Homura rained down a barrage of bullets onto an enemy she had never faced before. She, along with Mami Tomoe, Kyoko Sakura and Yuma Chitose, they fought inside a Witch Barrier against a Mahou Shoujo by the name of Oriko Mikuni.

Kyoko, Mami and Yuma were doing battle against the Witch, while Homura was dealing with Oriko, alone.

"How many more timelines will you go through Homura Akemi?" Oriko asked as she continued to dodge Homura's attacks.

The time traveller refused to answer and continued her assault. She ran out of ammunition in her sub-machine gun and switched to a pump action shotgun. Oriko gave out a small sigh.

"So foolish."

Oriko evaded the bullets with relative ease. Kirika had turned herself into a Witch, and that gave Oriko the power to dodge high speed bullets.

The white haired girl immediately appeared behind Homura and fired a single magical sphere at her. Homura was too slow to react and ended up being blasted to the other side of the room.

She's...too fast...I can't afforded to screw around...

Getting up, Homura readied her shield and froze time with it. Everything stayed exactly where it was...except for Homura, and Oriko. Homura widened her eyes at the sight. Before she knew it, Oriko was right in front of her.

The brunette dodged a punch from Oriko just in time but was quickly struck by her knee in the stomach. The force sent Homura flying into a nearby pillar. Her head crashed against it and she felt like her skull had cracked in multiple places.

Homura lifted her head to see Oriko. The white haired girl stood there, completely unaffected by her power to freeze time.

"How..."

"It is because we both have some control over time." Oriko said abruptly, anticipating Homura's question. "I have time magic, like you, therefor making me immune to your ability to pause time."

The time traveler gritted her teeth. She needed to find a way to kill Oriko, and fast. Homura pulled out a silver Desert Eagle and fired a few rounds. Oriko dodged the attack by jumping to the left and fired an explosive sphere at Homura. The brunette quickly shot a bullet into the sphere, causing it to explode and fill the area with smoke and dust.

Homura took the opportunity to remove an RPG from her shield and fired it in the direction she last saw Oriko. She might be able to dodge the missile itself, but the shock wave from the explosion was bound to get her.

Homura heard the missile explode. She pulled out an assault rifle and was prepared to fired if she survived. When the smoke cleared, Oriko could be seen, standing there, unharmed.

Damnit. She survived.

The white haired girl had placed a barrier of white magic to protect herself from the blast. Homura let loose a storm of bulled from her weapon, but Oriko's protection deflected each round like it was nothing.

"Someone like you cannot defeat me. Homura Akemi, It is time that I end your journey for you."

Oriko charged a sphere of magic once more in her palm and fired. Homura eyes widened and she instinctively raised her shield and began to freeze time. Oriko herself may be immune to the power but her attacks weren't, at least Homura hoped that was the case.

However she was too slow, and the attack struck her shield in the middle of it's time freezing process.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion to Homura. The battle between the other Mahou Shoujo against the Witch seemed to go by ever so slowly.

What's going on? I feel...strange.

Oriko was having the same sensation. Everything moved slowly, and something felt weird within her. The two girls had no idea how much time passed but soon time went by in its normal speed, but the moment it did so, a lightning bolt flew down and struck the middle of the battlefield.

Something appeared in the location where it hit. It was blue, circular, and swirling...like a portal. What ever it was, it began to suck everything in, like a tornado would.

The effects felt were immediate, Homura and Oriko were being pulled in, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Kyoko, Mami and Yuma weren't as affected due to being much further away.

Homura tried to cling onto the ground, but it was hopeless. The portal ended up consuming both Homura and Oriko.

The portal closed the moment the two Mahou Shoujo entered it, and an eerie silence enveloped the disintegrating Witch Labyrinth. The Witch had been defeated, but Homura and Oriko were nowhere to be seen.

Mami looked around, but saw no sign of the two girls.

"What...just happened?"

Unknown Location

Homura tried to open her eyelids and was met by the bright rays of a sun. She winced a bit, and tried sitting up only to realise she was not inside the Witch Labyrinth anymore.

"What the...where am I?"

Homura had been lying on dirt, and there was tall grass behind her. In from of her however was the sea. Was she at a beach? Regardless, she placed a hand on her forehead and tried to focus her mind.

