Authors Note: This was a quickly written spur-of-the-moment One-Shot so it's probably not that great.


The stories always went the same way; a princess was locked up in a tower, hidden in a dense forest away from the rest of the world. The path to her guarded by ferocious dragons, powerful wizards and other treacherous traps, and only the bravest and strongest of knights are able to find her. Waiting for her knight and prince to come to save her. They would share a passionate kiss, he would bring her home atop a beautiful steed and they would live together.

Happily, ever, after.

"The books never tell you how much of a pain it is trying to get 'happily ever after'," Sayaka grumbled in annoyance, cutting away yet another wall of vines and thorns blocking her path.

Her fiery red mare let out an annoyed neigh, probably telling her to hurry up so they could get going before it got dark. The horse was far to much like the stable master for Sayaka's liking, but Kyouko had promised her that this was the best horse out of them all.

But, it would be best if they could get to the tower before it got dark. Sayaka wasn't really looking forward to spending another night out in this creepy forest. Mami had warned her that there were some pretty dangerous creatures lurking about here. Thankfully however, Sayaka hadn't encountered a single one the past three days she'd been in here.

"Three days is still a bit much, I should have come across it already," Sayaka mused, getting back on the horse once the thorns were out of the way and moving forward. The Knight then quickly shook her head, no don't think about it, just ride and try to cover as much distance as she could.

One might wonder why she was doing this, and that was a long story in itself. Many years ago, when the woman was just a child and the daughter of a knight herself, she had two friends, one was a princess. She grew up playing with them every day. As they grew up and her desire to be a knight was known, they had told her to follow her dream. The princess had even arranged for her to become a squire when Sayaka turned thirteen.

She had been...well she had been Sayaka's first love, and first love that was requited. She had been Sayaka's only love. Sure, there had been rumors of her having a crush on a young bard in training, Kyosuke, but they were just rumors. The princess was the only one Sayaka wanted.

However, when Sayaka had turned thirteen, the princess had gone missing.

Madoka and Sayaka had comforted themselves as day after day, month after month had passed and the princess was never returned. Sayaka, being just a young girl, could do nothing to try and help the search, only thing she could do was train under a knight, do as she was told for years until she herself was knighted.

That had been a year ago, and ever since, Sayaka had been following leads for the princess. Only this time, she had learned exactly where she was from a strange creature named Kyubey whom she had met while traveling.

So here she was, in a dark forest with night approaching.

Sayaka could have swore that she could hear giggling from the shadows. Something was following her and watching her, that much was certain. But so long as whatever it was didn't come out they'd have no problem.

Several more hours passed by and Sayaka was starting to get tired at this point. The only source of light she was getting was the moon from above, it's light sneaking in between the trees canopy above. However, Sayaka felt her energy spike a bit when she noticed something off about the path now.

"...Tomato's...?" she asked, leaning over the horse a bit to get a better look. Yes, it was tomatoes. A long row of them on either side of the path almost as though they were guiding her. Sayaka actually laughed at that notion, "But seriously, why tomatos? What kind of weirdo plants tomatos like this all the way in the forest?...Wait, does this mean I'm close?"

The realization had her spurring the horse to go faster, from a trot into a gallop. Sure enough she had been right, a tall dark tower was now visible as she broke through the trees and into a clearing. There were vines all around it, with, you guess it, tomatoes on them.

The giggling was now closer then ever, and Sayaka felt a tug on the metal boot she wore. Jumping in surprise, she looked down to see a child with an unnaturally wide smile looking up at her. No, it wasn't a normal child...was it one of the creatures Mami had warned against?

It just giggled, and another appeared, speaking to each other in a language Sayaka couldn't understand before running to the tower only to pause and look at her expectantly.

Oh, they wanted her to follow.

Were they trying to help? She was going to trust that they were and slid off the horse to follow. When she got near, the taller of the two children grabbed her hand and led her in through a door. It was dark inside, the only source of light were the few candles along the wall. Sayaka could spy a few more of these doll like children playing inside, some watching her as well.

"Are you taking me to her?" Sayaka asked as they went up the stairs not made for someone of Sayaka's size. She had to crouch down to go up them.

The two looked at each other, giggled and just tugged her forward some more. Sayaka was going to assume that it meant yes, they were going to take her to the princess. At least she hoped that was what that giggle meant.

The stairs were long, which was to be expected if they were going to the very top of the tower. Soon, the children let go of Sayaka's hands and she was left facing a wooden door. Hesitantly, she pushed it open, not sure if she was going to find the princess or find death on the other side.

Her worry was put to a rest, it seemed like a bedroom, a normal human bedroom. Though there was a black coffin like fixture in the middle of the room, long thorn covered vines wrapped around 'head' portion of the bed, with purple and blue roses on it. Sayaka felt her heart pick up in speed as she approached it, she could see three of the children hiding not so well behind it, not that she cared when she saw who was in it.

Pale skin, long black silk like hair, and a long black dress. She even had the same red ribbon Madoka had given her as a kid, the ribbon that got Sayaka so jealous when they were younger thinking she preferred Madoka over herself.

"I found you," Sayaka said, smiling despite herself as brushed a hand against her cheek, "I finally found you." She wanted to cry she was so happy.

"So you have," Homura responded, opening an eye to look at her with a bored expression. Sayaka hadn't expected her to be awake, but the princess just sighed, grabbing onto Sayaka by the shirt and pulling her into the coffin atop of herself, "You took your sweet time by the way."

"But I'm here now," Sayaka answered, smile returning.

Homura sighed once again, "Yes you are," she said and looked up at the blue haired knight, "So are you just going to stay there, or are you going to finally kiss me like you're supposed to?"

Her question was answered with lips meeting her own, and Sayaka let out a content noise, she'd finally found her princess, and she wasn't letting go of her ever again.