For future reference, "Kota" is an OC.
Chapter 1: An Indecent Descent
[Is something wrong, Homura?]
Homura Akemi blinked in cursory surprise when the familiar mental presence posed the question to her mind. Looking up, she met her own intensely violet eyes in the mirror she had been standing in front of, before her head had drooped down as a consequence of an errant train of thought.
Turning around and offering the alien sitting on the head of her small bed a reassuring smile, she left the mirror behind and crossed to the other side of the cramped room. A dying city sunset was filtering its way through the thick curtains separating her from the balcony outside, the bleeding rays casting an enclosing glow upon the limited space.
"It's fine, Kyubey," Homura replied aloud as she squatted to adjust one of the myriad of cardboard boxes scattered along the floor. "Just reviewing the plans for the move in my head again, is all."
She could have sworn she felt a glimmer of exasperation from the white tailed creature. [My race certainly advocates the confirmation of the details of any plan, of course, but even I feel that you are excessively thorough.]
The time traveler smirked discreetly to herself, still facing away from her companion as she arranged some more boxes. "My experience has taught you can never be too careful. You'll just have to trust me on that one; it'd be much too difficult to justify it through explanation."
A mental sigh. [I assume that is an allusion to your experiences in your fancied 'Old World'?]
"You're still skeptical about that after all this time?" Homura asked in a disappointed tone, standing up to hoist a smaller container up and leave it on her desk. "It's been three years already, Kyubey."
She heard the swish of an aloof tail behind her. [No evidence has made itself apparent enough to change my opinion since then. Why would you expect a reversal of position from me?]
Homura pretended to mull that over in her head for a moment as she strode across the room in her stockinged feet, reaching for the curtains and pushing them aside, squinting at the persistent sunset which greeted her. "Propaganda through repetition, I guess?" She finally came up with, albeit sarcastically. "I figured if I insisted on it enough you'd somehow end up partially believing me."
[That sounds more like a tactic Kyouko was deploy to achieve her means,] Kyubey replied blandly as he leapt down onto the bed and approached the magical girl. [I am not a small child.]
Homura smirked again as she unlatched the sliding balcony door. "Well, you sure sound like one in my head."
[A mere psychological gambit,] He dismissed easily. [A tactic used to secure the trust of potential contractees. Now that, I suppose, could be labeled as propaganda...]
"I think the word you're looking for is 'misleading,' Homura corrected as she finally threw the rusty latch and yanked the door open wide.
A refreshingly cool wave of air greeted her on the other side, wrapping its soothing fingers around her neck and shoulders. Shivering slightly in the thin dress shirt she was wearing (she was still in her school uniform and had left the blazer somewhere downstairs), she stepped out onto the balcony barefoot and padded to the far end, not that it jutted that far out from the side of the building. She could hardly even lay down comfortably here, despite her somewhat diminutive height.
[So, how is the move progressing, regardless?] Kyubey inquired as he joined his companion and leaped upon the iron wrought railing, balancing easily there.
Homura leaned her elbows against the same railing and raised a cooly curious eyebrow. It wasn't like the Incubator to ask seemingly unnecessary questions. "Fine. We're definitely on schedule. We should be out by the end of the month."
[We?]
The time traveler sighed and turned to stare at the city below her. "Well, Kyouko practically lives here now, so I thought it appropriate to use a plural."
[Ah, yes...your relationship with her improved by...leaps and bounds, in the past months,] The alien agreed, swishing his tail again. [Or so I've noted, anyway.]
Homura simply nodded back, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the fact that Kyubey had observed her newfound closeness with the fiery redhead. Well, it wasn't exactly newfound. They'd been as they were for months, now, but it still felt new to her because of her extensive (hostile) history with Kyouko. Homura suddenly realized that she could have lied and said that "we" had referred to her and Kyubey, thus totally negating the need for her current train of thought. Then she wondered why that even mattered.
The two of them had grown closer, though. Three years tended to change things, even if one wasn't trying. She wasn't the fourteen year old girl who was driven by constant desperation anymore. The New Order she had awoken to, in which the rules had been changed to lessen the burden of the accursed wish makers who were the Mahou Shoujo, had provided a less stressful environment for them all. A shattered soul gem no longer meant death, as long as they were in combat mode. Witches were now nonexistent, replaced by the still intimidating but infinitely less dangerous Demons, the manifested nightmares that stalked the shadows of the city. Even the situation with the Incubator race had been improved dramatically.
Madoka's sacrifice had worked wonders.
She had feared relations with other magical girls, Kyouko and Mami specifically, would continue to be strained. Much to Homura's surprise, however, she found cooperation with the two of them to be a much smoother process than before. The less constrictive laws of the new universe had left her companions with stronger, more accommodating psyches, meaning that much of the territorial rivalry and natural distrust between them had all but dissipated. It had shocked Homura to the point of suspicion, as she thought the other two were purposefully deceiving her to some end, but eventually she had come to realize, all those years ago, how much a person's circumstances affected their mentality.
[Still, that is not the only thing that has changed,] Kyubey suddenly interjected, turning to stare out at the cityscape with her. [You are different now too. Forgive me if it is an incorrect observation, but you have changed somehow. Something subtle.]
Homura didn't deign to answer the alien's veiled question, instead straining to see the end of the sprawling buildings stretched out before her. The city truly seemed endless. Mitakihara had already been undergoing a massive reconstruction movement at the time of her contract, and now that some years had passed the effects were seriously starting to show. The borders of the city had expanded like wildfire, swallowing up tinier towns and sub-cities to form what was now the general Mitakihara Province, although most of the population density remained at the city's original core. Speaking of population density, Homura remembered reading that the current number was a staggering ten million, easily more populous than the capital city of Tokyo. There was even talk of moving the nation's head from there to here.
Not that I particularly care about any of that, Homura sighed inwardly as she turned away from the view before her. In truth, she hated crowds. She hated being in the middle of the seething masses of people between the tall, chrome plated buildings, able to see nothing beyond all their heads except for the perpetual columns of steam rising from the distant borders of the city, an environmental blight produced by the legions of industrial powerhouses which had been set up there. More people meant more nightmares, and more Demons to fight in the protection of this infinite, futuristically sprawling city.
She was going tired of it all. One tended to, after three years.
