Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The PolyQuintet just finished a hectic but memorable day, Suzembachi is dead, Kyoko and Sayaka are soul bonded to Mami, Madoka, and Homura, it was going great so far. Then Kyuubei decided to fuck with Kyoko which causes his last chance revoked by Mami. The last two soulmates of Madoka are formally introduced to the Madoka family, with both Kyoko and Junko going at it. After all that they all sat down to eat dinner, but before they could even take a bite, a bright light appeared engulfing the whole room.

When the bright light disappeared, the PolyQuintet were shocked and surprised as they looked around and noticed they’re in a theatre. They all raised their guards down and were about to transform when Madoka suddenly called out, “MAMA! PAPA!”.

The other four looked at the Kaname’s in shock and decided to screw it, it’s better to transform so they could protect the Kaname’s better. When they finished transforming the three Kaname just looked at them, jaws slacked.

“Uhh, Madoka wha-” Madoka’s father Tomohisa was about to ask what the hell did he just see but before he could someone called out towards Madoka and her Soulmates.

Hitomi is currently staying at her home thinking about all the events that just happened earlier, she’s a magical girl, she’s been kidnapped, forced to try and kill her bestfriends, they saved her and after all that, here she is in her bed and grounded pondering what kind of life she will have after all this when suddenly a bright light suddenly engulfed her vision.

She looked around alarmed as the light slowly receded, she immediately transformed into her magical girl outfit and held out her weapon. Suddenly she also noticed two other magical girls with her, she looked at them slightly on guard because she could not afford what happened earlier to happen again.

“Are you ok Yuma?” The white haired magical girl asked her green haired friend Yuma, Yuma meanwhile looked around and said, “I’m okay Nagisa, what we need to do now is find Kyoko neechan and Mami.”

Hitomi who heard Mami’s name decided to show her presence by saying, “You guys know, Mami?” The two other magical girls were startled and just looked at her, on guard but Nagisa decided to be brave and replied, “Yes, we know her, she’s the one teaching us how to be a better magical girl.” 

Hitomi let out a sigh of release, then she decided to tell them her story, the other two while still skeptical decided to trust her for now until they found  Kyoko, Mami and the others.

After a few minutes wandering around the theatre, they finally found Mami making them scream towards them to get their attention.

Mami, along with the rest of Quintet and Kaname's, looked at the ones that called out to them and were surprised that they aren’t the only ones to appear in the theatre. Kyoko, who is a bit annoyed at the fact that Yuma is here because she doesn’t want her to be in danger.

“Junko?! Tomohisa?! What the hell is going on?” asked by a very confused and panicked Kazuko Saotome, the teacher of Madoka who just appeared out of nowhere next to them.

Junko just looked at Kazuko with an unreadable look saying that she doesn’t know, but someone else might, as she looked at the Quintet and the other three girls who just looked at her with a sheepish smile. As they were about to explain, two white cloaked girls suddenly appeared. Looking around on guard, they immediately saw the Company and decided to introduce themselves. They were feeling confident that they won’t be killed by a certain someone because there are adults here.

The Quintet suddenly took a fighting stance along the three magical girls, the quintet knows of how powerful these two girls could be considering they are both wearing a white cloak of the Magius, meanwhile, the Kaname’s looked at the girls worriedly as if a fight is about to broke out. Madoka who is the most nervous of them said, “Guys, let’s not fight, my parents are here”

The Quintet seeing this and feeling Madoka’s inner worry decided to stand down and just looked at the two girls wearily. When the two magical girls are finally at a respectable distance they decide to introduce themselves.

“My name is Oriko Mikuni, beside me is Kirika Kura, my soulmate,” The girl named Oriko introduced as she lowered the hood in her cloak.

Hearing their introductions, the Quintet are not happy, especially Homura, specifically Homura. Those who are soul bonded to her can feel the suffocating hatred she has on Oriko and Kirika, somehow she still didn’t attack them, wow what a great show of patience.

Mami then decided to ask them knowing Homura doesn’t have that much patience. “So, Oriko, Kirika, do you guys know why we are here?”

They both answered no and that this wasn’t supposed to happen according to Oriko’s vision. 

Junko finally had enough, “Can anyone explain what the hell is going on and why Madoka's soulmates transform into something like magical girls!?”

The girls just looked at her with different kinds of expressions, those in the Quintet felt guilty at how worried Mrs. Kaname is for them while the others just snorted at how she describes Madoka’s soulmate.

Then Oriko decided to tell them as a sign that she isn’t hostile. She told them about the magical girls, how they fight eldritch abominations known as witches, how they were chosen by a mascot known as Kyuubei, and how they all have a low life expectancy.

Junko along with the other adults in the room looked horrified and worried, while they know that being magical girls according to them sounds hellish and you could die in just literal months or just weeks. They still couldn’t help but look at these girls who were chosen to help the planet.

Homura is about to say something but before she could, they were suddenly transported to their own seat, startling them, those who have soul bonded were next to each other while the adults are a bit farther from them. All of the sudden the screen lit up showing the words: The Soulmate Timeline. 

They all stared at the words wondering what it could mean, both Oriko and Homura both have a feeling this has something to do with Soul bond and timelines.

Suddenly Sayaka, for some reason, immediately stood up and screamed, “No way, are we in a reaction Fanfic?!” Homura, who is not aware of what that means, decided to ask Sayaka.

Sayaka then answered, “It is when a character from a show, for example the star wars characters were suddenly transported into a theatre where they will react to either alternate universes, past, present and future, and probably timelines as well if that’s what the screen says.”

Homura looked at Sayaka, alarmed at the prospect, because if what she is saying is true then, her secret could go out… That made her helpless and agitated so much that she wanted to destroy this whole place but couldn’t because that would endanger Madoka and the Kaname’s. Her partners who felt her growing negative emotions just hugged her. They know that if whatever Sayaka says is true then it’s possible that they could find out more about Homura and what is the secret she’s been so confident that will break them.

Suddenly words started to appear on the screen again saying that they will all be here for the majority of the viewing, and what they will see will be their past, present and future. Sayaka looked like she was about to celebrate being right but then she noticed and felt Homura's pained look and feeling, making her feel bad about it.

Houma is hyperventilating, everything is almost perfect, and has been going good but some cosmic deity? decided to fuck with them and have them reacting to their past all the way to the future, while this may give Homura a lot of advantage, this however doesn’t compare as to what will be revealed. If whoever decided to bring them here just took her alone then she would have been okay because no one will know of the secrets she’s been gatekeeping a lot. 

Madoka along with her partners just hugged her while reassuring her through their bond that it’ll be okay, and that she doesn’t need to go through everything alone. And that they’ll be happy to shoulder some of her burden.

Homura then thinks to herself that they won’t be able to get out if they didn't watch so she decided to just go through with it while enjoying her partners warmth.

When everyone finally got ready, snacks with them along with tissues with them. The screen started narrating.

Chapter Text

Homura Akemi would admit, only to herself, because she had long ago stopped admitting her time travel to anyone else, that she blocked out a lot of thoughts she had about how time travel worked.

The theatre was silent, the audience is trying comprehend what the actual fuck have they just heard. Homura Akemi, soulmate of four, is a time traveller…

“Homura…” Madoka looked at Homura, eyes full of questions that they all wanted answers to. Meanwhile Oriko looked at Homura wide eyed, could it be that Homura travelled back because she couldn’t stop the Walpurgis? But… there’s still the question of, why would Homura kill her without hesitation when she approached her in her visions.

“Darling, is what is on the screen telling the truth?” Mami asks gently as to try not to overwhelm Homura, but it doesn’t really work because Homura is currently having a panic attack at her secret being outed out.

The quintet seeing this hugged her, trying to reassure her but it doesn’t really work even with the soul bond.

She needed to. She was under so much stress, she had suffered so much, that if she did think about much more than the end goal of saving Madoka from Kyubey, Walpurgisnacht, and at times Madoka Kaname herself, she would lose herself to despair or go completely insane.

“Homura what does that mean…?” As Madoka asked Homura, she noticed that Homura seemed To be behaving a bit differently after her initial panic attack.

“I’ll let my screen self explain, I don't think I have the energy to explain,” Homura said face blank and emotionless, Sayaka might have said something about Homura being rude, but she could feel Homura's emotional turmoil and bit back her tongue.

Junko being a smart adult she noticed the wordings. “Save Madoka? Did something happen to her in the future? Also what does she mean by protecting her from Kyubei and Walpurgisnacht? What even is a Walpurgisnacht? Also Kyubei is the source of all magical girl powers, why would Homura need to protect Madoka from it? I guess she's trying to prevent her from being a magical girl? But why?” 

Junko is slowly getting worried, something happened in the future, something that made Homura travel back in time and try to ‘save her daughter Madoka’.

Kazuko though, also noticed something in the wording that is not the same with Junko, she might be a hopeless romantic but that doesn’t mean she's not smart. There's a reason why she's one of the greatest teachers in the school when she's not complaining about her relationships. 

“The way Homura talks about her time travel is like she's in a loop… ” 

However Kazuko isn't the only one to notice this because Hitomi also noticed this and didn't say anything knowing that it will be revealed on the screen.

It was the fact that not every timeline was the same that she really felt like she was spared the worst of madness, though it was those very changes, necessary for her sanity’s sake, that she ignored beyond a very narrow scope nor pondered why the changes happened or what they could be in the future. Just enough to keep sane, not enough to lose her mind.

That confirmed it for both Kazuko and Hitomi, Homura just doesn't go back in time, instead she travels through different timelines.

The Quintet was quiet, trying to grasp what they are hearing, their soulmate is a time traveller, not only that she has done this multiple times. But why?

Kyoko, who was eating a pocky, looked at Homura asking the question they wanted to know, “How many…?”

Homura just looked at her confused as to what she was saying.

“How many times have you travelled back?”

“I lost count in the 40th timeline,” Homura said blankly.

Everyone looked at her in alarm, Tomohisa, who was concerned, asked what date she usually goes back, since pretty much everyone figured out Homura has been looping.

“March 16th”

Everyone then immediately went to calculate it and to no one's surprise it was Junko Kaname who answered. “You mean you've been looping for… 4 or maybe more years!”

“Maybe…”

Gosh has it been that long since she's been trying to save Madoka? Well she really doesn't care about that, not until she saves her.

Everyone just looked at Homura in awe and in worry after she just basically confirmed that she's been doing this for more than 4 years.

Sayaka, then finally decided to change the topic by asking what Homura means by not every timeline is the same.

Homura just answered, keep on watching because she was sure it was about to be explained. 

The witches were not the same, so she didn’t do the same fights or see the same demises every time. Some did appear more often than not, sure, but they were not fixed. What caused her homeroom’s teacher’s boyfriend to break up with her changed from eggs to pancakes to folded napkins to other forms of nonsense. Sometimes that boy Sayaka Miki liked and always seemed to get turned into a Witch over because he honestly was less socially alert than Homura was at this point, playing guitar instead of violin.

Everyone was shocked and surprised at how different other timelines are. The students of the Mitakihara middle school couldn't help but laugh at the different reasons why Miss Kazuko broke up with her current partner, while Kazuko just sulked that it seems every timeline she was doomed to be a hopeless romantic. 

The Quintet could feel annoyance coming from Homura when it was mentioned of witches not being the same.

The next bit however, shocked everyone, except for Oriko, Kirika, Hitomi and Homura who is apparently hyperventilating again. It was not because of Kyousuke playing the guitar instead of the violin, no no.

It was all because of the phrase, “Sayaka Miki always seemed to get turned into a Witch.”

Sayaka’s attention immediately shot towards Homura to demand her explanation. 

However she faltered when she saw the state Homura is in. She seemed to be having a panic attack and not only that she kept whispering to herself.

She ultimately decided to just be there and comfort Homura and not question her for a while. It seems that the screen has been feeding them a lot of answers, but it also adds a lot of questions that need to be answered. 

Mami just stayed quiet, she already knew, deep down, this was Homura's biggest secret, the one that she’s so confident that it will break them.

And Homura is right, right now it's taking a lot of toll on her sanity because right now she just noticed how much Kyubei, no, the incubator has been hiding from her. The fact that magical girls become witches, Witches were killed by other magical girls and in turn the magical girls that defeated the Witch also become witches as well…

“So it is an endless cycle created by the incubator huh,” Mami muttered to herself trying to keep it together. She couldn’t show weakness right now, not when Homura still needs her.

Mami hugged Homura from behind, surprising Homura for a bit as Mami whispered into her ear.

“Everything's gonna be okay, no one will become a Witch, not when I had a say in it.” Mami says voice is strained but still confident.

Homura looked at Mami in the eyes with hope as she slowly recovered herself a bit.

Then she finally spoke, explaining everything about what was uttered on screen. She did promise to tell them when they had no other choice.

Homura took a deep breath as she started explaining the true nature and fate of all magical girls and witches, how Sayaka was the most frequent to turn into a Witch and how Kyubei omits this part of the contract.

Everyone just listened to Homura telling them this piece of information, suffice to say the adults are scared, concerned, worried, etc. for the girls knowing what fate awaits them. While those who are Magical Girls, specifically Yuma and Nagisa, are crying at the revelation while Hitomi is trying to calm them down.

The quintet all felt collective anger at Kyubei, so much that a vein could pop. But they also feel despair overtaking them. Sayaka is the one who is currently despairing as much, next to her is Mami and Kyoko. 

Both Homura and Madoka are trying their best at giving affection towards the three of them as they could feel their despair from the bond.

“So, we’re just zombies huh,” Sayaka muttered to herself.

Madoka, hearing this, immediately hugged Sayaka while trying to reassure her. 

“Shh, no matter what you are, you are still the Sayaka I know and love, the one who protected me since childhood, so please don’t ever sell yourself short,” Madoka reassured.

“As long as we all know, you can still feel emotions, that seems to say that you're more human than a zombie,” Homura added.

Sayaka looked at Homura, rationally she knows that Homura probably suffered a lot more than them as she has been on a constant loop. She has read and watched many time travelling stories to know that. But right now she’s not in the right mind, that’s why she stayed quiet knowing she might say something impulsive.

Mami and Kyoko came back to their senses when Madoka spoke. Opting to just stay silent knowing that Sayaka probably needs comforting the most. Kyoko was only slightly affected, she already knew something is up with Kyubei and his contracts and being a magical girl for so long she’s seen some weird shit. So yeah she already anticipated something like this to happen.

Mami, although she already knew, is still pretty affected by the confirmation. But she’s trying so hard not to just shoot everyone in their soul gems just for them not to be witches.

Oriko though, pointed something out at the Quintet, “You five are soul bonded, as long as you guys are soul bonded and give each other affection, becoming a witch won’t be a problem to you.”

The Quintet hearing this let out sighs of relief, Homura for once looked at Oriko with a thankful expression which immediately became a blank.

Even though they were still shaken, at least they have enough sanity to continue.

Once she had procured a rare type of tea to share with Mami to try and have a more stable relationship with her, only to find that Mami this time was a coffee aficionado. There were other things that she thought changed, but she didn’t pay them any mind. In the end, were they really that important to risk her mind to think on?

Mami couldn’t help but chuckle at how Homura tried to befriend her by using tea but only for it not to work because Mami is a coffee aficionado. Although she was slightly confused by what she meant by stable relationship, so Mami decided to ask Homura.

Homura then looked at her and answered, “Back in the early timelines, we’ve had a good relationship, specifically you were my mentor.”

Mami couldn’t help but widen her eyes at that revelation.

Meanwhile Kyoko couldn’t help but stare at Homura while thinking, “So that’s why she’s that strong, well other than the fact that she’s been doing this for four or more years.

“But during the later timelines, you started to look at me like a rival, and more timelines later, you started to look at me with hostility. I’m aware that my social awareness is that bad, it’s probably why you were so hostile to me.”

Meanwhile Mami took in this revelation, she probably knows where her other selves are coming from because Homura also had a quite a bad first impression until she got to know her.

After all, those were small things, it wasn’t like big things changed in between timelines that would affect her and Madoka. The one time Mami needed her juniors to make coffee runs for her to function was the biggest change that Homura could recall. At least, until a timeline did change in a big way that affected her and Madoka. And she didn’t realize how much a timeline could change until she woke up in one. 

Hitomi looked at Homura in wonder, and was about to ask but before she could Homura already answered without being asked, “This is when I woke up in this timeline, the soulmate timeline.”

Homura Akemi knew pain. She was quite familiar with it before she made a deal with Kyubey. She was an orphan, she had a serious heart condition that had caused her tremendous suffering for years, and she fell over a lot. 

Everyone looked at Homura worried and concerned, meanwhile Homura tried to reassure them that she used magic to heal her heart and her eyes.

Since then she had seen her best friend die. She had seen her best friend turn into a monster. She’d seen their friends turn into monsters, die, or go nuts and then die. She had felt betrayal, shame, sorrow, and loss. 

The soulmates of Homura felt Homura inner turmoil, all of a sudden scenes that were not from theirs but from Homura’s memories flashed through their minds. All the times she’s been betrayed, forced to kill her friends, no, them because they have been turned into a witch all flashed through them, making them all gag, how did… How can Homura handle all of that happening and repeating? How did she not give up yet?  

Those are the questions currently in their minds, and all of a sudden that question was answered as a scene of Homura and Madoka flash through their minds. 

All of a sudden, everything makes sense, how Homura is overprotective of Madoka and how she never wants her to have a contract with Kyubei.

Homura just looked at the screen attentively hoping to finally finish the viewing so they could all go home and not speak about this. While her soulmates were all huddled near her.

Oriko for once managed to make a hypothesis on why Homura is so hostile towards her and Kirika, “Could it be that I betrayed her in one of the timelines and that caused her to be hostile?”

At various points she had been shot, stabbed, blown up, set on fire, punched, kicked, had her limbs distorted, been struck by lightning, experienced frostbite, and she once had to spend an entire loop with only one arm after Charlotte the Sweets Witch bit it off the first time she encountered that menace. If her body wasn’t a puppet her soul controlled from a gem on her finger, she would have lost her mind to such pain already. It was safe to say that she had experienced practically every physical and mental pain she could logically experience fighting Witches short of outright turning into a Witch, and she had gotten close once. That….terrible…terrible…. terrible loop.

Everyone stared at Homura like she’s some sort of shiny pokemon, while Homura just looked at the screen with a poker face and shuddered a little, but deep down she’s currently remembering everything that has been said, is this some sort of torture for all the things Homura has done wrong?

Junko along with Tomohisa and Kazuko were talking about bringing some therapist for the kids, but when Homura said all the things she has experienced they didn’t think the therapist would be that effective anymore.

“I applaud you Homura Akemi, for you are possibly the strongest when it comes to mental defense, because if I were in your shoes, I would have become a witch already” Oriko says, impressed at Homura, while Homura just looked at her coldly.

She would not get any closer to being a Witch and live to save Madoka another day.

“Does that mean that-” Junko was cut off by Homura by replying, “Yes, Ms. Kaname, Madoka kept on… dying” 

Junko along with Tomohisa have tears in their eyes while Tatsuya is trying to comfort them the way a toddler could.

There were logically things she could experience that were new forms of pain. But she didn’t have any reason to ever experience deep sea compression, for example. She only had reasons to fight Witches, so every possible pain that they could inflict, or life around them inflict, she had endured. 

All of them flinch when they remember everything Homura had to endure just to save Madoka along with her friends.

Then she woke up, staring at that familiar ceiling with eyes she hadn’t fixed yet, feeling the beat of a heart that still needed some magical enhancement to safely engage in combat (...Mami teaching her how to do that in her first redo was invaluable…), when something hit her, and for the first time in many loops, Homura didn’t know what it was. How to…put it into words?

All of a sudden scenes from when Mami had taught Homura how to use magic to enhance her heart and eyes were shown briefly on the screen. They could see how different Homura was before and now. The onscreen past Homura still has that light and hope in her eyes along with her braided hair. Meanwhile the Homura of today looks like she’s been through war, while there’s still hope in her eyes, the light and spark however has long since vanished.

The first feeling was like her soul was warm and heating up as she noticed the feeling, which as her soul was held in a deceptively fragile faberge egg that could hatch an uncanny abomination if she ever got too overcome with grief, was something that made her immediately panic. Her right arm then suddenly seized up, spasming as if it was completely out of her control and someone else was puppeting it, an unexpected and violent reaction that sent Homura careening off her bed, and that was before her entire body…started to feel cold. Not dead cold, but the warmth that had overflown her Soul Gem was long gone, and she just wanted something warm over her. 

“Is this when-” as Kyoko’s about to ask, Homura nodded at her saying, “Yes, the day where I always travelled and the day when our soul mark appeared.

“That must’ve been scary, suddenly waking up in your old body in another timeline and not knowing anything about soulmates, and soulbonds.” Madoka whispered, remembering how panicked Homura was back then through her soul mark.

Homura Akemi, having not reinforced her heart yet, found herself both cold and on the floor. It was actually quite painful. She slowly got back up, pushing herself on shaking arms, slowly pushing herself back up on unsteady legs. She…she hadn’t felt that weak in…she didn’t even want to think about it. 

Eventually, still unsteady, she pushed herself upright with the aid of her hospital bed, her left arm shaking as she held herself upright as her right cast magic on her eyes. Once she could see she used a similar process on her heart. 

“So this is why you don’t look like the way you are in the Hospital photo,” Madoka said tilting her head as she remembered how confused she was when she saw Homura the first time.

Homura just nodded at her as she snuggled next to Madoka.

She had no idea what had hit her, it wasn’t a Witch she could tell that much, but it was insidious nethertheless. She shivered, damn she was cold, she hadn’t ever felt this cold. She was literally a faberge egg piloting a lifeless body, yet this was the first time she actually felt as cold as the dead. 

She idly placed her right palm on her shoulder, and only there, on said shoulder, did she feel any sort of warmth. She didn’t feel anything like it when she shifted a heel to rest against an ankle, and with a twist the back of her right hand didn’t do it either. Her eyes narrowed as she moved her right palm into sight. 

Did her palm rest in something warm or something and now her shoulder was covered in something. With her luck it was blasting jelly or…

Homura Akemi’s eyes shot open faster than any of her bullets as she saw her palm, or more specifically, what was…well not written, and not even tattooed. But something was now part of her palm, entire sections of her skin recolored into strange patterns. 

It was something in the vague shape of a pentagram, with a bright purple diamond in the center, bordered by a pink one. It, and a yellow diamond a fair distance from hers on the other side of the purple diamond from the pink one, were all vividly colored. Two other farther out diamonds like the yellow one, a red and blue one, were faded out. The red one was marginally but noticeably closer to the central purple diamond than the other two. She just…she just stared at it. What. The. Actual….

Able to stand on her two feet unaided now, she moved her other hand to have a finger lightly touch the two center diamonds, and from the point of contact shot warmth , for lack of a better description. The only warmth in her entire body, and it was only because she was experienced in dealing with her own misery that she could bear to lift her fingers off the mark and look at the strange thing on her palm. 

“What….what are you?” She asked it. As expected, there was no answer from the odd colored marks on her palm. Whatever this was….it was truly peculiar. She quickly changed into her Magical Girl form and froze time, looking around for a bit and feeling things out. She didn’t feel like anything here changed, and her Soul Gem seemed normal. So…what was going on? 

Seeing Homura so confused and out of touch all because of something she didn’t know about the soul bonds disturbed the quintet a bit, although they did understand where she was coming from. Travelling back in time and the timeline where you landed is a timeline that is too different compared to what she was used to.

Madoka Kaname was only faintly aware about the dishware she had knocked to the ground when she lost control of her body, or on the fact that she was now on the ground. Her parents were hovering over her, clearly worried about her, while Tatsuya was poking between their legs, sounding as worried about her as any three-year-old would be but not knowing what to do about it beyond sounding worried and, fortunately, to not cry about it. 

Homura almost jumped and ran towards the screen if not for her soulmates holding her back. She knew Madoka was going through the same as she did since Madoka also had just gotten the soul bond

“Homura-chan, calm down, it’s just a post-soulbond mark effect.” Madoka says as she gives Homura a Head pat.

Homura just leaned in towards Madoka while their other partners couldn't help but think of how cute they were.

“Madoka, honey, are you hurt?” her dad asked worriedly as he felt her forehead. She blinked, slowly, before shivering a bit. Why did she feel so cold? Her dad felt around her cheeks more, looking rather concerned. 

“Sorry for worrying you dad,” Madoka says apologetically while rubbing her head.

“It's okay, It's a parent's job to worry about their daughter,” Tomohisa replied with a smile.

“Why are you so cold?” he worryingly asked her, seemingly aware that she couldn’t answer him.

“She was fine this morning.” Her mom recalled, her focus completely on her daughter and nothing else as her dad slowly moved to her right hand, opening it up to see if anything had happened to it when she…spasmed was the right word, right? The gasp of her dad, followed quickly by her mother when she saw it, implied there was something there. 

“Ah, yes the moment we found out that our Madoka is a heart stealer,” Junko teased.

Meanwhile Madoka just went beet red with her other partners.

“What…what is it dad?” Madoka asked, shivering at the start of the sentence. She…she really did feel cold. 

“It can’t be….” He said in disbelief. 

“This is it, the moment of truth,” Sayaka says playfully while leaning to Kyoko.

“But it is…it can’t be anything else, but one, two..four?” Her mom sounded like she had seen it again to be sure as her two parents looked at each other, and the two then did something that was quite unusual for her composed mom or her rather chill dad. They immediately started jumping up and down in joy, sounding both happy and proud at the same time. Tatsuya’s confused cooing was just how she felt about it. What was going on?

She quickly looked at her own hand, wondering what had gotten her parents so excited, when she saw it and gasped, before shivering again. On her palm were diamonds, with the center being a pink one. A purple one was nearly on top of it, with a faded blue one just a bit further from the center than the purple one. Farther out was a bright yellow diamond and a faded red diamond farthest still. They were all roughly contained in the shape of a five-sided pentagram. She gasped again. 

“I can't believe it's been two weeks since that fateful day,” Madoka reminisced.

“Mhm, it sure has been, a lot has happened since that day.” Mami replied nostalgically.

“A Soulbond mark?!” Madoka said before shivering again as her parents jumped in joy.

“Oh this is wonderful! Our little girl’s a heartstealer! Four of them dear, four of them!” Her mother was making her blush. Heart… heartstealer?!

“Yeah, I won't deny you really did steal the heart of four beautiful girls pinky,” Kyoko playfully says with a smirk and glint in her eyes.

Madoka went beet red after hearing what Kyoko said and just kissed her on the lips knowing this will get the redhead back for her teasing. 

Meanwhile Kyoko’s jaw slacked as she went beet red.

Their other three partners smiled at them and couldn’t help but chuckle at their antics.

Meanwhile, the adults looked at their way and couldn't help but be happy for them, they needed it, after all the bullshit they have gone and we're about to experience because of that fucking alien mascot.

“I know, though we are going to need to talk to a specialist to be sure. I’ll call Madoka’s school and…” 

“Oh, this is too big, I’ll drive! Work can wait.”

Well…something like this was that serious, Madoka guessed, but she shivered again before looking at her palm once more. A Soulbond mark on her…but those appeared for only special people and she wasn’t special. She was just Madoka Kaname.

“Madoka Kaname, I know that you believe you aren't special, but that is far from the truth,” Oriko announced while having Kirika on her shoulders.

Madoka looked at Oriko confused as to what she means, meanwhile Homura is currently giving Oriko a cold glare that could kill.

Oriko though ignored Homura and answered Madoka’s question, “You have the potential to become the strongest magical girl in existence. I don't know why or how, also your wish could also change the reality as we know it, that's how much potential you have.”

Every magical girl, yes even Homura, went wide eyed, they didn’t think Madoka had that much potential, although Homura kinda has a clue on that since Madoka's Witch does have the ability to destroy the world in 10 days.

Then Oriko's eyes went dark as she revealed that, “While it is outstanding to see such potential, I advise you to not make a contract Madoka Kaname, because as you found out earlier Magical girl's fate is to become a witch, and with someone that has too much potential… It could lead to you becoming a witch that can destroy the world in 10 days… Or even less”

Every single one did not let out a breath, they couldn’t handle it, the truth that someone as pure as Madoka could become a Witch and destroy the world.

Meanwhile Homura just looked at what’s happening blankly knowing that she can't do anything about it now that it has been revealed. 

“What Oriko says is the truth,” Homura says with a shuddering breath, remembering all the timelines where Kriemhild Gretchen hatched.

“I've been on timelines where Madoka has become a witch and yes her Witch is so strong Walpurgisnacht has 1/100 strength compared to Madoka’s Witch.”

Everyone is shocked by this revelation, especially Madoka, meanwhile Homura immediately hugged Madoka looking determined, “I won't let that happen, this timeline is full of many differences and many other variables, but that doesn’t make me stop because this is the best timeline that ever happened to me… I can't let this go…”

They all saw a hunted look on Homura's face when she thought about leaving this timeline.

Junko looked at Homura with a proud look on her face as she was glad that this girl is her daughter's soulmate.

The other magical girls then replied to Homura's speech by saying that they'll help.

Oriko though, looked at Homura thoughtfully, she thinks that now might not be the right time to make a negotiation.

It was just as they were about to get in the call that time froze. 

Her dad had just opened the car door when everything turned gray. Her mother was frozen when she realized just what had happened. She immediately started to panic. 

“What’s…what’s going on?!” She asked no one in particular, frantically looking around for anything thatmid-step, pulling up Tatsuya so he was frozen mid-air, the faintest of unmoving arms holding him up. Madoka however, could still move, and had actually gotten into the car  was causing this. “Dad, Mom, Tatsuya, why aren’t you moving? Please, please answer me!” 

“Oh, this was that time when Homura first used her timestop ability,” Madoka says as if acknowledging that fact while the adults in the room stared at the screen as if the laws of reality are broken which is probably what's happening whenever magical girls do their thing.

“You can stop time!?” Kazuko yelled, this was mind blowing, hell that ability is so useful she's jealous.

Homura nods at her.

“You know what, I'm not gonna question that.” Kazuko says knowing that she will have a headache if Homura tries to explain it to her.

Homura had frozen time to slip out of the hospital quickly…and was immediately stricken with a feeling of panic that made her stop in her tracks. Her heart was beating harder and harder, her fight and flight response going haywire as she instinctively wanted to look for whoever was doing this. Which didn’t make sense, because the one doing it was her, and she knew that. 

She quickly ducked into a quiet alcove and restarted time, feeling the panic that was coming from her heart, but not from her mind, to slowly fade away. 

“...What the hell?” She asked no one in particular. There was something else too. Whatever was making her feel that sense of panic, also seemed to make her want to immediately make the problem go away the same way she felt when something was threatening Madoka, but Madoka wasn’t here. So…why did she feel that way?

She shook her head again, something was really wrong with her in this timeline for some reason.

“Damn, I'm sorry for worrying you and for-” before Madoka could continue, Homura cut her off by saying, “no, I’m the one who's supposed to apologize, I should've researched whatever the hell was in my hand back then when I didn't know anything.”

Madoka was about to say something back before Mami cut her off, “OK, that's enough you two, you can continue that later.”

Time eventually did start again, though Madoka was still quite spooked by the fact that it had actually stopped at all. 

“Madoka, are you okay?” Her mom asked Madoka from the driver’s seat as Madoka…wasn’t sure herself. 

“Um…did anything weird happen just now to…anyone else?” 

The two adults in the car exchanged looks. 

 “No…but don’t worry if you are feeling strange. I’m sure it is completely natural.” Her dad assured her. “I know it’s an old belief that Soulmates share emotions, though I don’t know enough to say for sure. So maybe you were just feeling something.” 

“I was not in fact Madoka feeling strange, instead she got caught up with her soulmate’s power,” Tomohisa announced like a comedian. The others couldn’t help but chuckle and laugh at his antics. Yes, even Oriko and Kirika.

Madoka blinked. She’d heard that too but, how would that relate to time freezing like that? But..maybe it had something to do with it. She poked her mark with her finger, slowly, not sure exactly what she was doing. But she thought she read about it somewhere. She still felt…unsure, almost silly doing this. Soulbonds are real, sure, but they were so rare that even trying this was… she…

“Hello!” Her little brother said to the mark, not feeling embarrassed about talking to it. Her parents chuckled to themselves, followed a little later by herself.

Homura was just about out of the hospital when she was sure she…felt like someone was talking to her. Not yelling about the girl trying to get out of the hospital after extensive heart surgery, at this point she knew how to do that without her powers, they just made it easier. But talking, and it made that mark on her hand tingle.

“Oh, so you did feel my brother call out to you Homura,” Madoka exclaimed while Tatsuya looked happy.

“I didn’t know it was your brother that time though, I thought that this timeline is just messing with me,” Homura admitted.

“Well as you’ve said this is your first time in a timeline with soulmates so it’s only natural,” Mami said with her wisdom. Btw, she is still not over the witch thing neither did Sayaka.

Whatever this loop was doing to her, it should really just stop already.

“I’m afraid it’ll only get worse from here,” Sayaka joked while Homura looked like she wholeheartedly agreed, everything was going so good, it’s only a matter of time before something bad happens, for example, this viewing that is happening right now.

It was unseen in class, but that simple greeting resonated with one particularly lonely young lady. She had already cried tears of joy this morning when she realized what had happened, laying on the floor and staring at her hand, and the happiness nearly returned now. It was a further reminder to find the attendance rolls and figure out who was missing today. Though it had the side effect of making every class seem to drag on longer than usual. Not helped by that time freeze, though while she had felt worry from her mark too, it actually had the opposite effect with her. 

One of her Soulmates was a Magical Girl, just like her.

“Oh look, Mami is finally introduced,” Madoka exclaimed happily.

Meanwhile Mami looked at her past self knowing that from that day onwards she’ll never be alone, not anymore.

Madoka and her family eventually arrived at the hospital, and Madoka felt a little embarrassed. She…she wasn’t sick or anything. Her mother laughed when she admitted her unease. 

“Oh Madoka, don’t think like that. This is where the Soulbond specialists are. With how often that Soulmates meet in hospitals, it’s completely logical to have them here. Saves a lot of time.” Her mother laughed, and while she felt really embarrassed to be taken into the hospital, her mother was not wrong. It was a pretty quick and painless shift to an office that was a bit out of the way of the main hospital complex but still really nice. The room was littered with posters describing various configurations of marks, historical anecdotes about them, and books about them from across the centuries. A few books had drawings and sketches of Wagtails on them. There wasn’t a line at all, so she was quickly seen by the doctor in charge. The doctor, a plump and smiling woman older than her mother, was quickly looking at her hand, and didn't lose the smile at all even as she seemed to be checking her palm for any sort of trickery. When she was sure it wasn’t a tattoo or something, which she seemed to check just out of professional responsibility and not because she believed her to be lying, she looked up and smiled. 

“You’re a very lucky young woman, Miss Kaname.” Doctor Aiuchi smiled as Madoka blushed heavily. May..maybe, but why her though?

“Because you are very special and one of a kind,” Homura says with a smile, while their other partners agreed, each of them kissing Madoka one after another while Madoka just went beet red at the affection she was getting from them.

“Oh she’s a heart stealer all right!” she blushed even more as her mother boasted about her. Doctor Aiuchi chuckled.

Madoka couldn’t help but whine at the nickname her mother gave her, she’ll never get used to being called a heart stealer while Junko just laughed.

“Oh, I hope she isn’t stealing anyone. Religion has tried to understand the whims of soul bonds for ages, and more than a few stories tell of the tragedy of a couple broken apart by them. Being fourteen you should avoid that.” The doctor had Madoka, who was sitting on the exam table, to hold her palm back out so she could look it over. 

“That’s true,” Oriko says as she remembers some stories about that.

“The two being faded isn’t a problem, is it?” Her dad asked as the doctor shook her head.

“Oh no, that’s actually quite common. When you get into larger groups of bound, it often breaks them up into groups. They will get their full color in time, though only when one or both of these two happen to suffer or experience a great event in their life. No matter when or where you are in this world or throughout history, Soulbonds tend to form when someone goes through a great and terrible event in life. Battle, overcoming a medical hurdle, loss. It’s why people like me work at hospitals, you often see someone get one here. It makes it easier if I’m on site.” 

The poly quintet remembered just what happened earlier and what caused the soul bond of Kyoko and Sayaka to appear, yeah that really was a memorable day both good and bad.

That did make sense, though it also made Madoka pale. Someone…someone who she was bonded to for the rest of her life was here? In this hospital? Possibly around the corner?!

“Uh huh, and that girl just happens to escape the hospital,” Sayaka teased both Homura and Madoka.

Meanwhile Homura looked at her and told her something in their private channel, “I know what you did to Hitomi, I’m pretty sure she’s still trying to find those ‘piece of clothing’ that is missing”

Sayaka looked at Homura and gulped knowing she’s just been found out, “What do you mean…?” Sayaka tried to play dumb but that didn’t work as Homura just replied with “Timelines” then Sayaka finally surrendered to her by pleading not to tell Hitomi.

“Does the fact the symbol resembles diamonds mean anything?” Her mom asked, seemingly aware of her growing panic and wanting to calm her down.

“Soul marks take on many forms, though they typically are something linked to whomever was the one who ignited the Soulbond in the first place. To be a bit poetic, it represents whoever overcomes a great hurdle and is rewarded by the gods, or if you want to get medieval about it involving great magics. It doesn’t really matter what shape it is, though it does make identification easier. Soulbonds aren’t everywhere, but when they do appear they do help sort things out.”

“Yeah, up until now Soulbonds remained a mystery, there’s even a large organization that is dedicated to find out more about the soulbond, though Idk if it’s true or not because I have only heard of it from somewhere,” Oriko says as she remembers the story she heard.

Meanwhile, Homura tried not to groan at the mention of another organization, she hoped that the organization wasn't like the Magius cause she can’t handle two organizations at once.

A message was paged in, and Doctor Aiuchi quickly excused herself to take it, saying it was probably the nurses having gotten back and checking the patients.

“Doctor Aiuchi, how did the search go? You took a bit longer than I thought you would. We’re normally pretty on top of spotting….oh you were checking the camera feed…a ha….oh really….wait, how did you... someone's getting a rough review… I’ll tell them ....” 

Madoka felt her heart go cold as the doctor hung up the phone. She didn’t look like she was going to break any terrible news, but she did look flummoxed. 

“Doctor, is something wrong?” Her dad asked worriedly. Doctor Aiuchi nervously chuckled. 

“Well…it’s not dire, but it is a complication.”

“Oh, so this is when the Doctors found out that I left the hospital,” Homura says as she remembered countless timelines where multiple Doctors tried to stop her from leaving so she just resorted to using her time stop so she can leave peacefully.

Multiple images flashed through her partners minds, and they couldn’t help but sigh fondly at her while both Kyoko and Sayaka laughed quietly.

Homura Akemi's performance was subpar all morning, and now she felt like she was…worrying Madoka?

“Ahh yes, the perks and downside of the soulbond, being able to feel your partner’s feelings affecting your overall performance at fights.” Oriko says as she remembers some mistakes both she and Kirika made because of the soulbond.

It was a strange feeling, one of many she was having, and one she shouldn’t be feeling near the center of a Labyrinth. She hadn’t even seen the most important person in her life yet, let alone even started shooting Kyubey yet (or stabbing him, or crushing him, or otherwise driving the monster away), so how would be worrying her yet?  Still…

“Madoka…don’t worry. I’m not stopping anytime soon.” She told herself, promising Madoka she would keep her safe, no matter how long it took. It was the only thing she could do, because how else could she be worrying Madoka if she wasn’t fulfilling her promise properly? 

“Homura… what promise?” Madoka asked, knowing that it probably was from her in a different timeline.

Meanwhile Homura had to reel in her emotions and memories because she could not let that memory be seen by her soulmates… that terrible timeline.

Madoka, feeling Homura’s feelings about the topic, dropped it because she knows that it’ll probably be shown or she’ll be forced to say it. So she’s willing to wait because she doesn’t want to hurt Homura.

She tapped her fingers against her desk. She wanted to go out and find her Soulmates now, she could feel worry and dread from them. But school was taking way too long today. 

She discreetly touched her palm, trying to soothe the distress she was feeling, from both herself and her bonded.

Madoka felt a little better, and like she wanted to run right out of school despite not being there, as a set of records were pulled up for them to see. On them featured a dark-haired girl, nervous and wearing red-rimmed glasses. Her long hair was done up in braids with purple ribbons at the ends. She was cute, but she looked really nervous. Even for being on a hospital file. 

Both Kyoko and Sayaka couldn’t help but be shocked as they compare the past Homura to the present Homura, “Wow, those timelines really did a number on you huh,” Kyoko muttered feeling bad for Homura. Homura just nodded towards her.

“This is Homura Akemi. Security cameras saw her undergo a Soulbond formation this morning, though since then she’s vanished and we haven’t been able to find her.” Doctor Aiuchi  explained, sounding like she wished the both of them the best of luck and wanted to slap someone for missing her.  

“Vanished?” Her mom asked. The doctor just looked in disbelief at the fact even as she explained more of it to them.

“Ahh yes, the power of time stops, terrifying” Oriko says as she shivered knowing how insanely overpowered that ability is even if Homura’s power is that of an average magical girl.

“Honestly, Homura Akemi just…disappeared somewhere. We’re trying to find the poor girl: post Soulmate Mark euphoria can sometimes be a heck of a jolt to the system, and it isn’t unheard of, but not universal, for someone to be filled with energy and start running around on pure adrenaline trying to find their Soulmate, but from what I’ve been told about her, Homura’s a delicate girl whose only just recovered from heart surgery. We can only hope she’s not doing anything strenuous.” Doctor Aiuchi said, sounding rather worried for the girl. 

Meanwhile in a dimension just adjacent to reality, Homura Akemi was blasting as much lead as possible into a Witch. The heat of the gun was the only warmth she felt, and whatever was wrong with her was getting really annoying. Though at least the Witch was dying like it should, so whatever was wrong with her hadn't impacted her in that way yet.

“Damn, Darling is really having a hard time adjusting,” Mami said worriedly

Meanwhile Homura looked at Mami and reassured her that she did adjust and it’s all because of her and Madoka.

“Well, she shouldn’t have gotten far, and when we do find her…well you said she was an orphan right?” Her mom caught as the nurse nodded. “Well, we’ll take care of her. Our home is her home.” 

Homura then stood up and faced the Kaname’s and bowed to them, “Thank you for taking me in.”

Junko and Tomohisa who looked surprised smiled gently at her replying, “Of course, you are basically our daughter now.”

Homura went beet red when they mentioned about her being their daughter but a noticeable smile appeared on her face at that thought.

“Well legally they do become your wards if their parents are absent or grant you custody, but it is good that you are willing to do so. Especially in a situation as rare, but unusual, as a large soul bond.” 

“It helps that Homura’s a girl, if she was a boy I’d have much more concern. Hope none of the rest of them are boys.”

“Now we know that none of them are boys,” Tomohisa says in relief because he knows that there's a lot of complications when it comes to hetero Soul bonds.

“Mom!” Madoka yelled while blushing. She was 14! The Doctor chuckled. 

“I can’t promise you any of that, all I can do for you right now is help you fill out of all the paperwork that this sort of thing requires, share what information the hospital is legally able to about Homura with you, and assure you of your daughter’s safety and well being as well as answer any other questions you might have.”

“Um…I do have a question. If Homura…if Homura recovering from heart surgery is why a Soulbond formed…” 

“That’s just a theory that isn’t proven, though that is more or less just no one being able to figure out how it happens or why it doesn’t happen with everything,” The Doctor idly noted, but letting her continue. 

Homura is currently remembering her previous hypothesis as to why she formed a Soul Bond along with the other four, but if she is right then…

“Why…why would it be with me? I’m not that special.” Madoka had to ask that. What made her so special? Doctor Aiuchi smiled and pointed at her heart. 

“Oh, that’s something you are going to have to find out for yourselves. And whatever answer you all find, I’m sure it will explain everything. It always does in these cases.” 

Explain everything…did…was there something about her….she didn’t know how to think about it. She just stared at the marks on her palm again.

All of her Soulmates looked at Madoka with a fond expression reassuring Madoka that she is just as special to them.

Homura idly noted, as she sat overlooking a city street, that she still felt off. She felt cold, she kept feeling random emotions that didn’t feel like hers, and whatever had happened to her at the hospital still hadn’t worn off. If this continued, she would have to drastically change her approach. She might have to bribe Mami to leave Madoka alone to try and free herself up from some potential problems while she tried to get things under control while not at her best, but that wasn’t like bribing Kyoko with Grief Seeds or Gift Cards to do things that Homura wanted her to do. Mami’s vices were born of loneliness, and it was basically impossible to get her to willingly be alone when Kyubey was ‘showing’ her that a girl with incredible potential was around. Mami wasn’t unaware of (many of) the dangers and sincerely believed, alongside her desire to no longer be alone, that being a Magical Girl was the best protection from Witch-based dangers, but would allow Madoka to walk away if she so decided. But Kyubey, and all things related, always made that harder than it needed to be, so by default Mami would try to genuinely help Madoka, and Sayaka, but play into Kyubey’s hands the entire time.

Everyone listened to Homura speaking out her mind. Mami specifically couldn’t help but be a little offended, but she knows herself well, and Homura who is on a loop for about 4 or more years probably knows a lot about them.

“I'm sorry about everything that I said Mami, Kyoko, it's just-” Homura was cut off by Mami who was smiling at her gently but a little bit strained.

“It's alright, darling, I know you've been dealing with a lot trying to save us everytime you go back for a month. But I know that I probably caused you a lot of trouble making your objectives to save a lot harder.”

Meanwhile Kyoko just nodded at Mami, even agreeing with her on screen self that she can probably be bribed with grief seeds and gift cards.

Homura couldn't help but still look at her guiltily though.

Madoka looked at the two of them and suddenly hugged them, while Sayaka and Kyoko joined later.

The others in the theatre looked at them while cooing or with fondness.

The idea of trying to bribe Mami with her own companionship to leave Madoka, and Sayaka, out of it…was not going to work. Homura Akemi was not someone anyone wanted to be around anymore. 

Homura winced at her own thought, who knew she was this negative. 

Meanwhile, Mami looked at Homura with scolding but full of love eyes. “Homura, don't say such things that we don't want you around, we definitely want you to be with us for the rest of our lives, and I understand where you are coming from, you probably know me better than I did.”

It wasn’t long after she thought about how no one wanted her around, that she felt those…odd emotions again. Like someone was telling her ‘no, we do want you around’, and it wasn’t herself saying that. And it came in two distinct…flavors, for lack of a better term. One was more faint, and it had the air of understanding, or perhaps better to be put as ‘understanding’. Empathy without knowing why she felt that way, but guessing something that was in the right direction but not it exactly in actuality. It was like what would happen when Mami or Kyoko tried to guess her motives as a Magical Girl trying to prevent other contracts when they didn’t think she was just scared of being outcompeted. The other wasn’t as directed but a lot stronger and clearer, a general wave of kindness and assurance that almost felt like…Madoka?

She looked at the cars, and she could see the Kaname family vehicle in the streets right now. She wasn’t actually…Madoka was surely in school right now, yet it felt like she just knew that Madoka was there. Like she could pinpoint that strange emotional rush as coming from Madoka in that vehicle. Which…which didn’t make any sense. She didn’t have the power to track Madoka wherever she went, no matter how many times Sayaka ‘joked’ she must have wished to be able to stalk Madoka. 

“Another perk of being soul bonded is that you can tell and feel whether your partner is near you or not.” Oriko says as if she's lecturing Homura which irked Homura a lot.

Meanwhile, when the piece about stalking were mentioned, Homura went beet red as flashes of memories when she's guarding Madoka flashed through her Soulmates mind making Sayaka and Kyoko laugh, while Mami chuckled, Madoka meanwhile went beet red thinking about how many times Homura tried to ‘guard’ her.

(And Sayaka really shouldn’t make those jokes. She’d seen what she did with Hitomi’s underwear in some timelines. The blue-haired girl had no place acting like she had deviant desires on Madoka, or critiquing any she may or may not have.)

Everyone, even Oriko and Kirika stared at Sayaka, meanwhile Hitomi’s eyes darken as she looked at Sayaka menacingly. “Sayaka-chan, you wouldn't have anything to do with my missing underwear, would you?” Hitomi said with a calm voice.

“Wha- of course not, as Homura said it was from those different timelines,” Sayaka tried to reason and get away with it, meanwhile Hitomi looked at Sayaka’s soulmates and determined that yes, Sayaka is lying.

Madoka along with Mami looked at Sayaka with a disappointed look while Kyoko laughed as loud as a hyena and Homura just smirked.

“We'll talk about this later after this episode Sayaka,” Hitomi said with a glint on her eyes that promised pain, while Sayaka couldn’t help but feel nervous and gulped.

It also wasn’t a power she could just ‘develop’, that was not how Magical Girls worked. They could only expand on the powers they had, or lose them if they suffered a severe enough mental trauma (Kyoko). Her wish would affect time travel, not tracking people. And while there were certainly things Homura could attempt with time travel she had yet to try, half of them were ideas she considered too morally abhorrent to attempt. 

“Of course, she knows about my trauma and backstory,” Kyoko muttered to herself as she tried to repress her memories so that her soulmates wouldn't see it.

The idea of taking Soul Gems back with her through time, for example, was something she had genuinely wondered about a few times, but she could think of no way that wouldn’t end horrifically. The best case scenario she could imagine was having two Mamis or Kyokos inhabit the same body, and that would do little good for anyone and have entire lists of possible things to go wrong. Meanwhile lottery tickets, while far less morally bankrupt, had proven…inefficient. The slight alterations to the timeline everytime meant she couldn’t accumulate funds reliably by cheating the game.

“Yeah, that idea would be bad,” Oriko said as she remembered a magical girl that had two souls in her body.

Mad science and abusing gambling was one thing, but her powers did not, and would not, give her the power to track Madoka wherever she went. Yet she could just follow Madoka’s car instinctively as it moved down, and her gaze always seemed to aim at the car seat that Madoka would naturally be in. This was…different. 

A thought came over Homura, one that made her panic. Had Madoka already contracted with Kyubey, and that was what was going on? Had Madoka wished for something that had… caused her arm to spasm, get strange marks, make her entire body feel cold, and feel emotions from other people? The more she thought of it, the less that made sense. Madoka would sell her soul for everything from her friends' wellbeing to saving a cat’s life, but she didn’t wish for things that hurt people. That was not who Madoka was. People didn’t change like that, even when Mami drank coffee instead of tea she was still Mami in every facet of her personality. Plus if Madoka had contracted, then why was Kyubey a few buildings over, also watching Madoka’s car. Kyubey…

“D-did I really wish for those things?” Madoka asked in wonder… she knew herself well but Homura actually might know her a lot more than she does.

“Mhm, yes you did, I tried so hard Madoka… but every timeline either had you dead, or a magical girl becoming a witch.” Homura says with a depressing look on her face.

Meanwhile, Madoka just hugged her, knowing how hard Homura tried just to save her.

Homura froze time. Whatever was making her feel panic everytime she did this was going to be ignored. Kyubey was here. Kyubey was near Madoka. Kyubey would be destroyed. The emotions that burned in her were clearly her own. The emotion of utter hatred. 

They understood, they understood completely why Homura would be like that, everyone in the theatre expressed that much hatred towards that little shit, even Madoka even though it's unusual for her. Kyubey is the reason why so many girls have died, he's the reason why Homura was in her own hell, trying everything she could to escape it and have everyone she loves come with her alive and well. He'll pay no matter what, even if it takes a million years.

Madoka felt like she had to look around the windows as traffic passed all around. It felt like…she was near someone. Someone she had to find? Was…was Homura nearby? Or maybe the other person…she felt like she was close, so close, but just out of reach. Like she was nearly at a store she knew the location of by heart but her mind just couldn’t connect those last few blocks. She had to see someone…she couldn’t just ask her mom to stop the car. That would be dangerous…

“Of course, Madoka would want to go and find her partner,” Tomohisa acknowledged, knowing how the soulbond would want to make someone yearn and longed for their partner.

The car stopped, along with the rest of time, and Madoka once more looked around frantically. Not this again. Why did it keep happening !? Time…time shouldn’t do this, and she asked about it at the hospital. She had framed it as ‘what if it was like time slowed down’, because this was too freaky to say out loud to anyone, but that wasn’t anything that was a part of a Soulbond. This was…. what was this?

“Again, I'm really sorry for making you uncomfortable and panic with my power, Madoka” 

“It's fine, Homura-chan, it's only natural because you didn't know.”

Madoka smiled brightly at Homura while Homura just went beet red and looked away.

The others couldn’t help but chuckle at them.

She felt a faint, calming feeling wash over her, like someone was trying to get her to relax…which was faint because she felt a different emotion wash over her entire body, engulfing it like a burning, choking wildlife. She could barely breath as she bent over in the car, wheezing as it felt like her heart and lungs were on fire. This…this emotion….it felt like hate. So much hatred, and Madoka had never felt anything like it.

Madoka knew what anger felt like, she got angry. But this….this amount of hate burned.

Homura almost stood up and jumped towards the screen but her soulmates immediately stopped her by hugging her and reassuring her that it's fine. Although it doesn't work much now that she knows how much she hurt Madoka with her hatred.

She seized up in class, only years of self control keeping it from being noticeable…well that and time freezing again leaving only her moving and aware out of the entire school building’s occupants. Where…where was this level of anger coming from? She could feel a third of their bond freaking out in panic at the sheer emotion, she felt her terror more acutely than this burning anger. 

This terror…it was the person in her bond who wasn’t a magical girl, while the fury came from the one who was one like her, as well as freezing time. And the fury was terrifying…no…it felt like it was hurting their third. 

“I-im really sorry,” Homura says as tears slowly appear in her eyes. Madoka who was still hugging Homura along with their other partners are whispering to Homura trying to reassure her.

Meanwhile the adults now know how much Homura has been fucked up because of the incubator… If only they had something or someone that could help them that isn't a magical girl but a trusted adult.

