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Mitakihara City lay in ruins. The world lay in ruins. I've failed.

We sat just inside a cave in a mountainside to avoid the incessant rain. Two backpacks sat around a small campfire. Laid out on the ground in front of me were bits and pieces of scrap metal, glass, and grains of sand; the remains of my shield. It's been three weeks since Walpurgisnacht appeared. For the first time, I had managed to gather all of the others to fight it together. Sakura Kyōko. Tomoe Mami. Miki Sayaka. Mami even managed to get about a dozen others from neighbouring cities arriving to fight.

As if the universe was mocking me, Walpurgisnacht appeared. This time, though, it was far more powerful than it had ever been. We stood no chance. The final moments of the battle had been chaos. We had began to retreat after realising the true strength of the witch, but to no avail. Almost everyone who fought had died. Even Tomoe Mami.

"Homura-chan…"

I shifted my attention from the rain outside to the pink-haired girl sitting by the fire. Her eyes were downcast, filled with a sadness that ached my heart as well. Walking over, I sat down next to her. Even now, the mask I developed held firm. I hated the monotone sound of my own voice.

"What is it, Madoka?" I asked.

"What… what's going to happen now? Where do we go from here?"

Silence. I wish I had an answer to that, too. How could I possibly tell her there was nowhere to go?

The battle is lost. I can't even turn back time now. Damn it all. How many of us survived? It doesn't even matter. Walpurgis knocked the survivors at least a city over. I have to find Madoka before it's too late. I ran even faster, breath hitching every few seconds. Cuts adorned me all over, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was…

"The shelter," I whispered. In the distance, a massive building lay destroyed, smoke billowing from the collapse. I ran towards it. When I reached it, bodies were strewn everywhere, blood soaking the area red. Some had been crushed under rubble, others barely conscious. The screams that arose from my vocal cords did not sound human. Bile filled my throat as the thought that Madoka was dead crossed me, and I retched. I was a failure. Walpurgis was free, and not even a dozen Puella Magi were enough to stop it. The world blurred around me. Dazed, I must've been wandering the ruins of the city for days before Madoka found me. Together, at her insistence, we scoured the area for her family. It might've been better if we hadn't. They were dead, crushed by a massive slab of steel that was once the roof of the shelter.

"Mama! Papa! Tatsuya!" she cried. She ran over and cradled her baby brother in her arms. Tears spilled from her round, pink eyes, mixing with the rain and blood. She turned to me, eyes glistening. Was she going to-.

"Hey, Homura-chan. Y-you can go back in time right? You c-can prevent all this right?"

My heart shattered in that moment. Wordlessly, I pulled the remnants of my shield out of my pocket and shook my head. My voice barely worked as Madoka broke into another round of hysterical sobbing as she realised what I was holding up, realised what it meant. I had told her of my powers before the battle and what I had wished for. I failed.

"I-I'm sorry, Madoka" was all I managed to choke out.

In the days following the battle, Walpurgis had moved on, laying waste to the rest of Japan. At first, we took refuge in the underground room of my house, listening on a small radio for news. All of it bad. A week later, the radio fell silent. Japan had fallen as the last radio channels filled themselves with static. Still hopeful, we turned on my laptop. To our surprise, we found a still-working internet connection, meaning a tower somewhere was still functional nearby. Headlines filled every website we went to.

"Japan completely destroyed by freak storm"

"Central authority collapses; massive devastation"

"UN to dispatch relief teams to Japan"

That sort of thing. Then, news began to flow in that South Korea was experiencing storms similar to Japan. Then, reports from Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia. News became scarcer and scarcer, and eventually, the internet we had been using vanished. Madoka had lost her vibrant personality after the discovery of her family's fate. Where a bright light had once shone in those pink eyes, now it was dull. As dull as my own violet eyes.

Another week passed. Two weeks since Walpurgis. I found no indication of Kyōko or Sayaka nearby. By this point, the food and water that was stockpiled in my basement began to run low. Madoka and I packed a backpack each and we left, bringing what little supplies we had. I chose not to eat or drink, since I could use magic to fill in what I was missing. I had more than enough grief seeds from countless timelines anyway.

A third week passed, and we were well away from Mitakihara now. Kyuubei had vanished as well. Madoka and I had passed through a few cities in silence, only stopping to see if we could salvage any supplies from abandoned stores. By my estimates, we were near Tokyo now. The city in which I grew up. Some ruins sprawling in the distance seemed to confirm my suspicions.

I picked up the pieces to my shield, trying to figure out which piece fit where. It was futile, at best. Futile, but I had to try and figure out how to fix it. After all, I have no inherent magical potential for attacking or defending. Everything I had depended on for weaponry was inside the now-inaccessible storage of the shield.