Although I shouldn't be complaining, She tried to convince herself as she reopened the door behind her and left the balcony. It had been much worse, once. Much, much worse. Things were different now. She was older now, more mature; she wasn't alone, and things were finally improving around her. All she needed was time.
Turning, Homura caught her own reflection in the mirror she had been staring absently into earlier. At seventeen, she had hardly changed enough to be mistaken for someone else, but little details here and there were different. Her hair didn't reach all the way past her waist anymore, as she had found the look to be both slightly impractical and a little immature once she started having underclassmen in high school. The midnight black locks tumbled down and ended between her shoulder blades now, loose bangs framing a slightly more oval face and a set of eyes mature beyond their years. Anyone would have told her she looked wiser than her age should have suggested, which was the general image she tried to craft for herself. Any pretense of maturity tended to fall away in Kyouko's presence however, whether it was voluntary or not.
The time traveler was distracted from her thoughts when she heard the distant ringing of the doorbell, which was immediately followed by a flurry of rather insistent knocks.
[It seems that your newfound friend is here,] Kyubey noted in what she would have labelled a teasing tone, but there was absolutely no way the alien could have thought to exhibit such a thing.
Still, Homura couldn't keep a small smile from forcing its way onto her face as she opened the door to her room to go greet her guest.
"You're late," The redhead said bluntly as she stepped past Homura, slipping through the opened door.
The dark haired girl frowned. "I live here. How could you possibly consider me late?"
"My stomach growled precisely three times between me ringing the damn bell and you actually answering it," Kyouko replied simply, as if this were a universal rule of thumb regularly used by everyone. "That's plenty long enough if you ask me."
Homura rolled her eyes at the thinly veiled hint as she shut the door and followed the redhead into the main room. "I can't believe you're still trying to be subtle about your insatiable appetite."
The constantly ravenous girl standing next to her simply stared back expectantly, waiting for her to get to the part of the conversation she was actually interested in.
Homura sighed and crossed her arms. "I restocked the pantry yesterday. Help yourself."
A wide grin plastered itself over Kyouko's face. Homura found herself idly taking in those attractive little fangs of hers. "You see, Homura, this is why we're friends."
"What an inequitable relationship," The time traveler quipped as Kyouko dashed across the circle of couches in the main room and began ruffling through the contents of her pantry. The girl hadn't changed at all, after endless time loops and three whole years of actual progressive time. She was still uncontrollable, reckless, irresponsible, and the proud owner of a functional wormhole of a stomach, something Homura was finding increasingly difficult to finance ever since the spear wielder had begun frequenting her residence. Really, she ate enough to feed the entire Impoverished District five times over. Strangely enough, though, she didn't particularly mind the added monetary strain.
Striding past her friend and entering the adjacent kitchen, she rifled through some of her various tools and pulled out a packet of synthesized tea. While no where near the quality of the real thing (and a ridiculously far cry from Mami's stuff), simply consuming the herbal drink usually helped her calm down a little bit, a habit she had probably picked up from the endless daily tea parties the sociable blonde insisted on holding at her apartment. And besides, she generally needed an added measure of self control when she was around Kyouko.
"How's the move coming along?" The aforementioned redhead mumbled around a mouthful of chips, crossing the kitchen and leaning backwards against the counter beside the time traveler.
"Well enough," Homura replied as she dropped the packet into the synthesizer. "Though I'm probably going to need to expend some magic in order to move all this stuff to the new place."
The redhead eyed the small piles of cardboard boxes which were stacked neatly against the wall, having overflown the limits of Homura's relatively small room. "Well, you could always ask some of the Fed' girls to help you out."
Homura pursed her lips as she extracted the now liquified packet and poured its contents into a waiting teacup. "That'd be an unnecessary exploitation of resources and you know it. I can't just move girls about to help me move my junk around."
"So you admit it's junk?"
"Do you want me to tell you my new address or not?"
Kyouko laughed and crunched down on some more chips. Homura imagined that if their world had a fandom, not a single story could be written about the girl without mentioning her obsession with food. "Alright, alright. It's not like I know what you've got in all those boxes anyway."
The black haired girl simply sighed and followed her friend around the kitchen, finally settling down on one of the smaller couches in the center of the room. The central space had undergone considerable remodeling over time; the ominous pendulum that had swung perpetually above everyone's heads was gone now, under the pretense that it gave Kyouko indigestion. The small army of portraits dominating the wall had been somewhat truncated, and the ones which remained showed simple views of the infinite city outside. She couldn't keep obsessing over witches forever.
Of course, she may have to consider more remodeling options in the future; her new future residence was likely to require it. Necessity had dictated that she seek out a new home somewhere in the city. She would be graduating from high school in a half year, and the landlord insisted that it wasn't proper for a "beautiful young lady" such as herself to stay cooped up in a tiny apartment in one of the less developed parts of Mitakihara. While Homura had initially feared losing the nostalgia of her longtime home, she had eventually decided it was best to move. Mami certainly encouraged it, even suggesting she move closer to where the blonde lived. And since Kyouko pretty much came as an added bonus with her nowadays, it would bring them all together.
Taking a reserved sip of her tea as Kyouko simply collapsed onto the cushions beside her, Homura briefly wondered what the older magical girl was doing at the moment.
"Mami says everything's ready for tomorrow, by the way," The redhead suddenly mentioned as if she had read Homura's mind.
"Oh," She replied. "That's good. So no complications this year?"
Kyouko folded her hands over her taut stomach and laughed, drawing Homura's eyes to those fangs again. "If you mean any explosions, no. It's a miracle, really. Only Mami could make all those girls work together without having some of them fight to the death."
"Did that really happen last year?" Homura asked blandly.
"Well, nobody died. So it wasn't exactly a fight to the death."
"I guess I can't expect people to be accurate and say it was a fight that ended in several broken bones?"
"Of course not. Only you would use a long and boring description like that," Kyouko stated as if this were obvious.
Homura rolled her eyes and decided not to rise to the provocation.
They were talking, of course, about the yearly Magical Girls' Gathering. In the early days since her awakening, the three of them had frequently encountered groups of other magical girls either hunting in nearby territory or simply passing through. While Homura had expected a full on war to escalate at such blatant acts of trespassing, the practice was actually tolerated and in fact encouraged; individual groups would even stop for a few moments to chat before heading on their way. Some of them even exchanged phone numbers.