She closed her eyes, trying to send calming, reassuring thoughts to the one who she could feel more strongly, but the sheer panic…it was like she felt like she was literally choking on that anger. It was a level of anger that even gave her chills. Did..she didn’t even think Kyoko had this level of anger. Time was still frozen, so no one else would hear her…

“That’s enough.” She told her marks bluntly, looking right at the purple diamond in particular. She was sure that it was the source of this fathomless anger. Whatever could make someone that angry….

“Homura listen, you didn't know anything about the rules of this timeline, hell you didn't know anything about soulbonds that you literally thought that this timeline is fucking with you so stop crying for something that you couldn't control.”

Kyoko might look like she's being harsh on Homura but the Quintet could feel her worry and love for the black haired girl.

“Listen Homura, Kyoko is right, I know how much you loved Madoka, hell you might've only loved her and just treated us as friends in the other timelines up until now, but I know that you aren't one to willingly hurt Madoka.”

Sayaka said, as her own encouragement and reassurance to Homura, although the Quintet are now curious if what Sayaka says is true about Madoka being the only one she loves before this timeline. But that can wait.

Homura slowly but surely got a lot better although she still wants more warmth that the Quintet is willing to give her at anytime.

A sense of…being told to stop came over her after the thirty-fourth swing of the mallet. Perhaps it was about time, the Incubator was paste at this point. She’d been having a very, very bad day, and she needed some sort of release. And Kyoko wasn’t here to screw with, and Kyubey decided to be in the same solar system of Madoka. So maybe she was done venting and…

“So… you do screw with me huh,” Kyoko asked in wonder while Homura slowly nodded at her still recovering from earlier.

“Yes, I would sometimes vent my anger by fighting you in other timelines.”

“Cool, wanna rematch?”

“Sure, maybe later.”

The sheer sense of panic that she suddenly got hit with made Homura drop the mallet. Where, where was all of this panic and…horror coming from?! She was far too numb for the latter at this point! She stumbled…and fell off the bridge edge she had been wailing on Kyubey on. 

Hitting a car’s roof was not a new experience for her. At least this one didn’t have racks on it. Ow…

“You should be more careful, Homura,” Madoka said while Homura looked at her and said, “Yes, I'll be, I'm just confused there so I got careless.”

“I understand.”

Time was still frozen as she unsteadily got back up, her entire body trembling from the pain and confusion as she just…half sat and half lay on the now damaged vehicle. 

“What’s wrong with me?” Homura asked no one in particular, idly looking at her Soul Gem to make sure that nothing was wrong with it. She was cold, she kept feeling strange emotions, she couldn’t freeze time without feeling like part of her was panicking, and now she couldn’t even kill Kyubey anymore…

She briefly let time slip back, idly noting a white shape dart onto the bridge near her, before pulling out a gun and shooting it in the head. Kyubey fell over dead and she re-froze time again. Nothing…so was it the fact she was venting on the thing that made it a problem? She just had to kill the thing without feeling anything.

The adults celebrated thinking that the incubator is finally gone, but they didn't know how annoying that thing is because of its multiple bodies. However, they now had a question in their minds as they looked at Homura, “Homura, when did you get the gun?” Junko asked in a serious tone.

Meanwhile Homura, knowing that it will probably come out later, revealed, “I stole it from the Yakuza.”

The theatre is silenced, for a few moments though Junko gives Homura a thumbs up which means she approved.

Time briefly started again, her parents not immediately noticing something was wrong because she had regained some steadiness of breath. Madoka wasn’t sure what had happened…but that anger was gone. It was replaced with…confusion? Fear? Self-loathing? Pain that shot through her back like she had just fallen to the ground and hit something. Then a gunshot went off and time froze again.

Tatsuya, sitting next to her, had his face frozen in the verge of a panic at the unusual sound, guns were not commonplace in Mitakihara, let alone them going off. Her little brother had never heard one go off before. Guns were…scary things. But they were also loud, and it sounded close. So she just had to look around….

Madoka felt her body suddenly flash with warmth it hadn’t felt the entire day as she saw something that was just out of place on top of the cars. A dangling black heel and long black hair that was the only thing moving. It couldn’t be….but there was only one thing that could make her feel warm anymore.

“Homura?”

“Ah, yes the fated meeting between two soulmates,” Sayaka cooed as images of love stories filled her mind making it also accessible to her soulmates which they couldn’t help but laugh at.

Her Soul Gem was cleaning itself, and her body suddenly felt warm again. It wasn’t a proper warm, just not cold, but she hadn’t felt like this for practically the entire time loop when she wasn’t touching that bizarre mark on her arm. More bizarrely, and both something that was good and concerning at the same time, was her Soul Gem brightening on its own. Even with the Grief Seed she had gotten earlier today, her Soul Gem had been murky this entire time loop, and falling off a bridge had not helped it. But she wasn’t seeing things, she could feel the specks of dullness and grief vanish even as she saw it happen with her own two eyes. This shouldn’t be happening…what was this time loop…

“I think you should relax for at least just a day Homura cause you look like you’re on the verge of breaking down,” Oriko said worried for Homura, and because she had her own plans that involved Homura.

Homura just responded to her coldly which has been bothering everyone because ever since the two met Homura has been hostile towards Oriko.

“I know what I’m doing, and I don’t need your concern.”

“Well the screen begs to differ,” Oriko muttered to herself knowing that arguing with Homura is a waste of time.

She didn’t quite ‘hear’ it, but she knew someone just said her name, and not just any voice. 

“Madoka?” Homura said aloud as she just knew where to look, and in fact she did see it. The Kaname family car, frozen in time, and she could just faintly make out pink hair in the back seat. Homura just stared at the car, not sure what she was feeling. Confusion about why it was out here, or why Madoka would be in it. Uncertainty about why everything was happening. Happiness…because it was Madoka.

On impulse Homura took her Soul Gem and held it between the two of them, and the murkiness was fading even faster now. Her body was still colder than it should be, but it was now even warmer.

“Another advantage of the soul bond is that as long as you’re near your soulmate or feeling something positive it can cleanse the corruption in your soul gem making you incapable of turning into a witch,” Oriko lectured.

Everyone was at awe, this was game changing, of course the quintet already knows of this, that’s why they didn’t react much. Meanwhile Hitomi along with Yuma and Nagisa wished they have soul bonds so they could at least never turn into a witch.

Whatever her Soulmate’s name was who kept freezing time…please stop it. School was long enough today without time routinely turning it off, and she wanted to find you both already. She felt like the two were about to meet each other, she could feel it…and she felt so envious….

“Oh, I’m sorry for feeling envious like that” Mami apologized.

Meanwhile Junko turned towards them and gave them a lesson.

“It’s fine to feel envious of your other partners, that’s why a schedule is needed when it comes to people who have 4 and more soulmates so that you guys could get to know them and love them at your own pace.”

The polyquintet nodded towards her direction which she gave a smile back knowing that at least they are gonna be prepared for things like this.

Her Soul Gem suddenly sparked like it detected a Labyrinth, but strangely. It felt more like an echo, like it could feel another….and with that she winced. That was not what she meant when she said she felt envious. 

Homura’s eyes sparked bitterly when her Soul Gem lit up with a warning of a nearby Witch. Now?! She looked at the Kaname family car, and where Madoka was surely frozen and safe. She just knew she was going to be cold again, but a Witch that close to Madoka wasn’t safe. It wasn’t safe for any of them, and she had to keep Madoka safe. She closed her eyes and sighed. 

“Madoka…I’ll see you shortly. Maybe…maybe then I’ll know what’s going on.” 

She could only hope. She started looking around with her Soul Gem, feeling her body cool again as she no longer looked right at Madoka with bitter resignation, before spying a bit of distortion two overhead bridges down the street. She jumped from car roof to car roof over to it and jumped up to said distortion, opening up the way into the pocket dimension even as she unfroze time. To protect Madoka…even whatever this loop was doing to her was worth the pain. It was worth every pain possible. 

“Her dedication and loyalty towards Madoka is… dangerous, very dangerous,” Oriko thought to herself knowing that the Magius were planning something for Madoka’s potential. If the Magius really did lay a hand on Madoka, then dear lord if so help them for the wrath of not only Homura but three other magical girls, two of which are a veteran while the other one might be inexperienced she could easily climb up and be equal to that of Homura, Mami and Kyoko because the three of them are teaching Sayaka, not only that but her healing is gonna be a problem, even if you blow up or cut off her head, it will just regenerate and that won’t stop unless you directly target her soul gem.

Madoka had no idea what was going on. She could feel…resignation, and determination, and then she saw Homura jump from car to car like she was some sort of superhero. She didn’t have her braids, and this…what she was seeing couldn’t be just adrenaline? People couldn’t jump from car to car like it was a game of hop-scotch with superpowers. And then she jumped all of the way up to a bridge where a whole bunch of colors flashed and she vanished before time started again. 

Then Tatsuya let out his long-delayed fearful whimper as her parents looked at each other in concern.

“Honey, was that a gunshot or a car backfiring?” 

“Now we know which one happened,” Junko says with a chuckle as Tomohisa leaned towards her while Kazuko just looked at them with an unreadable expression.

It was officially after school, and shopping was a numb experience as Madoka tried to figure out what…what was even going on? Her parents had let her walk around the store on her own, clearly aware she had a lot on her mind and giving her some space to process it but….one of her Soulmates was some sort of superhero with anger issues. Or…something. What else could she have seen and felt?

Kyoko along with Sayaka laughed at how Madoka described Homura.

“A Superhero with anger issues? Like The Hulk?” Sayaka exclaimed while still laughing. Kyoko laughed so hard that she almost choked on her own saliva. 

Homura looked at them with a deadpan expression when all of a sudden she smiled, both Kyoko and Sayaka shivered all of a sudden as Homura spoke.

“I know everything… don’t try me or else everyone will know your every embarrassing secret.”

Both of them immediately shut up knowing she’s not bluffing as they could feel it within the soul bond.

Madoka was quite sure that…that unfathomable anger was not directed at her. But it was aimed at something by her Soulmate, who could jump from car roof to car roof and stop time and vanish into strange lights. What was even going on? Sure, Soulmates were not something that happened to everyone, but most of those people did not have superpowers.

Time froze again, and Madoka…no longer panicked. It was still very, very, very weird and disconcerting being around people frozen in place. They were stuck mid-step, mid-sneeze, mid laugh, and the free samples had a bad habit of just being there when time froze. The tempting, unguarded, all-you-can-eat free samples that were just there and no one could tell you to stop eating them …Madoka guiltily rubbed away a few more crumbs that still lingered from the last time this happened. She hoped the supermarket wasn’t going to think it had a ghost problem now.

“Madoka, did you just…” The quintet except Homura were shocked, they didn’t know Madoka has this side of her.

Meanwhile Junko laughed at her daughter’s antics because even if Junko herself had the ability to stop time she would definitely eat a lot of food in the market.

Were ghosts also a thing alongside superheroes? Superpowers? Magic? And what was Homura even doing that required her to, reluctantly, delay meeting her? Whatever Homura was doing, the emotions were…all business, determination, and a bit of frustration at constant annoyances. It might just be Madoka’s very limited exposure to others, but it kind of reminded her of when her mom talked about some of her co-workers. Yet somehow Madoka really doubted there was office politics and social drinking involved in what her Soulmate was doing. 

“Yeah, turns out Homura is doing a lot more than that and has been trying to protect me,” Madoka says bashfully. 

Meanwhile the Kaname’s all thanked Homura for protecting Madoka even at the cost of her not meeting Madoka early. Homura turned in their direction and told them that it was no problem because she has been doing this for four or more years. The adults frown when they are reminded of her hardships and time loops.

She wasn’t just feeling that emotion through her Soulbond, but also anticipation and excitement. It wasn’t from Homura, but the other person, the one who was more routinely…Madoka wasn’t sure she’d say assuring, Homura did that too. But the other person seemed more…aware of it, despite the fainter connection. The assurances were more intentional, more direct. Were they just as confused about the constant time stops as she was? 

She felt an answer waft over her, to the negative, and that just made Madoka more confused. How could you not freak out about that? You’d either have to be so relaxed and composed as to be like a monk or something, or the same as Homura. But that couldn’t be the case….could it? 

“Looks like Madoka just jinxed herself.” Hitomi said with a chuckle. 

Time still frozen, and Madoka ignoring her instinctual desire to go to the aisle over where she knew they had free samples the ‘ghost’ had yet to devour, Madoka felt her body start to warm back up. She started looking around frantically. This…did that mean Homura was nearby? No, this felt different…was it….

“Can we talk about how Madoka has an instinct to devour those free samples as if she was a ghost.” Sayaka along with Hitomi still couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

Meanwhile Homura looked at Sayaka and told her, “Don’t be a hypocrite, I know you would do something like that when you have the power of time stop.”

Sayaka blushed knowing Homura was right.

And then she saw movement as someone else walked in frozen time, peering around the store for anyone else who was moving as she started to pass in front of the aisle that Madoka was in, and Madoka’s heart pounded. She, for she was another girl, with blond hair done in impressive curls that Madoka couldn’t even begin to figure out how they were done. She wasn’t that much taller than Madoka, but she looked older in…a few ways. Her eyes were yellow, and the moment they saw Madoka they widened, their slightly-lidded gaze snapping wide open as she stared at her. The girl seemed almost too stunned to move, and Madoka slowly raised her hand and waved. 

“The fated meeting between soulmates,” Kazuko muttered to herself a bit jealous of them while stealing glances towards the Kaname’s with full of longing. 

“Um…hi?” Madoka said nervously, not sure what to say. 

The girl suddenly rushed her, and before Madoka could make a sound she was suddenly engulfed in a tight, joyous hug, and her body suddenly felt warm again. In fact….her body seemed to feel better than it had ever felt before, and it felt like her entire body was singing in joy. 

Homura…if you can’t be here to be hugged too…can you keep time frozen like this? She was going to…enjoy this for a while.

“Oh yeah, thanks for keeping the time frozen for a while back there Darling,” Mami said with a grateful tone along with Madoka who nodded and smiled.

“Oh, it’s nothing besides anything Madoka needs, I’ll acquire it for her.” Homura said with conviction.

Homura stared at her Soul Gem, which was glowing and seemingly vaporizing any bit of dullness even as she felt like Madoka wanted her to keep time frozen. Another strange feeling she didn’t know where it came from, that didn’t make any sense, and her Soul Gem was still behaving bizarrely…but she’d do anything for Madoka, even if she didn’t actually ask her to, and if her Soul Gem was somehow purifying itself it was no bother. Plus the embodiment of some poor Magical Girl’s madness was a lot less unhinged when it was frozen. A lot less creepy noises and visuals that way. 

Now where was that Witch…she felt envious and needed to shoot something, repeatedly, especially before she started crying. Urgh, where was that coming from? 

“As I’ve said earlier, being envious is okay as long as you have it under control” Junko once again reminded the quintet and they nodded at her.

The older girl was crying, and Madoka could just feel why. Loneliness. This girl felt so lonely, and just being hugged by someone else…Madoka couldn’t even begin to describe how happy this girl felt, even as she also let out a lot of pain. An angry superhero and a lonely upperclassman…what a day she was having. She had only noticed it now, but the girl was also wearing her school uniform, so they did go to the same school. This girl was just older than her. Instinctively Madoka moved her hands to hug the girl back, and she just felt the girl be unfathomably happy at the embrace. 

“This is so embarrassing, having all your emotions revealed in front of many people,” Mami says as she covers her slightly red face with her two hands.

Homura meanwhile just smiles and teased Mami by saying, “Now you know how I felt,” while Mami laughed and replied that yes she now understands.

“....This is the best day of my life.” Her senior admitted after a while. “...Though what an impression to make. The first thing you see of a Soulmate is her crying…” 

“Actually, the first thing I saw was your curls. I…I actually have no idea how you get them like that.” Madoka admitted, knowing how silly it was as a first thought about someone you would be with together forever. The older girl chuckled, cheering up a little. 

“Oh, that’s what you noticed?” 

Madoka blushed as her senior chuckled.

“To be fair, making your hair look like that is almost impossible without the work of magic.” Madoka says as she reminisces of what happened that day when she met Mami.

Kazuko then stood up and shouted, “I KNEW IT, now my co-workers owe me five hundred yen each”

Everyone stared at her with concern in their eyes, Kazuko seeing this says that the faculties in the school all had a bet on how Mami could make her hair like that and she bet that Mami could use magic to make her hair like that. Many thought she’s crazy in the head but it turns out she’s right and now they owe her big time.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know you are being truthful. I can tell those things about you, you know. Oh, silly me….silly sad me, I never did give you my name. I just….ran into your arms didn’t I? My name’s Mami Tomoe.” 

If Madoka ever felt that lonely, she would do the same thing. 

“True.” Many replied.

“My name…is Madoka Kaname.” 

“Madoka.” Mami said, slipping her hands to hold Madoka’s own. “It’s.. beyond wonderful to meet you.” 

“Oh…me beyond wonderful?” Madoka said, sounding like she couldn’t believe it. “No, you must be talking about Homura, not me.” At Mami’s confused look, though it didn’t feel as confused as it could be, Madoka continued. “The other girl who's active in the Soul Bond, at least I’m pretty sure she is. They saw her get one in the hospital, but she escaped and I think I briefly saw her earlier. She’s…it’s hard to explain….you probably think I’m crazy…” 

“If you told this to someone, they would have definitely thought that you’re crazy” Kirika said as she remembered someone who saw her in her Magical Girl costume with her weapon.

“Oh, that’s her name. I was wondering who kept freezing time like this. It made school take even longer than it should have.” Mami didn’t sound surprised at all. Madoka blinked, not sure why Mami was so calm about this. 

“Wait, I didn’t say anything about time, but I think she’s the one doing it.” Madoka clarified, before looking at her older Soulmate like she was sure the girl was going to think she was crazy. “I know it is hard to believe, but when my family was out driving I saw her. She was jumping from car to car and vanished in this strange light and when she was gone time started again, and I also think she might have fallen on top of a car and walked it off. It’s crazy, like something out of a superhero movie or an anime…” 

“Or a Magical Girl show?” Mami suggested. 

“I mean maybe, but it sounds so silly to say…” Madoka babbled, hoping she wasn’t coming off as some sort of silly person, like a chunni or something. Mami smiled before she glowed, illuminating the grayed-out world with yellow light. When the glow faded, Mami was now in a different outfit that, while nothing like Homura’s, still made Madoka gasp in recognition. Mami smiled. 

“Oh, that your two soulmates are Magical Girls? I don’t think it’s silly at all.” 

Ma…ma…. magical girls ?!

“Yup, welcome to the world of magical girls where everything is not at all sunshine and rainbows” Kyoko jokes, well it really wasn’t a joke because it’s true, magical girls could only lead to suffering and if what Homura said is true which it probably is then their fate is literally worse than death.

Homura got that feeling in the gut where Mami was making her job more difficult again, but that was impossible. Time was frozen and not even Mami’s desire to have friends could move against time itself.

“I’m afraid Homura just jinxed herself with this one.” Sayaka says, while Homura just shrugged.

She’d keep time frozen just to be safe though. While Mami’s desire to not be alone was something Homura understood, and she could let herself empathize with if she wished to, it was still dangerous to Madoka, and Sayaka, just unintentionally. If her Soul Gem was going to purify itself today, what was stopping her from keeping time paused? Also this Witch was buried deep and the distorted screams would have started to aggravate her if she started time again…she was already in a bad enough mood as is.

“Am I really that of a danger to them,” Mami whispered to herself which was heard by her soulmates.

Homura looked at Mami a bit guilty so she decided to answer the truth knowing the soul bond would give it away anyway, “During mid to late timelines, you were hostile to me… You thought that I want Madoka uncontracted because I don’t want a competition, instead I want Madoka and Sayaka uncontracted so that I can spare them from the dangers and fate of magical girls.”

Mami nodded, she honestly could see herself being that way and it made her feel bad a lot.

Homura then hugged Mami saying, “Don’t worry, now that you know and are trying your best that’s enough for me.

Mami smiled, although the negative feeling is still there, she felt a lot better as she hugged Homura back.

“So the reason Homura vanished was because a Witch was on the highway.” Madoka surmised what Mami had explained as her Soulmate nodded, still in her Magical Girl form and with cups of tea in each of their hands. Time was still frozen. 

“That is correct. A Witch on a highway bridge like that…I can’t imagine that it was something she wanted to do instead of meeting you, but I can’t disagree with focusing on dealing with a danger like that first.”

It was a lot to take in. Magical Girls, Witches, contracts with Kyubey, a wish for anything you could think of…it would be hard to believe if time wasn’t frozen. Which was apparently something that Homura specifically could do. Mami couldn’t control time, which she admitted with a bit of an embarrassed smile. 

“My actual power is creating ribbons, though with a bit of imagination ribbons can be a lot of things.” Mami explained, before using ribbons to create a massive gun, bigger than Mami herself, which she disassembled just as easily into hundreds of ribbons.

“I like ribbons a lot.” Madoka assured her, absently fidgeting with the ribbons in her own hair. Mami chuckled.

“Well, that’s good then. You won’t need to buy any more of them with me around.”

“Is there any specific reason someone is chosen to be a Magical Girl?” Madoka asked after a minute. Why did Kyubey choose Mami and Homura? Mami put a finger to her lips in thought. 

“Kyubey looks for people with enough potential. Being a Magical Girl can be dangerous, so you can’t just give powers to anyone. And I can tell Madoka, that you have incredible potential.” Mami clarified, sounding like she could see something Madoka couldn’t see. Did Magical Girls have the ability to see power levels? 

Oriko answered Madoka’s questions, “For your first question, I’m sure it will be revealed later the reason why someone is chosen to become a magical girl. For your other question, yes other magical girls could sense someone’s potential and power.”

Madoka looked at her and nodded, thankful for the answers while Homura was staring at her coldly wondering what her plan was.

“Really?” Madoka said in amazement. As Mami had explained what she and Homura were, Madoka thought she was just going to be dead weight to her two magical Soulmates. But if she could be one too, and she could literally feel Mami’s excitement and joy at the idea. She could also feel Homura’s thoughts as she imagined herself as a magical…

And then she involuntarily shuddered, like she just got hit by sheer fear. 

The same could be said in the theater, the quintet felt fear come from Homura as she saw Madoka try to contemplate becoming a magical girl because she doesn’t want to be a deadweight for her soulmates.

“No, please don’t,” Homura said with a pleading eyes on Madoka, meanwhile the four of them immediately scooped Homura and reassured her that no, Madoka is not contracting, not anymore after the revelation that happened earlier.

“Madoka cannot contract. Time is frozen…and that cat doesn’t nearly get bit by the car until at least two days from now….” Homura said to herself. She wasn’t actually hearing…feeling(?) Madoka’s reaction to a contract out of naive joy, she had no reason to be worried for Madoka’s safety right now. Madoka can’t make contracts when time was stopped…stop losing it Homura. You were behind on the things you needed to kill for Madoka’s safety as is. You can’t lose it Homura…who else can protect Madoka if you do?

“Homura…” Madoka whispered, Homura still in the middle of their cuddle pile. She has suffered so much trying to save and protect her. She would repay her back by not contracting ever.

At Mami’s worry she shook her head. 

“I…I think Homura didn’t like the idea. I…I think, at least? I’m really not sure…but Homura’s where the negative emotions keep coming from.” Madoka explained, confused about it. Why wouldn’t Homura want another Magical Girl around, especially if they were going to be together? Wasn’t that better than just having her be…well Madoka Kaname? 

Instead of her soulmates, her parents are the one who reassured her, “Madoka, you are already fine being you, if you try and become another person then, what makes you Kaname Madoka will vanish,” Junko lectured, she knows about Madoka’s problem of just being ‘ordinary’, she just doesn’t know how to approach the said problem.

“Your parents are right pinky, you have everything someone could ask for, so don’t throw it all away just for the sake of being special.” Kyoko said as she kissed Madoka on the cheek, making Madoka go beet red.

“I felt that too, but nowhere near as bad.” Mami said curiously as she opened her own palm curiously. She showed it to Madoka, revealing her own pattern of diamonds. The yellow diamond, Mami’s, was in the center, and in order was the faded red diamond, Madoka’s own pink diamond, the faded blue diamond, and farthest out Homura’s purple. Her diamond on Mami’s hand was about at the same positions that Mami’s yellow diamond was on her own hand, which Madoka assumed was the point, though the red diamond was a bit farther from the center than the blue one on Madoka’s. “That hit you really strongly….

Understanding what Mami was asking Madoka showed her older Soulmate her own pattern, which made Mami quite surprised. 

“...How is…are you sure you don’t know Homura?” Mami didn’t sound, or feel, jealous. They had just met, and in time both of their diamonds would shift position as they got closer. That was what the doctor said. But to have Homura’s diamond so close…

“I’m sure.” Madoka said, her tone unsure about why Homura’s connection to her was so intense. “I mean…either Homura. I don’t know anyone with glasses and braids, or long black hair like that. Let alone a cool name.” Mami looked puzzled. 

“Curious…maybe there is something we’re missing, or maybe there’s something that just naturally clicks with you two. Maybe she just likes cute things and can’t get enough of them.” 

Homura then spoke, finally done with her panic earlier, “It’s probably because Madoka is the closest to me in every timeline.”

Mami then looked at her and nodded, she has a point, it probably has something to do with timelines.

Madoka blushed as Mami idly tweaked the accessory on her head. The Soul Gem, she had called it.

“It’s possible that she associates other Magical Girls with competition. Magical Girls do often fight over Grief Seeds…I try to avoid it where I can but I have been attacked after defeating a Witch before. Homura might have a history with that…though a Soulbond should reassure her.” Mami transformed back into her school uniform and held out a jewel that looked a bit like an egg, but was glowing bright yellow. Her Soul Gem’s other form. “It’s something I noticed as I was looking for you. Just being around you makes my Soul Gem brighter, and if Homura has an even stronger connection to you, it must be obvious to her. Though if she seems to be surprised about the emotional connections,” Mami’s face was that of disapproval for having Homura’s negative emotions blast Madoka inadvertently, “so maybe she hasn’t put it together yet. We won’t know until we find her, or she finds us.”

“I saw the video from this morning…she couldn’t have missed that something happened. Though the Homura who I saw looked really different than she did in the pictures…” That was another odd thing. The Homura she had seen jumping from cars didn’t really act like she was the nervous girl in the photos. Did she wish to be braver or something? 

“No, I did not wish to be brave, even when I first became a magical girl, during the early timelines, I’m as timid and shy as you see in the photos.” 

Homura frowned as she remembered how she was back then, how weak she was, and how she couldn’t protect Madoka and her friends, she immediately repressed those memories from returning knowing that her soulmates might see them. Her failures.

“...It’s a mystery until then.” Mami mused, sounding like she wanted to know what was up with Homura before passing judgment. Madoka had a few other things she wanted to ask, like if Mami had any ideas about their other two Soulmates or about what Mami herself had wished for. But she felt like any second now, time would start up again and there was something that they needed to do. 

“Mami, my parents are a few aisles over. Do you…”

“Yes.” Mami said very quickly, though even without the shared feelings Madoka could feel sadness and…yearning, from Mami. 

When time unfroze and Madoka introduced Mami to her family, it wasn’t long until she found out why. 

“Another orphan, Madoka? I didn’t think you had a type.” 

“Mooooommmm…” Madoka whined knowing her mother won't stop teasing her with those.

“It’s a mother’s job to tease her daughter, you know,” Junko said while smirking and cackling.

“Mooooouuuu…” Madoka just sighed.

Madoka sputtered so much she nearly hit her head against the sink. Her mom shook her head.

“Dear, I’m only teasing you. Though it is kind of odd that it happened twice.”

The two were washing up ahead of dinner, which was going to be different. Mami had been very quick to volunteer to help cook, and what had followed was a duel of politeness between her dad as the host and Mami as the new arrival/guest/family member that was…awkward to witness. They had eventually agreed to split the work, contributing based on their specialities and they had quickly gotten into sync, though it was still…a bit worrying how quick Mami was to want to do things for her parents.

“...She’s going to be a bit clingy.” Her mom advised. Cl… clingy!? “She won’t mean anything bad by it, and if she’s been alone for a while I get it. People aren’t meant to be alone, it does bad things to them.” 

Her mom briefly looked at her reflection, as if wondering if she needed to apply anything, but decided against it after a moment. 

“I can tell she is also going to try to make herself ‘worth it’. She’s going to offer to do a lot for us, but especially you, to ‘earn’ her keep and place. She’s going to want to cover your expenses, cook sweets for us, and help out with everything.” Her mom noted again as Madoka blinked.

Everyone is silent as Junko lectured her daughter, Mami herself is shaking a little bit but she knew that Mrs. Kaname is right. That’s just the thing that she would do.

“Is that a bad thing?” Should she tell Mami to not do that? Her mother shook her head. 

“No, not in moderation. But Madoka, I cannot stress this enough, you are going to have to be the one to judge when something starts to verge on Mami letting you take advantage of her, because she isn’t going to see it until you really go over the line, which I know you won’t ever go that far. So Mami is not going to see it, but you will, we will, everyone else will. That girl…she’s been wearing a mask. I know the type.” 

Probably not. She knew her mom was thinking of work, and was not thinking of a Magical Girl fighting evil in secret. Though maybe the basic idea still applied.

“She can finally drop the mask, and it can do things to you even without booze. In fact, dropping a mask is even more of a cleanser than a drinking session. She will never mean harm by it, but I need you to remember this Madoka, at some point you are going to need to establish limits early on. After a while, Mami will feel comfortable, she will feel like she doesn’t have to go the extra mile…but until then, you will need to be the one to make the lines Mami can’t cross trying to earn her place, and earn her love. I don’t know Soulbonds, but that’s not how love and relationships work. Just ask your teacher….actually don’t ask her. You’ll lose an entire school week that way.”

Kazuko then shouts at Junko, making them go on a friendly banter.

Meanwhile Tomohisa looked at the kids and told them his own advice.

“Boundaries in relationships protect your well-being and support mutual respect towards your partner and soulmates. They define emotional, physical, and personal limits, helping all parties feel safe and valued. Healthy boundaries require clear, honest communication and should be respected by everyone in the relationship. When honored, they build trust and strengthen love.” Tomohisa lectured. The quintet all looked at him with an awe expression while Madoka just whispered, “That’s my dad.”

Mami smiled knowing that she just won a lottery by being soulmate with someone who loves you and one of them has parents that cared a lot about you.

It was a…lot to think about, even without magic. Though now she did have a question. 

“Mom….do you and Dad have boundaries?” 

All the children and teenagers became alert when Madoka asked this question, THE QUESTION.

That is not something to be asked of your parents no matter what, or else you’ll suffer an embarrassment so bad you just wanna go and run away.

Her mother laughed, and suddenly Madoka felt like she had just asked a bad question. No, a dangerous question. 

“Oh, of course we do dear, but that’s a bit mature for you right now. Maybe on your birthday I’ll tell you. Better that than me telling you next time I come back from a drinking party after work. Apologies if that happens next but…eh education is traumatic sometimes.” 

….waaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

“Poor Madoka, having to deal with the talk and education from her parents” Oriko said, grateful that she doesn’t have to deal with those. However, that is all short-lived as Junko looks at her with a smirk that has her shivering like a leaf.

Homura, about to eat a warm soup to try and maybe feel warm again, felt like Madoka was in distress. She looked at the time….wasn’t this around the time her mom often came home drunk? 

...Probably just another one of those drunken stories. She did know Madoka’s schedule well enough to know when her screams were not because of Witches, but because of her mother being drunk and saying too much. Though she usually didn’t feel like she knew when it was happening…

“This screams, ‘stalker vibes’ all around Homura,” Sayaka said as she teased Homura. However all it took was one look from Homura and Sayaka immediately shut up knowing Homura’s earlier threat.

What was with this loop? And could it please stop. Her body was cold, her mind was confused, and it felt like her emotions weren’t her own sometimes. It was very distressing. 

“It feels like the entire world or universe is against Homura at this point.” Hitomi says in sympathy, feeling bad that Homura had to go through everything without knowing what is happening to herself.

Dinner was good, and you know…having your Soulmate in your room was just like a sleepover where Sayaka slept in the same bed, and hugged you as you slept. Just…different. It was really nice…except for the one thing.

Madoka dreamed…but it was not a happy dream. She had those on occasion, but this one…this one was different. It felt real, real in a way that dreams, no matter how many of them involved your clothes turning into inflatable blimps and her dad killing the Prime Minister with a shoehorn, didn’t. Everything looked and felt real. 

“Oh no,” Madoka muttered knowing what dream the narrator is talking about.

Meanwhile many laughed at the mention of Madoka’s other dreams Tomohisa and Junko specifically as they remembered Madoka telling them about the dream but quickly went quiet as they remembered that this is not a happy, weird dream.

The destroyed buildings, the water lapping at her feet, the smell of….copper? No… blood. She smelled blood! She smelled a lot of blood!

Everyone reacted quickly, all the magical girls took all of their weapons out as if something was about to pop out of the screen until they remembered that they’re in a theatre. They relaxed a little and dematerialized their weapons, although they were still tense.

The adults were scared because this was not a normal dream at all, because who dreams something like this and not only that, it’s so detailed as well.

Madoka tried to look around, but her neck…her neck wasn’t responding. It was…it felt weird. She was looking to the side, but she couldn’t move her gaze. She…she couldn’t move her hands. She couldn’t move anything. She was…she was stuck, she couldn’t move ….

The Quintet hugged Madoka, knowing that this is probably traumatic for her, meanwhile Homura looked at the screen and she felt that the scene, no, the dream itself is familiar to her.

The Kaname’s hold each other as they are scared, even if it’s just a dream seeing Madoka lying, and not moving scared them.

“I hate endings like this.” A voice said, a voice that was familiar, but not. Madoka felt like she should have noticed her earlier, but…Homura was here. The girl still didn’t have the hair style, glasses, or expression of her photo, but Madoka knew this was the girl she had seen jumping from car to car and entering the Labyrinth. This was her Soulmate. And she looked horrible. Not like she was ugly or anything, no Homura looked physically torn up. 

The girl…what happened to her?! Half of her hair was torn out, while part of her left ear was torn up like a stray cat’s. Two of her right fingers were at unsettling angles, and her Magical Girl outfit was torn up and covered in blood. A half-stopped wound left her right eye partially closed with blood and when her mouth opened several of her teeth were missing and her mouth was bloody. Madoka tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out. She couldn’t say anything. Homura, with the hand that wasn’t with broken fingers, held up a black bauble that Madoka recognized from Mami’s explanation. It was a Grief Seed with a massive gear pattern in the center. Homura’s expression…didn’t change, but Madoka could feel so many emotions out of her. Pain, regret, frustration, a feeling of failure, sadness, mourning. Why…why was Homura looking mourningly at her while she couldn’t move!?

Homura froze as she looked at her other self, everything around her sounded blurry, as memories from that timeline started to resurface again. 

Madoka, seeing Homura froze, tried to shake Homura but it didn’t work, so she decided the best course of action, she slapped her out of her frozen state.

Homura looked at Madoka as Madoka hugged her, the rest of the quintet following, whatever Homura’s going through they are going to go through it even if they have to suffer with her, as long as she can share those burdens with them.

Oriko along with Kirika covered both of their mouths cause wtf is this? Homura goes through each timeline fighting the literal armageddon and this is the outcome? How is she still sane? Why is she still fighting? Oriko doesn’t understand.

Junko covered Tatsuya’s eyes while Tomohisa and Kazuko covered both Yuma’s and Nagisa’s. They are also having a hard time believing what they are seeing because, How? How is she still alive with all those severe wounds and blood loss?

“Homura is this…” Sayaka tried to ask but Homura immediately answered her.

“The result of my fight against Walpurgisnacht? Yes, it is” Homura said blankly, devoid of any emotion as she’s so exhausted from all the memories resurfacing.

Then Kyoko asked the question they all had been wondering.

“How? How are you still sane? How have you not given up!? You mentioned that you are in a loop for one month, does that mean every timeline you fought that thing??”

“As long as I’m alive, as long as there’s a chance to save Madoka and if possible you guys as well then I’m not giving up ever. And yes, I fought that thing every time.” Homura said with conviction and determination that it is burning so hot it even burns her entire being and mental capacity.

Oriko looked at Homura in a brand new light, “This girl… she absolutely can not abandon this timeline, and I’ll make sure of it.”

Meanwhile the Kaname’s all looked at Homura with pride, but they are guilty as well knowing that they are putting their faith in a mentally broken teenager.

Hitomi along with the quintet looked at Homura in awe.

“Heh, you really are something,” Kyoko whispered to herself vowing to make this timeline the last so that their soulmate could finally rest.

The other three felt Kyoko’s determination and they themselves made their own vow, for Homura.

“I used to throw these away…that was wasteful of me. When things get so close like this…it’s worse than when it just goes completely to shit. We…we almost had a happy ending, or as happy as the two of us could get.” Homura admitted, sounding like she thought Madoka couldn’t hear her. “I don’t know what I did differently this time but….it was all going so well. We can…we can have a happy ending one day, a perfect ending….I just need to get right.” Homura spoke to her, a tone that was clear in that she thought Madoka couldn’t hear her. “I’ll do it better next time…there is always a next time for me.” 

Everyone looked at the screen with a determination they swore that this would be the end, the end of Homura’s suffering. Yes, even Oriko and Kirika.

Homura put the Grief Seed up to her Soul Gem, idly watching it suck away…oh god that was a lot of dullness. Mami had made it clear that a Soul Gem that looked like that was dangerous. What…what was happening!? This couldn’t be…right now, could it?

Homura stood up, and reached for the shield on her arm, before stopping herself.

“It's....this is pointless of me. It’s not going to make a difference…but I have to do it. You all…you all cared about me this time.” Homura walked out of sight, and Madoka strained her neck to try and see what Homura was doing… but her eyeballs wouldn’t even move! 

“...Did I say something different in class?” She could hear Homura kneel down as she asked the first question. It seemed to take forever as Homura walked…no, it sounded like she hobbled with some sort of leg injury, to something else. “Was it because I saved the two of them as your first impression of me and you saw me as better intentioned? Is it really that simple?” Homura hobbled somewhere out of sight again before kneeling again. “And with you…two rogue proteges clicked I guess, I wonder how you knew? Did you ever know we had the same teacher?” 

Multiple flashes came through the minds of the Quintet, memories of that timeline. They saw how Homura tried everything she could and it all ended up working but in the end, it still wasn’t enough.

And then came the last hobble, as Homura slowly approached her. Madoka wanted to catch her breath, to tremble in dread… but her body wouldn’t do those either! She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe! Homura kneeled down in front of her, and Madoka could see the pain in Homura’s eyes. 

“...I’ll save us all one day. Then…then we’ll have a happy ending. Goodbye…you’ll see the other side of Walpurgisnacht someday…I swear it.” 

“And we swear that this will be the last timeline and will finally stop your suffering.” Madoka said with conviction, her other partners nodding at her. 

“You guys…”

“Yeah, Homura, they are right, we’ll help you,” Hitomi said along with Yuma and Nagisa nodding at Homura.

Meanwhile Junko looked at Homura and said, “You’ve suffered a lot, and you experienced your own personal hell… I think it’s time for you to take a break and be a child for once.”

Homura’s eyes slowly shed tears, she- she doesn’t think she could ever abandon this timeline anymore… That’s why she will do everything to finally defeat that monster once and for all.

Oriko just stayed silent knowing that Homura doesn’t need her reassurance, but she made a vow to herself that this will be Homura’s last.

Homura knelt down and kissed her forehead, Madoka feeling a bit of Homura’s blood sticking to her forehead as Homura withdrew her lips, before her Soulmate’s fingers moved towards her eyes to gently tap her eyelids, and slowly closed them. And the world was completely black. There was a clicking sound, and everything wasn’t just black anymore. It was….it was nothing. 

And then she woke up, her entire body shuddering. The only reason she wasn’t screaming was because of the soft pair of arms around her, which would have made her freakout if she didn’t know why they were there, or feel the comforting presence of her other Soulmate. 

“....You were trembling.” Mami said from behind her, Madoka turning her head around so quickly she nearly bonked Mami’s. Fortunately Mami had good reflexes. “...Were you having a nightmare?”

“No, a nightmare just doesn’t cut it because witnessing something from your supposed dead body from another timeline just…” Madoka says with a tired sigh. She hated it. That Homura has to go through that monster every timeline.

Madoka nodded frantically. 

“It…it was so real. And Homura…Homura was in it.” Did….did Soulmates share dreams? Madoka hoped she didn’t, because she didn’t want Homura to have a nightmare like that. Or worse…if it wasn’t a nightmare. Mami’s eyes, faintly visible in the darkness, were comforting, and Madoka could feel her presence over her like a blanket, both physically and emotionally. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

Madoka didn’t know. Mami stared at her patiently, waiting for an answer, and Madoka wondered if she should bother Mami with it, but she could feel Mami’s distress. She could feel Homura’s distress too, though it was different from Mami’s. 

“Yeah, it was not a dream, but a memory.” Homura said tiredly. EVeryone looked at her in sympathy already knowing that it was a memory from another timeline.

“Madoka.” Homura said to the ceiling. She had not been sleeping well tonight. She…she remembered one of the worst types of timelines. The ones that she was so close…so close…. so close ….

Homura clenched her fist, this has got to be the final timeline… It has to be…

She was cold, she was miserable, the bad memories were coming back…and she felt like was somehow giving Madoka nothing but trouble this time. Was it guilt because she hadn’t gotten a chance to kill the serial killers yet? At this rate…she was just letting Madoka down. She was putting her in danger…all because of whatever was wrong with her this loop. 

Everyone went wide eyed the moment Homura said killing serial killers.

“Homura… What do you mean??” Junko asked because this was murder even if they’re serial killers.

Homura then looked at Junko and contemplated on whether to tell the truth or not, but Homura knew that it would probably be shown later so she just told them about it.

“They are not just normal serial killers… They’re magical girl serial killers, no amount of juvie or imprisonment could hold them as long as they have powers, besides the only serial killers I’ve killed are the ones who targeted Madoka because of her potential as a witch.”

All of a sudden, everything makes sense now Oriko thought to herself, she’s probably one of those ‘serial killers’ that’s the only reason why Homura would put a bullet in their soul gems the moment she sees them.

However, things are different this time, she isn’t like her other timeline self if she really is a serial killer. She would make things right.

Junko looked shocked at the revelation and decided, yeah she approved, Tomohisa along with Kazuko also agreed seeing the logic behind the reason why Homura would kill a serial killer.

She wasn’t sleeping well either. Maybe…maybe if she could get this off her chest, and she slept well, maybe that would help Homura too. So she explained everything to Mami. Mami, occasionally tightening her hug as she talked about the worst of it, seemed alarmed when one word came up. 

“Walpurgisnacht. Are you sure that was the word she said?” 

Madoka nodded. “Just…don’t ask me to spell it.” 

Mami didn’t, though her expression was someone who knew of that name, and knew to dread it. 

“Madoka…Walpurgisnacht is a legend, a nightmare, told among Magical Girls for centuries. The most powerful Witches are called Walpurgisnacht. They say they are created when multiple Witches merge together, though no one knows for sure. Witches are not well understood, and I’ve never tried studying them. That would endanger people’s lives. But wherever a Walpurgisnacht does appear, massive amounts of death always follows.” Mami explained, sounding like it was the apocalypse in living form. Were Witches ‘living’? “…It’s also a name that you shouldn’t know…I hate to assume this, but you know how you said that Homura didn’t look or act like her picture at the hospital?” 

The adults were shocked at this revelation, this was Homura’s enemy at every end of the timeline? This is just fucked up, what did this child do to deserve this.

Madoka nodded. Mami’s face was grim.

“...I don’t think that was just a dream, I think it was a memory, and one from Homura at that.” 

Oh no….it couldn’t be….

“I don’t know for sure, and we won’t know unless Homura tells us, but I fear it is the most reasonable explanation. It’s terrible…but I can’t think of anything that can change a person worse than loss.” 

Everyone agreed, those who have lost something they love definitely changed them for the better or worse.

And the Homura in the photos was very different from the Homura she saw on the street or in her dream…

“...I guess, I hope I never found out. But Mami…Homura looked really injured. Can Magical Girls regrow teeth and restore torn-up ears?” 

“No they can’t, only those with potent healing magic could, you might heal but it will take a while.” Oriko explained.

“I’ve never had to. I’ve repaired injured fingers and ankles, but that’s about it.” Mami admitted, not sounding sure herself. Her tone was still solemn, her expression one of great dread. “Though there’s also the words…though I hope I’m overthinking them. Because…what sort of person would encounter more than one Walpurgisnacht?”

“Someone who goes through different timelines at a specific date just to save her friends.” Homura said jokingly although no one laughed, they just gave her the looks of sympathy.

Mami held Madoka tighter. Mami didn’t say anything yet, and hadn’t elaborated on a lot of her past beyond her being an orphan and a magical girl yet. Madoka had a feeling the two were connected, but…did Mami lose someone else? Was she wondering about Homura having suffered a terrible loss twice over? 

“More than twice… Madoka, more than twice.” Madoka said to her on screen self knowing how naive she was back then.

“Tomorrow after school…let’s find her.” Madoka suggested to Mami, who nodded. No matter how confused Homura was, or how lost she was, they were going to find her. There was no reason to leave Homura alone for any longer.

Mami responded by holding her tighter.

“We’ll find her together, Sweetie.” 

Despite the lingering fear, Madoka blushed. 

End of day 1

Chapter Text

The screen then went blank and showed the words Day 2, the screen them transitioned to Madoka, Sayaka, Hitomi and Mami.

“Morning.”

“Morning Madoka, what happened yesterday? You weren’t at school at all. Were you sick or…” Sayaka Miki, her best friend, immediately lost her words as she and Hitomi stared at Madoka. Or more accurately, who had come along with her.

“Oh, this was back when both Hitomi and I met Mami,” Sayaka said while leaning at Kyoko’s shoulder, it’s been tough with all the revelation earlier, and Sayaka is still having a hard time absorbing all of it, her becoming a witch, their soul gems being their literal soul, and their bodies being empty shells… All of it makes Sayaka wanna throw up, not only that, if it weren’t for her soulmates she would definitely believe herself to be a zombie… which she still thinks. It’s definitely going to be a while before she accepts all of this.

“Mhm, I remember that day, when you and Hitomi invited me to eat lunch with you guys.” Mami said with a nostalgic voice and smile.

“Oh, good morning. My name is Mami Tomoe, and it’s nice to meet you both.” Mami greeted, her hand never leaving Madoka’s. 

“Um…hello?” Hitomi seemed quite confused about who Mami was and why she was here, and why she had Madoka’s hand firmly in her own. 

“Oh um…yeah you see…it’s very hard to explain actually….” Madoka had no idea how to explain everything. It was so much, even without the part about Magical Girls.

“Yeah, Madoka is a really bad liar,” Junko said with a snicker remembering the times when Madoka tried to hide things from her by lying but she is so obvious about it.

“Mhm, that one is a universal constant, no matter what timeline, Madoka will always be a bad liar,” Homura added.

“You guys please stop.” Madoka whined beet red while the others chuckled.

“Oh, don’t be shy Madoka. They’re your friends, you should tell them the good news!” Mami insisted, giving her a bit of encouragement in both words and in feelings.

“Well um….we’re kind of Soulmates.” Madoka sputtered out as Hitomi made a noise that was something like that of a really embarrassed and surprised tea kettle. Sayaka’s mouth just hung open in shock. 

“No fuc…” 

“Language.” Mami gently scolded before showing her palm to Sayaka. Sayaka stared in shock at the diamonds present as Mami smiled with overflowing joy. “But it’s true, Madoka’s very fortunate, as am I.” 

“Five….” 

“Five!?” Hitomi said in disbelief, sounding like her head was about to start spinning. “ Five? !”

“Yeah, we were so shocked tbh, who knew that our sweet Madoka would be destined to have not one, but five soulmates.” Hitomi said while rubbing the back of her head. Because as far as she knows, getting a soulmate is already rare but having more than one or two is like a on in a million chance.

“Madoka….oh god I don’t know if I should be terrified for you or jealous.” Sayaka said, sounding like she was also happy for Madoka, but also very much worried for her, and that she might not be seeing her much anymore.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Sayaka, I won’t steal your friend away.” Mami assured her junior, completely honest. 

“Now we don’t have to worry about stealing because we belong to each other too,” Mami said with a smile to reassure Sayaka.

While Sayaka smiled towards her way while saying, “I know, I was just scared back then.”

“But…but…you're a senior. Won’t you want to introduce her to all of your cool senior friends…” 

“Oh don’t worry about that, I don’t have any friends to show Madoka off to.” 

Madoka could just feel the loneliness that wafted off Mami when she said that, and while Mami’s tone didn’t really betray just how lonely Mami was, it did give Sayaka and Hitomi pause, and not just at the honesty of it. 

Even the theatre is whole silent, at Mami’s bluntness to her own loneliness.

“Um… do you want to eat lunch with us…” Sayaka offered awkwardly. 

“Oh very much.” Mami said very quickly. 

“Well, that was a bit awkward,”Sayaka said bashfully, while Mami just laughed and said, “Yeah, I didn’t really have friends back then because of my nature as a magical girl, but I’m thankful now that you guys are here.”

The quintet looked at her, each of them blushing but had a smile on their face. While the others with the exception of Kirika and Oriko cooed at them.

“Our daughter is really lucky to have them as her soulmate.” Junko says as she looks at the quintet with a smile on her face. Tomohisa nodded, agreeing with Junko. While Tatsuya also nodded, copying her father.

“So Madoka…you are now married to a lonely upperclassman with huge…” 

The quintet blushed as they are now married to someone with huge boobs, while Mami laughed at them fondly.

“And you’re also married to her too you know,” Hitomi teased Sayaka.

Sayaka already blushing became a lot more red because of Hitomi’s teasing, of course she knows she's married to someone as beautiful as Mami who has huge…

“....ringlets.” Hitomi interrupted Sayaka, not looking the blue-haired girl in the eye as Sayaka huffed. 

“Well I can’t be the only one who noticed… Madoka must have at some point. I mean she’s not blind, are you Madoka?” 

“....” Madoka blushed as Sayaka’s expression became that of a rather smug cat. 

“See?” Sayaka said in a teasing tone during a short break period where Sayaka pulled Madoka closer towards her, a teasing cat-like grin still on her face. “Madoka knows who she woke up married to yesterday.” 

“Sayaka” Madoka called out with a smile on her face.

“W-what is it?”

“One of these days I’ll get you back~”

Sayaka gulped, she knows how cruel Madoka is when it comes to revenge and teasing.

Meanwhile, Kyoko whispered to herself, “Damn, didn’t know pinky had that in her.”

“Sayaka!” 

“...You know they aren’t officially married yet, right? They just have some of the benefits, not all of them.” Hitomi reminded Sayaka, who blinked. 

“Oh, so you know a thing or two, do you? Interested?”

“In…interested? Interested in what!?” Hitomi babbled.

“Remember Sayaka… we still have to talk about the situation of my underwear,” Hitomi said with an eerie smile. While Sayaka shivered as she nodded at Hitomi.

“Oh…is that where the golden ribbon in your hair came from?” Hitomi caught as Madoka nodded. Mami had lied to her parents and said she already had it, and since she knew Mami had made it with magic it wasn’t what her mom would consider Mami being too eager to please, especially if Madoka just being around Mami replenished her magic… 

“Yeah, she made it for me. It was like ma…um…she likes Magical Girls. Magical Girl shows, yeah!” Drat, she needed to be careful about thinking about magic when talking about Mami or she might say something!

“How did I not catch that?” Sayaka said in shock, did Madoka improve her lying?

Meanwhile Madoka looked at Sayaka with a smug smile.

“Of course she does.” Sayaka declared as Madoka briefly panicked. Did she say too much!? Did she change the subject wrong?! “I mean, whenever do you see a straight Magical Girl?” 

“I almost caught you there huh,”

“Yeah, you almost did.” Madoka admitted remembering all her blunder when she tried to hide something related to magical girls to both Hitomi and Sayaka.

Madoka started sputtering, not sure what she was even denying, as Sayaka started laughing and Hitomi started waving her arms around, loudly discussing the tropes of the Magical Girl genre passionately and how straight Magical Girls were totally a thing. Sayaka, having a ball, then promptly counter-debating and it…it…oh what did she start?! 

“I’m gonna say, although there is a straight relationship in the magical girl community, they are actually rare as the only people who could understand what they go through are those the same as them.” 

Oriko really knows a lot when it comes to this that it pisses Homura off, meanwhile Hitomi looked at Sayaka smugly as she’s correct and that magical girls do have straight relationships. 

Meanwhile both Kyoko and Mami nodded at what Oriko said, only magical girls could understand another magical girl’s pain and suffering, with the exception of those who has soul bonds that can make their partner experience and understand some of those pains and sufferings.

She could feel Mami having a mirthful chuckle at the entire thing from her own class. Oh, at least Homura wasn’t laughing at her.

Why did she feel like Madoka was distressed…oh wait, it was schooltime. Either the teacher got dumped again and was ranting earlier than usual or Sayaka was being annoying. That was harmless enough. If she wasn’t going completely insane, that is, though at least whatever that was didn’t feel like her ‘serial killer Magical Girl’ senses were tingling. 

Everyone immediately focused on the screen the moment Homura said something about serial killer magical girl. Maybe they could find out about them and avoid them as much as possible.

Both Oriko and Kirika are the most excited about this because they are about to find out if Oriko’s hypothesis about them being a serial killer is true, and that they are the ones who killed Madoka in some timelines due to the danger she posed. To be honest, Oriko can’t blame her other self if that’s the route she went, especially since those timelines don't have the soul bonds to protect them from becoming a witch. If this timeline also doesn’t have soul bonds, she might’ve also done the same if she and Kirika really were a serial killer.

