Chapter 1 : Returning

Disclaimer: This fiction is purely fanmade. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica / Puella Magi Madoka Magica belongs to the owners.


Get it, Sayaka. I'll see you soon.

A bell rang through her hazy thoughts as she shot up from her table. A drop of drool slipped off the edge of her lips and her blurry vision slowly came into place. Where... what?

"Sayaka-chan, let's go home!"

The blunette lifted her head and turned to where the voice came from. Her eyes widen as she stared rudely at her best friend.

Her... chibi best friend.

"What's wrong, Sayaka-chan?" a chibi Madoka asked, touching Sayaka's forehead. "School ended, let's go home."

Sayaka blinked again, thought slowly flowing back into place. Sayaka brushed Madoka's hand off her head and jumped up from her seat. She was wearing her blue polo t-shirt and shorts which she used to wear so often during her elementary school! Then it hit her: she really just went back in time to two years ago. That means Madoka and her have not enrolled into Mitakihara Middle School and... Wait, where's Kyouko?

She turned and glanced all around the classroom before fixing her sight on Madoka. With a grin, the blunette gave Madoka's super adorable, puffy cheeks a pinch and replied cheekily, "I'm not going home yet, Madoka-chan. I've got some world-saving duties to do today!"

As expected from the still-or-even-more naive little Pinklette Princess, Madoka awed at the way Sayaka gave her speech and wrapped her arms around Sayaka's arm, "What are you doing today?"

Partially glad that she could already see Madoka so soon when she came back, Sayaka scratched her side of her hair nervously with her free hand. "I'm gonna save a family from desperation." Her eyes glanced over the wall clock in her old classroom quickly, "I'll tell you when I come back."

Madoka gave her best friend a doubtful look but let go of her arm anyway. "Be sure to share your story when you come back, ok?" she smiled.

"You bet!" The blunette grinned even wider and push all her stationeries on the table into her school bag.

"But don't forget to do your homework for the weekend too, Sayaka-chan." Madoka reminded offhandedly, "Or your mum is going to get a call from the school again."

Sayaka flinched. Oh yeah, this used to happen all the time. Her grin turned nervous and she pat Madoka's head to reassure her, "I will. See you next week then?"

Madoka nodded and gave Sayaka a tight hug which she returned wholeheartedly. This definitely felt great. After all the crap she went through just a blink of an eye ago, she's back to being the little clueless child she was. A world without broken hearts and despair; this world is simple, plain, and filled with innocence.

They bid each other farewell at the school's gate and Sayaka went off to the direction of the old church where Kyouko confessed her past. That place would totally make sense for their meet up, since they would not know how else to meet each other. They should have known that they would appear at the places where they last were at 2 years ago and made arrangements before being sent back.

Sayaka grumbled at this carelessness and continue. It must have been a weird sight for a little girl, carrying her lunchbox and school bag, to dash through the streets alone without any adult accompanying her. She could not care less, she has to meet up with Kyouko soon or coming back would be a waste.

Ok, maybe not really a waste since Madoka's alive again. Thank God that what Homura said was true, "Madoka is alive in the past". If she wasn't, Sayaka was pretty damn sure she will strangle the hell outta the transfer student when they meet 2 years later.

Soon, Sayaka reached the market and a commotion was occurring right in front of the fruit stall. She stopped, sixth sense telling her that she has to check things out there.

Being slim is her privilege as the tiny girl squeeze her way through the crowd of adults. She peeped through the gaps in between the people and her sapphire eyes caught a figure immediately.

"Kyouko!" she called out and swim through the crowd even faster.

The redhead was in the middle of being beaten up by the fruit stall owner with a broom. She crawled up into the corner between walls and had her legs kept close to her body, with her arms shielding her head. Her eyes were filled with stubborn tears that refused to leak and she bit her lower lip hard, trying her best to get immune to the pain. Soft whimpers had escaped out of her lips through the beating.

"Scrawny little thief! I've caught you so many times and you still refuse to budge, huh!" The owner was a tall, broad man. His broom was lifted up away from the redhead while he continued screaming profanities at her.

