Sayaka loses her first fight as a witch, and she is delirious with pain. Collapsing was one swift motion, and she is on the floor. Pain is searing through her all at once, white hot and fiercely debilitating. She has never experienced pain on this level, not even during gym class: it takes her breath away, quite literally. Sayaka is petrified at the knowledge that she could die with her last memories of pain, numbing her to the possibility of survival.
She has lived a short life, and yet, it still flashes before her eyes. All of what she had done, all of the tragedies she suffered and all of the victories she won, flowed through her like a slideshow presentation. It was like an anaesthetic: Sayaka just wanted to sleep, to never wake up and face this kind of terror again. In this moment, Sayaka knows the sour defeat of regret. It lacks the intimacy of victory, and Sayaka hates this feeling of regret more than pain. There is no room for sentimentality or growth, because death will came faster if it is dwelled upon.
"I won't let you die," a solemnly triumphant voice demands, and that simple statement reminds Sayaka the joy of exaltation. She has a second chance at life.
"Kyoko…" Sayaka manages to murmur.
"No need to thank me," Kyoko says with a tone of voice Sayaka doesn't recognize. Black stops Sayaka's vision; she is safe for now, stuck in the limbo of life and death.