Chapter Text
Consciousness had come to Madoka slowly. Existing outside of time and space made it… difficult to figure specifically how long, but it had not been all at once. But now Madoka was awake, and… she could feel something akin to a tugging sensation. Curious, she followed the sensation and…she blinked. Then realized that she shouldn’t be able to do that. That realization was followed closely by the realization that she had a physical form, dressed in her classic magical girl costume.
“Hello, Madoka Kaname.” a wave of nostalgia hit her at that, but she focused, turning around to see who had brought her here. “Call me XD, it/its pronouns.” XD was tall, made taller by the fact that it wasn’t touching the floor. It was wearing a flowing green robe and it had large white wings on its back.
“Hi. I use she/her, if you didn’t know.”
“I did, but it’s fine. Now, I’m sure you’re curious why I have brought you here.” she nodded. “I would like to offer you a place in the world I watch over. Do not worry about your role back at yours, you have been pulling away from it as you have awoken, and it has been repairing itself in your wake.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. As you have pulled away, I am capable of welcoming you. I am sorry to say that I cannot do this for you back in your world, as I only have power over mine. But where I have power, I can grant you a form so you can interact with the world. Some day, you may be able to return to the world you watch over, but in the meantime, I wish to offer you a place to be.” Madoka thought this all sounded wonderful, but she’d seen too much to trust blindly.
“What’s the catch, the cost?”
“Nothing from you. However, the Dream SMP, the world I watch over, is a dark and violent place. Not all the way through, but it is also far from pleasant. In fact, it is my hope that you will be willing to… lend a shoulder to my chosen, Dream. He is in a horrible situation right now, one that I am unable to free him from. I think he could benefit from your presence.”
“Why me?”
“Because you are hopeful and kind, despite the darkness you have seen and experienced. Madoka, you could have tried to abandon your role as the Law of Cycles if you wished, but you didn’t. You didn’t try to pull away, you held on despite the pain you must have endured.”
“Oh…okay.” Madoka responded, somewhat flustered. Honestly, she’d only seen herself in the negatives. She had grown somewhat apathetic, not all the way, but she was most present in the world during magical girls' worst moments, and it had worn her down. But as she thought about it, she could acknowledge that XD had a point. “I think… well, it has to be better than the void, yeah?” she asked, humor in her voice. “I think I accept. What do I need to know?”
“Wonderful. I will place the knowledge - that anyone else would have entering - into your head, but I believe it would be less suspicious if you learn everything else for yourself. You will retain your magical girl abilities, as I think it would be quite unfair to take things that came at such a great cost. Farewell, Madoka. I will contact you eventually.”
– - –
Madoka woke up in the snow with a splitting headache. She supposed that having that much information dumped into your head in one go would do that. She stood up, brushing the snow from her dress as she sorted through the information. Hmmm, it was mostly world mechanics. Apparently this world functioned rather similarly to a video game and wasn’t as modern as when she came from. As an experiment, she broke a stick off a tree and briefly focused. It blinked out of existence, and she felt it in what must be her inventory. She wondered if this was what Homuras' shield felt like. She was able to draw out whatever she wanted on command, after all. She quickly moved on from that thought after it brought a pang of sadness to her heart. She brought the stick back out of her inventory and dropped it on the ground. She realized something else was in her inventory, and brought it out. It was what must be her communicator. She returned it to its spot and looked around. Thankfully, there was a cabin nearby. It was cold, and although being a magical girl protected her from the worst of it, it still wasn’t pleasant. She trekked over and knocked on the door. After a moment, she heard the distinct sound of someone running around rather frantically. A few more moments passed, and soon the door was being aggressively swung open.
“What do you want?” the person growled. They had pink hair, a deeper color than Madokas though. They had a sword in hand, and there was a golden crown on their head and a red, fur-trimmed cape on their shoulders. Both the crown and the cape were slightly askew, likely having been put on in a hurry. (Madoka could appreciate the silver linings of her wish, and one of them was that she could know any language in the world if she focused.)
“Sorry, hi. I’m Madoka, she/her. Who are you? I just spawned in over there-” she pointed at the tracks in the snow behind her. “-and this was the first place I saw.”
“I’m Technoblade, he/him. I suppose you can come in, can’t have you freezing to death before we can properly talk.” he started muttering under his breath. “...can’t believe those idiots, keeping the admin from his powers, now even the spawn is glitching…” the spawn was decidedly not glitching, but she wasn’t about to tell him how she actually spawned in here.
“Thank you! If you’re willing to let me in, are you okay with telling me about this server's history? I don’t want to get in trouble because I don’t know something I should.”
“...alright, I suppose.”