands freeze in place, it takes everything he’s got not to start trembling.
“Ah, should I have led with that then? It really is quite a mystery how she achieved this level of potential, after all she’s just–”
“When–When you say that, do you mean that she could wish for anything, and it’d come true?” asked Ainosuke, hands trembling as though he was trying to hide his true feelings.
Kyubey hums in contemplation as though he was calculating his next move, “Hmmm, I wouldn’t say ‘Anything’ but she’d definitely be able to wish for something that most magical girls and boys could only dream of, outside of making up a new rule for the universe, you could say she can wish for anything with a high chance of it being granted.”
“Could she…” Ainosuke’s dry throat protests as he swallows what remains of his hope, “Could she turn him back into a human?”
Kyubey pauses for one moment before happily chirping, “She could do that with ease!” Kyubey pauses to lick his back and then resumes his lecture, “In fact, she could even wish him back into a magical boy again if she so desired to!”
“NO!” cries Ainosuke in a burst of desperate energy, before looking embarrassed, “I mean, no thank you, if I may ask, why exactly are you telling me all this?”
Kyubey falls silent at that, before perking back up to answer the magical boy.
“You see, Ms.Akemi has been very persistent in making sure that I am unable to form a contract with Ms.Kaname, I don’t know why and I don’t particularly care to find out either. All I know for certain is that she’s come to Okinawa based on the rumors circulating throughout the magical girls in the area. I’m merely doing what humans say, ‘Taking out two birds with one stone’. It's quite fitting, I think, for this situation.”
“So, you just want me to take care of her? I don’t think she’ll be particularly forthcoming with the way our first interactions have been.”
“Oh! Don’t worry about it,” said Kyubey, waving it off with his metaphorical hands, “She probably wasn’t trying to kill you, it’s most likely she’s got another plan to deal with you, after all, those under our contract can’t die until their–”
“Yeah yeah, I can’t die but you know she could have sent an email or something.”
“Would you have even looked at it?”
Ainosuke really wonders if he could get away with punching Kyubey in the face, it’d make his terrible day so far a little bit better, just the satisfaction of his fist slamming into that stupid cat's face would make tanking a couple bombs almost worth it. Alas, he needs Kyubey to help him locate Homura Akemi and hopefully by then Madoka Kaname still hadn’t made a wish yet, and anyways, it would be wrong to let some poor girl come all this way for nothing. Besides, if he doesn’t go now, there’s a high chance that she might target the other magical girls and boys and honestly he doesn’t want to deal with Kaoru and Kojiro making such a big stink about it, something about being irresponsible about taking care of the girls and boys under his sector.
It might even be fun, it’s been a while since he could really go all out.
Not to mention the prospect of meeting Madoka Kaname is simply too good of an opportunity to pass up, maybe the only chance he’ll ever get in this lifetime…
“Okay, so where can I find this Homura Akemi? I really should thank her for the ‘warm welcome’, don’t you think Kyubey?” said Ainosuke, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and kicking them back and forth in boredom.
The white cat gives him a funny look, “Are you really going to try and sneak out of here in this form?”
“It can’t be that hard right?”
Kyubey turns to look out the door of his hospital room, “They’ve got your room with guards posted outside, there’s no way you’re sneaking past them…Of course that’s only if you plan on going through the door” said Kyubey as he shifts his red doll-like stare at the window next to the hospital bed.
Ainosuke groans, “God, one little assassination attempt and they’re all worked up in a tizzy, honestly, I would be touched if it wasn’t so stifling,” he said, as he starts dragging his fingers through his unkempt hair, trying and failing to smooth it down into its prior state.
“Humans do have a bit of a tendency to overreact when something that’s important to them is threatened, which reminds me, you really should just hurry up and transform before Homura Akemi decides to actually cause some real damage.”
“Yeah yeah, I swear you're worse than my aunties, at least they’d give me a couple hours before forcing me back into work,” he said, before standing up straight and leaning back a bit while stretching his arms above his head while yawning.
“I let you rest for half a day.”