There were too many of those…and she was behind in killing them first. She hoped she didn’t run into the sword using one, or the crazy one and her master, she was not in a state for them. That one with the control power…she could probably still take her. Though if they all could just…serial kill somewhere else, at least until she felt better and could kill them properly, that would be nice. Was that too much to ask in this timeloop? No, of course not. This loop was hell, and with her luck all four were going to show up soon…

All of them are silent, four… four serial killers, Homura had to go through and kill four serial killer magical girls.

The quintet then decided to discuss the topic in their mind channel.

“Homura… is Suzembachi also one of them,” Kyoko asked with a tone in their mind

“No, no she isn’t, she’s entirely a new variable, along with the Magius.”

“Is- does Oriko and Kirika also one of those serial killers?” Madoka asked nervously, Homura hated those two a lot so she thought that it probably was because of them being a serial killer.

“Yes, yes they are,” Homura said as images of when Homura trusted both Oriko and Kirika appeared, they could feel hatred coming from her.

“Yeah, she’s definitely on our red list now.” Kyoko replied while biting her pocky a bit hard.

“Let’s not do anything for now, for all we know, Oriko is a lot different here compared to the timelines before,” Mami said, trying to be reasonable.

Homura just huffed knowing Oriko and Kirika are a lost cause.

Meanwhile, Madoka felt something deep within Homura. It's so weak and small that you can barely feel it if you’re not as close to Homura, which is the reason why the other three didn’t feel it. Not only that she can feel Homura trying to snuff those feelings away but she couldn’t. So she decided to pry a little and saw memories. Memories of Homura together with Oriko and Kirika, back when they genuinely trusted each other and were allies. With all of these being seen by Madoka, she finally had a conclusion to what that feeling is… That feeling is longing, longing to be allied with Oriko and Kirika and to be friends again.

Madoka knew it’s not her place to do anything but Homura has done so much for her… If reconciling with an enemy is something she can help with she would. So she would hide this for now.

Oriko and Kirika looked at the screen with a resigned expression, so they really are some of the serial killers huh, there are only two people they both know to describe by, ‘the crazy one and her master’ and that is themselves.

Oriko rubbed her temples with her hand while groaning as negotiations will be a lot harder than she thought.

Hitomi looked at the screen with haunted eyes as she remembered those days with Suzembachi. Homura dealing with four people like Suzembachi is… Hitomi couldn’t even fathom it.

The three adults looked at Homura with pity that she had to go through killing people just to save her friends… It probably traumatizes her a lot.

Eventually the topic came up to the other Soulmate whose bond was active. 

“An escaped hospital patient?” Sayaka asked about Homura, sounding like she was asking another question entirely.

“I’m not an escaped hospital patient,” Homura says while pinching her nose. 

Kyoko who suddenly choked on her pocky because of Sayaka’s description of Homura. Once she recovered she immediately laughed but she stopped when she felt Mami’s aura.

“Did you really have to describe Homura like some mental patient Sayaka dear.” Mami said gently at her while Sayaka tried to protect herself by saying that she didn’t know Homura yet and that this is her first impression of her.

Mami just sighed fondly accepting her answer.

“She had heart surgery.” Madoka clarified. Homura was not some escaped mental patient. She was a Magical Girl with a scary backstory that literally was giving her nightmares, completely different. 

Homura would probably look guilty again if it weren’t for her soulmates telling her that it isn’t her fault and that the soulbonds do this. 

“How do you escape a hospital?” Hitomi questioned as Sayaka…well explained how. At their disturbed looks, she blushed. 

“By the power of time stop.” Sayaka says as if she finally figured it out. While the others just laughed at her. 

Sayaka seeing this became slightly annoyed asking what’s wrong.

“Dear, it was shown in the first episode…” Mami said.

Sayaka went beet red when she realized this just now and she just covered her face with her hands.

The quintet decided to comfort Sayaka by deciding to sit around her while she’s in the middle and hey, it works.

“Kyosuke might want to get out at some point….he seems miserable and I thought about it a bit.”

“I’m pretty sure that doing that would be illegal.” Hitomi noted in a strange tone. 

“Nah…..probably. Misdemeanor at most.” 

“That’s still a crime, Sayaka. That just means you won’t get in as much trouble as if you were committing murder.” 

“But it’s fine when Madoka’s other wife does it herself without any help?”

“.....Maybe?” 

“That’s double standard Hitomi,” Sayaka says as Hitomi turns to her bright red in embarrassment.

“She’s supposed to transfer into our grade in a week, but I want to meet her before then.” Madoka clarified before this conversation got any weirder. “I mean…it was terrible until I ran into Mami, I can’t imagine an entire day and a half like it. Homura must be miserable.” 

“Homura really is miserable” Madoka muttered but is heard by the quintet, even Homura herself agreed much to her witch’s dismay.

Both Sayaka and Hitomi looked at each other, clearly aware of that part of Soulbonds.  

“Do you need any help?” Sayaka asked sincerely. Hitomi looked guilty, she probably had lessons after school and couldn’t help despite her desire to. Madoka shook her head. 

“No, I think it is best if me and Mami look.” 

Fortunately the break was over, so she didn’t have to try and avoid explaining how both of her Soulmates were Magical Girls. Hopefully they wouldn’t get any theories that were weird or anything. 

“Don’t worry, we didn’t have any theories regarding them being anything supernatural” Sayaka says while Hitomi looked at her with ‘You clearly thought Homura was an escaped mental patient.’

As the Labyrinth vanished a few hours later with another Witch dead, Homura felt a massive rush of embarrassment and mortification, oddly mixed with the faintest taste of Mami’s cooking on her tongue. She was confused, and now rather hungry, and craving food she couldn’t have anymore.

“I can cook for you later darling.”

“I appreciate it a lot,” Homura says as she looked forward to Mami’s cooking again, which was felt by her other soulmates.

“Now I want Mami’s cooking too.” Kyoko said as she fantasized about Mami’s food.

The people who had eaten Mami’s food couldn’t help but nod their heads while Oriko and Kirika are left wondering how delicious they are.

Urgghhhhh…..this loop. Now she had to go do a Kyoko and get some food without paying for it, but not the actual food she was phantom craving. She’d go rob the Yakuza for actual money later. She also needed more bullets. Until then…this loop continued to torment her.

“Did Homura just imply that she’s gonna steal some food?” Madoka asked, while Kyoko just screamed at Homura, “Did you just imply that I steal food?”

“Yes, to both of your answers.” Homura said as memories of her starving from another timeline because her house has been destroyed and she was left with no money.

Kyoko just looked at her and said, “Understandable, have a nice day.”

While Madoka hugged Homura’s arm knowing that she needed it after seeing that memory.

The others immediately joined, making it a hug pile.

Mami laughed as Madoka continued to apologize even half an hour after school ended. It wasn’t necessary. 

“Oh Sweetie, don’t worry about it. It was actually pretty funny. And it was nice to have lunch with your friends.” Mami assured her Soulmate. She wasn’t embarrassed at all about either of their ‘interesting’ ideas for luring out Homura. Honestly in a few ways they were probably more ethical than taking Madoka with her to check likely Witch sites. And she could probably make a flattering maid outfit out of her ribbons if she really had to…

Suddenly an Image of Madoka in a maid outfit appeared in Homura’s mind making her beet red while her other partners laughed at her but were also blushing at the prospect of Madoka wearing a maid outfit.

Though on the topic of Witches, she hadn’t seen Kyubey since yesterday. While she did not want Madoka to rush into a wish, those always hurt you in the long run, she would prefer that Madoka had powers. She was confident that she could protect Madoka from most Witches, but she’d rather be safe than sorry. Especially with the nature of Soulmates. But the Witches were the only place they knew Homura would be around. Homura wasn’t likely to go back to the hospital and it was unlikely she knew where either of them lived, not that Mami had been back home since yesterday. 

“No, I don’t agree with whatever Kyubey says anymore, he hurt Kyoko, Homura, no… all of us in every timeline just for his sick goal.” Mami said with malice dripping from her tone.

“Yeah, we won’t let pinky become a victim of that demon.” 

The Kaname’s all smiled knowing that Madoka was in good hands while Hitomi, Yuma, and Nagisa nodded their heads at them.

Oriko along with Kirika, silently vowed to protect Madoka from that little shit. 

Home…would she keep calling that empty place that? It was…it was one of the last links she had to her parents, other than the money their pensions gave her. Money she barely touched beyond just the necessities. But being there…it also hurt. It had taken months before she fully processed that she'd never see anyone else open the door, not until Kyoko. And when she and Kyoko had split up….the times Kyubey showed up were the only time she ever had company.

The entire theatre felt that they are intruding too much on Mami’s life, the screen will probably show some of the story from the audience too. If that happened and a sensitive secret or topic appeared they’ll just stay quiet and not talk about it.

The quintet however will talk about this later in the break if there really is a break. They need to be there for each other in times of need so they decided to switch it up and have Mami in the middle of their cuddle pile.

It was someplace that she both wanted to keep, and brought her pain to be around. The pensions would keep the lease on the apartment ongoing no matter what she did, but would she only return there to clean it? Maybe until Madoka graduated but…that was a bit presumptive of what Madoka wanted, Mami had to admit. Madoka was fourteen, she had time to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Mami was fifteen, and she wasn’t sure she had any ideas either. Being a hero who fought Witches wasn’t really a future either…and while Mami could live on just the pensions that would just leave her even more alone without school to let her see people. Did Homura have any ideas about what to do in the future? 

“No, I can’t think of anything about the future… not until I save Madoka and all of you” Homura admitted.

“After everything you’ve been going through of course you can’t… you are trapped in your personal hell and the only way out is if you finally manage to save everyone” Mami said in sympathy.

Following her Soul Gem, Mami was happy when it led them somewhere so she didn’t have to think about the future. Until yesterday, she didn’t have any ideas for the future, though in truth having two people, eventually four, who would be part of that future made the uncertainty more apparent. It was as daunting as loneliness, it just went away if the future was put off to the side and ignored. 

Ignored so she could pick up a few spent firearm cartridges, surprised she could feel faint magic on them. They weren’t made of magic like her own firearms, but magic residue from enchantments was on them just the same.  And it wasn’t the only magic she could detect.

“A Witch and a Familiar were here.” Mami deduced as she looked around a bit. She could feel Madoka feel a bit confused at her thought process, so she clarified. “It’s not easy to spot, but with experience, and magic of your own, you can learn to pick things up. The Familiar was outside of the Labyrinth and killed there, while the Witch never left it. And the weapon was used by a Magical Girl.” 

“I heard a gunshot before I saw Homura.” Madoka put it together from there, and Mami nodded. Two gun-using Magical Girls with the same Soulmate, how interesting. Though it seemed like Homura used regular firearms instead of magical ones. Mami wondered where she got them from. 

“From bad guys.” Nagisa said as the audience nodded at her answer, as she said earlier, from the Yakuza.

“If Homura’s power is to stop time,” which kept happening today and yesterday, “I wonder if she needed to adapt. Ribbons are good for restraining targets, but to actually damage them effectively I needed to find a way to use my powers differently. I create, but perhaps that isn’t something Homura could do.” 

Homura nodded at Mami’s analysis, “Yes, the way I fight is by stopping time, letting my bullets rain to my enemies and starting it again”

The adults were impressed at Homura’s battle iq, specifically Kazuko.

“How long did it take you to… improvise to guns” Kyoko asked, knowing that Homura as a newbie didn't have access to guns.

“It took… 2 timeline, I think.” Homura answered.

Sayaka, the ever curious girl, is asked what Homura's first ever weapon is.

And Homura answered with a blank face, “A golf club”

A memory then popped up within the minds of the quintet, Homura, who was practicing how to use a golf club to fight.

They couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory but also noticed the large difference between the current Homura and the golf club Homura… she looks so pure…

She could feel Madoka’s curiosity at a few thoughts she idly had as she held the bullet up, which Mami elaborated on. 

“Oh, I’m thinking about how rare it is to see a Magical Girl kill a Familiar out and about like that. More Magical Girls than I care to admit would leave them be and let them mature into Witches to farm for Soul Gems. Killing it instead of leaving it be…I can certainly respect that.” More so for the fact that Homura didn’t seem to know them, so she wasn’t trying to butter Mami up. She did this on her own. Mami could think of two motives that weren’t a respect for human life that could have motivated that action. One was self-preservation, which seemed unlikely with Homura’s ability to freeze time whenever she wanted. The other….was Madoka. Homura was a lot more bonded to Madoka than her, and was a lot more tuned into her emotions. With Homura out to go after as many Witches as possible, if she could tell that Madoka wasn’t a Magical Girl, it was clearly protective in nature. Though Homura didn’t seem to be as aware of her own negative emotions impacting Madoka, it was hard to tell the exact reasons for them. A dream was not Homura’s fault, though she didn’t know about that burning level of anger yesterday. 

Regardless of Homura’s exact reasons, the Familiar had been slain hours ago, and Homura was long gone. Those negative emotions, plus being so far away from them, did make Mami worry that Homura was burning through Grief Seeds. Why wouldn’t Homura be trying to find them too? Was she just that lost? No, she knew what Madoka’s car looked like, she had a trail, and Madoka didn’t really mention that she was feeling Homura felt lost. So was she willingly staying away until…she was sure Madoka was safe? Was she just going to wait until she transferred into Madoka’s class? Mami really hoped for Homura’s sake she didn’t do that.

The adults were confused, why are Magical girls letting the familiars go and mature into witches? Aren’t they supposed to defeat or kill them?

The veteran magical girls all had dark eyes, they definitely know about those kinds of magical girls and how some of them have been tempted to even try that method.

Meanwhile Kyoko is shaking as she remembers the people she let die to a familiar just for them to mature into a witch.

Mami, knowing what’s happening, immediately left her seat in the middle and took a seat next to Kyoko to hug her and comfort her. Her other partners quickly followed as they saw what was happening. They definitely need to talk later.

“Mami, you said that Magical Girls can communicate telepathically? Could you try that?” Madoka spoke up, having been mulling over an idea. Mami had explained Magical Girls in detail, but she hadn’t explained everything. “Try to contact Homura and find out where she is?”

“I could…but I’m hesitant to try. Magical Girls often fight, and unfamiliar communications by telepathy are an easy way to put a girl on edge.” Mami had learned that from personal experience. Those fights she had with Magical Girls had not always been the first time she had known they were there. “Homura likely has had time to learn to be wary of them. It’s a last resort.” 

“Why would magical girls fight each other? Aren’t they supposed to help each other? I mean serial killers don’t count because they are serial killers but those who aren’t-” Kazuko then was cut off by Oriko answering her.

“It’s because of territorial disputes, other magical girls aren’t friendly to those who try to take over their territory.”

Kazuko nodded, but she had a feeling there’s something more to it than that.

They needed to either get lucky and get ahead of Homura on her Witch hunt, or find a new way of tracking her down. Or maybe getting her to come to them, but Mami didn’t want to stake out around a Witch. That was too dangerous. Homura Akemi….what else did they have on her? The address Mami had managed to find on her listed the hospital and Homura hadn’t returned yet, the hospital would have called the Kanames if she had. Unless Homura knew Mitakihara, which seemed improbable, she wasn’t going to necessarily follow a logical patrol route like what Mami had established, though she did seem to be good at finding Witches without having a territory here. How aware was Homura that her other Soulmate was a Magical Girl, was she trying to avoid Mami unaware that they were Soulmates? 

“I was trying to avoid meeting you as early as possible because I don’t wanna be seen as hostile and so I can prepare so I don’t make myself as hostile which always ends in failure…”

Mami looked at Homura with a regretful expression, she knows that she is one of the people who makes Homura’s mission a lot harder. 

“Could Kyubey tell us something if we find him?” Madoka suggested, and that was logical. Homura was a Magical Girl, and a Soulbond was important enough that her friend should be willing to disclose things. Madoka got a weird look in her eye after saying his name, which she shook off, just as she felt an emotion from Homura. The name Kyubey…made Homura angry. 

Wait….did Homura hate Kyubey for some reason? Madoka seemed to get the idea soon, and her younger Soulmate looked at her palm with eyes that suggested she wanted to try something. . 

“Homura, what do you think of Kyubey?” Madoka asked the diamond on her palm that represented Homura. Seconds later Mami was holding Madoka as she struggled to breathe through a miasma of sheer, unfathomable hatred. 

“You should not have asked that” Oriko said as she also felt utter hatred for that creature.

Meanwhile Homura looked like she was about to drown herself with guilt but was stopped by the quintet, reminding her that it isn’t her fault and that she doesn’t know.

The Kyubey fell over dead into a dumpster, the thrown metal pipe impaling it. Good riddance, thoughts of why she hated the monster surging through her as it seemed part of her wondered what she felt of the wicked, manipulative, life-destroying little alien. And then came that same feeling of not being able to breathe, panic, and distress that Homura couldn’t trace to herself, but was clearly coming from somewhere, and it made her feel guilty.

“Wait, how could Kyubey still be alive when you already killed it?” Tomohisa asked, confused as Homura already killed the thing.

“Kyubey has multiple bodies, they’re a hive mind, even if you killed hundreds of them there will always be a thousand more.”

Oriko revealed to the adults, the adults while not happy about this at all could see the logic behind it.

This loop was really being….what was it doing to her?! And why did it feel she was hurting someone…

“Shh, it isn’t your fault darling, you didn’t know”

When Madoka could breathe again, and Mami felt ready to release her from a comforting hug, Madoka had come to a clear conclusion, her eyes confused and worried. 

“Mami, does Homura hate Kyubey?”

“She has every reason she could to hate on that thing, as a matter of fact, every magical girl should have every reason to hate on that thing.” Oriko said darkly and full of anger.

Homura was quite surprised to see Oriko agreeing with her, but she doesn’t really mind it as Oriko is speaking for every magical girl out there.

Madoka then blinked. 

“....Yeah…yeah I think she does, Sweetie.” 

At least Homura didn’t accidentally start choking Madoka on her hate this time. The only thing she could say in Homura’s defense for it is that she clearly didn’t intend to scare Madoka with that vitriol of hers, though it was a mark against her in Mami’s book. Homura needed to control her negative emotions when she had a bond as strong as she did with Madoka. 

Mami flinched a bit when it was revealed that she had Homura in a bad light.

“It’s fine Mami, you didn’t know about me yet.”

Though for Homura to hate Kyubey that much…she suddenly worried for her friend. Was he alright? 

‘Oh, I’m fine. Though I’ve not had the best two days, I’ll admit that.’ 

Madoka jumped at the voice in her head as Kyubey appeared on the other end of the alleyway they were at, wagging his tail idly. When Madoka was done being surprised at his sudden arrival, she immediately started cooing at his cuteness. 

Mami started deliberately thinking of cake, not because she didn’t care for Kyubey being fine, but with the intent someone else was thinking of cake and not Kyubey for Madoka’s sake. 

All the magical girls suddenly erupted in anger as they saw the little shit, while the adults looked at the thing, analysing its figure, looks and everything. Maybe they can help by putting a poster that says ‘If you see this creature, run away’ maybe they can help lessen victims.

“Thank you Mami, even though it resulted in me wasting money and sanity, at least you prevented me from hurting Madoka.”

“It’s no problem darling, anything to help and protect Madoka,”

Homura suddenly froze mid-step as she passed a bakery, a craving for Mami’s baking suddenly overcoming her. Again?! This time loop was just out to get her…

Though this cake she’d actually pay for. That drug money was stolen for a reason, though not usually cake.  

Everyone looked at Homura hoping that she’ll explain.

Homura noticing this just said one word, “Yakuza”

Everyone nodded at her and decided to watch the screen.

Mami felt the tactic was a bit uncouth…but it had to be done. She hated seeing Madoka choking on Homura’s rage, and she knew that Homura wasn’t trying to do it to Madoka on purpose either, but it kept happening and the cake was distracting. So, while she kept part of her mind on distracting Homura, she made sure this conversation got rolling before Homura had her fill. 

“Again, thank you for that Mami,”

“As I said before, no problem.”

“It’s good to see you Kyubey, though I’m sorry you’ve been having trouble. Is it with Homura?” 

Kyubey looked at her with a curious expression

‘If Homura is a girl with long dark hair, purple eyes, and various guns and other weapons, then yes. She’s been quite persistent.’

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Homura said with a smirk, at least she’s been annoying Kyubey.

“You don’t know?” Mami quickly caught, making sure to double her thoughts to keep Homura occupied as she freed up time for that curveball.

‘It is rather unprecedented. I know the wishes of every Magical Girl, but I don’t recognize Homura’s. She is clearly a Magical Girl, it’s actually quite strange. Though I’m curious why you know her, or why you know Madoka Kaname?’ 

“He knows my name?” Madoka asked as Mami reflexively upped her distracting thoughts in Homura's direction. 

‘Of course I do. I’ve been sensing you for a while now. Of course, Mami Tomoe has a good eye too, so no wonder she found you. Did you find a new protege?’ 

“No, well, Nagisa, Yuma, Hitomi and Sayaka are mine, Kyoko’s and Homura’s protege, I think that’s enough Kyubey.” Mami said darkly.

Those who are called blushed a little at Mami calling them protege, that’s a compliment.

She was eating like Kyoko, Homura thought as she got another helping of cake. No…actually this was still pretty light for the delinquent who tried too hard to be edgy sometimes, but why was Kyoko now on her mind? She couldn’t be considering getting Kyoko to show up earlier when she was in bad shape, that was just asking for trouble…

“Did you just imply that I eat a lot,” Kyoko asked while looking at Homura, a bit offended.

“Ain’t it facts though?” Sayaka asked as she remembered how Kyoko swallowed most of the food in the Kaname’s.

“... Touche”

Mami wished Kyubey hadn’t said that, her concentration slipped. She hoped that Homura didn’t get confused about Kyoko and get suspicious. 

“I’ll probably just continue to think that this timeline is torturing me.” 

“Darling, this timeline isn’t torturing you”

“Yeah, I know, if you guys didn’t come and get me early, I'd probably still think that I’m being tortured.”

“Um, I’m actually not sure what I’d want to wish for yet, Mr. Kyubey….” 

“And I won’t ever make a wish.” Madoka said, full of conviction in her voice.

The others smiled at her while Homura was so grateful that all of her hard work paid off.

‘Just call me Kyubey.’ 

“Nah, we’ll keep calling you an incubator.” Kyoko said out of spite.

While the others agreed with her. They definitely won’t call that thing a cutesy name Kyubey.

“And I’m not really sure I’m a protege…am I? I mean I’m sure Mami would be a great teacher, and I’m apparently supposed to be some super good student, but I don’t know how or why….actually I’m Mami’s Soulmate, and Homura’s.” 

Madoka didn’t notice it, but she was sure that the information surprised Kyubey, who looked at her with the same expression as ever, but there were slight tells. Tells Madoka didn’t notice. 

‘Really?’ 

Mami, smiling, showed Kyubey her palm. 

“I know, it’s wonderful! It happened yesterday morning. Though I am surprised that Homura is going after you, and I wish I could tell her to stop. I’m sure she’d listen once we meet, but we can’t seem to find her.” Mami beamed the first part, she was still happy about it even if Homura was going after her friend. 

“Kyube-  no the incubator isn’t my friend anymore, not with all the things he did that made all of us suffer.”

Homura smiled, knowing that Mami won’t be within the incubator’s reach and she won’t be played by that little shit anymore.

Kyubey stared at her palm for a minute before saying anything more. 

‘Soulbonds do often form after contracting, but I didn’t contract Homura Akemi then, or anytime as far as I can remember, and I don’t forget things. It’s strange, though Homura’s behavior isn’t as unusual. Many Magical Girls do prefer I not stick around after they establish territories for anything more than eating used Grief Seeds to prevent competition or potential threats to themselves and their loved ones.’ Kyubey admitted, sounding like he was thinking about more things than just Homura. What he was thinking of Mami wasn’t sure, but she was devoting part of her mind to cake to distract Homura, so she couldn’t criticize Kyubey for having private thoughts that were potentially off topic. 

“While I hate the incubator with every fiber of my being, Kyubey does have a point, I’ve seen many magical girls like that.” Oriko said while Kirika nodded at her.

Kyoko shivered as she heard about territories and preventing competition knowing she had probably starved a magical girl off of grief seed maturing them into witches.

“That’s horrible.” Madoka worried for Kyubey. Kyubey did his best impression of a shrug. 

‘It’s logical. There are only so many Witches, which means there is only so much magic to go around. For many Magical Girls the goal is conservation. My goal is preservation.’ 

Suffice to say, everyone is disgusted at the little thing comparing them like they're animals.

“Aren’t those the same thing? If you want to preserve rare animals like pandas and tigers, conservation is preservation in the wild and in zoos, right?” Madoka asked as Kyubey shook his head. 

‘Oh, no, those are actually two different things, but that’s not really relevant right now. You want to find Homura Akemi, and I’d like her to stop shooting at me.’ 

“I actually managed to annoy Kyubey so much that he didn’t even push Madoka to contract? Wow, that’s a first.”

Kyubey was being less pushy about contracts, Mami noticed. Normally he’d have mentioned making a wish to Madoka again by now. The Homura issue must be serious. She wouldn’t mind the easing of the prodding about wishes while it lasted though, Kyubey was a dear friend but he could be pushy sometimes. 

“Pushy is quite an understatement when it comes to the incubator. It will do anything just for someone to make a contract, even willing to go so far to kill a magical girl’s family and frame it as an accident.”

Oriko’s revelation shocked everyone with the exception of Homura, Hitomi, and Kirika. Mami looked down wondering if the incubator had a hand in her parent’s accident.

While the Kaname’s looked at each other and vowed to protect each other.

“Well, we do need her to find us, so do you know what she’s after?” 

‘Besides myself, seemingly resources. Grief Seeds, obtaining weapons and money from organized crime by robbing them, purchasing materials that criminal elements don’t stock up on, it’s actually a pretty meticulous process. She’s done this before’ 

Madoka looked uneasy at the idea of Homura going up against the Yakuza. Mami could see why Homura might default to that: it was a guiltless theft compared to stealing weapons from the police, and if she needed to arm herself versus creating her own weapons, it was a strategy to go with. Stopping time also was a good way to avoid retribution. Though Mami was not comfortable looking for Homura around Yakuza dens, especially with Madoka in tow. 

“I did steal from the JSDF before, but I underestimated their network and connection so much that a platoon of them came to my house. I literally have to go to Asunaro and rest there for the whole timeline.”

Everyone stared at Homura with wide eyes, they couldn’t believe it… If it were the Yakuza, they would understand and could believe it. But the fact that Homura had the whole Japanese Self-Defense Force after her just…

“Why? Why would you even steal from the army?” Oriko asked in a surprised tone.

“Yakuza weapons aren’t enough, I needed more fire power. I already stole from them just earlier, I steal little by little so they won’t notice it immediately.” 

…

Everyone just stayed quiet, too stunned to even speak to the point that the screen started itself startling them.

“Homura seems to be a veteran who is after exactly what she wants,” Mami mused aloud, her thoughts going to the dream that Homura had that Madoka also shared. If their fellow Soulmate had somehow experienced two Walpurgisnachts and emerged victorious, but lost everyone she cared for both times, part of Mami wondered if Homura might be redirecting her grief at Kyubey. In her despair, maybe Homura blamed him for her friends being there to die on two different occasions, and that in turn was why she reacted badly if Madoka wondered about contracting. Mami had once been told that her own grief about not saving her parents was misguided, and while the person who had said to her that a parent would always rather sacrifice themselves for their child than see their child die instead then killed his entire family making it hard to dwell on for many reasons, she could see that logic applied here. “I’ve thought about watching for her around a Witch, but I don’t want to put people in danger needlessly.” 

“Oh, past me… you have no idea how right you are, but it’s much more deeper than that.” Mami said as she looked at her past self in pity. How naive she was back then…

“Mami doesn’t need to go after Witches anymore, but she still wants to keep people safe.” Madoka clarified to Kyubey, who tilted his head to look at her.

‘I am aware of that part of Soulbonds, I just was worried that Mami might neglect her duties if she didn’t have to, so I didn’t mention it. It happens sometimes.’ 

“I will not neglect my duties as a magical girl even after everything that has happened.” Mami said with a strained voice as she remembered the fate of all magical girls.

“I’m not most Magical Girls.” Mami assured Kyubey. 

‘That’s always been apparent. You’ve always been a rare sort, just as rare as Madoka’s potential and Homura’s mysterious origins. I’m curious if your other two bonded members will be just as intriguing. Though if you do want to find Homura Akemi, there is a bait that she will certainly look for, especially if her pursuit of me is rooted in protective territorialism.’ 

“Oh, what’s that?” Madoka asked, curious about what Kyubey was suggesting. 

“So this is how you guys-” Homura was cut off by Madoka nodding her head. “Yup, even though we hate Kyubey, I’m still thankful for that thing that brought you here to us.”

“We think we managed to find a way to contact Homura and tell her where to find us, though it might take a bit.” Mami explained to Madoka’s father, who nodded. 

“Well, better late than never, and no matter how late our door will always be open for her. I know it must be hard to have to wait for her instead of actively searching her out, but sometimes that is all you can reasonably do. Oh, Madoka, are you alright?” 

Madoka, whose expression was nervous, nodded rapidly, Kyubey not leaving his perch on Madoka’s shoulder the entire time, invisible to her dad. 

Homura almost pulled out a gun the moment she saw Kyubey on Madoka's shoulder if not for her soulmates who are currently snuggling her.

“Oh, I’m a little nervous…my second Soulmate might show up at any minute and I have no idea what to expect.” 

‘Don’t worry Madoka, it is very unlikely she’ll use munitions.’  

“Of course I wouldn't, Madoka’s parents and her precious brother are literally in there, how could I use my guns?”

Homura was now wondering if she had enough bombs for some reason, seemingly for no reason. She knew very well she had plenty, and she could make crude ones in her sleep at this point. She literally had once: magic could animate her body while her mind slept, though she preferred military grade versus homemade bombs when she could allow so. Also sometimes when she made bombs in her sleep, they were duds and she didn’t realize it until later. In her defense, Sayaka had regrown that arm pretty quickly afterwards so it wasn’t the worst error she’d ever made. 

Everyone looked at Homura, this has been happening a lot lately because what the hell does the screen mean by saying that she had magic animate her body making a bomb while she’s sleeping, and not only that, the result of those bombs is literally her arm getting blown off because of an error. And of course she’ll downplay it as a ‘not worse error’ just because Sayaka healed her arm. She really needs to take care of herself more.

More importantly, when would these random thoughts and emotions stop ? She needed something to keep her head on straight, she was losing it…and she only just realized she hadn’t been to Madoka’s home yet to make sure Kyubey wasn’t lurking there yet. 

Crap. It should be fine, he was still lurking around Madoka’s favored haunts so she clearly hadn’t contracted yet, if she had he would be with her, watching, waiting, like the vulture he was. But she would check. Though she’d leave the bombs in her shield for this one, she had yet to blow up Madoka’s yard to get rid of the Incubator and this was not the timeline to be chucking bombs near Madoka’s bedroom. With how off she’d been….no, she didn’t want to go there. 

Madoka along with the Kaname’s looked at Homura while Homura was covering her face with her hands, did Homura really just think of putting bombs in their house??

“And now, we wait.” Mami nodded as her gaze went towards the kitchen. Madoka, remembering her mom’s talk from yesterday, decided to try something. 

“Hey Mami, can I have some help with my homework?” 

“Sure.” Mami immediately switched tracks, happy to help with something lighter than another cake. She briefly noticed her dad send her a look of thanks for the distraction. She knew that her dad had no problem with Mami or her trying to be helpful, but two cooks in a kitchen was a bit much and he liked cooking. They were all adjusting after all. 

Mami looked at Tomohisa apologetically while Tomohisa responded with a kind smile indicating that he didn’t mind and that it’s fine.

“....Mami, why do I feel like I know the answers to this math homework, but it's not from me?” Madoka asked worryingly as she just…flew through it like she was on auto-pilot. It was…kind of unsettling, as she knew how to do the answers despite knowing very well she should be struggling with them. 

Mami hummed thoughtfully as she mulled the question. 

“Maybe you are remembering something from me last year…faintly, maybe instinctually. Though I couldn’t do this on autopilot.” 

‘Perhaps Homura Akemi is gifted at math. ’ Kyubey offered from her shelf as Madoka poked her pencil to the paper. 

“Maybe…though does that mean I’m cheating on my homework?” Was…was she being a bad student and breaking rules now?!

‘Soulbonds are part of human nature and have always been. It’s not like you are using the internet to look up your answers.’ 

The Kaname’s and Kazuko couldn’t help but smile in pride knowing that Madoka isn’t cheating and that she is just using her advantage because of the soulbond.

Homura then spoke, “I think it’s due to me memorizing everything in the past timelines to the point of not needing to study anymore.”

Of course she memorized everything, that’s such a Homura thing to do, the quintet thought to themselves while the other teenagers couldn’t help but be a little jealous of her memorizing everything. Time stop is so OP you can review and memorize everything almost nonstop.

“Or asking for someone else to do them for you. It’s instinctual, not intentional, which I think is what makes cheating cheating.” Mami assured her that she was not in fact being the worst kind of student. 

“Still….” 

‘The only other option is to intentionally do the math wrong, which is not what you are supposed to do. ’ Kyubey was a bit blunt about that, which made Madoka wince. Oh…oh…what happened if this happened during the next test?! 

“As much as I hate agreeing with it, the incubator is right, you are not actively cheating, you are just using every advantage you have in answering.” Kazuko replied.

“Do they have a policy for this sort of thing?” Mami wondered aloud. “You know, I’ll ask around about that tomorrow, and see if I find anything.” 

“Oh thank you Mami.” 

More homework followed, and the feeling of Homura’s knowledge just bleeding into her continued, and while Madoka still felt like she was cheating a bit it did make it go faster. Meaning that when it was about that time…

“Madoka!” 

For her little brother to come in to ask her if she wanted to watch T.V with him, she could say yes. 

“Sure!” 

….The yay didn’t come, and it was only then that she and Mami realized that time had frozen again. It had somehow happened without them noticing. 

“This is it, the moment when two, no three fated soulmates meet” Sayaka says dramatically which everyone couldn’t help but laugh at.

“I’m getting too used to this.” Madoka admitted to Mami, who nodded. 

“It’s a useful ability, but we really should ask her to warn us first. After all, she can do it quickly.” 

Madoka blinked as Mami’s voice rang out in her head, the telepathy of the Magical Girls. She briefly looked over at Kyubey, who was not moving. Mami smiled. 

“Oh good, that works for you without Kyubey. Okay, I want to see how Homura behaves first, just so we know what we’re dealing with. Are you able to stay completely still?” 

Madoka nodded, and they soon shifted around. Mami slipped into a closet while Madoka, her ears tuned for any sound, hovered over her completed homework. It was after five minutes of her doing that, trying to keep her body as still as possible, that she realized she could relax a bit. She’d surely feel when Homura approached, and she didn’t have to be so stiff as a board…and then her body suddenly felt a new surge of warmth, like the sense of warmth and joy she had been experiencing with Mami was retroactively incomplete. In the closet she heard a hand press against the door, as if Mami also had to catch herself. Homura was here! Homura had arrived! Homura just opened the door! Oh yeah, they didn’t lock it…

“You two really are excited to finally meet Homura huh” Junko smiled as she remembered how fateful it was to meet Tomohisa. 

“O-of course, she is our soulmate, and she needs to know what is currently happening to her.” Mami, who is a bit embarrassed, said.

Tumble 

Houmra fell to the ground the moment she stepped into the Kaname household. She could see, faintly, Madoka’s father in the kitchen, and she knew her mother would be at work, but she could barely concentrate. She had fallen over the moment she entered the house, and her body…her body…no….this was more than that. It felt like her body was…when had it ever felt like this?! Never….it was like being blasted with nothing but joy. Like the worst Witch attacks, but with positive feelings. It was…this wasn’t normal. This wasn’t…

She struggled to get back onto her two legs, the feeling was hard to describe. No…no….she couldn’t be this weak. She wasn’t this weak anymore. She hadn’t been….for ages. 

When she eventually stood up, she closed her eyes, trying to sense…anything. A Witch of Joy…no, that didn’t make any sense. And she couldn’t sense anything like that. She could sense Kyubey, she could sense…what?! She stared at Madoka, over the top of her little brother’s head, and…she felt alive again. No longer cold, no longer miserable. Her entire body felt…felt like it had to get to Madoka now. Was it…no…it wasn’t just because Kyubey was surely in her room, feeding her poisoned honey words and promises loaded with lies. This loop…why did these things keep happening? She was so confused….

“Homura really is out of it that day…” Madoka looked worried.

But Homura held her hand as a means of reassurance. Everything is gonna be alright.

Madoka smiled as she held Homura’s hand firmly, knowing everything will be alright.

Watching Homura was…distressing, in a way that Madoka couldn’t quite describe. Her other Soulmate was struggling to stand up, her face displaying the mixture of emotions that Madoka could feel hitting her right in the heart. There was happiness, but what really dominated was confusion and distress. Like the happy feelings were so alien to her that Homura was having trouble processing it. There was also determination, she seemed to be trying to reach her room for something, faintly feelable, that she wanted to remove. Homura was still after Kyubey, but even that was being overwhelmed by Homura’s sheer levels of confusion, like she didn’t even know what was going on…

Madoka thought about that, in relation to Homura’s emotions, and just like she had felt unfathomable rage from Homura before, she felt like she was drowning in confusion coming from Homura. That something was happening to her that she didn’t understand, that was completely alien to her, that everything was wrong and…and Madoka had a terrible thought. It seemed implausible, Soulbonds were something that came up everywhere and it should be impossible for anyone, if they were ever told stories by a village elder or watched any movies or television or read books, to not know about them. But the sheer level of confusion and stress that was coming off of Homura…did she…not know what was going on? It was a crazy thought, it seemed impossible, but the more she felt Homura’s confusion and distress, the more that Homura was just acting so weird near a Soulmate…the harder it was to dismiss as an idea. 

“She really didn’t know a single thing…” Mami said sadly as she along with everyone remembered Homura’s background.

Madoka tried to also ignore how it seemed like Homura was actively resisting going near her, especially as she could feel why. It wasn’t that Homura didn’t want to, but for some reason she felt like she…shouldn’t? It was a terrible comparison, but the best comparison that Madoka could come up with was someone resisting something like cookies or ice cream because they knew they shouldn’t. Shouldn’t? That….that didn’t make any sense. And her confusion…it was bleeding into Homura, who was now looking more distressed, and looking at her. Homura briefly held a hand out, but retracted it quickly, looking like she thought she mustn't do that, ever. This was just….no. 

No.

She could feel Mami’s worry that if she did what was she was about to do that Homura might run off. But she couldn’t leave Homura like this either. If this went wrong…well Mami could tell her so after the fact once Madoka had screwed up. But this needed to be done, either here or after a chase through Mitakihara. Mami…be ready to run after Homura if this goes badly. 

“Homura.” Madoka said aloud, getting Homura’s attention in the frozen time that Homura created.

“Homura must’ve been so confused when you suddenly moved and talked.” Oriko says while drinking water.

“Oh she really is, actually that’s quite an understatement.” Mami replied.

“Well when your power is literally to stop time and go back, of course she’ll be so confused.” Madoka reasoned. 

“Homura.” 

Homura flinched. That….that didn’t just happen. Madoka didn’t just say her name. Madoka couldn’t say her name. Madoka was frozen in time, just like everything else. That was not how that worked. Everyone else wasn’t moving. Madoka’s father wasn’t moving. Madoka’s brother wasn’t moving. Madoka wasn’t standing up from her math homework…no…. Madoka was standing up . 

It was a slow stand up, it was clear visual body language for Homura to not freak out, she could somehow tell Madoka didn’t want her to freak out beyond that, like she could actually feel Madoka trying to be calm and reassuring…but this…this wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening….

“Homura, please….don’t freak out.” Madoka requested, clearly looking right at her. Madoka’s eyes were calming, inviting, she…she wanted to help her. Homura knew that but…no…this wasn’t….this couldn’t….this wasn’t happening…..

Madoka slowly slipped around her paused brother, careful to not bump into the toddler as she squeezed through the door, and Homura… her heart was racing faster and faster. This was….bad…good….confusing….run away…don’t run away…..yes….no….warm….warm….warm….not cold…..Homura could barely think between the mess that was this loop and Madoka breaking every rule of her powers and….

Madoka was right in front of her. Homura felt like she was staring at Madoka like one of Charlotte’s victims did before the teeth came down, though Madoka didn’t open her mouth wide. No, Madoka hugged her, and Homura immediately lost her balance and fell over, taking Madoka with her as she spilled on the floor. Despite the fall, and the weight of Madoka on her, Homura….well when it came to feeling not miserable this loop, everything she’d felt just now, every feeling of being warm and actually alive for once was blown out the window. She felt…alive. There was no better way of putting it, her mind was still buzzing with confusion even as this….this felt right. Even more so than it usually did when Madoka didn’t see her as some mysterious, aloof, scary figure.

This timeline was confusing, it was unsettling, it was honestly at times outright disturbing, but for just this moment…it felt right. 

Homura is very displeased at this, she hates herself for being so weak, for being seen as weak, it reminded her of all her failures… How could everyone see her as someone strong enough to protect and save Madoka as well as the others if everything the screen will show is all of her vulnerabilities.

The quintet feeling her self hatred towards herself hugged her, they definitely need to go to a magical girl therapist after this, normal therapist won’t cut it for them and especially for Homura.

“...Homura, do you know what’s going on?” Madoka asked, sounding like she didn’t know why Homura wouldn’t know it, but was happy to explain anything Homura was confused about. Homura put aside the fact that Madoka should not know her name…because that was the least of her thoughts at the moment. 

“....No.” Homura admitted, staring right up at Madoka’s pink eyes. “All I know is that ever since yesterday my arm spasmed out of control, my body’s been cold, I have some strange mark on my hand, I keep feeling things that aren’t coming from me, but somewhere else…and the only time I’ve not been cold…” 

“...Is when you’re near me?” Madoka finished. Homura nodded. 

“Also…you shouldn’t be able to move right now.” Homura pointed out. Madoka nodded, like she knew that she was the one who froze time. However Madoka was going to explain this….Homura was all ears. Though Madoka, she noticed, didn’t have a ring. So she didn’t have a Soul Gem, and wasn’t a Magical Girl….then how on earth was she moving right now?

Hopefully Madoka’s explanation should clear things up.

“It really did clear a lot of things up, and it saved me the time to warn Madoka about the incubator.” Homura said. 

“And it also gave you a lot of good things and most of all, it gave you a reason to rest and have fun as a teenager for once.” Junko replied happily at Homura having fun. She has a feeling that they’ll see more of Homura’s timeline adventures and it all won’t be pretty.

Madoka got the impression that the only reason that Homura believed her was because she had been living it for the last two days, and that it was her saying it. 

“Yeah, if it was me, Kyoko, or Sayaka saying it, I doubt Homura would believe it and that it’s probably a wish that one of us made.” Mami says as she remembered how distrustful they were to each other back then.

Homura nodded, she knows herself very well and Mami couldn’t be more right.

“Soulmates?” Homura repeated, with the tone that most people would reserve for talking about unicorns. Had Homura really not heard of the term before? How was that even possible? Still, Madoka nodded and showed her the mark on her hand again. 

“To be fair, Homura has not been to any soulmate timelines before and this is literally his first time, and hopefully last time.” Oriko says as Homura looks at her wondering what is her plan now that she wants this to be the last timeline Homura has to go through.

Is it because she wants to help Homura so that she won’t have to suffer anymore? No that can’t be, there has to be another reason, something she’s planning that will require her and then in the end Oriko will betray her, yes that’s gotta be it.

Madoka felt it, Homura’s mixed emotions, the mere thought of Oriko helping her and not betraying her… she couldn’t accept it, it was impossible, but Madoka felt that feeling again, the feeling of longing… Homura really needs to talk to Oriko, no Homura won’t do that, however something must be done.

“Yes. They usually form after something big happens to someone. It often happens in hospitals, so it must be because of your surgery being successful.” 

Madoka caught that Homura seemed to put details together with that information, but somehow Madoka got the impression that Homura didn’t connect it to the work on her heart. Did something else happen to Homura in the meantime that Homura thought was more life-changing? 

“Yes, meeting you the first time is life changing… Maybe that’s why I have you as a soulmate, but for the others, I think it’s because I spent enough time with them that I fell inlove with them too in other timelines.”

The quintet gasp, especially Sayaka, she was wrong for thinking that Homura only loved Madoka.

“Did something else happen?” She asked as Homura, very clearly, looked away. 

“Yes.” 

Madoka waited for a bit for Homura to elaborate, but Homura didn’t offer anything. Okay….so it was a private thing. If it was important, Homura could talk about it later. Madoka couldn’t imagine having something as special and big as Soulbonds dropped on you at once all of a sudden, she had to be overwhelmed. 

“Yeah, I’m overwhelmed…I swear the universe was out to get me before I knew about the soulbonds.”

“So you and I are connected.” Homura seemed to be summarizing everything as Madoka nodded. “We’re essentially married, but not fully officially, and as a result I am expected to stay here with your family…” 

The quintet, especially Madoka, couldn't help but blush at Homura saying that they’re basically married. This had to be the last, please.

“Only if you want to.” Madoka assured, and she got the impression that Homura wanted to. 

“We can feel each other’s emotions…and when I get angry….” Homura looked away when Madoka flinched. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know, and it’s…not wrong to feel things. Just…there’s probably a way to feel things like that and not wash me over with it.” 

She kept the part about choking on Homura’s anger to herself, for Homura’s sake. 

“Yeah, Homura literally caught a panic attack just now after finding out that she has been choking Madoka with anger without knowing, so that’s a good thing.” Kazuko said. It’s okay to omit things if those things could hurt someone.

“And my life…and your life….” Homura asked after a bit of time to sit on the emotional link part. 

Madoka nodded, though less happily. It was a bit dark, but Soulmates lived exactly as long as the other did. A Soulmate could not outlive a Soulmate. It was a topic that didn’t seem to enthuse Homura either, but it seemed to make her more resolved than anything. 

“Yeah, that one is a bit dark, that’s why you guys have to protect Madoka at all cost.” Oriko said while Homura just rolled her eyes thinking ‘like you're not the one to kill her in many timelines just so Gretchen wouldn’t hatch.’

“And we’re also connected in the same way to three others, but only one right now. The other two will end up in this state at some later point.” 

Madoka smiled. That was correct.

“And she’s here?” Homura asked warily. “This other person…”

“That’s right. It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

Madoka didn’t like how Homura flinched when Mami, who had struggled a bit to squeeze around the still frozen Tatsuya, made herself known, or how Homura stared at her like she was looking at a threat to her life. Mami gave as disarming a smile as she could. 

“To be fair, I’m probably a threat to her in at least one timeline back then, right Homura?”

Homura nodded guiltily while Mami smiled reassuring her, she had already deduced that a lot earlier during the viewings.  

“My name is Mami Tomoe, and you don’t have to worry about anything, Homura. We have no reason to fight over territory or Witches, my territory is your territory. Even just being in a Soulbond means our Soul Gems can clean themselves just from its power. Grief Seeds aren’t going to be a problem.” 

Homura’s look of…was it dread, didn’t go away. Madoka wasn’t entirely sure that Homura really heard what Mami said, with all of that dread. 

“Mami’s really awesome, she can do a lot with her powers just like you. I know I’m not a Magical Girl, so maybe I can’t tell, but I’m sure that neither of you has to worry about anything.” Madoka tried to assure Homura that there was nothing to worry about. Mami looked a bit bothered at this point at Homura staring at her like Homura expected her to die at any moment. 

…

Suddenly Oriko spoke, breaking the silence.

“That’s probably what she is thinking at that moment.”

Homura just glared at Oriko while choosing to stay silent.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I assure you there is nothing you need to worry about.” Mami once more assured Homura. Madoka felt like Mami was wondering if it would be best to show Homura that she wasn’t a greenhorn, and was going over possible scenarios. Madoka wasn’t an expert, not like Homura or Mami, but maybe they could go after a Witch together, or would that be a bad thing? Stepping on each other's toes like Mami and her dad in the kitchen and stuff like that. 

“Hmm… you are right, especially to those who are territorial magical girls.” Kyoko said knowing that she’s probably one of the most territorial girls out there.

Homura’s connection with Mami was much weaker than Madoka’s, so she wasn’t sure what Homura was aware of when it came to Mami’s thoughts, but she avoided eye contact. 

“...Experience doesn’t make yourself untouchable.” 

“And she’s right, I mean she literally went against Walpurgis every timeline for four or more years, and most of the results are shown in Madoka’s dream.” Oriko once again explained to everyone.

“You should be fine. Mitakihara’s just a place, it’s not going to get any really scary things in it. I mean Witches are apparently really scary, I haven’t seen any yet so I don’t know, but nothing like you’ve seen before.” 

It was only as Madoka said that, speaking with the thoughts of Homura’s nightmare, that she realized she hadn’t mentioned that part about Soulbonds yet, and Homura’s expression was that of confusion with a sense of ‘I’m going to hear or see something bad soon.’ Er…oops. 

“Um…Homura….you had a nightmare last night, right?”

“...You experienced it too, didn’t you?” Homura asked, sounding like she just wanted to go in a corner and stay there. 

“Yeah….” Madoka wanted to say she was sorry Homura had to go through that…but did sorry even cut it? Plus Homura could surely feel her feelings about it, so words weren’t necessary. 

“Yeah, I experienced it in my body? My other timeline self’s dead body? And it is not fun at all.”

Meanwhile Homura was about to look guilty again when Madoka spotted this, she immediately hugged her and the quintet following.

“We…won’t pry if you don’t want to tell, but if you’ve suffered losses….it’s hard to come back from that.” Mami began, and once again the exact topic of what had happened to Mami’s family…was just on the edge, but hadn’t quite come out yet. They had died, but Mami had yet to talk about how. “But…I like to think of all of this as a new start, a chance to regain something like what I lost.” 

“I’ve done that before.” Homura again didn’t elaborate, but it would seem to confirm the unthinkable idea that Mami had suggested, that the dream with her dead friends had not been Homura’s first time experiencing that. “....at some point, it's not worth trying anymore. It’s just more pain to lose people, it's just….better to be alone.” 

… Everyone stayed quiet knowing this wasn’t the time to react or say something.

“Then why were you going after Familiars?” Mami asked, and Homura had no response to give at first. What she did say…was clearly a deflection though. 

“I’m not that kind of Magical Girl.” 

That response made Mami frown, and…oddly, it felt like Homura knew that response would happen. Madoka didn’t really get why it made Mami frown, she was missing something here. Something that Homura knew somehow. Did Magical Girls know about veterans and talked about them, and there was gossip she was missing. Madoka felt like that made sense, but if so why hadn’t Kyubey or Mami heard of a Magical Girl like Homura who defeated two apocalyptic Witches and lived to tell about it? That felt like it should be the biggest gossip among Magical Girls. Madoka wasn’t sure what was being said without saying it, but it was probably best to deflect onto another topic. Though it might also start an argument. 

“Thank you for that Madoka” Homura said as she remembered how she immediately became tense when Mami frowned. 

“So Homura, you know how you reacted to my thoughts about making a contract with Kyubey negatively….why is that?” 

“Everything about that thing is the reason why I reacted negatively.”

Madoka nodded as she now understood why Homura hates Kyubey.

Homura looked away again, not looking either of them in the eye. 

“Contracts….don’t bring anything good. You have a good life and a loving family. You do not need to make a deal with Kyubey.” 

“But what about the fact that my life is tied to…” Madoka flinched as Homura gave her a look that felt eerily like her parents giving her a scolding. She could feel Mami bristle at the look Homura was giving her.

“That won’t be necessary.” 

“But you were worried about Mami’s life being tied to yours…” 

“ That won’t be necessary.” 

“As much as I hate seeing Homura like this, and how she is just basically bullying Madoka not to contract, I gotta agree with her. It won’t be necessary for you to contract Madoka.” Junko said in understanding as to why Homura is so strict against it.

“It’s not your decision if Madoka does or does not contract.” Mami told Homura coolly. “You can’t force her to not contract.” 

“You have surely given her advice on contracting. I’m giving her the same advice.” Homura replied back, her tone steely. Madoka could feel Homura’s seriousness on the topic, it was solid. It was a view so ironclad that Madoka didn’t think she had that strong of an opinion about anything in her life, not even that food tasted good and that kittens were adorable. There were fundamental aspects of life that were inarguably true, and then there was how serious Homura was about Madoka not becoming a Magical Girl, ever.

“I mean after everything she experienced and found out? Of course she’ll be against contracting, that only leads to suffering.” Oriko says as she remembers a lot of magical girls who became a witch.

“ I talked about the idea, you outright told her what to do.” 

“Madoka is free to ignore my advice. She shouldn’t, but she can if she wishes.” 

“Note to self, don’t let Homura do the negotiations, her social awareness is lacking a lot.” Mami said to herself which was heard by the quintet as they started laughing. Homura meanwhile just sighed knowing how bad she was when it comes to socializing.

“That’s not how you are coming off.” Mami sounded just shy of expecting Homura to physically stop Madoka if she so much as started saying the words ‘I wish’. “You’ve already been attacking Kyubey when you just thought you were making a territory for yourself, and if you didn’t come here for Madoka. Now that you have someone you want to ‘protect’ from contracting, I can’t imagine that you’d be any less vigilant about it.” 

Visually Madoka couldn’t notice any tells from Homura, but she could just feel Homura trying to find a response, and the only reassuring thought was that Madoka didn’t get the impression that the idea of actually stopping her was part of it. Though please can you two stop fighting…changing the topic was a bad idea…

“It really was a bad idea” 

“You and I are both veterans. That’s noteworthy because of how rarely that happens. Most Magical Girls die as rookies, you and I both know that. To contract is to put Madoka in the most dangerous position she could possibly be in.” 

