Disclaimer: I don't own crap, except the situation.

Author's Note: SHUT. UP. I LOVE HOMURA! Leave me the HELL alone! This is just a little one shot I thought up... might be a two shot, who knows?

My Best Friend, Homura

The massive figure of the Witch known only as Walpurgisnacht hung over the battlefield like a shadow of death watching a battle, waiting to carry those away who die. But this was no mere shadow, this Witch, one of almost impossibly incredible power, was no simply illusion or ghost... it was real. The body of the young woman before me a chilling reminder of it's power. Shapes – what I could only imagine were at one point support struts for various buildings in the city, began to float upwards endlessly, drawn that direction, most likely, by the massive amounts of evil energy the Witch was producing. The girl crouched before me sighed and stood, like a convict being lead to the electric chair.

"Here I go." She stated firmly, looking down at me, I looking up through tear-filled eyes. I inhaled raspy, my breath hardly able to come to me with the weight of what had just happened.

"But... Tomoe-san..." I muttered softly, looking down at the battered and bruised corpse of Mami, laid out in best 'rest in peace' fashion as I could muster, only to shy away from the sight of my friend dead before me. "...Just died..." I finished, sniffling, looking at the standing girl in the pink dress. Quickly turning on her heels to face Walpurgisnacht, the girl stated in a firm, resolved voice.

"That's why. Now I'm the only one who can stop the Walpurgis Night..." She stared out towards it with an unflinching, statue like stance, almost as if staring would cause it to crumble.

"It's impossible!" I begged, tears falling from my eyes with the sudden head movement. "You can't win alone against that!" I continued, hands clenching the frills of my skirt, heart racing uneasily. "You'll die too, Kaname-san!" I continued, slumping farther back onto my knees, hopelessness now sinking into my very soul.

"Still-" Came Madoka's rock-solid tone, her muscles stalwart. "I'm a Puella Magi..." She breathed, almost as if it was a fact she wasn't proud of. "I must protect everyone." With this, my head sunk, my eyes staring at the cold rubble that was the ground between my legs, eyes trembling as I looked.

"Let's..." I started, brain wracking itself for some kind of alternative. "Let's run away!" Shutting my watering eyes against the realization, I continued. "There's nothing we can do!" I blinked a few times, trying to see once more. "No one would hold it against you!" I heard the sound of her feet shifting as she turned once more, probably to face my pathetic form, trying the coward's way out.

"Homura, I'm happy we became friends." Without stopping to breathe, she continued. "When we got there in time when you were attacked by the Witch..." She gave a happy little sigh, almost unheard. "I'm still proud of that." Raising my head, I found the courage to face my friend once more, my eyes tracking from her feet to her face. With a smile on her face, one of proud sacrifice, she finished her monologue. "So I really think it was worth becoming a Puella Magi." I started loosing my composure as the finality of our good-bye loomed before me, as obvious as the shadow of the Witch in the distance.

"Kaname-san..." I muttered, Madoka giving me a few final parting words.

"Good bye, Homura." Turning on her heel, she jogged towards the massive Witch and with a final "Take care!", she leapt towards it, to what would be her final battle. My eyes widened in shock as I watched her jump to what she could only expect to be her death, and with a final burst of sadness, shouted to her disappearing figure.

"Kana... KANAME-SAN!" My arms stretched out to her, hoping I could catch her, stop this foolish waste of such a good life... but she was already too far gone...

There was no battle. There was no grand finish where good triumphed over evil... there was no happy ending. Heaven knew that, and chose appropriate weather. As Walpurgisnacht moved on from the shattered, half-dead body of Madoka, I chased after her, the rain pelting my head and chest, soaking me to the core. There, lying in a slowly growing puddle of water, was Madoka's body, her hand outstretched as the last vestiges of life left her. Slumping to my knees in the dreary rain, I hung over her body, tears now mixing in with the rain as I came to the realization that this was real... this was no dream... no figment of my over-active imagination, set on cruise control after my six month stint in the hospital... no... this was reality. Cold. Cruel. Unfeeling reality.