“My point exactly, dear Kyubey,” he said with a smirk, before grabbing his soul gem, which then flashed the same bright red hue, signaling his transformation, with the light then enveloped his entire form in a warm embrace. He was overjoyed then, when he received his soul gem for the first time and given the opportunity to transform into a stronger, more graceful and just overall better version of himself. The sensation of transforming was one he’d never grow tired of, it was like escaping the dull and restrictive shell of Ainosuke Shindo and becoming someone who was free to do whatever he pleased, he was powerful and beautifully wild in this form, there were even times when he wondered why he’d ever turn back into the weak and pathetic version of himself that he despised so much.
Nowadays he tries to avoid transforming at all whenever possible.
It’s not like he still doesn’t get the same rush of power and adrenaline, and his proficiency with his scythe was still as sharp(ha) as ever. He still tries to avoid the other magical girls and boys because of his transformed appearance, especially when the first time Karou and Kojiro saw his form they had laughed themselves to tears and when he had started yelling at them, face beat red from embarrassment they had almost laughed themselves into an early grave. He swore them both to secrecy afterwards…and also threatened to never help hunt witches again if they ever even thought of telling anyone else. They were both two idiots in a pod but neither one of them was stupid enough to forgo the aid from one of the strongest magical boys in the city.
Besides, he was the only one who could reliably clean everyone’s soul gem, thankfully avoiding the same fate of some horror stories from other cities. He shudders to think about the in-fighting the other magical people would resort to when grief seeds were in short supply. Sometimes he wonders whether or not the community he and his friends made would have done the same thing if it ever truly got that serious.
He finishes his transformation and has to force himself to not flinch when he stares into his reflection in the window pane. He grips his scythe a little harder than necessary, his nails digging into the meat of his palms, the pain barely registering in his mind as he tries to calm himself down. He hates how worked up he’s getting about something so innocuous but considering the day he’s having, it feels at least a little bit warranted.
Plus, looking at your eight year old face aged by the eighteen years of loss is something that is a touch too disturbing, even for him.
Kyubey is now eye level while sitting on the drawer, and it makes Ainosuke want to squirm in place even more, he never knows what that cat is thinking and at this point in his life he really doesn’t want to know. He swung the scythe experimentally, handling the full 182 cm of the weapon like it weighed practically nothing, before twirling it around in his hands just to make sure that he still hadn’t lost his touch. The giant blade sings through the air as he finishes the twirling with a flourish filled pose.
“Was that all really necessary? You do this every time, don’t you think it’s a bit wasteful?”
Ainosuke just pets Kyubey’s head affectionately in response, “Of course not! Every magical boy must put a little extra flair into their routine, otherwise what would be the point?”
“You would be more efficient for starters.”
He forces himself to laugh in response, bringing his scythe down to cut through the window like it’s butter, leaving a gaping hole large enough to jump out of before turning to look back at his furry companion, “Now where would be the fun in that?”
Kyubey sighs before jumping down from the drawer, “I’ll let you know when I find Homura Akemi, you just stay out of trouble. I want you to be at your peak magical performance when you face each other.”
“Even if there’s a witch?” said Ainosuke, bouncing in place just waiting to spring into action and soar through the air at the first chance at action.
“Especially if there’s a witch, I’m sure there’ll be another magical girl to take care of it. Just wait for my signal, we can’t be sure if she’ll try to spring a trap on you once you arrive.”
Ainosuke rolls his eyes in annoyance, crossing his arms with a pout. Kyubey looks at him expectantly for a couple moments before Ainosuke throws his hands up in defeat, “Fine! I’ll be good, just don’t take too long or I’m going to start looking for her myself.”
“Of course, I’ll be right back Mr.Shindo,” and with that final word, Kyubey slinks out the busted window, falling a short while before hitting the ground and slinking into the growing shadows of the city as the sun slowly sets into the dark.
Ainosuke sighs before leaping into the air onto a nearby rooftop, he’ll need to update Karou and Kojiro about his current situation and make sure that they knew to watch out for Homura Akemi and to just simply avoid her for the time being. He’ll probably have to send a text message in the group chat to warn everyone to stay off the streets for now until he could deal with it.
After all, it’s not like she was actively hunting down any of the magical girls and boys, if she’s smart she’ll keep her head down until Kyubey finds her.
Homura was just finished setting up the traps in an abandoned alleyway and checking the state of her veritable armory of guns when she shoots Kyubey right between his eyes…and the rest of his body for good measure. His holey and bloody body falling to the ground like it was used up tissue paper after a toddler went nuts with the hole puncher on it. Even if does her no real good, the visceral satisfaction of seeing that little monster fall over dead is unmatched except when Madoka smiles at her for the first time every loop.