I hated myself. If only I had been stronger, than Madoka wouldn't have to be out here in the middle of a devastated world. I hated myself for being weak. Beside me, Madoka stared into the fire. She had not smiled ever since leaving Mitakihara. I glanced down. My watch read 2 AM.

"Hey," I said, shifting closer. "You should get some sleep. We should be getting close to Tokyo. My parents had a house there. Hopefully the basement is still intact."

She nodded.

Soon after, Madoka dozed off, head lolling to the side and resting on my shoulder. In the past, this would've flustered me. How things have changed... The fire also gave out, leaving nothing but a few pieces of burnt wood and ash in its place. I stared at my old shield again. Useless. I knew I should probably dispose of it, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. After all, I'm useless without it.

So far, we've run into a few gangs on the way. Even without my shield, I was able to take them out thanks to the enhanced strength that came with being a Puella Magi. We were lucky enough not to encounter any other Puella Magi. I don't I could protect Madoka if we do. Gently, I pushed her head off of my shoulder and stood. Throwing a few more logs into the makeshift fire pit we had created, I lit another fire. My watch read 4 AM.

I spread out the contents of our backpacks on the ground. Not that there was much. It had been several days since we last passed through a city, and there was barely any food left. It would be barely enough to get us to Tokyo. I prayed it hasn't been all pillaged yet. A high chance that there would be a Puella Magi claiming the area as her territory. I hope she's someone I can just pay off with grief seeds. I have about fifty left, and typically a single grief seed can last a week or two. Four should be enough, provided she's someone who can be bought off like that.

I stared at the sleeping pinkette next to me. The bitter taste of failure filled my mouth again.

'I'm so sorry, Madoka…' I thought, as I too began to fall asleep. It didn't last long though, as I woke up around 4 hours later. 8 AM.

It was 11 AM when she finally woke up.

"Good morning," I said, handing her some bread that we found in the last city we had passed through. God, how I hated the monotone sound of my voice.

"Good morning, Homura-chan."

She took it, then tore it in half and handed one of the halves to me. I looked at her.

"Take it," she said. "You haven't eaten anything since Mitakihara. I'm worried."

I shook my head, eyes closed. "I told you. I don't need it. I can use magic."

She stared at me, with those large pink eyes. The eyes that held so much power over me. If only she knew what she could do to me if she really wanted. I relented, and we sat by the dying embers of the fire eating. Before long, we were done. Time to move along.

"You see that there in the distance, Madoka? That's Tokyo. My home city. We should be able to find supplies in the basement of my parents' house"

She nodded.

We packed our bags and left the cave. The scenery all around was the same. The earth was as grey as the sky, and no life could be found. No birds, no rabbit. Not even a single insect. The trees had no leaves, despite it being May. Occasionally, we came across some cars on the roads. Most of them were flipped on their side or upside down. Blood coated the windshield, concealing the dead driver that was surely slumped over the steering wheel inside.

We walked for hours. It wasn't an issue for me, being a Puella Magi. Madoka never complained, either. I guess that's why I admired her in the first place. Regardless, I knew she was tiring. The ruins of the city could be seen clearly now. Maybe another half hour. I nudged her shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"It's about another half-hour until we reach the city. Do you want to take a break first?"

"I'm fine, Homura-chan. Let's just keep going."

"Alright then."

We continued walking in silence. The sound of metal striking against metal grew louder as we approached the city. There was a fight going on at the outskirts of the city. Normally, I would've attributed this to human gangs fighting for survival had it not been for the magical emanations coming with each clang.

"Puella Magi," I said, gritting my teeth. "We'll have to detour around them, Madoka. I...I can't fight without my shield."

That last sentence was hard for me to admit, but I'd rather have my pride take the injury than run the risk Madoka taking an injury. She simply clung to me in fear and nodded. We veered off to the left, away from the sound of clashing metal. Slowly, the sounds faded. About ten minutes after, we reached my parents' house. Well, what was left of it at least. Luckily, the basement had a separate door, saving us the trouble of digging through the ruins. We circled around to the back of the ruins, finding a small rectangular door with a ladder leading underground. We went inside, closing the door behind us and dropping our bags on the ground next to the ladder.

Shuffling.

Madoka and I weren't alone.

A/N:

No, I have no abandoned my other stuff. This is an idea I've been toying with in the back of my head while writing for Doors and Eternity. If you guys enjoyed this, please leave a review. More reviews=more motivation :D

I've never really written anything big in first-person so this is quite new for me. Hopefully it's not as awkward to read as it was for me to write!