An aspect of PMMM which always interested me is the multitudes of timelines that Homura left behind. According Gen Urobuchi, there are nearly 100 of these futile timeloops.
This story takes place in one of them.
She found Kyouko once again lounging on her bed, apple in hand, surrounded by crinkling bags filled with the dust and debris of near-total devouring. As usual the redhead smirked challengingly, with a comment already fighting to escape her teeth. Sayaka only shot her a look while placing her schoolbag on the desk. It was late evening, and she had arrived home from school with the sun setting behind her.
"No comment yet?"
Sayaka continued to ignore the girl; her homework was laid out before her in record time. It was just as she was about to place headphones over her ears that she felt Kyouko's strong hands grip her own, stopping the action.
"Oi, what's the deal Sayaka? You're being a bad host."
"Or maybe you're being a bad guest. An uninvited one, at that."
Kyouko grunted, dropping her hands uselessly to the side. She wore her favorite teal hoodie and shorts, and in the no-man's land between the top and the bottom her exposed, flat stomach was visible. Sayaka tried hard not to look; thankfully, her anger overtook her desire.
"Uninvited? Don't be like that."
Sayaka turned in her seat to glare at the girl. "I felt bad for you once. Once. And you haven't stopped taking advantage of me since."
"I never asked you to pity me, Miki. I don't want anyone to pity me."
"Let me just get to the point then - why are you here today?"
"Why? Thought we could hunt some witches today or somethin'. Seems there's a big one by the hospital - "
"The hospital is Mami's territory, Kyouko. We all had an agreement."
"Oh, she won't mind missing just one grief seed will she? That girl's pretty efficient with her magic anyway." And in a slight whisper she added, "Despite all those guns she wastes..."
"It's the principle of things."
"Tch."
Sayaka ended the conversation by turning back to her work. She couldn't handle Kyouko sometimes - ever since the redhead showed up in Mitakihara, her life had been thrown into even more disarray than what was normal to be expected when one was a magical girl.
The redhead skulked back to Sayaka's bed - it seemed that, despite being angry, she still wasn't going to leave. That was fine. Sayaka would get to her when she was good and ready.
An hour or so passed in charged silence. For some time the only sound in the room was the scratching of Sayaka's pencil on paper which carried through the room's warm air. Kyouko looked around and snacked a bit, but for once the girl wasn't allowing her emotions to be worn on her sleeves. This distracted Sayaka; for the first time in her life she actually wanted Kyouko to open that big mouth of hers.
In her distracted state Sayaka could not help but remember that time, not so long before, when she had shown the other girl a sentimental sympathy she falsely projected as mere pity.
~!~
It was a nightmarish event that first brought the girls together. They had all felt it, the five magical girls situated in Mitakihara. Like a slime, a crawling cold goo slithering up their spines, each girl sensed the emergence - the hellish birth - of an unexpectedly large witch in the center of the city.
Mami sent out a call to each of the girls. She was the experienced older sister-type and cared deeply for even the most distant of her younger cohorts, or so she had told Sayaka one afternoon.
"For the safety of the people, we should all work together for this one." Mami said over the phone.
Sayaka raised an eyebrow in surprise when she saw Kyouko waiting, foot tapping in frustration, besides Homura, Madoka, and Mami. The witch was making its home in an old building. It stood decrepit and crumbling, but was still in a populated area of the city (and thus, a danger for passing potential victims).
"So what's the deal?" the greedy girl asked. "Final hit gets the grief seed?"
"Is that all you care about?" Sayaka shot back.
"My bad for wanting the thing that keeps me alive, little miss knight."
"No need to fight." Madoka stepped between them, smiling nervously. "We're all here as friends."
Homura simply stood back, her eyes never leaving Madoka. Her expression was as unreadable as always.
"Yes, Kyouko. Whichever of us kills the witch gets the grief seed - but of course, it'd only be right for the winner to gift it to whoever might need it the most if this battle truly takes its toll." Mami cautioned, her smile bright and supportive.
"Better hope one of you wins it before I do." Kyouko smirked.
