Libera Me from Hell


"Don't worry Homura-chan, I'll take it from here!" said Madoka with a weak smile.

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

Author notes:

Phew been dead around here, wanna make up for it with this story. Most probably will continue the others when I have time, currently I'm pretty busy (I have one week to build a robot :S).

Credit to Grimgrendel that proposed this title for one of the chapters of his/hers? amazing story Puella Magi Kizeki Magica, if you haven't read it I highly recommend you do it, just bring a ton of tissues, he/she? outdid Urobuchi himself…

Now to the story!

EDIT: Made some improvements to make it more in line with the other chapters, hope it is easier to read and can be treated as an improvement rather than a detraction from the original.

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕‿‿ ◕人\

Chapter 1 - I wish

Song: Yuki Kajiura - Surgam Identidem A.K.A. Walpurgisnacht Theme

"A failure, all a failure" thought Homura as she stared at the gigantic form of the Walpurgisnacht, her worst humongous witch leveling the skyscrapers without a care in the world, her shrilling moans/laughter the only sound that broke through the deafening storm the witch produced.

"Why, why does she always survive no matter how much she throws at it? Why couldn't she defeat her?" wondered Homura desperate.

She had thrown the Walpurgis everything she had from rocket launchers to missiles along with a freaking gas truck and a stolen fighter jet she had managed to procure from one of the larger facilities outside of Mitakihara. No easy task, it had taken her weeks of planning and one military in a body bag to procure the armament, and yet, the Walpurgisnacht continued laughing, gears spinning and not more than a minor scratch to show.

But she? No, she couldn't get a rest, covered in ash and a missing arm, "luckily it was her right hand, otherwise she would be dead, which wouldn't be that bad of a deal…" she thought as she revised her body; blood pouring from the numerous wounds she received from the flying debris the witch brought with herself and nothing to show for it.

Sayaka was dead, killed this time by her hand, so was Mami and Kyouko. Her sand had run out again and the witch had taken the chance to blow her with a mouthful of flame that charred her face, burning out her hair and leaving her in the ground to recover. And the worst part? There had been worse timelines...

She sighed while trying to regain her balance. It was time to try again, one more failed timeline, one more try…but would this hell ever end?

Homura had no other words with which to describe the suffering she went through trying to save her…it was pure unadulterated hell…

"Still, it's worth it, it has to be!" she thought trying to reassure herself more than anything. Gritting her teeth and bearing with the pain of her missing arm. Once the timeline was reset she would wake up as good as new, such a shame her mind would be as tired as ever...

At least Madoka hadn't Contracted yet, it had taken her weeks of sleepless nights watching over her, killing the Incubator as soon as he got close enough to make contact. It had tired her out and the only thing she could do to keep herself from falling asleep was pumping more magic into her system, which meant spending more time gathering Grief Seeds and more witches, and left her with little time to prepare for the battle…

She got a hold on her shield using the stump that used to be her arm to turn the hourglass and start the nightmare all over again.

As she was about to restart time she saw her…running through the scenery, tripping, several wounds on her body, no doubt from the debris and it was almost a miracle she was alive, unlike last time when a flying glass pane severed her head…

"No, you can't rembember that Homura! It's of no use! Focus!". she reprimanded herself to do what had to be done, which was to convince the pinkette to not Contract, if possible, although knowing her it would all be in vain and she would end up having to make another reset...

"Why are you here!?"- said Homura with anger seeping in her tone. It was only a façade, a tactic she had mechanized countless times to scare Madoka into behaving and stopping her from being reckless. She may have been genuinely concerned or angry once, a long time ago…but not anymore, she already knew all the lines, all possible reactions Madoka could give to her, all but the one way to save her….

