Notes: This starts off about halfway through Homura's roughly 100 timeline resets. Not necessarily the exact same Homura, however.

Wreck-Creation for Fun and Profit

A Puella Magi Madoka Magica Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 1: History's Greatest

Timeline 51

Ignoring the agony coursing through her body, the haunting laughter of the witch's dancing familiars, and all other distractions, Kaname Madoka let her third arrow fly. It soared through the air, seemingly brushing aside any and all obstacles, and struck true, hitting the back of the throat in the laughing face of Walpurgisnacht.

The witch howled in pain, but only briefly. Her rotation increased rapidly as she closed in on Madoka, her familiars branching out to surround the weakening magical girl. With her next attack, it would all be over for them both.

It never got that far: Madoka's fourth and final arrow tore through the witch's massive gear, splitting it, and her, neatly in two. Her dying scream was quickly swallowed up by a colossal explosion that sent Madoka flying wildly through the air. Her focus shifted from surviving the witch to surviving the fall.

That was her final mistake.

The hand came out of nowhere, seizing Madoka's neck in an unbreakable grip, and clearly intending to usher her into death's embrace along with it. As she struggled in vain against the strangling hand, Madoka became aware of something brushing against her left ear, and recoiled when she found it was what remained of Walpurgisnacht's grinning mouth.

"My Madoka," the mouth practically purred.

Madoka's blood ran cold. She knew that voice, and it was drastically different from the one the witch had been laughing in the whole time. But she did not dare give voice to her fears until the mouth began shriek its new mantra in an increasingly high whine.

"MY MADOKA! MY MADOKA! MY MADOKA!"

"Kaa-san?" Madoka gasped in horror. "I-It can't be!"

As if responding to her daughter's need to escape such a horrid realization, Walpurgisnacht used the last of her strength to break Madoka's neck. "My Madoka," she cooed as the magic finally fled them both, allowing them to fall into darkness together.

Timeline 52

"I-I'm so sorry, kaa-san!" Madoka wailed as she fell through the air towards her greatest foe. Knowing there was no other way, she fired her arrow. "Forgive me!"

The arrow sailed true, and Madoka could not bear to look as it slammed into the top of the great gear and kept going, tearing through Walpurgisnacht from rotating top to laughing bottom.

Seemingly an instant later, Madoka was watching the death of the witch from a far safer distance. She turned to her companion, who was staring solemnly at the explosion. "Thanks for all your help, Homura-chan," Madoka murmured, her voice breaking.

Akemi Homura immediately swept her friend into a big hug. "It's going to be okay, Madoka," she told the whimpering girl. "I'll protect you, no matter what."

Madoka cringed as she felt something begin to change, deep inside of her. "G-Get away, Homura-chan!" she gasped, thinking only of her friend's safety.

"No! Not again!" Homura cried, clinging to her even tighter. "I won't let this happen to you again! Fight it, Madoka! You can do it! You just beat Walpurgisnacht! You can beat this, too!"

"No, Homura-chan," Madoka whispered. "It's because I beat her that I can't beat this. You know she was my-"

"Don't say it!" Homura begged, starting to sob as she noticed the black puddle forming around Madoka's feet. "You're making it worse! Just stop! Don't talk, don't think, just stop!"

"Yes," said a soft, sympathetic voice above them. "Stop, Homura-chan."

Homura screamed as an invisible force shoved her away from Madoka. "NOOO!" she yelled in horror as Madoka fell to her knees in the middle of the dark puddle, which continued to expand at a rapid rate. "Madoka, PLEASE!"

"You don't need to live through this again, Homura-chan," the same voice said.

Homura vanished in a flash of light, betrayed by her own magical power as she was sent tumbling into the next timeline.

Sighing, the intruder turned to Madoka, who was slowly but surely being corrupted. She was impressed: any other magical girl would have already been consumed, but this one was putting up a real fight. It made the intruder proud. "I knew you were the right one."

Madoka slowly raised her head, unable to hide her shock as another Madoka, dressed in a flowing, white dress, appeared before her. "How?" she gasped.

"No time," the new Madoka said. "And for what it's worth? I'm sorry." And with that, she floated back a few feet.

The corrupted Madoka knew at once what her pure twin was apologizing for. She wasn't going to lift a finger to help. But any surprise or disbelief she might have felt was lost as the true transformation began.

The uncorrupted Madoka merely watched calmly as history's new greatest witch was crowned. She was standing far too close, and had she been anyone else, she would have been consumed even before the transformation was completed. But this wasn't her first witch. It wasn't even her first Kriemhild Gretchen. Yet it was one of the more powerful ones, so she didn't stay in that spot for much longer. Instead, she flew up the length of the mountain-sized witch's new body, and grasped the extended, ever-searching hands.