While the witch's labyrinth itself was shorter and less dangerous than usual, the battle was more difficult than any of the girls could have imagined. Not one of them could get in a decisive hit, but the witch certainly could. The witch resembled a Queen chess piece holding a sword and shield, without a visible face. Sayaka, even with her accelerated healing ability, felt the stabbing pain of at least a few broken ribs. Homura and Madoka, both ranged fighters, were barely keeping away from the crawling claws of the screaming witch. Even Mami was bleeding profusely from the side of her face.
And yet, Kyouko kept going at the thing. She thrust forward with her spear, but was knocked back again and again and again. Sayaka herself rushed at the witch, swinging and discarding sword after sword - none of which could find purchase in the stone-flesh of the inhuman monster before them.
"Stand back!" Kyouko shouted, and with her spear broken up into chain linked segments she jumped past Sayaka. The spear wrapped around the creature and, using the momentum of her swing, Kyouko changed direction and dove in. The creature was visibly wounded, visibly bleeding technicolor ichor, but still was not dead. With monstrous hands that rose from the ground it gripped the redhead before she could escape and crushed her body like a vice. The witch tossed Kyouko in the air, and she landed with an audible slam. There wasn't sound or movement afterwards.
But now, at least, the battle had been decided. Sayaka launched herself at the witch. The final blow was dealt; it screeched once more before dissolving into nothing. From its position all that remained was the grief seed, which clinked lightly as it fell to the ground. All around them the technicolor labyrinth dissolved as its creator did. Sayaka picked up the grief seed with care. The other girls - sans Kyouko - flocked to her.
"Are you alright?" Mami asked, concern evident in her amber eyes.
"I'm fine, but..." they all turned to Kyouko. It was apparent that she was still alive - her soul gem sat in its place entirely whole, although not without a deadened luster, a cloudy darkness coursing through it. Her soul gem's safety did not attest to her physical condition, unfortunately. Her body was visibly mangled: protrusions of bone poked almost through the skin, and a frightening amount of blood pooled beneath the body. It was a miracle no human passed and witnessed the very real sight of a seemingly dead teenage girl.
"Her soul gem's fine." Homura offered, already walking away from the scene. Madoka reached out towards the girl, but did not follow. The remaining girls were far less certain over the decision to simply leave Kyouko lying there. A few silent minutes passed before Sayaka sighed.
"I'll take her. She did do more than enough of the work to deserve the grief seed anyway."
It was a blessing, the extra strength granted by their magical girl forms. Kyouko barely weighed a thing in Sayaka's arms as she was carried off to the blue haired girl's room. Sayaka took back streets and roof tops. I must look like a kidnapper or something.
"All this blood is going to stain my cape..." she complained to no one but herself. Kyouko did not stir even once in her arms. For all intents and purposes, the girl might as well have been dead. At that thought Sayaka felt herself shudder, although she did not yet know exactly what Kyouko would mean to her one day soon.
It began to rain before Sayaka reached her home, starting first as a light mist before it down-poured. When she finally entered in through her window she and Kyouko were soaked to the bone. For a brief moment she considered putting the girl on the floor so as to keep her bed free of the disgusting mixture of rain and sticky blood. Ultimately, however, she made the right choice.
"You better appreciate this later." Sayaka whispered to the unconscious body.
Sayaka undressed the girl while averting her eyes as best as she could - she averted her eyes not for Kyouko's benefit, but in order to avoid the horrific sight that was the witch's work. The damage was worse than she expected; not only did she see protrusions of bones beneath Kyouko's skin, but a patchwork of bruises covered her body between crisscrossing slices of flesh. After cleaning the girl up with a towel and wiping away the majority of the wet, sticky blood (How was there possibly this much blood in a human? she thought, disgusted), Sayaka held the small black grief seed to Kyouko's soul gem. The energy, the magic - whatever these seeds contained quickly eradicated the corruption evidently tainting Kyouko's gem. Sayaka rubbed the girl's head soothingly as the newly pure gem set to work healing her wounds. She's cute when she's not speaking, she admitted to herself.
The danger passed during the night and the lullaby of soothing rain, coupled with Kyouko's satisfied snores, lulled Sayaka to sleep. She passed out beside the girl on her bed, and in the interim between the night and day her own magic set to work healing her body.
When morning arrived with the shining sun, Sayaka found herself awoken by the loud sound of chomping teeth. Beside her in bed Kyouko had a few bags of snacks opened and nearly empty. She grinned sheepishly down at the her blue haired bedmate's groggy eyes.