"Kyouko!"

The stall owner turned to see a little blunette coming towards the redhead and stopped his assault. "Huh, an accomplice to the rescue?" he spat.

Sayaka stopped in front of the bruised girl and glared at the store owner, "How can you hit such a young girl?"

His reply was a smirk followed by a bark of laughter. Confused, Sayaka stood up with her arms spread in front of Kyouko, eyes so sharp and fierce that she could cut the man she was looking at if she wants to.

A trembling cold hand grabbed the savior's wrist and she turned to face her companion. Kyouko was steadying herself up and she whispered to her friend, "I... Kindda forget that my arms and legs are slightly shorter and ended getting caught..."

The blue knight resisted the urge to roll her eyes on the spot. "What did you steal and how much is it?" she hissed back quietly.

Fingers still trembling, the redhead pointed to the half eaten apple beside her foot. Sayaka nodded and turned to fish out her purse in her school bag. At that point, the crowd and stall owner went quiet, focusing their attention to the school girl digging her bag.

Suddenly, Kyouko gave the half-eaten apple a swift well-trained kick and it flew pass the blunette, straight into the tummy of the tall man, draining air out of him temporarily.

The cold fingers became tight instantly and the blunette was tugged out of her motion. "Now, run!" was registered in her head a second too late when she realised that she was being pulled away from the scene by the market thieve.

The stall owner grunted and held his tummy in pain. He bit his inner cheek and glared through the crowd. No, not here, no, not there either. Arghhhh they are too small!

"Where the fuck did ya'll little bitches went—" gradually turned into echoes as the two girls ran and hid around the corners of the next street.

Panting with her palms on her knees, the redhead turned to her companion, "Se...seriously, Sayaka? Being all... all heroic again the moment... You reach here?"

Without any form of resistance now, Sayaka rolled her eyes. "I'm here for you and I don't want you to be wasted before we even begin anything!" She waved her arms around exaggerating her point.

Silence emerge between the two as they caught their breath slowly. It was awkward, to Kyouko at least. To hear Sayaka say that she didn't want her to be wasted amused her. For once, she felt treasured by that idiot. And by treasured, she meant that she was finally labeled and acknowledged as "friend", not the invisible street rat who had to punch someone to gain the hero's attention. A chuckle left her lips before she could stop it and it caught the blunette's attention. Blue eyes narrowed and questioned the redhead silently.

Kyouko lift her bangs off her eyes and grinned, "Ya know, I'm really glad to see you again."

To her surprise, what escaped from the lips of the blue knight was a sigh of relief. "Yeah, so do I." Sayaka lifted up her hand and spot the ring still intact on her finger, "So... How should we begin?"

A shrug was all that Kyouko could reply. She didn't know. She woke up in an alley, shivering at the cold weather with only her once-favorite black and green hoodie jacket to keep her warm. It could be one of the times that she ran away from home, not wanting to accept that her father had became a changed man, or it could be that she was half-way hunting food for Momo, her adorable younger sister, and was hiding away from some angry store owners. She couldn't recall, but as far as she knows, she actually does this quite often back then. Leaving home, leaving her mother and her sister in the hands of the devil...–

Finger snapped infront of her eyes and the redhead jumped out of her daze. "Are you sure you're back from the future there, Miss Apple Thief?" The fingers were replaced with blue eyes staring intently into hers.

Kyouko gulped down a lump of saliva and she continued staring. Those blue eyes, so much like ocean waves... Waves that makes people lost in them, waves that are filled with ups and downs... Waves that captured the sailors, let them sail through emotions, thoughts, questions... So vast, so wide... So much like the outer space...—

"Helloooo, knock knock!"

Another snap and the dazy girl jumped and looked away, blushing heavily. 'Holy crap what the hell?' She wished she could really kick and hurt herself mentally.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see the blur motions of blue hair swaying beside her, trying to catch her attention. Kyouko blinked her eyes wet and took a deep breath. With a smirk, she turned and replied, "Come in."