"Why... did you have to die?" I whined, unable to control my tears, arms and legs trembling, threatening to collapse under my weight. "You knew it!" I continued, still hoping to wake up from all this. "Rather the saving me, I wish you..." My hands finally gave out, my face planting into the wet concrete so I could cry. "I wish that you had lived on!" I continued, tears now falling like the rain above me, drenching further the concrete below.

"Do you really mean that, Akemi Homura?" Came the cold, unfeeling voice of Kyubey above me, watching my display with an almost mechanical efficiency. "Would you risk your soul for that wish?" He continued as I weakly crawled onto Madoka's chest to cry more, my whole body trembling with sadness. "If you're willing to accept a life of fighting for that wish-" He droned on, not giving a single damn about me. "-I can give you the strength for it." My body stopped trembling and I looked up at him, perched atop a piece of rubble, looking down like some god watching the plight of mortals, staring at me with those emotionless eyes.

"I can wish for anything if I make a contract with you?" Without a second to think, he answered.

"Yes. I feel the power for it within you." If he could smile more, he would. "Tell me... with what wish would your Soul Gem shine?"

"I..." I began, trying to find how to put this. Eyes watered and body beginning to tremble again, I slowly looked down to the dead Madoka before me. Removing my glasses and wiping the tears from my eyes, I stood to compose myself for this. Glaring at the creature with a strength I didn't know I had, I answered his question. "I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san... Instead of being protected by her... I want to protect her!" I practically shouted with full meaning, my eyes becoming strangely hard. Kyubey stared at me for a short while before I felt a tug in my chest. This tug turned into a burning, searing pain as something happened. The cat looked on as I clasped my chest in pain, groaning against the burn. During the troughs of pain, my back arched as something rose from my chest, a shimmering egg of purple light rose up before my face as I groaned again.

"A contract has been formed." He stated so matter-of-factly. "Your wish has improved the Entropy. Now-" He stated, pausing for effect. "Let your new power loose!" As the pain began to subside, I reached out with both hands to clasp the purple shimmer, not fully understanding what it was. As my hands closed around it, something inside me clicked... something... alien to me. I felt myself being pulled away in every direction then, almost like a lightswitch turning off, it ended. I blinked a few times, the white light of the florescent bulbs above me temporarily blinding me.

"You're awake..." Came a familiar voice to my left. "Good." There came the sound of someone shifting out of a chair, and footsteps approached me. "Akemi Homura... you are reborn." The voice continued, a hand laying gently on my shoulder. "Come on... open your eyes." As I did as instructed, I came to notice a familiar face looking at me. It was... myself. "Sit up. You and I have some very important things to discuss." Turning on her heel, the other Homura took a chair from the corner and moved it closer.

"Who-"

"Don't ask. There are some things about temporal physics even I don't understand." The Other Me answered quickly, placing the chair beside my bed and sitting on it. She wore very different clothes, a purple uniform with long, thigh-length boots. "All you need to know right now, is what a long and winding road you've been down, and what a long and winding road you're about to go down." She placed a hand on mine, closing both palms around it. "Your power... the one bestowed upon you by Kyubey... it will save you... but it also cannot save you. Time is a fickle mistress, as you will soon discover..."

"Time... wait..." Looking over to the calendar at my bedside, I noticed there was a date circled... the sixteenth...

"March Sixteenth. You're first day at school. Your wish has come true. You can redo your meeting with Madoka. But first, there are some things you must know. Things will never be the same. With each restart, each iteration, things shall change."

"How many times do I have to do this?" The other Homura paused, looking to her left. "How many?" I asked again.

"I've lost track. Ten? A hundred? I don't even know anymore. And each time, the same outcome. Death." She smiled a little as she continued. "But all is not lost. Just because I have failed, doesn't mean you will." She picked up the hand she was holding and brought it to her lips, kissing it softly. "But first... there is something you and I must do." Releasing her hold on one of my hands, she pulled the bedsheet off, tossing it to the floor.

"Hey..."