It had been an entirely alien concept to her initially, but Homura had quickly come to understand that hostilities between mahou shoujo had changed with the laws of the universe. In the wake of the new era of cooperation, she had been the first one among them to hint at the idea of an actual coalition, and Mami had enthusiastically picked up the idea and totally bolted off with it. Soon magical girls from all over the province were considering becoming a part of the "Federation of Magical Girls", a name the blonde had been ridiculously proud of coming up with, backed by her insistence that federation was such an authoritative word, and that it would promote bonding capabilities between...
Regretfully, both she and Kyouko had stopped listening at that point.
Regardless of her romantic naming habits, however, they had to admit Mami knew how to persuade and advertise. In less than a year, the "FMG" was ten thousand strong, and composed of groups of girls from as far as Kyoto, all attracted by the idea of a magical girl club of sorts, a gathering place for people just like them, where no explanations were necessary or even expected. Any prospective members were assured that the main focus of the federation was not organized combat, a decision that had irked Homura at first, as she had seen endless potential in a hypothetical army of magical girls. But Mami had refused to budge on the topic, and since she understood the striking loneliness of being a magical girl the best out of all of them, they had left most of the reins to her.
It sometimes surprised Homura still that three years ago, she would have laughed at the idea of herself socializing with others like her simply for the sake of companionship. Years of suffering had taught her never to trust anybody, so she still had difficulty opening up quickly to strangers. Even today, she hadn't made any significant friends through the networks of the federation, although she was well known among them as one of the organization's founders. She would watch, though, from a discreet balcony at the throngs of girls who came and milled among each other. And every time she saw a bright smile or the happy glow of a Soul Gem among the sea of faces, it brought a measure of satisfaction to her.
Mami, on the other hand, practically cried her body weight in tears at the beauty of it all, if it could be called that. The girl was nothing if not sentimental.
"Anyways, conduct between the girls seems to be improving," Kyouko continued. "Nothing worse has happened than that one fight. Well, unless you count..."
Her voice trailed off, and the atmosphere became suddenly uncomfortable.
"Indeed," Homura agreed without emotion, a clear suggestion that they should change topics.
"Look, I wasn't trying to bring up-"
"It's fine," She interrupted. "Really."
Another prolonged silence.
"By the way, guess how many girls have confirmed their invitations by now," Kyouko said, picking up on the hint.
"Hm?"
"Twenty thousand."
Homura turned and stared at the redhead. "You've got to be kidding."
She just shrugged. "And that's just the confirmed ones. I know the gathering's tomorrow and everything, but there are always people who come without confirming or just hear about it and happen by. Kyubey estimates we'll have around twenty five thousand total."
Homura shook her head at the staggering numbers. "I was floored by the amount of girls we got last year. Thirty thousand completely shatters the previous record. Where are we going to fit all these people?"
They had never expected the federation to expand at such an uncontrollable pace. It appeared that magical girls were more desperate for companionship that initially assumed. Frankly, Homura found the idea to be tiring. After the first two Gatherings, she was exhausted of the energy to coordinate something of this magnitude.
Kyouko snickered around a Pocky stick. "Hell if I know. We're just hoping the stadium we rented will be enough to fit everybody. But leave it to Mami to pull the craziest strings if she has to. She'll do practically anything to make sure this gathering goes through right."
"Yes, she does seem rather fond of being a good host."
"And the fresh contractees fucking adore her, Homura. Mami-sama! Mami-sama, over here!" The redhead imitated in a squeaky voice, raising her arm and waiving it frantically at what Homura assumed was an imaginary Mami. "People have never really figured out what makes her so charismatic, especially to the kids. I think it's her chest, personally."
Homura was surprised to find herself chuckling lightly at the slapstick attempt at humor. It wasn't like her to do so. "I suppose they might have some sort of pull, psychologically speaking."
"Hell no, I'm physically speaking here. Those things are fucking gravitational, I swear. I try not to notice them when she's wearing little and my eyes just slide right back. And I'm a girl!" Kyouko finished with an indignant exclamation, as if Mami's bosom was responsible for everything that had ever gone wrong in her life.
They both shared a brief laugh at that, something that still didn't fail to catch her off guard. She had never seen the development coming, but she and Kyouko would often meet up simply to sit around a talk like they were now, about topics that ranged from serious ones like Demon activity to plans to hold Mami down one day and cut off her drill-shaped hair just to antagonize her, although that was mostly Kyouko's idea.
There was a soft rustle beside her, and Homura felt a solid weight leaning against her side. Looking down, she saw Kyouko let out a tired sign and lay her head across Homura's stockinged thighs, twisting her neck a bit to get comfortable.
"Hey," The dark haired girl muttered automatically, though she didn't feel particularly motivated to evict the girl. "My legs aren't a futon."
"But they're so soft," The redhead teased her right back, going so far as to turn her head and nuzzle the giving skin with her nose. Homura felt the heat levels in her chest skyrocket when she felt Kyouko's lips ghosting over the fabric too, although this was most likely not intentional.
"S-stop that," She finally managed to say, hating herself for stuttering. "They're nothing special. I said, would you stop, please?"
Taking the hint at last, Kyouko looked back up at her and grinned sloppily. "Nothing special? I think your legs are to die for, Homura," The redhead replied in what she probably thought was a sultry voice, but the time traveler found herself more annoyed than aroused by the attempt.
Her voice came out sounding husky for reason, however, a realization that made Homura feel endlessly uncomfortable. Biting her lip and succumbing to the temptation to look away, she simply nudged Kyouko's forehead with a slender finger. "Then go ahead and die for them, you idiot," She sighed.
"Never," Kyouko said as if the very idea were preposterous. "If I did, who would keep your pantry clear of wasted food all the time?"
"I would have that much less food to potentially waste if you were dead," Homura said blandly.
"Yeah, well, whatever," The spear wielder dismissed easily.
Homura rolled her eyes again. She was always rolling her eyes when she was with Kyouko.
It was always Kyouko. And Kyouko was always doing this like this, pulling little stunts with the seemingly sole goal of making Homura uncomfortable. Most of the time the pranks were lighthearted and even amusing if she was in the mood for it, like now. After they had developed a solid friendship with each other, the redhead's platonic nature had somehow integrated itself into their relationship. Homura had been flabbergasted as to how she should react whenever Kyouko gave her a teasing hug or fell asleep on her shoulder, but over many months she had learned to tolerate it. Sometimes, she even enjoyed the simple acts of affection being with her offered.
