Kim: *reaches into the fire of eternal tarnation that is her 'oneshots written at 2AM' file and pulls out this little flip-flip-floop* Well I hope you guys like angst, because that's pretty much all I write. And without further ado, please enjoy this weird ol' fic I wrote in the wee hours of the dawn a couple months ago!
"Transfer student"
"Rival"
"Evil magi"
"Witch"
"That girl"
"Akemi Homura"
Their words held no warmth. Their calls for her held no welcome. It was torture.
"She just wants the grief seeds all to herself"
Homura remembered the days when they would address her with fondness. When they would never even think of speaking ill of her.
"Homura-chan~!"
When they said her names with loving happiness.
"Homura-chan! Come here!"
That time, when everything was less complicated.
"Let's go get ice-cream, Homura-chan!"
That once upon a time. That friendship that had died with them in that timeline, along with her happiness.
"Ne ne, do you want to borrow my new manga, Homura-chan?"
If she closed her eyes and reached with all her might, she could summon the memories. Her original timeline, where she, a nerd with an illness, had found meaning in her life. Where they were friends, an unbreakable squad, fighting witches and surviving tests, boys, and any ups and downs life threw their way.
"Oi! You! What did you just say to our Homura-chan?"
Oh, how happy she was. Beloved friend and happy teenage girl by day. Secret witch-hunting heroine by night. She should have known it was all too perfect to last.
"You mean we'll all be witches eventually? Kyuubey!"
Time-hopping. Trying. Failing. Time-hopping again in order to escape yet another failure. It was a cruel and never ending cycle. But she believed, she believed she could get it right. 'Next time' she'd tell herself, 'the next timeline will be the one'. But it never was.
"You can do it, Homura-chan!"
It was impossible. A small part of her knew that. The new side of her, hardened and tested by hardships and grief had accepted that Madoka was simply too perfect to simply let others take the risks when she could be saving lives. Even if it meant her imminent destruction. Because Madoka was everything Homura was not. Kind. Selfless. Intelligent. In every timeline, she would accept Kyuubey's deal in order to save someone. It didn't matter who - it was always somebody. Yet the innocent, nerdy, original Homura was still fighting, struggling desperately to save her best friend. Madoka had given her life meaning when nothing was worth living for. She could never repay the debt in full, but she could do everything in her power to prevent that gruesome end to the timeline, where everyone she has ever loved deid a horrible, agonizing death.
"I know you can"
But she would keep fighting.
"I believe in you"
She would.