"It's time to go, Kriem-chan," Madoka said warmly, and then, with a mere flex of her power, they were gone.

The newly-dubbed "Kriem-chan" was in a foul mood, and rightly so. She still had all of her enormous power, and could use it at any time, but there were some problems.

The tiny planet she was currently standing on had nothing for her to absorb. On top of that, the Madoka that had brought her there seemed either immune to her power, or simply so much stronger than her that there was no detectable damage done. Worst of all, Kriem had been given a new body. It looked a great deal like her human form, except that it was dressed in a sensibly cute black dress, with matching hair ribbons. Kriem hated it. And her new name. But it was clear that Madoka was in the position of power, for the moment.

"You're probably wondering why I brought you here," Madoka said.

For some reason, Kriem felt compelled to speak, although she was quite sure that it wasn't in her nature, or wouldn't have been in her witch body, at least. "Change me back."

Madoka frowned. "But why? You're so much cuter this way. We could be twins!"

"That's exactly why, idiot. I don't want a twin. Change me back."

"Is that how you ask a favor from a friend?"

"I wasn't asking, you owe me, and we are not friends!"

Madoka smirked triumphantly. "I owe you for letting you transform? So then you didn't want to be in that witch body, after all?"

"I... that was then! Give me back my body!"

"No," Madoka responded at once.

"Why not?!"

"I like you better this way."

"I HATE YOU!" Kriem shouted in frustration, barely resisting the urge to tear at her hair.

"Well, that's too bad. Because I love you, Kriem-chan."

Kriem was stunned by the simple, genuine honesty in that statement. "Why?"

"Because you're me. I've been where you've been. And like I said before, I am sorry that I let this happen to you. But aren't you curious as to why I did?"

"No," she lied.

Madoka frowned at her. "Okay, from now on, every time you lie to me, you get a hug."

"I... what?" Kriem asked in growing horror.

"I think you heard me. Now, let's try again: aren't you curious as to why I let you become a witch?"

Kriem hesitated. Madoka looked like she meant business, and a hug from her could prove deadly if she did. It just wasn't smart to fool around with cuteness at such a high level. "Yes?" she finally hazarded.

Madoka smiled approvingly, but it soon faded. "I need your power. There's a threat that impacts us both... has impacted us both. And I don't think it will end unless we work together."

"Why should I help you?" Kriem demanded. "You've been nothing but a pain so far!"

"Because this threat is why you had to kill your own mother. And why I had to let it happen."

Kriem fell silent at once, unable to suppress the chill that ran through her body.

Madoka leaned forward, gently brushing her knuckles against Kriem's cheek. "I'm sorry I had to bring that up. But you need to know that Walpurgisnacht wasn't always your mother. The Incubators made her that way, and we need to stop them."

"Why would you want to help me?"

"Partially because she's my mother, too. But mostly because it's my fault."

When Madoka had just been her son's imaginary friend, or some obscure mascot she couldn't quite place, Kaname Junko had been fine with it.

Then the whispers started.

"Wasn't Madoka your daughter's name?"

"How did you ever become so careless as to lose her?"

"Where has she gone?"

"How could you get her back?"

"Maybe, if you just had a little more power...?"

The thing was, the whispers didn't come from people. They came from little animals that only Junko could see, and the only way to make the animals shut up was to drink, heavily. Which Junko was already pretty good at, anyway. Though, in that state, it became easier to remember the hurtful whispers, but then it wasn't a state built for logical reasoning.

And one day, Junko realized that her drinking had driven away her husband, her son, her job, and everything else that had mattered to her. And still, Madoka didn't come back to her. But the little animals did. And this time, they had a plan to get Madoka back. All Junko had to do was make a wish, and be willing to see it through. But they warned her to think it over carefully. And she did.

Madoka wasn't just gone, she was hidden. Whether she was hiding, or someone had hidden her, Junko didn't know. But it would never be a problem.

"I wish for the power to always be able to find my Madoka."

The animals all agreed that was a very good wish, and to make things easier, they even brought some volunteers with them. Many of the volunteers were rather creepy or strangely-shaped, and some did not appear to be human at all. But when Junko told them her wish, they agreed to help at once and joined the search party. In fact, volunteers just seemed to flock to Junko's cause. She had no idea that there were so many... things that loved Madoka.

