Summary: The reality and time of a universe can only be bent so much before suffering great damage. But who can fix a broken reality. Madoka and Homura learn that answer as they awaken to meet a member of an order who has such power, and is far from pleased by what they have done.
Singularity
"Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura, wake up!" a deep distant male baritone sounded.
Madoka sluggishly drifted up from unconsciousness. Her head pounded as though she had a concussion but to her relief the pain quickly faded as she became more aware of her surroundings. That was when her fear turned to terror.
"Hmm, 12 episodes, a manga series, 3 films two of which are recaps and another possible project in 2016 of system 000Z34T8," the baritone muttered seemingly to itself as Madoka took in her surroundings, "a decent reflection of their universe but never the less only a reflection of it."
Madoka took in her surroundings and her situation. She was in her magical girl form and was chained to the ground by her wrists and ankles. Homura who was slowly stirring beside her was in her form and chained as well. Everywhere but in front of her was darkness, no stars in the sky, no city lights in the distance, all was black. The ground consisted of soft grass and slightly damp earth in front of them was a small camp fire with a few large logs around it that could be sat on. On one of them was, well something. To Madoka is looked like a knight out of medieval Europe in polished jet black plate armor with a full helm that only had a small slit for the wearer to see through. However, there was something about the figure that felt wrong. Not malevolent, but definitely not pleased. Aside from its armor, Madoka could not see anything else of note about it, even its eyes were hidden despite the fact that it was looking right at her.
"Aside from the incubators, you two are the most troublesome in terms of damaging and warping reality," the figure said, "You'll be very fortunate to ever see your world again."
Homura, who was now wide awake and had heard the last few sentences spoke up before Madoka could overcome her shock.
"Who…who are you! Where are we! What's going on!" Homura sputtered.
"One thing at a time!" The figure snapped, silencing Homura and stopping Madoka from asking any of her own questions.
"First, as for who I am?" The figure said, "You may call me Umbra for that is an alias that fits me. Second you are both within my singularity. It is something each of my order are given and is a place where I have near absolute power. Only my king can interfere with my power here. Third, I am a member of the voidwalker order. We are agents of the void, the final resting place for all things. A place which we will also eventually be taken to. I am here in an attempt to fix the massive damage that the two of you and the incubators have done to your universe. Before I do that however I need some information and will be asking you two some questions. Now, by being here under my power I take it that you two remember all that has happened and I do mean ALL that has happened."
With a sudden realization, Homura and Madoka both realized that they remembered absolutely everything, from the first timeline to when Madoka transcended to divinity and created the law of cycles. They remembered when Homura tainted the law of cycles and nullified Madoka's divinity in an effort to create a normal life for her.
Having remembered everything, Madoka looked anxiously at Umbra, unsure if she should ask what was on her mind.
"I already have a good guess as to what you will ask," Umbra said with an air of impatience, "You may speak."
"You've already told us where we are," Madoka asked in a slow timid voice, "But what about the others, Mami and the rest."
"Your friends and family are still in your world," Umbra replied, "The world is very near the same as you left it except that I have banished Kyubey and the entire incubator race into the void. I hope my king damns them into the abyss for the suffering they have wrought."
Homura felt a stab of satisfied vengeance as she heard the words Umbra spoke, but before she could say anything Umbra spoke again.
"Now that I have answered your most pressing question I will ask you mine." Umbra said standing and moving over to where Madoka and Homura were chained and stopped two paces from them. Despite the fact that he was glaring down directly at them and was very close, neither Madoka nor Homura could see his eyes or face through the visor of his armor.
"Why did neither of you use your wish to erase the Kyubey from existence," Umbra asked, "It would have saved you a lot of grief and would have re-stabilized your reality to a large extent."
"If you know as much about us as you say you do then you should already know the answer to that question," Homura replied tersely, "Without the Incubators humans would never have made it out of the stone age."
"And what gave you the impression that Kyubey was telling the truth," Umbra replied, "After all, he deceived you before. Why would he not straight up lie to you if it would benefit his goal."
"Are…are you saying he did?" Madoka asked in an unintentionally higher pitch due to her anxiety.
"While it is true that the incubators help your species progress technologically, they were not necessary for this." Umbra replied, "I have been to many other universes and timelines in my line of work and have seen many civilizations achieve high technology without extraterrestrial assistance. So yes, if the incubators had never discovered your Earth mankind would have still progressed to a very high level of technology. The point I'm trying to make is that you should have pressed the matter and not been foolish enough to believe that lie after all he had done. However, that no longer matters as the Incubators no longer exist in your world."
"You said you sent them to this void place," Madoka asked, "What will you do to them there."
"I wont do anything to them," Umbra replied, "What happens to them is up to my King, the one I serve. He alone decides the fates of those who enter the void. Now for my next question. Did either of you even realize the drastic effects rewriting reality could have on your universe."