But it wasn't always like that. Sometimes the redhead's words dripped with something a little thicker than affection, and sometimes her hands travelled slightly beyond the borders of a mundane friendship. Homura had seized up the first time this happened between them, looking up to find Kyouko staring back with an incomprehensible look on her face. An expression that begged her to say something back, to reciprocate in some way. But Homura, being inexperienced and unsure as she was, had never responded.
Homura wasn't stupid. She knew a seduction attempt when she saw one, and Kyouko's occasional expressed interest in something intimate with her had not gone unnoticed. But that didn't mean she knew how to properly respond to something like that. She wasn't even sure if the actions were genuine, or simply another one of the many ways Kyouko tried to mess with her, natural born prankster that she was. Still, three years had changed a lot between them, maybe even too much. She always rejected even entertaining the idea of becoming an item with the redhead, mostly because it was too alien a concept to even consider. Besides, Kyouko's own advances were often clumsy and hesitant, as if the girl wasn't sure if she knew what she wanted herself. It was an awkward and unexpected aspect of their connection, one Homura had never thought she would have to deal with when it came to the redhead.
Well, it wasn't as if she absolutely hated it when Kyouko did that...
A loud snore derailed her train of thought, sending it into a ditch somewhere within her consciousness.
Homura felt nothing short of exasperation when she glanced down to find the source of all her internal turmoil passed out on her lap. The redhead was snoring softly as she dozed, chest rising and falling steadily. She looked out the window and realized the sun had set during their conversation. Looking back down at her friend, Homura found her eyes becoming mysteriously glued to Kyouko's lips, which were slightly parted and glistening where the redhead had licked them in her sleep. Biting her own and swallowing something unexplainable, Homura slipped out from under the girl's weight, quickly leaving the room.
She returned soon enough with a long blanket a thick pillow, draping the former over Kyouko's still snoring form and leaving the latter on the girl's chest, knowing that Kyouko liked something to hold on to while she slumbered. How Homura had obtained such information was not something she felt comfortable sharing, but it almost certainly had nothing to do with a cold night they had been forced to spend together in the same bed.
Leaving the girl to her own devices, she headed for the stairs.
The world was burning, and it was all her fault.
The floor, black as oil, but somehow not igniting under the torrential blaze heating her face. The fire. It was everywhere, on the walls, crawling along the ceiling, consuming her heart from the inside.
The silhouette of a body, slumped and fallen to the floor, miraculously untouched by the flames.
A look down. Hands covered in blood. Not her own.
She looked at the body again. It was pulling at her. She approached it, eyeing the slender, feminine back facing her. Whoever this was, she didn't seem to be alive.
"Who are you?" She asked aloud.
"You mean you don't remember?" A voice said back, but not from the body. it was around her, within her, everywhere.
She finally reached the body. Bending down, she touched the prone figure's shoulder. A black light erupted from where her skin made contact, engulfing her and the universe around them.
"Who are you?" She posed the question a second time, but felt like she already knew the answer.
The body spasmed and turned to drill her with a pair of cobalt blue eyes.
"I AM KOTA!"
She woke up screaming.
A nightmare. Her worst in a long time. Magical girls were often plagued by visions in their dreams, some of them even clairvoyant in nature.
Except this wasn't a look into the future.
It was past, and sometimes present. A memory.
She was shaking. What was wrong with her? Homura clenched her hands, trying to steady her pounding heart through the physical exertion alone. But the organ kept hammering at her ribcage like an angry prisoner. Her chest was heaving. She was covered in sweat. The night was suffocating around her.
Then a pair of warm arms wrapping around her waist, and she realized that Kyouko had slipped into bed with her at some point during the night.
The girl whispered something into her ear. It was unintelligible, but it comforted her. Despite the acute intimacy of the situation, Homura allowed herself to sink deeper into her friend's arms.
The warmth took her, and she fell asleep again.
Breakfast is in the fridge. If you want more, make your own.
Leaving the quickly scribbled note taped to Kyouko's forehead (Homura had long since learned that this was the only reliable way for her to make sure the redhead saw her messages), she stood still for a moment, taking one last look at her friend's peacefully slumbering face. She had wanted to thank the girl for her actions the previous night, but didn't know how she could demonstrate her gratitude. So she turned and headed out the door.
She tried not to think about her nightmare.
It was a cold morning outside, a typical October day. Cold wind whistled through the buildings surrounding her as Homura jogged down the street in order to get her blood flowing, heading for the center of Mitakihara. A few other early risers dotted the walkway around her, but they paid her no mind as she sped past them, hair trailing in the gust.
[Up early today, I see,] A voice murmured in her mind.
Thinking it was Kyubey at first, Homura stopped in her tracks and frowned upon realizing the voice had been female. Turning, she saw Mami walking up to her from behind with a bemused looking smile on her face, bundled up in a coat.
"Oh, Mami," The time traveler greeted, turning to face the blonde fully. "Good morning. What are you doing around here?"
Mami had grown a little after graduating from Mitakihara High almost a year ago, further accentuating the fact that Homura was the shortest of the three of them, something Kyouko never let her hear the end of. The blonde had left school with flying colors, of course, and she now ran a comfortable office job in the city that could bend to fit her ever changing schedule. Most people would have been surprised to see that Mami hadn't pursued a more rewarding career path, but then again most people weren't aware of the other job the blonde so often concerned herself with.
The smile grew wider. "Nothing really. I was actually on my way to pay the two of you a visit, but it seems that you're already headed somewhere?"
Though of course, she was still sporting those ridiculous drill-shaped ringlets.
Homura slipped her hands into the pockets of her parka, feeling the tail of her beanie flop a bit when she shrugged. "Just to the Market District. I have a couple things to pick up."
Mami's golden irises looked above the dark haired girl's head. "I see you're wearing Kyouko's present again," She said with a small smirk.
Homura reached up and self consciously toyed with the burgundy colored beanie hugging her head. It had been a late birthday present from the redhead, which had surprised her with the knowledge that Kyouko actually knew how to pick out a suitable gift. The beanie had proved to be surprisingly warm amidst the persistently cold city weather, so she often wore it. Plus, though she would never admit this aloud, it matched well with the rest of her clothing. It made Homura wonder if Kyouko had done that intentionally, but that would mean Kyouko was pay attention to what she wore, a thought she didn't feel comfortable having.