"What...happened?"

Her memories were a blur for a couple of moments before they finally cleared up. She sat up with a jolt.

"Madoka?! Where's Madoka?!"

Homura stood up and tried to see over the tall grass but saw little else. She turned around but couldn't find anything on the beach.

Where am I? Did Oriko do this? Was I transported away from Mitakihara?

Homura had no idea where she was or how she was even supposed to get back. Panic seized her heart for a moment. What if she wasn't able to go back? How long had she been out? Was Madoka already dead? Was Walpurgisnacht at Mitakihara?

Homura's breathing grew heavy before she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself with rational thoughts. Even if it wasn't possible for her to return...she could always reset the timeline. It would send her straight back to her hospital bed, and everything would be fine. Oriko Mikuni would no longer be a threat.

After calming herself down, she took a deep breath and turned the buckler on her shield. She would reset everything, and try again.

Nothing happened.

Homura was perplexed by this. Why wasn't she going back in time like it could always do? Was her magic at its limit?

She attempted to turn back again. Still nothing. What was going on? This never happened. Homura was slowly beginning to panic more and more because of this. She tried to freeze time. Same thing. No effect. She reached her hand into the the shield and pulled out a shotgun. Homura felt slight relief. She still had her weapons.

She watched her shield as she tried to rewind time once more.

"Why? Why won't you work?" Homura's frustration was leaking into her voice. If couldn't rewind time anymore, then her journey was a good as over. She would have no more retries...only one shot left.

After a frustrated sigh, she attempted to freeze time again. That still had no effect. It seemed like all of her powers related to the manipulation of time were gone.

"Damnit, why is this happening?"

Just then, Homura heard the sound of the tall grass being moved behind her. She assumed it was some sort of animal. That is until she saw who came out of the tall grass.

It was Oriko Mikuni. She seemed uninjured for the most part. Just some dirt on her outfit.

Homura was the first to speak. "You...did you do this?" Her accusation was laced with frustration.

Oriko calmly shook her head. "No, this was not my doing."

The white haired girl inspected Homura's physical state. Oriko eventually laid her eyes on Homura's time shield.

"Have you tried turning back time?" Oriko asked.

Homura was hesitant to answer at first, wondering why Oriko chose to ask that particular question.

"Why? Do you need to know?"

Oriko sighed lightly. Homura's answer more of less confirmed her suspicions.

"You can't, can you? I'm also willing to bet you can't even freeze time."

Homura's eyes widened at what she heard. She took a step back and whipped out a black pistol, aiming the gun straight at Oriko.

Oriko however, remained unfazed. "I see...judging by your reaction I would say I'm correct."

"How...how did you know?" Homura asked vehemently. She gritted her teeth a little as she spoke.

Oriko's eyes closed for a moment before reopening them. "Because I have lost all my time powers too. I can no longer see what the future holds."

The two girls stood exactly where they were in silence for a couple of moments. Homura's aim was unwavering as she mentally debated on what to do next. She clearly wasn't anywhere near Mitakihara anymore. She knew she needed to return as fast as possible...so that means she would have to deal with Oriko first. If she could kill Oriko here, Madoka would be safe from one threat at least.

"I see...then I'll have an easier time killing you."

Homura fired the gun but Oriko had already placed a barrier of protective magic around herself to deflect the shot. Homura continued to shoot at the barrier until she heard a familiar clicking sound that would indicate she was out of ammunition. Tossing the gun aside, Homura pulled out a .50 calibre sniper rifle. A much more powerful weapon.

Oriko immediately dodged the next shot, wanting to conserve as much magic as possible. There wasn't a Witch anywhere near them, so she had to be careful with how she used her attacks. She ran across the sand near the water as Homura kept shooting. Eventually that gun ran out of ammo as well and Oriko took that opportunity to fire a magical sphere at Homura.

The brunette tossed away her weapon and jumped out of the way of the attack. Oriko fired a few more but Homura dodged each one.

Oriko realised that this tactic wasn't going to work. She would have to use a more...traditional way to kill Homura. She shot a single bolt of magic into the sand, letting it explode into a cloud of dust.