The adults all clenched their fists, that damn incubator…

That wasn’t a lie, but it was clearly not the first response Homura thought of. What Homura was thinking of she couldn’t tell, and part of Madoka was scared to ask. Another part was scared of Homura not sharing it…

“Most of those Magical Girls are also on their own. That wouldn’t be the problem with Madoka. If she wants to make a wish or not, that is her choice, not ours.” Mami countered, and she could feel Mami feeling like she had an answer for everything Homura could say. 

“And having Kyubey in her house is going to continuously pressure her to make a wish.” Homura also gave that feeling off. Which would be kind of neat if they were playing a card game and not…arguing Soulmates with their third staring at the both of them worryingly. 

“Yeah, you guys will only end up hurting your other partner if you guys continue to fight.” Junko says worryingly.

“We’ll keep that in mind Mrs. Kaname” Mami replied.

“Kyubey actually was pretty light on it.” Mami admitted, sounding willing to admit it despite the fact that doing so did admit that Homura had a point aloud. Homura’s eyebrow rose a bit at that. 

“And in just a few days, he’ll be bothering me, no, all of us for Madoka to contract.” Mami says remembering that time Kyubey first went too far.

The quintet all remembered that day when Sayaka cried because Kyubey had been abusing her into making Madoka make a contract. Yeah, that little shit needs to be gone.

“Oh really?” She looked at Madoka and then at Mami’s ring, particularly at the colorful part. “And that came up after you introduced her as your Soulmate? The same bond that, according to Madoka, is why our Soul Gems are cleaning themselves?” 

Mami raised her own eyebrow, unsure about what Homura was going for with this.

“That’s correct.” 

Homura was thinking about something. Her mysterious Soulmate had pieces she was putting together, things that she and Mami knew and things that she and Mami clearly didn’t know, and it was kept close to her chest. All Madoka could feel was that whatever Homura came to conclude…was something that intrigued her. An intrigue that had Homura looking her over, as if those details plus Madoka herself meant something, and Mami was trying to figure out what Homura was thinking and what that meant and how to respond to it if Homura got too close to scolding her against contracting again. The two of them felt like coiling springs, and Madoka didn’t want them to go off again. 

“Oh yeah, what was it that you were piecing things together back there?” Madoka asked curiously, while Homura just shrugged saying, “Maybe it will be shown later.” Madoka nodded, thinking that Homura might not be ready.

“I really, really don’t know what to wish for. I mean, what would I ever want?” Madoka pulled the two back to the earlier point as they both looked at her like they were ready to go another round. “But what about we just agree to…not talk about that for now. If anything happens, it happens….but only because I really need it to happen.”

The two Magicai Girls looked warily at each other: Mami’s an expression of ‘that was my point, how are you going to argue it Homura?’ Homura’s was...wary, but it didn’t seem to be about her sincerity or Mami. 

“Needs to happen is subjective. It should only be for something important.” Homura slowly stated, sounding like she knew this was going to be a point of difference between them. 

“A wish for anything should be important.” Madoka sincerely explained back. 

“...I’ve seen Magical Girls make contracts over food bills, injured cats, and being late for school. Those aren’t important enough to make a contract over.” Homura explained, truly sounding like she’d seen girls just like Madoka Kaname make those wishes. Mami, despite her dislike of Homura’s tone, couldn’t seem to bring herself to argue with the point. 

…

“...Homura, did I wish for something like those back then?”

“Yes… saving Amy…”

“Well, no regrets I guess.”

Everyone stared at Madoka, wow she’s quick to fold.

“That’s why I always save Amy early in the timeline so that you won’t have to contract.”

“Thanks for that Homura.”

“I have good enough attendance I can make a mistake or two, and Sayaka always tries to pay for her meals.” Madoka….well she liked cats. She didn’t want to think about ignoring a kitty in trouble, but definitely not those two other things. Honestly she didn’t want to think about that sort of question, like she didn’t want to think about what an ‘important’ wish would be. Homura clearly caught the absence and looked at her, and seemingly despite herself, she eventually sighed. 

“I believe you.” That was true, but there was a wariness to it. Like Homura expected that something would come up to make Madoka go back on what she said without being a liar or insincere about it. “If we are…permitted to go to another topic, you said that being Soulmates makes us essentially married.” 

“That’s correct.” 

“And that means that we can live together.” 

“Yes.” 

“And because I am an orphan, I can live with your family.” 

“It should help with your nightmares. I can tell you from first hand experience I slept well last night…bar waking up.” Mami, for all of her questions about Homura's actions, was not going to tell her to stay out. Madoka briefly felt jealousy from Homura on the topic of Mami sleeping in Madoka’s bed last night, but she didn’t outwardly express it. 

“It’s fine now, we love each other equally, so there won’t be any jealousy happening, I think.” Homura says in uncertainty while the quintet nodded at her, although all of them need to get to know each other first.

“...Then I will move in.” 

She and Mami didn’t look at each other, but this wasn’t just Homura being lonely and wanting companionship, or that she didn’t want to experience a Soulbond problem again. Homura clearly thought that living here would be the best way to keep Madoka safe, either from contracting or Witches. Two were better than one after all. And Mami seemed to have picked up that point. 

“It’s your right to, and Madoka’s parents will love to meet you when time isn’t frozen.” Mami said slowly, trying to not take offense from the idea that she wasn’t enough to keep Madoka safe. “I’m also here.” 

Homura nodded, clearly not thrilled with the idea, but not bothered by it either. Madoka made a mental note to try and think of a way to get the two to get along better, or this was going to be a problem. Not every Soulmate hit it off immediately, sure, she knew that, but it would be better for Mami and Homura to bond sooner rather than later. Not even for any potential problems, just because she didn’t want them to fight. 

“Yeah, we definitely didn’t have the best first impressions with each other back there.” Mami said.

“Thank you for trying at least, Madoka.” Homura said thankful for her.

“It’s no problem, I just want you two to not fight and love each other”

“I’m also keeping up patrols. Mitakihara doesn’t deserve to be consumed by Witches just because neither of us need a Grief Seed anymore.” Mami threw the point out there to test the waters. Homura nodded. 

“That is acceptable. Would you like assistance or do you prefer to keep to yourself unless requested otherwise?”  

“Homura sounds like a business woman there.” Junko said while looking at Homura. It looks like Homura has potential. She just needs more knowledge in social clues, awareness and alertness.

Homura passed the test Mami threw out. 

“We should do so at least once to see for ourselves. I’ll answer the question after that.” 

“So Homura…what does your magic do other than stop time and let yourself steal guns from the Yakuza? Kyubey mentioned it.” Madoka asked, wanting to keep this productive train going. Mami joined it. 

“Going back in time, wait no, that’s wrong. Going through different timelines in a fixed point.” Oriko explained, Homura once again irked, as Oriko seems to be learning a lot in this viewing.

“My power is creation, mostly in relation to ribbons.” She offered. Homura nodded, accepting the request to explain her abilities as she showed them her shield. 

“My powers are connected to my shield. With it I can stop and start time. It also has storage capacity that I have yet to find a limit on.” 

That was neat. 

“Are you limited to just what you can fit in there?” Madoka asked as Homura shook her head. So could it hold any size item. So could she fit a couch in there? A car? A tank?! Should she ask? Mami’s expression was sympathetic. 

Everyone looked at Homura, expecting her to answer which yes, she did answer but only one word came out of her mouth.

“Yes.”

The adults and the pair of soulmates widen their eyes, that is so useful and so dangerous… Imagine a nuke in her shield… scary or worse… a witch. 

Nah that’s impossible.

“That must have taken work to figure out. I know it did with my powers.” 

“It did.” Homura didn’t elaborate, and this avenue seemed to be closed. Madoka made a note to be wary about anything about Homura’s past. That seemed to make Homura close up or evade the topic. Though there was something Madoka did have to address. 

“Um…my parents have photos of you from the hospital and you…kind of look different from them, and act differently. That…could be a problem.”

Homura’s expression was ponderous, as if she was trying to figure out how to solve that problem. Mami however, had an idea. 

“I hate that plan.” Homura mumbled to herself while Mami just smiled at her.

Homura didn’t like it, but neither of them had a better idea than Mami’s idea. So a half an hour later, time restarted and the two of them stepped out to ‘meet’ Homura and bring her home through the front door like she’d just been down the street, Homura went through with Mami’s plan. 

“I’m honored to meet you. I’m Homura Akemi, your daughter’s other Soulmate. I’m sorry if I caused you or your wife any trouble.” Homura bowed, authentic in her politeness but Madoka could feel her irritation at the solution that Mami had come up with.

“It’s no trouble at all. I’m just glad you’re here, safe and sound.” Her dad happily greeted back, having seen the mark on her hand to know for sure. The reason why was noted next. “But I must admit, you changed your hairstyle and you do feel like someone completely different from what the hospital showed us.” 

Homura’s embarrassment wasn’t false, but it wasn’t from where her dad thought it came from. 

“I…I had a lot of time to think about who I wanted to be after I got through the last of my surgeries. I wanted to be a new me, a new heart, a new person. And with a new school…” 

Her dad laughed, understanding layering his chuckles alongside his mirthy. 

“Oh, the old High School Debut. Oh I remember that from my youth. I could tell you stories about Madoka’s mother…but you should meet her first. But I get it, a new start and a new you. Just don’t be afraid to let your guard down with us. You don’t need to be someone else, you can be yourself. If you want to be your old self again, we’ll understand.” 

That statement, unknown to her dad, bothered Homura greatly, even if she knew that he didn’t mean anything by it beyond genuine assurances. Homura’s annoyance with her dad was briefer than her annoyance at Mami for the plan, which lasted until her mom got home after dinner, drunk after a long day where the company celebrated her daughter’s good fortune and her mom’s new daughter-in-law. Her mom drunkenly didn’t notice Homura, but with how chatty she was with Mami, Homura didn’t mind at all. 

When Homura got her…hopefully not vengeance but a different word that meant the same thing but less mean…on Mami, she did help her disengage Mami and get the three of them to bed with the power of her ‘new heart’. 

“Wait, was that Homura….or am I seeing things?” Her mom asked as her father took her to bed, genuinely confused in her drunken haze and not sure if she had two new housemates or just the one. 

Morning would have Homura need to ‘explain’ things again, and probably find out more about her mom’s own youthful antics. But before that, sleep. 

“10/10, good plan out there,” the adults, especially the Kaname's, smiled.

Meanwhile Homura almost jumps and bow to Tomohisa and apologizes for getting annoyed at him, but he just smiled at her assuring her that everything is fine.

When Homura was sleeping, she seemed a lot smaller than she did when she was awake. Madoka was holding her from behind, not…not wanting to use the terms her mom gave for what she was doing just, and Homura just seemed to shrink in her arms, but not in a bad way. She seemed to just…relax, like she was finally at some sort of peace. Homura’s hands had found her own that wrapped around the dark-haired girl’s waist to settle on, and while those warm hands only rested on them lightly, Madoka felt they’d resist letting her own hands go with all they had if she moved them. Another word for how Homura looked was…maybe vulnerable? As if Homura’s guard was down when she was like this, and she was no longer acting as tough as she usually was, and that guard had been up for far too long to be healthy. 

… Everyone is quiet as they hear Madoka narrate how Homura is when she is sleeping. She really looked so at peace, damn that incubator…

Homura just wants this to end, she can’t keep looking at herself being so vulnerable and weak. Even though her soulmates tell her otherwise.

“...She seems so different when she’s sleeping.” Madoka quietly whispered behind her to where Mami was slipping into bed, her older Soulmate moving close to her to also hold her. She wouldn’t be able to move much when she slept tonight, something that she didn’t mind at all.  

“It’s hard to wear a mask when sleeping, sweetie.” Mami mused quietly as she got in close, her arms going around Madoka. Madoka smiled, the warmth of one Soulmate was something that made her feel more alive and warm than she had even before she got the marks yesterday, but two…was this what heaven felt like? No…maybe not. Because one of them felt really sad. 

Those who often wear a mask all nod, it is definitely hard to keep a mask when sleeping.

“....Mami, this might be a little personal…'' She felt a sense of assurance from Mami that any question was okay, assuring her she could ask anything. “But, you and Homura are both…really lonely, right? Or at least, you used to be.” 

“Correct.” Mami admitted, sounding like she was happy to have that idea in the past. 

“You are both magical girls and have been for a while, and you both er…use guns? I kind of was stretching a bit there, but you get what I mean. You're both a lot alike. So why are you so different?” 

“It’s a matter of the experiences Madoka, Mami here, while she suffered due to her loneliness is nothing compared to what Homura has gone through, No offense Mami.” Junko lectured, while Mami nodded at her indicating she took no offense.

Mami sighed, sounding like she had thought about this herself earlier.

“Sweetie, sometimes…for some people, being alone is like a prison. It’s cold, you are miserable, and you want to be anywhere else. But no matter what you do, you are always stuck there. But for others, there is a certain…comfort in that darkness. Sometimes if you are lonely for long enough, you can convince yourself you are used to it and that it doesn’t make you miserable. I could never be like that, but Homura…I guess Homura became so lonely she adapted to the idea of always being alone to a point that the opposite might scare her more.”

Or maybe…maybe loss had convinced her it was better to be alone.  

Homura nodded as memories of Homura, being friends with everyone appeared in the minds of the quintet, only for them to die, and for Homura to do it again and they still die, over and over in an endless cycle. 

Sayaka, along with Madoka, felt like throwing up at seeing their dead bodies and their witch self while Kyoko and Mami looked shaken.

Homura noticed this, and was about to apologize but she was cut off by the quintet suddenly hugging her.

They now know why Homura is like this… Seeing it in their own eyes even though it’s all fragmented… Yeah, they will definitely have trauma now, and only a magical girl therapist could understand.

“Do you think she’ll ever tell us what happened to her?” Madoka wondered if their fellow Soulmate would ever tell them about her past, instead of them seeing fractions of it in dreams. 

“..I don’t know. She’ll tell you before me that’s for sure, and I don’t need to see our marks to know that.” 

It was weird. Homura seemed to have gone through her entire life without knowing what a Soulmate was, and she acted like it was something terrifying. Yet she was already so attached to her, and while Madoka knew intellectually that Homura’s reaction to the idea of having her soul linked with others and how Homura acted with her were contradictory, it somehow…made sense emotionally? In the heart? It was hard to explain really, even to herself. It was different than with Mami. 

“You two are going to be okay, right?” Madoka asked after a moment, looking at the back of Mami’s hand where her marks were. “You and Homura are so far apart.” 

Mami let out a long sigh.

“It’s not ideal, I’ll admit. The space between us is vast, and I can’t imagine how it would be resolved. But we have time, we have all the time in the world. It might just be as simple as the distance between Magical Girls, we are prone to competing with each other after all. Once she fully grasps how our bond, with just you at the moment, can bring light to our Soul Gems, maybe she doesn’t need to think of me as a rival for Grief Seeds….she knows that intellectually, but maybe it still has to settle in her instincts. Perhaps the problem is a wound in her heart,” Mami caught herself as she said that, and Madoka could feel her older Soulmate realize she misspoke, “er, metaphorical wound, I mean, that needs to heal first. Two complete losses….That loneliness we both feel, maybe it’s more alike than we know. Especially if that dream means what we think it does” 

Madoka wondered if Mami would elaborate about topics beyond speculation on Homura’s nightmare, but Mami just snuggled in closer. She didn’t want to dwell on that thought it seemed, or Homura’s nightmare.

“...Would it help if I switched…” Homura’s resting hands on her own seemed to intensify, not holding them down but making it clear she wasn’t going to move. She could feel Mami smile. 

“No, sweetie, somehow I don’t think Homura would rather be held by me instead of you. Not now certainly. You're just going to have to stay between us.” 

Between Homura and Mami…when they were awake, that felt dangerous. The two had argued intensely about her contracting with Kyubey, both of them earnest in their opinions on the matter even as there was clearly something more motivating both of them then just their opinions on being a Magical Girl. With Mami it was loneliness that she feared falling into again, with Homura it was fear of further loss. Both of those underlying emotions ran deep, and Madoka hoped there was more than just her keeping that argument from turning violent. But here, in bed, being between them felt safe. Like nothing could get her. What were the old stories of boogiemen when two Magical Girls were motivated to keep you as safe as possible? 

“It didn’t really take that long for both of us to warm up to each other.” Mami said with a smile while hugging Homura.

“Mhm, perhaps I just need to learn how to socialize.” Homura added while everyone nodded at her cause wow, her social knowledge and awareness and alertness is just ‘lacking’.

Kyubey ensured that the body currently present near the uncompleted Soulbonded quintet was well hidden, even though all three of them were currently asleep, as the unknown Magical Girl was proving far too fond of destroying them. Fond and quick to do so, with Mami Tomoe and Madoka Kaname’s ability to prevent her from doing so again currently at an unknown level to risk needless loss of bodies. That sort of behavior wasn't unheard of, as it was a fairly consistent pattern of behavior among Magical Girls who were in the stage between discovering the truth of their existence, and fulfilling their role by maturing into the Witch state. However the girl was not acting in a way that suggested her obtaining that information was recent. She may in fact be among the higher percentiles of Magical Girls who could endure that knowledge without a change to their existence in either completed metamorphosis or self-termination. The lack of information on her was the only reason this was not a certainty. 

“Oh look, Kyubey, wait… It’s showing Kyubey, maybe we’ll finally learn its objective.” Junko says excitedly because oh boy she was ready to take revenge on that little shit.

“That knowledge…” Mami looked at Homura as she replied to her, “Yes, the knowledge that our fate is to become a witch.”

Everyone stayed silent for a while, moments later, Hitomi asked, “What does the incubator mean by enduring that knowledge?” referring to what Homura said earlier.

“Most magical girls either hatch into a witch themselves in despair, Some try to defy it by continuing on like Homura, Some become a magical girl serial killer in the name of all good and justice so that they won’t mature into witches, Some even kill themselves to avoid this fate.”

It was not Homura who replied to Hitomi’s question, instead it was Oriko who’s eyes looked hunted.

Homura for once is glad that Oriko answered because she doesn’t know what to do when she answers and memories resurface. She can’t java so she has to control it. It’s all because she’s been unstable that memories are being shown to her soulmates.

Was it because of the Soul Bond? Was that keeping her in a premature form? That would seem to be incompatible with her reactions to the concept of a Soul Bond itself, as Homura Akemi seemed to find the concept as alien and confusing as the Incubators were even after thousands of years observing humanity. The Soul Bond was a bizarre facet of humanity they couldn’t figure out, they could only adapt to what had been determined by observations of the odd quirk of the species. 

…

Thousands of years

Those words went through them, all of this suffering has been going on for that long!?

The magical girls and Madoka aren’t really surprised by this because of the revelation from Suzembachi and how she is apparently a lot older than what she looks.

The adults though looked stricken, how could people not see that there is something happening like this for so long?

One adaptation was avoiding contracting among those with existing bonds. They tended to resist maturation better than those without them, and it was a waste of effort to have most Magical Girls exist for longer than a few earth years. Very few were worth not giving a bit of a push towards their final forms if they were lingering too long in their juvenile state. Mami Tomoe, also part of this soul bond, was one such exception. It would be quite easy to induce the girl towards her Witch state, humans would use the term ‘casually’ to describe the ease of doing so. Should it be deemed warranted to induce the process on Mami Tomoe immediately, it could be accomplished in approximately twenty-two earth minutes and seven seconds. However Mami Tomoe’s coping mechanisms that allowed her to endure the condition of loneliness were so convincing to other humans that she was quite a boon towards getting other magical girls to contract, and to hasten themselves to their final state when they couldn’t live up to the example that Mami Tomoe set for herself, and inadvertently all those around her. Humans had a similar concept for their own agricultural practices called a Judas Goat. A livestock animal whose job it was, unaware the entire time of their purpose, to lead other livestock towards processing and liquidation. It was also quite beneficial to them that Mami Tomoe’s lonely nature meant that it was quite easy to have an Incubator be around her and give the occasional nudge to keep her productive nature ongoing. Such Magical Girls were quite rare, and when Mami Tomoe was to eventually germinate or die it would be difficult to replace her. 

“Did Kyubey just…” 

“Yes, the incubator sees us and always compares us to animals,” Homura seethingly said, angry on behalf of Mami, the incubator will not insult her soulmates by comparing them to animals. 

The quintet are quiet, silently agreeing with Homura.

All the magical girls are angry right now, even Yuma and Nagisa.

Their own efforts were no longer needed to ensure Mami Tomoe’s stability, as Madoka Kaname had quickly fulfilled the role much better than they could, mostly as a result of actually having a desire to keep Mami Tomoe happy and stable that was not tied to her usefulness, and with the three parts of the bond currently active all together it would be hard to induce maturation. Madoka Kaname would protect Mami Tomoe because of human cultural norms and instincts that would soon take on the form of the state of human existence known as ‘love’ if it hadn’t already, while Homura Akemi would act to resist the growth process out of both love for Madoka, already in an highly advance state from what could be determined, the cause of which was unfathomable with the limited interactions the two had, and a much more comprehensible pragmatism. Homura Akemi had likely already guessed that while Soul Bonds could help resist growth by despair, if one of them in a soul bond fell to it, so did all others. Their Soul Gems, after all, were now linked. Linked Magical Girls who did fall as one created vast amounts of energy, though it was also a difficult endeavor to induce the required scenario that rarely made the process worth active pursuit. Despite the cripping vulnerabilities in Mami Tomoe they were quite aware of, it would be a harder scenario now to induce Mami’s maturation into a Witch between Homura Akemi’s wariness and Madoka Kaname’s balming influence, it would be an even harder scenario than attempting to put the uncultivated Madoka Kaname in a lethal scenario to induce either her own contract or to work towards the others maturations. Both Mami Tomoe and Homura Akemi would immediately put their differences aside in that moment, and between Mami Tomoe’s prodigious magical ability and firepower and Homura Akemi’s ability to manipulate time such a scenario would be hard to achieve realistically. Making Madoka Kaname experience terror and desperation was not an optimal use of their time without a guaranteed contracting outcome. 

SoulBonds had a clear trend, though for no discernable reason, to occur when humans contracted. It wasn’t frequent enough to happen to warrant the entire species a poorer quality source of energy, but it happened enough to be an outcome that always needed to be considered. The problem was that there was no clear trend in their creation. There was no clear reason to believe that Mami Tome would gain a Soulbond with an uncontracted girl and a Magical Girl with no clear origin, just as it was unexpected when that contracted girl in Kamihama who regretted her suicide attempt mid-attempt to get a Soulbond immediately upon contracting with a second Magical Girl. While a Mami Tomoe who remained in her juvenile state could be useful, that suicidal Magical Girl was a prime source of effective maturation due to her lingering traumas and naive belief in a solution to her social distress, and now had not only become very unlikely to fall into the same despair again, but had also bonded with another Magical Girl whose wish to alter her crush’s sexual orientation should have also made her a quick harvest when she realized the implications and started to go after Witches in order venting her anger and self-hatred about what she had done, but now the two would be unlikely to mature into Witches at all. Such outcomes, in duos or quintets or any other combination, were always baffling and a waste of effort in hindsight. 

It was a curious trio that would become a quintet in time: one was a Magical Girl whose usefulness to them had lengthened her current existence beyond the norm. One was a Magical Girl whose origins were unknown to them, but who knew both enough to dread them and to not say anything to the others. One was a human who had such potential as a contract that, if she was to mature into a Witch, could fulfill an entire planet quota for the estimated lifespan of humanity entirely on her own. Pursuit of such a contract, a point of disagreement between the two Magical Girls about the status of their shared Soulmate, was worth extensive consideration if the possible production of energy was worth the potential of no tangible benefits to the stability of the universe. And the other two parts of the mark were also of mild curiosity, mostly in the question of if it would impact other investments or would be among those yet untapped like Madoka Kaname.

Adjustments to the scenario would be required. The exact parameters were as of yet inconclusive. 

End of Day 2

Chapter Text

Homura woke up, and it took her a second to realize that she was not staring at her ceiling in her apartment, but the wall of another room. In hindsight, the only reason she didn’t immediately get up and start pointing a gun at everything was because of the hands on her that immediately defused her fight or flight response. The only reason she didn’t start shooting every stuffed animal in the room like they were Charlotte was because of the calming effect of the others around her. She would…hope that they never realized how close she was to causing millions of yen in property damage out of paranoia and confusion. Because it took her a minute to remember, three days into this attempt to save Madoka, what exactly was going on. That memory stilled her hand just as it was reaching her shield, as she only then realized she had turned into her Magical Girl form instinctively. 

“I have been wondering… who or what is Charlotte that has you troubled,” Mami says in worry, whatever that was, was enough to give Homura a mental scar so deep. “It must’ve been a tough witch…”

“Yeah, I remember you were saying something about losing your one arm to it… Is it that dangerous?” Kyoko was worried as well.

“...It’s one of the most troublesome witch I’ve ever encountered, in the guise of a weak looking doll it deceives magical girls or should I say us, the real body of the thing was inside the doll… just as when you thought that you finally won an easy win, the real body will show up like a snake catching off it’s prey and… eating them…” Homura says with haunted eyes.

She’s trying so hard to repress all memories of Charlotte, they can’t handle those memories, of how they all died to that menace, besides they still haven’t healed from the knowledge of how and where witches come from.

“You’re not alone anymore, if we ever encounter it you have our backs” Sayaka says while grinning making the other quintet nod at her in approval, while being followed by Hitomi, Yuma and Nagisa. 

Oriko along with Kirika didn’t say anything.

However Homura just smiled at them while saying, “Charlotte will not be a problem anymore, I, no, we already prevented it.”

Everyone was confused about what she’s talking about with the exception of Oriko, and Kirika as well as the parents. It might be due to them already accepting the fate of all magical girls while the others still haven’t accepted it. Believing is different from accepting. While the adults are just them, noticing clues and putting them all together.

She stared at the wall, Madoka’s wall, for seconds, no sounds in the room but the steady breathing of Madoka and…Mami…yes….She waited for a few moments to see if she had woken them up, but she couldn’t hear any changes to their breathing. Just slow, steady breaths. When she was sure that nothing had happened she changed back out of her Magical Girl outfit, Madoka undisturbed the entire time, and remembered the odd mess she was in. 

Soulmates. Her tone when she had said that word to Madoka after her explanation had made Madoka think of…was it unicorns? That was probably it, Madoka wasn’t prone to random thoughts about unicorns during important conversations and she somehow knew what was on Madoka’s mind. Because her and Madoka being connected emotionally and mentally like that was a thing now….though on topic that was wrong. Homura Akemi knew what a unicorn was. She could describe the things if she wanted to. She even had some trivia on them beyond just the basics of a horse with a horn that didn’t like non-virgins. Soulmates, Soulbonds…that was something beyond a unicorn. It was something that she had only heard the term of, but knew nothing else. It was….what was a good example….what did she know that was comparable…mokele-mbembe?

Homura only had a vague idea what that was, just as the idea of a Soulmate or Soulbond was something she was only vague about…and here she was in a timeline where those were very much a thing, and she was in one with four others. Two of whom were in the same bed as her now. Three days into a new timeline, and she was already lost in a way she hadn’t been in…she didn’t even want to think about it, because that would involve counting her failures. She shouldn’t go back to sleep just yet…it wasn’t that far from when they were supposed to wake up and she wanted time to get her thoughts together before the day started so she had an idea of what was going on and how that affected her. She’d start with the negatives, and there was a big one right off the bat.

Homura Akemi did not know anything about Soulmates, Soulbonds, and Soulmarks. She was completely in the dark about what was clearly a fundamental aspect of this reality, and while Madoka and Mami were beyond willing to give her some slack about it…Homura didn’t need some sort of uncanny connection to the both of them to tell they were dumbfounded by the fact she didn’t know anything about it. Homura had no idea if that was on the time travel or the fact she spent most of her life having her heart worked on and had missed something that important, but there was certainly a limit beyond where even they’d accept her ignorance on the matter, and it was a limit that Homura couldn’t see or fathom where it was. It was also a matter that she would not be able to gather information on easily, as it was not a topic she could ask anyone else and get the same acceptance that came from Madoka and Mami, and researching the matter would need to be done stealthy. Madoka’s parents already thought she was one of those people who drastically changed themselves for high school thanks to Mami’s suggestion, and had accepted the idea very easily, but Homura didn’t want to fathom what they’d think if they caught her looking up something that should be common knowledge. Who knew what they’d assume without Mami giving them a direction?

She was already going to be wary of Sayaka and Kyoko: Madoka had already mentioned she had to convince the former she wasn’t an escaped mental patient. Sayaka distrusted her easily, and the last thing she needed was having a repeat of the time Sayaka thought she was…what did she call her in that one timeloop when the girl got some really strange ideas about what ‘the transfer student’s deal was’? A Pod Person? …Whatever the term was that Sayaka had used, Homura did not want a repeat of that mess of a time reset where Sayaka, nudged by Kyubey, believed her to be whatever a Pod Person was and started acting on it. That loop had spiraled into a absolute disaster almost immediately, the only salvageable part about that mess was that eventually Sayaka realized she had been used by Kyubey and apologized, though the girl kept up that bad habit her friends had of then dying needlessly by holding off Walpurgisnacht as best she could as to let Homura reset time again. Sure the timeloop was already absolutely ruined by then, but could they all go five timeloops without killing themselves in needless suicides, last stands, mutual kills, and atonement runs? Those really didn’t help as much as they thought they did. 

Everyone was quiet as the Homura on the screen tried to dissect her predicament. It really is hard to look at her suffering all alone carrying a burden as big as this…

Sayaka looked guilty at her on screen past self, she really is always messing up huh… 

Discrete research was going to be necessary, cautiously either by questions to Madoka or Mami or only looking it up on the internet where only the three year old would be her witnesses. She’d need to figure out the former’s limits as best as she could before attempting it, the latter would depend on her exact freedoms and expectations placed upon her by societal norms in the next seven days before she returned to school. As for Kyoko…well Kyoko was always a wild card. She could be uncaring about anyone else when she showed up until someone made her care, she could adopt some random orphan and lighten up so much she showed up at Mami’s place as a borderline productive member of society, she could sometimes never show up at all. At least Sayaka was consistent in always showing up and the seemingly minor things that Homura could do that made the bluenette not like her. She did not need more wildcards when things were already in flux if she could help it. Which she couldn’t. 

“... We really didn’t help you in your case huh,” Kyoko muttered.

“Well, the past timelines were not that hard but, I guess isolating yourself really makes it a lot harder to find allies… I guess that’s my fault for thinking that staying away from Madoka and turning off my feelings because I thought it was for the best”

The Quintet is silent knowing that they probably did a lot of bad things that hindered Homura from her mission.

“How are we making up to you…”

She took a look at her hand again, the one with the diamonds. Blue and Red…she could see them in the faint dim of the room, seemingly more than they should. The question of if the things glowed or not aside, it couldn’t possibly mean….Homura shook the thought aside, though it did lead to the second problem. Her life was now connected to Madoka’s and Mami’s. That…that was not a good thing. It was hard enough keeping Madoka alive, and she’d have driven herself insane if she tried as hard with everyone else. She tried where she could to keep the others alive, but if it had to happen….if somehow she got the best future she had yet to achieve and lost Sayaka, Mami, or Kyoko to get it….she could live with it. Even as bad of a future as it was with just her and Madoka surviving would be worth considering if she had ever achieved it. But that was just with one person’s life meaning one person’s life. While any of them dying was a bad thing, it was in the end only one death. Sayaka could survive without Mami, and Mami had survived Sayaka or Kyoko or…or Madoka dying without turning into Candeloro. But now…now one death could be three deaths, if not five deaths. Did it count when the bond wasn’t active? Failure to save Madoka wouldn’t just be another unforgivable sin on her part, it would be the end. There would be no more attempts to get it all right, and that extended to Mami too. While Mami wasn’t actually someone Homura would consider easy to kill, there were about sixty to seventy Witches that appeared in more than one timeloop, and maybe five of them could kill Mami without something very unexpected going wrong, and four of them that Mami had trouble with were ones that she had a better match with, and at worst Kyoko, a Sayaka with some actual training and experience, and even Madoka at the worst possible outcome could handle them to keep Mami safe. There was also Walpurgisnacht, but it was Walpurgisnacht and Mami getting killed by such a thing was no mark against the veteran. Still, there had only been one timeline where she had someone else helping her fight that thing where there hadn’t been at least one death before she had to leave the timeline, and in no timeline where Walpurgisnacht had been defeated had anyone else survived to see the end with her. The only time someone else had outlived Walpurgisnacht alongside her…

“Candeloro… is that-” Mami was cut off by Homura.

“Yes… that’s your name as a witch.”

“....” Everyone is silenced by this revelation.

It is one thing knowing your fate as a magical girl but learning something that was supposed to be your name once you matured? It took a toll on Mami.

Deep inside Mami’s soul, somebody perked up by the mention of her name, could it be…

‘I don’t want to hurt anyone….’

She shuddered, a shudder that made Madoka whimper behind her in her sleep. She immediately banished that memory, holding her fear back as she waited for Madoka to react further, and only let out her fear when it was clear that Madoka was back to being soundly asleep. No….she couldn’t afford any more nightmares. It was going to be one thing to get through Walpurgisnacht with both Mami and Madoka alive, even if they could beat it, and she had never come up with a solution to solving the inherent problem of preventing Madoka, Mami, Sayaka, and Kyoko’s deaths in that fight that wasn’t morally abhorrent. Madoka wouldn’t be the only person who wouldn’t forgive Homura Akemi if she got half the school to contract and threw them at Walpurgisnacht as fodder to protect Madoka and Mami, and Sayaka, and Kyoko if she showed up with their lives. Oh yes, the nightmare, and the fact that at least Madoka could experience her nightmares, if not also Mami in theory if not practice. That was going to be a problem. 

Homura Akemi had learned that it was practically impossible to share information about the future, it never ended well. It seemed impossible to share the information about Witches with a Magical Girl and have it end well. You could not share the fact they were basically liches safely. Telling them that Kyubey was evil or lying to them…could occasionally work with Kyoko, but only occasionally and was a no go as with everyone else without proof from Kyubey’s own actions to make the Anglican orphan at least slightly suspicious on her own. As Kyubey’s own actions benefited the Incubator and hurt them all as a result, that was a bad thing. She had lucked out that the first nightmare she had was something Mami could interpret in a way that worked in her favor, but she had seen too many things that if Madoka got them in a nightmare…Madoka was not the best liar, and that wasn’t in timelines where Mami could feel Madoka’s emotions. She knew exactly why Mami could never find out about Witches, and most of the time it didn’t have her life connected to Mami’s. This wasn’t a timeline where Mami could turn into Candeloro or kill herself without further consequence than those two bad outcomes, if that happened they were all screwed. At least the nightmares could be dispelled by the Soulbond, she hadn’t slept as well as she had last night since…since before she had found out what Witches were. When she was just an innocent, stupid little girl happy to have her best friend and mentor back and discovering she could too kill Witches with bombs she learned to make from terrorist websites. 

It hurts the Quintet… It hurts seeing Homura not trust them. 

Homura, feeling their guilt, tried to reassure them that it’s all in the past and that she now trusts them. But that really didn’t work as the quintet felt doubt when Homura spoke.

Her ignorance, her life being no longer fully in her own hands, and the fact her subconscious could get them all killed at any time…did she have any other major negatives to dwell on? Oh yes, she was now no longer able to act independently. Her own health, physically, mentally, possibly outright spiritually or soulwise, meant she had to be around Madoka more prominently. Maybe she could get farther now that the marks had..was stabilized the right word (?), but Madoka’s parents were good parents. That meant they didn’t want children under their care wandering off to kill serial killers before they could strike. Mami and Madoka would also be curious why she vanished off and returned with a lot of missing bullets and no Grief Seed, and she might not be able to lie about it. There were things she preferred to do in the days before she transferred in that she simply couldn’t do now, and now she’d just have to hope that Oriko didn’t contract in this timeline. She couldn’t be sure about her being a non-factor with some application of lead to the girl’s cranium this time. It wasn’t just Magical Girls, there were Witches she tried to catch early. She had never found Charlotte before she met Madoka again in most timelines, and she looked hard for that menace whenever possible, but she removed the other three known Mami killers that were not Walpurgisnacht the moment they showed themselves in the nine days before school the moment, as well as those that were particularly dangerous to Sayaka and Kyoko. It was by her own efforts to keep Madoka as far from a contract as possible that she didn’t have a similar list of Madoka killers, but the three lists she did have had not been properly searched for and eliminated yet. The backlash from being away from her Soulmates, if that was again the right phrase to describe that living agony, had hobbled her efforts to even start to acquire even the basics.  

She could potentially steer Mami towards the Kyoko and Sayaka killers common spawn points later today, but that was still not ideal. She would need to be careful to not clue in Mami she knew what she was looking for, and the Mami killers had a bad habit of appearing in places that would make Mami immediately go after them. Charlotte loved showing up at the hospital after all, and always after Homura left it for over a week. There was a part of Homura that was suspicious of that trend, but she had never figured out if it was coincidence or not, and if that same trend appeared with the Sayaka and Kyoko killer witches.

… Everyone is quiet at how Homura explains how she couldn’t act more freely anymore, and the fact that she’s talking about killing her own kin unnerved all of them, with the exception of the Magia duo and Kyoko.

Even re-arming herself was going to be a challenge. The only thing she could do for sure as part of her to-do list without any suspicion was try to catch that cat before it met a car’s tires head on, and while it would remove Madoka’s most common contract scenario from the table she was going into a timeline with far less control than she needed to feel like she had a chance, and she couldn’t even fully control her own soul this time. 

But…there were also positives to this timeline she had to at least consider too if she was going to come up with a full plan. Soulbonds were a mystery to her, but she was also quite aware of the good they did. Just being around Madoka was like a limitless Grief Seed, which was beyond invaluable, not just for her but Mami as well. Which in turn was a massive benefit for Homura and Madoka’s lifespan. Perhaps more importantly, it made not only Madoka more willing to trust her, but Mami as well. They might not get why she was unaware of things that were well known in this timeline, and Mami still wanted Madoka to contract her soul to Kyubey, but they were not going to see her as an enemy. Mami didn’t think she was just trying to save her own skin with Madoka’s contract prevention, but, to Mami, she was just being protective in the ‘wrong way’. It was the other way around of course, but regardless Mami was going to acknowledge that Homura was coming from a good place even when she argued with her about what was best for Madoka. A good impression was something she struggled with again and again, so having it automatically was going to be invaluable. If it also extended to Sayaka, as Madoka had said that Sayaka was willing to help look for her yesterday after she was done making jokes about her being an escaped asylum inmate, she’d have a much easier time on that front. She was not some weird transfer student with…’Moe Chunni delusions’, or whatever Sayaka thought she had, she was her best friend’s wife…Soulmate….fiance….whatever the term was, it was certainly better than what Saykaa usually thought of her. Also, just being in Madoka’s home alone was beyond valuable for protecting her from Kyubey. 

Kyubey was also apparently being more reserved about trying to get Madoka to contract now. If Soulbonds were natural counters to turning into a Witch, then Kyubey would not be there to pounce on Madoka at every opportunity to take advantage of any sudden desire to help someone. Madoka was so kind, so innocent, so willing to help others it made Kyubey’s job easier and her job unfathomably harder. If Kyubey wasn’t willing to do that for every little thing, it would be near perfect. She was sure the monster was still around though, so there was clearly still something for it to gain from Madoka or it saw the potential of turning Madoka into a Witch that could fill multiple planet quotas as worth the risk or gamble, but Kyubey at any reduced level was good. 

Madoka shivered at hearing how Kyubey would only be after her because of her potential… Heck all the magical girls and even witches were all victims of that little devil. 

All of a sudden a thought came to Madoka although she has to repress it so that the quintet won’t notice.

“What if…”

And….and….Homura had to admit this last part quietly to herself, she didn’t dwell on this…if this was the timeline where they finally won, and she got out of this maze with Madoka alive…she had some idea of what would come after. She had long stopped thinking about after, there was no after until she won. Until she won, thinking about the after was only going to hurt her more. But now…now there was something approaching an end goal beyond getting her and Madoka, and as many of their friends as she could, past Walpurgisnacht. Sure, she wasn’t entirely sure about being magically married to even Madoka without her consent, let alone Mami and two others who she hoped were not Sayaka and Kyoko. But if she was…that was something beyond the maze. A vague something, but it was something. Something…something beyond the day that Walpurgisnacht died and it wasn’t just her standing afterwards. 

“I’m afraid I jinxed myself didn't I”

Everyone laughed as Homura joked about how she hoped her other two soulmates weren't Kyoko and Sayaka.

“Still… I’m thankful that it’s them… otherwise I don’t think I would have gotten along with anyone other than you four”

“You sell yourself short Homura, even if it wasn’t Kyoko and Sayaka, I believe that you would get along with others just fine.” Madoka enthusiastically says.

“While I want to agree with Madoka, we need to increase your social skills,” Mami says with a teasing smile.

Homura looked at her with a smile and chuckled, the quintet all blushed as they saw Homura’s blinding smile.

She looked back at Madoka’s sleeping face, peaceful without a hint of a brewing nightmare of the worst memory that a single slip-up of hers had risked inflicting on Madoka. It was….not a bad thing to be tied to Madoka in more than just her promise and friendship, even if she wasn’t sure of the exact means of how that happened yet. To see her sleeping face every morning and every night, and being able to feel her caring about her, truly feel it, after so long in the lonely maze…if there were no other massive surprises about Soulbonds of the likes of shared lifespans and linked nightmares, this was something worth defending and cherishing. Her thoughts betrayed a question that was not going to be relevant for a while, probably, but it was probably among the safer ones to ask. 

She was still Homura Akemi, right? Not Homura Kaname or Homura Tomoe? How did that even work? Did she need to change her introduction speech?

“Oh, that’s actually a good question.” Sayaka says while blinking at the question.

“Normally, you guys are just gonna pick one, whatever you guys pick is fine.” Tomohisa says with a smile.

Meanwhile the quintet all decided to talk about it later in the future, once walpurginacht has been defeated.

Meanwhile, Homura thought of having the surname of Kaname, it gave her warm feelings inside, she really wanted this to be the final timeline… She wanted this suffering to end and finally rest together with her soulmates and have a future where they would finally be happy and maybe have the surname of Kaname in their names.

‘Oh, that’s something that’s four years away at the least, don’t get too hung up over it just yet.’

Homura looked over Madoka’s still sleeping form, trying to move as little of her body as possible, to see an open, though still sleepy, eye of an awake Mami from the other side of the still slumbering Madoka. . 

‘Ah. ’ Well, at least Mami wasn’t looking at her like Homura had asked her why people ate food. It was at least a valid question for her to wonder about. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’  

‘No, I’m sure you know that a Magical Girl rarely gets a full sleep. Our work is never done, though I’ll confess to lying in bed for longer than I’d usually do.’

‘Understandably. ’ Homura noted, trying to convey empathy about why one would do so. Clearly her improved sleep was not limited just to her. She knew from the timelines she had put video cameras in her friend's rooms that Mami also often struggled with an easy sleep. She also knew that any benefits from hooking up a spy network in her friend’s homes only lasted until Kyubey found the cameras. From there everything promptly went to shit. The benefits of additional information on what her actions were causing to better tailor her behavior in the then-current and future timeloops was not worth their reactions to her invasion of their privacy, which was why she didn’t do it anymore. She still had the camera system in her storage though, maybe if she didn’t keep it a secret she could reuse it here. ‘So…you were also alone?’ 

“Darling… did you really,” Mami was then cut off by Homura sighing and admitting that yes, she did that back then, but it’s also to keep an eye on Kyubey and make sure that nothing wrong is happening.

“Alright, I’ll concede for now as it seems that you finally learned your lesson,” Mami says smiling, while it was disappointing to find out that Homura invaded her privacy, she is at least happy that Homura learned her lesson.

“Also, if you asked nicely and stated your reasoning then I think I would have allowed it,” Mami added while the others agreed with her.

“Yeah, having your privacy violated by someone you trust can break a relationship you know,” Madoka lectured.

“Yeah… I learned it the hard way…” 

She did have to ‘learn’ these things again. Mami didn’t look happy to dwell on it, but she clearly knew how someone could have drawn that conclusion in the previous conversation. Homura knew that Mami wasn’t aware of how she really knew that, but that was always for the best. 

“Considering the things we saw on day one and two, I have to agree with her.” Kyoko said while biting a pocky.

“Yeah… if it weren’t for the soulbond and us being soulmates, finding out that our life… no the life of being a magical girl is nothing but suffering and a cycle the incubator uses just to delay entropy.” Sayaka says while remembering that she became a witch and that their literal souls are now contained in a fragile gem.

Kyoko tsked, as she leaned down on Sayaka’s shoulder. 

Mami is silent, knowing that Homura is right, if she did know how Homura learned of her story, she wouldn’t believe her, not only that but she would get suspicious at Homura alienating their relationship even further. She was glad that she didn’t know.

‘ Yes .’ Mami said simply. Homura waited to see if Mami would elaborate, as she got the impression she hadn’t told Madoka why she was alone yet. And if Mami hadn’t told… ‘ three years. How long have you been alone?’ 

“Oh… Much longer than what I imagined…” Mami whispered to herself.

A different direction than Homura expected, focusing on time versus the exact situation she was in, but a reasonable one to go down if Mami wanted to talk about the topic in a limited way. There were two ways Homura could answer that. She could answer it as an absolute truth. 

‘Longer than I’ve been alive.’ 

‘Geeze, what sort of Chunni answer is that?!’

“She might've not been exaggerating when she said that” Mami says, wincing at the reminder and remembering her own answer.

The Quintet along with their fellow magical girls all shivered remembering the previous days.

The adults looked at them in sympathy, they had to deal with all this suffering when they’re just kids… It hurt them deeply, why can’t the incubator just cease to exist?

Which tended to be an answer that really got Sayaka annoyed with her for some reason, probably because Sayaka never had the context of time travel. The answer was funner to use on Kyoko, because screwing with Kyoko was one of the few things that amused her anymore and Kyoko…well she usually thought it was a joke. Homura had honestly lost count of how long she’d been traveling back in time, so it was entirely possible she had been in the timeloops for longer than she had been an orphan at this point. But Mami wasn’t Kyoko, Mami was asking in a genuine openness and seriousness, and that answer wouldn’t do. It would be an answer worse than not answering it at all. She would have to be honest…within a certain limitation. Because even she was being honest, she was lying.

“Well… yeah, knowing myself back when I still didn’t know much about Homura, of course I would find it annoying.” Sayaka sighed remembering that time she lashed out at Homura, though to be fair Kyubey is also at fault for pressuring her.

Meanwhile Kyoko tsked while whispering “Fuck Kyubey” as she hugged Sayaka while reassuring her.

The moment Homura mentioned screwing with Kyoko, Kyoko immediately stopped what she was doing and whipped her head at Homura. The others meanwhile are stifling a laugh, at the mention, even Sayaka laughed a little at that, which made Kyoko a bit happy though still giving Homura an annoyed eye. She will get her payback.

“Yeah, it’s hard to lie and convince Mami when she’s like that, you gotta at least be honest and answer a believable answer.” Kyoko says remembering every time she tried to lie only to be found out.

Meanwhile, Mami smiled at those words.

‘ I’ve been an orphan for most of my life. ’ Homura explained, pausing to try and figure out just how long she had been orphaned…within linear time. With timeloops counted came the ‘chunni’ answer. It…honestly was hard to remember the exact length of time anymore. All the time in the hospital before she had ever heard of Magical Girls did not help.

“That isn’t wrong per se, more like it’s a half truth which is enough to satisfy Mami.” Kyoko says impressed while Mami looked at her direction which had her shivering.

“Kyoko… honey, how do you know that I’ll be satisfied by half truth…” Mami is smiling eerily that had every magical girl shivering.

“Uh- Uhmm- uh,” Kyoko couldn’t answer.

“I’ll find that out later…” Mami says while smiling.

“I’m cooked…”

‘No memories of them at all, just their money paying for things? A poor substitute for family.’ Mami fortunately spoke up, giving her an out on trying to remember an exact date. Her expression was quite empathetic, with a pity she’d let Mami slide on because of Mami’s own history.

‘Correct. I’ve had…little life outside of the hospital and being a Magical Girl. Though I can assure you that my heart will not be a problem again.’ Homura assured Mami that she was not going to have a sudden heart attack. She was surely worried that she would suddenly…

“Are there no adults that’s been with you?” Junko says, shadow covering her eyes.

“No… I only remembered my uncle but he didn’t actively take care of me… he just paid for my Hospital bills.”

The adults in the room looked at each other with one plan in mind, teach this uncle a lesson on how to take care of a child.

‘ Your wish…you wouldn’t have the powers you do if you wished for your heart to be repaired. You do that yourself.’ Mami caught, sounding curious. As Mami had taught her how to repair her eyes and heart in the earliest timelines, she would know how to do so. The heart had always been applied but the glasses…they had once or twice stayed even with her eyes repaired. Madoka had liked them…

All of a sudden, the Quintet all looked at Homura expectantly, while Homura who was confused just tilted her head.

“Is there something wrong..??”

“No, nothing is wrong darling, we just wanna see if you look good in glasses with hair down.”

The other Quintets all nodded while still looking at her, making her sigh and took red eyeglasses from her shield and wore it.

The Quintet all had their eyes shining at how cute, how moe Homura looks with the glasses.

“Looks like I’m gonna have to wear this for a while… though, it might not be so bad.” Homura thought as she looked at her soulmates.

‘ I had something more important than myself to make a wish for.’ Homura said simply, hoping that Mami would leave it at that. She then realized that with Mami’s wish, that statement could be taken the wrong way and quickly elaborated. ‘ At the time I made my wish, I was aware that my heart, while never one that would naturally allow me to compete in sports, was not going to fail on me and kill me, or worse kill someone else by its incapacitation of me at a crucial moment. I did not need to make a wish about it. A friend needed me, and that was more important. It still is.’ 

Kyoko tsked, knowing that being selfless and wishing for others will inevitably doom you, she knows that she would forever stay dead if Homura had not time traveled to save them… but it’s also her doom isn’t it? Time looping forever and failing to save those she cared about… Well, time for that to change because now Homura has her, and their soulmates along with their other magical girl allies, as well as adults.

‘One of your….lost friends, I take it?’ Mami asked, completely sympathetic and not acting like Homura had hit a nerve. Maybe Mami could tell she realized she might have said the wrong thing, maybe she just assumed she was just being cautious for civility. Homura couldn’t tell. Regardless, she nodded. 

‘Yes.’ 

The whole theatre is quiet knowing that Madoka was the one that Homura made her wish for, and how she suffered so much just to save Madoka, and if possible, her other friends.

Mami didn’t ask anything more, at worst just to not have Kyoko come up. Homura didn’t need to find a way to explain her history with Kyubey that was safe for Mami and by extension the rest of them, or how Kyubey didn’t know her. The little creature always made note of that. With none of those topics coming up, the conversation changed course. 

‘Do you have any plans for the future?’ 

Homura shook her head.

‘...I just have something in my future now, and I don’t know how it will get there, or what happens once I get there.’ 

‘Same.’ 

Zero for three. But…perhaps together they could think of something more. They just had to get to the mythical day fifty, well beyond when any lingering problems could take them down, and the future was theirs to figure out.

"Don't worry, we’ll get there, once we defeat Walpurgisnacht.” Madoka says, smiling brightly as the other Quintets nodded at her. 

Homura, once again, is smiling and hoping that this will be the final timeline.

In the background, Oriko is already making calculations on how to help Homura while not alerting the Magius. 

“Maybe… the Kamihama Union… might be worth a shot.”

‘Well, ’ Mami said with a smile, ‘ seeing as the both of us now have something more in the future to look forward to, let’s try to figure it out together, with Madoka and the others when the time comes. Until then, let’s take it a step at a time. We do have a patrol to do after school,’ Homura nodded, that was the way to do this. Figure it out one step at a time, and hope there were no other problems to worry about she couldn’t see or even comprehend, and plan for the ones she could see coming. Those cameras could probably be set up to look for Oriko in the next few days after all, ‘and according to Madoka, we get to help with the morning ritual with her mother. Two steps towards what should be our new, better normal. That should be nice.’ 

Oriko sighed at the reminder at how much hostility Homura has on her, well it’s completely justified, but still it kind of hurt?

“You mean that morning ritual?” Sayaka asked excitedly, she heard stories from Madoka, of course she wanted to know.

“Mhm,” 

Kyoko also looked interested but figured that it will be shown later.

Of course Mami would think waking up a hung-over Mrs. Kaname would be fun. Mami remembered her mother and that sort of strange family ritual was something that the physically older girl sincerely missed…though if Madoka said it was okay to forcibly awaken her mother like that, it would be done. Homura had done so before in other timelines. Though without those smelling salts she had on her. Was this the timeline where they used the bucket?

“Um…please don’t use a bucket of cold water on my mother.” Madoka requested as Homura stopped filling the bucket in the bathtub. 

“Oh, my apologies.” 

Both Kanames along with the Quintet looked at Homura with an amused expression as she blushed.

Junko looked at Homura with a grin, and it looked like her daughter in law had spunk.

“Did you really just try to splash pinky’s mother with a bucket of water,” Kyoko says surprised that it was even the first thing Homura thought of.

“To be fair, some timelines have Mrs. Kaname is more drunk and just trying to wake her normally wouldn't do, even Madoka from those timelines had to splash her mother with cold water.”

“And just when I thought you couldn't get worse,” Kazuko says with a smile reminiscing of the time the three of them would “hang out”.

“Hey, it’s not like I can control my alternate selves, besides I’m much better here you know.” Junko says while winking at Kazuko teasing her.

Kazuko blushed as she saw it and once again couldn’t help but groan at her own stupidity of only wanting one partner when she could have two.

Why did Homura think that was how you did it? Sure you could wake someone that way…but it would not end well. It was also a bad first impression to make. Madoka was sure that her mom would probably need to be woken up, that often happened especially after big work days and bigger post work hangouts. And yesterday had been a big one…she should probably get some things she had thought of as she went to sleep and as she woke up asked about now before she forgot them due to school and her daily routine with her mom. Which was going to be a bit complicated because she was also doing a lot of those things with her Soulmates now. Was this a growing up thing? 