Nothing can beat that.
The next Kyubey walks in and starts eating its former self, talking in between bites to say, “Homura Akemi, we really must stop meeting like this, it’s such a waste.”
“Maybe if you stopped breathing, I wouldn’t have to waste bullets on you,” said Homura, already getting ready to open fire if need be.
The incubator finishes swallowing the rest of the corpse before turning to look up at her, “Well, your plan worked, Ainosuke Shindo is now keenly aware of your existence and is coming to respond to your declaration of war.”
Homura stares at him and then turning away to clean her pistol, “I thought that would have taken him out of commission longer, guess I should have brought the rocket launcher, oh well, next time.”
“Ms.Akemi are you insane? There will be no next time, either you or Ainosuke Shindo will die by the end of the night, I don’t think you should be making any plans for ‘next time’ until you actually win, don’t you think?”
She gives him a look of utter confusion, “I don’t want to fight him, what are you talking about?”
If incubators could feel emotion, then this one would be feeling complete and utter shock, “What do you mean you don’t want to fight him? Then what was the domestic terrorism for?”
Homura shrugged, “I just wanted him to know I meant business, I’ve heard he only responds to people with power, and what better way than by blowing him up?”
Kyubey starts pacing back and forth, “If you weren’t here to kill him then what were you here for?”
Before it can even blink, the barrel of Homura’s pistol is flush against its pale head, her right hand holding the scruff of its soft and furry neck. A look of pure mania on her face as they stare at each other in a standoff, one in pure hatred and the other with a blank sort of placidness. If the incubator could smile in triumph, it would have the smuggest little grin on its face, “Ah, I see, you're here for the rumored grief seed aren’t you?”
She should kill him again.
Maybe if she shoots his brains out enough times he’ll get some sort of hive minded amnesia.
“I can see why, with Walpurgisnacht beelinging for Mitakihara, you’ll need all the help you can get to keep your magical power up. I will admit Ms.Akemi, it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard to take it down, definitely leagues better than your current output.”
“Shut up, you don’t know anything.” snarled Homura.
“Do I?” asked Kyubey, “Okinawa has a remarkably high amount of magical girls to witches, in fact, it almost seems impossible to have this many magical girls in service naturally, what with there not being enough witches to produce enough grief seeds to use, unless of course there’s someone who’s been cleaning their soul gems for them.”
Homura is silent, her hate spilling out of every pore of her being.
Kyubey continues unperturbed, “Of course, anyone with a working brain could have figured it out, but the real question would be, how are they all being cleaned? It’s been a well-kept secret for almost two decades now, but children will be children and word starts spreading about an ‘Adam’ figure that only needs a singular grief seed to keep a whole city full of magical girls and boys’ soul gems corruption free,” Kyubey starts nodding understandingly, “And he’s been so efficient at keeping witches at bay that magical children from all over Japan start flocking to Okinawa in hopes of being saved and in doing so, one of the largest communities of magical girls and boys are gathered here in Okinawa. The rumors spread so quickly and so far that they eventually reached the city of Mitakihara and that’s when you first heard about it too, didn’t you?”
“Why are you telling me all this? I don’t need a lecture about something I already know.” said Homura, finger itching to finally pull the trigger.
Kyubey acts like he didn’t hear her, “For someone who tries so hard to be so mysterious, you’re really easy to read, you know that? The thing I still don’t understand is how this all connects back to Madoka Kaname, I’ve told you before that if she became a magical gi–”
He doesn’t get to finish that sentence, mostly because he doesn’t have a mouth anymore to keep talking.
Homura is trembling, she didn’t even mean to fire the gun, but the moment it had said her name instinct took over and she just had to kill it. Her thoughts becoming more erratic the longer she stands there with the white corpse in her hands, she immediately drops it, when it hits the ground there’s barely even a thud, as she wipes the blood out on her pleated skirt.
Calm down Homura.
Breathe.
There’s no way it could have gotten Madoka while you’re here.
Madoka promised to not make a wish until you got back.
And if worse comes to worse, Kyoko is also there to protect her.
It’s going to be okay.
Just Breathe.
Just a little longer.
