In a small one-room apartment on the edge of Mitakihara City, a young girl was finishing up with an extra special cake.
The calendar behind Mami proudly displayed that it was October 31st. Halloween night. Pumpkins were scattered around the room and cobwebs were up on the walls. However, tonight was extra special for one reason.
This year, I'm not alone.
The cake in front of her was decorated in orange and black, with a little black candy spider in the center. Mami smiled at her talent, now excited as she prepared her costume to go with it.
Madoka was the first to arrive.
"Is...anyone here?" she asked quietly. "You are home, right Mami?"
Mami jumped out from behind a nearby counter, sending Madoka into a panic. She had sported a "headless horseman" appearance, a pumpkin over her head and a mold of her real head on a small tray.
"M-M-M-Mami...A-Are you o-okay?"
She might have overdone it.
Mami removed the pumpkin, giving Madoka closure that she was fine. She also now had a good look at her costume, deciding to appear as an angel, complete with white wings, a small halo, and a long pink tinted dress.
"You look...godlike." She commented.
"Really? It just came to me earlier today. You think it's that good?" She shyly replied.
Mami nodded. "Of course. It's almost fitting as well. 'The angel that will curb the corruption'. How does that sound?"
Madoka simply blushed and avoided her eyes before taking a seat, a small slice of cake in front of her. She dug in, the smile on her face being all the answer she needed.
The second to arrive was Homura.
Walking in the door, Homura immediately felt a spider on her face. Slapping it off in a panic, she met Mami's smug face, a little stick with string in hand. Before Mami even had a chance to blink, she felt something down her back before realizing the stick wasn't in her hand anymore.
Mami turned around, but this time, it was Homura's turn to let a little smile out. In the background, Madoka tried her best not to laugh, though did it poorly.
Homura sported a devil costume, little horns poking from her head, a tail piece, and black wings, contrasted to Madoka's white. Before she could say anything, Homura walked to the table before taking a little of Madoka's cake.
"Hey…." Madoka responded, half jokingly, giving her a little nudge
"Such a cute couple." She thought.
Mami smiled at them both before continuing her preparations.
Kyoko arrived a few short minutes later.
Mami prepared her scare for her but was taken aback with what she saw. Kyoko was covered with dried blood, a torn outfit, and what appeared to be in a limp.
"Oh my god, Kyoko, what happened to you? Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine" she laughably replied "but I may have gone too far with the zombie look. I honestly didn't like the idea of doing this at first, but Sayaka eventually got me to do it."
Mami let herself rest, ignoring Madoka and Homura attempting to imitate her terrified expression. Kyoko grabbed a slice of cake (which she could swear was bigger than the others) before sitting down, pretending to dig into it like a zombie would, sending the other girls into tears laughing.
Sayaka was the last to arrive.
She hadn't even walked in the door before having a spider thrown onto her face. Sayaka simply wiped it off her face before looking at Mami.
"If you want to scare me, you'll have to do better than that."
Mami simply pouted a little.
"Hey, Sayaka, could ya at least pretend to be scared?" Kyoko shouted from across the room.
Sayaka simply sighed. "I'm not sure I could even do that."
Sayaka had decided to sport a witch appearance, a black hat, black dress, and broomstick in hand. Across the room, the other girls jokingly drew their weapons at her.
"Maybe we're in a labyrinth and don't realize it yet." Madoka said. The other girls nodded in response, prompting Sayaka to back up a little.
"Hey, you're not actually gonna attack me, right?"
Homura and Madoka got up, slowly walking towards her, before chasing her around the room.
"Mami, do something about these two" Sayaka yelled laughingly
"It's the duty of magical girls to hunt witches, after all" Mami responded. "You're on your own."
"I was so foolish to choose this costume…" Sayaka yelled from across the room.
Kyubey simply watched from a distance.
"Honestly, humans and their weird traditions. I'll never understand them." He said before darting off into the night.
An hour passed before things really calmed down, Sayaka laying on Mami's couch, and the other girls enjoying the last of the cake. Kyoko stood up and faced the other four.
"I say we go out tonight. Get lots of candy. Who's in?"
