The bitter smell of coffee and sweet scents of sugar buns could be smelled in the noisy air as the workers of the small diner scurried between table to table. The place was not too crowded, but it provided a challenge for the diner's relatively-few workers that were at the peak of their stamina. Everyone in the place was laughing and smiling as they enjoyed their happy Sunday afternoon, with birds chirping happily on tree branches and kids playing on the sidewalks outside. The place's atmosphere was a bright as the sun. All except for one area.

In the dark corner of the diner, a place that the sun shone least on, sat a tall, slender woman with raven hair and amethyst eyes that glowed ominously on her hidden, shadowed face.

Each time a worker passed her, they felt a cold chill down their spine. Each time she moved, the air seemed to change. Wearing a pair of purple earrings and a strapless black dress, she took slow, long sips at her coffee with proper etiquette. Despite her age being around 26 years-old, her near-transparent alabaster skin bore no wrinkles on their surface, her hair was black as the night and her eyes held a cold gaze that directed to the door where another young woman appeared. A sly, devilish smile spread on her face.

Walking up to the dark corner in the bright, sun-lit room was a girl of similar age, wearing a set of simple jeans, shirt and a jacket that had red and blue stitches decorated onto it. The young girl wore a musical-styled hair-clip on her aqua hair and she had a small bag that she dumped on the floor the moment she took a seat. As she took an order, sunlight from the window beside her shone on her while her friend across the table stayed in the shadows like a vampire that feared even the slightest hint of sunlight.

With her order done, the blue-haired girl directed her attention to her friend, and spoke, even when she couldn't see her face, "It's been a while, Homura. You do know why I'm here, right?"

Akemi Homura settled down her cup on a saucer beneath her hand and coiled her fingers together. Her eyes stared into Sayaka, who ignored its cold feeling as she had known this girl ever since middle-school, "Of course, of course, Miki Sayaka. I had received your message not long ago," Homura mused, bearing a voice that had this tone of superiority and ego to it as her hand traced a circle around her coffee, "Dreams that seem to have a sort of importance, was it?"

"Yeah. They've been bugging me for a while now," Sayaka crossed her legs as her drink was placed in front of her. She gave a word of thanks to the waitress and continued, "I don't know what they're about, but it's like someone's trying to send me a message."

"Oh?" a brow was raised by the girl in the shadows, "A message, you say? What kind?"

Sayaka shrugged, but she still had an uneasy frown on her face. She rubbed the side of her head and looked out the window beside her, "Something... Something's been calling me, making me feel like I've been forgetting something after all these years," Sayaka muttered, as she did not see the slight suspicion on Homura's shadowed face.

"Perhaps it was just your subconscious reminding you of that boy. Kamijou, was it?" Homura sipped her coffee and licked her lips in satisfaction from its bitterness, "I'm sure that's just your problem. Oh, I wonder what Sakura would say about this?"

"No. No, it's not about Kyousuke," Sayaka shook her head in disagreement, a hand picking up a teaspoon to spin her tea lightly, "It's the kind of feeling you get when you forget something important. Like, a mission, or even a friend. Kyousuke has nothing to do about this, and the same goes for Kyoko."

Homura scowled, and Sayaka did not notice this either, "Hmph. A friend, you say? Everyone is here, are they not? Tomoe is happy with running that cheesecake shop with Momoe, you're living together with Sakura, who finally got a job, and Madoka- along with her brother - are perfectly fine. What could possibly make you feel empty, Miki Sayaka?"

Looking up, Sayaka saw Homura's eyes staring into hers like a set of knives ready to be hurled at a target. Purple gems that glowed like the jewelry she wore in the shadows she hid in, "That's precisely who I feel like is calling me: Madoka... At night, I hear her voice calling me in my dreams, and then... you-" Sayaka's glare hardened at her raven friend, "-I see you in my dreams, too. You... Sometimes I feel like you're hiding something underneath that smile."

No reply came from Homura, as a bunch of kids ran past the table. The two did not heed attention to them, as they continued to stare at each other with a menacing aura surrounding them. Sayaka's glare then softened, the blue-haired girl leaning her body on the table.

"Or maybe... I'm just crazy. God, I need to see a doctor..."

Homura's hand then came out of the shadows and cupped Sayaka's cheek, stroking it softly while a devilish smile came to Homura's face, showing of some of the sharp, gleaming incisors she had, "A doctor is something you don't need to see, Miki Sayaka. Perhaps... you just need... help," suddenly gripping her forehead roughly, Sayaka couldn't react as she felt energy coursing through her mind, body and soul.

Homura's smile did not waver, as she released her grip and left Sayaka blankly staring at the table. The raven-haired girl then finished the rest of her drink, not a drop having been wasted.

"Wha-? What was I...?" Sayaka shook her head, and she suddenly smiled as if she forgot about what they were talking about, "Oh, right, I gotta meet Kyouko at the shopping mall soon," she stood up from her chair and picked up her bag, acting completely different than when she came in, "See you later, Homura!"

After putting her drink for take-out, Homura was left all alone in the corner of the diner with a smug grin on her face. A glimmer of energy appeared at her fingertips as she, too, got up from her seat and strode to the cashier to pay for her meal. Her hair covered her face when one would look, even when she made her way to the door in a calm stride.

Outside the diner, Homura quickly took a turn into a dark alley, a finger brushing her cheeks as her features suddenly hardened, "No one must remember the omnipotent powers Kaname Madoka once had. She belongs to me, and I will not let anything harm the peace that I have made for everyone," looking down on the dirty, concrete floor, a brown puppy scavenged for any scrap of food it could find. When its eyes met with Homura's, it yelped in fear and bolted for the end of the alley in a panic, "No matter what happens, and no matter who stands in my way," she thought to herself, dramatically flicking her hair, "I will keep this world the way it is."

A/N: Practically a teaser for an upcoming story of mine and my take on Homura's character post-Rebellion. I am still divided on that movie's ending, but canon is canon.