You can do this.
You have–
“Kyubey!”
Shit.
She whips her pistol up towards the boy walking in on the scene.
He immediately raises his hands in surrender, fear clear in his eyes as they dart back and forth in confusion, “Woah! Is that a gun? I uh, I–please don’t hurt me!” he cried in fear, tears starting to prick at his eyes. The boy's legs are shaking as he looks like he’s just about to pass out in fear, and the sight is so pitiful that she’s half tempted to put the gun down if only to get him to calm down. She doesn’t obviously, because that would be stupid and this could be a cleverly set bait for a trap.
“Are you Adam?”
The red haired boy stops quivering to look at her with uncertainty before rushing out his answer, “No–No! My name is Reki Kyan! I’m a second year in highschool and I work at Dope Sketch! Uh, Miss! Or should I be calling you Ma’am? Sorry, you remind me of my little sisters and I don’t want to be rude!”
She wants to facepalm from her own stupidity.
This is clearly some newbie magical boy that’s way way in over his head.
There’s no way a seasoned veteran like Adam would behave like this.
She’s about to drop the pistol and apologize to him when another voice calls out, “Reki? Reki! Are you okay?”
Another boy with light hair rushes onto the scene, eyes widening at the scene before him, coming to a sudden halt and then asking, “Is that a girl?”
Reki looks at him like he’s crazy, hands motioning to her pistol, “She’s got a gun!”
Homura is suddenly filled with the urge to shoot them both.
“Snow! she just shot Kyubey!” cried Reki, who was getting more and more distraught the longer he was there.
Snow turns to look at Reki, blinking slowly like he just woke up, “Who’s Kyubey?”
Reki looks like he’s going to pass out, “What do you mean, ‘Who’s Kyubey?’ He’s the little fella who made us magical boys remember? We just contracted like, two weeks ago? How can you not remember?”
“Oh yeah, why are we freaking out again?” asked Snow who then turned to look back at Homura, “Hello, I’m Langa, and this is Reki, sorry for the bother, he normally doesn’t freak out this badly.”
“Langa–I mean Snow! Don’t introduce yourself to the crazy lady who shoots cats,” Reki half-whispered, half-screamed, all while leaning into Langa’s direction, looking like he was going to make a run for it any moment now.
Homura wants to pinch the bridge of her nose, “I don’t have time for this, where’s Adam?”
“I don’t know,” responded Langa in a deadpan voice.
“And–And if we did know, we wouldn’t tell you!” Reki added, trying to appear brave, “We don’t snitch out our own, and there’s no way in hell we ever will!”
“I mean, you did tell Cherry that I ate all his mochi that one time,” said Langa with genuine hurt in his eyes.
“Dude come on! Not now!”
“Well–”
Langa is interrupted by the loud bang from Homura’s gun.
Her left arm with the pistol pointed at the sky, before she points it back at the duo.
“I won’t ask again, where is Adam?”
The two boys are silent before Langa materializes a lance, elaborately decorated with etchings of snowflakes running down the cone all the way to the sharp tip, from his soul gem, brandishing it towards her, “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t let anybody hurt Reki.”
“I don’t want to fight you, put your weapon down,” said Homura, not even budging with her own pistol.
Reki looks back and forth between the two before sighing and summoning what appeared to be a very large T-tool that he wielded like a battle hammer, “I’m sorry miss, but I can’t forgive you for killing Kyubey and if we don’t stop you now, who knows who else will get hurt? We have to stop you no matter what happens to us!” declared Reki as he took up a fighting stance, positioning himself back to back with Langa.
The two boys glance at each other before nodding in agreement, charging immediately afterwards straight towards Homura’s position. Langa’s lance swirling in an icy white glow, charging up with energy as he prepared to strike her body, while Reki looked as if he was ready to smash her flat with one swing of his T-tool. Gone was the scared teenager and his lethargic friend, and instead they were replaced by a duo who could take on any witch with ease.
She lowers her pistol slightly in surprise at the sight, unable to fathom that such bumbling boys would even have the team coordination to launch an attack against her. She didn’t even think that they would have the courage to even muster up the will to even try to strike her. Although it is painfully obvious that they’re still very new to fighting at all, Reki’s windup time leaves him wide open for an attack and Langa is so tunnel-visioned into attacking her that he barely even realizes Reki is there; it’s clear after she finishes assessing the scene that there was nothing to fear and that victory was already hers.
