It was that time again already. The most decisive point in any timeline, creeping up sooner than expected like it always had. Homura ran through her preparations in her head one last time as the sky darkened, her last chance at making sure everything had gone according to plan. A stock of varying handguns, the field of C-4, the arsenal of grenade launchers hidden in her shield. Madoka safely inside the bomb shelter with the rest of her family where she belonged.
The wind whipped her hair around her, but she stood silently and waited for it to reach its peak. Hurricanes weren't unheard of, and that's what had been announced. Just a simple hurricane warning. The tornadoes it would inevitably spawn weren't expected, but would be far deadlier than wind should be to a normal person.
Walpurgisnacht materialized in the distance, sky tearing open behind it like a zipper. Tornadoes hit the ground like lightning, some of the smallest shooting off on their own like missiles or whirling around it. Nobody but another magical girl could see them or the sharks at the opening of each.
It was the biggest challenge she had ever attempted in her life. Not only was she supposed to take out this mass collection of witches, it was guarded by razor-toothed sharks propelled by tornadoes. Between the fire, the debris, and the sharks large enough to eat her, it had taken her countless timelines just to learn how to get close.
But this time she was confident. Not only she'd been through this so many times that picking off the sharks took minimal effort, this plan was flawless. She had gone through it in her head in all her spare time, using all previous experience to know what she was in for. It always appeared out in the harbor, past her towards the inland. It never strayed far from the ocean – fallen sharks that landed in the water would survive to be picked up again by the wind – but could be encouraged to leave with some well-placed explosions.
That's exactly what happened the instant it crossed over the beach. She clicked a button on a detonator as it passed a dock for the fishing boats, blasting it all to pieces and shooting Walpurgisnacht further inland. At this point, she could no longer feel sorry for the people whose jobs would be affected; the buildings would have been destroyed either way, whether or not she set off the bombs, and they were going to survive. Fish prices would go up, but that was a small price to pay for escaping this repetitive hell.
She froze time as Walpurgisnacht came closer to where she was hiding, running out and dropping a field of stashed guns and firing each one in turn while everything was frozen. An RPG-7, an AT-4, an L16 mortar, everything she had gotten her hands on. Half of them aimed at Walpurgisnacht, and the rest were individually fired at the missile-like sharks that stood between them. When she took out a majority of them this early, dodging them was no longer a concern and she would survive with all limbs intact.
Time resumed, and each grenade launched at once, too quickly to track. Most of the sharks spiraled out of control and fell to the ground, some smashing into buildings or light poles before flopping uselessly on the pavement. Her main target was still airborne, laughing and smiling as she set fire to a cell phone tower.
There was short-fuse dynamite planted along the bottom of the tower, catching quickly as it burned and destroying the base. Walpurgisnacht was hit with the flaming structure but didn't seem to notice, floating freely away towards another building and tossing it to the side.
A shark flew towards her from the side, but Homura held her arm out and shot it repeatedly in the face with a Beretta until it hit the ground and skid to a stop at her feet. She could only wait for Walpurgisnacht to move into position, counting the seconds until she was there. Four, three, two, one….
The next building she picked up triggered the motion-activated explosives planted inside. Shrapnel and glass flew in every direction, taking out even more sharks. But despite the high-yield explosion to the face, it looked as if she might as well had thrown a handful of glitter at her. Walpurgisnacht continued laughing as she continued on, circling back in an attempt to return to the ocean. Her shark familiars were dropping like flies and had disappeared into dust after being left on dry land,
Along with the firearms and explosives, she had stocked gallons of gasoline tanks. She froze time again, opening one and running with it tipped over to spill it along the ground. Each one was opened and dumped on the ground, leaving gasoline puddles along a road. That finished, she struck a match and left it suspended in the air above it and left to move closer to one of the large tornadoes.
When time unfroze, the match fell into the pooled gasoline and lit it immediately. It created a long wall of fire, enough to deter Walpurgisnacht from crossing just long enough for her to be busy elsewhere.
The larger tornadoes were always a problem that prevented her from getting close to Walpurgisnacht. She threw herself directly into one, a Howa ready in her hands to shoot any of the sharks inside when they got too close. Dangerous live sharks became impossible to tell apart from their corpses, but it didn't matter when she was pulled to the center.
Again, she stopped time, freezing the tornado's momentum and dropping to the bottom. She laid a series of pipe bombs in the air on her way, running to a safe distance closer to Walpurgisnacht when she hit the ground. When time resumed, the tornado continued as it had, but several seconds later exploded, winds dissipating and sending pieces of shark flying in every direction.
Walpurgisnacht was between her and the remaining tornadoes, and they could be diffused in an emergency but she didn't have the time to waste to eliminate every single one. She stood on top of a building, finally catching the witch's attention. A large chunk of asphalt flew towards her, but Homura jumped and landed on top of it, kicking off to fly forward and land on top of one of the gears.