"It does its job," She finally said, trying not to look embarrassed and probably failing.
Mami openly laughed and patted a gloved hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you look great," The older girl assured her. "You should change up your style more often, I think. You would look much more attractive if you tried out new looks."
Homura sighed and resumed walking, the blonde falling into step beside her. "And who would I be trying to impress, exactly?"
"Hmm..." Mami put a finger to her chin and feigned consideration. "I don't know. Kyouko-chan, perhaps?" She suggested with a grin and a pair of raised eyebrows.
Homura snorted. "Sure, like she pays attention to anyone's looks. She doesn't even seem to care about her own, come to think of it."
"Mmm," The blonde replied, neither agreeing or disagreeing. "You know what, I think I'll join you at the Market, if you don't mind. I have a few things to look for too."
"You're not going to go check up on Kyouko?"
"We'll probably make it back before she wakes up."
"Oh, right."
As the two of them walked, the scenery about them slowly began to change. Homura's residence was, regrettably, considerably close to the border of the Impoverished District, the one section of the city which lacked the towering spires of chrome-plated skyscrapers that populated the rest of the space, and was generally regarded as the slums of Mitakihara. While she was far from living in the slums, the buildings in her neighborhood tended to be more mundane than the sparkling skyline in the distance.
Half an hour later, their surroundings had changed considerably. It was still early in the morning, but the Market District was already bustling with people darting into and out of the plethora of shops lining the streets. Mitakihara was partially famous for being the general store of the world, boasting everything from Egyptian cuisine restaurants to manga bookstores. It was the melting pot of the city, a New York within Mitakihara, where a flood of cultures and perspectives crashed together to form something haphazard, yet striking at the same time. The influx of diversity could mostly be attributed to the surge of new jobs that had continued to open up all over the area as the reconstruction revolution refused to run out of steam over the years. She could hardly recognize some of the particularly overhauled parts of the city anymore, considering how much they had invested into modernizing everything in sight.
"So what were you planning to look for?" Mami asked her, voice slightly raised over the din.
"Just a couple small things," Homura said back as she wove her way through the crowd, heading for a thick pillar protruding from an open courtyard across the street.
Yet the main attraction of the Market District was not the global sea of faces, or even the endless rows of stalls Homura slipped past as she made her way through the courtyard.
Any tourist who came to the Market District was there to see the Sky Engines.
She saw the crowd thinning out ahead of her as the immense pillar grew ever closer. As the distance between herself and her destination lessened, Homura could hear the steady throb of the rotors high above her.
The Sky Engines were, essentially, the power source of the entire district. She didn't know how else to describe them other than to say that they were extremely massive wind turbines that stood at fixed locations throughout the area, rotors twisting in the air whenever the weather was clear and gusty. Standing level with the tallest of the skyscrapers beside it, they truly were a triumph of modern technology. Homura also knew, thanks to her school curriculum, that a single Sky Engine pulled in enough energy to power thousands of buildings, and the five that were stationed here in the Market were the lifeblood of the local economy. The city had lost billions in yen the last time more than one turbine experienced a power failure.
Though to tell the truth, Homura wasn't interested in any of that.
Mami panted to catch up as the dark haired girl pushed open the wide doors which led into the interior of the base of the Engine. Trusting the older girl to keep up, Homura strode over the to reception desk and bought two tickets for a ride up to the top.
"I didn't know you were into turbines, Homura," Mami said skeptically when she handed the blonde one of the tickets.
The girl in question chuckled as she pushed through the security bars and started making her way towards the lift. "I'm not. We're obviously visiting the shop." Around them, people milled about, either observing the memorabilia on the walls or waiting in line for their own pass. It almost felt like an airport.
A light in front of them dinged and the doors hissed open. Stepping into the elevator-esque interior, Homura waited for Mami to step in with her before pressing the button. There were no floor levels listed here; the lift only made one stop.
There was a strange shift in gravity below them for just a moment, and the lift began gaining speed as it crawled up the cables in its initial stages. Then a resounding rush of air, and they were shooting up the chute and into the sky at a surprising clip, making them stumble a bit.
Mami groaned when the effects of the lift squeezed her guts under the rapidly changing air pressure. Clutching her abdomen in discomfort, she reached out and grabbed onto the railing. Homura, though sympathetic, felt no such pain.
A bright flash of light made them squint harshly away from the transparent walls of the lift. The chamber they were currently standing in was under a roof for the first fifty feet of its ascent, but afterwards it emerged into a reinforced glass tube that ran up the length of the turbine, thus exposing them to the complete wrath of the morning sun.
Homura raised a hand to her eyes to shield them and tried staring down to distract herself, but this only served to inform her that the floor was also transparent, and seeing the crowds below them disappearing like they were spontaneously combusting made her feel just a tad dizzy. She ended up resorting to staring back stubbornly at the sun. It was like a muddy halo in the clam gray sky, the shadows of the buildings in the distance like vengeful spears against the stark white.
The horizon above them was a disturbing shade of cobalt blue.
She stared at the dwindling city before her. How different looking at it made her feel now. She had only ever wanted something from this city, an end to an infinite cycle of tragedy and suffering. Mitakihara had always been the place where she wanted - no, needed - to get something done. But now that was all over. It had struck a deep cord in her upon realizing it. What was she supposed to do with herself now? For so long, her sole purpose had been the fulfillment of her wish. Now that it was over, what was she meant to do?
The answer had taken longer than she would have liked to formulate into something tangible. She would put her head to accomplishing something in school and graduate with honors. She would find a new place to live, and maybe another person to be there with. Mami would become a true adult and she would be there to see it. Kyouko needed some managing, so she would be there to do it. But not even that could last forever. As she grew older, Homura could only look around and see the paths closing around her. She would never get anywhere as she was.
Like so many other things, Homura had failed to see it coming, but it had now become imperative that she seek an actual future for herself, whether it be in Mitakihara or somewhere among the far reaches of the world. It had taken her a solid three years to figure it out, but Homura had recently found herself filled with a strange motivation to do something, to go out and discover something for herself. She had lived her life tied to the obligations of magical girls and Incubators for too long. Homura was well aware that she would never be able to escape her fate as a magical girl, but it didn't have to be everything that she was.
She wanted to become her own person, for a change.
It was certainly one of the reasons she didn't want to indulge in Kyouko's intimacy, though not the biggest one.