Before raising her other hand up to activate her shield, she wonders how she got into this mess in the first place. Honestly, she probably shouldn’t have jumped the gun(ha) so quickly, but she’s on a very strict timeline and she shouldn’t be wasting it on newbies like these. She hopes Madoka will forgive her when all's said and done…Oh who is she kidding, Madoka would hate her forever for even entertaining the thought of killing two innocent magical boys.
As the shield shifts its gears, she wonders if she really is making the right choices as the world slows to a halt.
She shakes her head, she’s come too far to give up now.
It’s that thought that echoes through her head as she walks over to Langa and points the gun at his leg, before pulling the trigger.
“Ainosuke! Come quick! I found her!” cried a frantic Kyubey, jumping up onto the roof that Ainosuke was standing on.
“How many times do I have to tell you we have code names for a reason! When I’m on duty, you’re supposed to call me Adam,” said Ainosuke who was clearly bored and was waiting incredibly impatiently for quite a while for him to come back.
“Right, Adam! You have to come with me right now! Reki and Snow are fighting her right now! If you don’t, she’ll kill them!”
Ainosuke’s eyes widened in shock, “What the hell is she doing going after newbie magical boys? I thought she was trying to fight me this whole time?”
Kyubey frantically paces back and forth, “There’s no time for questions! We have to go right now! She’s already shot Snow, if you hurry there’s a chance that you can still stop her!”
The white cat has only just finished speaking when Ainosuke leaps through the air, scythe in hand as he tries to find the source of the fighting taking place in his city. It doesn’t take long for him to pinpoint the sounds of gunfire and metal striking metal with pained screaming following immediately afterwards. He leaps from rooftop to rooftop, willing his legs to run even faster to reach the alleway in which they were fighting.
By the time he gets on to the roof where he can truly scout his surroundings the fight is already over, with Snow passed out, body covered in holes and his white costume stained with pinks and dark reds from his wounds, all with Reki trying to hobble away from the girl with long black hair, who was just standing there watching in silence as Reki slowly and painfully made his way to Snow’s side. Ainosuke muses that Kojiro is going to kill him when he finds out how the two boys under his watch could have been hurt and beaten this severely, hopefully he can end this quickly before it ever reaches that point.
“Langa! Langa!” Screamed Reki, interrupting Ainosuke’s train of thought as the highschooler desperately tries to drag his friend's unconscious body away from the girl, stumbling with every step he took, while clutching at his clearly broken arm, “Get up! We have to go! Open your eyes! Langa!” Reki’s shrill screaming reaches a crescendo when he notices the girl raising her gun and aiming it at his head. She holds it less like a professional gunslinger and more like a bored teenage girl who’s completely assured in her victory, like it’s all a game to her. Reki can only stare on in silent horror, as he stares down the barrel of her gun, the despair on his face is clear to any onlooker passing by.
He hears the faint click of a trigger.
And then a quick white flash, followed immediately by a loud bang.
Reki squeezes his eyes shut, ready to feel the cool metal of the bullet pierce his skull, when nothing happens he slowly lifts his eyelids to see a small boy with hair that was deep blue in front of him with a frankly ridiculously large scythe in comparison.
“My, my, you’re quite the character, shooting two defenseless children after they admit defeat? I’m disappointed in you, Homura Akemi.”
Reki can’t believe his eyes, “Ad–Adam? What are you doing here?”
Adam turns his masked face to look up at him, before giving him an easy-going smirk, “I could ask the same thing, honestly, be glad Snow is here or I would have just kept walking; what is even the point of having a personal phone if nobody even reads the text messages I send? It’s like you were asking to be pulverized at this rate.”
Reki's face reddens in embarrassment, “We did! It’s just–I heard a gunshot and I went outside to investigate and she was holding Kyubey’s corpse! And then Snow showed up and we just had to do something! I didn’t know it would turn out this way.”
Adam sighs in response, “Well–”
His scythe moving so fast to intercept the object Homura chucks at them that all Reki is able to catch is the quick glint of metal colliding with the oncoming grenade and an explosion going off in the air behind them, lighting up the alleway while casting them in stark shadows.
Homura’s silent and still form, not even reacting a bit at the explosion happening right above her.
