"Akemi-san? Are you all right?"
A nurse was checking on Homura with a concerned expression. The girl opened her eyes, finding herself lying in a hospital bed. For just a moment her mind went blank, and she stared.
"Akemi-san? You were screaming."
"I'm sorry, it's nothing. Just a... bad dream." A nightmare. This was a nightmare.
"Are you sure?" The nurse smiled. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Go away. You can do this for me. Go away and let me think.
"No, I don't think so... Really, it's nothing. I'm sorry for disturbing you."
Finally the woman made herself scarce, and Homura was left alone with her panic.
Not this again.
There was no way another time reset should have happened. That particular magic had been connected to her wish to protect Madoka. Did Madoka's erasing herself from material existence amount to another death, causing Homura's wish to trigger again? No, if that were it, Homura couldn't see why it would take this long to trigger after Madoka's ascension. Besides, it was inconceivable that the effects of Homura's mere time powers could reverse changes that rewrote reality and went beyond time and causality itself.
But, if not that, what else was going on?
"Madoka? Are you still with me?"
Nothing happened. Of course.
Homura lay there in a cold sweat as she realized that, with how little she knew, anything was possible. She didn't even know if the history she was currently in had witches or demons in it. She hoped fervently to find no witches. The very notion that Madoka might have died for nothing in the end was sickening.
A peculiar brand of survival instinct kicked in for Homura: do not be directionless. Have a goal. That had always been the way to keep her soul gem from corrupting. That was how she had endured, refusing to admit thoughts that would lead to despair. Even in the most hopeless situations, and after every failure to protect Madoka, she would direct her attention towards what she could do next.
She thought for a moment, then hopped out of bed.
/人◕‿‿◕人\
The first practical item to take care of was an overview of her resources. Homura transformed and, with half-closed eyes, she marshalled her powers. Her soul gem assumed its usual diamond shape.
It was beautifully clean. The effect went deep; this wasn't the superficial restoration of magical power with a grief seed or cube. The difference was like being young again, compared to merely having had a good night's sleep. A gift from Madoka. There was a corresponding feeling of being able to face the world again, despite everything.
How long would it last this time, before she needed help again? Was there still a Madoka up there? Was Homura going to be repeatedly rescued from witchdom only to be sent back again? Or was she entirely on her own now, and the current purity of the gem was all that she had left? Homura pushed these thoughts aside, and focused.
Her wings came into existence easily, as powerful as she had grown them by way of repeated exercise. They too were pure again, without the unpleasant, reality-ripping effect that they had acquired throughout her endless war against demons. She flexed them carefully, aware of how she could do damage to objects in the room, or even bring the building down around her if she were to exert herself.
Homura raised her left hand. Precise lines of light visible only to her shot up and down, weaving together the exquisite magical architecture of her bow. With only a small infusion of energy the weapon itself appeared in her hand, deadly as ever.
She hadn't always used it in later years, being able to control raw magic directly, allowing it to erupt from her wings to annihilate entire groups of enemies. However, the bow was excellent for precision work and conserving energy. She typically used it to execute single demons or small groups of them, but, sometimes, in Madoka's honor, she would fight a larger battle just with the bow.
With how lost she now felt, it was an important memento, second only to Madoka's ribbons.
Besides, using it might delay Kyubey's and others' learning the full extent of her capabilities. This may or may not prove useful, but the possibility was one more item in her arsenal.
Homura felt her magical energies form a subtle frame for her old shield. She allowed her magic to fill the frame, and there it was: the familiar buckler. She had not summoned it much after its sand timer ran out during the battle against Walpurgisnacht, but somehow it felt right to do so now.
The timeline-resetting mechanism was, unsurprisingly, missing an essential piece that had disappeared when Madoka wrote herself out of existence.
The secret compartment worked, and contained, among other items, unused weapons that she had not bothered deploying against the last Walpurgisnacht: a few handguns, ammunition, a sword taken just in case, several types of grenades... Not very important, but they would come in handy if Homura ever needed to fight without expending magical power at all, or to lend some firepower to a non-magical ally. Still, it was interesting that the weapons were there at all, despite originating in a timeline that no longer existed.
Something else seemed different. It took her a minute to realize what it was, until she lifted the shield's protective covers: specks of sand were disappearing from the bottom container of the sand-timer, and reappearing in the top one. The container was already partly refilled. Homura estimated it would be full within at most a quarter of an hour.
Homura could feel the process consume minuscule amounts of magical power from her, and it hit her: she was doing that herself, out of fear. She was afraid of time passing her by, with no way to go back to undo mistakes.
As soon as she had this thought, the fear diminished, and the process stopped. She couldn't get it to start again.
Homura contained her frustration. Perhaps it would come back on its own when she wasn't interfering by consciously thinking about it. And, in any case, now that she knew this was possible, perhaps if she worked hard she could learn to control it at will. It would not be the first new use of magic she'd developed.
She allowed the flow of sand to be blocked, just to test that it still worked. Time stopped, obedient as ever.
Homura smiled without humour at the frozen, colorless world around her.
She resumed time, dismissed all her weapons, and changed back from the magical girl outfit into her hospital gown. She proceeded to less important matters, like washing her face and brushing her teeth, and all the other little things to do before she could leave the hospital and start looking for clues.
If there was a specific something or someone cheating her out of her miracle, she looked forward to finding them. Because, by Madoka, she had never been more dangerous.
/人◕‿‿◕人\
Clues, unfortunately, did not magically make themselves obvious for her to find.
To the best of Homura's tracking abilities, which were considerable, there were no witches, nor any signs that witches existed. Inexplicably, she could detect no demons, either. Nor was Kyubey anywhere to be found.
Surveying the city of Mitakihara from the top of a skyscraper, Homura contemplated the idea of a world entirely without monsters. No more of the secret war. No more need for magical girls. It wouldn't be good news for Homura herself, who needed to replenish her soul gem with something. But it was amusing to imagine the Incubator's reaction to such a prospect.
In any case, Kyubey's absence meant nothing, if the previous timeline was any indication: he usually showed up only when there were grief cubes to be consumed, and had only started hanging around Homura on a regular basis once she had proven exceptionally effective and dedicated to her job. In this timeline, he wouldn't even know she existed yet.
Homura stepped off the edge of the skyscraper. She enjoyed the moment of weightlessness, the air blowing loudly by as she descended. Even if it only lasted a few seconds, there was a kind of freedom in it.
The dark-haired girl gracefully landed at the base of the building, materialising wings only for the briefest moment necessary. It was not a busy evening, but there was still no need to risk alarming any accidental onlookers.
Calling it a day, Homura headed home, planning to search the Internet for crime rate information as well as any peculiarities in current news and recent history. There was also the matter of dedicating some time every day to try to develop the ability to restore the sand-timer...
As peaceful as the city was, a lingering aura tickled Homura's magical senses. It felt similar to the too-familiar evil miasma that let demons take shape, although not quite the same. It was... weaker, subdued. However, it was there.
Homura wouldn't let her guard down just yet.