"Want some?"
Sayaka just closed her eyes again. What did I get myself into?
They spent the day together despite their usual animosity. Magical healing certainly had its benefits, but it didn't erase pain so easily; Sayaka felt the phantom of her cracked ribs with each breath, and Kyouko barely moved anything besides her mouth - and the hand bringing food to it. Sayaka attempted to adjust herself a few times, to stop the way her body rested against Kyouko's on that small bed, but eventually gave up. Their bodies pressed together like they were the closest of friends instead of near enemies.
Kyouko passed a bag of chips to Sayaka, who took two.
"Pretty cushy place you've got here." Kyouko noted with a low whistle. She looked around the room, at the very normal-ness of it, of the cute but plain curtains, of the small wooden desk, of the plush carpet. Sayaka didn't know whether to feel proud or not.
"Thanks. I know you...might not be too comfortable with all of this but - "
"If there's anything I've learned living...the way I do, it's that you can find comfort anywhere." A pause. "Thanks, by the way."
"Did I hear that right? You have manners?"
The redhead glared at the other girl, but the blush from her "thank you" still lit up her face. "I was always taught to give thanks where thanks is do, ya know."
"I guess you got the grief seed in the end anyway." Sayaka offered.
"Doesn't feel like a win, this time."
Sayaka turned to Kyouko quickly as the question entered her head. "Would you have done the same for me? Saving me, I mean?"
Kyouko took a few minutes to answer with an apologetic grin, fang as visible as always. "How honest of an answer do you want?"
"I'll take that as a no."
The redhead slipped an arm underneath Sayaka's head. Her arm, despite its strength, was soft and comfortable. What a comfortable arm. What an infuriating girl!
"But you're not so bad, even with that annoying sense of 'justice'."
"H-hey! I might've saved you but that doesn't mean I like you."
"I don't like you either." Kyouko responded, pulling Sayaka even closer into her side. "Want some pocky?"
~!~
The blue haired girl sighed - ever since that day, about two weeks before, she couldn't rid herself of Kyouko. Be it at her home, or on the train, or even at the top of the school where Kyouko didn't attend, the redhead managed to make herself comfortable and get in Sayaka's way.
I almost wish she'd hate me again.
...Almost.
Kyouko was selfish, brash, crass, and violent but beneath that hid the heart of a hurt girl searching for attention, for some kind of love in a world where nightly she risked her life - and for what? To live another day as a soulless zombie? Sayaka truly felt sorry for the girl. If only Kyouko could believe in someone or something again! Maybe then she could be changed.
Dusk passed in the selfsame silence that preceded Sayaka's reminiscence. Kyouko hadn't turned the light on near the bed and sat in near darkness. The only light in the room came from a lamp on Sayaka's desk, the contrast of which left Kyouko's side of the room even darker. When she finished her homework Sayaka took a deep breath and called to the infuriating girl on her bed.
"Hey, Kyouko."
Crunch!
"Hey!" Sayaka stood up from her seat, fists balled at her side. "Would you just answer me?"
One more crunch resounded against the walls, and then the soft thud of footsteps on the wooden floor followed. In a mere second Kyouko was standing before Sayaka with the challenging smirk once more on her face and a vibrant energy in her eyes.
"I just want to apologize - " Sayaka began.
"Why? Taking pity on me again?"
"No, you idiot. And it wasn't pity the first time either."
"So what was it? Why save someone so annoying to you?"
"Why do I need a reason? Saving people is what we ought to do, Kyouko. It's our duty as magical girls."
Kyouko shook her head sadly. This was always something that felt strange to Sayaka; despite her brash nature, Kyouko could sometimes seem so much older than she was - more experienced in heartbreak, in loss - than the greedy, impulsive anger might at first attest to. There was history within Kyouko, a history that Sayaka didn't know. It was a lack of knowledge that haunted her the more she wondered about it. The most she knew was that Kyouko seemingly didn't have a home to go back to.
"Haven't you learned yet, Sayaka? That kind of thinking will only get you killed."
Kyouko did end up leaving not long after that. She never mentioned why she'd even shown up in the first place.
There are four more chapters to this story, and I'll publish them once a week.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!
Reviews, criticisms, and responses are all welcome.