[CHAPTER 2]
Homura and Sayaka sat in silence on the couch, faced in different directions. Sayaka, in Homura's body, sat in a fetal position, with her arms wrapped around her legs. Homura, in Sayaka's body, had her arms crossed, but her eyes trained on the floor.
Sayaka opened her mouth. "...So...you're a time traveler?"
Homura stayed quiet.
"...You know, I kind of already know." She said, bluntly.
Homura frowned. "...Yes." She said. "I am."
"And... you're trying to save Madoka from becoming a magical girl?"
"Yes."
Sayaka let out a shaky breath and pressed her forehead to her knees. Going through Homura's head had been a mind-shattering process. At first, Homura was very opposed to showing Sayaka anything, but as Sayaka kept digging up new and more horrifying tidbits of information, the more Homura reluctantly opened up her mind to her. It was like a torture session of memories for the past couple of hours for Sayaka.
"And I... I turn into a witch." That wasn't a question as much as it was a miserable statement. For the umpteenth time in the past week, Sayaka's view of the world was shaken to its very core.
"Yes," Homura confirmed. She let her mind linger on Oktavia Von Seckendorff and Sayaka flinched.
Homura had felt uncertain and somewhat nervous as she allowed Sayaka to delve through her memories. After all, the last time she had shared anything with the short haired girl, she hadn't believed her at all. Homura could still feel the raw hurt and anger at having been called out as a liar by this girl. Because of that, she had decided to never rely on anyone again, and she's stuck to that pretty damn well so far. But, it seemed that Sayaka was accepting the truth about this world, this system, and herself. She just hoped it wasn't going to blow up in her face.
"I think I'm going to be sick," said Sayaka.
"Not on my bed." Homura's tone was flat.
"Oh, funny." Sayaka didn't sound amused. "...So I can't exactly blame you for not trusting me."
"You're a ticking time bomb." Homura looked over her shoulder. "Trusting you is like trusting a tank of kerosene."
Sayaka said nothing to defend herself. Honestly, she felt like she deserved worse. Her best friend had been in danger all this time, and she had been too blind to realize it time and time again. It was almost too much for her to process at this moment.
Homura sighed. "Do you feel terrible yet?"
"More than you know." Sayaka frowned. "...God, I'm such an idiot."
"I think that's the only thing we've ever agreed on," Homura said idly as she went back to looking ahead. She hoped Sayaka could get over herself quicker. There was so much to be done.
Sayaka gulped thickly and forced herself out of her fetal position. "So... what now?" she asked, sitting up and putting on her brave face.
Homura raised an eyebrow. Sayaka was actually asking her for directions? This was new. "We fix us," she stated flatly. "After that, you're free to be someone else's problem."
Sayaka felt annoyed by that. "Madoka is my best friend," she said, her pulse feeling stronger with a clear purpose. "I'll help. With Walpurgis."
Homura exhaled through her nose. "Of course you will," she growled. "But first, I need my body back."
"Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen," Sayaka said. "Now, we're going to have to work with each other. Like...get to know our bodies better."
"That sounds like a terrible idea."
"If you have anything better in mind, feel free to share!"
Homura opened her mouth, but then she stopped. "...I don't."
"Good. So the 'getting to know our bodies better' bit is a go?"
"I never said that."
"You implied it."
"Just because I couldn't find a better solution doesn't mean that there isn't one."
Sayaka ran a hand through her hair, marveling at the length and silkiness of it. "Look, I don't want to stay in your body either, but we don't exactly have a lot of time, right?"
Homura had dismissed the idea long ago that Sayaka could be a reasonable person, but she could acknowledge the point Sayaka was trying to make now. She found her biggest problem with that solution however, was the prospect of having to count on the one person she couldn't. It wasn't exactly a mental hurdle she could leap just because they switched bodies.
"How long do we have?" She paused. "Wait...three weeks." She froze. "...Three weeks?"
"You said it yourself. We don't exactly have a lot of time. We're lucky that we even have that much of it." Homura says. "Do you think you can survive in my shoes for three weeks?"
Sayaka peered down at Homura's heels. "I mean, I'm not used to heels, but I'm sure I can manage?" Homura resisted the urge to facepalm.
"At least one of us is confident." She muttered. "In the meantime...I need to make sure that your parents don't start trying to call the cops."
Sayaka winced at that. "Yeah... Yeah, they'll be worried." She reached for her phone and was momentarily confused about why she couldn't find it on her. When she looked up she saw Homura was holding up the device in her hand and was waiting for Sayaka to realize the obvious. "Oh, thanks," Sayaka reached for her phone, but Homura pulled it back.