Adam whips his head around to look back at her, “Would you mind? I’m trying to have a conversation with one of my charges. I would really appreciate it if you give us a moment, or are all children as impatient as you?”
She nonchalantly glides her fingers through her hair, “I’m afraid I don’t have the time for that, I’ve been waiting for you to arrive since I set those bombs up this morning.”
“Ah yes, I wish you had just sent an email instead, do you know how much I’m going to have to spend on hospital bills alone?”
Homura tilts her head, “I did send one, you never responded.”
“Oh. Did you send them during business hours? I have a very tight and important schedule I simply must adhere to every day.”
“I sent you ten in total.”
“Okay, now you’re just making me look bad,” said Ainosuke with a pout
“Wait, she blew you up earlier? And you were in the hospital? Can you really take her Adam?” squeaked Reki, looking more and more confused every minute that passed.
Adam shifts his scythe in his hands, positioning himself to attack, before giving Reki a cheeky wink, “Don’t worry about me, just get Snow to safety for now, Cherry and Joe can take care of it.”
“But Adam! I can still fight! I just–”
“Sorry, dear, the way you are now, you’d just be holding me back, so run along now with our dear snow bunny while the professionals work, okay?”
Reki swallows silently before grabbing Langa’s arm and hobbling out of the alleyway, only turning back to shout back, “Get a good whack in for us, you hear? I’ll pay you back with dinner, you can bet on that!” And with that Reki limped away, Langa’s arm wrapped around his shoulder as they left Adam and Homura alone in the alleyway.
It’s a strange sight on what should have been a normal Okinawan night, two children eyeing each other up and down, scanning for any potential weaknesses they could exploit in order to cut the other one down. The bright flash of light from the grenade had long since passed covering them both in the darkness of the rows of buildings they had found each other, with the only source of lights coming from the street lamps on both ends of the alleway.
Homura is the first to break the silence, “I wasn’t expecting you to look so…young,”
“What, too afraid of getting beaten up by a little kid? I’ll have you know I’m probably at least twice your age!” scoffed Ainosuke in response.
“No. I just didn’t think Kyubey would stoop so low as to recruit actual children,” she says in a voice that edges disappointment.
“You say that like you’re not a child,” said Ainosuke, his bravado barely hiding him shifting a bit uncomfortably at her words
“I’m not,” She said, in a matter of fact voice, “I haven’t been one since the day I made my wish, which is why I sincerely hope we can peacefully reach an agreement like a pair of well-adjusted adults.”
He can’t help but laugh at her declaration, “Are you serious right now?”
Her stoic stare in response is all the answer he needs to know that she truly is insane enough to believe that.
“You…You can’t seriously believe that, do you?” he said, knuckles whitening from the force he was exerting on his scythe, his body trembling trying with all his might to stop himself from swinging the deadly weapon in his hand and slicing her in half with one decisive strike, “You come into my city!” He shouts, “You try to kill me and the ones under my protection and you think I’ll just sit back and listen to you now after everything you’ve done?”
“Yes,” she said simply, flipping her hair nonchalantly like they were discussing the weather.
“And pray tell, what ever gave you that idea, my dear Miss.Akemi,” said Ainosuke, through gritted teeth.
“Call it a hunch, but right now, I’d say that I’m far too interesting to kill now, we finally meet face to face and you want to kill me without even knowing why I went through all the trouble?” Homura said, the picture of poised elegance, “I know that deep down, you didn’t come here to protect anyone, you just came to see if I would be able to back up my message, and by the looks of it, I think I’ve finally gotten your attention, Mr.Shindo.”
Shit, was he really that obvious?
All those little movements he made would have looked like moments of pure rage and indignant fury to anyone else but Homura Akemi had somehow perfectly pinpoint exactly what he was really feeling staring her down.
Pure excitement to truly let loose in opposition of a truly strong opponent. How could he stay one hundred percent composed with such a tantalizing mystery at the core of this magical girl? But his overwhelming desire to finally clash weapon to weapon against her was also too tempting a choice that it almost overwhelms his mind with differing thoughts and emotions.In the end, he decides to wait and see, just a little longer, just so he can marinate this emotion a little longer before he can truly feast.
