Chapter Text
The witch’s labyrinth was dark. Most labyrinths had the effect of mudding a magical girls vision but this one was particularly dark like it was cloaked in shadows. That didn’t matter to Homura; she already knew the way to the center of the labyrinth. That knowledge allowed the quintet to attack the witch sooner than if she wasn’t with them, which most of the time she wasn’t for this witch as she’d leave it to Mami or Sayaka. Homura was hanging back with Mami and Madoka waiting for Sayaka and Kyoko to give them an opening to strike at the witch. Normally Homura would stop time and lay as many bombs around the witch as she could before getting a safe distance away and seeing the sparks fly but she couldn’t do that now. Not while the melee of the group was busy getting through what seemed to be a shadowy tree that shot from her back.
As Homura busied herself with taking out the familiars of the witch she kept an eye on Sayaka. Kyubey had to have told her about the pain nullification that they could do and Homura needed to make sure that she didn’t use it. Not only because it was a waste of magic but also to make sure that she wouldn’t lose it. Luckily for her the familiars were weak, just the muzzle flash of her pistol was enough to keep them at bay. One of the real problems was the amount of bullets in her gun; eight was not enough when you were being attacked on all sides. Another problem was the gun itself being too big for her, she’d pulled out a desert eagle one of her higher caliber guns and although she did have a few high caliber rifles she preferred lighter guns both in weight and caliber. She was lucky to have two people backing her up while she reloaded her weapon.
As she racked the pistol she looked over to the two melee fighters. Even if she was closer to them they would probably be muffled by the discharging of muskets and the crackling of magic bolts. But as she watched the two of them have silent banter between each other Kyoko must have said something that caused Sayaka to forget how to move her body. Immediately Homura spun up the timer in her shield, time froze in place. Calmly she walked past familiars, firing the occasional bullet at the ones closest to her friends. She had to jump up to get Sayaka as she was suspended in the air but as she grabbed her forearm her frozen friend came to in frozen time. “Huh?” She looked to her side making eye contact with Homura. “What happened?” They fell back to the ground and Homura dragged Sayaka to a safe distance. “Don’t get distracted like that.”
“I don’t determine what Kyoko says to me.”
“You still shouldn’t get distracted like that.” Homura turned to glare at her.
“Look, I didn’t think she’d flirt with me in the middle of a battle.” Homura continued to glare at her associate. She saw Sayaka get angrier with her. “Look. Just because you can’t handle that I’m happy and have a girlfriend isn’t my problem. Maybe if you actually loved someone you’d understand!” Homura felt a flash of anger go over her body as soon as she felt it she suppressed it. “You’re hiding something from me aren’t you.” She hadn’t hid it well enough it seems. She averted her eyes from Sayaka’s. “We’re talking about this tomorrow whether you like it or not.” She let go of Sayaka’s arm, freezing her in place. With that walked back to where she was before she rescued her and unfroze time. She looked over to Sayaka and saw that she was glaring her down from a distance. Homura responded with a glare of her own before they both went back to dealing with the witch.
The school day had been tense between her and Sayaka. Normally Sayaka was jovial with everybody, even Homura but today she barely even acknowledged her. As the group walked to the mall together Homura felt a buzz in her mind. Hey. I said we’d talk today. I’m gonna make up an excuse to leave Mami’s later, can we talk then? There was a strain in the way her telepathy buzzed in Homura’s head. I’ll think up an excuse too. Then we can talk. For the first time in hours Sayaka looked over at Homura. Her eyes looked darker than normal, less of the calm seabed and more of the murky ocean depths. An unfortunate sight that Homura had to see in her friend far too many times.
By the time they’d gotten to Mami’s the sun had set. It was getting to that time of the year where the days got shorter and the nights longer, it was normal for time to do that. As the girls piled into the apartment Homura discreetly moved her hands behind her back and twisted her ring to search for magical signatures. It was muddied by all of her friends magic but she could feel her signature, it was faint but she’d been here earlier. “Hey Homura are you okay?” Homura was snapped out of her planning by Madoka’s voice. She straightened herself out. “Yes. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Her excuse wasn’t exactly false but it wasn’t completely true either but now she had an excuse to use later, she was good at planning like that.
“You four can make yourselves comfortable, I’ll get the tea and snacks ready.” Mami said, making her way for the kitchen. The four girls all sat around the triangular table and started making small talk with each other. “So Homura, what do you think you’re gonna do when the weekend comes?” Madoka always asked her questions in a bubbly tone. “Not much. I was probably just going to finish any outstanding school work and maybe get some groceries.” Homura thought it was a fair enough weekend to plan for. Outside of hunting witches, planning for the Walpurgisnacht and protecting Madoka she didn’t really do anything else. “What if I helped you with groceries?”
Homura felt her brain disconnect from the human wifi network. Her acute awareness of her heart told her that it was going… fast. She scrambled to find words for this interaction. “I- uhm-” she cleared her throat. “It would be rather boring Madoka. I’d rather just do it myself.” Madoka looked down at that statement. Homura started to panic. “I- I’m not saying you can’t join me Madoka!” She said a bit too loud. Homura already felt her cheeks start to burn but now her face felt like it was fully on fire. “Sorry for the wait. I was looking for a leftover cheesecake but it seems like she got to it before us.”
“WHA?? You had a cheesecake and didn’t tell me?!” Kyoko suddenly got out of her flirt war with Sayaka to get offended by the lack of cheese based desserts. “If you want cheesecake that badly then we can get some tomorrow.” Sayaka threw out nonchalantly.