"It'll be strange if your parents hear a completely different voice, don't you think?"
"... Right." Sayaka said in an annoyed tone. "But then... Wouldn't you need to stay at my place?"
Homura froze. "I...uh..." That wasn't something Homura had taken into consideration and it showed on her face. The thought of spending the next three weeks preparing for Walpurgisnacht while holed up in Sayaka's apartment with actual parents was far too ridiculous for her to consider. "Hm."
Sayaka watched her own face in fascination as it went from stone cold to increasingly uncertain in these last few moments. 'Do I always look that dumb?' she thought to herself. Or she thought she thought to herself.
Homura wanted to answer 'Yes' to that question, but she didn't like to think that Sayaka's idiotic face was now her own. Actually, it was rather depressing if she kept thinking about it. So instead she shot Sayaka an annoyed glare before huffing slightly. "It won't be possible for me to live at your apartment. It would be too much of a hindrance to my plans." Even more of a hindrance than the whole switching bodies thing.
"I heard that thought," Sayaka shot back. "And I think your plans are pretty much kaput."
"Then I make new plans," Homura said. "And going there is still a hindrance."
Sayaka sighed and put her hand to her chin as she tried to think of a way her parents could approve her staying with someone else for several weeks... maybe even longer if they never figured out how to switch back. She shoved that thought away. The last thing she needed right now was for her thoughts to take even more depressing turns down suicide lane.
"Gimme my phone," Sayaka snatched her phone back from Homura's hand and quickly dialed her parent's phone while an impromptu idea took form in her mind. Homura didn't stop her, wondering what Sayaka had in mind. She could only feel a sense of purpose from Sayaka's mind rather than an actual idea. Figured Sayaka rarely had actual thoughts!
Sayaka gulped as several rings later someone picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Sayaka's mother answered.
Sayaka cleared her throat. "Hello, Mrs... Miki?" Sayaka had deepened Homura's voice slightly, making the other girl cringe a little. "I'm calling regarding your daughter's recent academic failures?"
"... My daughter isn't home right now, I really don't want to hear about this."
"Oh, your daughter is right here! She had to be held back for some... lecturing." Sayaka turned to Homura expectantly, as if giving her a cue. Homura just said the first thing to come to mind.
"I'm a huge idiot." Sayaka narrowed her eyes at her in annoyance.
"Oh," Sayaka's mother sounded relieved to hear her daughter's voice. "Well, next time call me if you need to hold her back. What was this about failing?"
"I'm sure you're aware that finals are three weeks from now, yes?" Sayaka twirled an imaginary mustache. "There's this new... program! To tutor students who are failing. It involves studying all day, everyday to guarantee success for your kid!"
Mrs. Miki gasped. "Oh, so you can help her, huh?"
"More than help!" Sayaka laid it on thick, and Homura wondered if anyone would actually buy this load of crap. "If you let us have Sayaka for three weeks up until the finals, she'll ace it! Thing is, we need your permission for us to keep her!"
"Sounds perfectly reasonable!" Homura nearly fell out of her chair.
"Fantastic!" Sayaka was grinning as she succeeded. "We'll need to keep her here overnight for the next three weeks, of course. So she can come by to pick up her clothes, but then it's off to vigorous studying! And stuff!"
"Oh, alright. I'll arrange her suitcase for her then. I don't believe I got your name..?"
"Uh, my name?" Sayaka looked at Homura for help but the other girl didn't give her any. "Homu... Kemi. Homu Kemi, head of tutors at your service!"
"Oh dear god," Homura muttered under her breath. This was the most painful phone conversation ever.
"Thank you, Mrs. Kemi!" The voice on the other end said, cheerily. "I hope to talk to you again!" She, mercifully, hung up right there.
Homura just stared at Sayaka. "...What the hell do they feed your family? Gullible soup?"
"Bite me," Sayaka said back. "She probably knows that I was lying."
"So if she does give you the stuff to stay here..." Homura made a face. "...Oh god, she's assuming-"
"What?" Sayaka asked before it dawned on her. "Ugh! No!" She stopped. "I-I mean, n-not that there's anything wrong with you for liking that, b-but I...ugh...fff-!" Her face turned a bright red.
"I know how it sounded. And I know what you meant. Shut up."