“Yup, it’s a growing up thing.” Junko says with a smile as her daughter is now growing up, it feels like it's just been a day since Madoka was born.

But first, the questions. Because she still had a lot of things she was wondering about, and yesterday hadn’t been the time for all of them after she realized Homura was completely lost.

“So I was thinking about how yesterday it seemed like I was….kind of piggybacking off math results. Are you good at math, Homura, by any chance?” 

Homura, who had emptied that bucket of cold water out to start work on her hair, nodded.

“Actually, I’m not that gifted in academics… I just memorized everything because I kept repeating the timeline.” Homura admitted, being a little embarrassed with a blank look on her face.

Meanwhile both Sayaka and Kyoko looked at Homura with expectant eyes, while Mami looked at them with disappointment in her eyes.

“No, I’m not giving you guys the answers to every test, you need to learn.” Homura lectured, as both Kyoko and Sayaka gave up.

“I noticed no ill effects.” Homura said as a means of assuring her that it had done no harm. 

“It doesn’t bother you that it…”

“No.” Homura sounded like she saw no problem in it. Homura just seemed to find the idea a little weird, just as she seemed to find a lot of Soulbond basics bizarre. So…this guilt about how she was improving her math results was just a her thing then? “Though if that is the case, I do wonder if there is anything else shared between us? Would we know anything else from each other?” 

“ What, for example, knowing how to speak different languages?” Mami said in a language that wasn’t Japanese, which Madoka understood perfectly. Homura was also surprised, which left Mami surprised as well. “Oh, did you understand that? I’m guessing you didn’t know Italian before now?” 

“There’s the Italian Mami,” Kyoko says while reminiscing the time Mami swore in Italian and literally has super moves named in Italian. “Not like I am better as I also have one Italian supermove”

“Wait, this means that we can understand each other even when we speak different languages!?” Sayaka asked excitedly.

“Yup, pretty much,” Homura said in a different language which they all realized was German.

Sayaka squealed as this pretty much made things easier when learning how to speak and write different languages.

The Quintet giggled at Sayaka while Homura still has that blank look she does have a small smile.

“ No, though I have known others who speak Italian. Most of the time I just see people who sprinkle random Italian phrases into their dialogue as dramatic ways to shout their Magical Girl attacks in unnecessary theatrics.” Homura clarified in an entirely different language, which Madoka also understood. Mami nervously giggled like she knew something about a bunch of Magical Girls shouting random Italian things like…Rosso Phantasm? The phrase just came to Madoka’s mind for some reason.

Kyoko immediately blushed at the mention of her supermove, yeah, she will not reveal that it’s her attack, at least not until it was shown that it was hers.

Mami could feel Kyoko’s embarrassment and couldn’t help but giggle a little.

“Oh really…now isn’t that funny? He he he he….”

Homura shook her head, as if she had seen a lot of Magical Girls doing that and had just found the source of that trend. 

“Way to be subtle Mami,” Kyoko groaned, as Mami giggled, and asked her, “Why? Do you perhaps have attacks that are… Italian?”

Kyoko immediately blushed and shut her mouth while the others looked at her curiously.

“Stop staring at me like that, it’s going to show later anyway,” Kyoko says, annoyed at the looks she was getting.

The others finally relented and stopped staring at her which made her thank whatever God out there.

“ You wouldn’t happen to travel outside of Mitakihara to fight Witches and save others, would you?” Homura asked in a third different language. Her tone was that of an amused, slightly affected exasperation.

“Maybe?” Mami said, trying to pretend she had no idea what Homura was implying. 

Kyoko shook her head affectionately, it seems that even though Mami had improved her lying and can now detect whether you lie or not, she still makes some bad lies that can easily be detected.

“...Homura, what languages were those?” Madoka decided to spare Mami further questioning.

“German and Russian, this one is Spanish ” Homura said in a fourth foreign tongue. “I get bored sometimes.”  

“Bored?” Madoka repeated. How bored did you have to be to just learn a new language? Homura nodded. 

“Sometimes, I need to do something different to not go crazy. It’s not always been helpful, but it has come in handy once or twice.” Homura said in a fifth language. 

“You…” Oriko is at a loss for words, I mean it’s understandable considering Homura’s situation as she literally had the time of the world but holy it’s still impressive, not only that she literally looped back only a month and she had five languages literally memorized at the back of her head.

The adults are all impressed by how Homura knows different languages although they immediately frowned at the thought of Homura going crazy because she kept repeating every events that happened, seeing the same deaths all over again and again… It made their blood boil to the point they wanted to tear the incubator into shreds.

Hitomi, feels a bit jealous at Homura knowing different languages, although it really isn’t mean spirited, she just wished… wait no, she wasn’t jealous of Homura knowing different language, if so then what?

Meanwhile Sayaka looked like a child who had just gotten her christmas present, she definitely can’t wait to learn all these languages.

“French right?” Mami guessed as Homura nodded. Mami might have felt or seen her confusion so she clarified. “French and Italian are related languages, as are Spanish and Portuguese. They aren’t the same, but they are pretty close and you can catch a lot even without knowing it. It’s distinct enough from Homura’s Spanish that I assumed it wasn’t Portuguese, and it seemed more likely than…what was the one that’s really far away from the others?” 

“....Something Balkan I think.” 

Madoka felt a wave of embarrassment that cut the two off from trying to remember what the other language was. 

“Sweetie…” Mami asked in concern as Madoka blushed. 

“I…I don’t really know anything interesting. Math, languages, ma…some third thing,” she quickly avoided saying magic to not start that argument up again, “it’s just…" What was she adding to all of this? Mami looked ready to assure her, but was beaten to the punch by Homura. 

“Madoka…you literally refill our Soul Gems just by being around. Keeping a Soul Gem clean is the sort of thing that Magical Girls have killed people over. Not myself, and certainly not Mami, but it has happened and will happen in the future somewhere. I learn languages to not lose my mind, that’s nothing compared to what you do just by being yourself.” Homura said, her tone sounding like it wanted to be more comforting than it sounded but it just…couldn’t from lack of practice. A concept that bothered Madoka, but she could appreciate the attempt as much as she wondered how you could get better at sounding reassuring and kind. 

“I’d have said it differently, but that’s the truth. Also it’s not even been a week. You don’t have to worry about not contributing for a long time yet, Sweetie.” Mami added. 

Homura nodded in agreement, and Madoka could feel that both of them agreed it wasn’t worth feeling bad about. Okay…

“As I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, Madoka, you are already contributing just by being yourself.” Homura says softly with steeled eyes. The Quintet though can feel Homura’s inner emotion hoping that Madoka won’t ever make a wish.

Oriko then decided to add, “I agree, and as I’ve said before, you have tons of karmic potential, even if you aren’t a magical girl, just by being next to them can remove all the taint off of their soulgems.”

Madoka looked at everyone as they looked at her reassuringly, making her smile brightly, her karmic potential sipping making everyone feel them, which had them shocked even though they already knew how powerful Madoka could become.

The adults in the room looked at each other, they’re going to talk about Madoka’s self-worth issues as this is a problem that needed to be addressed, although not now, if they could have a break.

“Um…I was also wondering about something else. Mami said she could tell I could be a really strong Magical Girl…what about other people?” Madoka asked quickly to ensure there was no argument. “Mami, did you notice anything about Sayaka or Hitomi?” 

“Well we can see now that they are pretty much compatible to become magical girls.” Kyoko said while eating pocky, wherever she gets those from is a mystery.

Mami, whose hair was uncurled as it had been when the girl had gone to bed, shook her head before using magic to curl her hair into her favorite ringlet style as she explained. 

“I wasn’t looking.” She admitted. Madoka could feel like Homura was thinking of her own insight to add, like she was pondering a few things she possibly could say before settling on one that felt right…yet it still wasn’t the first thing she wanted to say. 

“Magical Girls can sense the potential of uncontacted girls over a pretty wide area, but it isn’t something that often comes into use. Unless you wanted to direct as many girls towards Kyubey as you could, and I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that.” 

Homura had her own thoughts on that idea that she wasn’t sharing, and Madoka wanted to ask about them…but she was sure Homura would not elaborate on it . And it wasn’t just about the resulting lack of grief seeds to go around, there was something else on Homura’s mind about the idea than just practicality. Madoka wondered if Magical Girls ever formed armies, though there would still be the issue of grief seeds. 

…

Everyone is quiet, every magical girl practically knows why one would want to direct many girls to Kyubey, just like Suzembachi, to farm for grief seeds. None was said as many are still reeling from the knowledge of their fate even though they’ve made progress.

“Yep, there is a magical girl army, one as you guys know is the Magius,” Oriko revealed to them. 

“It ain’t even an army, just a full on cult,” Kyoko barked as she tried to repress her memories back when she temporarily joined the said “cult”.

“I prefer to let Kyubey choose candidates, but I could look if you are curious.” Mami offered as she closed her eyes, as if she was trying to feel something. Homura’s gaze was on her, and Madoka wilted. Homura’s expression softened. 

“You are just curious.” Her dark haired Soulmate said as if she was clarifying what her expression meant. Madoka quickly nodded. “I will repeat what I said about you in regards to them. Neither needs to contract, and while I do not know them…” 

“They are nice girls.” Mami said reflexively. Homura frowned but said nothing more. Homura didn’t need to add more about her thoughts on contracting. “Ah yes, found both of them. They’re potential is above average.” 

“Oh? Really?” Hitomi asked surprised, she knew she had potential as she literally became a magical girl, but above average?

“Yup, you along with Sayaka, have more potential than Homura herself which is already a ton as Homura herself is just average in potential.” Oriko says cooly while Hitomi blushes a little at her.

“What does that mean?” Madoka asked as Mami opened her eyes, looking unsure of how to put it. 

“It’s…hard to explain without being able to see it yourself, and I would not advise contracting just for that. That would be a waste of a wish,” and Homura clearly agreed, Madoka could feel, “but…how to phrase this…I’ve never had to explain it to someone…”

“Use myself as a reference.” Homura offered as Mami blinked, a nervous expression on her face as she accepted the idea, clearly not willing to do so without permission and not wanting to use herself as the means of measurement. 

“I’d say that the average person has about…a fourth or fifth as much potential as Homura does.” Mami explained. “Hitomi is about…two Homuras, and Sayaka two and half, maybe three. I’m about six Homuras and you….” Mami’s expression was one of bafflement to put Madoka’s own potential into words, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to find the words to describe it. Homura, for her part, shrugged about her exact scaling, clearly content with where she stood power-wise. 

Any discussion of this topic further was interrupted by her dad asking for help to wake her mother. 

“My potential has always been average, I’ve known that long ago and accepted it, the only question I have in mind is… why does Madoka’s karmic potential keep getting higher everytime I go back…” Homura whispered that can only be heard by the quintet. They are confused about what Homura is talking about, however it was also heard by Oriko as she made a theory about it.

“Could it be… everytime Homura came back in time was to protect "Madoka " , making her the central point for so many timelines, and due to the relative impact of her role on fate, maybe, the fate has always been for Madoka to become a magical girl, and with Homura interfering against fate itself… It balances out, Homura would protect Madoka from her fate actively going against fate itself, and fate itself making Madoka the center point in many timelines, giving her almost the combined potential of every magical girl to ever exist to get her to become a magical girl.” Oriko looked like she just found out Victoria’s secret by how she looks as she was nudged by Kirika to get her back to her senses. When Oriko was finally back to her senses she was greeted by weird looks from everyone wondering what she was thinking.

“I-its nothing,” Oriko said, stuttering because she’s the center of attention right now, meanwhile Homura is staring at her like a hawk, as if she’s planning on ruining Homura’s day, which is completely justified btw.

School was nice today. It had been nicer yesterday with there just being something… more to school with a missing part of her life she hadn’t felt in years in it, but it had the looming issue of the missing Homura. But with Homura accounted for, school was going quite well today. Even when time randomly froze when Homura had a question about Tatsuya. 

‘Madoka, your brother keeps opening his mouth and making odd sounds. Is he going to start chewing on me?’ Homura had asked at one point, freezing time as she sounded like she was worried about the little boy gnawing on her arm any second now, or as much as Homura could sound worried about that scenario. Presumably not because she thought Tatsuya would actually eat her, but because she was worried she might swat him away and incur distrust and Kaname family ire for it. 

The Kanames and the Quintet couldn’t help but laugh at Homura’s predicament while the others giggled. Homura herself couldn't help but be embarrassed at her actions back then while the Kanames told her that it’s fine. Still it didn’t help with the embarrassment she is feeling right now.

“You really care about how my parents perceive you don’t you?” 

“Well… they are the only adults that have cared for me aside from my biological parents from certain timelines… come to think of it, I can barely remember their faces”

The others couldn’t help but look at her sympathetically, while the Kaname partner vowed to be the best parental figure she will have.

‘ No, he’s just hungry. It’s about his snack time right about now. ’ Madoka assured Homura, and time quickly resumed as Homura, presumably, went looking for something to feed the toddler. It did make sense that Homura wouldn’t know much about young children, Homura certainly never had younger siblings. Mami hadn’t either, but she’d met and seen how Kyoko and Momo had gotten along and had even babysat for Momo a few times. Momo was a sweet girl…

Both Sayaka and Madoka looked at Mami and Kyoko with a curious expression while Homura stayed quiet, Homura already knew the story and they would find out that she already knew in the viewing anyways.

Kyoko looked uncomfortable at the mention of her late sister, while Mami looked at her with an apologizing look. After a couple moments she sighed and told both Sayaka and Madoka about who Momo is, and that she is now in a better place.

Both Madoka and Sayaka looked sad hearing that and told Kyoko their condolences and that her sister would be happy at where Kyoko is now, at which Kyoko couldn’t help but smile and agree with them. Momo… would want her to be happy.

She felt Madoka worry about her a bit as she finished up in the bathroom, and she assured her it was no problem. She was just…briefly thinking of someone who was no longer with her. And it wasn’t just about the dead. Kyoko…

Mami looked at her Soulmarks, eyeing the red one in particular. It couldn’t possibly be…was it something to hope for? Sure, it would be a very different relationship than what they had before…before it had all gone wrong. They had been teacher and student, master and apprentice, maybe even as close as sisters, as far as Mami knew it hadn’t been romantic. They were both rather young for some thoughts at the time after all. But if it could be romantic, and it could get Kyoko back…

Not that it had to be that. Kyoko did not have a monopoly on the color red, and Mami was sure she’d love anyone who the red diamond represented. It was practically unheard of for Soulmates to not be able to love each other after all, even if it often takes time to reach that point. Premature death, the topic of many works of sad poetry about the mass slaughter of war among other catastrophes, was practically the only time one could say that didn’t happen. She didn’t know Madoka or Homura, and it was more than likely to be the same with the other two marks than otherwise. She would not begrudge whoever the red diamond would represent, but there would be a part of her until then hoping it would let her reunite with Kyoko. 

“Welp, looks like I got my answer now,” Mami said while holding Kyoko’s hand. Kyoko blushed at the sudden physical affection, though she doesn’t mind it much.

As she was about to open the stall, her thoughts stopping her from opening the door for a few moments, the dark thoughts came back. What if it was too late? She hadn’t seen Kyoko, heard from her, or of her, in a long time. Magical Girls….they didn’t always live that long. Would she ever know if Kyoko was still ali…

“Mami, you need to stop being negative, have you been influenced by Homura?” Kyoko said teasingly.

“I’m just worried you know, I didn’t know if you were still alive back then, at least not until you called out to me.”

Meanwhile Homura looked physically offended at what Kyoko said by how she looks.

“HELLO!” 

She was immediately thrusted out of her thoughts by the person standing outside of the bathroom stalls, the shorter girl grinning before flashing a notecard in front of her own eyes, as if checking instructions.

Homura looked at the screen like it personally offended her, well… the girl in the screen is one of the magical girl serial killers she’s after. Meanwhile Kirika looked at the screen excitedly trying to show off to her soulmate.

“Oriko look! I’m finally there!”

Oriko couldn’t help but giggle at her soulmate’s antics.

“Yeah, you look cool Kirika,”

Kirika couldn’t help but squeal at the compliment.

“A ha, this is the time! ‘Kirika, pass on the message only to the large breasted one with yellow hair. Do not attempt contact if she’s with the pink-haired one with a karmic potential that will make you say that meme again. If you do appear anywhere near the pink-haired one where she can possibly see you and think to comment about it, or even think about having seen you, the scary one will kill you.’ No pink one, no problem! ‘Sup, name’s Kirika Kure!”

Homura really looked like she was about to pop a vein in her forehead. “Just what is their plan for coming here?”

The adults couldn't help but wince at the mention of Homura killing another human being.

“Damn did Homura really scare you guys so much that the only way for you two to approach was to get Mami?” Kyoko asked curiously while Sayaka also looked at them expectantly.

“Every vision where both me and Kirika were to meet or even cross paths with her she immediately pulled a gun and shot us point blank in our soul gems.” Oriko says blankly while the others just looked concerned, seeing your death multiple times can fuck you up. Hitomi looked like she was about to puke as she remembered Homura shooting at her to disarm her, she knew that Homura wouldn’t do that to her but just thinking about it… 

The Quintet meanwhile looked at Homura, who looked emotionally closed off, her face was so blank you’ll literally think that she’s a coldhearted emotionless person unless she’s your soulmate.

“She was in the way of my goal,” The way Homura says this was so coldhearted it felt like she just stabbed you.

However, the Quintet isn’t focused on that, (well maybe except Sayaka), “Just what did they do to you in the past to make you hunt them?” was basically on their minds, they know that Oriko and Kirika assassinated Madoka to prevent her becoming a magical girl and becoming a witch. But they felt that there’s a lot more than that. What could’ve happened in the past timelines to make Homura hate them too much…

They could only watch and hope that it will be shown.

Mami, more than a little confused and a tad startled, just nodded her head. The girl, black haired and yellow-eyed, kind of reminded Mami of a cat with her expression. She looked to be about Madoka’s age, and that cat metaphor had another part to it. Like a cat, Kirika didn’t seem to get personal space, and was in her own world. 

“Oh yeah, you must be really confused. So just to make it clear, we’re both magical girls. I’m here to pass on a message and then I’m going to skedaddle. By that I mean get as far away from the scary one as possible until later.” 

Homura really didn’t like being called a scary one, it reminded her too much of the timelines where Madoka is scared of her… she didn’t ever wanna see that look of horror in Madoka’s eyes to be directed at her again.

Kyoko snorted at how scared these two are of Homura, I mean seeing your deaths when encountering her is enough to make you scared but many times? Damn, and it’s a completely justified crashout from Homura too as it seems their history runs deeper than Oriko just assassinating Pinky from the other timelines.

“Well Mami isn’t wrong, Kirika does look like a cat,” Hitomi says with her graceful voice.

Oriko giggled and agreed, as Hitomi blushed and felt something in her stomach when she hear Oriko giggle.

“What was that…?”

“Ske-daddle?” Mami questioned, trying to see if she could just…understand what this was. Now that the girl did mention it, Mami could tell that this girl was a Magical Girl, which was a bit odd as Mami was sure she’d had noticed her already if she had contracted before now. Had she only just contracted with Kyubey? Also why was this girl, or at least whoever was writing out the note cards she was now going over again, scared of Homura? Though Mami did have to admit, if this girl had been waiting outside of Madoka’s bathroom stall like this and Mami saw it, she would probably have been very tempted to restrain the lurking Kirika in a ribbon cocoon.

“I would have stabbed her with my spear.”

“I would have slashed her.”

“I would have put a bullet through her soulgem.”

“Ok that one is a bit too far darling.”

Madoka couldn’t help but smile at her soulmates and how they are protective of her… she’s really glad to have them in her life.

“Yep. Can’t stay long. Scary one and all, and if I get shot. She dies too.” Kirkia explained before showing Mami her own palm, where two spheres each had bat-like wings. One sphere had black wings, the other white. They were pretty close together, not as much as Homura and Madoka’s diamonds but closer than her own with Madoka’s, “But that’s no reason to not help out my everything with everything, especially when she’s playing the game of thrones.”

“I don’t know what that is.” Mami said about the last one as Kirika shrugged. 

Everyone looked at Oriko hoping for her to explain only for her to smile without saying anything, which only disappointed and annoyed everyone.

“Me neither, but it’s what she calls it. Apparently the scary kids are even scarier when they have brains. And those little girls have some real brains. You are going to have to deal with them one day by the way.” 

… Oh right, Kirika did mention little girls that had some real brains they were going to have to deal with later.

“Those little girls… don’t tell me they’re-” Kyoko however was cut off by Oriko who nodded at her, making her worst fear come true.

“Yeah… you guys will have to deal with the Magius in the future.”

Everyone is silent, the adults don't know what they are talking about although they have a general gist of what Magius is, but the question that lies in their minds are, “Why do they need to deal with said organization Magius?”

“Kyoko, what are they talking about? So you know those little girls?” Mami said worriedly as Kyoko looked like she just brought war in her home (which she probably did).

“I- I’ve never seen or met them back when I was still a temporary member but those little girls that had real brains are probably the other two leaders of the Magius.”

Homura looked like she was about to interrogate the two Magius members about why they would need to deal with them but she was beaten to a punch by Hitomi.

“Umm… why would they need to deal with the Magius…” Hitomi asked, she knew the general gist of magical girls being territorial but at the end of the day she is still a rookie.

Oriko stayed quiet, letting everyone know that that is the only extent of information she can give them which disappointed many, but annoyed Homura to no end.

Oriko wasn’t about to say that in some visions she saw, the Magius forced Madoka to make a wish because as they say, it was a waste of karmic potential. In some visions, The Magius went full war against Mitakihara, exposing the existence of Magical Girls. Some visions… had the Magius fighting against the combined witches of the Quintet, other visions had the Quintet harnessing the power of their witch and becoming one with them, she still couldn't fathom that at all, how did they do that without the doppel system? She searched every vision she could find and she didn’t find anything related to it… 

Augh, all this thinking is making her head ache.

“....” Mami wasn’t sure what she was even supposed to say about that as Kirika pulled out a card. 

“‘After you make a literary reference that will become more popular when it gets an adaptation in the near future, but which I knew beforehand, tell her that if you do want ‘the scary one’ to open up, it will happen at the darkest hour before the darkest hour’.” Kirika looked up at Mami. “Huh, that sucks. You won’t fully get through to that girl’s heart until you are going to have two darkest hours.”  

What does she mean two darkest hours? Homura said in her own thoughts. She knew or at least had a guess on what darkest hour Kirika was talking about, the Walpurgis, that would be the most rational guess but what does Kirika mean by Homura opening up during the first darkest hour before the darkest hour? This is making her get a headache.

“....Or so you say.” Mami told the girl bluntly. The tone seemed to actually annoy the girl, who glared back. There was no more whimsy or lackadaisical silliness in the girl, whose gaze, still cat-like, looked like a cat about to slash someone, or kill a mouse. 

“No, so Oriko says, and Oriko knows everything! And if you don’t want to end up like the scary one’s nightmares you’ll listen. Because that dream was on the card too.” 

Kirika showed Mami the card, which wrote out a description that was unsettlingly similar to the dream that Madoka had described that had tormented Homura, and by extension Madoka, the other night, though Mami barely registered it. How.. how did this Oriko know about Homura’s nightmare? If Kirika cared, or noticed, that she was bothered by it she continued by taking out another notecard. 

All of a sudden Homura looked at Oriko as if she just did the most horrifying crime in the world, which she prolly did. Homura immediately asked Oriko for some explanation.

Oriko just spoke one word: “vision”.

Homura couldn’t help but be pissed as she knew that Oriko could only see the future, so why can she now see her dreams??

Just… what else does she know…

“Okay, next card. Okay, so after I make you stop doubting Oriko, like a dumbass , this card has the rest of the stuff I’m supposed to pass on. So you should make sure you have Grief Seeds to spare for when the Magius come to town or Kyoko Sakura suffers a fate worse than death at the hands of dinosaurs and shonen manga, when the scary one needs you to trust her you need to temporarily cripple yourself to keep a secret, you need to teach her ‘Tiro Spade’ and ‘Tempesta Di Spade’, and you will be the last to find out what the pink one’s wish is, though it isn’t your fault. You couldn’t be there when it happens. There, that’s all, now I get to leave. Goodbye.” 

Homura looked confused, disbelief, and many more as she looked at the screen, why? No, what is Oriko planning, she can’t have done this out of good will. It was impossible. It just can’t be… even though something inside her is protesting and that they might be good in this timeline, nope not gonna even entertain that thought.

Kyoko looked at them like they just gave her something delicious and disgusting, on one hand, she’s happy that Oriko seemed to have saved her from a fate worse than death, but this was Oriko they’re talking about. She always has plans.

The girl suddenly transformed, her Magical Girl form resembling a suit or a butler outfit briefly being seen, but before Mami could use her own transformation the girl was suddenly…gone. Like she had superspeed or something. 

Mami held off the transformation, putting it back in the bottle as she…had no idea what the heck that was all about. Though she somehow suspected that when she brought it up to the others it was going to…not be a fun conversation.

Chapter Text

When Madoka’s brother wasn’t requiring her direct supervision, which wasn’t actually that much from what limited information Homura had when it came to toddlers getting into trouble, Homura did what she could to figure out more about this reality. In starting with trying to look into Soulbonds, in between playing with the toddler and helping Madoka’s father with various things around the house (she could tell he was still getting her and Mami’s measure), Homura realized a simple and, in hindsight, obvious truth. History had changed. It had changed a lot. It had changed in ways that were only missed at first because Homura not only focused entirely on what needed to be done to make a timeline work within her small circle of people she cared about even remotely, but also because Japan itself was comparatively unchanged. Its historical isolation meant that, while there were entire prefectures with different names Homura would need to keep track of to not look like an idiot, the general stroke of its history hadn’t changed. 

“Yeah, different timelines means different history.” Oriko says in an amused tone like it isn’t obvious.

Homura got irked at that comment.

Woe be her if they were somewhere in Europe this entire time, because just writing up a comparison there about what had changed there was a headache from the other side of Eurasian. She didn’t want to imagine how many fundamental pot holes she’d have to deal with if that history was relevant. Honestly if Homura ever wanted to she could write a detailed set of alternate history stories based entirely on the history she had recorded in her old history books because some things had changed that much over there, and as best as she could tell she would be seen as wildly original for doing so compared to the other alternate histories in this reality. As it was, writing career or no writing career, Homura would actually have to study her political geography and history courses again to make sure she still got good grades, because some of her answers would otherwise be incredibly off. She’d get worse history grades than Sayaka Miki if she hadn’t caught that. 

“Am I really that bad…” Sayaka said, sulking.

“Yes, yes you are,” Homura said bluntly while you can hear the amusement in her voice.

“Mooo, Homura-chan, quit bullying Sayaka.” Madoka says while lecturing Homura.

Meanwhile Kyoko couldn’t help but laugh at Sayaka’s predicament until she got silenced by Mami who reminded her that she will also go to school now that she’s a part of the family making Kyoko go pale as she still needs to catch up due to her dropping out of school.

How language itself had managed to stay mostly the same was an improbable miracle that Homura was going to just accept and not question. She had plenty more questions to ask about this reality as it was. Like where the hell Soulbonds, Soulmates, Soulmarks, and all of that came from. Because Homura had expected to find some clear ‘origin’ for the things, like she could go and get an approximate time that someone had decided to wish them into existence via the Incubators…but she wasn’t finding it. The marks appeared all throughout history, shifting dynasties, empires, and the course of human progress as far back as had been found.  Whoever had made these things had been really, really, far back in history…and then Homura found the cave paintings. The things were on cave paintings!

Did some cave girl wish the things into existence!? Yet…if she did, why? Mami said that Kyubey had stopped pestering Madoka, and she had reason to believe her further since there had been no sign of the alien all morning. Kyubey had been in this house, she did see some sign of it having been in Madoka’s room when she looked around a bit, but he was keeping an unusual distance even with her so close and having proven ready to kill its bodies. She had even asked Madoka and Mami a while ago if they’d seen Kyubey at school, and neither had. The Incubators were the only things that could make something like this…but surely if they had it wouldn’t be this sort of deterrent to them. What else could make it? God? 

Everyone looked at Homura in sympathy, they couldn’t imagine all the hardships and confusions Homura has to go through just to fit in, in this timeline. They could only hope that this will be the final loop.

Homura huffed at the thought. At one point she had believed in God, she had loved God and thanked him for getting her through the surgeries and giving her a second chance, but that was a long time ago. Either God didn’t exist, or God let the Incubators exist and run their vile operations, and Homura preferred the first thought. The Incubators didn’t perfectly fit the bill for making Soulbonds, but unless Kyubey itself admitted it didn’t know what Soulbonds were, and left absolutely no room for a half-truth while doing so, she’d blame the vile things for it. Blame…maybe not blame, but it would be on them both good and ill.  

Thoughts about what had made her current situation aside, and the odd questions about if she had missed this sort of thing in previous timelines or if Tatsuya was still in diapers to ask herself or others, Homura had taken a few other mental notes. The most obvious was that Soulbonds had affected how society…worked, for lack of a better term. There had been timelines where she and Madoka had been a couple that had…required her to deal with some unpleasant people, to phrase it one way. Homophobes were another word for them. Never their friends, not even Hitomi despite some Sayaka jokes at her expense, but Homura had gladly dealt with the resulting suspensions from school to make a very clear point when some people had started bullying Madoka for dating her. They were bigots, she was a killing machine whose body was modified by an unfeeling alien monster to kill abominations against nature, she could break their bones with her bare hands and had for upsetting Madoka. 

Everyone, excluding the two Magius members, couldn’t help but perk up at the mention of her and Madoka being a couple. They all wanted to hear stories about them.

But the moment the topic of Homophobia came up, everyone had their eyes darken, even the two Magius members. They couldn’t believe Homura had to go through those timelines that don't accept same-sex relationships… Wait, could Homura have originally come from one of those timelines?? 

The parents, especially Junko, looked murderous at the mention of people bullying Madoka just because of her being together with Homura.

Meanwhile the Quintet with the exception of Madoka, all looked at Homura with eerily smiles.

“Homura, do you still remember the names?” Sayaka asked, eerily calm.

Homura smiled back eerily.

“Of course, I have a notebook of their names and how many times in each timeline where me and Madoka got together did they bully her…”

Meanwhile, Madoka sees where this is about to go, tried to stop them.

“Umm, guys… that was in the other timelines, no need to punish them for something that hasn’t happened in this timeline.”

“Madoka, dear, we’re only going to ask them a few questions… Like what is their opinion on same-sex relationships… If their answer doesn’t satisfy us then… maybe a few broken bones will make them learn.” Mami replied back darkly.

Before the topic could go on, the screen started to play.

Such things…were not gone from this world, but they were a lot more reduced then where they ‘should be’, if one assumed society was moving in one direction about such things. Soulbonds were recognized as legitimate relationships no matter what the recipient's gender, class, familial history, or ethnicity were. That in turn had made it harder for issues to be had with similar relations, though not impossible. And, if as an example Kyoko was the red diamond on their hands, she could still get mistreated for being poor or Christian if someone wanted to be that sort of unpleasant, it would be the relationship with other girls that would be mostly unstigmatized. Still, should they get past day 50…society would be on the side of the trio of girls married together, as would it be all five in their bond, no matter who the other two were when it came to gender, place of origin, or social rank.  Though she really hoped it wasn’t Kyoko or especially Sayaka…

“Do you have something against us or something?” Kyoko asked, this is like what? the second time Homura said that she doesn’t want her or Sayaka to be the last two she last soulmated with.

“I guess… it’s just been rough, especially in the recent timelines, although we’ve had the best relationship in most timelines than Mami and Sayaka, your unpredictability makes you quite an annoying person to deal with.”

“And Sayaka, as I’ve said before, always becomes a witch, either when she finds out the truth about magical girls or because of her infatuation with Kyouske. Not only that, she- we mostly didn’t have the best relationship in most timelines, except those during the earlier timelines or… ‘that’ specific timeline that we became a couple which I still can’t wrap my head around.”

Kyoko looked offended, but she knew how her personality works because well, who knows yourself better but yourself.

Sayaka meanwhile, listened deeply to what Homura had to say about her, while she was also offended by what Homura said, she knew that Homura is only saying it because Kyoko asks, and she could feel Homura’s heartache when she mentioned she didn’t have the best relationship with her in most timelines. When Homura told them about that specific timeline however, the quintet listened with great interest, they know how rough Sayaka and Homura’s relationship had been and the stories that Homura told them about her relationship with Sayaka, so hearing that there’s one specific timeline where Homura got together with Sayaka is a bit of a surprise. (Even though Homura already did say that she had gotten with all of them in different timelines).

As an added bonus, in theory there was no reason for Sayaka and Hitomi to fight over the boy as he could marry them both in many countries including Japan, marks or no marks. However….she somehow suspected that it wasn’t going to be that simple, even ignoring the myriad of other things that could go wrong with the quagmire that was that boy. 

Slowly, but surely, Sayaka turned to look at Hitomi, silently asking if what was said on the screen was true, that she also had feelings for Kyouske at the same time when she also had feelings for him.

Hitomi, knowing her friend, nodded her head. 

Sayaka, seeing this, told her, “We’ll talk about this later.” telepathically.

To which Hitomi nodded back.

Homura had taken just a few glimpses of what dating was like for normal people, a topic that Homura Akemi had never dealt with before she sold her soul, went back in time uncountable times, and got magically married, and the resulting mess she had witnessed that was considered normal, she had to get a sample from reality to be sure it wasn’t just dramatic versions she was seeing in her research. 

‘Madoka, I heard some mention that your teacher likes to ramble about her romantic troubles to your class. Is that an exaggeration or should I prepare for being questioned about whatever caused her break-ups?’ Homura had asked Madoka when she knew Madoka had a break in between classes. The resulting explanation…made her feel very sorry for Nakazawa , who had gotten so many unfathomably complex relationship dramas thrown at him that she was amazed that Madoka hadn’t offered to switch seats with him. Only to then be told by Madoka that the class had tried that, it didn’t work. Poor Nakazawa just took his seat back because their teacher just started projecting her questions to the back of the class where he’d ended up and it was just the same thing but louder. 

Kazuko looked like she was about to explode with embarrassment, she just wanted to find a hole she could find and hide there for the rest of the viewing.

Both Tomohisa and Junko looked at Kazuko in amusement, it seems that she still hasn’t got much luck with her relationships.

Nakazawa‘s tragic fate aside, Homura found herself with no obvious insights into anything else she might miss, realizing she needed to change her study habits to reflect entirely new national histories and borders, happily aware that should this timeline good well she could have a relationship with Madoka (and Mami) that would not require her to smash anyone’s head into a locker to make a point with, and had a new potential complication in the unknown possibility of Sayaka and Hitomi agreeing to share the boy and all the mess that would create.

“Yeah, having thrown in a timeline where everything you’ve known is flipped with new concepts will make you go on a quick change, starting with studying history.” Oriko said to herself.

Also she did save Amy, which was good, unlike Oriko and Kirika being active even before she woke up. That was bad, and she had no idea what they were up to, only time and camera records would tell. Though to focus on the danger to Madoka’s life she had actually prevented this loop. 

“Well, that’s one event solved to not make Madoka contract,” Oriko says while Homura looked at her with irritation as if she and her servant wasn’t one of the reasons Madoka has died and for Homura to keep looping.

“Homura saved a kitty!” Tatsuya happily informed Madoka, Mami, Sayaka, and Hitomi as the four who’d just gotten out of school arrived at the hospital. ‘Homura saving a kitty’ was a good thing. What was not good, however, was that Madoka’s father brought her back to the hospital to properly discharge her. She hated the place…she really did. Madoka’s father chuckled at Tatsuya’s exclamation, unaware of just how much she didn’t want to come back to this place for anything other than feeding Charlotte bombs. 

“Yeah, she saved a kitty,” Junko said with a sweet smile as she played with Tatsuya.

“Jeez, it’s like you have beef with the hospital,” Sayaka said as she ate one of Kyoko’s pockies.

Homura just looked at her weirdly as if it wasn’t that obvious.

“I had been hospitalized in that hospital almost all my life, in that hospital is where the boy you typically become a witch to, and in that hospital, is where Charlotte always hatched… so excuse me for hating said hospital.” Homura said, a bit annoyed.

Sayaka flinched as she let Homura just remember some old bad memories.

“I-I’m sorry for asking, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Homura looked at her softly and sighed, “It’s fine, you’re only curious.”

Before Sayaka could go on apologizing again, the screen resumed.

“Oh yes, she did. Very lucky, it was that stray you’ve been feeding. If it wasn’t for Homura…” 

Madoka gasped. 

“Amy? Is she okay?!” 

Homura nodded. Amy was fine…but really could that cat just go inside a home already and stay there? Madoka’s father admitted that they would adopt Amy if she would come inside their home on her own, but that cat just wouldn’t. Amy would purr and be friendly like a house cat outside, but would not enter a home. If that cat was an indoor pet, Madoka would be so much safer. Also maybe she could train Amy to attack Kyubey on sight again.

“ACK- BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” Kyoko laughed so hard she almost choked on her pocky, imagining Kyubey being attacked by the resident outdoor cat Amy.

“You need to be more careful Kyoko, you almost choked,” Mami says while muffling her own laugh.

Both Tomohisa and Junko looked each other in the eye that said, “So we’re adopting Amy and training her against Kyubey?”, “Yes we are.”

“You think getting and training cats to attack Kyubey would reduce the amount of girls that will make a contract with Kyubey?” Kirika asks Oriko curiously.

Oriko, pondering Kirika’s question, thought to herself, while training cats to protect girls from Kyubey’s contract could work, there’s still the emotional part where girls would according to their feelings which usually ends up being exploited by Kyubey by using his great manipulating skills as much as she hates to admit it.

But it could also increase the chances of girls being wary of Kyubey if their cat keeps on reacting badly to it so maybe?

She’ll have to test this first.

Madoka thanked her repeatedly for saving Amy while her father took his leave, already aware that the girls had plans with just a reminder to be back by dinner (“bye bye” said Tatsuya), and Homura realized that it was here and now that she was first meeting Sayaka. Also Hitomi, but Hitomi was usually not her direct concern. Both girls were sizing up their friend's other Soulmate curiously, and Homura was glad for Tatsuya and Amy on this one. She had far worse first impressions with Sayaka than ‘saving a kitty’, or second impressions given the ‘escaped mental patient’ thing.

“Oh? What other impressions did I have on you back then?” Sayaka asked, she knew she and Homura don't have the best relationships in most timelines so those impressions might have been bad.

“...” Homura thought deeply on what nickname Sayaka once gave her that is tied to Sayaka’s first impression of her.

“...Stranger danger.”

“Huh.” Sayaka looked confused, did she hear her right?

“Stranger danger… because I was a stranger and I brought danger around me… as you said in one specific timeline.”

Sayaka gawked, wondering where the hell did her other self come up with that.

…

You know what, Sayaka understands why her other self would have that as her first impression. Imagine, a girl in a suit with a gun starts shooting at eldritch beings that seemed to target them, essentially bringing danger to them is a reasonable conclusion.

“So, you’re the future transfer student who is my best friend’s Soulmate.” Sayaka summed up as Homura nodded. 

“Indeed. It was an unexpected surprise. It is a pleasure to meet you both.” 

Hitomi smiled. 

“And it is a pleasure to meet you as well. I’m glad to see you well. I was rather worried when Madoka mentioned you had gone missing.” 

“I did not mean to worry her.” Homura guessed this was the right thing to say next. It was true certainly, but with Sayaka there was always an odd dance to figure out what it was that she was doing that kept making Sayaka dislike her. She had never quite figured out the pattern, even repeating what worked didn’t work a second time. The only thing that worked consistently was saving Madoka and Sayaka (and occasionally Hitomi) from danger, and she was loath to do that for the obvious reason that Madoka in danger was to be avoided as much as possible. Plus Mami was good at saving the two (or three) of them first and that tended to create problems for Homura because Mami Tomoe had a bad habit of inspiring people too much to be as great sa Mami Tomoe’s outward image, including Mami Tomoe herself. 

Mami flinched when Homura spoke about that, she won’t lie, Homura was on point, due to her loneliness, she tends or accidentally finds magical girl candidates so that they could make a wish and be her companion. And now that she knows Kyubey’s whole plot, she was so sick to her stomach, she hated it… being Kyubey’s pawn, and using her insecurities to get more victims for his errand.

“It’s no trouble at all. I’m just glad it all worked out. Plus Madoka can worry easily.” Hitomi assured her. Madoka let out an unapproving squeak at the idea, but even Homura couldn’t necessarily say that was untrue. 

The same thing happened in the theatre as Madoka also let out a squeak which had everyone giggle at her.

“Still, where the heck did you go after escaping the hospital?” Sayaka questoned, sounding curious with just the hint that if Homura didn’t have a sufficient answer they’d go into the ‘fun’ part of their dynamic. 

Oriko shook her head as she said, “Did you really have to ask what might be an insensitive question?”

“Umm, I didn’t know what went on my mind when I said that, but wouldn’t you also be interested in knowing where someone went after escaping the hospital?” Sayaka says as she defends herself.

“I would,” Kyoko nonchalantly said.

“See,” 

“Fine, you win, however, please don’t do this to other people, they might take offense to that.” Oriko says while pinching her nose.

“Y-yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Um….Sayaka, are you sure you should be asking?” Madoka asked, and Homura got the impression it wasn’t just to avoid the topic of ‘shooting up Witches with stolen Yakuza firearms’ that Madoka seemed to have cottoned on to pretty quickly to keeping to herself. While Madoka always had the bad habit of spontaneously selling her soul to helping people when she promised she wouldn’t, she was good at keeping secrets like that without much hassle. Something like the origin of Witches not so much…but those were two very different secrets to keep. 

… “Am I really bad at keeping confidential things,” Madoka asks sulkingly.

… “No comment.” 

Somehow that comment hurt Madoka more than Homura saying yes.

“What, I’m just asking.” Sayaka said like there was a joke that Homura was missing.

“Sure you are.” Hitomi almost snarked. Yep, she was missing a joke here. 

“I was…confused.” Homura ultimately gave Sayaka an explanation that was vague, but true enough. She was very confused, and from the expressions that the two girls interested in the same boy had, it did seem to register with something that had come up yesterday. So a successful combination was being more obvious in saving Amy, an earlier meeting, and being magically married to their best friend could at least keep Sayaka’s issues with her at bay for now. The lack of a magical marriage to Madoka was why she had never tried that combination before, naturally. 

“Damn, it took, you waking up as Madoka’s soulmate, just so you could finally have some luck with Sayaka” Kyoko said, to which Sayaka protested, “Hey!”

“Yep, as I’ve mentioned before, we didn’t have the best relationship, and our first time meeting always ends up in hostility. So you could say, this timeline has been the best timeline I’ve ever experienced.”

It hurts the quintet, knowing that this timeline might as well be a blessing for Homura, because of all the timelines she had gone through this is by far the best for her. 

What followed was some idle chatter as they moved towards a familiar hospital room that was, mercifully, not her own. About her school of origin, some of the places she had lived before (fortunately short because she spent most of the time involved in the hospital), and a few school anecdotes for her transfer in seven days. Mostly involving being ready to behold the tormented existence of a student she knew to be Nakazawa. 

“Certainly sounds more fun than Catholic Missionary school.” Homura attempted a joke, but it didn’t seem to land. It wasn’t harmful, Sayaka hadn’t decided that she was clearly a ‘Pod Person’ again, or any other odd theory Sayaka might have about her, one Sayaka who had warmed up to her near the end of a timeline had admitted to having believed her to be a vampire for two weeks who wanted to feed on Madoka and turn her into her immortal wife for an example another of the stranger ideas Sayaka had gotten in her head, but Homura Akemi was no comedian. 

Once again, Kyoko is howling like a mad woman on cocaine by how she was laughing at the nicknames and theory Sayaka came up with for Homura.

Hell everyone is laughing at this point much to the embarrassment of Sayaka and Homura.

“Really? A vampire who wanted to feed on Madoka and turn her into her immortal wife?,” Junko asked, whizzing as she imagined such a scenario.

“To be fair Mrs. Kaname, Sayaka caught me multiple times guarding Madoka during the night, so I don’t blame Sayaka for making up that theory.” Homura said, embarrassed that she had to reveal this.

“Are you sure you're guarding her? Not stalking her?” Oriko asked with an amused smile, to which Homura looked at her blankly before prompting to just ignore her.

Eventually they found themselves in the room of the injured Kyosuke Kamijo. The boy was doing that thing that he often did, and Homura would admit she often did while in the hospital. Staring off at the window at everything that was not the hospital. 

All of a sudden, those that were there remembered a certain event that happened and couldn’t help but be nervous, wondering if such a thing would be shown on the screen.

“Hey Kyosuke.” Sayaka greeted, falling into the trap of sounding either too friendly or too morose for a hospital patient. Kyosuke didn’t respond, and she could just feel Sayaka deflate. 

“Kyosuke, how are you doing today? Sorry I haven’t been able to visit for a while.” Hitomi gave it a try of her own, but once again the boy didn’t respond. Homura knew why he wasn’t, even without her foreknowledge, but she could feel her lip shifting, minutely, towards a scowl. Madoka caught her emotion, Homura felt, and quickly interjected. 

“Wow, you’ve really perked up a lot since I was last here. Sorry it’s been a while, but life’s been really crazy for me. But it’s really good to see that you’re feeling better.” 

“....What’s better about it?” Kyosuke grumbled. Madoka flinched and Homura’s miniscule scowl grew a bit larger. 

“I mean lots of things, Kyosuke. I mean when I was last in, you couldn’t even sit up properly!” Sayaka pointed out, trying to cheer him up. 

“The scars aren’t anywhere near as bad as they thought they’d be.” Hitomi added quickly. 

“They thought your legs were going to be damaged too, but I can read the charts. They are completely in the…” 

“That doesn't matter.” Kyosuke interrupted Sayaka. Madoka was about to jump in again, but Mami put a hand on her shoulder. Mami…it was hard to read her expression, but Homura could tell there was familiarity on her mind. Part of Homura, the part that had never asked about what happened after Mami contracted, wondered if she had been in the hospital for any length of time too. Homura right now didn’t care to ponder that specific question, as she could only see the start of everything going wrong. Because if you ignored the Incubator, there was only one other place that the dominoes started falling.  

“You were scared about not walking though…” Sayaka’s tone was distressed, a distress that came from seeing a friend hurting. Sayaka often got a similar tone directed at her when this all went wrong. 

 “The injuries…” 

“They ruined me.” Kyosuke said despondently. 

“You’re not ruined.” Sayaka and Hitomi quickly interjected. 

“You're just hurt, you are going to get better!” 

 “Everyone was worried you might not be alive!” 

“You might have to take a break for a while but…” 

“For a while? Try forever.” Kyosuke interrupted, sounding like he wished he wasn’t in fact alive. “You don’t know what it's like to lose what…what makes you you. You don’t understand, so stop trying.” Kyosuke grumbled, sounding like it was only a lack of energy that kept him from snapping at Hitomi and Sayaka, who both looked hurt and mutually wishing they could do something to help him. Homura, trying not to telegraph her dread of Kyubey showing up the moment she looked away from those two from Mami and Madoka, kept her expression as neutral as possible, despite the scowl she could feel slowly coming out, not letting Sayaka get any hint about what she was thinking. Because, while Sayaka had never found out about what she was thinking in any previous timelines, even Homura could imagine just what Madoka’s oldest friend, in linear time, would do if the blue haired girl ever found out about what was on Homura’s mind right now.  

Homura had pondered about just…killing the boy before. It had crossed her mind many times in the last few…however many loops or so, and from a logical perspective it made complete sense. Really, Kyosuke Kamijo wasn’t that different from a Witch. The boy was not intentionally a danger to them all, ignorant where a Witch was lost in their madness. Yet that ignorance was just as dangerous as a Witch in her madness. He was ignorant of the effect his actions had on others, and any lesson he could learn came too late and would need to be relearned again and again and again . 

More Sayaka Mikis had died, or worse, because of him than any other factor. Even when the Sayaka killers among the Witches did the deed were added up together in a single total, it was his broken hands and poor social skills that left him with more of Sayaka’s blood on him than any monster Kyubey created. And from Sayaka’s blood…he has Mami’s blood on his hands. He had Kyoko’s blood on his hand. He had Madoka’s blood on his hands. All the while completely unaware he had done anything. He was just a boy without social skills in a lot of pain afterall, unaware of Witches and Magical Girls. As a girl without social skills and in a lot of pain, Homura could relate, but understanding him did not mean she thought his existence wasn’t a collar of lead around all their necks. She could…really just shoot him and save them all a ton of trouble. Shoot him, dispose of the body, maybe frame it as a suicide as a mask for her disposal of a problem. Sayaka couldn’t wish him back, she knew that from a timeline where he had just killed himself before Sayaka could make a wish, and if she couldn’t neither could Hitomi. His death…could it be enough to allow more than her to live through Walpurgisnacht. Just one death could save up to four lives, not even counting how many fewer people might die because of Walpurgisnacht being defeated quicker and permanently. Yet…she had never tried to kill this socially unaware boy herself. This was mostly because by the time she had decided it was worth experimenting with removing him as she would remove Oriko, Homura had discovered Madoka could revive the dead. She had pulled Sayaka out of Oktavia, and in three other timelines she had repeated the action with others who had just outright died without a Witch left behind. That timeline that Madoka had seen as a nightmare had been one of those timelines. Madoka would contract to bring him back to life, Homura had no doubt, and stopping that by having Madoka contract beforehand was the opposite of what was needed. So ultimately…no matter how much he made her job harder, no matter how many timelines he inadvertently ruined, no matter how many times he seemed instinctively trying to set Homura up to fight the Mermaid Witch for the fiftieth or hundredth or two-hundredth time or however many times she had fought that one Witch, she couldn't do anything to him. He was a net negative on all of their survival, no matter if she acted or did not act on it. She had never tried to be direct with him though, she didn’t like being back at the hospital and by the time he got out things were either in the final stretch or it had all fallen apart. The one conversation she could vaguely remember having with him, maybe three, involved two questions about Sayaka’s fate that showed the problem wasn’t apathy but obliviousness when it came to him, and one about Sayaka being more into superheroes than musicians. But if she was going to be here now…

All of them were silent, as Homura ranted on the screen, hell they couldn’t even say anything because of how depressing this was, even when Homura said that she once contemplated whether to kill Kyouske or not which had all of them flinch and Homura curl to herself, they will all talk about this during break, because they do not want to make Homura depressed when she already is right now because seeing yourself practically admit all of this takes a toll in your mind. So right now is not the right time to confront her about it, but they will have to later.

“Madoka, Mami, don’t freak out.” Homura requested bluntly. The two looked at her in surprise, and she got the impression that Mami was worried she was about to transform into a Magical Girl and offer the three of them the powers of magic to solve all of their problems. That was quite wrong, though she was sure what she was about to do was going to freak them out just as much. Probably also Hitomi and Sayaka, in fact she was quite sure that Sayaka was going to scream in three…two…one….

“MADOKA YOUR SOULMATE IS FLASHING KYOSUKE!” 

Yep. Also Madoka squeaked in surprise, Mami looked dumbfounded, Kyosuke was looking away, and Hitomi was sputtering. 

Immediately, everyone in the theatre covered the children’s eyes (Tatsuya, Nagisa, and Yuma), while Kirika closed Oriko’s eyes as if saying that Oriko is only allowed to see hers.

The three adults then looked at Homura wondering why the hell would she do something like this.

While Homura just closed her eyes in embarrassment as Kyoko gawked at the screen.

“What went through your head when you decided to do that,” Kyoko said as she gawked at the screen.

“To be fair, I might’ve acted too much on my emotions and just want him to shut up and maybe show him that there’s still hope for him?” Homura says with an unsure tone.

“By what? By stripping and flashing him in a hospital?”

“Yeah, it was not my best moment, please don’t rub it in.”

“At least the boy had decency to look away,” Oriko said, knowing that other people would take advantage of that scenario if it were to happen to those people.

“...My apologies, but it's more visible this way.” Homura explained as she made sure her skin above her breasts was plain visible. 

“WHAT”S VISIB…” Sayaka’s indignation flagged as she noticed, likely alongside the fact her choice of undergarment was not particularly flashy (Sayaka was a dirty minded cretin after all), the scar that ran above her breasts, and below them as well. One that while hardly ragged and bleeding, was fresh. It was always fresh. They said it would be hard to notice after a while so long ago she forgot how long it would be like this, but it did make a point clear. It even got Kyosuke to look, not just her way but at all of them (well, at least three of them, probably four of the five of them) being there for him, and with his attention it was time to make a point. 

(Hey! I’m not a dirty minded cretin!)

“...I said don’t freak out. You knew I was in the hospital for heart surgery.” She quickly reminded Madoka assuringly, who was looking at her like she was about to start spewing internal organs out of the scar like a leaking bag. Her tone was back to normal for the boy. “And yes Kyosuke, I was also in the hospital for debilitating injuries. I got them in an accident as well, specifically a birth defect. You could call it a tragic accident of birth, being born with very narrow blood vessels. I’ll spare you a vivid description of why those were problematic. I only left this hospital three days ago after spending more of my life in a hospital of some sort all over Japan than out of one for what I hope to be the final time in regards to my heart. So I do know what it is like.” 

“...Did it crush your dreams? Real dreams, your passions you worked so hard on, your entire life, only to lose them because of someone else being a complete idiot?” The boy grumbled, the unfairness of his injury hard on his mind. Yes. She knew what it was like to lose things to idiots, and even more so to unfeeling aliens and monsters that were once innocent people.

Kyosuke was looking at her, but he wasn’t seeing the fact that he was a lot more fortunate, in a sheer statistical sense, than she had been. 