He relaxes his grip on his weapon imperceptibly, signaling Homura’s victory for this one moment in their battle, “Okay, I’ll admit it,” he said with a light-hearted laugh, “I only came all this way to see how strong you really were and if you’d be as interesting as Kyubey made you out to be, unfortunately, I believe our dear fluffy companion is how do I say it? A little worse for wear now, even I have to say that was a bit overkill on the poor thing.”
She looks down at the small body at the heel of her boot, as if just remembering it was still there, “It talks too much, I thought a bullet through the brain would do it some good,” she said with far more venom than he anticipated while her eyes slant downwards into an almost invisible death glare at the mound on the ground.
Ah, so there was a history between the two after all, he can’t help but grin at all the possible reasons for such hatred. The mysterious girl in front didn’t seem to be one for petty grievances and Kyubey to his knowledge didn’t seem like a being that would go out of its way to cause harm.
Although, intentions aren’t always indicative of the consequences that result from others actions, he knows enough about that to hold his tongue a little while longer.
He laughs in response instead, “Well, I can’t say I disagree! I’ve always been more fond of dogs than cats after all, you can always tell when a dog loves you, but I never really knew what Kyubey was thinking behind those eyes. Hmmm, I guess I’ll never really know now will I though? All thanks to you I suppose, Miss Akemi.”
She looks back at him slowly, before softly muttering, “I’m not that lucky.”
“What was that?”
“Nevermind, I wanted to discuss something with you, if you’d be so inclined to listen?”
“You’ve come this far already, I’d be disappointed if you didn’t go for the pound at this point!”
“What?”
“It’s a thing the British say,” he said dismissively, “Nevermind all that, So! What brings you to my humble city, surely you didn’t come all this way to discuss the weather with little old me,” he said, batting his big red eyes at her in a mockery of puppy dog eyes.
The slight twitch betraying Homura’s disgust is a small victory but one he relished quite viscerally. She sighs before flipping her hair slightly, it appears to be a recurring habit of hers that she simply must have something to occupy her hands something; it reminds him a little too uncomfortably when he had started smoking for the first time, the hit of nicotine had then quickly snowballed into an addiction that he still hasn’t kicked.
He would be so disappointed in you…
An unexpected shudder runs down Ainosuke back at the thought, it had been forever since he had last thought of him that way. He quickly shakes his head, lest he loses his resolve to see what Homura can tell him.
“Walpurgisnacht is coming,” she said with a certain gravitas.
Ah Walpurgisnacht, the legendarily powerful witch, one so strong that it has no need to hide in a labyrinth; its very appearance would kill thousands of people alone, its very existence bringing despair to anyone who laid eyes on it, the very idea of fighting it would be suicide for anyone. However, he can tell that's not the only reason why Homura Akemi came all this way to see him.
“I really do think that this could have been relegated to a business email if you only came to warn me–”
“No, I'm asking for your assistance in defeating it."
Now that's a delicious thought, he'd always prided himself with his immense magical strength and what better way to showcase his power than through battling and then beating it through sheer force and will alone?
"I see, but that still doesn’t answer the question of why you came all this way from Mitakihara, surely there are an abundance of other powerful magical girls to assist you?”
Homura quickly looks away from his masked face, as though she was debating whether or not to tell him, “It won’t be enough, and it’s too unreliable to depend on them right now.”
“I see.”
“But you…You on the other hand, your magical potential is leagues beyond anything I’ve seen in a very long time, not to mention that you essentially have a small army of magical children under your command, your support would be monumental to finally taking her down.”
“I wouldn’t say command per se,” said Ainosuke, feigning some form of humbleness, “But I guess I could ask some of them if they’re free that day to try and help out or something.”
Homura’s sigh of relief is strange to see after seeing the girl barely twitch an eye the whole time he was with her, “I’m–I know that this is a lot to ask, I don’t have anything of near equal value right now but I swear that I’ll repay you as soon as I ca–”
He breaks eye contact from her sudden emotional vulnerabilities, defeating Walpurgisnacht really must be a big deal if she looks like she’s on the verge of a breakdown if he even barely committed to helping her. He waves his scythe a noncommittally in response, “Look, it’s fine, I don’t really need anything from you other than maybe an apology to my little cute juniors you roughed up, they’re not going to be as forgiving as me so you’ll have to get on your hands and knees or something if you want even a chance in hell that they’ll come help.”
