Kyoko is dead.
You don't need to sleep anymore, but sometimes you have dreams anyway. This one is a recurring nightmare: the view from within a helmet, and below you, a much smaller Kyoko, weathering everything that you throw at her. You watch, helpless, as your body moves by itself, pounding Kyoko with attack after attack. You scream for yourself to stop, and the worst part is, you know that you didn't even try to back then. You wanted it. You were angry, and hurt, and wanted to make the entire world feel as much pain and despair as you did for just one second, and Kyoko shouldered that burden.
The dream ends like it always does. Kyoko, battered and bloody, detonates her soul gem, and fire washes over you.
You snap out of your dream-daze, and as always, Madoka is already there with a word of encouragement and a warm hug. Having your best friend turned into an all-seeing law of the universe is kind of weird, too, but it's surprising how quickly you get used to these kinds of things. And if anybody's suited to be a goddess, it's Madoka.
You? You're still just Sayaka. Madoka says that you're part of the Law of the Cycle, but you're not. Not like she is. She's got the infinite kindness and perseverance that a goddess should have. She's excited by it all. Time doesn't really exist here, but it feels like barely a day passes without her coming to gush to you about some new magical girl she's noticed. She really does love every single one.
Even the clones. You know it by heart now: Homura went through 82 timelines to save Madoka. There are 82 of every magical girl or witch who existed during that month. 82 Mamis, 82 of you, 82 Nagisas, 82 of hundreds of other magical girls around the world, 82 of Kyoko. Some of them died without becoming witches, but all the rest need salvation.
At first, you were excited about riding down with Madoka to usher the souls of your friends away and ease their curses. Meeting another version of yourself was pretty weird, but it was a fun kind of weird. And then... you met the first Kyoko.
It was the first chance you ever really got to talk to Kyoko after becoming a witch, yourself, but... this Kyoko had never left Kasamino. She'd become a witch there, without ever meeting her universe's Sayaka Miki. She was nice enough, sure, but she couldn't possibly understand what you'd gone through. She couldn't understand what Kyoko—your Kyoko—had done for you.
After that, you stopped riding along to rescue Kyokos. It just makes you uncomfortable. You once mentioned all of this to Madoka, and she smiled and nodded in that infinitely patient way she has now, but you don't think she really understands. Madoka loves all magical girls.
But not you. There's only one Kyoko you want to see, and she's dead. She literally blew up her soul to save you, and you'll never even be able to say thanks.
The flickering barrier of Homura's soul gem—grief seed? It's in kinda in a weird place right now, metaphysically speaking—closes around you. There's a moment of darkness. Around you, you can sense the witch's barrier rearranging itself to accommodate you. You didn't used to be able to feel this stuff, but now that you've got part of Madoka's god-self grafted to your soul for safekeeping, you're a little more omniscient than you used to be. Especially here, in this witch-city contained in a soul gem, an entire tiny world that falls under Madoka's dominion.
It's weird as heck, and you hope this is over soon. Get in, save Homura, get out, and give Madoka her godhood back. Divinity doesn't really suit you.
The barrier finishes rearranging, and to your surprise, you find yourself standing in your family's apartment. It lacks the surreal quality of every other barrier you've seen, but there's no fooling you, now that you're packing some of Madoka's power: this isn't real. You draw your sword and take a look around, expecting a familiar to dart out of the shadows and attack you at any moment, but it really is just your apartment.
Mostly. It's obvious that Homura's seen it before, but there's only so much detail her subconscious could fill in. The squeaky board by the door isn't there. The tiles in the bathroom are the wrong color. You look around and find that the entire place is like this. The last stop is your parents' bedroom...
... there are sounds coming from within. Little metallic plinks and crunching. Whatever this barrier's up to, your parents shouldn't be making sounds like that. You might have just found a familiar. You tighten your grip on your sword, and with your other hand, grab the doorknob. One. Two.
THREE! You fling the door open. The room beyond is completely unfamiliar. There are clothes scattered all over the floor. The bed's a mess, with a few dogeared magazines and an empty pocky box sitting on the rumpled covers. A few posters hang on the walls. And at the far end of the room... Kyoko, seated with her back against the bed, enthusiastically playing a video game in between stuffing handfuls of potato chips into her mouth.
As soon as the door opens, she tilts her head back on the bed to glare at you. "H-hey, Sayaka! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?! Jeez!"
It takes you until evening to track down Nagisa—or Bebe, you remind yourself—and even longer to get her alone for long enough to talk strategy.