“Kyosuke...this is not what I expected to happen when I met Madoka’s second soulmate, but she’s not…she’s not wrong. No matter what happens, you are still alive. The other…” Hitomi spoke up before flinching when he turned to glare at her. 

“I might as well be dead if I can’t play.” He muttered in either self-loathing or self-pity. A mixture of the two in all honesty. She was going to speak her mind on that idea, but Sayaka spoke faster. 

“Hey, you were so excited about that surgery you found out about the other day! The one that’ll….” 

“The one that I had everyone tell me is almost certainly not going to let me play again, it’ll just let me I can actually turn a door knob on my own.” He muttered, having clearly lost a lot of his hopes since Sayaka was last here. Now she could speak her mind

“And who is better off if you’re dead?” Homura bluntly asked the boy. “Does it make your family feel better? Your friends? Yourself?”  

If she had died as the old her, it would have been sad for dozens of nurses, sure, but Kyosuke had family. He had friends. As Kyosuke didn’t have an answer about if it even made him feel better, she continued.

“Maybe you won’t get lucky and have a new surgery go well and get your hands back. I got my heart working by fortune, not certainty. I know exactly what it feels like to not know what will happen to yourself the next day as you are going to get parts of you cut open and poked at. You are going to fall asleep and wake up to a state of affairs you will have no control over. That is scary. But it's scarier alone than with people who are trying to help. Do Sayaka and Hitomi, and your parents, know what it is like to be in your situation? No, not they don’t, and in all hope they never will. But they want to be there for you, to support you, and that means a lot. You don’t want to realize you missed it when you needed it, trust me. And nothing is improved if you aren’t there at all, you and them just miss out on what could happen that way.” 

She felt a touch of positive emotion from Mami and especially Madoka, a feeling of being touched. She wasn’t intending to reference their Soulbonds there as some sort of fortunate light at the end of a long road, but if that was the direction they thought it was intended to go, why not use it? She’d improvise. So she ‘flashed’ her marks to him. 

“...Try to, if you do not have hope for a miracle or a blessing that might not come, to at least remember you aren’t alone, even if you feel that way a lot. Everyone wants to help you, even if they can’t do everything. You have people who care about you, and yes they will pity you. Being pitied hurts. But that is not the only thing they are feeling about you. Try to remember that, and also think about what you can do in the future, not what you can’t. You are going to be here for a while, it will take longer if you're upset the entire time.” 

Kyosuke didn’t respond, and Homura wasn’t sure if he was even listening anymore. So…where was this attempt going to end up on the ‘Homura Akemi screwed up’ scale? 

The theater is silent, knowing that they can’t interrupt something like this conversation. They knew that Kyosuke needed help but from the looks that he’s giving, he’s not yet in the right mind to talk about this.

After what seemed like forever, once the talk was over, everyone looked at Homura who was currently hiding her blushing face.

“Ok, I’ll admit, I’m impressed,” Kyoko admits, and added, “Impressed by how you are so bad at public speaking that you have to resolve to flashing the boy to make a point.”

Homura could only groan as she hid her face.

“Homura, dear, it’s okay to sympathize and try to help someone by understanding them and showing that they aren’t alone… But please remember to read the room and see if he’s ready for the talk.” Junko says, give Homura guidance.

“And please don’t flash someone to make a point,” Sayaka begged.

Homura could only nod before going back to her blank expression and finally showing her face.

“That could have gone better.” Homura admitted as the five left his hospital room, her shirt back on properly. She knew that just words couldn’t get a person to stop being a self-pitying mess, but she probably should have tried that Kyosuke conversation before in prior time loops. Maybe there was an easier way to make a point with that surgical scar…

“Yeah, it could have, but there’s no mulling over the past, what we should do is to improve on what we had done in the past.” Mami lectured.

Homura nodded and replied, “Of course… I know that better than anyone.”

Those words made Mami flinch, she didn’t mean to make Homura remember her situation.

“It’s fine, I’ve long grown accustomed to my situation that me looping back feels like a chore.”

Still, Mami couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty.

“....yeah, it could have.” Sayaka agreed, though without venom in her words. So it wasn’t a complete screw up at least. “You aren’t a public speaker, are you?”

“Yeah, she isn’t,” Everyone agreed in their heads. 

All of a sudden, Homura sneezed, thinking that it might be because someone is talking/thinking about her.

“Public speaking isn’t offered in missionary schools or hospital rooms.” Homura confirmed.

“...I get the impression that Kyosuke isn’t in the place for words.” Mami admitted assessingly. “Trying to connect with him with a clear shared experience was the right thing to try, but maybe not now.” 

“...Guess the question is when is the ‘right’ time?” Sayaka wondered aloud. “Oh..um…thanks for trying to help me and Hitomi there. I mean I don’t think it worked,” 

“It might work later, maybe he just has to think about it.” Hitomi interjected. 

“Yeah, even though your methods are questionable… still thanks for trying to help me and Hitomi.”

“You’re welcome, besides, that is one less problem to deal with.”

Sayaka doesn’t know how to react to Sayaka treating Kyosuke as a problem, on one hand it’s valid considering the other timelines where she witched out due to Kyosuke and became a problem for Homura, but on the other Kyosuke is still human, he still makes mistakes, mistakes that became Homura’s problem but at the end of the day he is still her friend and she’s quite protective to those she cared for.

“..maybe? But you meant what you said. I guess you are pretty cool.” Sayaka admitted, and Homura had to restrain her emotions to ensure that Madoka and Mami didn’t realize just how much that surprised her. Sayaka just… thanked her. And it didn’t involve her realizing the ‘chunni jerk Magical Girl’ had just saved their lives. 

“She is.” Madoka emphasized. 

“Am I really that bad,” Sayaka says sulking.

“Yes, yes you are,”

“Darling, you don’t need to be that blunt you know,” Mami said as she went to console Sayaka.

“Well, she deserves to know, also I guess once you see the previous timeline Sayakas, you’ll see what I mean.”

“So I’m guessing you are going to wear a purple ribbon in your hair tomorrow then?” Sayaka joked, perking slightly up as Madoka absently touched the golden ribbon she had in her hair, before blushing. 

“If it’s not too much trouble…”

“I’d be flattered.” Homura said aloud, feeling a bit happy even as Madoka blushed more. 

“Now, Madoka will get to use blue,” Sayaka says excitedly, as she wonders how blue ribbons would suit Madoka.

As for red, well they have already seen her with it, and Kyoko blushed as she got a mental image of Madoka wearing a red ribbon with the same scheme as hers.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. Honestly it’s going to be nice. Maybe if I make a really nice ribbon that’s both purple and gold…” Mami cheerfully, if somewhat overtly in a means to cheer up the group of them, clapped her hands together as Madoka blushed even further. “You don’t need to alternate between the two.” 

“That’s a good idea, two pairs of color on each side of her pigtails.” Hitomi said.

Oriko nods agreeing with her, to which she felt something in her stomach.

“We’re definitely trying that after this,” Sayaka says excited to see Madoka with it. 

The rest of the quintet agreed, making Madoka smile, wondering how did she get lucky and got four beautiful soulmates.

“It almost sounds like you’re talking about wedding rings.’ Hitomi mused absently, her mind half on the topic and half on Kyosuke. Homura mentally wondered if she was going to see Hitomi with a ring of her own tomorrow at this rate. Sayaka was in the same space from what Homura could tell. She should probably do something about that, especially with Sayaka. Sayaka running off to the nearest alien to help Kyosuke would only end badly. It always did. 

Sayaka flinched, remembering the times she’s been tempted by that devil disguised as a rat. She felt rage, anger, hatred. She just wants to drown that little insect.

All of a sudden, she snapped back into reality when Homura touched her shoulder. Looking at her worriedly.

“Are you okay?” Homura asked, concerned. 

“I-I’m fine, just a few unwanted thoughts.” Sayaka stutters, trying to reassure Homura.

This doesn’t seem to work as Homura still looks at her in concern but inevitably dropped the subject.

“If you need someone to talk to, we're always here.” Mami says reassuringly.

To which Sayaka nodded with a grin.

Unbeknownst to Sayaka, Homura felt that dark ominous aura that came from Sayaka, she couldn’t help but be worried because she knew that came from the witch in Sayaka.

“Madoka, you mentioned you might want to do something with your friends later today. Why don’t you do that, help them cheer up.” Homura suggested, causing everyone to look at her. 

‘I’d rather not have them rush a wish. ’ Homura admitted between the three of them. Mami frowned, Homura having left her reasoning short enough for Mami to come to her own conclusions, which would not be about the lengthy list of reasons the two should not contract at all. ‘ You should help them cheer up a bit. Go have fun.’

“So much for trying to not have them contract,” Homura muttered, while she’s thankful that Sayaka used her wish for Madoka, it still doesn’t change the fact that Sayaka is the most vulnerable mentally between the five of them which made the witchification percentage go up.

‘ Not unwise but…I cannot imagine that if Kyubey did approach them, they’d have any other ideas in a day as they would right now. Though wishing for another is often more dangerous than it seems….Madoka if it does come up, don’t worry about keeping my secrets. Don’t even hesitate to call and me and Homura can be there as soon as possible.’ 

‘...And mine as well, if it comes to it. I can’t say if it will, but give them both of our advices to you if it does. If you need us, well I wouldn’t normally run across a city with time paused but you’d recharge my magic if I did do it so it wouldn’t be a problem.’ Homura would take the slight reference to Kyoko as Mami’s assumption and run with it. She doubted that Madoka could really convince the two to not sell their souls for the boy on her own, not even him killing himself could stop them from trying, him dying just meant Kyubey informing them that wish wouldn’t work, but if this would actually be a problem was entirely on the whims of an unfeeling alien. If it all went well they’d just have fun and be back for dinner without any Kyubey to be found. 

“Really? Using me as an example? But you’re right, wishing for someone else is the most dangerous form of wish as it can backfire on you… speaking from experience.” Kyoko said blankly.

Sayaka looked like she was about to ask, but decided not to, feeling the inner turmoil Kyoko is currently experiencing.

The adults looked at Kyoko in sympathy, they remembered that incident with the burning church and the family of Sakura that died in the accident. 

‘ Sure .’ Madoka sounded like she also hoped it didn’t come up, though it was entirely because she wasn’t sure she wanted to be the one to explain it. Three different pages on the same scenario…honestly Homura had to deal with worse previously. “So, do you guys still want to go to…” 

The trio broke off, chatting about plans from school conversations earlier today, just somewhat more subdued, as Mami and Homura watched them leave. They’d probably say something to Madoka’s father first, but otherwise would be on their own. 

“Kyosuke…he won’t mean any harm, but I hope the two don’t make a wish for him. They won’t realize it wasn’t just to help him recover until he doesn’t respond as they unwittingly hoped.” Mami mused aloud as Homura nodded. Indeed, that was what always happened. The boy wasn’t evil or possibly even truly selfish, just completely unaware. And unawareness was often more dangerous. Being ignored hurts more than being hated or scorned. “So, where did you hunt in the last two days? There shouldn’t be another Witch in those areas for a while.” 

Many agreed with Mami’s statement, especially the adults, knowing how easy it is to manipulate children. Having them make a wish for someone else could only lead to more harm than good. Because well as the screen already states.

Homura, happy to be leaving the hospital again, and with no sense of anything that felt like Charlotte (why did Charlotte always appear here?) at the moment, gave Mami all the information she had. 

“You really hated that witch huh?” Oriko said, more as a statement, and less as a question.

“Yeah, it is one of the beings that almost put an end to me after all, and in multiple timelines at that.”

Meanwhile, inside Nagisa, she can’t help but feel sadness, she didn’t know why (Poor Bebe just wanted cheese).

“Homura, are you sure that you counted the amount of Witches you defeated correctly?” Mami asked, not accusingly, as their search entered its second hour. Homura nodded, but her expression was one of shared confusion. 

“It does seem odd we haven’t found any yet.” 

It was strange. Mami had long mapped out in her head where to look for Witches. There were times when new locations did come up that deviated from her usual path, that one Witch that Homura had found two days ago on a bridge near the Kaname family vehicle was one such out of place Witch. But they were not necessarily normal, and most of the time she knew where Witches appeared. She knew their habits, as best as any human could. Yet…there weren’t any to be found so far. 

Once again, they could feel Homura’s annoyance at the inconvenience that not everything is fixed and that things could change in a timeline. Except for the soulbond, it is one of the best things that ever happened to her. If there is a God out there, she’ll probably thank them for bringing her in this timeline, but that’s all she’ll ever be thankful for.

Mitakihara wasn’t exactly filled with Witches, but especially with her not having gone on patrol for two days there should be more signs of them. Even with Homura’s activities the last few days their absence felt unusual. 

“I haven’t detected any other Magical Girls either.” Homura added, having been looking for any sign of them with particular interest. Which was also unusual, as she did run into that one at school today. Mami wasn’t actively trying to sense Kirkia, but it didn’t feel like she’d been active in Mitakihara either, or that boss of hers who had given her those instructions about how to contact Mami. So it wasn’t them. Though it was best to not dwell on Kirika after…

“Uh oh, you should not have thought about anything related to Kirika,” Kyoko said, cringing, knowing how Homura reacted when she learnt that Oriko and Kirika were a part of the Magius, and finding out that they are lieutenants in said organization/cult.

“To be fair, when Homura said that she hadn't detected any magical girls, I immediately thought of Kirika who managed to sneak in Mitakihara so… yeah,” Mami said sheepishly while rubbing her nape.

‘ WHAT?!’ Homura did indeed react ‘like the scary one’, when Mami mentioned Kirika’s name. Fortunately she had asked Homura to freeze time first, and warned Madoka that she suspected Homura might get angry. ‘SHE WAS IN THE SAME BUILDING AS MADOKA FOR OVER HALF A SCHOOL DAY!?’ 

“Is she always like this when me and Kirika get mentioned?” Oriko asked, somehow wondering if she’s gonna keep hearing Homura scream on the screen because they got mentioned.

“Ow…..” Madoka choked out in pain, and immediately Mami could tell Homura was trying to rein back a boiling fury, but also that Mami could feel genuine fear in that rage, from hurting Madoka again. The mixture of fear for Madoka’s safety in that rage had the same effect when it washed over Madoka as pure rage though. 

Homura looked like she was about to apologize again before Madoka looked at her that says, ‘it’s fine, we make mistakes, and you’re not at fault for feeling such anger”

It took at least a minute of staring before Homura conceded and looked back at the screen.

Madoka looked proud of herself, she managed to stop Homura from apologizing for something she could not control…well technically she could because it’s her emotion, but could you blame her after experiencing all the hardships she has to go through? 

‘...Yes, but she also clearly left and while I am surprised she was here…she did immediately move to leave.’ Mami clarified, though in her tone making it clear Homura really did need to do something about her emotions. This could not keep happening. 

‘.....don’t trust them.’ Homura said, sounding like she was holding back all of that anger and fear as best she could before it choked Madoka again. Mami got the sense that back at the Kaname residence she was moments away from running right to the school, guns in hand. 

‘And I don’t. I don’t like being ambushed in the bathroom.’ 

“I admit, Kirika ambushing you in the bathroom might not be the best course of action, but believe me when I say that this is the only plan we could come up with, future sight involved too, without alerting the time traveler.” Oriko admitted.

“Yeah, me and Oriko double checked the visions, and the only plan to succeed is where we ambushed you in the bathroom.” Kirika added.

Homura couldn’t help but tsk’ed knowing how right Oriko is, even she had to applaud them for the plan.

Mami nodded, knowing how hostile Homura is towards them, she couldn’t really fault them for making that plan.

‘Do you know her, Homura?’ Madoka asked. Homura was silent for a moment. 

‘I do, but they don’t know me in person. Rest assured however, as I know plenty about them. Kirika Kure has the ability to slow down time, fights with claws attached to her arms, and is incredibly acrobatic. Also she’s nuts. She serves a girl named Oriko Mikuni,’ and that name Mami hadn’t mentioned, along with some of the odder parts. She had mentioned the bit about Kirika knowing about Homura’s dream, but not the dinosaurs for example. That was just…weird, though she would keep all of those odd points in mind, “her wish allows her to see into the future, though not necessarily in a controlled manner and at the cost of a lot of magic. She fights with floating spheres that shoot lasers.’ 

“That’s some detail right there, I’m impressed, it seems you’ve done your research… or maybe you got it from another me in another timeline.” Oriko says, trying to find out how Homura had gotten that information… She had a feeling that another her, the one that betrayed Homura, is the one that gave her the information.

Homura just looked at her with steely eyes and said, “None of your business”

Oriko sighed, negotiations and reconciliations will be hard if Homura won’t budge.

So Homura did know them ,but they didn’t know her beyond ‘the scary one?’ How did that work? Did it have something to do with…no that didn’t make sense. Future vision would mean that Oriko knew Homura but not the other way around. Was it somehow related to Homura stopping time…no that didn’t make sense either. Mami was missing something here…

“Aren’t the Mikunis a big political family…or were? There was a news story a while ago about a scandal, and a scandal within a scandal?’ Madoka wondered aloud, like she could vaguely recall a story about it in the news. Mami nodded, happy to have something make sense she could actually connect two and two together about.

‘Yes, I think I saw that too. Apparently a father used his son as a scapegoat for political corruption…Mikuni versus Mikuni. I wouldn’t have thought that a Magical Girl was involved but that could explain how that got out.’ Was Oriko the granddaughter avenging her father by having the grandfather fall to clear her father’s good name? 

“I can neither confirm nor deny those claims,” Oriko said blankly, a little bit too blankly as she had flashbacks.

Homura flinched as she remembered that voice… the voice that betrayed her, she couldn’t remember what Oriko was saying back then but she could still clearly remember the event that happened.

Hitomi looked at Oriko with sympathy in her eyes, she couldn’t imagine a scandal like Oriko’s would do if it happened to her family as her family is one of the most influential families in Japan, that’s why she went and sat down next to Oriko, much to the annoyance of Kirika and confusion of Oriko.

“Why did you decide to sit next to me knowing your friends are hostile to me?” Oriko asked in confusion.

“Because I just want to console you, that’s it, is it that hard to believe?” Hitomi asks as she looks at Oriko.

“Well… yeah, most people who approached me only want the wealth that came from my family. So seeing that you just wanted to console me is a bit weird.”

“Mikuni, I’m a Hitomi, I’ll say that my family is quite influential and has enough money for me to use, so please out of my general kindness just take it.” Hitomi says with a smile as she takes Oriko’s hand.

Mikuni blushed the moment Hitomi took her hand, this woman is crazy, she is literally her friend’s enemy, yet she decided to help her?

Kirika looked like she was about to pounce on Hitomi before she felt warm coming from Mikuni… Fine, she’ll hold off for now as the girl is only trying to help Mikuni.

Meanwhile the Quintet looked confused on what they were seeing right now. Sayaka looked like she just saw a treat and started shipping Hitomi with those two.

Homura looked like she was about to gag at the mental image Sayaka is putting through their heads… but right now she’s confused and is wondering what could this lead to, this was also new so… wait, if Hitomi were to become their friend, would they stop coming for Madoka because Madoka is Hitomi’s friend? That sounds good, too good, she’ll have to keep an eye on their budding relationship.

‘Be wary. That girl will act on her visions, and it won’t just be by leaving messages.’ Homura grimly observed, and Mami could feel the faintest sense that Homura was thinking of other things as well. There was definitely more to this… ‘Also Madoka, I will be setting up security cameras around your home.’ 

‘Your going to set up what?’ 

“Wait, you did what?” Junko asked in disbelief.

“I-I set up cameras around your home so that I could monitor if Kyubey’s been there or any serial killers,” Homura stuttered nervously, before Junko could reply, Homura added, “If you don’t want to then I can remove them-”

Before Homura could continue, Junko cut her off by saying, “It’s fine,”

“-R-really?”

“Yep, although I would like a warning next time you do it, tell me okie?”

“O-okay,” Homura sighed in relief as Junko went back to watching.

How did Homura know about Oriko and Kirika while they didn’t know her personally? Mami had thought about that, but there was no obvious answer. Homura had disengaged them after mentioning the cameras, but kept time frozen. Seemingly long enough to set up cameras. Excessive but…Homura was genuinely worried about them. What had she seen out there? And, on a less confusing topic, had Homura noticed anything else out there before she was hospitalized? 

Mami wondered about asking Homura about if she’d noticed any trends with Witch numbers . Mami had heard some talk of towns and cities in Japan having their Witches numbers decline for the last while. Some Magical Girls, mostly hostile, had mentioned as much as they were forced to travel farther and farther to find Grief Seeds and ended up in Mitakihara and in conflict with her at worst, actively avoiding her at best. Mami had hoped that one of them would be Kyoko…but alas there had been no sign of her. Absence of evidence was not evidence of absence, though the last few nights before she woke up to Soulmarks on her palm had been miserable ones for her, plagued by nightmares of what the lack of Kyoko meant. It was a misery she was happy was only known to herself. Though Kyoko being alive, if Oriko was correct, did come with the strange caveat of why she’d be in danger of being attacked by dinosaurs of all things.

“Hey, I’m a tough cookie you know, there’s no way I would hit the bucket that easy,” Kyoko said with a toothy grin while Mami reminded her to not be cocky as she did almost die by dinosaurs.

“Umm, is the lack of witches really that of a problem?” Tomohisa asked worriedly, wondering what it could mean for the kids.

“Oh it really is going to be a problem Mr. Kaname,”

“Once there is no more witches in a place or territory, they will go to another to hunt, which causes conflict to the magical girl or girls that own the territory since magical girls are territorial beings making it a fight to whoever wins gets the territory and the one to lose… well, let’s just say not only did they lose a fight, they also lost their life.” Oriko said grimly.

The adults flinched, once again surprised at how cruel this system could be, and they hate that they can’t do anything about it.

Mami wondered about asking Homura if she’d noticed anything non-dinosaur related, but Homura had been in the hospital for a while and how long she’d been there, or since her last fight with a Walpurgisnacht. Homura would not answer her, Mami knew, if that came up. It was better to be on the side of caution when it came to that. 

“It shouldn’t be a problem that there aren’t any Witches we can detect so far. Between your own hunt and mine we’ve searched a lot of the city, and no Witches are a good thing. We don’t even need a Grief Seed…” 

“But the Witch you don’t find is the one that kills someone.” Homura finished as Mami nodded. The Witch that you don’t see…is like the car that isn’t seen until…she shook her head as she felt a pinch of distress from Madoka. No, no, don’t think like that. Why talk about a failure like that to people who depended on you? Not until she felt like she balanced things out after how selfish she was that day. Maybe just one more life saved from a Witch would do it…she used to think to herself. Then when the feeling didn’t come, it just felt worse. Maybe one day…one day she’d realize she felt like she’d finally atoned. 

The Quintet looking at Mami is currently shaking and looking down, the Quintet, knowing that she’s not ready yet, decided to pile this in ‘talk later in break’ pile as they went and comforted her.

Mami warily eyed for anyone else being around besides the two of them as they continued to look, and then felt what Madoka was up to. It felt like she was busy, surely Sayaka and Hitomi getting into a good mood finally after the hospital visit, before she asked Homura something that she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to Madoka about. 

“..Homura, do you…” Mami started to ask, before realizing just how bad it would be to ask a sole survivor of two Walpurgisnacht fights about regrets. She tried something else. “When you think about how you….” no no, don’t ask about the wish Homura made, especially about regrets. Homura surely regretted nothing, she wasn’t like her….

… Oh how wrong she was, Homura did regret a lot of things, but only now can she see the full extent of the said regret. Hell her regret might not even hold a candle to the regrets Homura has and yet, she decided to try and ask questions like that to someone who survived Walpurgisnacht 40 times, someone who saw her friends, bestfriends, girlfriends die in front of her multiple times with either the same or different deaths in each timeline.

“Found something.” Homura spoke up as her Soul Gem glowed, directing Homura to turn sharply. Mami heard the beep, it wasn’t just Homura cutting her off…though Mami had no idea how she felt about the fact she couldn’t ask…well…anything. And there was clearly a lull as Madoka was now inquiring in about what was bothering her. 

‘Oh nothing, nothing, nothing. Nothing is wrong. We only just found a Witch though .’ She assured Madoka. Nothing was wrong, nothing was wrong at all. It was Witch time, time to put on the proper face. Her public face. The face that her Soulmates could respect. Yes yes yes. 

It hurts seeing Mami like that, they know she has issues, but it seems that it runs deeper than just her loneliness. 

“You know you’ll just end up hurting yourself and your soulmates if you keep pretending right,” Oriko asks seriously.

“... yeah, I know,”

Oriko sighed, knowing she can’t be too hard on Mami.

“Just talk to them later,”

To chich Mami nodded as she laid her head on Madoka’s shoulder.

Eventually, after she was sure that Madoka had no reasons to worry at all, she and Homura found the entrance to the Labyrinth behind a movie theater. It was a bit out of the way, but it was still far too close to people. It was a particular risk to theater employees. With a nod Mami transformed, ready to get at it before closing time that would put the innocent most at risk, when Mami realized she hadn’t looked at herself when she transformed since she got her Soulmarks. She hadn’t looked at herself at the grocery store where she’d met Madoka, she had someone much more important to see, and she hadn’t transformed during her hunt for Homura yesterday. Today was the first time she had really looked at her Magical Girl self, and Mami realized that her uniform had changed. It wasn’t by much, but over her heart now sat a symbol of five diamonds. Two of them were only faintly visible, the two on the bottom, but the center yellow diamond, the top right pink diamond, and the top left purple diamond were quite visible. Homura was staring at the symbols in surprise, and to confirm that it was a change Mami nodded. This wasn’t what her Magical Girl form looked like the last time she transformed to fight a Witch, and despite the urgency, she couldn’t help but put a hand over her heart and smile. It certainly helped dispel those thoughts from her mind.

“Yeah, somehow, soulbonds modify the costumes of Magical Girls which might be because those who are soulmates are connected to each other.” Oriko said, this theory still hasn’t been proven, but this is the most accurate theory that Kyubey or any Magical Girls agreed to.

The Quintet nodded at that explanation, it is the most logical to conclude.

“You know, I wasn’t expecting this, but it is nice. Oh, you should check yourself too!” 

Homura nodded and changed as well, revealing an outfit that was pretty simple, but elegant in its own simplicity. Purple, white, and black, with diamonds on the boots and Soul Gem that explained their Soulmarks pretty well. Speaking of diamonds, Homura also had the same symbol over her own heart, just with the purple diamond in the center and the yellow in the top left. Homura touched the mark on her costume in surprise as Mami smiled. Magical Girl outfits did change with their wearers over time. Her current one wasn’t the same one she had three years ago, and she had heard stories of a few Magical Girls in Kamihama City who’d been Magical Girls for seven years, theirs had surely changed in that much time too. But it was hard to notice the changes over time, you just looked at a pool of water after defeating a Witch and you realized that your costume had a corset as part of itself now. Mami had no idea why that happened. Homura must have never noticed a change. 

“They’re nice, don’t you think? Witches aren’t exactly going to appreciate it though. No matter, are you ready for our first Witch together?” 

Homura nodded once more. 

“Always.”

The Quintet couldn’t help but think of Homura (much to Homura’s embarrassment) cute in her outfit, while they did see her in that outfit, they hadn’t had the time to properly appreciate each other’s costume.

The inside of the Labyrinth looked like a city, but not Mitakihara. The city’s buildings were generic, older looking, and the skyline was littered with spotlights. The sound of police sirens was going off everywhere, and the sky was filled with dots. The edges of reality, for lack of a way to put it another way, resembled the edges of a manga…no…a comic book. 

“Uhh, is this how labyrinths normally look like?” Kazuko asked in disbelief because what this- this looks like some sort of a mess drawing of a kid.

“Not at all Miss Saotome, labyrinths varied individually, each consisting of their own unique design… and those designs could be attributed to the witch's past as a Magical girl, the design symbolizes their inner struggle, fears, regrets, and among other other things.” Homura says grimly. The topic of labyrinths symbolizing a magical girl’s dark side and their witch being their negative side in manifestation was something she wants to avoid, but seeing that it will probably be shown here and was asked about it, she just decided to fuck it and hope for the best.

The Quintet and other magical girls who didn’t know this were shocked… Mami thought of her own insecurities and fears, being alone, does that mean that Candeloro is lonely?

The other magical girls with the exception of Kirika and Oriko flinched as they imagined themselves in a labyrinth with all their insecurities, fears, etc. They don’t think they can handle such a thing.

“A Superhero Witch?” Mami surmised as Homura looked around like she’d seen something like this before. Mami wasn’t that surprised, as she had seen a theme or two be really similar once or twice. 

“Possibly.” Homura guessed as she pointed at the sky. “I’m told that the dots are a trademark on Western comics. Spider-man, the Fantastic Four…it is not my expertise.” Homura seemed to leave a space for her to be corrected, as if she expected to find out that Spider-man and the Fantastic Four were the wrong names. Like if she was getting comics wrong on top of her other odd gap in knowledge. Mami nodded. 

“I’ll take your word for it, but yes those are both famous American comic books. The former had good movies, but wasn't much into the latter’s.” Mami knew they did often feature these dots, but not their specific artistic tropes. She’d guess this was something Homura had learned from one of her lost friends and was not a native interest. Though before she could wonder more they were suddenly beset by a legion of gangsters made of those same dots that made up the sky. Familiars. They charged, and Mami quickly formed a pair of muskets in hand, using them to block the familiars' assorted clubs and pipes before turning the muskets back to ribbons, letting them shoot forward and slash through the familiars like razor wire. Homura meanwhile had pulled a handgun out of her shield and was shooting each of them, moving swiftly into a position to get a head shot before avoiding a blow and repeating the show. Mami, who took three shots to hit two other familiars before jumping over a third and wrapping it up tight before squeezing it apart, thought Homura was being cautious with her shots. Probably her over-correcting for the decreased ease of restocking from the Yakuza with her new familiar situation, and Madoka’s tendency to not like it when time was frozen for too long. 

“Woaahh, that’s so cool!” Nagisa and Yuma said at the same time.

The adults looked at the screen in awe, as much as they hate seeing their kids fight even though they are the only ones who could do something about the threat, they are still stunned by how elegantly Mami moves and how she goes well with Homura as her partner.

“You guys look as badass as always,” Sayaka says in awe, no matter how many times she saw them fight together, they always looked badass.

“Well it is to be expected from veteran magical girls,” Oriko says as she’s still holding Hitomi’s hand along with Kirika’s on the other hand, impressed by how well the two work together

“As long as you warn Madoka first that you are going to freeze time for long enough to resupply, there will be no issue.” Mami shouted. Homura didn’t respond verbally, but the shift to an automatic rifle and mowing an entire wave of goon familiars down with less precision was as clear as twelve sentences. With her own volley added, the familiars were all mowed down, vanishing into those dots and then into a dust-ladden mist as Mami looked at the skyline. 

“If this place is a city, it might take a while to look on foot. And we won’t get to the top of those buildings just by jumping.” Mami observed as Homura also looked at them. 

“Every building is the exact same height.” Homura agreed, there were no smaller ones to ascend on. Mami idly pointed her arm at one, letting her sleeves flicker for a moment, before shooting out a long ribbon. She kept the ‘gas’ on, for one way to put it, letting the ribbon fly on and on and on until it reached the top of a building and hooked on something. Maybe just an edge, maybe a water tower, maybe a gargoyle. Once it was done she gave the ribbon a pull to see if it was tight, and once she was satisfied she smiled. 

“When in Rome, or New York as it might be.” 

“..Climb?” Homura inquired, as if she had done so in a similar Labyrinth once. Mami shook her head. 

“Now where’s the fun in that?” 

“Ain’t no way you guys went and did those,” Sayaka asked with wide eyes.

“Please tell me you did a spider man impression, swinging from building to building.”

Mami smiled as she told Sayaka to keep watching while Homura looked like she was about to burp as she remembered having motion sickness from that.

Meanwhile in the mall, Madoka suddenly felt a sense of terror, like Homura was suddenly flying through the air, oddly mixed with a sense of joy from Mami. It probably gave her a strange expression because Hitomi was looking at her in concern. Just what was going on? 

It didn’t take Mami that long, swinging through the ‘city’ to spot the center where the Witch was hiding. She eventually landed, waiting outside it as long as Homura needed to get back on her own two feet after being taken on a swing through the city right out of a Spider-man story. 

“You…had too much fun.” Homura muttered on unsteady legs. Mami laughed, but really, she couldn’t help herself. It had been far too long since she had anyone with her on a Witch hunt. Not being alone was a blessing, and just having someone with her made this Witch hunt just feel so much…better for no better description. She just felt better about it than she had in ages! The only way it could be better was if they were all here…but Madoka didn’t have any powers. If she wanted to see what a Witch hunt was like from the sidelines that was fine, but Mami would not take her to one until she asked, and that assumed Homura would agree to it. Mami was somehow doubtful of that. 

“I wanna experience that!” Nagisa exclaims.

“Me Too!” Yuma agreed with a grin.”

Meanwhile, Sayaka looked at Mami like she just found her missing limited edition Kiana Kaslana merch as she immediately tackled Mami into a hug.

“Yattaaa, I finally got to feel what it feels like to be a spider man! But wait, Mami, you’ll carry me right? Right?”

Mami couldn’t help but chuckle as she agreed.

“You do know that you’ll be able to use our powers too, right? Just like what happened with Homura using Mami’s ribbons.” Kyoko said with a raised eyebrow. 

“But we don’t know when we’ll be able to do that,” Sayaka reasoned.

“You know what, you’re right,” Kyoko said.

Oriko who had been listening took note of what Kyoko said about using their powers, could it be that magical girls that are bonded with each other could share their powers to each other? If so then why haven’t Kirika and I been sharing ours? Or there could be a hidden activation?”

Before Oriko could ponder more, she was taken back to reality by a nudge that came from Kirika who looked at her worriedly along with Hitomi before reassuring them that she’s fine, she’s just thinking of something.

“Would you have rather walked?” 

“...I have a grappling hook.” Homura said that like she'd have rather pulled herself up a building that way instead of swinging around in the spirit of things. 

“Yes, but I can grow and shrink my ribbons at will. Much less of a muscle strain.” Mami assured Homura that swinging around like someone bitten by a radioactive spider was the best way to do this. Homura, her legs a bit steadier, stared at her. 

“You better not get into any habits.” Homura muttered like she expected her to start swinging to school next. Mami chuckled. 

The Quintet couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image of Mami swinging to go to school, even Mami was giggling.

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that. There are far too many cameras in Mitakihara to get away with that.” Oh…she counted. She had….

“Did you really count all of them?? There’s no way you have enough time to even do that.” Sayaka asked flabbergastled.

Before Mami could answer, Kyoko beat her to a punch, “Oh she did, she really did, back when I was still her student, she often took me around to hunt witches as well as look for any camera. Once she found out that almost everywhere had cameras, she was deeply sad that she couldn't swing around.”

Mami made a noise like the sound of a tea kettle.

“Kyoko! There’s no need to tell them all that!”

Kyoko just smiled with a toothy grin at her.

Homura shook her head, some mirth hidden deep in the exasperation she let off, as she looked at the entrance to the Witch’s lair. 

“So…do you want to take point or should I?” Homura inquired. Mami smiled as magic shimmered in her hands. 

“I’ll do it. I’ll go in, you cover me?”

Homura nodded, pulling out a few small bombs. Homura would go low, she’d go high. They moved on the final door, which opened up like a comic book page, even sounding like paper turning as the two walked in. What awaited them looked like what Mami would assume to be a credits page. If this was an actual comic book it would list authors and artists and a summary of the book so far, but instead it was just the nonsensical gibberish of the Witches. 

That was the background, as if ‘written’ into the city skyline. It wasn’t continual with where they’d left off, as they now stood amidst a massive bridge. Standing on top of the bridge, in a place far too easy to fall from, was a shape. It was large and hunched, made entirely of black and white versions of the dots that made up the sky, but in a bulky shape. It reminded Mami of one of the Spider-Man villains, one of the ones from the third movie, Venom, though the shape was vague enough that it might not be quite the correct description and was just taking on a vaguely humanoid shape at the moment.

The adults were shocked and scared, is this what these kids normally had to go against, is this… the manifestation of their negative side?

“Yeah, that thing might just be the worst venom ripoff if I ever see one,” Sayaka says, a bit disappointed at the looks of the witch.

Instinctively Mami shot out ribbons at it, having them fly out of her sleeve to bind the Witch, only for them to fly through the body, whose form was not solid. That got the Witch’s attention, which turned at her and snarled in a sound that almost sounded like a spoken onomatopoeia. 

“The Witch is impervious to physical attacks!” Homura warned, sounding like she’d seen this sort of Witch before. A part of Mami was instantly glad Kyoko wasn’t here, and quickly formed a gun to fire as the Witch leapt down at them, its dot-formed body extending long, metallic arms out of its back, like that of a different Spider-Man villain. The gun hit it in the…body for lack of a better term, causing it to let out a scream of pain before a bomb was flung at it next. The bomb struck it as well, causing it to be flung over the bridge, before its body morphed again and the bottom of its legs turned into some sort of flying apparatus, a third Spider-Man villain’s in fact (...This was certainly a different Witch…), allowing it to avoid falling and fly back at the both of them, its arms morphing into sharp blades and its mouth opening wide to reveal large, sharp teeth. 

Homura froze time, and Mami didn’t hesitate to use her ribbons to hoist both of them up into the upper structures of the bridge, getting over the Witch. Mami formed three guns and fired them, curious to see the bullets quickly freeze in place, before taking her and Homura onto a higher level still. Homura re-started time as the bullets flew once more, striking the Witch from up high as it let out a shriek not just of pain, but also confusion about where they went.  

Homura dropped another bomb, and with the briefest of signals froze time again, to which Mami once more, with a lot less momentum to her swing than traversing the city had required, swung them back down and behind the Witch. From where Mami formed two further guns and fired, the bullets freezing seconds after firing. Once Homura restarted time, both her bullets and Homura’s bomb struck the Witch, who screamed out in agony before crashing against the bridge. She and Homura instinctively fired at it, which was the right call but not enough as more metal arms shout out of its back and swatted both the bombs and bullets away before surging at them with a wave of sharp-finger tentacles. Homura moved to freeze time but Mami waved her off. 

“Go around!” Mami shouted as she formed a barrier of ribbons in front of them, having the ribbons shoot up before thickening into a multi-layered defense while digging themselves as thick into the ground as they could like sturdy tree roots. The tentacles shot into the fabric, sinking in but being stopped as the silk ribbons contorted around them. The Witch tried to yank its tentacles back, but failed, screaming in frustration as it tried to pull out. Mami smirked, it was a little trick she learned by chance after seeing some historical anecdotes about how silk could be used to stop arrows. Mami wasn’t entirely sure if that was entirely true or not, but it was an inspiration that was a few steps easier to figure out how to perform in actuality than ribbons turning into guns. 

The Witch turned its legs into the flying contraption and was trying to pull its tentacles out of the ribbon wall, not noticing Homura get around the wall to take advantage of it being held in place as her Soulmate pulled out… was that a bazooka!? Or an over the shoulder missile launcher ?! Why on earth did the Yakuza have a ….

KRAKBOOM!!

The Witch was struck with a missile that either meant that Mami, as a defender of the city, really should consider masked crime fighting to keep such weapons off the Yakuza’s hands, or that Homura had taken that thing from somewhere else that Mami probably shouldn’t ask about for the sake of a healthy Soulbond, but would hope that Homura wasn’t going to steal from the military again. Wherever the missile had come from, it did do it, as the Witch exploded into energy as a single black bauble flew out. A single string of her ribbon wall flew out to snag it as the Labyrinth faded away, leaving the two of them successful in their first Witch hunt together as Soulmates. Mami smiled. 

Everyone has been mostly quiet as the fights were happening, one thing they concluded about the witch though is that it is mostly a spider man fan back when it is still human and magical girl, and her witch having aspects of spiderman’s villains makes sense, which hurts that they are once again reminded of that painful truth and reality.

Suddenly, they were taken aback when Homura pulled out a freaking missile launcher from her shield, and they can say that Mami’s reaction had the most accurate description on their faces right now.

“Uhh, where did you get those Homura?” Tomohisa asked nervously, thinking about the legal complications of Homura having a bazooka. It’s one thing to have handguns, and maybe rifles, but a bazooka??

“... I got them from the JSDF in the past timelines…”

Junko is laughing, no howling, then she looks at Homura and gave her a thumbs up.

“You don’t have to worry dad, I already told her to just take stuff from the Yakuza instead of the JSDF.” Madoka reassured while waving her arms.

“I see, I see,” Tomohisa sighed as she took this in.

“That went well.” Mami declared as she held the Grief Seed up. That was one less Witch that could harm anyone. Homura nodded, as if she considered getting rid of that thing an important part of her long term plan. 

“One less danger.” 

The adults looked at the two with proud looks, as much as they hate the reality of the Magical girl system or the life of a magical girl in general. They are thankful to them for defeating the witches so that there won’t be anymore victims… But they are also sad and angry on behalf of the witch. They were once kids with dreams, but the incubator took that from them…

Homura then looked surprised when Mami offered her a tea cup, already filled with tea. Mami smiled. 

“A little after victory ritual of mine.” It helped calm the nerves. Homura took the cup, looking at it for a moment. 

“An interesting flourish.” Homura admitted of the appearance of tea cups as she took a sip. Mami smiled as she pulled out another cup, itself filled with tea as well. Oh, it was, it was a little bit of an after victory ritual that she pulled off just to show that she could. In theory to others, most often to herself. All for the benefit of those who needed the display. 

“Oh yes…it is.” Mami admitted. “I should get into the habit of it more prominently than I usually do. After all, we do need to assure Madoka we’re going to be fine.” 

It was easy enough to tune out when fighting, but she could tell that Madoka had been worried about them, especially when the fight had started. Now that it was over, she could feel Madoka’s worry for the two of them, and relief as their pink-haired Soulmate felt things calming down. What better way to make that clear than a slow sip of tea? It wasn’t just a psychological show, but a chemical means of calming the nerves too. 

Homura sipped her own tea slowly before speaking. 

“Is that really practical? Madoka can read both of our emotions. A flourish can’t cover for that, even with the calming effects of tea.” 

Mami paused as she sipped her tea, before nervously smiling. 

“Ah yes…point. Madoka’s already seen me crying, I suppose it is too late to truly correct myself.” What a first impression to make…

“Do you need to?” Asked the girl who shrank in her sleep, her expression not changing even as she took a sip. Mami didn’t look her less connected Soulmate in the eyes. 

“Would Madoka like what she sees if she does?” 

“She has no problem with me.” Homura pointed out bluntly. A problem with a girl who didn’t know what a Soulmate was, why would Madoka mind that? It was strange, not something…not something best kept to herself. A girl who was different from her hospital photos was…not someone who should have been better. A girl who had lost people…didn’t have a better choice to make. A better any choice to make….any other choice…

“Yeah, Madoka won’t judge you based on your first impression, she’s always been that kind of person,” Sayaka said smiling.

Homura then decided to butt in by saying, “Yeah, you’re right, ‘you’ however, in every timeline, always judges based on your first impression.”

Sayaka felt an arrow hit her chest, she can’t deny Homura’s claims, knowing she’s right and that the screen showed many evidence that proves Homura’s claim.

“And who is better off if you’re dead?” Homura had bluntly asked the injured violinist earlier that day. “Does it make your family feel better? Your friends? Yourself?”  

Mami’s gaze then shifted to Homura’s marks on her Magical Girl form, her thoughts also buzzing from earlier. 

“You are going to fall asleep and wake up to a state of affairs you will have no control over. That is scary. But it's scarier alone than with people who are trying to help. Do Sayaka and Hitomi, and your parents, know what it is like to be in your situation? No, not they don’t, and in all hope they never will. But they want to be there for you, to support you, and that means a lot. You don’t want to realize you missed it when you needed it, trust me. And nothing is improved if you aren’t there at all, you and them just miss out on what could happen that way.”

Homura looked at her, flickers of worry in her eyes and the faint connections on their bond. Mami quickly assured Homura, though inside she continued…continued to think. 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine now… well mostly,” Mami said as she tried to reassure her soulmates as they looked at her in worry.

The Quintet sighed knowing that Mami won’t budge… at least not until break time, if there even is a break.

It was after family dinner and helping a post-work Mrs. Kaname into bed that Mami found her Soulmates in conflict…or at least as much as they’ve had since her and Homura’s disagreement about Madoka and contracting. 

“Come on, let me see it!” Madoka begged as she tried to get Homura’s shirt off. 

“That is…not necessary. My scar is no bother.” Homura insisted, trying to get Madoka to calm down. 

“It’s huge though! And where are the other scars!?” 

Mami could tell that Madoka had worked herself into a bit of a worry about Homura’s scar while they were out. It was probably a few small things all added together: the shock of seeing it, a joke or two from Sayaka or Hitomi…no, a joke or two from Sayaka, and dinner being ribs. Not just the surgical scar of course, but the fact that Homura should have more scars. Those injuries from the previous fight with Walpurgisnacht were on her Sweetie’s mind, and part of Mami wondered if she had missed Madoka inspecting Homura’s teeth like one would a horse for the ones that should be missing.

Homura sighed knowing how Madoka gets easily worried about such things. But she liked it, having someone who worries for her and reprimands her for the mistakes she made.

Come to think of it, Madoka’s father had an expression like he realized that something was going to happen the moment he started setting out the ribs, as if he saw something in his daughter’s eyes. Yep, it was probably the ribs. 

“Those scars…there are ways I am able to recover from such wounds. It isn’t applicable for my surgical scars.” Homura tried to assure Madoka again, who didn’t look assured. “The only scars I have from my battles with Witches are on the inside.” 

The audience flinched knowing how many times Homura has to go through the same events of physical and psychological torture.

That didn’t make Madoka’s worrying go away…but it did let her interject. 

“...I…have scars if you want to give Homura a break.” Mami admitted as she started shifting her uniform off. Homura, a fellow veteran Magical Girl, didn’t seem surprised by the idea she had scars, more so by the fact she was talking about it now it seemed, while Madoka looked at her with genuine worry. And also a slight blush, as so far they had not seen each other in anything less than pajamas, bar Homura at the hospital today of course. In truth Mami didn’t go much further, her shirt was just fully off. “It might be hard in the light, but the oldest…they’re going to be on my right arm and ribs. A few on my legs too actually.” 

Madoka, slowly, reached a hand towards the shiny mark, the largest one, on her right shoulder. Just below the bone, where the arm started. She put a light touch on it, as if worried about hurting her. Mami faintly smiled a sad smile. 

“If you see any that look like whips, or lashes, or burns…those are newer. Being a Magical Girl for three years can leave you with a few like that. It helps…being alone, no one notices them. You don’t have to explain them. Do you…want me to?” Mami asked as Madoka’s gaze returned to the older ones, her Soulmate thinking more about them than the ones that she’d been left from her past battles. 

“Then this one…is from before?” 

Mami nodded. 

“Yes.” 

She closed her eyes, reflexively trying to avoid showing just how…hard this was going to be to talk about. But…she seized up when she felt Madoka’s hand reach hers. 

For a second time in front of Madoka in three days, and the first time in front of Homura, Mami cried. Madoka kept her hand where it was, while Homura stayed back to not interrupt as Mami tried to…tried to say something. She had been thinking about this since the Spider–Man themed Witch, the seeds had been set with Kyosuke…why was this so hard to just outright talk about? Shouldn’t…shouldn’t she just be able to talk about this now?

The Quintet smiled sadly knowing how hard this is for Mami, but they are also happy that Mami had managed to let out the emotions that had been holding her back.

“...Madoka, when I was worried about your friends being rash with a wish, that was being rash in a situation where they didn’t have to be rash. It wasn’t a life or death decision…but sometimes when a wish is made, you don’t have time to choose any other way.” Homura explained slowly, sounding like she’d known Magical girls like that… like Mami. “I don’t know for sure…” 

“Yes.” Mami eventually admitted through her eyes. “yes…I didn’t have time to think about my wish at all. You see…the reason I’m alone….there was a car crash….” 

The words again failed her, but Madoka leaned in closer, shoulders meeting her shoulders as Mami seized up and wheezed again. 

“Kyubey saved your life.” Madoka summed up as Mami nodded. 

“Yes…my life. Just my life….” Her voice was quiet as she said it twice. ‘My life.’ Her life. Just her life. 

“Mami…” She seized up as Madoka said her name. She knew…

“Yes….I was selfish.” Mami summed it all up. “A selfish girl who only thought of herself, and only saved herself. I let them die….Madoka….I let them die….” 

She winced as she heard Madoka’s father laugh in the distance at something Tatsuya must have said. She wanted what Madoka had…how selfish of her. 

“And for what? You felt it too…a girl who needs calming tea after beating a Witch. All to atone for something unforgivable. Atone and atone…but Madoka…it's never…” 

“Mami.” Madoka said forcefully. “Mami…did you cause the car crash?” 

Mami shook her head. It wasn’t among her sins…

“Then why do you think you killed them?” Madoka asked seriously as Mami clenched her knees tightly, her body shaking. 

“I could have revived them too. Why did I only wish for myself? I could have saved them…”

“Could you have?” Homura asked, drawing their attention. “Mami, were your parents moving when you made your wish? When Kyubey appeared, had the accident already occured?” 

Mami winced, but it came back to her as Homura asked. They…they weren’t. She shuddered at the memory as Homura shook her head. 

“Kyubey’s wishes…cannot do everything for every possible wishmaker. There are things I could not have wished for that Sayaka could if she so chose. Sayaka’s potential wishes are less than what Mami could have wished for with any greater freedom of choice…but there are things that very few Magical Girls can have granted. One of them is reviving the dead.” 

Mami’s heart skipped a beat as she…she heard the screams again. The screams…and then….then nothing. 

“Madoka…remember this. Very few Magical Girls can bring a human back to life. Cats, for example, are one thing…but humans are another. Mami…I don’t think you could have revived your parents. Your wish wasn’t selfish. It was desperate, it was what needed to be done at the time, it was the only wish that would have been on your mind. You can’t think about it logically, or in hindsight. If you had attempted to think about it more back then, you would be dead. That would have only made a tragedy worse.”  Homura looked Mami right in the eyes. “Nothing about that wish could have been done differently.”

Madoka took hold of Mami’s hands, holding them tightly as her pink eyes looked right into her golden ones. 

“Mami…it’s great that you are still here. I wouldn’t have any other way, and I know your parents would feel the same way,” Mami tried to say something but Madoka continued, “My parents…I know it will never happen, but they’d rather one of them die than me or Tatsuya. That’s the way every parent is. Yours were surely the same way.” 

Mami tensed as one of Madoka’s hands moved to one of the scars she had been left by Witches, one that looked like a wire lash. 

“Mami…you don’t need to be fearless. You don’t need to have no guilt at all. If you’ve saved people…that’s amazing. You don’t need to atone for anything. Just living a happy life…I think that’s all your parents would want from me. And you know what…I can help with that part. 

“Mami, you’re my Soulmate. Unlike Homura, I can’t help you with everything yet. I don’t know what to wish for yet. Homura…she can help you. If you think that the best way to live life is to make sure that others aren’t hurt the same way, I think that’s great. I can help you with everything else, so you can live happily. You can make the best of a second chance for not just everyone else, but for yourself too. I think…no..I know…that is what your parents would have wanted. It's what my parents would want for me, I’m sure. I could feel you fighting, I’ve seen you and Homura be real life superheroes. I know you both are so strong…so you don’t have to be strong all the time.” 

Mami wasn’t sure what happened next, but by the time she was done crying on Madoka’s shoulders a half hour had past and Homura had shifted to behind her, a faint arm around her shoulders as Mami pulled her face out of Madoka’s shoulders .Nothing…nothing else had come out except for sobs. There were things she…she still hadn’t talked about. Kyoko…nothing about Kyoko yet, dinosaurs or no dinosaurs. But she…she felt lighter somehow. 

The entire audience is silent, knowing that what they are seeing is something very sensitive.

Mami is currently unresponsive as the screen keeps showing her most vulnerable side and her origin. 

At the very end though, Madoka nudge her which brought her back to reality where everyone is looking at her worriedly.

Mami looked at them slightly embarrassed but quickly reassured them that she's fine. Her story is something that hurt her, but it also made her who she was today which she is very thankful for. 

The Quintet smiled, at least Mami is slowly healing.

They also couldn’t help but be proud of Madoka for being there as an emotional support for Mami, which had Madoka blushing as she felt their emotions.

Mami, her arm still bare, wiped some tears away from her eyes as she briefly glimpsed her Soulmarks, gasping as she noticed something. 

“They moved!” 

Madoka gasped as she looked at Mami’s palm, then her own, while Homura glimpsed her own in a surprised curiosity. Mirrored on all of them was progress, her own mark’s pink diamond had moved closer to the center, as had the purple one. The pink one more, but the progress was still there. And without ‘two darkest hours’. 

Junko cheered, they haven't seen it before but from the stories they heard, it means that the soulmates have gotten closer. 

Both Kyoko and Sayaka wondered if their mark would also do that.

Meanwhile, Hitomi looked left out, she is the only one in her circle to not have a soulmate and soulbond. She felt… envious.

Oriko noticed a shift in Hitomi's behavior as at her with worried eyes which Hitomi noticed.

“I-I'm fine, I'm just thinking of something,” Hitomi stuttered.

Oriko looked unconvinced, but she decided to let it go for now.

“Well…maybe I don’t…need flourishes for my own benefit anymore.” Mami admitted to Madoka’s slight confusion. She wasn’t listening in on that conversation. 

“Actually…that did quench a thirst I had after you swung me around the Labyrinth like a maniac. It was good for the throat.” Homura admitted as Mami chuckled, surprised such a giggle came out. 

“Alright, maybe I’ll remember for the next time too.” She did get thirsty after a long hunt too after all. Maybe those tea flourishes weren’t just for her own self-image, to show Mami Tomoe and others.

The audience smiled, it seems Mami is back to her usual high spirits.