Sayaka stopped her Operation Catch Kyouko Attention and lowered her eye lid. She lifted up her index finger in Kyouko's face, "Either you're trying too much to act like a boss," and then she lifted her middle finger to show a '2', "Or you're trying to sound dirty, Kyouko."

A burst of laughter echoed through the walls and the owner kneeled down on the floor trying hard to control her laughters, "Holy shit! Miki-sensei teaching me how to sound dirty!"

Another grunt and Sayaka pushed the redhead's shoulder lightly. Like a piece of paper falling off the edge of a table, Kyouko fell down to her side swiftly, still giggling over what Sayaka said.

"Argh, seriously Kyouko!" Sayaka kicked the fallen girl's heel annoyingly, "Can we get into business now?"

The redhead sniffed and pushed herself up to a sitting position, "Yeah, yeah. How do you suggest we go about this?"

Sayaka frowned and crossed her arms. "You should at least fill me in with details of what happened. At this point, they should still be alive, right?"

The giggling stop and Kyouko gave another shrug, looking out into the streets behind them. Well, it's true that Sayaka ought to know the details, or at least time, location and stuffs... And what to be wary of say...

"Hey, could you promise me something?" red eyes turned to her friend suddenly, "Don't use magic or what not. Maybe I can still convince Father that it was something else and not magical girl tricks. Like say, cosplay or something. Just act human."

The blunette stared hard at Kyouko with a "heh?" hanging at the edge of her mouth.

Kyouko gritted her teeth, "Well?"

Sayaka rolled her eyes and brushed off the redhead, "I'm fine with the no magic part, but you need to come up with something more convincing. Don't drag me down into becoming an otaku with you."

A confident grin flashed across the other girl's face instantly, revealing her fang. She snapped a finger and raised a fist at the blunette. Sayaka smirked and punched the fist, "You're gonna owe me something big, Kyouko."

The grin didn't fade as Kyouko lead Sayaka across the streets, towards the Sakura church. Sure, owe her something big. What's bigger and more important than having her family back, and her crush to be supporting her? Kyouko begin giggling to herself again. Yeah, life can't get any better than this moment.


The two girls stood across an open field facing a 3 stories tall architecture, with one of them having her jaw hanging wide and the other giving her friend a proud smirk.

"Woah..." Sayaka stared at the building in front of her in awe, "Kyouko, your family church... Actually looks so good."

The redhead jumped at the ending phrase and swing her arm across the other girl, trying to make herself seem threatening, "What 'actually looks so good'? The Sakura Church always look good!"

Sayaka giggled and pushed the playful arm away. "Right, now, I think it's time you can describe to me the 'disaster that will never happen in the future'?" She gave a wink at the end of her sentence.

The long-hair girl heaved a sigh, unsure whether was it a relief that what happened will never happen here, or was it a sign that her heart is breaking again at the thought of what happened. Her emotions went all over the place, worst than the ups and downs of a roller coaster from the moment she open her eyes here and during her walk to this church. Right, Sayaka is right to say that the Sakura Church looks good. Damn it, she can barely remember the good days her family had, it was so long ago!

Sensing the silence and unwillingness to repeat the story, Sayaka took a deep breath and initiated the conversation, "Erm... You can start with the exact date and time, what you were doing before that that you made you absent from home and... Which room were they in when they... Were attacked."

With her feet glued to the ground, Kyouko looked up to the grand, medieval-influenced church, allowing memories to fill up her thoughts. "It was... 16 April, around 2 to 3pm when I found them." She swallowed a lump of saliva, trying to relief an old pain. "Momo was in her bedroom, our shared bed room, and Mother was along the corridor of our rooms. The police said that she was probably stabbed once in the kitchen and tried to warn Momo about Father... But she was still caught by him and killed before she can reach... There were her blood stains from the kitchen on the first floor up till where her body was."

Her eye contact to the building broke and she lowered her head, "Father was in the main church hall. He hanged himself. I don't know where he got the ropes so he probably planned and bought it before. The stool was from our church's storage room."

