Sayaka sat on the hard chair. She felt like nothing would ever warm her again. Beside her was Kyouko. It had been hard but she had eventually understood the gluttonous girl. Maybe in another time and place they could have been friends. Sadly, it would not be in this world.

Tears welled up in Sayaka's eyes. They began to fall.

"I was stupid… So stupid."

The tears never hit her dark Soul Gem.

"No, you were never stupid," a voice both familiar and foreign said.

The tear was suspended in mid-air. Kyouko was as still as a statue. In a burst of pink light a magical girl appeared in front of Sayaka. She did not recognize her at first. This magical girl seemed so serene, wise beyond her years almost.

"Ma-do-ka?" Sayaka fumbled with the syllables.

"You were never stupid, Sayaka," Madoka said. She was not touching the ground. It was almost as if Madoka was apart from the world around her, untouchable by the filth and dirt of this wretched city.

"You became a magical girl."

"Yes and no. I will soon, but I came back here to this time and place for you."

"Why?" Sayaka choked out the words.

"Because it isn't right. You helped someone you cared for deeply. You fought to protect the people and this city. You did it without wanting a reward; you tried to be the white knight that this world wouldn't allow. I won't… No, I can't let you become a monster."

"Madoka, I have to tell you something. I didn't mean it. Those things I said. I didn't mean them!"

"I know. I think I always knew."

Sayaka grabbed for Madoka's hand with the one that was not grasping her Soul Gem. She expected her hand to pass right through. It was almost a surprise when she felt the hand. The warmth spread from Madoka and into Sayaka's hand. It spread up her arm and into her heart. She felt cozy. Sayaka felt loved.

"We're still friends, right?"

"Always and forever." Madoka's eyes watered. "Sayaka, if you had a choice would you change things?"

"I don't understand."

"If you could choose not to contract and live your full life, would you?"

"Would Kamijou be able to play the violin?"

"No, I'm so sorry. If you don't contract his hand will-"

"No."

"Sayaka?"

"If Kamijou can't play the violin then his life is over. It means everything to him." Sayaka smiled through the tears that were still falling. "I just wish I could hear him play one last time."

Madoka wrapped her free arm around Sayaka, clinging tightly to her body even as she floated there. Both of their hearts were beating together. They may have been the hearts of fleshly hardware, but they were hearts nonetheless. Madoka pressed her lips to Sayaka's. Both of them were crying. Neither girl was sure which tears were her own and which belonged to the other girl. Maybe it did not matter. In this time and in this place they both had the same tears.

Sayaka felt happier, giddier. All that despair and self-hatred simply vanished from her heart. She could feel her old self return. She was Sayaka the tomboyish, romantic girl with the two best friends in the whole world.

"I feel better, Madoka. Thank you."

"That's good. You sound better too." Madoka was slowly taking the grief from Sayaka's Soul Gem. She could have done it faster but it was too soon for Sayaka to go just yet. Madoka needed more time with her.

"Madoka, I-I wanted to kill Hitomi over a boy! How? How could I want to do that to a friend?"

"It wasn't really you, Sayaka. You would never really wish for something bad to happen to any of your friends."

Sayaka turned her face away from the pink magical girl and looked at the red-head sitting next to them in eerie stillness. "Kyouko is a pretty lonely girl, isn't she?"

Madoka nodded. "Homura and Mami too."

"What's going to happen to them?"

"I don't know."

"And what's going to happen to you!?"

"I don't know."

Sayaka stared down at her Soul Gem, finally noticing what Madoka was doing. "Madoka! You can't!" In her gut Sayaka instinctively knew what was happening. It was the same sensation she felt when she used a Grief Seed, only that was faster.

"Shhh, it is going to be alright, Sayaka."

"But what is going to happen to you?"

"Don't worry. I promise it will be alright. I'm going to be gone soon."

"Where!? Where are you going? Madoka!"

"I don't know yet," Madoka smiled. "I still have many more magical girls to visit, but I wanted you to be first."

"Take me with you!"

"Sayaka?"

"I want to go with you."

"If you come with me then when this is all over you won't get to be with the others."

Sayaka kissed Madoka. She grabbed on tightly to the pink frills and she was not letting go. The two vanished together.

There was darkness around her. She could feel a thousand months inside her head. Sayaka remembered a girl with glasses. She remembered feeling alone as Madoka spent all her time with an upperclassman and a transfer student while Hitomi was dating the first person Sayaka ever had a crush on. She remembered timelines that Homura had looped through and timelines she hadn't. Sayaka even felt all the hers from completely separate realities piling up into her consciousness. Every single one of her was visited by Madoka and every single one of her had the same desire, had clung to her best friend… no… clung to the girl she loved.

She felt hands around her, hugging her from behind.

"Does it hurt Sayaka?" Madoka asked with concern in her big golden eyes.

"A little. What happened? I remember so many things and I don't know what is me and what isn't me anymore."

"They're all you, but each is a different you, another precious you."

"Is it just the two of us here?" The darkness around them was turning into light.

"For now, but soon the others will be here."

"You didn't bring Homura here?" Now that Sayaka had all these thoughts and memories she knew the truth almost as much as Madoka.

"No, she hasn't had a chance to live life, to make lots of happy memories and friends. I sent her back into time with Mami and Kyouko."

Sayaka placed her hands over Madoka's. She leant back against Madoka and smiled.