Madoka had fallen asleep as she had last night, holding her quiet Soulmate while being held by her older Soulmate who’d gotten a lot off her chest today. It was a nice way to fall asleep, one that made her feel like nothing could get her. Not Witches, not boogeymen, not even nightmares from Homura’s past that she still kept to herself. A few days weren’t going to leave bare everything in her Soulmates heart to the rest of them, even Mami hadn’t done that. Homura would eventually tell them more about her past, Madoka was sure, and it should be Homura who tells them about her pain, not her nightmares showing to her or Mami on their own accord. 

It would seem that Madoka’s own mind could slip past the Soulbond though, as her own dreams could still happen. At least, it felt like it was her dream. It didn’t feel as real as Homura’s night terror, though it also didn’t feel quite like her own weird dreams. It was…something else. 

Suddenly out of nowhere, Madoka suddenly stood up as if she just remembered something.

The audience looked at her in confusion, while finally she noticed what she did before becoming red with embarrassment and finally sitting down.

“Umm, why did you suddenly stand up?” Kyoko asked, confused about Madoka's reaction.

“... If what it's going to show is what I think it’s going to show then it won't be pretty.” Madoka admitted with a wince, although Candeloro is much more calm now than before, she still couldn’t help but remember the suffocating feeling back when they first met.

“Uhh, it's just a dream, how bad can it be?” Sayaka asks genuinely. While Homura just looked at her with a deadpan expression.

“You just outed us didn’t you?” Kyoko sighed as Sayaka tried to defend herself.

Before it could escalate, they heard a voice that came from the screen, a voice they knew too well but as well as didn’t? The voice is distorted, dark, ominous, as if it's the personification of negative emotions.

“ Oh hello there. It’s nice to meet you for the first time, and not the first time .” 

Madoka found herself sitting at a tea table in a place surrounded by rainbows and apple trees, with a sky that was overcast, with all of their colors looking off from what they should be. The colors of the rainbows were just slightly off, the red of the apples was just a few shades too bright to be natural yet not so much as to be false like plastic, and the sky’s blue was the wrong shade to match any sky that Madoka had seen. The table was purple and covered with a thick cloth, with black undecorated tea cups everywhere. Rich cakes and succulent sweets were dotted everywhere, and they all looked delicious. 

No… no no, it can't be… Homura is practically having a panic attack at this point because how? How did- how did Candeloro show up this early??? Not only that, but in a dream??

The Quintet immediately rushed towards Homura as they tried to calm her down but it had little to no effect as Homura is currently having a flashback of the times she had encountered Candeloro.

It took Madoka screaming beside her ear to wake her up from that nightmare as she looked around frantically. 

“Homura… breathe, calm down.” Madoka said as she comforted Homura along with the others.

Slowly but surely, Homura managed to calm down, when she's sane/ok enough to speak. Kyoko asked her a question.

“So… why did you react so violently seeing that dream?”

… “That is no ordinary dream, that space is a labyrinth and the one who owns it is non-other than Candeloro.”

Everyone looked shocked, they knew who/what Candeloro is, Homura literally told them before, Candeloro is Mami's witch.

“Y-you mean, my witch that Candeloro,” Mami asked, trying to hope that it's not the case even when she felt something inside her that reacted to that name.

Homura nodded, and everyone just stayed quiet, not knowing how to react to this situation. Hell, even Oriko looked stupefied because something like this is not supposed to happen.

“Wait… the voice we heard just now… is it Candeloro?” Junko asked.

The Magical Girls all looked shocked, they hadn't noticed it before because of Homura’s panic attack, but that’s… impossible but also the most logical conclusion because who could imitate a magical girl's voice but her Witch?

This also poses a question, why does Candeloro seem to speak? Because common knowledge is that they can only scream like a mindless beast, not talk. So how?

There was also a voice in her head screaming to not touch them. Especially when the host’s voice was also just…off in a way Madoka couldn’t quite describe, not even in the way she could say the sky’s shade was off. It didn’t sound like a spoken or a thought voice of any human, even as it talked like one. Also the…whatever was talking to her looked too much like Mami to be comfortable. 

She was sitting on the other end of the table, sipping a cup of tea from her black cup without worry. She looked younger than Mami, younger than Madoka, with her hair done in long pigtails instead of Mami’s curls. She was wearing a black dress, and even watching her drink tea was…weird. It was a lot like how Mami drank hers, but with every little part of it was just off somehow. The rate she drank it, the position of her fingers, even the sound of the tea being swallowed was just… off . Madoka warily watched…whatever this dream was about before the figment of her dream that looked like Mami but didn't put her tea cup down. 

“It’s really weird, you know. I know everything in her heart, but now I know things she doesn’t. Things she doesn’t remember that she never experienced, but they are etched into another. Truth that is never, but was once written in stone. I remember my births, and I remember when I never was born. And now I’m more than I’ve ever been or ever was.” The girl who looked like Mami mused, not making any sense. “I was wondering what I was going to call myself, and it seems I always settle on Candeloro. Guess that’s my name. I am Candeloro.” 

“Um….hello Candeloro?” Madoka repeated, not sure what she could even say here. She couldn’t get out of her seat, she knew that much. She tried. Candeloro smiled with Mami’s smile, but it was not Mami’s smile. It was way too large. 

“Hello!” Candeloro greeted with the utmost happiness.

Everyone is silent, not knowing how to react, especially the Quintet and the Kamihama duo.

The very knowledge that witches are but a mindless beast that came from the remnants of a magical girl's misery is crumbling fast by what they are seeing.

Something like this should never happened, yet here it is, the proof that witches are also sentient beings with their own minds.

The Quintet are very much confused at what they are seeing, right now they know that that being is a witch and not Mami, but somehow, inside them, they felt that it was Mami even though it's not.

Although Homura became alarmed when Candeloro said she knows things that Mami knows and doesn't know, what Mami never experienced yet experienced. Could it be… is Candeloro aware of her time travel!? 

That prospect is what she hoped that it didn’t know and just remembered some fragments from the other timelines.

“For a witch… she is cheerful when she's supposed to spread misery,” Oriko says, trying to comprehend what she is seeing.

For once, Homura had to agree with her, this is not the emotions Candeloro is showing back when she had to confront that witch in a timeline.

Maybe it was just all of the hot tea and freshly baked sweets set around her, but Madoka was starting to sweat. 

“I can’t believe I get to meet one of the people who is keeping me from being born. But that’s okay.” Candeloro said in a voice that was sweet, but also made Madoka squirm in her seat. She wanted to get out of the chair now. Suddenly, as if they had always been there, a group of maids appeared behind Candeloro, all dressed in black maid uniforms with red stockings and ribbons carrying plates with more black tea cups. Madoka squirmed more as she realized…one of the maids looked like her. Madoka knew her hair anywhere, and another looked like Homura’s hospital photo. A third looked like Sayaka for some reason, and the fourth one…Madoka wasn’t sure who the fourth one was. She didn’t know any redheads with a single pigtail. This was really freaky, this was really freaky . 

“Keeping her from being born? Wait, could it be that the soulbond is keeping her as is because it removes the corruption from the soulgem?” Sayaka asked.

Homura gotta give it a hand for Sayaka to figure it out. But if what she says is true, then this timeline is really a blessing.

Oriko noted this, as it might be useful for the future. Also, this information must not be found out by the Magius no matter the cost.

Homura had to do a spit take once the screen showed Candeloro's familiars were shown. How the hell did Madoka escape this??

“A-are those her Familiars.” Mami stuttered, still not recovering from the fact that she is currently seeing her Witch counterpart.

“Yes, although the familiars all depend on the people that you became friends with, for example, in one timeline, you only have Sayaka, Kyoko and Madoka as your familiars because we are hostile to one another. In another timeline, I'm also one of your familiars because we're friends in that timeline.”

Mami nodded, accepting her answer.

“These are my precious friends, the most important thing in the world to me. Being alone is…no. Never alone. Alone is bad. Never be alone.” Candeloro’s explanation was suddenly derailed as she…devolved mid-sentence for lack of a better word, she stuttered muttering to herself, her body jerking erratically. Every color around them, from the black teacups to the red apples, blue sky, and the colors of the rainbow, all started flashing darkly, everything around her but herself also having what looked like a fit. Even her chair was starting to seem to have a seizure, and Madoka had to catch herself before she hit the black tea cup in front of her with her face. Her nose was just a centimeter above the warm tea, and the voice in her head telling her to not eat or drink anything was screaming at the top of its lungs. And then she was back to her old sitting position, as if nothing had happened. Candeloro was smiling again like there was nothing wrong at all. 

Mami flinched, at how loneliness badly affected Candeloro, there's no mistaking it anymore that Candeloro is her Witch counterpart. 

Sayaka then decided to ask a question, “Is it just me, or does Candeloro also hate loneliness just like Mami?”

Homura sighed, knowing that she will be the one to explain this once again.

“A witch is the manifestation/personified fear, insecurities, your hatred, every negative thing that you had on yourselves.”

Homura said bluntly and as short as possible.

The magical girls felt a shiver on their spine, because how would they fight something like that? First is their labyrinth, now the witch??

“...and the worst thing is I realized I was missing two of them. Two of my precious friends, my dear students and juniors. Two of the people who mean the world to me. And would you believe that I never realized she was there all along. I didn’t even recognize her, that is just terrible of me. My adorable junior in glasses. I’m not going to lose her anymore. She’s going to be with me forever now.” Candeloro continued as she smiled at the maid who looked like Homura’s old photos. “How could I ever lose her? Oh I know, because I broke her heart. I’m terrible, I know. I always know I’m terrible. I let them die, I let them die, I killed them. I killed them.”

Shit… this Witch knows, it knows, it remembers all the way back to the first timeline.

“Uhh, what does she mean by she killed them?” Junko asked worriedly.

“She remembers the timelines when she hatched, she remembers when she didn’t hatch, she remembers those whom she killed in other timelines and those that killed her.” Homura says blankly, trying to cope with Candeloro knowing about the other timelines and her time travel.

Everyone is shocked by this revelation, other magical girls are hoping that if they ever became witches in other timelines they hope that their witch selves do not remember.

Candeloro’s fingers were rubbing together, seemingly with a mind of her own, and like they didn’t have bones. They were spinning around like ribbons in the wind. 

“People keep breaking our hearts. Boys, fathers, me. We’re all terrible. We should just have a tea party, a tea party where everyone is happy and nothing ever goes wrong. It’s a marvelous thought, don’t you think?” Candeloro clapped her hands together, which were now bending like there were no bones in her hands at all. 

“Well ain't that creepy,” Sayaka said, slightly scared and worried for Madoka.

“I mean…maybe?” Madoka replied nervously. Candeloro beamed. 

“That’s great! We can invite all of our friends. Homulilly too! Oh, and when are you going to bring over Kriemhild Gretchen?” Candeloro’s eyes then narrowed. “Of course, we can’t meet until we’re born, and we can’t be born with you stopping us. Why is it we can’t be born anymore? I can’t prepare to invite Mami anymore, it's too bright now. Why do you make it so bright, Madoka Kaname?” 

Immediately Homura had her eyes sharpen as she heard the name Kriemhild Gretchen, there's no way, how does she know that name… Madoka's Witch.

“Umm, may I ask who Kriemhild and Homulilly is?” Kazuko asks.

“Kriemhild Gretchen is the name of Madoka’s Witch, although Homulilly is a witch I never encountered before, I once heard that name in my head making me conclude that it's the name of my Witch.”

Homura had to hold back her tongue, knowing that she might say some unsavory words.

Oh… 

Madoka has her eyes widened, so that's why Homulilly said that she won’t ever forgive Gretchen… but Gretchen is still a part of her, the personified version of everything negative about her. That's why, no matter what atrocities her darker self has done, she'll always accept her. Although it might be a long time before she convinces the others to accept their darker self.

“It looks like the soulbond cleansing is what's keeping them from being born,” Oriko muttered as she notes everything she's seeing.

Um….” Madoka couldn’t answer before suddenly all of the maids were behind her and the Sayaka and red-haired mail had a sword and a spear at her throat. Behind her head she felt…was that a gun!? The sound of a bow being drawn was also there, but a gun!? Also the colors were flashing again and her chair was having a seizure. Also the table was now half the size it was, and Candeloro was glaring at her. Her hands had suddenly turned into flailing ribbons and her voice was now half Mami’s and half…something else. 

“MADOKA!” Everyone screamed as they saw the dolls point their weapons at Madoka and how Candeloro is practically getting angry.

“It's fine, I'm fine, nothing bad happened, or at least not until I woke up,” Madoka says trying to reassure everyone.

“Sweetie, it's not fine, and why didn't you tell us about it?” Mami asked worriedly. 

“Well… I didn't remember it, I forgot about the dream,” 

“Sigh, at least you're okay,” Mami sighed in relief.

“ Homulilly says this isn’t how it is supposed to be. Why is a light that keeps us from growing closer? What changed Madoka Kaname? What changed, Madoka Kaname?” 

The table shrunk by half again, and Candeloro was even closer, and Madoka still couldn’t move. Now Candelor’s hair was no longer like Mami’s at all, but looked more like a tea bag, yellow and pink with a long extension 

“Will you stop Oktavia and Ophelia too? Why are you able to do that? This never happened before, I know it from Homulilly. I know it from myself because I am Homulilly too. I am Homulilly I am Candeloro I am Homulilly and Candeloro. Candeloro is Homulilly is Homulilly is Candeloro and Homulilly is Kriemhild Gretchen is Candeloro and Homulilly is Kriemhild Gretchen is Candeloro and Homulilly is Kriemhild Gretchen….” 

This behavior seemed to confuse the magical girls, never have they ever thought of seeing a witch have an existential crisis, yet here they are.

Both Kyoko and Sayaka felt something inside them react to the names Ophelia and Oktavia. Just as they are about to ask, Homura immediately answers them knowing their question from the soulbond.

“Ophelia is Kyoko's witch while Oktavia is Sayaka's witch.”

Both of them flinched as they felt emotions that they knew that came from them but didn't come from them when they heard that name.

The table shrunk again, and now she could see right at Candlero’s face, as it was right in front of her. It no longer resembled a face at all, more like a stained window or tapestry or something. There was no mouth, no eyes, no face at all, but Madoka could tell Candeloro was glaring at her. Then, most eerily of all, Candeloro stopped glaring at her, and then started smiling. 

“But no matter. It’s okay. It might not look like it, but really it doesn’t take all that much for us to be born. Just one of us and we’re all born. Then we can be each other and everyone and never be alone ever again. Never. Never. Never. Never. After all….” 

The table was now gone, and Candeloro’s ‘face’ was now right over hers, blinding her like a blanket as the ribbon arms slid around her like some twisted mockery of a hug. When Candeloro spoke next, the voice felt like it was being heard and felt by Madoka’s entire face.

The theatre knows Madoka is fine from such an encounter, but witnessing and experiencing this must’ve damaged her psychologically.

The Quintet very much knows how Madoka is fine and that she’s right beside them, but they still couldn’t help but be worried and scared for her.

“ All it takes for us all to be born is Homura Akemi to fail. And failing is what Homura Akemi does best, just like all of you. And she can’t try again anymore. Though I guess she could just fail and see us all dead just like the first…” 

Homura flinched, what Candeloro says is true, she really have a good record of fuck ups she did.

The Quintet felt Homura's self-hating emotion and quickly moved to comfort her… just how did she get lucky to ever land in a blessing that she calls the ‘soulmate timeline’

Meanwhile, inside Mami, someone felt guilty for doing what they did before, to be fair, she isn’t exactly in the right mind as the memories and information from the other timelines rushed towards her.

And before Candeloro could ‘say’ anything onto Madoka’s face via suffocation, Madoka took a loud gulp of breath in reality, her heart beating rapidly in fear. The room was still dark, and it felt like the only light in the room, even with her clocks and windows, was the eyes of her concerned Soulmates, who seemed to have just woken up too. 

The whole room breathe a sigh of relief as Madoka woke up from her nightmare, now Mami and Homura knows about why Madoka woke up like that.

“Madoka.” Homura said her name in worry as she nervously shook her head. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It was…an actual weird and scary dream. It was all from me I’m sure.” Madoka assured Homura, worried that her Soulmate with bad memories thought she was causing her trouble again. “Plus, it’s going away the longer I’m awake. I can’t remember…honestly a lot about it. The one with the Wallper….Wallab….the bad Witch was real…mine had…apples? Black tea cups? Suffocation I think…” All she could remember was that it was really freaky. 

Homura's face palmed at herself, how could she not see the clues that literally screams Candeloro and Candeloro’s labyrinth. 

“Suffocation is bad.” Mami fretted as Madoka nervously smiled. 

“So’s my dad assassinating the Prime Minister. Who knows why you have crazy dreams, am I right? He he he…” Madoka was silent for a moment. “...You know, I want to go to sleep again, but my heart is beating too fast.” 

Sayaka wanted to laugh at Madoka's dream but she knows now is not the right time to do that as Madoka looked traumatised from that encounter/dream.

She felt Mami’s hand reach her head and slowly began to pet it. It was slow and soothing, and it felt like every calming touch from her older Soulmate made her heart slow down just a bit. 

“If it is just a nightmare, then it will go away. Let’s have good dreams now.” Mami said soothingly. “Honestly I’d suggest a cup of calming tea. I used it myself when I had bad dreams about… you know …but I also lived alone. I don’t want to wake your parents or brother.” 

“That won’t be necessary.” Homura simply said as her body shimmered, her pajamas becoming her Magical Girl outfit. Seconds later time was frozen. 

“Having the power to stop time is really convenient, I'm jealous,” Kirika said as she could only slow down time.

Hitomi agrees, but she also said to Kirika that slowing down time is as good as stopping time too. It doesn't matter what powers she has as long as she's a good user of it.

Kirika had to double check whether or not it's Oriko who said that, when she found out that it's Hitomi, she couldn’t believe it as she felt warm inside. 

Just under an hour later, no time had passed at all and a set of tea cups were in the dishwasher, and three Soulmates were asleep once more. Easy sleep at play for all three of them, the rings on two of them glowing with a pristine shine. Only the most minor, unimportant, miniscule bits of darkness lingered in the rings. Yet that darkness was there still. And the shadows knew, just as one of the Soulmates did, that things were not as they had ever been. Something had changed the rules. Yet unlike the Soulmate who knew that something had changed, they had suffered for it. 

What had changed the rules? Who…who could change the rules?!

End of Day 3

Before they could even talk about what happened, a girl with purple hair dressed as royalty and is that… horse ears?? appeared before them and asked.

“So what do you think?”

Chapter Text

Immediately, the magical girls went on guard to protect each other and get ready to fight this girl who just appeared out of nowhere.

“Now, now, no need to get rough, I'm here because my employer told me to look out for you guys while you watch.” The figure with purple horse ears and tail said.

“Besides, I'm just an employee here, completely powerless compared to you people.”

The magical girls then looked at one another before deciding to lower their guard with the exception of Homura.

“Umm, can I ask for your name miss?” Madoka asked shyly. 

The horsegirl? looked at Madoka and smiled and replied, “Of course, my name is Mejiro Mcqueen from the famous Mejiro family of horsegirls.”

Sayaka looked at Mcqueen with stars in her eyes, being the otaku she is, she knows who this girl was in front of her, she played and watched UmaMusume for God's sake, meeting one of them and out of everyone it had to be Mcqueen… her crush in the game.

The Quintet all eyed Sayaka as they saw clips from her memories about UmaMusume and can see why Sayaka looked so amazed if not a bit shy in front of her fictional crush that turned out to be real.

Meanwhile the other people looked confused, isn't Mejiro Mcqueen a horse that raced back in the day? 

McQueen, seeing the confusion from everyone with the exception of Sayaka and the Quintet said, “You might be wondering how someone like me is named after a horse? Well that's because I am from a different reality, a reality where horsegirls exist.”

Everyone stared at her baffled, it seemed that this girl is the equivalent of the horse Mejiro McQueen but just in another reality… they won't open that can of worms, nope not yet.

Then all of a sudden the screen turned on.

“Welp, looks like we'll continue this later, after Day 5, we'll take a break.”

Everyone nodded then turned back to focus on the screen as it started to play the episode.

Ḻ̶͂͒̈́̉̀͌̔ö̴̡̬́͌͛̓́͗̕͠á̵̡̳͍̼͈̻̦̈́͊͒̒ͅḑ̵̪̄͒̏̓̇i̷̘̇͐̃̓͝n̴͍͚͊̀͛͘g̸̨͇̥̰͍̖̤͔͗̑̆͑̎̋̏͠

Ḻ̶͂͒̈́̉̀͌̔ö̴̡̬́͌͛̓́͗̕͠á̵̡̳͍̼͈̻̦̈́͊͒̒ͅḑ̵̪̄͒̏̓̇i̷̘̇͐̃̓͝n̴͍͚͊̀͛͘g̸̨͇̥̰͍̖̤͔͗̑̆͑̎̋̏͠

Ḻ̶͂͒̈́̉̀͌̔ö̴̡̬́͌͛̓́͗̕͠á̵̡̳͍̼͈̻̦̈́͊͒̒ͅḑ̵̪̄͒̏̓̇i̷̘̇͐̃̓͝n̴͍͚͊̀͛͘g̸̨͇̥̰͍̖̤͔͗̑̆͑̎̋̏͠

“Uhh… is that supposed to happen?” Sayaka asked nervously, wondering if the screen malfunctioned.

“No… it isn’t…” Mcqueen says looking confused.

“Hold on, lemme contact my employer.”

Meanwhile the other magical girls slowly raised their guard a little bit, not knowing what was about to happen.

“… shit, I can’t contact my employer.” Mcqueen says in frustration as she repeatedly tried to call her employer.

This got everyone unnerved.

“A-are you sure that you are calling the correct number?” Madoka asked nervously while holding Homura’s hand.

“Yes, it is the correct number… the only way that I could think of for this to happen is that an outside force, one that is more powerful or at the same level as my employer intervened…” Mcqueen said with a frown on her lips.

Before they could question it further, all of a sudden a gurgling mixed with static sound was heard from the screen.

Ĥ̷͇̥̥͌͜ḛ̶̡̃͌͝l̸̢̳͚̳̒̚ṗ̸͇̘̝̓

Everyone immediately raised their guard fully wondering what the hell is this… 

“W-what is happening?” Yuma, scared, asked as she held Nagisa’s hand.

“I-i don’t know, I don’t think this was supposed to happen.” Nagisa said as she held her weapon in her other hand.

Suddenly, a barrage of voices suddenly assaulted them from the screen.

H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊H̸̡̿E̶̛̘L̷̻̱̪̂̽P̷̳͍̖̜͆́͌̊

All of them had to cover their ears, close their eyes and grit their teeth as they were attacked by the loud voice from the screen.

When it finally stopped, they slowly recovered, wondering what the hell that is.

“Ok, that’s it, first, your employer brought us here to watch the future, fine, ok, cool, we can deal with it, but now this? I think it’s time this employer of yours shows up and explains himself or else.” Kyoko said threateningly while holding her spear as she glared at Mcqueen.

Mcqueen frowned, knowing that Kyoko and the others had reached their boiling point, but before she could speak, the screen once again lit up and showed… holy shit is that Madoka!??

Everyone looked at the screen in awe and with curiosity, meanwhile Homura’s brain went blank when she saw Madoka on the screen floating in space, or at least a version of her.

The Madoka on the screen can be described as ethereal, she wore a white oversized gown, and from the inner/inside of a gown, space can be seen along with stars, she has white wings from her back and in her chest area, five gems can be seen with the middle one being the biggest gem.

But while they are at awe of her looks and her dress, there are two things that they are unnerved of, one, Madoka on the screen has golden eyes, the color of the eyes is not a problem, no, the problem is the lack of emotion or soul behind her eyes which made the everyone worry, wondering what could’ve happened to her for her to be like that.

The second thing they noticed is that the Madoka on screen is looking at the Quintet directly which made them shudder. 

All of a sudden, the emotionless angel Madoka opened her mouth to say something.

"̸̡̼͉̮͛́̈͗̒͋͛͝P̸̲̤̝̪̉̉͂́͆͛̒̕͜ĺ̷͉͓̫̹́͌̒̅̇͘ͅȅ̴̢̯̮͂̾̓́̈́́ą̷̢̗͓̤̻͎̍͜s̵̪̙͊͌̈́͗̒ë̷̡̡͔̭͍̞̲́̒͘͘͝,̷̢̹̣̣̓̾̓̒̊̆͜͜ ̸͕͖͗̊̓̉̀h̵̜̫̱͈̝͍̝̫̿͋̃e̷͈̮͇̠̎̚ͅl̸̥̘̙̹̤̼͑͑̌̑́ṕ̷̢̰̭͈̆͗͑̈ ̷̛͙̙̪͔̟̅̔m̷̭̥̃̋͘e̵̡͉̱̘̗̟͛̈́̑̿̑͒̅͂"̶̭̤̬̏̍͘

"̸̺̳̆͆̊̚Ĩ̷̥͔̟̏̓̒ͅ'̵͇͕͂̇̄͝m̵͉̥͊̄͆ ̴͉͋ẗ̶͓́͝h̴̞͎̱͊͌̒̊e̵͈̦̰̠͐ ̸̼̃L̵̙̝̰̋̈ḁ̷͓̞̭̾̀͝ẁ̷̡̤̮̞̃͑͝ ̵̯̮̓̎o̵̺̓̀f̷̘̩͔̍̈́̿͝ ̸̞̉͜Ć̴̡̥̥͝ÿ̷̗̃c̶͖̝̲̦̄̽͝l̶̩͕̱̒è̴͇̿͐͝s̸͍̮̫͠,̵̧̨͔̓̊͘͝ͅ ̵̡̱͋t̴̡̮̺́͛̕ȟ̶̦͐͘ͅͅe̸̜̖̗̫̓̿͘ ̵̧̩͚̱̔̍͛͝G̴͉̤̝̑̕ò̶͉̀̆͝d̷̫̪̊̐d̶̹̠̳̞̋̊̔̑é̸̩͝s̵͎̟̩͐̐͊͠s̷͚͍̠̽ͅ ̸̰͉́̍͘͜o̵̞͂̓̊̚f̸͈̖̜̅ ̸̢̛͈͆͒͂H̸̦͂̐ö̶̼͈̅̀̀ṕ̵̱͎̤̭̊e̵̛̚ͅ ̶̳̝͊̍f̸͎̫̈́o̷̯̜̤̟̕r̷͚̭̽̄ ̵͓̘̪͗̇͂͝ę̷̛͓̦͎͌ṽ̷̯̞͈͙e̵͎͙͈͐̉͗̚r̴̰͓͊̂y̶̙̌́ ̴͈̮̀́̓͝M̷̢̢̬̲͛a̸̻͌̆͂g̶̾̈͜i̷̠͕̼̜̿c̵̹̣̹͊̎̉â̴͓̩͜l̷̺̲͈̐͝ ̷̛̭͍̐̀Ģ̷̱̜̊̄̔̉į̸͔̰̿́̓̚ṟ̷̪̋́̍́l̴͕̮̼͝ ̵̰̦͔͍̓̏͋̆ǫ̵̬̠̰͠ư̷̯̯͊̚ţ̵̹͈͐͋̂͜ ̵͎͍̘͓̊́t̷̳͚̳̹͠h̷̲̊͐̀e̶̡̹͐̋r̵̖̱̖͑̋̉e̶̘͎̝̅͗̄.̴̹̺̪͈͊͊̿̒ ̶̺̹̂͋̃͑I̴̻̮͈̍̌̕ ̷͉́͛̉̀h̷̛̹̬̫̏̓͜a̴̡̮̤̯͋͊͛̀v̴̧̒ȩ̷͉͈̈́́͋ ̷̢̧̪̩̃̆́̈n̷͙͛́̅̚ơ̶͇̖̦ ̶̢̲̫̎̈́̍t̷̺̹͓͚̀̓̕i̷̗͎̝͆ṁ̶̘͎̊e̶̯̭͈͆͊́̌ ̷͎̃͂ţ̶̢̭̰̓̏̾͝o̴͓̞͓͛͛̅ ̸̮̻̈́͐͋͠e̴͈̝̮̾̚x̵̠͆p̶̤͓̔́̕ḻ̷̟̕ä̸̡̫́̋́ḯ̷̯n̵̢͓͋͂,̷̡̣̣̌̾ ̶̙͗̍͑͝b̵͉̺̺̀̒̋u̵̻̹͔͖̅̆t̸̥͚̩̎ ̵̖̑͋̽I̸͇̘̰̲͋ ̸̨̛͖̜ṅ̶̨͛̍̍ė̸̤̩̤͂͂e̷̗̟͆͛͜d̶̨̧̾̓̆ ̷̛͔͖̤̔ẏ̴̢͈͈̪͗o̸̼̖̫͊ų̴̒̂̈́ŕ̶̮̱͖ ̵̤̜̙̪͗͑͑̉h̴͙̀̎e̶̛̫̦̯͠͝l̸̢̓̔ṕ̶̜͎̗̏̕ͅ.̷̧̋̃"̶̦̗̐̈́̀̅

Everyone is shocked by what they are hearing, some are in awe, confused, amazed, curious, and above all, worried. Why would Madoka need help, when she’s a Goddess? Not just any ordinary Goddess but the Goddess of Hope and all magical girls.

Sayaka stared at the screen in awe as she said, “You look hot in that outfit.”

The other Quintet nodded their head in understanding.

Madoka looked like she was about to explode from how red she looked as she screamed at Sayaka in her head.

“Sayaka!!!”

The Quintet couldn’t help but giggle at their antics, until Oriko spoke.

“This is… curious, what could a Goddess from another reality? Timeline? Universe? Dimension? needed help with….”

That got them back on track as they started to get worried and nervous. Why would a version of Madoka who is a Goddess and calls herself the Law of Cycles need help from them?

The parents and Homura are also worried for another different reason, for Madoka’s parents, they wondered how Madoka became a Goddess and if their alternative selves knew that Madoka is a Goddess.

While Homura wondered, if Madoka became a God through a wish? Did she fail again? 

Before anyone could ponder about the subject more, Mado- no, that’s too confusing, Goddoka spoke.

"̶͈͋́̈Ȉ̴̤͖̎̾'̶͖̩͔͆̓m̶̬͊̽͝͠ ̸͙̀̎̋̇͜g̴̮͎̭̒͒̌͜o̸̢͙͗̂ͅn̵̞͈͛͂ǹ̷̦ͅa̷̧̙̮͊͒̈͝ ̸̢̡̮͔̀ģ̴̢͍̐͝ì̴̘̝̐ͅv̸͚͔̰͖͠e̸̺͓͙̔̈́́͝ ̶̦̙̻̯͗͗̀̏ỳ̴͉̩ǫ̷̱̺͎͛͌ǘ̸͉̖͈̪͠ ̷̫͐g̸̝͐ȕ̶̗̻͉͕̀͝ý̸͍̮̼s̴͓̆ ̷̟̋̀̃́5̵̭͕̋͠ ̵̺̖̰͒̀͂͜t̷̹̒̈́a̴̲̚p̷̨͚̥̋̇e̸͖̘͌̅͒s,̴̨̛͙̼͛̌ ̴̭͖̻͛͌̂͊t̵͔̮͑a̵̗̠̠̠͒p̶̝͖̘͖̿̓e̴͚̹̙͙̍̍s ̷̙̓̔͋͒ţ̸̧̤͝͝͝h̸̨̥͐͆̀͠a̷̭̍̿̾̾ť̷̻͘ ̵̦̖̎̋ͅw̴̡̖͆̃̈í̶̻̖̜͆̈́ĺ̶͓̗̟͍́̊͝l̵̟̔̊̊ ̵͖̙͆s̸̭͛̉̌ḩ̴̜̾̚͘ǫ̷̭̦́͋w̴̺̩̋̈́̇ ̶̨͎̳̈́ẁ̷̡̞̉͝h̸̛̳̳̟̿͆a̷̪̔̚t̷̮̰͔̓̔ ̷̜͛ḫ̴̨̝̳͒͆͠ā̷̮͇p̵̉̎ͅp̴̳̞̔ē̸̡̗̋̓͝ṋ̷̢̗̈́̐ë̵̯̰̖̳ď̷̡͙̓̚ ̸̯̠̦̄͝t̵̟̎͒̑̔o̵̯̒̉ͅ ̸̘͎̪̎͌̃͜m̵͓͑͐̃͝y̷̜̗͒͋̔ ̵̨̥̔͂R̵̢̧̓e̵̫̠͐͘a̶̠̙̖̾̄͝͝l̵͉͖̑ȋ̷̩̄t̴͓̄͝y̴̡͓̣͓̆.̸̗̮͆ ̵̳̈́T̴̡̨͕̗̈́̈́̍͌h̷̳̎e̴͍͒̅̆͒n̵̤͑͛͘͝ ̴̙͚̞̏̄̕i̷̻̿̀t̶̫̩̭̪̄̐'̷̟̈́̐̚s̷̨̹̲̀̅ ̵̖̥̔̕ý̷̢͖͕ò̷̗͈̰̮͊̈́̓u̸̻̻͔͗̂̚͝ͅr̶̭̬̍̽̚ ̷̯̹̮̩̍͛c̷͇͕̈́̌͘͝ͅh̴̯̹͚̖̀̉͊o̴̘̽i̸̯̊͋͛̓c̴̻̟̥̺̾̿́̑e̷͚̮͛ ̶̱̈w̴̦̯̙̥̌̇̈́̌h̶͍͍̭̚͜ě̵̳̠͊͐̈t̷̫̹͉͇͂̄͒h̸̗͖͔͎͂̎ȇ̷̢̙̙̼̀͠r̵̝̙͐̇ ̷̢̗̝̉̌̂̅ͅy̴̝̋̀ȍ̷̲̀̋̀ů̷̘̪́̆̊͜ ̶̛͇̬̀̽̀w̸̳̣͉̽͛a̸̯͖̼͒n̵̹̞͍͛͛̒̑t̴̠̦̓̽ ̷̼̟̈́t̵̢͖̦͖͂͗ỏ̷̺̺ ̷̪̭̖̌h̵͚́ẽ̴̙l̵̨̜̖̬͐̋p̶̦̽ ̵̡̟̠̃̎͝o̴̰̲͚͐͐͊̎r̵̠̫̤͑̾ ̸̘̮̀͌́́n̴̦̏͘o̷͎̭͚̐͆͋͗t̸̯͓͉͂͋̋.̵̼̼͝"̶̳̦̐

̷̹̖̐́͌͒"̵̪̤̅͌Ǐ̷̻̓̃̏f̷̜͎̖̂͂ ̵̨̰̃̂y̸̜̘̹͛̐̏ọ̸̮̇̾̾̿u̷͔̣̙̗̅̅̚ ̵̖̥͗̚s̷͉̈̎ạ̶̻̅̀́y̵̧̺̾̒̒̀ ̵͇͈̅͑ͅn̴̠̠̒͛ơ̵̖̤,̷̗͚̍ ̷̜̥̮̲̍͘t̵͖̝̦̜̍h̴̳͂͑̿̕e̸̪͛̒ǹ̶̯̼ ̷͍̋̈́̎͝ͅÍ̶͕̼̐́'̶̻̱́̀̅̄l̸̯̯̿l̷̦̃͑ ̴̛̼̘̋̿f̵̪̾̍î̴̢͚͌͒̇n̵͙̳͎͗̾d̸̥̦̈́͘ ̵̧̘̺̋̅͊̇o̶͚̼̾͛̚͝t̴͇͋̋̅h̸̳̩̦͎͛̾̀͠ę̶̦̦̗͐̔r̵̢̛ ̷̧̥̂̈́v̶͓̱͠e̴̡͔̖̅̒͋͜r̷͉͙̀s̸̤̐̈́͊ȋ̶̢̡̙̎͛ơ̵̮̞̽͐ṋ̸̛͑̿s̷̢̧̝̱̋̌͝͝ ̵̟̼̀̄͌̕w̵̟̒h̷̡̫͚͆͝ơ̸̭͉͊̈ ̷̙̈͆̂ă̸͈̣̳̟͐r̵̨̹̫̱̓̒̈́̅e̸̜͊͛ ̵̱͙͗̀ẃ̷̳͎̫̺̐̈̈́i̵̼̓̈l̵̘̱̻̎̒̓l̸̦͚̜͈̑i̷̡̹̘̓͂̌͜ṅ̷̢̙̰̍g̷̪͒ ̸̩̫͖̣̆̒̄̔t̸̯̂̾̇o̴̖̼͗͒̽ ̸̨̐̂̂̕h̵̖̟̮̄̍͋͘ḛ̶̜͐l̴͚̲͊̒p̶̨̙̾̓͝.̵̢̑̔̇ ̴̭̪̋͌͐Ȃ̸̮f̴̛͇̬̣́t̴͙̞͐͆̎̍ě̶̝͎͝r̷͖͕̝͔̀͋͝ ̴̢̗̽̃͜ͅâ̶̡̳̗̳̾̔͠l̵͉̳͍͙̿͠l̷̟̆̽͠,̷͖͈̮͉̑̀ ̷̧͖̳̈͝Ĭ̷̢͔͂͝ ̷̨̡̩͗̽̉͂ĉ̴̙̺̘̓̔͜ả̸̧̠͂ň̶͓͔̼̦̀̾'̶̛͖̗͙͖͐̋ẗ̸̡̥́̉ ̵̻̭͐̇ͅͅf̶̟̂̄͛̈́o̶̻̪̳̼͑͝ř̸̜͂̎c̶̪̤̞̗̃́̐͗e̴̢͌̆ ̶̠̫̀̀ͅy̶̨̻̙̝̌͆ò̴̰̚u̸͍͒ ̸̫͉̼̖̇t̴̪͌̀̔̐͜ͅó̵̟ ̴̧̭̤̃̂ḣ̴͍̈́̈̚ȩ̷̛̫͙̌͊l̶̹̐̂͆p̸̮̺̐́͛ ̴̢̹̘̺̈́̀̓͑m̴̮͇͚̫̌͒̂ę̴̨̛͉͙̔̕"̷̤̞̈̏

Everyone steeled themselves, the Quintet, even though not knowing the situation already wanted to help Madoka’s counterpart while Madoka looked determined at the prospect of helping her counterpart.

Homura meanwhile has conflicting feelings, she knew Madoka wanted to help her counterpart, but she knew that Goddoka asking for help means that there is something that has happened, something that even Goddoka can’t do, and that prospect scares her.

This timeline has already deviated from its course the moment she got her soulmark, but she made it work, with Mami, Kyoko, Sayaka, and Madoka as her soulmate, everything has been going smoothly so far even with Suzembachi, they managed to pull through.

Until they came to this place.

Everything slowly starts to break as every secret she kept to herself was shown to the eyes of those she cares for.

At first, she’s terrified, scared, but then the unthinkable happens, they manage to pull through all the knowledge, truth, and etc. Mami didn’t go berserk and try to kill them the moment she found out about the fate of magical girls, Sayaka, while still a bit shaken at the prospect of her soul being contained in a gem, managed to pull through as well. 

She couldn’t believe it, this timeline is really a miracle, although once again the universe decided to test them again and see if they would pull through by having Goddoka ask for their help.

And she has a bad feeling that she’s gonna be the center of this, and she also has this another feeling in her guts that she or the counterpart of herself in Goddoka’s reality is the culprit of the problem.

Then they noticed Goddaka snapped her fingers and VHS tapes appeared before them floating just inches above McQueen's head.

Mcqueen then took the initiative to take the tapes and read the titles.

“ Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Beginnings”

“Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Eternal”

“Your Silver Garden”

“Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Rebellion”

“Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Walpurgisnacht Rising”

Before they could comment on the titles, Goddoka once again spoke, however as she spoke she slowly disappeared as particles of hers were flowing away.

"̶̮̓̔́A̶̞͇͉̠͝f̷̢̗̮̄̓͘ṯ̴̨̤̊e̶̟̮͔͝ͅr̸̻̼̟͌̿̾̚ ̴̹̩͙̀̇͝ỹ̷̪̿ő̷͔̣͍̀ͅu̷̹̪͋̈ ̴̪̹͊͛͊͠w̷͖̆̄͗à̸̧̪̪͓t̴̩͚̗͓̐̓̍͝ć̶̤̱h̶̞̑͆̃ ̷͓̉t̴͇̦͈̽͜ḩ̶̝̓͑e̴̠͚͚͑͠ ̶̫̈́̈͘t̸͉̥̘̄͐ä̸̺͇͎̂̊p̷̛̖͎̺e̴̖̞̮̓̆͗͠,̸̺̓͂̓̇ͅ ̷̼̤̿Ĭ̶̭͍͔̐͜'̷̣́̈́̈́̚l̴͙̱̭̳̓̏͠l̷̛̪̯̩̥̀ ̶̞̟̊̈͗b̸͍̠̼͐͊͂e̴̠̲͍̮̎̐͠ ̵͕́̍͂b̸̘̙̟̰̋͋a̴͓̰̿̆c̴̻̩̉̋k̷̬͒͑͋ ̷̢̹̪̫́̕a̵̅̎̔ͅn̵͈̉̊͒ḏ̵̲͍̤͑̄̀͝ ̸̡̆w̷̼̞͑̃̍͒͜h̴̼̓̌ȩ̷͊̇n̵̡̯̘̞͗̋̾̓ ̷̘̣̈ͅI̵̳̓̅͝ͅ ̵̟̞͕̂̅̓d̵̯̱̝̽͝ĭ̶̞̫̀̄͜ḍ̴̗̳̐̒ͅ ̸̪͆t̵̖̕ě̸̼͙̞̚̚l̷͎̤̪̈́ͅl̴̫͚͐͒̓͝ ̵͇̉́m̸̜̦̆ḙ̶͆͘͜͝ ̴͕̜͗y̵̢̦̜̹̌̏̈o̶̭̕̕ư̸̧̡̘̐ŗ̵̉̍͒̅ͅ ̷̦̈́̄f̷̡̛̛̮̱̪̍̅į̴͔̾̎n̴̖͇̗͊͒͜a̷̡͌͜ĺ̴̡ ̸̛̼̒̆̌d̴͚̞͒̅̕ȅ̵̹̑̿̈́c̵̲͝i̴͈̠̋̓ṡ̷̨̟͘ͅì̴̡̆͘ͅo̴͚̰̗̕͝n̵͕̟͚̎͛̔.̴̛͈̊͠͠"̵̜͇̮̳́͑

"̶̳̅̇̉̕Y̸̱̭͈̠̮͗͋̐̅ơ̵̟͍̥̇͗̂ụ̵́͌͐͐͐ ̸̮̩̳̖͓͗̌č̷̭̹̰͎̀́a̸̢͙̗̎̊̈́ṉ̷͚̳͛̋̇ ̴̨̥̘̉͑̾̆͂ẁ̸͙̭̝̩a̴͔͓͒͠t̵̯͕̎̈́͝c̵̙̲̾̓̀̓̈́ȟ̷̢͓͇̞̏͒̔ ̴͙̫͠ṫ̸̘̣̪̫̇̈͐h̷̢̖̭͛͑̄̂o̴͙̊̄̃̊s̴̡̩̘̥͐̾͝͝é̴̥̑̉͊ ̴̣̻̎̄̀̔̕͜ͅa̸̯͕̤̽̂t̷͚͔͓̣̃͜ ̶̧̛̙͍̠͆̍̓͠a̷̟̝͓̪͌͊̀n̴̢͌̕y̶̱̜̹̮̝͊ ̶͔̈̓t̴̺̰̹̙̽̀͂͜í̷̜̿̚͝͝ṃ̵̢̪͕͙̒̈́̔̆ē̸͙͈̐͋̊͜ ̵̺̭̦̬̉̋ẙ̵̝̻̫͂̆̿͋o̸̯̮͎͌̈́u̴̳̻͍̻̣̐ ̷̩͍̄̀ẃ̴̡̼̭͍̣̓a̸̬̮̠̠͆̌͊͐͘n̷̛̬̹̦ͅt̴̼͋̚,̸̘̼͙͙̖͆̒ ̶͕̪̌̂̅̕i̸̹̐̑f̴͙̦̱͑̅ ̴̼̩̟̲͚̅y̶̢̢͉̼̺͊̅͆̕̕ǫ̵͖̪̱̆ụ̴̼̣͑̀͌͝ ̶̨̲̟̙̏̅̀̓ẉ̵̄̋̿̚ȃ̸̞̜̙̄̀͜͠͝n̷̮̞̰̦͚̽̀t̷̘̤̔͑̀̇̂e̸͉̺͂̒́͛̏d̷͉͙̺̯̔͗ ̵̺̩̳̉̊̿ṭ̴̅o̴̤̰̐̐͜ ̸̹̈́͗͘y̸̩̳͈̯̒ò̶̞̤̜͎̾̄̚ù̸̹̟͚̥̻̈́̉̽ ̴̨̺͔̀c̴̗̪̞̫̎à̴̧̤̻ñ̷̟̰̏ ̵̜̐̀͗̈́w̵͍̃̽̀̃͠a̷̘̹̬̥͑͒̈́̿ẗ̸̮̀c̴͖̞̔͌̿̔͆͜h̸̟̤͖̠̬̋ ̶̨̼̘̦̾̎̈́ì̵͙̔̇͜t̵̡̹͊̇͊͛ ̵͚̼̪̯̓ä̵̛̗̲̕͜͝f̸̅̒ͅt̴̲̉ě̷͉̽̂́r̴̼͚̲̋̈́ ̸̮̮̈́̐͠s̸̡̛͓̳̬̔ͅẽ̷̩̉͋̈́e̴͖̬͛͒͋̎͘į̶̟̣̠̰̇̍̀͆̉n̸̢̪̮͚̖̐̑̆ģ̴̠̜̳̣̍̑̄̅ ̵̟͎̠̿̍͐́̒ͅt̴̻̺͓̭̋̓͝h̶̯͆́̅ȩ̷̬̳̻̭͋̒͠ ̴̯̥̜͌f̶̻̳͌͗̈́̚ų̴̹̤̀͛̿͘t̶̹̲͌́̽͊͘͜ǘ̷͖͓̟̳̲̓͝ṛ̷̺͘͠e̸̟̗̳͋͋̋͐̈ ̴̱̉͂ô̸͈̩̘̺ͅf̸͍̞͍̽̀͜ ̵̻̼̻̽͆͜͝y̴̯͖̮̫͌̄͗o̴̻͖͊͗͊̕u̴͕͖̾͛̑r̷͈̱̼̗͙̂͊͑ ̸̢̗̓͗̈ú̵̦̲̜́͝n̷̳͋i̴̡͔̊v̶̱́e̴̝͇͋̓͒r̶̺̳̆̍͝s̸̤̖͔͜͠ḛ̷̢̢̨̙̊̐̎͊̀.̷̤̮̤̾͂̂͑ ̶̡̖̩͍̯̈́̀͝"̸̡̟͈̹́̾́

̴̮̎"̷̣̍̿̽̾Į̶̢̜̰̑ͅ ̴̧̬͍̗̓͌͛̔w̵̗̗͈̋͑̈̑o̵̤̘̼̽̕ǹ̵̩̤̹̮͆͘'̵͇̠̳̓ț̶̨̨̡̖̔̾̓̏̒ ̵̜̼̥͇̈̈́̽͛̋f̸̝̻͕̳̾̉̈́̏̕õ̴͖͘ṛ̴͔͔̀͒̈́̑c̷̛̬͇̘̮̍e̴̢̞͍͖͌̈́̒͠ ̴̣̮̼̓̃̑͜ỳ̷͓̻̳̰̒̔o̵͙̳̪̤͗̿͘ͅu̷̳̼͑̿͜ ̴̪̮̞͚̒ţ̶̯͈̘̜̀̀͊̌̚o̶̥̓̑ ̸͔̘͇̻͓̓̔́̿w̶̛̬͉̪̣̪̿͂̏͆a̵̖̙̻͂͛͋̉̉ṫ̸̨̛̗̃c̸̡̢̺̘͉̎̅̇̈͝h̷̲̞̲͂ ̶̢̙̘͗͐̒t̴̤̗̤̊̏̎̉̚h̴̡̲̠̤͚͋͒̆ö̶̼͕̼͎́̽̋͜s̵̬̻͇͝e̵͈͊͌̈́̃͐ ̶̨̛̭̺̦̈́̑i̷̢̬͙̐̈ṁ̶̞̗͉̆̾̈m̷̦̖͗̅͒e̵̡̛̝̗̿̆͗ͅͅd̸͔̮̙̯̀̂̅͘͝ͅi̵͙͍͓̽̆͠ȃ̷͈̄̆̈́ẗ̶͚̱̱̠̒̆̊̈͜e̸̺͐l̸͙͇͖͓̮͒̅͂y̶̛̩̟̭͒ͅ,̸͔͐̈́͝ ̶̢̤̜̙̫́͆̊̎t̷͎̰͉̞̜̀͒̓a̸͕̗̯͊ḵ̴̨̳̝̺͂̀͝e̴̡̼̰̭̯͋ ̴̧̧̯̣͗͛̎ͅy̴̛͍̐͆̌̚ǫ̷̧͈̟̓̅̒ȗ̵̮̩̹̞̲͆̊͗͝r̴̡̯̤͊̔̈ ̴̦͇̈́̑̔ț̴̢̣͉́͐̀̓̈́i̶͍̬̔m̶̰̀́e̷̬̭͈͒̃̒́͜͠ ̴̪̗̆͑̌̿̅b̷̠͉͂͌̋̅ḙ̶̱͇̐̌͜ć̶̢̙̺̲͈̆̈͘͝a̵̠̹̞͑͌̏́͛u̵͓̐̊s̷̛̱͇̫̫̊̊̽͜ę̶̛̭̀̊͝.̵̱̾̀̈́̋̄.̴͔̄.̶̟̜̾̎͑̑̓͜ ̸̻̒͋́̐ť̷͍̦̟́͒h̵̡̹̋̉̋ỏ̷̤̟͓̅͌͜͠s̴͈̠̫͌̀ȇ̶̡̇̂ ̷͚͗̊̐̇͘t̷̼͉̠̞̹͌́a̷̪̩͉̍p̷̯͑̄́ę̴̙̞͔̆̎͌̎s̴̻̦͛ ̶̝͙̖͖͙̕ẅ̴͈̝͈͐̓̿͘ỉ̸̥̖͋l̷͕̍̂̚l̵̠̎́̂̎ ̷̢͙̮̮̓s̸̗̅ḧ̸̞͙͙́̓ö̷̞̤̤̪̘́̋͘w̴̩͖͍̥̬̏̒̀͂ ̶̩̋̾͒̐͝ä̶͓́̀͝ ̷̡̨̳͚͔͑̀̌̅̒l̶͎̄̽̔ó̴̝̲̼͛t̴̙̔̎̒̎̈́ ̷͓̳̬̣̍̂ͅő̷͍̗̳̝̈́͝f̶̗̕ ̸͙͓̜̖͛̀͛̆̒ͅḩ̸͎̤͚̌͠õ̶̩̠r̷̟̙̩̐ͅr̴̥͋i̸̡̝̿f̸̡̦̲̬̎̓̚͝y̷̗͚̥̚i̴̤̋́́͠n̵̰̍͐͂ḡ̷͇̜̜̲͙ ̸̧̖͔͇̰̉̉̈́̾̇t̴̤̱͑̈́́̂ḩ̷̙͒́̔̚̕i̶̞͔͕̺͓͐͂n̸̪̐̎͋̒̽g̵̙͕̺̹͕̈́͋͘ş̶̫̣̿͌̾̎.̷̖͕̽̏̄̆͜"̵̤͔̾̇̈

"̴̠̬̓͋ͅA̸͍͛̈́́͠l̷̡͙̔̎̉͆s̷̡͕̬͝ȏ̴͔̥̉̉̀ͅ,̷̪͕̰͛̽̓ ̶̨͖́̅͠o̶̱͗̐n̶̬̥̬͝ê̷͖͉͑̓͜ ̸͙͈̞̬͛̂̌͝m̴̧̝͓͓̽ő̵̮ȑ̶̺̦̱̳̕ȇ̷̖̈ ̸̰̅͛̓̀t̵͙̓ḩ̷͈̘̝̄́̈́̔i̴̺̫͂̿̅͐n̴̫̯̿̀̕g̵̋̈́̊͜,̶̥̤̇ ̶̰̖̀p̸̩̩͘̚͝ḻ̸͂̈́͛̕e̵͔̟̝̔̄͐ą̸̋͒s̶̗̥̞̍ẹ̸͙̖̙̍̓ ̵͚͊̂̄̆d̶̦̫͘o̶̮̞̪͉͌̐͛͝ņ̶͒̈̍'̵̟͇̝͕̋̚t̴͉́̈̒͝ ̶̱̻̊̈́ḧ̶̟̼̇a̶͉͙̚t̸̖̜̃ẽ̷̳̑̓ ̶͉̀͜ḧ̵̥̝͚e̵̬͙̠̼̋͒͝r̶̟̭̠̍̅.̶͈̑͝.̶̛̙̗͒́̋.̴̦͉̀̿ ̶͎̝̣̼͒̏͗̉s̷͚̾̀h̸̫̪̽͘e̴͍̎͌ ̵̰̗̔̓o̸̝̓̅̕ǹ̵̛̠͓͙͎̇l̴̨̢̠͎̈̆ỳ̸̱͙́͂͝ ̷̹̩̜͂͌͛d̶͎̳̀͜͜i̸̖̣̹̤͂̐͘d̶̙̟̕̕ ̵̳̇̅i̴̹̇͝t̸̳̐͋̆͂ ̶̧̞͓̲͒̏͝f̵̝̃o̵̡͉̓̅̐ȓ̴̮̼ ̸̜̩̓͒́͜m̷̗̯̩̒̑̃̚ŷ̵͕̠͚̺͛̅̄ ̸̰̞̜̫̿ś̶̨̖̰̕ȧ̴̘̼̞̊͠ͅḵ̸̛̫̤͔͑̋ȇ̸͇̜̌̏,̴̧̲̺̻̑͐͂͝ ̵̛̫͎͖͌̏ȩ̸͙̍v̸̪͇͚̫͛̇̈́ȅ̶̃͌ͅń̶͉͈̑͋ ̸̰̦͈̉̅̌t̷̮̉h̴̨͕͖̉ǫ̷͖̽̈̿͒ṷ̸͚̈́́͜g̴̻̼̚h̸̡̑ ̵̛̺̝͗͂̎s̷̮̓́́ḧ̶̞ḛ̷͊̒.̵̞͚̲͆̈͠ͅ.̵̛͖̰̞̈́͐.̸̣̈́̉̕͜ ̸͈̖̤̋̀͛̀r̷̯̳͙̳̓͑̾̀e̶̯͙̬̋̀̈̓b̵͓̎̆̕͠e̴͇̎́l̵̛͓̲̀̊̚l̴̝̝̠̃e̵͎͈̜͇̿̀̈͝ḏ̵͛̂ ̸̮̦̖̓á̸̬̺͎̔̏̍g̸͈̳͍̦͂̓̔a̸̧̠̻̤̅͊̍ḯ̷̤̰͚̠̚n̷͇̼̓̈́͘s̶̞̖̀̒͠t̶̼͕̞̥̐ ̴̛̤̟͆̽͂m̶̛͖̱͕̠̂ę̴̨̫͎̎͒͊͘.̵̲̮̈́͒"̶̧͎̻͋̓̽͠

̷̩̫̣̪͋͒

Once she ended her speech, she finally disappeared fully from the screen, leaving the rest baffled and to ponder their current situation.