Looking back, she noted that Mami had finally recovered from her initial vertigo sickness, and was now standing quietly behind her. The steady hum of the lift's engines pervaded the air around them. Homura suddenly wondered if she should have attempted to make conversation with the blonde. While she didn't feel that they could ever be the best of friends, she had grown considerably more fond of the older girl as she learned more about her. Just more proof that though she had been wise for her age, there had been many things she was wrong about in the past. Her evaluation of Mami was definitely one of them.
"So, what are we looking for again?" Her senior suddenly asked, catching the dark haired girl's look.
Homura blinked. Another thing that made the Sky Engines such a great tourist attraction were the large shops attached to the backs of the rotors, integrated where the internally mechanisms of the machine would normally be. "Just something small. Simple, really."
"A gift?"
Homura found herself blushing slightly at the thought. "Maybe."
Mami just frowned back at her, internally trying to remember any special events that might have been coming up. "Well, it's not like we celebrate Halloween here, so..." Her voice trailed off until she realized what it was.
Then she smiled slyly.
"So, what are you going to get her, a beanie to match?" Mami asked the slightly younger girl, an obvious teasing lilt to her tone.
Homura blushed up a storm, though she tried to hide it by facing away from the other girl, only succeeding in blinding herself with the sun again. "Certainly not. She would probably lose it within a week."
"I think you'd both look absolutely adorable in matching burgundy," Mami contributed happily.
"Your opinion is completely unappreciated on this topic," Homura replied stiffly, all too aware that her style of speech became extremely formal when she was embarrassed.
The blonde just laughed at her, leveraging her older presence to the complete hilt, pushing her friend's irritation ever further. "Alright, fine. God, how quickly time flies. How old is she turning, again?"
"Seventeen."
Mami shook her head in a 'they grow up so fast' way. "And I'm already pushing nineteen. I'll be thirty and married before I know it," She sighed.
Deciding she wasn't even going to bother figuring out how weird the idea of Mami settling down with someone and having kids was, Homura only offered a disgruntled grunt.
The blonde just laughed again. "Okay, fine. I'm being unfair. But you and Kyouko have gotten so much closer lately, it's making me a little jealous. The two of you always got along just fine, but I never expected you to become such good friends."
Biting back a correction that she and Kyouko hadn't always gotten along just fine, Homura shrugged in response. "I had my doubts about her. But she's a good person at heart."
Mami grinned back at her. "And quite pretty, too, don't you think? She's got quite a reputation underground, you know. And not just for her fists. She's a good catch, that one."
"I haven't caught anything," Homura replied, immensely exasperated. "And I don't plan to, either."
The blonde turned to check their progress; though the lift moved fast, it still took several minutes to reach its apex. A small smile was hidden on her lips. "She might, though," Mami murmured.
Homura could tell the comment was intended to be cryptic. "I'm well aware," She quipped blandly.
Mami shot her head around and stared openly at the shorter girl. "Wait, seriously?"
Homura was furious to find that she had once again failed to keep a blush from creeping onto her face. "Well...yes. I'm not stupid. And Kyouko isn't the most subtle of people."
The blonde just shook her head in disbelief. "Sure, but...you never seem concerned about anything of the sort when you're with her. Or from what I've seen, anyway. And Kyouko tells me that she's hardly made any progress with you."
She was extremely tempted to drill the older girl further on just why she and Kyouko were coordinating on such a god forsaken venture (the venture being Homura's heart, she supposed), but knew it would distract from the topic at hand. After all, she had decided she needed to say something important today. Now was as good a time as any.
"What a shame," Mami continued. "You could have been each other's first loves."
"Not my first," Homura reminded her blandly.
The blonde's eyes went wide when she realized her mistake. "Oh God, Homura, I'm sorry-"
"It's fine," She interrupted for the second time in as many days. "Don't worry about it."
"I'm assuming this is going to be a one sided venture on her part, then?" Mami continued, eyeing her friend for a response.
"I..." Homura began, at a rare loss for words. "I don't know. I can tell that she's interested. It's not like I'm disgusted by that, not in the slightest. I care for her, I really do. But I'm not sure what it would curtail if I accept her advances. I might not be able to do what I'm supposed to do. I don't even know if I can. It wouldn't be fair for me to do something like that to her."
She looked to her side and realized she had been rambling; Mami obviously had no idea what she was trying to get at.
Sighing, Homura took a step forward and placed a slender hand flat against the slippery plexiglass, gazing at her own reflection and the metropolis coloring its contours.
"Once I graduate from Mitakihara High," She said steadily, "I want to leave this city."
She heard Mami stiffen behind her, and imagined the varied emotions warring across the blonde's face at that moment. She stood in silence, waiting for a response.
"...Why?" Was the reaction that finally came. Homura felt a small measure of relief; at least the older girl was giving her a chance to explain herself. That wasn't something Mami would have done in the past. Even she had done with some maturing.
Homura let her hand drop, feeling it dangle at her side. "I can't really explain it," She replied. "I just feel like I need to go out and make something of myself. Become my own person, if you want to call it that. I feel like I've been in this city for my entire life, and I almost have been. When I sit down and think about the future and what it might bring, I can't imagine anything changing for me if I stay here. Nothing develops here anymore. Or at least, not for me. I've figured out everything this environment has to offer."
Deciding that was probably the most accurate summation she could muster, Homura waited for Mami's response. At first, it didn't come.
"I've heard it's a very common feeling among people our age," She tried to assure her. "And I'll visit often, of course."
"What about Kyouko?"
"...What?"
"What about her?" Mami asked her again, crossing her arms, that familiar stubborn look Homura both admired and hated settling into her face again. "You said you've figured everything out. Have you figured her out, then? What do you plan to do about her?"
"I..." Homura found herself mumbling. Damn it, she had been so certain, so sure. Why did Mami always have to impose the most annoying questions? "Why do I have to do anything at all?" She said at last, but it sounded weak, even to her.
Mami sighed heavily, taking a moment to stare at the progress bar again. They were very close to the top now.
"Look," She began. "I'm not trying to hinder you or make this difficult, I promise. I'm really not. But I've known Kyouko for a very long time, even longer than you, and I've never seen her this sure about something before. She never expressed any particular interest in someone before we had our fight, or even after, come to think of it. You know her history as well as I do, Homura. And you know she has a hard time completely trusting anyone. But she trusts you, she really does. Kyouko will never say it, but she wants you to stay with her, even if she never ends up being with you in the way she wants to. Have you seen how cheerful she is lately? You've become her steadying force, Homura. Personally, I don't think you should abandon that role so easily."