“I’m not worried about that, they’re too weak to be of any help, only the strong need to fight.”
“Ha! Spoken like a true magical girl veteran!” Ainosuke said with a laugh, “I guess I don’t even need to tell you that this in no way means we’re buddy buddy or something, right?”
“Of course, After this is all taken care of, you’ll never see me again Mr.Shin–”
“She’s lying, Adam,” said a voice behind him.
Ainosuke whips his head around to see Kyubey sitting poised and relaxed like he wasn’t just shot with a pistol. His hands start to shake with the confusing emotions swirling through his mind, out of the corner of his eyes he sees that even Homura is startled, hand positioned over her shield as if she was about to grab another weapon.
“What are you doing here Kyubey? Aren’t you supposed to be dead? And what do you mean she’s lying I–”
“She doesn’t want your help, she’s trying to lower your guard. I told you she was dangerous! You have to get away from her!”
“Don’t listen to it, Ainosuke!” cried Homura, her body tensing up more and more like a spring being coiled tighter and tighter before it snaps, “I swear I’m telling the truth! He’s the one who’s been lying to you all this time!”
“She’s here to take Tadashi away from you!” shouted Kyubey, before another gunshot went off, a bullet cleanly going through his head, silencing him once again.
Tadashi…
He tightens his grip on his scythe, of course, how could he have been such a fool? He should have been suspicious from the very start, it’s the reason why anyone really knew who he was. The grief seed he had left behind was a blessing and a curse, keeping him alive for this long while wave after wave of people would try to steal him away. He had sworn to protect Tadashi’s prison until it finally hatched again, and this upstart girl in front of him had the gall to try and offer up her false alliance.
Too think that he was so desperate for a battle rush, that he had really thought she actually understood him, that he’d willingly blind himself to her machinations.
“Please calm down and listen to me, just let me explain and everything will be clear.” Homura said slowly, as if she was approaching a dangerous animal.
“Why? So you can keep lying to me? So you can just use and discard me when I’ve fulfilled your wish?” he says in a creeping, low voice.
“I’m not lying, I really do need you.”
That’s what everyone says, his family, his friends even Tadashi when he had abandoned him at his lowest moment, leaving Ainosuke behind to pick up the pieces after everything. What would she know? She couldn’t possibly understand the years and years of despair he’s had to fight off just for the slim chance of someday freeing his Tadashi? No one could ever understand the love and yearning he feels for him, least of all the stranger that stands before him.
“Yeah? If you really wanted someone powerful, why don’t you get that Madoka girl to help you then? From what I’ve heard I’m nothing compared to her!” He mockingly says before quickly regretting his words, as he feels the whole world narrows itself down to one point as if the temperature of their environment had lowered at the utterance of Madoka’s name.
“What do you know about her?” Homura said in a calm manner.
It’s such a sudden tonal whiplash that he throws his head back to laugh and laugh and laugh, he’s laughing so hard he can feel tears start to form at the corner of his eyes, “Is that what you’re so worried about right now? I know nothing about her at all, except that her wish could cause miracles if she so desired, and that you’ve dedicated yourself to stop Kyubey from unleashing her true potential.”
“And you think that she’ll grant you salvation?”
“Not me, I don’t need salvation but–”
“It’s too late for him.”
He smashes his scythe through the wall next to him, slicing through the stone with ease as a cloud of dust rains down on him, “Don’t you know when to hush up?”
She looks at him with pity, “Did Kyubey never tell you what happens to every magical child in the end?”
“Shut up!” he screams, wrenching his scythe from the building before then brandishing the pristine blade in her direction, “What do you know? You don’t know anything about us at all!”
Her pitying eyes never stray from his face, “Ainosuke…”
The blade of the scythe barely misses her, her eyes widen imperceptibly as he summons it back to his side, murderous fury shining clearly from his ruby eyes, as he slowly stalks towards her, intentions as clear as his reflection on the sharp edge of the blade. With a look of resignation, she also pulls out a rifle from her shield, before training it steadily back on him.
“I don’t want to fight you, Ainosuke Shindo.”
“Don’t call me that,” he snarls, face contorting into one of complete and pure hate, “It’s Adam to you, Homura Akemi.”
His blade sings as he brings the sharp steel of his scythe down onto her.