Occasionally, there were Bad Girls who tried to keep her from Madoka. Sometimes, they even held Madoka hostage right in front of her. But Junko and her volunteers would not be stopped, because they had to get Madoka back. And sometimes they did. Then they would throw a party, and start looking again the next day. If asked why, Junko could only say that she wasn't done searching. And Madoka did keep popping up, no matter how many times they got her back, and so long as that was true, Junko couldn't stop.

"None of this makes any sense," Kriem said, shaking her head. "My mother is too old to be a magical girl, isn't she? How could she even become a witch?"

"The Incubators found a way around that," Madoka replied grimly. "They're now of the opinion that adult women are better targets, because on average, they've lived long enough to experience at least one great tragedy. The Incubators draw out a woman's deepest pain and most desperate desire, and use it against her to create the foundation of an ultimate, fused witch: what they now call a mega-witch. This improved version of Walpurgisnacht was just the first."

"And you think we can stop them, why?"

"Do you really have to ask, Kriem-chan? There is only one person, magical girl or witch, that has ever managed to defeat or surpass Walpurgisnacht. And they're both right here. Each of us could easily defeat Walpurgisnacht on our own, as we are. But our true enemy this time is the Incubators themselves, and they made us what we are. There's no telling what else they're capable of."

"I still don't see why you need me, though."

Madoka sighed. "The very first time that a Kriemhild Gretchen was born, she more than filled their energy quota. The excess energy was siphoned off, condensed into a super-concentrated form, and preserved. They used that power to create the core of Walpurgisnacht, and it gives her the innate ability to hunt down any and every Madoka. We're destined to fight each other, and I'm willing to bear that burden. But as great as my power is, witches are the only foes I can defeat without fail."

"So you want me to take out the Incubators, while you handle any mega-witches they throw at us," Kriem guessed.

Madoka nodded. "There's more. They still have some of that super-concentrated energy. They're using it to make more mega-witches, and they've found a way to do it outside of my area of influence. The thing is, anywhere girls exist should definitely be under my influence. So either my power has built-in limits that I don't know about, or they found a loophole in my wish to exploit. Neither possibility is good for us. But I know how to stop that. I need someone who can see into the darkness that I can't, who can dwell in the shadows and strike foes that I don't know about."

"Look, I'm glad you think so highly of me, but I'm not you. I can't be everywhere."

"I thought of that, too." Madoka reached out and took Kriem's hand. "I'll give you a little of my power. It's not permanent, but it should make what I have in mind more than possible. I'm trusting you, Kriem-chan. They weren't ready for a magical girl like me, and they definitely weren't ready for a witch like you. Together, there's no stopping us."

Kriem shivered as she felt the soft, warm pressure of Madoka's lips against her hand. She had expected to feel disgust, but instead, she only felt a rush of power, unlike anything that she was used to. It was... nice, she decided. Though in a way that didn't make her want to puke.

"We should hurry," Madoka said. "The longer we wait, the more damage the Incubators can do."

"I haven't agreed to help you," Kriem pointed out.

Madoka smiled. "True. But you're going to. For our mother. For the sake of revenge. Just because you like to wreck things. And you may never get another chance to show the Incubators that we won't be controlled or manipulated by them any longer."

"Well, it would be a waste not to see what this new power can do..."

Continued in Chapter 2: Familiars and Friends

As the attack begins, Madoka is confronted by Kyubey, while Kriem decides that destruction is best when shared with friends.

Endnotes:

I may be the only one who feels this way, but I have always considered Junko to be... well, not a good mother. I'm sure she had to be at some point, but between the drinking and giving Madoka horrible advice, I have to wonder. Which is no reason to turn her into Walpurgisnacht, of course. Unfortunately, giving birth to one of the most powerful magical people ever is. And really, Incubators did it, so blame them.

If it isn't obvious, the main reason I gave Kriem a human-ish body is to make her more humane. Though maybe not exactly in the way you're thinking. Witches are not big on talking, at least, not in languages I'm fluent in (apparently Homura is partial to German?). Also, I just could not justify Kriem being stuck a hundred feet in the air with her arms raised all the time. So, human body. Trust me, it's more important later on. If you're having trouble picturing what she looks like, you have two options: either imagine Madoka in a black dress, or do a Google image search for "Kriemhild Gretchen" and click on the first result that looks human, though there should be several.

It is, of course, not realistic to expect Madoka to condone widespread slaughter. But when you consider that these are Incubators condoning far more widespread slaughter by comparison, not quite as bad.

I am admittedly fuzzy on exactly how Incubators can evade Madoka's power. But then, virtually all of Rebellion sounds like a giant fuzzball with occasional moments of clarity to me. What matters is, it apparently is possible to trick Madoka. I have a theory on it that I may work into the story later, we'll see.