"I did it to help the other magical girls. I was willing to risk my life and soul to purify them."
Madoka replied, then slowly turning to Homura, "But Homura, why did you undo everything I worked for. I was trying to help everyone."
Homura gazed steadily into Madoka's eyes through the dim light before responding.
"You were far more important to me than anything," Homura replied as an unholy glint crept into her eyes and her right earring glimmered, "I would have done anything to give you a normal happy life, …ANYTHING…"
"I can understand your reasons for doing what you did Madoka," Umbra said, "As such I will refrain from punishing you for your actions even though it is within my rights as a voidwalker to do so."
Umbra then turned to Homura. If he wore any expression neither of the girls could see it.
"You however Homura have my distain. More accurately the thing corrupting you has my distain," Umbra growled reaching for Homura's left earring.
Without any warning, Homura's face grew demonic and her left earring glowed brightly. Homura lurched upward, shattering the chains that bound her as if they were made of glass. She quickly grabbed Madoka by the shoulder shattered her chains as well, and released her power outward, freezing time. To her shock however Umbra was unaffected.
Homura had not touched Umbra yet his eyeless gaze still followed her for half a moment before he moved. His right hand shot up palm outward. Two large tendrils of black energy shot out of his hand. The first formed a large sphere and slammed into Homura's stomach knocking the breath from her. The second formed into a hand zipped forward and quickly undid the clasp of Homura's earring for grabbing it and pulling it back to Umbra.
"Please stop this both of you!" Madoka screamed as tears began to fill in her eyes. She clutched Homura who now stared blank eyed into the distance as if knocked unconscious.
"Their wont be anymore need for violence I can assure you," Umbra said as his black tendrils disappeared and he grabbed the earring in his gauntleted hand. "Look again at your friend."
Madoka looked down to see Homura blink awake again with a puzzled expression.
"What just happened now," Homura said in a much softer voice as Madoka hugged her in relief, "I feel…different."
"This thing," Umbra said gesturing to the earring in his hand, "Is what happened. It absorbed quite of bit of the negative energy of the Incubators and then from you when you became a witch. This is largely responsible for corrupting you and causing you to alter reality a second time as well as what make you demonic. You should be fine now that its off of you. But just to be safe…"
And then Homura and Madoka caught their first glimpse of the void. With a gesture of his left hand Umbra opened a dark empty hole in the air in front of him. Even though it was hard enough to see with the dim light around them and it was only open for a few moments, Madoka and Homura saw into it. What they saw were large chunks of broken masonry and shattered cities floating endlessly through emptiness. In the distance they caught a brief glimpse of a large crystalline castle on a small planetoid. Somewhere on the base of the planetoid they saw a thin inhumanly tall figure with long grey hair throwing large numbers of Incubators into a large dark fissure in the ground of the planet. Though they did not see its face, neither of them needed an explanation to know that this was the King that Umbra served. For a brief moment before Umbra tossed the earring through the portal and closed it they could feel his king's power. It was unlike anything they had felt before and both Homura and Madoka were relieved when they could sense it no more.
"If my plan works and my powers are sufficient then the world will no longer need what I have thrown in there," Umbra said, "Just by ridding your world of it will help repair reality. Anyway in a few moments you two will fall asleep. You will either awaken back in your world if I succeed, or you will awaken back here if I fail. If that is the case, then I will escort you to the void where at least you'll be able to see your friends again. Oh and one other thing."
With a snap of his fingers a cloud of black mist quickly surrounded Madoka and Homura before dissipating. When the mist disappeared both Madoka and Homura were in their school uniforms again.
"I have returned your souls to your bodies," Umbra said "I will do this for your friends as well. Don't worry your wishes should still be intact and after a time you will be able to use your powers again although you may never need them. If my plan works then your world will be re-stabilized and there will be no more witches, wraiths, or nightmares to trouble you ever again."
"You were so cold a minute ago," Madoka said, "Now you're going to try to save us?"
"I do apologize for my hostility," Umbra said in a noticeably warmer tone, "But the two of you have cut out my work for me and my hostility was mostly from my lingering hatred of the Incubators. In anycase sleep now and hopefully when you wake you two will be able to lead somewhat normal lives without the madness and despair that have plagued you for so long."
Homura began to make a protest but was cut off again as Umbra clapped his hands again and everything went black.
When they awoke they found themselves in the park where they used to hang out with each other. The sun was up and as far as Homura and Madoka could tell everything was completely normal. The two of them searched for their soul gems but could not find them, just as Umbra had said.
The serene light and warmth of a normal ordinary sun shone down on both of them. It was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. Yet despite how normal the world around them felt and the brief peace the two felt within them they knew that was not the last time they would see the voidwalker that called himself Umbra. When he appeared again, they knew they would have need of their magical girl powers.