The dark haired girl equipped herself a single M4 rifle. Homura pulled the trigger and let the black rifle open fire into the smoke. She didn't notice a sphere of magic heading towards her from her right until the last second.

Homura had no time to react and was blasted away from the attack. Her body flew through the air as she lost her weapon and landed in the shallow water face first. She received a mouth full of sand and began coughing it up. She wasn't going to die here. Homura was determined not to lose. Not until Madoka's safety was assured.

The moment she got up and turned around she felt a pair of hands ring themselves around her neck and was pushed back down onto wet sand.

Oriko was attempting to strangle Homura and force her into a unconscious state, so that Oriko could destroy the Soul Gem without issue.

Homura brought out a black pistol and tried to aim at Oriko. The white haired girl grabbed the Homura's wrist and prevented the gun from having an accurate shot at Oriko. Homura's finger accidentally pulled the trigger and let out a couple of shots into the air.

The dark haired girl used all her strength and rolled Oriko over so she ended up on top. Before Homura could shoot Oriko, she forced Homura to pull the trigger again and fired the rest of its bullets into the sand.

Homura raised her fist and punched Oriko straight in the face. Oriko responded in kind. She kneed Homura in the stomach A few minutes passed, but the two girls stood their ground and neither was willing give up.

Oriko was panting heavily as was Homura. The white haired girl wiped some blood that was bleeding from her lip.

"You're resilient, I'll give you that much."

Homura said nothing. She was still trying to think of a tactic to win. She couldn't afforded to use too ammunition she might need.

For the time being, the two had reached a stalemate.

Before either of them could make another move, an odd sound reached their ears. It sounded almost like a faint screeching of an animal. A sound that grew louder and louder. Eventually the two could hear the sound of flapping wings as well. Homura and Oriko lifted their heads and saw a dark figure in the sky. It was a massive bird or sorts, and it was headed towards them.

Homura and Oriko jumped back as far as they could as a gigantic bird-like creature landed between them. The creature didn't look like a bird Homura or Oriko could recognise. The neck connecting the head and body was longer than they had ever seen. The feathers were black, or at least a very dark blue. It's eyes were a bright purple and its break held rows of sharp teeth within it.

Homura could only stare at it for a few seconds.

Is...is that a Witch?

The creature turned its head towards Oriko and stared into her eyes. Oriko herself did not falter and stared back with the same intensity, though her legs were ready to start sprinting at any giving moment.

Oriko considered the possibility that the creature was a Witch but...she couldn't detect any magical energy emanating from it. It seemed like the giant bird was flesh and blood just like her.

The creature let out a near ear piercing screech and lunged its head towards Oriko. She leaped backwards and let the head bury itself into the sand before it immediately pulled itself out.

Homura took this opportunity to start running and hopefully find her way back to Mitakihara. She didn't take ten steps back before flames flew over her head and created a wall of fire in front of her.

"What!?"

Homura swung around and found that it was the creature that fired those flames. It was able to shoot fire from its mouth. As if the monster needed to be even more terrifying.

Oriko tried to jump away but was beaten down by the creature's giant wings. It seemed like it was intent on not letting the two get away. The only choice left was to fight it.

The bird lunged at her but Oriko still had enough strength to leap out of the way. The white haired girl landed near the brunette and the two suppressed the urge to continue their battle once more.

Oriko gritted her teeth. "As much as I hate to ask this...but could you provide me some assistance here?"

The first thought that Homura had was to say no. The answer that would help ensure Madoka's safety was no. However, it wasn't likely for Homura to escape this creature since she had lost her time powers. Homura readied an assault rifle and spoke with obvious annoyance.

"...fine. I'll help you."

Oriko was internally relived that Homura saw reason. She doubted she could take this thing on without using up all her magic.

"But don't think I'm doing this for you."

"Of course you wouldn't."

Homura began firing bullets into the creature, but its skin was quite resilient and the bullets didn't end up doing much.

Oriko summoned two magical spheres and launched them at the head. The attacks exploded on impact. After the smoke cloud dissipated it revealed that the attacks had done no visible damage.

Oriko narrowed her eyes in frustration as the creature opened its mouth let loose a torrent of flames.