Sayaka did just that, and rather awkwardly. It was still weird for her, the thought that Homura had... feelings for her best friend. It was just so seemingly out of left field. Sayaka was no stranger to issues of love, but Homura's situation was just... so ridiculously epic, compared to Sayaka's experience. She was kind of intimidated by it. How would Madoka react if she knew?
The thought of Madoka also made a pang of guilt present itself in her chest. The last time she saw the tiny pinkette, she had said some rather awful things to her. Things that was extremely ashamed about. She should apologize.
Homura noticed Sayaka fiddling with her phone again. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to call Madoka," Sayaka murmured distractedly.
Homura's brows furrowed as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "And what makes you think that's a good idea?"
"We can't just hide this from her!" Sayaka shouted. "I mean, she's gonna figure out eventually!"
"And what would telling her now accomplish, other than worrying her?" Homura clenched her teeth. "Do you know what she'll do?"
"What do you think she's gonna do?" Sayaka said back.
"She. Would. Make. A. Wish." Homura said it slowly, coldly. "She would throw away her life, just to fix a problem that I...we caused."
"Yeah, well," Sayaka sputtered uselessly for a moment. "We could always tell her not to!"
Homura blinked. Then she laughed. Long and hard. "Yes, that will solve all my problems! Just tell her not to. Brilliant, Sayaka Miki, just brilliant."
Sayaka's hand tightened around her phone, practically cracking it. "I'm just saying-"
"You never say anything of worth, so please. Shut. UP."
"No!" Sayaka was angry now. "No, you shut up!"
"Why should I shut up? I'm the only one making any damn sense around here!"
"Yeah, but you're crazy!"
"I'm still being reasonable."
"But you're still crazy!"
"And you're an ignorant, self-absorbed fool!" Homura snapped. She had a short patience fuse with this person.
"Self-absorbed? I'm self-absorbed?" Sayaka sounded incredulous. "That's rich coming from you! You're not honest with anyone, and you don't even care if the rest of us die as long as you save Madoka!"
"I have no choice!" Homura couldn't believe she had to justify herself to the one person she never wanted to have this conversation with.
"Keep telling yourself that! But you know what- I'm glad we switched bodies, 'cause now I know! Maybe now I can save Madoka from her fate!"
Something inside Homura broke. "You?! Save her?! You can't even save yourself! You get yourself killed time and again for some fucking boy."
"And you put yourself through hell time and again for some f-f-girl. And she is my friend." Sayaka was just as livid. "She is my best friend."
It occurred to Sayaka a little late that picking a fight with a person who had that sort of look in their eyes and who had attempted to strangle her just a few hours ago wasn't the greatest idea ever... But screw that! If Homura thought Sayaka was going to back down from her, she was sorely mistaken!
Homura's hands were clenched so tight she felt satisfied to leave marks in Sayaka's palms. "You keep saying that. Do you enjoy rubbing that in my face?" Her words got caught in her throat slightly but she forced them out.
"Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I don't see how she comes closer and closer to seeing me as a monster while the true monster sits in front of me and gets to call herself Madoka's 'best friend'?" Homura's eyes shined briefly with hatred, and Sayaka could feel her own memories being pulled apart in her head, how Homura was seeing how she had essentially told Madoka to fuck off earlier. "Yeah. Some best friend you are." She might as well have stabbed Sayaka repeatedly in the chest.
Their little staredown was interrupted abruptly when they both felt another presence. A witch was close; they could feel it. They didn't stop staring at each other, though. There wasn't a good enough reason not to.
"This isn't over," Homura said, coldly.
"No. It isn't." They rushed out of the room, the urge to destroy something on the forefront of both of their minds.
[=]
It was warm in here; warmer than it had any right to be. In the background, both Homura and Sayaka could see mountains of rust and steel. Smoke and steam rose into the sky, with a broken platinum sun at the center of it.
"Don't get in my way," Homura said before her collar was caught by Sayaka.
"Don't get in your way? You don't know the first thing about my body!"
"So? I saw your memories." She said. "I can figure this out."
"No, you can't." Sayaka frowned. Heck, she hasn't even figured everything out about her own powers!
"Oh? I can't?" Homura spawned a sword without thinking about it. She caught it without looking, and she flung her cape around. "It's easy."
"Not so much," Sayaka said. "I mean...I can form weapons with your body, too." It was then that she froze. "Wait...what weapon do you use, even?"
"The shield. Nothing else." Homura turned away.
"Wait, really?" Sayaka stared at the thing on her arm. "How the heck do you fight with this thing?"
"Easily." She said. "Now stay behind me." Homura started walking alone through the mountains of metal.
