New story from some ideas I've been toying with during my writer's block on Doors. Enjoy!

I don't own any characters :(

Chapter 1:

Somehow, she found herself here again. Alone. She was no longer surprised when her eyes opened to the view of a bland hospital ceiling again. She was no longer scrambling to see if the soul gem was with her or if it was all a dream. It was no dream. Everything had been real. By her count, it was… Well, she no longer counted specifically, but she figured it had to be more than fifty tries. What will it take? How does she get all four of them to reach Walpurgisnacht? She could only ever get Kyōko to make it to that day, and even that was only if she was lucky and the redhead didn't go charging to their certain doom before then. The blue-haired knight was the most expendable. She was weak, and was possibly even more of a burden than a benefit. Mami's firepower was valuable, but somehow she found out about where witches came from every time. Kyōko was the strongest option out of the three, but she lived in Kazamino and sometimes could not be convinced. If only she could get both Mami and Kyōko to survive until after Walpurgisnacht, she could escape the endless cycle of failure. It was not a dream, by any stretch. It had begun to turn into a nightmare.

Homura brushed her hair out of her face and stood up from the bed. Every single movement was practiced, fluid. Leaving the red-rimmed glasses on the bedside table, she left the hospital ward at a brisk pace, only stopping to sign herself out of the hospital at the front desk. Returning home, she took a spare key out from a secret compartment behind the nameplate on the door. The interior of her house was sparsely furnished. A small coffee table was in the centre of the room, surrounded by several small couches of varying colours. Up above the table, a large pendulum swung back and forth, creating a soft whooshing in the large room. Off to the side was a hallway that led to her bedroom. A washroom branched off at the side of the hall, the kitchen on the other side. A single bedroom. The constant reminder for Homura that she was alone. Her parents had died from heart conditions not unlike what she had suffered before contracting with Kyuubei. That was no matter. Her only focus now was Madoka, the pink-haired, cheery girl who had saved her from a witch and shook her out of her suicidal phase. Of course, the girl in question would have no recollection of that, seeing as how this was yet another reset of the month. Everything would always proceed in exactly the same way unless Homura changed the way she approached things. She herself was the only variable in the endless loops of constants.

Suddenly, an idea hit her. Hope sprung up in her heart after quick contemplation of its merits. For the first time since the third rewind, she was optimistic about her chances. It was very likely that if Sayaka contracted, Mami will not die to Charlotte as long as the blue knight went in with her. Which, knowing their personalities, was very likely. She didn't like it, but for this gamble to pay off, she would have to allow Kyuubei to contact Madoka and Sayaka at the mall and not attempt to attack the white Incubator. Sayaka would be more likely to jump the gun, and Madoka would likely not contract immediately since she never had anything to wish for. If it turned out wrong, Homura could always just rewind and try a different approach. A quick inventory check told her that she was short on weaponry. She would have to go raiding soon to restock. It was a hassle, having to rely on mere human weaponry against magical beings, whether her foe was a witch or another Magi. She despised the fact that she had very little offensive magic potential, though she was able to project a defensive barrier from her shield.

Homura sat in front of the coffee table, lost in thought. In the recesses of her mind, she took note of the stack of papers on the table which she needed to bring to the school tomorrow to complete her transfer. She didn't bother to check her school uniform. As with all the other rewinds she had done, the uniform was always in good order. Instead, her thoughts drifted to her enemy: Walpurgisnacht. It was not one witch, but several witches bound together by some unknown force. Kyuubei had confirmed that it had never been defeated before, even when faced with two or three Puella Magi. None of this boded well for her chances, but Homura believed that Mami's firepower and Kyōko's close-range combat prowess could make the difference. After all, when she had as many tries as she wanted, she could afford to travel all over Japan in search of powerful Puella Magi to help her. It was a venture that had proven fruitless, as none of the Magi she could find, after combing every province of Japan, was anywhere near as powerful as Mami or Kyōko. Even with her limited magic by comparison, very few were able to match herself, let alone the two veterans. As such, she had to find some way to get both Mami and Kyōko to make it. For now, she decided to get some rest, having been deprived of sleep from the last rewind attempt.

At some point in the night, she woke up to a rustling noise in her kitchen. Faced with something she hadn't encountered in previous rewinds, Homura could feel herself tensing. Was it a thief that broke in? But why? This had never happened before. As silently as she could, she got out of her bed. She pulled a Colt C7A2, an assault rifle used by the Canadian army, out of her closet. It was her personal favourite out of everything she had scavenged over several rewinds. Turning off the safety mechanism, she padded her way down the hallway. The rustling was definitely coming from her kitchen. She pressed her back against the wall beside the door, then slowly peeked in. The intruder hadn't turned on the light. Homura took a deep breath.