“Wait, like, for real?” Kyoko had a glimmer in her eyes.
“Yeah sure, it’s been a while since we’ve treated ourselves.”
“Hell yeah! You’re amazing!” As Kyoko rocked back and forth with excitement for the following day Sayaka took out her phone and grimaced. “Aw crap… Sorry guys, I’m gonna have to go. My mom wants me home before eight tonight cause she found me sneaking out for hunts a few days ago.”
“Oh… Well, would you like a container for the cake so you can have it later?” Mami asked to which Sayaka nodded. Homura also checked the time to see it was twelve minutes to eight. “I unfortunately also have to go.” She stood. “I don’t think I’ll take the cake but try to save me some next time.”
Mami’s expression soured a little more. “I heard you mention not getting enough sleep last night. I hope you can feel better tomorrow.”
“Hey if you’re going home now how about we walk back together?” You ready to talk? Homura made eye contact with Sayaka to make sure she was doing better and to her benefit her eyes seemed less murky and more bright. Yes. As she transmitted that Sayaka was handed a small container with a small cake slice in it she then turned to Kyoko and pecked her on the cheek. “Love you. See you tomorrow.” With that she stood and Homura and her made for the door.
Sayaka had led Homura to a building that was under construction. Homura looked out over the city of Mitakihara. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Well first I wanted to apologize.” Sayaka’s voice sounded hoarse. Homura turned her head to look at where Sayaka was. She was standing behind a few of the steel frames of the incomplete building. “What I said to you the other day was awful. I didn’t mean to imply you’ve never loved someone… Nobody's like that.” Homura kept her eyes trained on where Sayaka was. “But I also was right about you hiding something from me. And you didn’t tell me.” Homura’s eyes narrowed. “But we’re friends.” Sayaka swung around the frame to face Homura. “And friends tell each other about their troubles.” The look in Sayaka’s eyes was one of genuine hope. “So what’s wrong Homura?”
Nothing is wrong. This conversation is useless. Was her snap decision on the matter of the conversation. But if she’d learned anything about this version of Sayaka it was that she was more observant than others she’d encountered… or that Sayaka had always been this way either way she couldn’t hide from this one. “What did it feel like?” Homura returned to staring out at the cityscape. “How did what feel?”
“Telling her…” Homura’s hands instinctively went for the hem of her skirt. She felt her heart start to beat faster. Her face got hotter. And her mind started to fog over with images of her. “Oh… Uhh… It felt… freeing…” Homura felt her head start to bend forward. She must’ve looked so meek even without her braids and glasses. “Homura… Do you have a crush on someone?” Homura finally gathered up the strength to look at Sayaka and saw her looking down at her. “And what if I did?” Homura choked on the last words. She felt a crack form on her exterior. “I mean… Is it more of a thing here?” Sayaka pointed at Homura’s chest. “Or here?” She moved her finger to Homura’s head. “Or is it more of both at the same time?”
“Both.” Homura felt more cracks spiderweb over her facade.
“Homura… I hope you should know that you’re safe around me. I can’t speak on the others but I’ll be here for you no matter what. Okay?” Homura felt her lower lip start to quiver. “If you and everybody else can accept me then I can accept basically anything you have to come out with.”
“Ma- Madoka… I- I love Madoka…” The spiderweb of cracks finally shattered Homura as she felt herself crumble into fine shards as the tears and snot started to pour. After a moment she felt something be draped over her. It was Sayaka’s cape. “Feel free to use it to wipe your tears and stuff. It’ll be clean next time I summon it.” Why? Why was she being so nice to her? Even now Sayaka was consoling her but why? She’d been nothing but rude to her for the past few months. But here she sat on an unfinished building being consoled by her. “I might be prying here but… How long have you had this crush on Madoka?”
Homura tried to wipe away the endless stream of tears. “Since we first met… I- I haven’t been able to get her out of my head.” She omitted the part of that first meeting being from several loops ago. “Oh good lord… You… You need to tell her soon, man. Even if she doesn't reciprocate your feelings, getting it out there will make you feel better.”
“But… How?” Homura sniffled. “How can I tell her all of this?”
“You take a break for a while. From what Mami’s told me you’ve been working yourself to the bone ever since you got here and considering that you know the way through almost every witch's labyrinth I think you deserve one.”
“But what if it’s all for nothing?” Homura’s voice started to break again.
“Look. I’ve known Madoka since we were in elementary school. And she has always been there for me. At the very least she’ll be there for you too.” Homura looked over a Sayaka with all the strength of an animal submerged in freezing cold water. “I- How long of a break should I take?”
“Do it on the weekend. That’ll give you around four to five days to plan.” Just as Sayaka finished saying that a phone started to buzz. Sayaka reached into the cape and produced her buzzing device. “Oh sorry Kyoko’s calling me.” Sayaka got up and walked away to take the call. “Hey… Is everything okay? Well that’s good… Mmm? Oh you wanted to stay the night at my place? I mean… I’m still getting home so like if you want to meet at the complex… Yeah! Okay… Love you too! Alright, I actually have to get going now…” Homura shakily stood and handed Sayaka the tearstained cape. She clasped it back around her neck and shimmered back into her school uniform. “Before I go… Make sure to take care of yourself over the next few days… I’d hate to see you go before you could tell her.” With that Sayaka leaped from the building down to the city's floor. Homura moved to the edge of the building and looked over the city she’d been protecting for years now and steeled her resolve like she’d done so many times before.
She was going to do this even if it meant corrupting in front of her. She was going to ask Madoka if she could be her girlfriend.