Your observations and decisions: Homura's not quite a witch yet, and you might be waiting for weeks. For now, it's best to just wait, keep her emotions as stable as possible, and make sure that everybody survives. You'll just have to blend in for now, and do your best to lead a normal, unsuspicious life.
Which means acting like Kyoko's roommate. She's your roommate now. You can feel Homura's barrier at the corners of your brain, whispering to you, trying to nudge you to fit into the world it's built. You are an ordinary magical girl. Kyoko Sakura is your roommate. You attend Mitakihara Middle School. You are happy here. It's... preeeeetty creepy, but you can ignore it easily enough. Apparently everybody who isn't currently tapped into a transcendental aspect of the multiverse isn't so lucky.
Like Kyoko. Barely twenty minutes after you return, she flops down on the couch next to you. "Hey, what gives?" she says, in that grumbling whine she likes so much. "Why'd you run off earlier?"
"Huh? Oh." You're talking to Kyoko. You're talking to Kyoko. After all this time, you are talking to Kyoko. This is what you came here for, right? You open your mouth, and a sentence dies on your lips. What the heck is there to even say? Hey, so don't think I'm crazy, but there's this other universe where magical girls turn into monsters sometimes, and you blew yourself up to save me, and I just wanted to say thanks? ... you realize you've been sitting there, stunned, for five seconds or so, and she's already staring at you like you're nuts. "Um, h-haha! Nothing much, I just wanted to visit Na—um, Bebe."
For a moment, you're afraid that she won't accept the half-lie, but she just rests her head back against the couch. "If you were going to Mami's place, you should've brought me something back."
"She's not your personal bakery, you know!" You don't even plan it. Maybe the barrier's whispers are getting to you. You just grab one of the throw pillows, then laugh as you swing it around to thud into her stomach.
"H-hey!" Kyoko swings a pillow back, smacking directly into your face, far more forcefully. The fight only ends when the two of you are standing in a drifting pile of pillow guts and there's nothing soft left in reach.
Still panting slightly from the sudden exertion, you grin. "Hey, you know. We should spar tonight."
Your pulse is pounding in your ears. There's a streak of blood, and probably a nasty bruise, on your leg where you didn't quite dodge an attack fast enough. The only place you could find enough privacy for your duel was an abandoned lot, and the moonlight is reflected up at you from a hundred water-filled potholes and shards of broken glass.
It's awesome. Being an incorporeal soul spread across all of space-time has its advantages, but being flesh-and-blood is much more your style. For the first time in some timeless eternity, for the first time since you fell to despair, it feels like you're you again.
Kyoko sweeps her spear at your legs, a low blow intended to trip you or knock you off balance, but you're prepared. You whirl backward, and your cape drops another ring of swords around you. Without even stopping, you fling them at Kyoko one by one, and she jerks her spear around to deflect them. She carries this momentum into a horizontal sweep toward you, and you block the shaft of her spear with your sword, sending sparks flying.
"That easy to block? You must be getting old." You're teasing, but she really is taking it easy on you. You've seen Kyoko giving her all and trying to kill you. This is much nicer.
Before she can answer, you spring backward, putting some space between you and her, then dash forward to give yourself a little buildup for a counter attack. You swing blow after blow toward Kyoko, relishing the feel of the sword in your hands, the ache of burning muscles, the sound of glass crunching beneath your feet. Kyoko bats each strike away, but staggers under this onslaught until her back is to the alley wall. Your final blow slams against the shaft of her spear, and only comes to a stop centimeters from her face. A clear win if you've ever seen one. You grin and try coming up with a quip for your victory, and then
—this same sword, driving down toward a much smaller Kyoko, weathering everything that you throw at her. You watch, helpless, as your body moves by itself—
The brief flash of memory makes the force drain from your muscles, and you take a step backward. You feel like you might throw up.
Kyoko eyes you, and with as much disinterested curiosity as she can muster, asks, "That cut isn't that bad, is it?"
"N-no, um! I'm..." You brush some sweaty hair out of your face. This isn't your Kyoko. She doesn't know, can't possibly understand, what happened between you and Kyoko. But... today's been the most fun you've had in ages. Maybe you don't need to make her understand, or say that you're sorry, or do anything except be with her right now. You've got the time, after all. No sense in wasting it. "I'm... just... throwing you off-guard for this!"
You swing your elbow up in a surprise attack, and she only barely manages to dodge it. Together with Kyoko, you spar on into the night, until the moon is high in the sky.