Homura blinked in barely veiled surprise. Did Kyouko's affection for her run that deep? Even if she didn't want to, she had always thought that the redhead's feelings weren't something particularly grounding. Superficial, even.
"Look, maybe you just need a break," Mami spoke again, reaching up to squeeze the shorter girl's shoulder. "Things have gotten a little easier around here lately, but with the Gathering and everything, you've still been working hard. If you want, I can ask Kyubey-"
"Don't tell Kyubey about any of this," Homura snarled back. Then she caught herself, surprised at her own visceral response.
Mami, caught off guard, let her hand drop.
"Why not?"
Why not, indeed? Of course it would be Mami who pushed Homura far enough to realize her true motives. It was true that she wanted to explore beyond the city. It was true that she felt trapped here. But that wasn't the true reason she wanted to leave Mitakihara behind so badly.
The truth was, she was sick of being a magical girl.
"I've grown tired of what we do, every day," Homura said softly, her own way of apologizing for snapping at the blonde earlier. "The endless Demons every night, hearing about new girls getting contracted and merged into the federation, having Kyubey hovering over my back every minute of every day, I'm sick of it. I'm tired of being what I am."
She turned to look Mami in the eye then, and was frustrated when she saw nothing but sympathy there, the look of a doting mother watching her child make a common mistake. This was why she hadn't wanted to explain herself to anyone. Nobody could understand what she wanted.
"Do you think I don't know where you're coming from?" The blonde asked at last. "I struggled with the same thing, myself. I still am. What about my future? What about my dreams, my aspirations? I can't pursue any of them, being what I am. But I've come to accept it, Homura. And Kyouko has too. I think we all have to, eventually. It's a part of survival."
"Do I have to accept it simply because everyone else has?" Homura wondered aloud. "My fate is not something I'm trying to escape. I know it will always be a part of me. But I don't want it to be my identity. I feel like the cancer patients at the General Hospital sometimes, as if I have become my disease. There's no room for anything else but my 'cancer'. I can't settle for a life like that."
"Then what about us?" Mami interjected desperately, finally losing her cool. "What about everything we've built here, the federation, our friendship, everything? You can't possibly leave it all behind to find your...your place in the world."
The lift's ascent came to an abrupt halt at that moment, shuddering to a sudden halt at the apex of the glass tube. The chrome doors behind them hissed open, revealing the expansive store beyond them. Homura stepped out and turned, expecting Mami to follow, but the blonde simply stared back at her, not moving from her spot in the center of the lift.
"The doors are going to close," Homura murmured, as if the older girl needed reminding.
Mami just shook her head, looking entirely too stressed. "We're not done talking about this," She said. "But I need to get back to the Gathering. I'll take the lift back down. I hope you find a nice gift for Kyouko."
Homura bit her lip, something that had become a sort of habit whenever she was nervous. "Okay," She said back, the word feeling oddly colloquial on her tongue.
The chrome plated doors slammed shut between them, blowing her hair back with the force of the jet engines behind the walls. She heard the lift descending behind the barrier, and then it was gone.
She stood staring at where Mami had been for a moment longer, processing the events that had just transpired in her brain. Then, sighing, she turned and made her way into the store.
I hope she doesn't go and tell Kyouko about all this.
As she walked, the shopping crowds opened up and swallowed her.
I don't know what I'd say to her if she did.
Homura took a deep breath. She was allowing herself to get distracted. Sometimes she wished for the unbreakable composure she had once had, back when she had still been a time traveler. After a prolonged period of relative calm, her mental determination had weakened somewhat. A gift. She should focus on finding one. That was why she was here, after all.
Eyeing the various products set out on the counters from afar, Homura strode through the rows of shops as discreetly as she could. The space itself very closely resembled a mall, if malls typically were stationed a thousand feet in the air. The weather outside was still clear, and the building was ringed by transparent glass windows, so one could see the gargantuan rotors spinning through the barriers. Several knots of small children were already gathered at the edge of the room, admiring the mechanical masterpiece.
She had considered gifting Kyouko with heaps of food, which certainly would have been the most convenient route to take. It wasn't as if the girl wouldn't be delighted to receive something like that from anyone. But she gave Kyouko food virtually every day, and the only thing separating her gift from that would be the sheer amount. While Homura wasn't the most romantic of people, she still wanted the present to hold some significance.
Nevertheless, Homura strode right past the stalls which presented perfumes or racks of expensive clothing; it wouldn't suit Kyouko, in her opinion. She continued to wander aimlessly among the endless rows of stalls, until she turned a corner and felt something catch her eye.
Stopping, Homura looked down at a necklace sitting snugly in its case. The first thing that struck her about it was the design; a rigid diamond shape was carved into what looked to be an oval ruby, though she couldn't say anything towards its actual authenticity. She vaguely recalled the fact that Kyouko's own Soul Gem was an oval shaped ruby, and she obviously knew that her own was in the shape of a diamond.
Reaching down, she scooped up the piece of jewelry, turning it over gingerly in her fingers. It was linked only by a delicate looking silver chain, but Homura knew from experience that it would be reinforced metal, meant not to break under even the most strenuous circumstances.
"An excellent choice, ma'am," The lady across the counter noted. "Have you taken a fancy to it?"
"Maybe," Homura murmured, looking it over once more. "Might be a little too expensive for me, though."
"I think it's beautiful. You must have excellent taste," Said a third voice beside her.
"Why, thank you," Homura said, before looking up to find out who it was that had just spoken to her.
A pair of cobalt blue eyes stared right back at her.
She dropped the necklace, sending it clattering to the hard linoleum floor.
"What's the matter?" Asked the owner of the terrifying eyes, as she smiled at the time traveler bemusedly. "You look awfully pale, Akemi-san."
"I…I..." She choked out, having suddenly run out of sufficient oxygen to formulate a proper response. She tried to take a step back but somehow stumbled, lashing out and grabbing onto the edge of the counter to steady herself.
"Ma'am?" The lady behind it inquired, sounding concerned.
Homura threw a wild look at the woman, who just looked back at her blankly. It suddenly occurred to her that the lady couldn't see the third person beside the counter. Jerking her head back to the cobalt blue eyes, she realized why.