Getting on top of her was as far as she had ever made it before, but she didn't see this as testing out the next part of a plan to kill Walpurgisnacht. This was only enacting her plan. She had worked out the scenario so often both in her head and on paper that she only had to do it for real now.
For the last time necessary, she froze time and dropped several grenades into the skirt, where they would fall deep into the ruffles. Time wouldn't stand still for her forever. After dropping enough to split Mitakihara itself in two, she jumped down and ran as far as she could before the flow of time resumed.
It did so without warning. Color returned to the world, and there was an explosion behind her so large she could feel the heat on her back. She couldn't help but smile as she sprinted forward, boots clicking rapidly on the broken pavement. The city was a wreck and nobody would be able to explain the burn marks and rubble uncharacteristic of a hurricane, but that didn't even matter. Walpurgisnacht was over.
Something large struck her from behind and she stumbled, sliding to a stop and turning around as soon as she could. It was the side of a building, glass windows shattered and leaving several shards sticking out of her leg when they broke. Walpurgisnacht was still in the distance, looking as carefree as always.
Everything went according to plan, it was perfect, but nothing was accomplished. The city was destroyed, Walpurgisnacht was still here, and she was lying on the ground waiting for her leg to heal before she could walk properly to get away.
She grabbed an empty window frame and used it to pull herself up, wincing and clenching her teeth as she pulled out some of the larger pieces, some of which were embedded in the bone. This timeline was a failure, she would have to come up with something else in the next one. There were still approximately five minutes, according to her estimate, until she would reach the same point that she made her contract and be able to reset and try again.
"Homura-chaaan!" She pressed her hand to her forehead and rubbed it. All she had to do was stay alive five more minutes, and she was already hearing voices. Madoka was hiding in the bomb shelter with the rest of the city. She was nearly a mile away where it was safe.
Homura jumped when she felt something else against her back, expecting another building. It was too soft for that, and reached around for a gentle hug. "Madoka?"
"It's okay, you don't have to fight anymore." She stuck out even more than Walpurgisnacht did, clean and brightly colored in the middle of the dull wreckage.
"What are you doing here!" It didn't take long to realize that she was out of place, and pushed her off to turn and look at her. As happy as she was to see her alive, she didn't want to see her. She wanted her out of the way so that she could see her afterwards. "You're supposed to be with your family in the bomb shelter!"
Madoka held a finger to her lips to quiet her. "I can't leave you here like this. I…I've decided on my wish." She looked down to Kyubey, who was standing at her feet.
"You can't!" She reached out to pull her into a hug this time, squeezing her tightly so she couldn't go. "You have to go back where it's safe, you can't make a contract. Don't do it, please just don't do it."
Madoka let her rant at her, and when she quieted down, started to take a step back. In spite of her tight hold, Homura let her go. "I'm sorry, but I have to. Even if you turn it back again afterwards, I have to help you. I don't want to see you die."
"Don't do it…." She took a large gulp and forced back tears. This timeline was lost already, but Madoka was still being so selfless to help her finish it so that she would survive to the end.
Ignoring her, Madoka turned to Kyubey and took a deep breath. "Madoka wait!" Homura shouted as she pulled out the Beretta from her shield. They were still in the middle of Walpurgisnacht, and a familiar was headed directly for her.
She fired off several rounds at the shark, but she didn't manage to hit it. Madoka was standing between her and the shark, and the bullets flew past them uselessly. She grabbed the shield on her arm and rotated it, but nothing happened. The world continued as it had before, and shark slammed into Madoka mouth first.
"No!" This timeline had officially ended, just seconds too soon. With it coming full circle to the time of the original contract, she couldn't stop the shark from opening its jaws and taking Madoka with it.
She shot at it as it came for her, directly in its face between its empty eyes. No different alive than dead, just the same hollow expression whether it was flying, killed, or eating her friend. Madoka hung out of its mouth from the torso up, coughing up what looked like gallons of blood when she hit the ground.
"You shouldn't have- why did you come here!" Homura knelt at her side and slammed her fist into the pavement, taking Madoka's hand that wasn't lodged between teeth.
"I…." Madoka paused to cough again, spitting out even more blood as she did. "You said you can reset time, right?"
"I didn't want you to die!" That was such a stupid reason for getting herself killed. She should have stayed far away.
"Don't be sad, just do it right next time." She forced a pained smile and reached up to wipe away tears on Homura's cheek. "I'll be there next time."
"I don't want to see you die again." Her voice broke and she hunched over, gritting her teeth together to keep her jaw from shaking. This always happened in every recent attempt. She always died. And every time she had to watch her die.
Madoka didn't respond this time, head falling to the side and hand falling limp. Kyubey walked next to her and sat down for a closer look. "That's a shame, she would have made a great magical girl."
She didn't have the time or patience to deal with him. All she could do was steady her shaking hands on the edge of the shield, gripping it tightly to rotate it fully and restart. Things would go better in the next timeline, they had to.