"I…I just wanted to help…" – said Madoka in a scared tone of hers as she rushed towards Homura, lying in the ground and trying to regenerate as fast as she could from Walpurgisnacht's lastest onslaught. After almost getting burned alive, she had managed to crawl to a corner of a demolished building where she was sure the familiars wouldn't be able to spot her and after making sure no building would come crashing against her she let herself a moment of pause as she thought her next strategy to combat the Walpurgisnacht. Now she had Madoka by her side that frantically tried to wipe the blood from her face while staring in horror at Homura's missing arm.

The sight of Madoka so worried for her made her want to cry but she relented and instead shrugged Madoka's hands making the pinkette stumble backwards in surprise. 'You have to be strong Homura, for her!' she reprimanded herself.

It was obvious she couldn't stand the sight of Homura in such a state and so chose to keep her eyes outside of her broken form. Now she would give an explanation to justify her actions, most probably using the Incubator's claims as back up.

"I just talked to Kyubey" said Madoka softly. There, typical. Why was it that she listened more to that white rat than to her once best friend?!

"He told me about you, and your time travels...and about your wish…" said Madoka, concern showing in her voice. –"Is…is that really true?"- she said, voice trembling and incredulous as she made eye contact with Homura.

Now this was new. The times she got to know about her wish where usually by being told from herself, not from the Incubator as he usually kept that information in case it proved useful or dangerous for his plans.

The black haired Puella Magi made a quick estimation of their current situation before making her next move. 'No familiars that can threaten us nearby, and the Walpurgis was traveling towards the refuge, most probably she is there already' Homura thought darkly as she imagined the witch leveling the whole compound as people screamed at the sight of the ceiling cracking open and the witch laughing in delight as it sucked the soul of everyone present...

One way or another it was over so maybe listening to what she had to say would be worth it, she may actually get to understand what situation she is in…put herself in her place at least once…maybe for once not sacrifice herself…

"Yes, it's true. I've been trying to save you since I met you a long time ago…you don't remember it but we were friends." answered Homura without passion. It was all mechanical, all a script, she couldn't give herself the smallest chance to feel, or the despair would destroy her.

Song: Yuki Kajiura - Sis Puella Magi!

Madoka looked deep in thought for a moment, and then gave her a shy smile and answered "Alright then, I finally know what I must do" said Madoka and looked to her left which prompted Homura to see what it was that her pinkette friend was staring at and to her horror she spotted the one being she least wanted to see; a big floppy head with a ridiculous grin permanently plastered and a pair of ruby red eyes greeted her, almost mockingly as the Incubator walked and sat at Madoka's side.

"Kyubey, I'm ready, grant my wish as we agreed" Madoka ordered to the Incubator with a weak smile.

"What!? You can't! Then what was all this for?!" said Homura, true anger finally manifesting in her voice as she struggled with only her left arm to grab a gun and shoot the rat before it could enact the Contract. Still, it was harder than she thought with only one hand and she was having trouble getting the gun out of her shield.

"It's okay Homura! I finally understand what you went through, but don't worry! I'll take it from here!" said Madoka giving out one of her kind smiles, the ones she reserved for when she wanted to comfort someone or apologize for something she was about to do, both hands in her lap as she tried to console the black haired Puella Magi.

'What the hell did she wish for?' Was all Homura could think of as she was swallowed by pink light…

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

Song: Awake Soundtrack - Main Titles Part 2.

She woke up to a world of pain. She tried to moan, to clutch her chest which felt as if it was on fire, and so were her lungs. She remembered this pain, from a long time ago…before she Contracted.

Her eyes were closed and to her horror she found she couldn't open them. She had trouble breathing and it came only in small intakes, too little to overcome the feeling of suffocation. All sort of voices were shouting, aggravated, while she heard the sound of the wheels on the stretcher they had put her in.

"Quickly! We're losing her!" said a male voice she couldn't recognize. From the tone of it he was a doctor and she was about to die.