In one fluid motion, she kicked the door wide open and flicked the lights on, pointing the rifle inside. A moment of silence, an expression of shock, and a lowering of the gun. In her kitchen, rummaging through the fridge, was the red-haired Sakura Kyōko. To her credit, the redhead did seem kind of awkward at the situation. She scratched behind her head and laughed nervously.

"Ahaha… Hi, Homura."

"Sakura-san? How… why… what? Wait. No. This isn't right… You shouldn't know me yet."

"So you ARE a time traveller. I had a hunch when you approached me about Walpurgisnacht, but it was still quite a shock. You seemed to know way too much to be just making guesses about that monster. I guess somehow you pulled me along when you went back. It was quite a shock, actually, to suddenly find myself in the middle of Kazamino right after we got our asses handed to us by Walpurgis," Kyōko said.

Homura's mind was spinning. Now, nothing was a given. This deviance from the routine she was so used to could destroy her entire plan, but she could adapt. Perhaps having Kyōko in the know could be beneficial. She stood, completely frozen. Kyōko considered fleeing while Homura was still as a statue, but before she could make a decision, the time traveller spoke.

"Sit, Kyōko. I'll make some tea. We have much to discuss, apparently."

Kyōko sat at the kitchen table, still holding an apple that she had taken from the fridge. Subconsciously, Kyōko noticed that Homura had immediately gone back to calling her without the honourific as they had been already doing before Homura turned back the time. Peeling the tiny sticker off, she bit into the apple. About five minutes passed in silence, interrupted only by the sound of Homura making tea for the two of them and by Kyōko consuming the apple. An audible clack sounded as Homura placed a cup of tea in front of Kyōko before sitting down across from the Kazamino girl with her own cup. Finishing the apple, Kyōko took a sip of the tea. It tasted mildly bitter, but relieved Kyōko of her parched throat, for which she was grateful. Having spent the whole day outside on a sunny day without water did nothing for her thirst.

"So… you still plan on beating Walpurgisnacht then?" Kyōko asked. A nod came from Homura in response.

"If we can just get Tomoe-san to make it, we should stand a fairly good chance. I've been all over Japan throughout my constant rewinding. You and Tomoe-san are by far the most powerful Puella Magi I can find. That means we can't let her find out the truth about where witches come from though."

"Alright then. I'll help. To be honest, now that I've seen what Walpurgis can do, I'm not eager to let it keep roaming free. Especially not this close to Kazamino."

"Thank you. Will you do me a favour as well?"

"Depends. What is it?"

"Transfer into the school with me. I want you to warn Madoka away from making a contract after Kyuubei talks to her and Sayaka. The way I warn her rarely seems very effective."

Kyōko squinted at the stoic time traveller, searching for signs that Homura was joking. She found none.

"You're kidding right? I'd probably get expelled from the school on the first day. I'm not made for that kind of environment. I'm a street urchin, if you will."

"...we are who we choose to be, Kyōko. Even if we are just nothing more than a soul gem controlling a puppet body. You're not a street dweller. You just choose to be."

Kyōko winced at the reminder that her body was no longer host to her soul. Finding that out from Homura previously had been a huge shock for her, and she saw how that drove Miki Sayaka to madness and despair. She had no intention go down that path and perish as a witch. She would die when she was ready, on her own terms. She then thought to the girl whom Homura cared so much for. In many ways, Madoka did remind Kyōko of her own sister, someone who she had never been able to protect. Spurred on by the realisation, she also realised that in whatever interaction she had with the pink-haired girl, she got along with her instantly. Reluctantly, she decided to do it. If not for Homura, whom she considered her friend, then she'd do it to prevent the pink-haired girl from losing her soul to a twisted and corrupt cycle.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'll do it. Though, I have no idea what kind of logic you think you're applying if you think pinkie'll be less intimidated by me than you."

"Thanks, Kyōko."

Homura finished her cup of tea, then placed it in the sink, and picked up the rifle from beside the door before heading back to sleep. As Homura left the kitchen, Kyōko noticed the end of a pink ribbon sticking out of Homura's pocket; a symbol of her struggle, no doubt. This left Kyōko alone in the kitchen, staring at her half-finished cup of tea. A few tea leaves floated on the surface, slightly distorting the reflection of Kyōko's face.

"We are who we choose to be, huh," Kyōko whispered to nobody in particular. Homura's words echoed in Kyōko's mind for much of that first night. Maybe she would choose to be someone different after all this time. Perhaps it was time to stop dwelling on her family, on her past. The tea leaves sank. She smiled, then drank the rest of the now-cold tea. The rest of the night passed in complete and utter silence.

A/N:

Yea, so I realise the beginning to this is quite similar to the beginning of Doors. I didn't notice until after I finished this chapter, but I can assure you that this story is going in a completely different direction than Doors in case you're thinking that this'll be a copy of Doors with slightly different events. As usual, if you liked it, please leave a review. It would mean a lot to me! Thank you for reading! :)

Thanks to my friend Cichelle for helping me break my writer's block! XD