Homura and Oriko shielded themselves individually with magic barriers as the fire surrounded them with intense heat. Eventually the flames ran out for the time being and Homura and could lower their protective magic.

Homura reloaded her weapon. A part of her still not believing she was working with Oriko, even if it was only temporarily. "It looks like we won't be able to hurt it like this."

Oriko tried to take a good look at all parts of the body. "It must have some sort of weak point."

"Then we'll find it."

Homura ran around the monster and opened fire on the head. Oriko fired an attack on the legs but it didn't do much. Any sort of attack on the outside of the body did next to nothing. Homura got frustrated and used an RPG and fired on its head. The rocket created a massive explosion and the creature let out a loud screech of pain. Oriko saw an opportunity as it opened its mouth. She lunged upward and let loose a few spheres and let them bounce into its mouth and down its throat. Oriko snapped her fingers and allowed the spheres to explode within.

The beast immediately froze up before loosing all strength and falls over onto the sand. It let out a dying groan from its mouth as it lay there.

Homura walked over to the giant bird head with Oriko behind her. The white haired girl watched one of the eyes as it barely managed to stay open. It truly wasn't a Witch.

"Homura Akemi...do you know what this is?"

Homura shook her head as she raised a silver pistol a aimed its barrel right at one of the eyes. "No...I do not."

The sound of several bullets being shot rang through the air. The creature died right there. All signs of breathing from the creature had stopped.

Oriko watched the corpse of the beast carefully. She started to think about the entire situation. One moment she was fighting Homura Akemi within a barrier at Mitakihara Middle School, and next she found herself near a beach, all her time powers lost, fighting Homura again, and only to end up working with her to fight against a beast she had never seen before.

Oriko started to doubt whether of not age was even I'm Japan anymore. This wasn't good. She didn't think she could afford to waste time fighting Homura. Her eyes darted towards the sun across the sea, it was setting. Night would come soon.

No choice then...

"Homura Akemi...I have a proposition for you."

This got Homura's attention. She turned to face Oriko while begrudgingly resisting the urge to restart their battle.

"What would this be?"

"Look around yourself Homura Akemi. Do you have any idea where we are? I do not, in fact a part of me thinks we are not even in Japan anymore."

"Your point?"

"More creatures like the one we just faced could be out there. So I propose that we continue this truce until we can find out way back to Mitakihara. It would be much safer for both of us that way."

Homura stared into Oriko's eyes. She mulled over what Oriko just told her. Should she agree? What were the risks? Homura had no idea where she was but if she teamed up with Oriko, then she could survive for longer. However this could just be Oriko attempting to lower Homura's guard so she may kill the brunette at any given opportunity, but If what Oriko said was true, and that there more monsters out there, an ally would be very valuable in battle.

"...very...well." Homura spoke in a tone that made Oriko sure to know that she wasn't pleased with the situation."

Oriko relaxed her composure a little. She was worried that Homura might refuse. Oriko wasn't exactly happy about teaming up with Homura, but she knew when she need help and was willing to use whatever needed to survive. Even if that was someone she had sworn to kill.

"The sun is setting." Oriko stated. "We should gather anything we can to create a fire."

Homura reluctantly nodded and took one more look the dead beast before trying to gather any sticks she could near the tall grass. Obviously setting up a fire near the grass was a bad idea so they piled their sticks a ways away from the corpse of the bird like monster.

"Do you have something to light this?" Oriko asked as she threw the last of the sticks onto their pile.

Homura reached into her shield and eventually found a few boxes of matches to use. After a few tries, the pile of sticks was set a light, and the two girls tried to warm themselves as the air grew colder.

Silence fell between them. They were willing to work with the other to return to Mitakihara, but Homura and Oriko weren't going to talk with the other, if they could help it.

Homura watched the waters as her thoughts went to those at Mitakihara. Was Madoka alright? Did Sayaka die? In this irregular timeline, Sayaka wasn't a Mahou Shoujo, so she wouldn't haven't anything to protect herself from the familiars of the labyrinth.

If Sayaka did die...then that would've been a shame to Homura. This irregular timeline was a rare occasion where she and Sayaka actually became friends. It reminded Homura of her early timelines, where the two would hang out with Madoka and not worry about anything other than what was happening in the moment.