"I thought we were going to stay in and have a party tonight, just the 5 of us. Wasn't that the plan?" Homura responded.
"We can sit in Mami's apartment and eat cake any day, but we may not get another day like this one. We should make it last."
Madoka stood up.
"I'm with Kyoko. We're still middle schoolers after all, and it'll be fun."
Mami nodded.
"Yes, I think this is a great idea, but who will watch over the room? I laid out candy and everything." Mami replied.
Kyoko pulled her soul gem out of her pocket before making a duplicate of herself, still in costume. Kyoko looked at her doppel, satisfied with the result.
"Was that really necessary? I can just stay behind, if need be. I'm the oldest after all."
Sayaka got up off the couch. "If we're doing this tonight, it has to be all 5 of us. It won't be the same if we leave Mami behind."
Kyoko grabbed a nearby piece of paper, before writing "Take one", putting it on the bowl and not-so-sneakily taking a few pieces of candy.
Mami sighed before opening the door with a smile, the evening sky looking down on them.
"Let's go, everyone" she excitedly said
The night sky overtook them all as they walked from house to house, street to street, district to district. Things were much easier thanks to Homura's time stopping abilities and their convincing costumes.
"Look at all of this. We can make this last until next year if we wanted to" Sayaka excitedly said, having just gotten a massive chocolate bar from a very generous house.
"Not for Kyoko…" Madoka whispered. She pretended not to hear as she started chewing a small piece of taffy.
"I can do what I want with this candy. You can't judge me."
They approached the next house, knocking at the door.
No answer.
Sayaka knocked again, this time a little harder.
No answer.
"Their pumpkins are still lit, so they should be home" Homura added. "Maybe they're just taking their time"
"Maybe they forgot to un-light their pumpkins. I think we should just go." Madoka suggested.
Nobody had noticed Mami, who had gone around to the side.
"I think we have a problem" She nervously said. Everyone went to where Mami was standing, and there on the door, was a witch egg.
"Are you kidding me? On a night like tonight?" Kyoko reluctantly exasperated. "Can't we just let someone else take care of it and enjoy ourselves tonight?"
Mami shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't walk away from this. If any young kids get trapped in this labyrinth, I'll never forgive myself."
Sayaka stepped forward.
"It'll be in and out, Kyoko. Just a few short minutes. Besides, we've hit a lot of houses tonight. We probably won't be getting much more."
"But what about our candy? We can't just carry it all in there, can we?" Madoka added
"I'll take it, if you'd like." Homura replied, putting her shield in front of her.
The girls, one by one, threw their candy into the shield, before looking back at the house.
"Everyone ready?" Mami asked.
The girls nodded their heads before making their way into the labyrinth. The inside seemed to resemble a haunted house, if a crude one.
"In and out" Sayaka repeated, beginning her transformation sequence before having her soul gem taken by a small familiar.
"Hey, what gives?" Kyoko added, now noticing that her own soul gem was gone.
"I think they like our costumes." Madoka whispered. The familiar seemed to nod, trailing a few feet behind them.
"If we make it to the end, the familiar should give them back to us." Homura added.
"Everyone, stick together. Don't get separated." Mami whispered.
The group walked through a creaky hallway, little crude plastic ghosts hanging on the walls. As they walked, Kyoko looked back at the rest of the group.
"Hey, we're one girl short."
Everyone turned their heads. They were right. Their little devil had gone missing somewhere.
"She had all our candy too, and without her soul gem, she'll have a rough time." Kyoko added.
"Don't worry. I magically enhanced our costumes a little, in the event of something like this happening" Mami replied. "Besides, if one of us manages to kill this witch, she should be back safe and sound.
Kyoko reluctantly continued forward, keeping a closer watch on everyone in the room. The four girls continued down the hallways, attacking flying "ghosts" and "zombies" as they moved. As they made another turn, the lights flickered for a moment, everyone quickly assuming battle positions. The lights turned on soon after, and their witch was missing.
"That idiot, running off on us." Kyoko whispered.
Madoka simply hung her head, and the three continued walking. However, Kyoko ran up ahead to Mami, getting beside her.
"Hey, I think something's wrong with our little angel over there. She hasn't said anything since Homura disappeared."