She felt them putting something big and plastic on her face, a mask, and she felt her body heave as the anesthesia took effect on her body. Everything felt so vivid, so real and suddenly everything made sense to her, as much as she wanted to ignore it as she found herself reviving one of the worst life events in her life…her heart transplant…

The gas made her feel drowsy and start losing consciousness but she knew it wouldn't be enough. Before the nightmares about the witches she had had these nightmares…the first ones…

They were taking off her medical robe, and now she felt a needle puncturing her arm. She shouldn't feel it, but she knew better…

'No, please, I don't wanna relive this! Someone stop this!' she thought and tried to scream to the doctors that the anesthesia wasn't taking effect but to no avail. She couldn't move a limb nor a sound escaped her mouth, she was stuck immobile to their whims.

The fire in her lungs and chest was replaced with another kind of pain, of the razor cutting through her flesh, the unbearable sensation of the knife as it made its way from her chest up to close to her stomach, she remembered the horrible scar, but this was far worse. It was so vivid, so…real! If she could she would have screamed but her limbs were stuck and she couldn't do a thing about it. Tears of pain came from her eyes but the medics didn't notice. They never did…

She tried counting to help her focus on something other than the pain…one…two…one hundred…three hundred…one thousand…she thought she was going to go mad from all this and then with a jolt of pain everything was gone.

"Nurse! Prepare the defibrillator!" she heard the doctor shout.

Weird, she was dead now, she didn't remember being in this black void when she died on her first surgery, then again, she was dead, maybe she wouldn't remember when she got back, that is, if, she managed to get back…fear stuck her at the idea of never seeing her family again.

"One, two, three, now!" the voice shouted and a jolt of electricity arched through her body and she felt it, the discharge unbearably hot on her nerves. She felt as though she was on fire!

"Stop that!" she urged to the doctors but they wouldn't listen…

"Again, one, two, three, now!", another discharge of pain. Her body wouldn't answer though.

"Please, someone, help me! I don't want to die!" she said to no one in particular even though it was all in her mind, her voice wouldn't come out of her and neither was she able to move a limb as the electricity burned her insides.

"Common, you can make it, don't leave us just yet!" urged the male voice, "One, two, three, now!", and with a final jolt she felt her back arching and her new heart beating back to life.

She opened her eyes and let out a scream that startled the smiling doctors…

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

Song: Yuki Kajiura - Confessio.

She woke up to her hospital bed. The one she had known and hated since she was transferred there.

She was alone. Alone like always. Her parents wouldn't visit; they saw her as a disgrace to her family. The nurses tried to cheer her up but it was all for naught, and she also had to take those horrible medicines. She looked with chagrin to her box of medicaments, huge boxes and bottles all over her table. She had to take like five different pills every two hours or so, and drink those awful syrups they served her every six hours. She hated them the most of all.

She also couldn't go outside or spend more than one hour outside of her bed. Her body was weak and pale and doing something as simple as walking strained her heart and caused her a lot of pain and exhaustion. She usually spent her time looking at the ceiling, counting the number of holes in there…exactly 873 in total, no more, no less…

But well, she had one whole year to get used to it all, if she ever did, she knew she wouldn't…

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

One year had passed and her heart had finally accustomed itself to her new body, that weak carcass she felt was better off as worm food than anything else. She was worthless after all, wasn't she? She looked at the mirror with empty eyes. The weight of time had taken its toll on her already, and there was a lot she still had to do.

She started to prepare her uniform. Today was going to be a very special day as she would transfer to Mitakihara and finally see if it had all been worth it…

Taking her beloved red ribbons, a memento of happier times, Kaname Madoka finally got out of the hospital…

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

CHAPTER END

/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

End notes:

Tell me what you think! Is it good? Bad? Awful? I've tried to make it less physical and more emotional, but still not my specialty, trying to improve so suggestions are welcome.

Also this one will be a two parter so expect the end soon...I hope, heheh. EDIT: As seen, no longer a two parter as this became more and more complex and interesting, heheheh.