Sayaka just groaned. "Okay, fine." She kept close.
In a nearby corner, Homura noticed something. She stared at it for several good seconds, before she shook her head. "Let's keep moving." She walked off, with Sayaka close behind.
Sayaka recoiled at the sight. "...Oh god." She saw two bodies, with organs made of clockwork and bones of steel. "...That's horrible." She said.
"Don't stop moving."
Sayaka shook her head and walked forwards. "Okay, okay."
As they walked, the bodies grew more and more plentiful. It was a junkyard of metallic humans, ruined, broken and coated in oil. Sayaka felt chills as she moved through it, and Homura just made a confirming noise. "...So that's what this witch does."
"Is that all you can think about?!" Sayaka shouted. "You're so flippant about this!"
"Calm down," Homura said.
"Calm down? Calm down?! There are bodies everywhere! And they were once people! How can you be so accepting?"
"Because otherwise, it will hear us. Now calm down."
Sayaka stopped and bit her lip. She took a deep breath, but she didn't stop glaring at Homura. "...You disgust me."
"You're an idiot if you think that I care," Homura said. "Now let's...oh."
"Oh?" Sayaka snickered bitterly. "What's surprising you?"
"...I saw something moving."
Sayaka turned to where Homura was looking. "I don't see anything."
"I did." She raised a hand. "Don't make a sound."
They stood still. The only thing that broke the silence was the moaning wind, with the occasional groaning steel and crashing metal. Eventually, though, they both heard something. Homura pulled a sword out, and Sayaka grabbed something out of the shield; a full RPG.
Homura's eyes almost bugged out of her skull. "What are you doing?" She hissed.
"I...oh man." Sayaka grinned sheepishly. The weapon dropped to the ground. "I...uh...I don't know how to hold this thing."
Homura blinked. "You can see my memories, right?"
"Yes, but I still don't know how to use it! I mean..." It was then that the metal shifted again.
"Give me that," Homura said. She picked it up with one hand (She noticed that it was exceptionally easy to do) and adjusted it over Sayaka's shoulder. "There. Now pull the trigger and watch things die."
It was then that the body pile shifted again. Sayaka shot the rocket launcher right there, with Homura right next to it. She screamed a little as some of the rocket's exhaust scorched her hair.
"Sorry!" Sayaka shouted.
Homura just sighed. "First time's hard," she said.
The rocket slammed into the pile, before it exploded, raining bits of steel everywhere. "...Is there anything there?" Sayaka asked.
Homura sucked air in through her teeth and looked at the smoldering pile. "...No. There's nothing." She muttered. It was then that her eyes widened. "...I don't think that's just a pile, though."
Sayaka blinked. "...I don't follow."
"I think that the piles are a part of her," Homura said. Horror crept up on both of them. "We're surrounded by the witch. We're standing right inside of her."
The piles sprung to life just as she said that, and both Sayaka and Homura leaped out of the center at just the right moment. Homura landed on a nearby mountain with enough force to put a dent in its peak, while Sayaka stumbled a bit on the landing. "I'm not used to this! Your body is weak!"
"Shut up and don't get hit!" Homura shouted, as the pile shifted and twisted. A mouth formed in the center before it let out a horrible, muffled groan. It changed and warped, as the groan turned into a high-pitched scream.
And that was when Sayaka made one of her wiser decisions.
"Where are you going?" Homura shouted.
"I need to figure out what I'm doing!" She shouted. "Your body's too weak! I can't just wing it!"
Homura just glared at her, before a tentacle of metal slammed into her torso and took out a chunk of the mountain with it in an explosion of rust. It flowed past her, clenched into a ball, and pulled her back into the piles.
Sayaka stared in horror before she tried pulling something else out in desperation. She whipped out a .22 caliber pistol and fired twice...and that was it. She stared at the tiny little pea-shooter in her hand, and she stared at the monster above her. She smiled sheepishly, then started running the other way. "How does she fight like this?!"
"How does she fight like this?!" Homura was in the middle of a maelstrom of steel and metal. She slashed a pair of sword around madly, with one slash by a pair before she hit some more pieces of steel. "I can't...!" She whipped her cape around and made several more swords. With each one, she threw it into the storm, before, on reflex, she attempted to pull out a pipe bomb.
She just pulled out another sword and threw it into another part of the witch, and watched at it was pitifully torn apart. She muttered to herself. "...I hate everything."