Mami took a quick glance back. Madoka was simply walking, observing the house.
"You think someone is impersonating her?" Mami asked.
"Not someone. Something."
They continued walking together before Mami turned around.
"If you're the real Kaname Madoka, then tell us. Here and now." Mami asked.
Madoka just laughed, lifting her face to reveal a twisted expression, before that face began to replace itself with another. The body began to transform, becoming a twisted form of an angel. From behind, a blue haired broomstick rider followed with the same twisted expression and a black haired devil close behind.
Mami didn't hesitate, but instead began to run, Kyoko following her. Turning a corner, they entered a large room where they saw the others from across the room. Sayaka, Madoka and Homura fought off a yellow pumpkin rider and a rotted version of Kyoko. From behind Mami, the others began to enter.
"One of these is likely the witch. If we take them out, it's all over." Homura stated, everyone nodding in response.
Kyoko rushed to her zombied self. The zombie grabbed Kyoko by the leg, going in for the bite, before Kyoko stomped her arm off. With another swift kick, another leg came off, rendering it immobile. Grabbing it by the head, Kyoko took it off before throwing it across the room, and the zombie sinked into the ground.
"Not me" She yelled "but that's one down"
"Good to know" Sayaka yelled, narrowly dodging the broomstick flying at her. The witch made another approach before Sayaka jumped onto the broom.
"Nothing personal" She said, kicking the witch off the broomstick before flying it into her body. The witch sank into the ground, along with what remained of the broomstick.
"Looks like the witch isn't the witch either."
Mami looked at the headless figure, holding a lifelike model of her head, if a little twisted. She rolled from its sword strike, quickly getting up and grabbing the head and covering its eyes.
"This is how you see, right?" Mami enjoyably asked. The figure began walking around aimlessly, seeming unnoticed to Mami stealing its sword, before cutting it in two. The body sank into the wood, the head melting in her hands (a sight that's not leaving her imagination anytime soon)
"Not mine" She yelled.
Homura looked off at her devil form, a demonic look to herself. It looked interesting, and she would have looked at it more, were it not trying to kill her. The devil in front of her stabbed a pitchfork just in front of her, barely missing the reach. Homura got behind the devil figure before pulling it to the floor and stabbing the pitchfork into its chest. Like the others, it simply melted.
"Nothing on my end" Homura stated.
The angel in front of her dove to reach her before picking her up into the air. Madoka began climbing the body, getting on its back, before tearing off the wings. The angel fell to the floor, thankfully breaking most of her fall when she landed.
The angel simply disappeared into the air, littering the ground with their soul gems, before the labyrinth began to disappear. By now, the houses were all dark, the pumpkins having long gone out.
"Aw man...We missed the rest of the candy" Kyoko exasperatedly sighed.
"I actually thought that was a lot of fun, especially that haunted house" Madoka said.
Everyone nodded their heads in response, even Kyoko, though reluctantly. From that point, the girls recounted their experience on the long walk home, and about the candy they would enjoy later.
Back at Mami's room, the girls sat across the floor, excited for their candy.
"I'd like to thank you for holding onto our candy, Homura, so let's all enjoy it together." Mami asked.
Homura let out the bags along with a smile.
"I don't seem to remember you saying anything about giving the bags back, or would you like to make a deal with the devil?"
"Okay, that was a super lame joke, but I want my candy." Kyoko said, now practically exhausted.
"Alright, but on one condition: We all do this again next year." Homura stated. "It's as Kyoko stated, after all. Nights like this don't come often."
"I'm all for it, if you're all for it." Mami stated.
"I could do without the witch labyrinth, thank you, but I agree." Sayaka added.
"If it means I can have my hard-earned candy, then sure." Kyoko replied.
"I'd love to. I'm in." Madoka excitedly said.
"Alright, with that settled, let's celebrate the occasion" Homura stated.
Everyone put out their soul gems into the center, all of them nodding.
"To the unbeatable candy quintet" they all said, lifting them into the air as a sort of toast. Homura distributed the bags to everyone, all of them opening to check their loot.
"Let's dig in!" All of them said as they ate the night away.