She breathed a small sigh. Homura's mind switched topics and tried to figure out what it was that brought her here.

From what Homura could remember, she was sucked into a portable of some kind before passing out. What caused it? Homura wasn't sure. She didn't know if it was an accidental occurrence, or if what happened was done on purpose by someone or something else.

Homura looked down at herself, and realised that she was still in her Mahou Shoujo outfit. Before she could dismiss the costume, her eyes glanced at the shield on her arm.

Since she was stuck in the middle if nowhere, it would probably be a good idea to preform an inventory check on what equipment she had left.

Oriko's eyes moved away from the fire she had been staring at and saw Homura placing various guns and weapons across the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking what we have. We don't know how long it will take to get back to Mitakihara, so I should see what supplies we have, and what we need to conserve."

"It won't matter much if we can't cleanse our Soul Gems."

Homura paused for a moment, taking what Oriko said into account. It is true that any sort of preparation wouldn't matter if their Soul Gems corrupted.

She searched through her shield and pulled out a black box. The box had an emergency stash of Grief Seeds stored within. Homura tossed two over to Oriko.

The white haired girl silently accepted the seeds and began to clean her Soul Gem with them. Homura did the same until both gems shined brightly.

Homura found a couple old weapons she had completely forgotten about within her shield. Kyoko's spear, Sayaka's sword and her own katana. They were given to her a long time ago as gifts of a sort.

Sayaka had taught Homura how to use a sword in a timeline where she was an expert with the blade. Kyoko had also taught Homura how to use a spear, but the brunette found that to be more difficult to use than a sword. Her eyes darted to Oriko for a second. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.

"...Mikuni-san." Homura called out, gaining Oriko's attention. "Can you wield a sword in battle?"

Oriko waited for a few seconds before answering. "I have some experience."

Homura didn't need to hear any more and threw the sheathed katana in Oriko's direction. The girl caught it, and unsheathed the weapon to take a look at the blade itself. She narrowed her eyed and stood up, welding the sword in her right hand. She swung it a few times in the air.

"It will suffice."

Oriko needed a weapon that didn't consume her magic, so a weapon like this was fine for her.

Homura had many weapons, but they were not limitless. They should only be used in times when they were truly needed. As such, Homura decided on using Sayaka's weapon as a replacement.

The brunette finished her inventory check. Homura believed she had enough supplies to last the two of them a few weeks, maybe a month or two at best.

She gave Oriko a packet of food rations that military soldiers would eat on the battlefield. Homura had stolen them out of sheer curiosity, but she never expected then to actually be used ever.

The two ate in relative silence. There was nothing that needed to be talked about between them. Only the sounds of a fire crackling could be heard other the sounds of chewing.

When the two finished their meal, they felt sleepy and a topic of discussion came up.

"Akemi-san, I propose that one of us stays awake through half the night, and other stays awake throughout the rest."

Homura raised an eyebrow at the request, but eventually understood the reasoning behind it. Should such beast like the one they faced were to attack them in the night...well, they needed to be ready. Still, even so, Homura hesitated. While she did agree to the truce, she wasn't completely fine with Oriko watching over her. She could even...

"You think I will kill you while you sleep. That's what you're thinking isn't it?"

Homura looked away and didn't respond.

Oriko sighed. "Very well, then I shall be the first to sleep, how does that sound?"

She was fairly confident in the fact that Homura wouldn't use this chance to attack. They needed to reach Mitakihara, and working together would give the best possible chance for that outcome.

"Fine."

Oriko smiled and took a look at the sky, however when she did, she saw something unexpected.

"Akemi-san...look up."

"Huh?"

Homura did so and saw something that caused her to gasp.

There were two silver moons in the sky. Both of them were full. The sight gave the two girls the same conclusion. They weren't just away from Mitakihara. They were no longer in their own world anymore.

Authors Note: Congratulations for clicking on this story. :) I've had this idea stuck in my head for a very long time. I started shipping Homura and Oriko for shits and giggles but then I actually ended shipping them seriously. I think they're an interesting pairing. Anyway please review to give me your thoughts.