"It's alright... this has all happened before... and will happen again." Standing slowly out of the chair, she climbed into the bed with me, straddling me as she looked down, her long raven hair falling about both our faces. "Trial and trial... you will learn a great many things... but self-confidence cannot be learned... it must be forced into you." Slowly, the other version of me lowered herself down on top of me, the softness of the fabric she wore apparent through the flimsy sleep shirt and pants I wore, her body stretched out across mine, supported by her hands as she watched my reaction. "So this is what I was looking at..." Without another word, she lowered her lips to mine, giving me a soft, tender kiss. I gave her a slight push, trying to get her off me.

"You can't-"

"I said the same thing."

"What makes you think I won't shove you off me and run away screaming?" I asked with a shake to my voice. The other version of me gave a crass smile and moved a stray bang from my face, kissing me again before responding.

"Because when I was you... I didn't... and I loved every second of this..." Dammit... she was right. With her second kiss, I felt my heart jump in my chest, her soft lips warm against the cold of mine, six months of frost accrued through lack of use, shattering in an instant. My doppelganger's left hand snaked behind my head, supporting it as she lifted it closer.

"You're new life as a Puella Magi begins after this encounter... you and I will never see one another again, but the lessons you take away from this... will last your entire life." She gave me another kiss as her leg rubbed idly against my own, her boots sending shivers down my spine as they rubbed against the legs of my pants, eventually pulling them up enough so I could feel them on my skin. With her right hand, she wiggled her fingers between my own, her hand closing around mine as she bit lightly down at the top button of my shirt, the button giving way instantly. She drew her tongue up my chest and neck, ending just under my ear.

"What..." I muttered, unable to control my body's shivers. "What's the point to this?" I grumbled, half coherent. My other self let out a little laugh as she planted a trail of kisses from my chest to neck, her hand squeezing mine a little.

"How can you love another..." She began between her kisses, breaking one for each word. "If you can't love yourself..."

"I do-" I groaned at first.

"Bullshit... you can't lie to yourself, Homura..." DAMMIT... she was right. I was always the awkward, nerdy girl in the class, and felt that way even now; but is that the only reason she's... I mean... I'm doing this? My other self nuzzled her cheek against mine, a slight purr echoing in her throat. Her lips touched mine again, save for this time I felt the intrusion of her tongue into my mouth, probing around for it's partner, I felt the tip glance across my own, sending a surge of unknown pleasure through me. Words alone failed to describe how wrong this was. Not only was this another girl I was spit swapping with, it was myself... I... I don't even know how to classify this! Gay? Masturbation! I don't even know! I was so bloody confused, I couldn't think straight.

"I don't know what to think about all this..." I muttered during one of the times her tongue wasn't in my mouth. She gave a little smirk, with a very smug sounding 'humph' before continuing.

"Sometimes, Homura..." She muttered, licking my nose. "Thinking is the last thing you want to do. Instinct, Homura... instinct." She squeezed my hand again before pulling her left hand out from behind my head, tracing circles on my chest. "What do your instincts say?"

My heart pounded in my chest. My breathing sped up slightly. My brain flared to life, a veritable bee-hive of activity. And all it took to understand the situation was a simple kiss. I put one hand gently on my other self's chin and pulled her closer, giving the other girl a kiss she would never forget. Our affectionate display lasted for... god, I don't even know. When I finally broke the kiss, I gave a content sigh before speaking.

"I love you..." It seemed like an empty phrase... telling myself I love her... Heh... it was kind of... cute, I suppose. My other self gave a smile and a simple kiss on my forehead.

"I know you do. You're finally ready." Releasing my hand, my other self stood off the bed and turned to the door. "Never forget the most important thing you can ever tell yourself in this world, Homura, is 'I love you.'" She took a few wide strides out the door before turning out and smiling. "Alright, Madoka... I'm ready..." I suddenly felt drained... my eyes became heavy as I fell back asleep...

My eyelashes fluttered as I looked up at the bleached white ceiling. Sitting up slowly, I looked to my left at the calander. "I'm... still in the hospital?" Placing my glasses on my face, I blinked, looking at the transfer papers to Mitakihara High... I felt something in my hand... opening it to look, I rolled a small, egg-shaped gem around in my hand for a second. Eyes widening, I droned to myself. "So it wasn't a dream..."