Puella Magi Mami Magica by CuriousCabaret
Characters adapted from Puella Magi Madoka Magika.
Original story and characters all belong to Shaft, Aniplex, Gen Urobuchi, and Ume Aoki.
A/N: Mami doesn't appear directly in this chapter yet. This is sort of the set up for the rest of the story as it deals with Madoka's wish and the creation of the new world (As you can probably tell, I'm going through the timeline of events so the first chapter basically followed the old world timeline, but from an OC's POV) . Please bear with it, and the next chapters will definitely feature more of Mami in the new world, along with the other characters.
"Ren-San"
I open my eyes, and it's so bright it almost hurts. I want to shut my eyes again.
"Ren-San" I look and in front of me is a beautiful girl with flowing pink hair and a white dress that gives of a faint glow, like a full moon on a cloudless night. She looks familiar...
She gives me a soft smile. It's almost apologetic, and I don't understand what's going on. Abruptly my mind is assailed with images. They seem like memories because they are raw and too real to be hallucinations. There- I see Tomoe Mami with her head being bitten off by a monster. A flash- and I see Tomoe Mami collapsing to the floor as she is shot. Over and over I see nothing but scenes of Tomoe Mami dying in various gruesome ways. They come one after the other in endless succession. Never pausing, but speeding up and getting faster until the whole thing is just a blur of death. I shut my eyes but the scenes are in my mind and I can't stop seeing them. It's too much and I feel like I'm going to yell.
Then all the scenes stop abruptly and I hear a crash. I feel a light tug on my hand and the girl leads me towards a faint light in the distance. As we get nearer I see that the lights are coming from sirens. There's a car turned over that has been badly destroyed. She leads me right next to it and I see Tomoe Mami trapped inside. She's crying and she looks so scared. Then I notice that she's staring at something to the left of her head. There's a small white creature that looks kind of like a cat or rabbit. It gives me a creepy feeling.
After this the scene changes again. I see images of Tomoe Mami fighting weird distorted looking creatures. It's overwhelming watching Tomoe Mami fight. Amidst wildly fluctuating scenery, with colours bursting everywhere and chaos all around her, she spun, dodged, and shot with so much elegance and flair, you would think she was dancing. Is this what Tomoe Mami did outside of class?
Sometimes I would see images of other girls. The beautiful girl next to me explained that these were "magical girls". She told me about "soul gems" and "grief seeds". She also mentioned "witches" but she smiled happily then, and told me that those were a thing of the past.
I still couldn't understand why she was showing me all of this.
"Ren-San-"
"How do you know my name?"
"Because you play a part in Mami-San's timeline. In every timeline it's always the same..."
"Timeline? What are you talking about? Is this real?"
She began showing me the images of Mami's deaths again. Don't ask me how, but I now understood that these were her own memories that she was showing me.
"I don't want to see Mami dying anymore. Why are you showing me this? She's dead. What can I do?" I speak matter-of-factly. Somehow despite everything, I still think that this is a dream, and I feel detached from the whole thing.
"Ren-San...all the days when Mami-San died...were the very same days when you made the decision to befriend her."
"So what? I'd been wanting to be her friend for awhile, I don't see the significance of-"
"If Mami-San had not died, the next day the two of you would have became friends."
"How do you know that?"
"There is one timeline where Mami-San survives. And the two of you become friends. But Mami-San dies soon after that..."
I laugh. I know it's very inappropriate. As soon as it's out of my mouth I bow my head, a mortified expression on my face.
"So Mami and I...are not meant to be friends." I say it with finality. Thank you fairy girl, is this what you brought me here to see?
"As long as there are witches, you and Mami can never be friends. Always I've seen that you never reach her in time..."
I hear a loud sob coming from behind me.
I turn and I see Mami curled up in a ball with her back to me. I walk towards her but the closer I get, the more it feels like I'm walking through tar. My feet get heavier until finally I'm forced to stop. Too far away from her.
"When was this?"
"This was all the time."
I understand that what I'm seeing now is the Mami below the surface. The Mami that none of us saw. The Mami who fights and protects us because she believes it's her duty and the Mami who is so crushingly lonely as a result of it.
It's heartbreaking. Sadness hits me to the core as I watch Mami crying and despairing in her loneliness. I feel my earlier wall of detachment crumbling.
"I don't get it. Mami is already gone. Why tell me this now?"
"When you wake up, it will be a new timeline, a new world. Things will be different. And Mami will be there. You can reach her there."
"This thing about timelines...will there be a time again when I fail to reach Mami?"
"Not anymore."
"Why me? Why not you? Or one of the other magical girls?" I recognize my guide now. The sweet-looking first year who brought so much joy to Mami before she disappeared.
"It is you because that is simply the way it is. In every timeline, that is the constant."
And then I wake up.
To be continued...Thanks for reading!