Sayaka's head was clenched by the beast, and she struggled. "It hurts!" She shouted. "I...I can't feel my neck!" She pulled out another weapon and tried shooting it. When she cut herself, she realized that she had just tried shooting a knife. "Why?!"
Homura pressed against the metal before several bits of it started digging into her skin. She screeched in pain and resisted as much as she could, with the ball growing smaller with each passing second. She opened her eyes, only to realize that it was starting to cut her down to the bone. "How...how am I still holding on?" She said quietly before she pressed harder. "Come on!"
Sayaka tried stabbing at the metal before she tossed the knife away. "Worthless-!" She tried pulling something else out...and this thing felt a lot weightier. "Okay...let's see..." She pulled the trigger with one hand.
She was surprised by the recoil, and then the arm just fell apart after several shots. When she fell, she finally saw what was in her arms; a nice automatic machine gun. "Now that's more like it!" She hit the ground with a three-point landing, complete with several tons of metal falling right behind her. "...Now where's Homura?" She turned her head, just in time to hear screaming among the sounds of clanging metal. "...That answers that."
Homura made a sword that was as long as she was tall, and plunged it into the steel. She pressed herself against the hilt, and she let the creature cut itself onto it. To her surprise, it worked. The witch cried out in pain and let her drop out of it. She hit the ground flat on her back, with the wind taken right out of her. "Sh...shit..." She muttered before she tried picking herself up. "This is the worst."
"Heads up!" Homura turned her attention to the voice, just in time to see Sayaka rushing up over a mountain with a weapon in hand.
Homura's eyes widened when she saw that it was that AA-12 she stole a while ago. "Sayaka!?"
Sayaka slammed into a flat surface on the metal monster and started firing on contact. In just a few seconds, she spent all of her ammunition, obliterating chunk after chunk of the witch before she dropped down, fully spent. She tossed the gun away. "I'm out."
"What are you doing?"
"I ran out of ammo, so I'm throwing the guns away," Sayaka said.
"Don't do that!" Homura shouted. "That's not the only drum I have!"
"Oh, it isn't?" Sayaka tilted her head. "Huh."
"Dammit!" It was then that the rest of the witch fell to the ground, shuddering and screaming. Homura clenched her teeth and made herself a sword. "...I'll take care of this."
"No, you won't." Sayaka grinned. "I'll take care of..." She whipped out the gun, still on a power high. "This!" She tried firing a golf club. "...Oh."
The witch charged forwards and Sayaka threw the club right at it. At this moment, Homura just sighed and grabbed the shield on Sayaka's left arm. And finally, everything stopped. Sayaka looked around, and then at the witch itself. "I...what?"
"You should have known I could do this," Homura said, flatly. "I'm not letting go."
"Why not?" Sayaka raised an eyebrow.
"Because otherwise, the timestop will get me, too." She said, flatly. "You could have done this the entire time, you know."
Sayaka just made a little "Oh" sound. "...So that's why you're so weak otherwise. Man, this is broken."
"Shut up." Homura walked up with her hand on Sayaka's arm, before she sliced the witch apart with a free sword. Calmly, she walked out of the way and hit Sayaka's shield in one fluid motion.
Time restarted, and the witch kept charging forwards in several pieces. It flew apart because of its own momentum before a single Grief Seed tumbled out of the middle of it and onto the ground. The maze disintegrated around them, and Homura picked up the seed with one free hand. "...Done." She said. "And it would have gone a lot quicker if you actually knew how to use my shield."
"Yeah? Well, you wouldn't have..." Sayaka's eyes widened. "I can see bone!"
"...Oh?" Homura looked at her arms. "...Oh. I forgot about that."
"I can see bone! What did you do to my body?!"
"Calm down."
"Calm down? I can see bone! Right through my arms!"
"I can fix it, just give me a few minutes," Homura said.
"How can you be so calm about all of this!"
Homura groaned. This was going to be a long three weeks.
[MOID A/N]: And so, a thinly veiled excuse to write an action sequence. YEH. But seriously, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a great influence. Good movie? Depends on how willing you are to put up with Eraserhead. Also, more dialogue because Angel0Wonder. And Moid. Working together. WILL THE WORLD SURVIVE? (yes probably actually they're not really all that much of a threat muhuhuhuhuhuhuh)
{A0W A/N}: If anyone was wondering, the cover of the story was drawn by Moid, because how awesome is he? Jeezus. And the response has been great so far! Didn't think people would be so open to HomuSaya! Hell, how're we going to get the actual characters to be open to it?! Cuz I don't fucking know, but that's what makes it fun!