The girl in front of her was absolutely radiating with magical energy. A shifting blue aura surrounded her person, and Homura's dilating pupils took in her azure themed armor. Of course the lady behind the counter wouldn't be able to see a completely transformed magical girl.
"Don't worry, I've got you," Kota assured her, reaching out and grabbing Homura by both wrists. She almost screamed. The girl's hands were like burning ice. Her lightning blue hair shifted and she leaned in to whisper something into Homura's ear.
"I'm going to be taking your wings away, if you don't mind."
A blackness erupted at the edges of her vision, and the world spun around and knocked her down.
Eyes flickering back to life a moment later, and Homura found herself sprawled on the floor. People were yelling in shock around her, but she only saw the cobalt blue eyes standing over her and smirking down. There was an incredible pressure crushing into her chest, but when her hands scrabbled at her collarbone she found nothing there, as if gravity itself was attempting to squash her out of unsought spite.
Lips to her ear again, that same chilling voice sinking its frozen fangs into her skin.
"Look outside, Akemi-san. I've brought a present, just for you."
Chest heaving, something caught at the edge of Homura's consciousness. She had collapsed near the row of windows ringing the perimeter, so when she flopped her head to the side she was more than able to see the three bolts of energy screaming towards the base of the turbine.
"I won't be joining you for the ride down," The girl sighed in mock disappointment. "But I do hope you have fun.
Someone behind her started shouting and pointing at the projectiles heading towards them.
"Goodbye, Akemi Homura," Kota whispered before flickering out of existence.
Teleportation, the barely functioning logic driven part of her mind told her.
A second later, the missiles hit their targets.
There was a terrific crash, so complete and utter that it pierced her ears and made her feel actual pain from the force of the sound waves alone. The entire structure around them shuddered at the force of the impact, sending several people falling to the ground. Then the entire floor was tilting under her, and Homura heard the distant roar of an explosion far below them. Screams tore through the air as the building gave a final, terrifying lurch and lost equalization completely, the chest-rending groan of the metal supports beneath them as they snapped under the pressure.
Gasping and flailing her arms about in desperation, Homura could do nothing as she slid backwards and was launched into the air, flipping once before striking the reinforced glass window hard enough to knock the wind out of her a second time. She barely had time to realize that the windows were now the floor before she looked up to see a cloud of unsecured store items falling towards her. Yelling and holding her arms over her face, Homura cracked one eye open and saw the civilians around her also cowering under the rain of products, their screams melding together into a single cohesive roar of terror. The walls around them were rumbling throughout it all, and through the opposite windows Homura saw the turbine's rotors become engulfed in flames, turning it into a gyrating wheel of fire.
Transform. She needed to transform. Somehow, through the shouts of the people around her and the wind bellowing into her ears and the fire raging around her, she realized this. Scrabbling at her pockets, fingers numb from how intensely the blood was singing in her veins, she yanked out her Soul Gem and began to activate it. Then she cried out in pain when the same necklace she had been admiring a moment ago fell from above and stabbed into her hand, sending both the jewelry and her Gem skittering across the glass surface. She was about to dive after it when the last of the metal supports keeping the turbine in one piece failed.
After one impossible, gravity-less moment, they began to fall.
"Fuck!" Homura half gasped, half screamed when her body was launched upwards this time, in keeping with the kinetic energy of the building falling with her. Twisting uncontrollably up past the now empty rows of counters, Homura sobbed when she finally struck against the edge of a bolted down table and managed to grab hold of it. Her legs flew out from under her and her shoulders screamed as they struggled to maintain their grip. Flaming pieces of rubble were streaming up towards her from the bottom of the falling building, and she made heart stopping eye contact with a man who flew past her and locked their eyes together for a millisecond, allowed her to see the incomprehensible fear devouring his irises. And then he was gone, yanked upwards by the wind, his screams fading into oblivion.
Something controlled emerged from within her mind. She couldn't hold on like this forever. The ground was rushing up to meet her at an impossible clip, and literal throngs of people were whipping past her, having lost their grip already. Her brain was screaming at her to make a decision, to figure out just what in the world she was going to do, but the truth was that there was nothing she could think of, nothing to save her, not when there was a ball of fire roaring below her and whirling shards of glass cutting into her skin. A deep gash was already running its way up the length of her left arm, the thick droplets of blood beading together and streaming past her, staining her hair, blinding her. Clutching at her chest, she tried to make a decision.
Her circumstances made one for her. With another resounding explosion, a massive chunk of the flaming rotor below her detached itself from the main superstructure, torn away by the force of the wind. It crashed through the reinforced steel walls and rushed up to meet her, and Homura knew she had to let go.
Releasing her hands, she gasped when the air sucked her up and out of the burning building, and suddenly she was higher, watching the turbine fall to its fiery doom from above. Twisting, the wind shifted her to the side just barely enough to avoid getting crushed by the piece of the rotor that blew past her a second later, disintegrating into nothing.
Then a second object wheeling past her, this one much smaller, and glowing an intense purple.
Her hands lashed out instinctively and seized onto her Soul Gem, which had become entangled within the necklace. Looking down a final time, Homura suddenly realized she had about five seconds before she struck the ground.
Opening her jaws and yelling something that was lost in the wind, Homura twisted around in the air and transformed at the last moment, clutching the necklace to her chest. Closing her eyes, she summoned her wings.
They didn't come.
Eyes shooting open in panic, she tried to force the angelic protrusions to materialize again, but they wouldn't. There was only the crushing pressure on her chest, and the cobalt blue's words flitted through her mind again.
I'll be taking you wings away, If you don't mind.
She couldn't fly. She couldn't fly. Her eyes unfocused at the realization, blurring everything above her away, the screaming people above her, the fire circling in the sky, everything.
In that instant, she knew true fear.
Kyouko-
The ground slammed into a her a moment later, and the world went black.
Because I think the Puella Magi crew would be even cooler with a few more years added on, and because intense explosions are always a good thing, and because I totally ship KyouHomu, fuck yeah, KyouHomu's awesome.
And, once again, Kota is an OC. So don't worry about it if you have no idea about her, as the mysteries are likely to continue.
I have no idea what I'm thinking starting a multichapter fic right before school starts.
Anyway, I'd greatly appreciate it if you left any thoughts in the reviews.
Thanks for the reading!
~Banshee