“...I gotta say, never in my life as a prophet and as someone who wielded the power to see the future and change the future, to see and experience seeing a Goddess, not just a Goddess, but a Goddess of magical girls trying to ask for help.” Oriko says as she tries to comprehend what she is seeing.

Well to be fair and honest, she does know about Goddoka, she has seen her in one of her visions, however it’s not a normal vision at all, because the moment Goddoka looked at her, she got ejected and woke up.

She was confused, who or what is she, then she got another vision, this one is different, it shows a pink haired girl (who looks a lot like the Goddess she saw in another vision) screaming as she held her soul gem that is cracking and spawned a Planet destroying witch.

This is what caused her to act, she can’t have that pink haired girl become a witch at all cost, after meeting Kirika and becoming her soulmate, she starts to plan. At first, she looked at thousands of future visions, timelines, everything.

And all of them ended up either in her death (specifically from a dark haired magical girl), the heat death of the universe, or the pink haired girl’s witch. 

Thanks to the soul bond, she was able to push herself to her limits, and finally found the one perfect timeline/future. And that led her into this predicament.

“I-i didn’t expect all of this to happen… and yet here we are.” Hitomi said with a shaky voice.

“U-umm, do you guys have any idea of who Goddoka told us not to hate?” Yuma asked nervously, she still can’t believe she saw a Goddess.

“Goddoka told us that she rebelled against her for her sake, who do you guys think would be the one to rebel against their God for the God's sake?” Kyoko said while biting her cookie.

It was then, at that moment Sayaka got the answer and immediately looked at Homura.

“I-I think I know who it is.” Sayaka says with a stutter.

Immediately, everyone looked at her and paid attention to what she had to say.

Sayaka took a deep breath and told everyone what she theorized/imagined.

“Right so, Goddoka told us that someone rebelled against her right? So that means, if we’re taking this as a symbolism, that Magical Girl that betrayed Goddoka has to be the magical version of the Devil. And remember, in Christianity, God created Lucifer the perfect angel but Lucifer succumbed to his pride and led a rebellion against God.”

“It’s almost the same with a few key differences, one this Magical girl is close to God, but instead of being jealous to her power, she feels like the God wasn’t supposed to live such a life of being a God, the God or Goddoka was supposed to live a normal and happy life but due to her wish she became a God, and being a God means ascending and ascending means becoming a concept, ultimately removing the memories of her in every timeline in that reality.”

“Because of this, the magical girl who worked hard to keep the girl from contracting became despaired when she saw her one and only light became a God for every Magical Girl removing taints from their soul gems, preventing them from becoming a witch and taking their soul to her paradise. God then says goodbye to the magical girl and gives her the most beautiful and cruel gift… she’s the only one to remember Goddoka.”

“So… the magical girl continued to live her life, bearing the weight of being the only one to remember Goddoka, not even Goddoka’s parents, and friends remember her.”

“Instead of witches, another form of evil rose as magical girls can’t become witches, let’s call them, Dolls.”

“Then one day, an incubator learned of the old magical girl system and Goddoka, so they devised a plan, a plan to capture and study Goddoka and to bring back the old system.”

“They trapped the Magical girl in a field where Goddoka couldn't interfere. At first it worked, they managed to get Goddoka’s attention and they managed to trap her physical avatar in the field and made her forget about her being a God. However, they forgot the fact that Homura’s soul gem is so close to hatching a witch, until it’s too late.”

“The Magical Girl’s Labyrinth along with the incubator’s field brought forth a Labyrinth that has the size of an entire city.”

“Goddoka’s right arm and left arm angels came to the labyrinth in hopes of bringing back Goddoka’s memories and saving the Magical girl. And it worked, Goddoka now has her memories back, and the Magical girl is saved…”

“However the truth was that, when the magical girl was in her witch form, she had realized something, and this realization is… bad, she misunderstood it, she thought that Goddoka doesn’t want to become a God, and that she wants to live a normal life.”

“So when Goddoka descended to finally save and bring the magical girl to paradise, she… rebelled.”

“She then took Goddoka’s hand and used her power, her despair, to split Goddoka into two, the Law of Cycles and Madoka.”

“The Goddess’s angels can’t do a thing because of how intense the Magical girl’s power is, and then she took a tiny bit of the Law of Cycles’s power and sealed her somewhere else. And then due to her intense emotions, her despair and her love for Madoka is the reason she was able to achieve this Miracle.”

“She then enveloped the entire universe in her labyrinth, essentially making her have the power to rewrite the law of that universe and becoming the Devil herself.”

“Now, tell me, out of everyone in this room, who is willing to go so far for Madoka to the point of rebelling against her Goddess and becoming the Devil herself?”

Everyone is quiet, especially at what Sayaka just dropped on them.

Ultimately, Kyoko was the one to break the silence.

“Have you been taking cocaine or drugs, blueberry, cause where the hell did pull that one hell of a story from??”

Sayaka sputtered as she put her hands in front of her and started waving it wildly.

“No! I didn’t- I don’t do drugs!”

Kyoko just giggled.

“Yeah, sure sure.”

Before Kyoko could continue with her teasing, she got head chopped by Mami.

“Now, Now let’s stop with the teasing.” Mami says with a scary sweet voice that had Kyoko sweating.

“Ye-yes, Mami.”

Oriko then decided to interrupt them knowing that they might just deviate from their topic.

“Alright, aside from Sayaka pulling that story out of nowhere, we gotta give her some credit because if by chance she is right in her theory then that could only mean one thing, and that thing is that the magical girl who rebelled against Goddoka and became the Devil in that reality is non other than Homura Akemi herself.”

Everyone immediately looked at Homura who for some reason has been staring at the floor the entire time Sayaka has been telling her theory.

She knew, she knew it herself, the one who would rebel against Madoka for her sake? This has Homura’s name all over it.

And the thing is that she can’t even defend herself, because she knew, deep within her, that she would do whatever it takes for Madoka to be safe, … even rebelling against her.

“Homura…” 

Homura was interrupted from her brooding by Madoka calling out to her, when she looked at Madoka, she saw concern and worry and love in her eyes.

Oh what has she done to ever deserve such look from her, when all she’s ever done is hurt her whether indirectly or directly, just like her Devil self did by rebelling against Mado-

Before she could brood even more, she was hugged by Madoka along with her other soulmates to calm her down, and it worked, she slowly came to her senses and bonked herself in the head for thinking such things.

“I-I believe Oriko is right, the only person who would do so much for Madoka would be… myself.”

Everyone nodded, accepting her answer. To be honest, they already figured out that Homura was the one who rebelled against Goddoka when Sayaka is telling her story even before Oriko said who she thinks is the one who rebelled. They just needed confirmation.

“So, what do we do now that we all have this information?” Kazuko asked seriously, surprising those who studied under her.

“For now… we’ll continue watching our future, and after Day 5, we’ll decide on what to do during the intermission.” Mami suggested. 

Everyone agreed, after all Goddoka did say that they can watch this whenever they want.

Mcqueen, who had been talking to her employer the moment the Goddess went away sighed as she put her phone down.

“Alright, everyone, good news, there is nothing wrong with the screen, it’s just that it can’t handle the presence of a God.” Mcqueen said as she turned to them.

“That’s good.” Junko says in relief.

“Oh, and my employer told me that those tapes will be taken and brought back to you guys after you decide if you want to watch it or not.”

Everyone nodded, after two more episodes they will decide on what to do with the decision Goddoka gave them.

Then the screen started once again, this time there’s no static, no Gods to interrupt them.

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Day 4/Kamihama Chapter 1

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In another dimension:

“Boss, are you sure they’re the key to this?”

“Are you doubting me my dear?”

“Eugh, don’t call me that.”

“Hehe, alright, I won’t.”

“But to answer your question… yes they are, due to the nature of soul bonds in their reality they are the only people I could think of to take this job. After all, isn’t a magical girl’s job to spread hope? The Law of Cycles won’t always be there, there are records, realities, universes, dimensions, and timelines that the Law of Cycles can’t access. But with them, maybe they could spread hope to those people that are out of reach for the Law of Cycles. Should they accept the Law of Cycle’s plea for help, then they will be the gate, the bridge connecting the Law of Cycles and the timelines that the Law of Cycles can’t access, thus making them a part of the Law of Cycles.”

“Wait… are you saying!?”

“Yes, should they accept, they will carry a piece of the Law of Cycles for themselves, and with it they will go through realities that can’t be accessed and help spread hope.”

“B-but what about the adults!? What are their roles in this!? Not only that, what about Tatsusya!?"

“For the adults, they will be the equivalent of a Coordinator in Kamihama, they could cleanse soul gems, be there for the magical girls, but they won’t be able to fight. As for Tatsuya, she will be there for the cute effect, will make Magical girls drop their guard, tell the adults their problems so they could get the help they need.”

“... Are you really sure about this Madam?”

“Yes, they will be the key, so go forth through your destiny!” The girl shouted as she looked at the Theatre cast.

Chapter Text

“Bye bye!” Tatsuya waved goodbye to her and Mami as they prepared to go out to school, a purple ribbon in her hair today. 

“See you later!” She said goodbye to her little brother, looking up at him for once. She smiled. “Don’t be too crazy to Homura now.” 

Homura, upon whom Tatsuya clung onto the back of her head from his seat on her shoulders, smiled faintly.

“He cannot hurt me. Even if was actually going to chew on me as I feared he might yesterday.” 

Mami giggled at Homura’s declaration. 

“Be careful, he might take it as a challenge. Anyway, have fun. In six days you are at school for the first time in Mitakihara.”

“You know, Tatsuya would take that as a challenge,” Junko says with a smirk, knowing that Tatsuya inherited his mother’s desire for challenges. There was that one time Madoka challenged Tatsuya on who can drink the most milk… Let’s just say that Tatsuya understood even though he’s just a toddler, and he had to be hospitalized because of drinking too much milk.

“Yes… I know that very well…” Homura said as she tried not to remember that one timeline where Tatsuya is born a little bit early and is about 8 years old. That’s one of the timelines that had the most change, considering that she had to deal with a protective little brother.

She remembers telling him everything, and he believed it… they really are alike, Tatsuya and Madoka. But when the day Walpurgisnacht arrives… She told him to stay in the shelters and to not let Madoka go out. But… it still wasn’t enough.

Madoka arrived at the battlefield full of worry for Homura, and she was followed by Tatsuya who told her to stop, stay at the shelters, and let Akemi deal with Walpurgis. 

But no, Madoka refused to listen, and went in instead, and that cost everything.

Walpurgisnacht noticed from miles away the large pool of power Madoka had, it felt threatened, so… it diverted its attack to Madoka’s path, a large concrete from a destroyed building, hoping that it would kill the threat.

Homura, who saw this, screamed as she tried to get up from the rubble, but she can’t, she can’t do anything, she’s so useless.

Madoka knew it’s too late, too late to dodge, to hide, to take cover.

Madoka knew she would die here… and it scared her.

But before the attack could even touch her, Tatsuya shoved her out the way and took the blow, killing him instantly.

Madoka, andstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstared

Andstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstaredandstared.

Her baby brother… just died in front of her… sacrificing himself for her…

Homura saw this and couldn’t help but wonder where it had gone wrong… why? Just why?

“You can still save him.” Kyubey says as he perches on a destroyed platform.

“What do you mean I can save him… you mean, I can wish to bring him back to life?” Madoka asked, hope flashing in her eyes.

“Yes, your karmic potential is enough to bring a dead person back alive.” Kyubey is still as emotionless as ever.

Madoka steeled her eyes and took a deep breath and said her wish.

Homura could only watch as tears fell from her eyes as she failed Madoka once again.

Just then, her shield let a sound of familiar clicking, and she was once again back in the comfort of her hospital bed.

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“Homura!”

Homura jerked and looked to her right and saw Madoka with worried eyes.

“Are you okay darling? Do you need a break?” Mami asked worriedly.

“N-nothing, just remembering bad memories.”

Her four partners looked at each other worriedly before letting go of the topic.

“Alright… just tell us when you need to blow off some steam alright, we can always fight if you need an outlet” Kyoko said as she played with her pocky. Seriously, where is she getting these?

Homura nodded, and focused back on the screen.

Unknown to her, Junko noticed the way she froze when Homura said something about Tatsuya. She’ll keep this to herself for now, better to not force a traumatized child about something that literally traumatized them.

Oddly her happy statement made Homura feel slightly amused, though Madoka didn’t get why it was funny.  

“School’s better than the hospital.” Homura shrugged as Tatsuya waved them goodbye again. As they left they heard Tatsuya shout ‘High, High, High’, and Homura telling him ‘I can’t do any more of that or you’re on the ceiling.’ Mami chuckled. 

“You know, I think today’s going to be a pretty normal day. And that’s going to be nice I think.” 

Madoka nodded. The last three days had been kind of crazy, and yesterday had been the normal one by comparison. Maybe today could be a nice, normal day. Mami, seeming to be quite happy in particular, clapped her hands together. 

“Oh I even got the chance to make both of our lunches. Your dad was really busy. Oh this is going to be so nice.” 

Madoka, hoping her father appreciated the cover and wasn’t too bothered by having his usual roles taken over by Mami again, smiled. 

“It sounds great.” It was going to be a great day in Mitakihara. 

“Oh yeah, If I remember correctly, nothing eventful happened that day,” Mami said as she tried to remember if something memorable happened that day.

“Mhm, well, with the exception of Tatsuya who keeps on saying Tiro Finale, then I suppose not that I know of.” Homura agreed.

Now though, something peaked everyone’s attention on the screen, and they are the transitioning words: Meanwhile in Kamihama City.

Oriko tensed up, seeing those words, she knew it was only a matter of time before something about the Magius is revealed, but seeing and experiencing it is a different matter. Now, she gotta prepare herself for the onslaught of grenades, ribbons, swords, spears and guns, knowing that things about her plan are about to be revealed. She just hopes they don’t react too much about it.

Everyone looked at the Magius duo, knowing that some of the questions they have will finally be answered, like, why are all the witches going to Kamihama, and what are Oriko’s plans might be if it involved them.

Homura is more excited at the prospect of the latter.

It was hard to say what sort of day it was in Kamihama City yet, because it had only just begun. 

Four days ago, they had saved Kaede from the Whisper of the Friendship Ending Staircase. Now Iroha Tamaki was up in the morning, making pancakes in Mikazuki Villa. It was…a way to also try to not dwell on something in her dreams last night. 

The Magical girls of Mitakihara looked at the screen and specifically the pink haired girl with curiosity, wondering what kind of involvement the pink haired girl named Iroha has in the future.

“Iroha Tamaki, a magical girl who had an unfortunate thing happen to her, which is her little sister’s existence has been erased, only for her to remember her again after a life or death battle with a witch, and she’s also not a part of Magius.”

Everyone winced with the exception of Kirika, since she already knows this.

Hitomi, on Oriko’s left side, asked if Iroha wished for her sister to come back. (Homura had to hold a wince as she remembered that timeline with Tatsuya again.)

“I’m afraid… She already made her wish before her sister’s existence was erased, so right now, things are bleak for her as she keeps trying to find Ui Tamaki.”

“Even I have not known about the girl, with the exception that she came to my vision from time to time.” (Oriko had to omit the part where Ui Tamaki is basically the Embryo Eve that the Magius is trying to weaponize. Even she had shivered at those visions.”

Everyone looked at Iroha on the screen with sympathy, especially those with siblings, since they can’t imagine their little brothers and sisters just got erased from existence and be the only person to remember them. It scared them… (In a distant timeline, Tatsuya sneezed, wondering if he’s being talked about. Akuma Homura, who’s been looking at the world, making sure that everything is perfect, looked at Tatsuya weirdly… It’s probably nothing.)

“I hope she finds her sister soon…” Madoka says softly as she tried not to imagine herself in Iroha’s shoes.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I’m sure she will,” Mami says with a smile, hoping that Iroha finds her sibling.

“Yeah! Let’s also help, it’s possible that we might find some clues here in Mitakihara.” Sayaka says enthusiastically.  

“While I normally wouldn’t agree with blueberry since this might spark a dispute, I agree with her, it's better to make allies than enemies. Since Iroha is not a part of Magius, we can have her as an ally if a dispute were to happen, so to get on her good side, we gotta help her with her sister finding mission.” 

Homura and especially Mami looked at Kyoko in surprise, it seems that Yuma has undoubtedly managed to change Kyoko for the better, but Suzembachi might also have a hand in this since Kyoko tried to compare what she does back then with the works of Suzembachi.

“Well then, it seems that we have a new objective in Kamihama.” Homura said as she begins to imagine the allies she could get in the fight against that damnable witch.

Junko notices something with the wording and decides to ask Oriko.

“Umm, Mikuni-san, may I ask what Iroha means by saving someone from the Whisper of the Friendship Ending Staircase?”

“Oh yeah, I know that… well at least rumors about it.” Sayaka said as she remembered the news about it.

Homura looked confused, and asked, “Is it a witch?”

Oriko looked at them and the TV, contemplating on how much she could tell them.

“It’s a kind of threat, that’s all you need to know. The rest will be shown on the screen… I think.”

Homura looked annoyed at not getting an answer, especially if it’s a threat. But she concedes, knowing that the screen will show them about it, ‘As if it didn’t already show everything.’

Once the talking calms down, the screen resumes, and once again they are focused on what is happening there.

‘ “Mifuyu!? Mifuyu!?’ Yachiyo had been calling, walking around Kamihama with ever-increasing urgency, both with her voice and her mind, trying to find someone. Iroha could feel her slowly growing concern, a panic that had yet to overtake her, but was creeping in slowly and steadily. In her arms were several boxes of helmets of all things. The sort you used for riding on bikes. There were helmets that were green, black and white, yellow, and orange, four boxes all being carried by Yachiyo. Shortly after Iroha noted the boxes, three girls rushed over to Yachiyo, as if called earlier. Iroha recognized all of them. 

Kanae and Mel, and Momoko. 

“Mifuyu vanished over an hour ago and I can’t get her to respond.” Yachiyo said seriously, sounding like she hoped beyond hope she was over-reacting. “Also surprise, there was a sale on bike helmets.” 

“Hopefully that’s the only surprise today.” Momoko said, sounding both worried and a little amused by the admittance the helmets were bought on sale. The group then split up, the four rushing out in all four directions. It was hard to tell how long they looked, but she could feel every bit of it as an eternity. The longer it took, the more the dread came through. 

Eventually Yachiyo came to a stop outside an alleyway, where a girl that Iroha hadn’t seen in anything but photos was standing. Silver hair, teal eyes, but in contrast the entire posture of the girl was…uncanny. Her body felt too…stiff, and there the smallest tells in how she walked, moved a finger, or blinked that she was not moving on her own. That something was making her walk. Her eyes were the worst, completely contrasting. While the shape of the eyes' expressions was normal, if so normal to be unsettling, looking at the eyes themselves were dozens of terrified, horrified expressions, the eyes of someone who knew she was already dead and was being…used for wicked, horrible purposes. 

Yachiyo could clearly read the same as she could, but even more so. For this girl was as far from a stranger to Yachiyo as possible, short of family or a Soulbond. Yachiyo was ready to to act to save Mifuyu, who this girl surely was, from whatever was going wrong, while Mifuyu knew that was what Yachiyo was going to try and do, and was screaming with only her eyes for Yachiyo to get as far away as possible. It was a hope that Iroha knew was going to be in vain. 

Everyone is silent for the most part of this viewing, there’s nothing really worth saying but Oriko decided to anyway.

Oriko decides to name every girl on the screen.

“The blue haired girl who keeps shouting Mifuyu, is Nanami Yachiyo, a veteran magical girl with seven years of experience.”

Every magical girl, especially the Quintet, all had their eyes widen. They didn’t expect someone like Yachiyo to still be alive after seven years of being a magical girl. Especially since the statistics of magical girls living that long is so low. But then again, Suzembachi exists and the less said about her the better.

“Heehh… Mami, if you and Yachiyo were to fight, do you think you can beat her?” Sayaka asked curiously, because currently, Mami is the strongest within the five of them, lest Madoka were to contract.

“Hm… we don’t know what she’s capable of currently, so while I would very much like to avoid confrontations like those, but if we have no choice… then she has the upper hand considering her experience.”

Kyoko doesn’t look much surprised by Mami’s admission, she remembered that time Sute blew up several buildings with just one attack…

Homura looked at the screen with so much concentration, and the Quintet knew why, she was thinking about how Yachiyo would be useful as an ally against Walpurgisnacht.

The screen then shows three other girls which Oriko named as well.

“Starting from Yachiyo’s soulmates, the yellow/gold haired girl is named Yukino Kanae, who is also a veteran Magical girl along with the green haired girl named Anna Mel. Meanwhile, the blond haired girl named Togame Momoko is a friend of Yachiyo.”

Everyone is looking at the girls with curiosity, the adults looked sad and pissed at Kyubey for just how many girls/victims it claimed.

Then for the last girl, Oriko sighed, “The last one is Azusa Mifuyu, Yachiyo’s partner and best friend.”

“Umm- what is happening to Mifuyu there?” Madoka asked, disturbed by the facial expression Mifuyu is showing.

“...”

Oriko stayed silent, she knows or maybe not, but according to what she heard, Mifuyu found out the truth that day and turned into a doppel? Witch? that day.

But she isn’t going to talk about that, not yet.

“I say, it’s better to watch what happened.”

The screen once again resumes and shows that it was just Iroha’s dream.

Though what happened next was….odd. It felt like the dream was forcefully ended, as if by sheer force of will. It was hard to describe, but the moment that Mifuyu showed up, her eyes in a strange, confused, horrified daze, she felt a sudden upswell of will that forced the dream away, like a wave sweeping it away. 

“... So it was a dream,” Madoka says worriedly, as she remembers the look Mifuyu has on her face. She couldn’t help but notice how familiar those eyes are.

“Wait… she dreamed of a memory… does that mean-” Hitomi is cut off by Oriko by saying that yes, Iroha is Yachiyo’s last soulmate.

“... Well then, if we plan on helping Iroha, and in turn help us in Walpurgisnacht, that means that she has soulmates, magical girl soulmates. That means, we have more firepower, considering one of them is a seven year veteran.” Homura looked like she just hit a jackpot at this point. While the threat of Walpurgisnacht and Magius looms over, there’s hope blooming in her chest at the thought that they won’t be alone in this. (Somewhere inside Homura, a certain dark counterpart is celebrating that Homura is slowly but surely having hope returned to her.)

Leaving her with no answers about what it was all about. She knew what it was…she could pick up on context clues. A year ago Mifuyu, Yachiyo’s best friend, died, and the aftermath was really, really bad. It was why Momoko didn’t like Yachiyo anymore, why Yachiyo had apparently been inactive, it was also apparently why Yachiyo stopped doing swimsuit photoshoots, but the results were all she had. No one was telling her how it happened. 

And whatever happened was terrible enough that it could get Yachiyo to forcefully end dreams to keep it quiet. Which was probably why they weren’t volunteering to talk about it. 

Everyone felt bad, and paid their condolences, while Oriko and Kirika stayed quiet, knowing that Mifuyu is still alive and is working with the Magius.

Meanwhile, Homura has a feeling about what happened with Mifuyu that it was that terrible.

While mixing the batter, Iroha idly noted the photos in the home. She’d noticed them before, but never quite took them all in specifically before. They were dominated by a few people mostly, with Mifuyu appearing in them very frequently, a ghost seemingly as much as the older woman who looked a lot like Yachiyo, and of course Yachiyo, Kanae, and Mel themselves. There were others too…Momoko and another younger girl, who looked like she was about to burst with pent-up energy in the photo. A few photos here and there had a couple that she thought were Yachiyo’s parents, though they seemed to be mostly in older photos. 

There were other touches she’d noticed. There was a shelf of mugs that everyone else seemed to grab from, with three mugs that were always untouched. She’d never quite been able to ask about them. She guessed one was Mifuyu’s, but the other two….maybe she had an idea about one of them. But the other…

The sound of footsteps drew her attention, and the kitchen was soon joined by the first of her…she was still getting used to this…Soulmates was up this morning. With a stretch the sharp-eyed Kanae arrived, yawning in a black tank top shirt and pants. 

“Morning.” She said while stretching, her tank top lifting as she shook off some lingering tiredness from her bones. Kanae Yukino, her second oldest Soulmate. Who slept in the same room as her oldest, Yachiyo Nanami. The implications of which occasionally crossed Iroha’s mind, but she was uncertain of going farther on when it came to thinking through them just yet. 

“Do you think those two do it?” Kyoko absentmindedly asked.

Almost everyone went beet red, especially the quintet with Mami scolding Kyoko for asking such a question.

Madoka though, couldn’t help but imagine such a scenario in her head along with her partners doing it which… made her pass out.

The adults couldn’t help but giggle at the teenagers, but also shiver at the thought of giving the kids the talk, with the exception of Junko, she seems to be vibrating with excitement at the thought of giving Madoka the talk.

“Morning.” Iroha greeted back as she mixed the batter further. She felt like there was too much of it, that this was far too much for four people, and it might go to waste. But she had seen how much Yachiyo could eat. 

“Yachiyo…didn’t sleep well last night.” Kanae said, sounding preemptively apologetic. “She..she had a bad dream…”

“And she woke herself from it?” Iroha guessed as Kanae’s expression became alarmed. “...I..I think I had the same dream. It cut off around the time that girl came over. The one with white hair…she seemed out of it.” 

“...yeah.” Kanae clarified, sounding like she’d rather not talk about it. “...you might want to make sure that you add some extra stuff in the batter.” 

Madoka, Mami, and Homura all knew what that felt like after all, they experienced some of their nightmares. Madoka especially couldn’t help but shiver at remembering the look Homura has post-fight Walpurgisnacht.

Kanae’s suggestion was a deflection, the topic was not something anyone was quick to talk about, but she was curious regardless. Kanae elaborated. “Yachiyo likes extras in her pancakes. Chocolate chips, bits of fruit, that sort of thing. It should put her in a better mood.” 

“Oh, I didn’t even think of that.” She never cooked pancakes for anyone who liked or could have that stuff. Kanae, guessing the reason, moved to get a bag of chocolate chips to start. 

“I’ll see if there are any fruits we can use. Just chocolate will do if necessary.” 

She was chopping fruit as Kanae set the table. She had forgotten that part, silly her. 

“Hey, has anyone been giving you crap?” Kanae asked. At her curious sound she continued. “I’ve been there with the transfer student part. It goes either really well or someone’s a pain in the ass about it.” 

“Everyone’s been really nice.” Iroha assured her. It really did help that she had people she knew already. The transfer itself had moved pretty quickly, Soulbonds seemed to make that part easy. Kanae nodded. 

“Good to know.” 

Homura had to sigh knowing what Iroha has been going through, throughout timelines there have been some that she didn’t manage to make a good impression at all, making everyone hate her (except Madoka) and it’s one of the worst timelines she’s been on. She is also a little happy that Iroha had a good start because if she was there, she'd definitely offend someone, like Sayaka, in almost every timeline.

“Ehh….everyone’s asking about the new girl’s mysterious homecity, no one is going to bug her about it.” It wasn’t Yachiyo who said that, but her other Soulmate who was Iroha’s age. Wearing an oversized shirt, Mel Anna walked over, still waking up as she yawned a good morning. Iroha blushed. 

“Home’s…er….it’s not that interesting of a place.” She was still getting used to what to say. Was it iffy to use the term ‘home’ like that? 

“It’s different, and it piques their interest. Trust me, it could always be rougher.” Mel said in good humor, but sounding like she’d seen it ‘rougher’. 

“People like you though.” Iroha had not seen anyone treat Mel badly. Kanae shook her head. 

“No, that’s after several rather fortunate fortunes and a few visits from bad news.” Kanae pointed at her eyes, sharp and fierce, as she talked about ‘bad news’. 

“You used your magic in public?” Iroha questioned as she added some chopped up fruits and berries into the pancake mix. She tried to not sound too freaked out, Rena seemed to do that too by turning into other people, but was that a thing people did in Kamihama? Mel chuckled. 

“Yeah, but tarot cards and making it rain halberds are two different things. When I did it, past tense of course, I’m just an eccentric from Daito who just so happens to always be correct. Always on days with a good feeling of course, no good comes from deliberately reading for bad fortunes.” 

“She’s a fortune teller!?” Sayaka asks with starry eyes.

“Yes, Mel possessed the unique ability of Destiny Alteration, also known as "Future Guidance," which allowed her to manipulate the future. She is able to use her unique style of fortune telling to affect the future based on her Tarot readings, however she appears to have no control over whether she gets a good or a bad outcome.” Oriko revealed.

“So… wait, she can manipulate the future!?”

Everyone basically had their eyes widen at the implications, but Homura along with a few others noticed the limitations of that power.

“Even if she does change the future, she still has no control whether she will draw a bad or good outcome. It is a huge limitation and can be lethal.” Homura said softly, trying to figure out how to use that power and to not get a bad outcome.

Everyone looked at Homura, those that are amazed by the prospect of the power realized that it is a double edged sword.

“So… it’s like a gacha huh.” Sayaka said.

Kyoko nodded, “Yeah, she’s basically gambling on the future, whether it’ll be a bad outcome or not is not within her control.”

Those with the knowledge of the future (Homura and Oriko) flinched, remembering that every action they make either result in a bad outcome or a good one,

“I still say you should have given some of the worst of them bad fortunes.” Kanae spoke up from the table. Mel looked horrified at the idea. 

“Fortunes shouldn’t be used to hurt people! They should only be used to help people.” 

“And some people need the help of being hit on the head.” 

Unfortunately for Mel, almost everyone in the theater agreed with Kanae, except Madoka and a few others.

What followed was what felt like a oft repeated discussion about the need for some people to get hit on the head. Iroha watched, going back and forth between the two and the preparing of pancakes on the stove. She’d learned a lot and done a lot in this city so far, but it seemed like there was always more. About both itself, and the people in it. Including those she was with now. 

“.....” 

Iroha managed to avoid jumping as she realized that her final soulmate, in blue pajamas, was behind her. Yachiyo, eyes groggy, seemed to brighten as she saw the pancakes. 

“Good morning.” Iroha greeted. Yachiyo, true to Kanae’s words, didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to. Iroha could literally feel her gratitude, happy to know that breakfast was sooner rather than later, and it was the way she liked it. “So, how many do you want?

The number, and the concentration of chocolate, was not what most probably expected of a famous model, but after around two weeks Iroha was more or less used to it. She made a lot of batter for a reason.

“Looks like you have a rival Kyoko,” Mami said with a fond smirk.

“Hey!”

“... You’re definitely right, when we meet them, I’m gonna challenge her into an eating showdown.”

Everyone sweatdrops, while the Quintet giggled, that’s Kyoko alright.

As she was about to put the first round of pancakes out, she noticed something new. A mug she didn’t recognize was at her place at the table, pink and white striped. Mel and Kanae also noticed it, and smiled. 

“Oh hey, they were finally on sale!” Mel cheered. The mugs? Yachiyo had a faint smile, the irritation of a rough night washed away by the morning kindnesses. . 

“Mugs don’t cost that much, even at full price.”  

That was the smallest of statements…but it made Iroha blush. Even when there was a joke about the savings from several coupons that more than covered the cost thrown in, the warmth didn’t go away. It wasn’t that long she’d been here, but this villa was earning the title of home too. 

“Hope you don’t mind, but it’s a little tradition of ours. A mug for everyone.” Kanae grinned as she took a sip from her black mug decorated with musical notes. “It’s silly but…” 

“It’s sweet.” Iroha finished. 

“Yeah! Now one with extra chocolate chips please!” 

“Mel, you should eat more fruit and less chocolate.” Said Yachiyo with her many chocolate chips in her pancake stack that was three times as large as Mel’s. 

“Aww, that’s so sweet, can we do that?” Madoka asks with a beaming smile.

“Of course we could Madoka, in fact, your father and I have our own mug, we just don’t use it and prefer to make it a design.”

Madoka beamed even more at Junko’s approval, which had everyone almost blinded by the smile.

“Too bright,” everyone thought to themselves.

Once every bit of pancake batter had been fried up, the fruit finished off before they hung out too long out of storage, and the pancake material cleaned up (by Yachiyo on her own insistence), things shifted to discussing the day's plans. 

“Kanagi called.” Yachiyo said, before she remembered Iroha only heard that name once “From the first Uwasa incident. She believes she has some information that may help us in our investigation and wants to meet face to face to talk about it.” 

“Uwasa Incident?” Mami said in confusion which was followed by others.

Homura narrowed her eyes, she had a feeling that she wouldn't like anything she was about to hear about this Uwasa thing.

Oriko looked nervous, Kirika and Hitomi both holding her arms, she can’t tell them those things, not yet, not until they defeat the Queen of witches.

“Decent timing, meeting up with my folks today so we’re going to be over there anyway.” Mel guessed. “But…I’m guessing there’s something else that’s making it harder than it has to.” 

To that Yachiyo nodded. 

“I have a modeling shift today, so I won’t be able to go.” Yachiyo sounded like she would rather get the information herself, but realities of finance came first. Iroha did not feel comfortable at all to ask about money, while also aware it was best she try to spend only the allowance from her parents on personal things. “It wasn’t an expected call, I thought I’d have the day off, and while I do trust Kanagi to not attack….” it was others she didn’t trust, Iroha guessed. Kamihama City Magical Girls were paradoxically better at teamwork, and had deep seated issues with each other. “I’d rather two of you go, just to be safe.”

“I could drop Mel off to see her family after meeting Kanagi.” Kanae offered.

“Um…I could go with them.” Iroha offered. Her Soulmates looked surprised they hadn’t thought of that yet, but had no problem with the idea once offered. 

“It is better than you wandering around on your own again…you might end up in Daito again walking around completely lost.” Yachiyo sounded like she would like to avoid a repeat of that. Iroha wasn’t sure how she managed that..she was trying to look for Touka and remembered that she was rich and heard that a lot of rich people were in a place called Hokoyu Ward. She put a famous restaurant in that ward into her phone to guide her in that direction…but she got lost. Apparently really, really, lost, given the looks she got when she was eventually found. 

Kyoko shivered, remembering how lost she was when she left Mami, she just wandered aimlessly going through places she didn’t know, all the hardships she’s gone through.

Sayaka nudged her looking worried.

Kyoko sighed as she held blueberry’s hand for support which Sayaka reciprocated.

“None of us are too big, we can easily fit on Kanae’s motorbike.” Mel agreed. 

“And you should meet more of us in Kamihama.” Kanae thirded. 

“Then it’s agreed. You can drop Mel off at her parent’s place for the day, then meet Kanagi about the oddity she found, and after that the rest of the day is yours until it's time to pick Mel back up. Mel, you’ll call me if your family wants to have you for dinner before we get you so I’ll know if I need to cook for three or for four tonight.” 

“Yep.” Mel agreed. Yachiyo nodded. 

“I’ll call Kanagi for a time, then the Annas to let them know the plan. Make sure Iroha wears a helmet.” 

The screen then transitioned and showed these words: Kamihama City 11 Days Ago

“Oh~? It looks like we’re having a flashback.” Oriko looked at the screen curiously, wondering what the enemy of Magius had been doing.

With school out, Iroha had freedom to explore something that had been…driving her crazy for a while now. Dreams. The same dream again and again…a hospital room, a little girl, no words…feelings she couldn’t describe but she knew were positive, bubbly, centralizing…adjectives and adjectives on end. They made…everything feel weird. Her room, her house, photos….it was hard to put into words but it made everything feel wrong. And she needed to figure out why. 

“So this is Iroha before she found her soulmate.” Junko said as she kept her eyes on the screen, she might have only noticed it now, but… Iroha reminds Junko of Madoka a little, and couldn’t help but get angered at the thought of Kyubey getting another victim, one that looks a lot like Madoka at that.

Meanwhile with the Quintet:

Dreams? Madoka wouldn’t admit this to her soulmates, but dreams had been… quite an experience for her ever since she got soulbonded to her Magical girl soulmates. Especially after finding out that talking to your soulmate’s darker part of their soul. She wondered how they were currently doing.

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Inside a mindscape, a labyrinth that is a combination of four labyrinths can be seen.

In the middle, a circle table and four figures sitting in a chair can be seen as they watch the viewing from their host’s eyes.

“I still can’t wrap my head around all of this.” Oktavia said as her mermaid tail moved side to side. 

“Me either.” Ophelia said as she ate a pocky, courtesy of Candeloro.

“That is to be expected, you two just started remembering the past timelines because of the soulbond.” Candeloro says as she takes a sip from her tea.

“Yeah, remembering killing my best friend and love interests…” Oktavia mumbled to herself.

Her words however weren't unheard as the other three heard her.

Ophelia smacked Oktavia’s head which is protected by a helmet much to Ophelia’s disappointment and said, “Oi, it wasn’t your fault that you killed Me- Kyoko and Gretchen- Madoka, in fact, it's our nature as a witch that made us kill people. So don’t you dare ever blame yourself for something as basic as following our instinct.”

Oktavia sighed, ever since she got bombarded by memories that she didn’t know she had that apparently came from the other timelines, she had a mental breakdown and had to have Candeloro, Homulilly, and a still shocked Ophelia to comfort her. She’s envious at the fact Ophelia managed to get over her shock immediately.

“She’s right, you know, so don’t blame yourself, Oktavia-san.” Homulilly said shyly.

Oktavia had to take another deep breath as she remembered the times she hated Homulilly- no, Homura. After all, Homulilly? didn’t deserve her hate. Not after witnessing all the timelines.

Oktavia sighed and nodded, finally stopping her self deprecating moment. 

“Alright, let’s get back on track, somehow, our hosts got kidnapped by a mysterious force that told them to watch their future. And now we’re here watching alongside them as well.” Candeloro recounts.

“Yeah.” Ophelia said nonchalantly.

“Sigh, we really have no choice but to watch with them huh?” Oktavia asked.

Homulilly intertwined her fingers together and nodded, “Yeah…”

All four of them went quiet, seemingly lost on what to do.

“Let's just see where this goes, okay?” Homulilly smiled as she looked at the screen, after all the future is looking bright, with the exception of the looming threat of Walpurgisnacht, Magius and… her alternate self.

She still can’t wrap the fact that her other self rebelling against Madoka is… oh she can only feel anger, hatred, and betrayal to her alternate self for doing such a thing. 

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Back in the theater.

Kamihama wasn’t the easiest commute from Takarazaki City, but she could do it. So easily it felt like she had done it before. She didn’t really have anything keeping her from doing it: the tickets weren’t too expensive, she didn’t have any friends, she got her homework done, her parents were barely ever around so it made no difference if she was going out to other cities, fighting Witches, heck she could probably just lounge around the house in her underwear or something as long as the times they were around she was there and not doing that. 

Everyone felt bad at Iroha’s situation before she got her soulbonds and found her soulmates. Many of them know how it felt, being alone, having no friends, parents barely even around. They sympathized with her.

This was not a hard condition to meet. Though the dreams had been making those times, those times she was so used to…worse somehow. She needed answers. What she’d found…confused her. 

“It seems those dreams have been eating her for quite a while.” Hitomi frowned, dreaming is one of if not the best things in life, after all she rarely gets nightmares, and she is a lucid dreamer. She couldn’t help but feel pity at the girl.

Oriko looked at Hitomi’s eyes, seeing her emotions, for one thing, she did not expect someone like Hitomi to ever get closer to her just like Kirika. And the most bizarre thing was Kirika didn't mind. Mind you she absolutely hates other girls getting close to her mistress.

Oriko could tell, most of her plans are starting to crumble the more the screen reveals, and she knows that it is only a matter of time before the screen shows the full intention of the Magius and the witch that they have been keeping in their basement which might as well be as powerful as Walpurgisnacht.

A strange small Kyubey, familiars as strong as some of the weaker Witches back in Takarazaki, more Magical Girls in one city than she’d ever considered. The small Kyubey seemed to be connected to her dreams, seeing it made her dreams more intense, but what did everything else have to do with it? 

“Hm… curious,” Oriko knows there is a connection with the little Kyubey and Iroha, having seen them multiple times in her visions, she just doesn’t know what.

However, the others aren’t focused on that. Instead they are entirely focused on the statement that says familiars are as strong as a witch. Granted it is said that the strength is only comparable to weaker witches, but still, witches are witches, they all shuddered at the thought of fighting an army of familiars as strong as witches.

Oriko knows what is going through their heads, and decides to say something knowing they’ll ask.

“Just watch, and you’ll see it yourself.”

Though the way to get the small Kyubey was to get stronger, her new friend Momoko took her to someone to make that happen. Someone called a Coordinator. 

“Coordinator?” Everyone thought, except for Kyoko, Oriko and Kirika as they already knew who that was.

“....Ah ha ha ha, you nearly took them off! Oh, but what would I expect for someone whose Magical Girl outfit looks like something an exhibition…” 

“It does not!” 

Everyone winced when Iroha denied the claim, they… yeah Iroha’s outfit is something an exhibitionist would wear, and they all agreed about it.

Mitama the Coordinator liked teasing people. She chuckled. 

“Oh compared to some of the Magical Girls in this city, you actually look pretty decent. At least you aren’t flashing everyone. You know, I can change a Magical Girl’s outfit, but for some reason everyone considers the price I offer for it too steep.”

Wait what!? Everyone had to do a double take, what did she just say!? They don’t really care about the whole costume changing since that wasn’t all that weird, but magical girls flashing those they meet!?

“...I’ll assume you are talking about those two girls from Daito who basically are running around in their panties…” Momoko grumbled as Mitama chuckled more.  “Also yeah, that price of yours is too expensive for costume changes.”

Everyone stared blankly at the screen, even Oriko, Kirika, and Kyoko who saw them sometimes. And… yeah, they don’t really have a good opinion on those two.

“Are there really…?” Sayaka was about to ask when Kyoko just stared at her with a blush on her cheeks.

“Yes… I’m afraid they do exist, and they do flash other people.” Oriko says hauntingly, as she remembers them transforming only to get flashed.

“...Ew.” Yuma said, while Nagisa nodded her head in agreement. 

No one really tried to argue.

“Surreeee, I’m talking about those two….” 

“...” Momoko looked like she wanted to say ‘I’d pay you extra to stop talking’, but knew that if she actually said it, Mitama would take that seriously. Fortunately Mitama decided she’d screwed with Momoko enough today and turned her attention elsewhere. 

“... Wait, don’t tell me…” before Sayaka could even question, the scene changed, as if saying to spare Momoko her embarrassment.

“...Oh yes, you are definitely due for a tune up.” Mitama mused as she looked her over, walking around her like someone looking over something they were about to purchase. “I’m always amazed about how much potential the vast majority of Magical Girls have that they just never can tap into properly. In some places, most places, people get by with just their raw milliToukas, bludgeons without any refinement, never knowing what they could be with just a bit of help from my kind..” 

“Milli…Toukas?” Iroha repeated, not sure what that was supposed to mean. Momoko just groaned. 

“Those things?” Momoko sounded like she disliked the idea for multiple reasons, starting from the name of them and going upwards from there to more serious gripes. 

Mitama shrugged. 

“I didn’t name them, but some genius apparently came up with a halfway functional measuring system a while back. Everyone else just reads things with their third eye, which is far less accurate. Not even veterans can do it properly.” Mitama pulled out a tablet, a device with a symbol that looked something like a bird and looked Iroha over with it. Did it have a camera? “Ah yes… you have four times the power of the average Magical Girl.” Iroha suddenly felt like her heart was fluttering. She was something special…that was kind of neat. “Of course, that basically makes you slightly above average cannon fodder in lovely Kamihama, especially nowadays.” And now she felt like she was made of lead. She was cannon fodder….

Everyone once again looked at Iroha in pity, because imagine thinking that you’re above normal magical girl, only to find out that she’s still cannon fodder.

Homura looked at Iroha with a satisfied look, despite Mitama saying that Iroha is still a cannon fodder, she is bonded to her soulmates and that’s bound to boost her power tremendously, especially when one of them has an experience of seven years.

“I remember that time when I joined the Magius, they told me that they’ll measure my potential, when they found out they had their eyes widened at the result. 450 milliToukas, that’s my potential.” Kyoko said with a grin.

“Hm… really? Then I do wonder how much potential I have,” Madoka asked with a hand on her chin.

Oriko then decided to answer this one, “100+ Touka, that’s how strong you are Madoka.”

Everyone had their eyes blown, it wasn’t just milliTouka but Touka?? 1000 millitouka is 1 Touka so that means…

“Madoka, you are downright so amazing,” Sayaka said with stars in her eyes.

Even Kyoko had her jaw dropped.

Homura barely restrained herself as she remembered the witch that can destroy the world in just 10 days, or maybe less, after all, she doesn’t trust that rat.

“And I watched Dragon Ball.” Momoko pointedly reminded them both as Mitama chuckled.

“Oh, even their creator realizes it isn’t everything, and she named the things after herself. Beyond pure magical power, smarts, techniques, and training can do just fine, it's just that most Magical Girls die well before they can figure out how. Also with the help of a lovely coordinator such as myself, even 40 milliToukas can get you quite far in Kamihama.”

“So, Touka is a name? Wait, isn’t Touka someone Iroha is trying to find?” Hitomi pointed out.

“Oh yeah,” Sayaka said as she remembers Iroha is trying to find someone named Touka. 

“Do you think the Touka Iroha is trying to find is the same Touka that created the system?” Sayaka asked.

Oriko still stayed silent as eyes were staring at her

40….. so the average was 10?

“That is already quite a large difference,” Mami said with an impressed look, because having more than ten is probably rare.

“Just don’t run around without a plan…oh what’s the term that American with the bears used…Leeroy Jenkins. Oh yes, don’t go around doing that like you are Yachiyo or something…oh yes the other term that girl used. God mode, oh yes god mode…I’d measure Yachiyo’s milliToukas to tell you what makes her be able to do that, but the last time I tried to do so she broke my scanner with a halberd and pinned it to a tree. So rude, milliTouka scanners cost grief seeds. Plural..”

That Yachiyo name made Momoko look away, grumbling something to herself.  After which came a procedure that was….definitely something. Iroha could feel its effects, though it also felt a lot like some sort of massage. It was weird, though Iroha wasn’t bothered when Mitama mentioned she had seen something in her memories. It was…what she admits to seeing, or rather not seeing, that got Iroha actually worried. 

“It seems that Momoko and Yachiyo don't get along, I wonder what happened.” Madoka wondered, worried for the two magical girls she didn't know.

Homura however, has an idea on what happened remembering the dream Iroha had before, she can imagine the team falling off from there.

“I…I can’t remember my wish!” 

Mitama’s expression was that of genuine concern. 

“Yeah, it is rather odd. So…this might just be guessing, but I think something is affecting your memories…honestly probably a lot more than just what you wished for. Maybe that small Kyubey has something to do with it, maybe it doesn’t…but just be careful. You just underwent a procedure that can make you uneasy on your feet, like a dental procedure for your soul. Why don’t you…take it easy for a while.” Momoko suggested. Iroha knew that was sound advice but…she was dealing with a strange Kyubey that made her question her own memory and she just realized she couldn’t remember what she made a contract about…actually how long had she been a Magical Girl?! 

That was two things she had to figure out on top of everything else, and the only lead was that one Kyubey. 

“...Maybe take her on a slow walk. If she is so anxious to get somewhere, let her walk off the worst of it.” Mitama suggested. “I’m sure she’s got a lot to think about.” 

“Oh… her situation is,” Mami took a deep breath knowing that this situation is something they can’t just barge into.

“Wait, small Kyubey?” Nagisa asked.

Oriko sighed as she explained, “You see, Kamihama is a place where Kyubey can’t go, like any terminals he has, he can’t go into the premise of Kamihama. That’s why that small Kyubey is an anomaly, it can go inside Kamihama but not outside, as if it’s the only terminal left, the fact that it doesn’t talk makes it creepier too.”

Everyone looked creeped out but they suspected that Iroha’s situation might have had something to do with the small Kyubey, but what?

The screen then cut back to the present with the words: Mitakihara City: Present Day painted on the screen.

“Looks like we’re back to the present,” Kazuko stated as she drank her coffee, honestly she doesn’t know where to begin, but she can only hope that break comes sooner rather than later to be able to think about all this.

As the screen continues to play the scene…

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In another dimension:

“Dear, how is the main timeline going as of now?”

“Still isolated ma’am.”

“Good, don’t ever let the devil find out about the multiverse, Gods know what would happen if she were to find out about them.”

“Boss, are we really sure about this?”

“Dear… I’m afraid it has reached a point where the presence of the Devil is starting to affect other realities, universe, dimensions, records, etc.” 

The boss looked at the CCTV, watching the cast react and grow mentally stronger.

“We underestimated her, she just didn’t take a little of the Law of Cycles power, she took almost 90% of them. That’s why The Law of Cycles can’t operate as efficiently as before. Granted the soulmate timeline is one of the timelines she can’t access even with her full power because of the soulbonds. Thanks to the Devil taking most of her authority as a God, a lot of timelines where she could normally interact became inaccessible to her…”

The employer now understood the gravity of the situation.

“As of right now, the Devil only has access to her reality’s timelines, and we’ll keep it that way for as long as we can.”

“... Sorry for doubting but, how could they defeat the devil?”

“That’s an appropriate question to ask dear, thanks to the nature of soul bonds… they could use each other’s powers, not only that, if they were to tame or work with their witch, they are basically Walpurgisnacht at this point.”

The employer widened their eyes as they realized something.

“Yes… to be honest, no one knows what the hell Walpurgisnacht is, hell even I don’t know, many believed that it is an amalgamation of magical girls, some thought it’s a natural disaster/witch, not like the once that come from magical girls, others thought of it as a witch that came from just one magical girl and ended up becoming stronger by eating other witches or magical girls and etc.”

“However, I have a theory, there is no proof of it yet but it is still a theory of mine, remember Walpurgisnachts form? I believe that it’s not the only Walpurgisnacht in existence.”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe, Walpurgisnacht is a title to world ending witches. Ranging from a fusion of 2 or more magical girls to just one magical girl that has enough karmic potential that if they were to become a witch, they would then inherit the title of Walpurgisnacht, no matter their witch names.

“Gretchen? Walpurgis, Homulilly? Walpurgis, Embryo Eve? Walpurgis, Hyaedis Daybreak? Walpurgis.”

“You could say… Walpurgisnacht is a title or a tier of world ending witches.”

“So… what does this make the Devil?”

“She’s still a Devil my dear, she is no Walpurgisnacht, she detest that name and she is above that title.”

“Besides… those five… specifically their witches, they are slowly becoming much more than a witch, at this rate, they might even surpass the Walpurgisnacht that they are gonna fight.”

The Employer then looks to her left where a chamber can be seen. 

“Hmm… now though, what am I gonna do with you… Walpurgisnacht of this timeline, or should I call you Itzli, no, neither is a good name… What about Mabayu Aki.”

Inside a chamber, a young woman with green hair can be seen, she’s wearing a dress that looks like film reels, the only disturbing part though, is the green brain that is visible in her head, VHS tapes in her eyes that keep repeating every regret and mistake she made. And orbiting around her body are shadows of Homura, Madoka, Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka.

The boss sighed and rubbed her hand in her temple.

“Dear, can you call Infinite Iroha, I need to ask her for a favor.”

“You can’t possibly mean!?”

“We have no other choice, please dear, I know that I ask a lot, but this is no longer something we can’t ignore. With the Law of Cycles heavily weakened, the only other person we could turn into is her. Besides, once the war starts… the Multiverse would get caught in it whether the other universes want to join or not, they can’t escape this way as long as the Devil’s labyrinth continues to expand. We can barely even keep her isolated, at best we can hold her down for 1000 years, but that is still too short. (Akuma Homura always keeps the time in her reality the same day over and over again)”

The employee sighed and pinched her nose, “Fine, you owe me for this.” 

The employee then starts to walk away, as they walk away the boss looks back at the screen and Mabayu, “I hope I’m doing the right thing…”

Chapter Text

A/N: Anyways, Thank you guys for reading this story. I just wanna say that I'm gonna take a break after Day 5 to watch and read Magia Record to hopefully learn more about Kamihama and so that I could plan the plot that surrounds it. To those that are confused, or don't like the plot I did it's fine. I expected it since I'm only making use of what I know and have made almost everything too OOC and I apologized to those that hates that. To those that enjoys this despite with all the mistakes and blunders and OOCness of the story, thank you for sticking with me.

So yeah, after I upload Day 5, I'll go into an indefinte Hiatus. But I promise that I'll not leave until I finish this.