The redhead bit her lower lip and took a deep breath, still trying her best to control her emotions. Her fingers were turning cold and begin shivering slightly. Sayaka caught sight of it and took her hand within hers, warming her up a bit. Kyouko nodded slightly which she hope could reassure Sayaka and continued, "I was... In the park I think. I can't remember. After I was found out by Father, I kept leaving my house in order to avoid him calling me names. My presence in the church hurt him... the most."

Tears were forming up at the edge of her eyes and she quickly wiped them off with the back of her palm. Gritting her teeth, Kyouko took in a deep breath and made a loud noise by sucking her mucus back in. With her eyes fixed on her old home, she bit her lower lip once more, "That's... all I remember."

A light thud broke her thoughts when she felt Sayaka's hand behind her back. She turned to face her blue-haired friend, only to receive an encouraging grin. With another tap on the shoulder, Sayaka smiled, "So, ready?"

'Damn that influential smile of hers...'

"Yeah, even more so with you around."


They were just a few more steps to the door of the gigantic church near the edge Kasamino and Mitakihara. Two young girls, hand in hand, one with the look of encouragement and another with the look that has a mix of fear and longing.

Together, they took in deep breaths to calm their nerves. The one who knew the place well took the lead and pushed the wooden door slowly, allowing a beam of light to shine through the dusty floor and into the long corridor.

'This is it' Kyouko thought and her feet landed lightly onto the still-intact floor of the church. She could not really recall when was the last time she had seen the church in such a good condition. For the longest period of time, all she had in mind was how dusty the place is, how rotten the wooden furnitures had became after being neglected by the remaining Sakura. This whole feeling of stepping into the good-old church was a whole new feeling to her.

A mix, a confusion.

She knew she was excited before, being able to see Momo and her parents again, but yet the fear is creeping up. What if she fails to save them again? What if she witness the deaths again? What if... It just cannot be avoided?

Kyouko gritted her teeth, 'No, think otherwise. I will succeed and this is my chance to live happily.'

Another quiet step was taken and the redhead entered her old home. Red orbs squinted and glanced around the corners of the main corridor and she sees no one in particular. All seems fine, it seems.

Grabbing the hand of the blunette, Kyouko pulled her friend into her home with pride. The worried look that had been plastered onto her face since the walk from the field had been replaced with her trademarked fang grin almost instantly.

Sayaka stumbled into the church through the tiny gap of the door from the sudden pull. But before she could even lift her finger to flick Kyouko, the interior of the church caught her attention.

The beautiful stained glass surrounding the sides of the church were clear, with the sun shinning through it, printing its well-defined colours onto the floor. Furnitures were aligned, the toned, dark wood were glossy and the statues around the corners were new. The space was clear, rubbish-free, as compared to her memories of the church Kyouko brought her to. With the little sunlight shining through and the help of a few lighted candles, she could clearly see little bits of dusts floating around too.

After a few moments of observing her jaw-dropping guest in the house, Kyouko's grin got even wider. Just as she was about to speak words of welcome, distinctive silhouettes behind a statue few feet away from them caught her attention.

"Who's there!" the redhead shouted, surprising Sayaka and broke her train of thoughts about the interior design.

Her voice echoed through the hall, gaining no replies from who she spotted. Irritated that someone broke into the church without her family's permission, Kyouko took a step forward, ready to confront the intruders.

"Could that be... Kyouko?" a deep manly voice spoke from the front desk of the hall.

That voice.

Kyouko quickly turned around to face where the sound came from with wide eyes.

"Father?"


A/N: Ok, after five months, I finally typed something for Saving Life again. I hope I can finish this fic before school reopens in Sept. All my works are done without beta, by the way. Too lazy to get one.

Everything seems pretty calm at the moment, since well, chapter 1 is where the story starts. I hope I won't struggle when I reach the climax part. o_o

Do drop a review if you could! And hope you enjoyed reading it!

Kaito / 15 July 2013