Stars

She counted the stars that separated their universe.


It was far too much for Homura to handle.

The bow in her hand dropped onto the grassy field and she fell on her knee before landing flat on her face. The last demon vanished, and so was the remaining energy within her.

Homura's tattered and torn magical costume was instantly changed back to her usual home clothes. She slowly pushed her face off the grass and rolled one time to let herself stare at the dark sky instead.

Tired was an understatement. She was beyond exhausted and dying. Her breath was slow and heavy, her legs were turning numb from running and jumping, her arms were aching from pulling the countless arrows and shooting... Basically her whole body was at the point of shutting itself down.

Her fingers twitched and Homura continued staring up at the dark sky.

There were tons and tones of stars that lit up the sky tonight. She never realize these millions of stars could fill up the sky she was staring at, like dots and dots of white paint splattered onto a black wall. It wasn't her hobby to look at stars and think about life, but she wondered why it wasn't when it made her so peaceful right now.

"One. Two. Three..."

She began mindlessly counting, muttering the numbers in order without a care if she overcount or overlook the stars. And without stopping, the numbers that escaped her mouth continued and continued.

"206, 207, 208..."

It was only until when her voice was beginning to turn hoarse then the first tear rolled down the side of her temple. The stars was endless, and Homura knew she could never finish counting even if she tried.

And what made it worse was that she knew the stars she was seeing now weren't the only stars in the universe. Billions, zillions... Those numbers are what separated Madoka and her. A universe and another. That's the distance she felt between her and the Madoka she loved for eternity.

Homura choked on her tears and she slowly curled into a ball.

"I don't want this."

She never wanted this.

Homura hoped those stars in the sky could send a signal, a message or whatever communication channel they used, to tell Madoka that she missed her so bad that she felt like dying everyday.

But they couldn't. All the stars could do was to watch Homura cry for the rest of the night.


Aloha, my fellows minions.