"Would you like some coffee?" Saya asked as she served a cup. "You're not from here either, are you?" Homura asked her without answer the question. Saya smiled, "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm as human as most girls here." Homura glared not convinced by her words and noticed how she had said 'most girls'. She asked the counselor some questions about who she was and how she knew of other world. Saya simply responded that the answers would be found in her dreams. Homura looked at her quizzically. Dreams? Homura sighed, somewhat giving up on getting any valid information from this woman and instead asked her why she had asked for her to come. Saya smiled again and simply said "I thought you might have wanted to talk some more."
"What did the counselor want?" Madoka asked her friend when they got home. "Just wanted to talk I guess." She responded. While this was the truth, Homura didn't tell Madoka about her thinking there might have been a hidden motive. She didn't know what Saya had meant about dreams but that night she found out something was odd. She found herself in a gray place with a few things she recognized. She looked down at herself and noticed she was dressed like a magical girl! She looked at her surroundings in panic and noticed some of the objects had turned purple. She walked around trying to figure out where she was but she had never seen this place before. Just then she noticed a light far away from her. It seemed to be glowing bright red so her initial thought was that Kyoko must be nearby but as she got closer she stopped. This place was definitely not somewhere Kyoko would hang out. Just as she was about to leave she saw a girl standing above a giant rock. She had horns and a tail but otherwise looked like a human being. A familiar human being.
"Who are you?" Homura asked the girl. The girl jumped down from the rock and landed in front of Homura. "My name is Black Gold Saw." She answered simply. Homura's eyes widened as she realized why she looked so familiar. "You're lying! You're the counselor lady, Saya" Homura said accusingly. Black Gold Saw gave a cold laugh. "Sorry but that's my soul mate, not me." Homura gave a puzzled look but the girl didn't offer any more explanations.
When Homura awoke that morning, Madoka was in her room looking alarmed. "Homura! I had a terrible dream! We were in a gray land and we were magical girls again! Then a cloaked girl came and attacked me!" she said almost in tears. Homura hugged her friend for comfort. "We need to talk to Saya-san." She told her friend and proceeded to tell her about her own dream. "They sound similar. Well, the place does." Madoka pointed out. Homura nodded, already aware of this. "I think we enter a different world when we sleep. Maybe that's the curse of this world. We're still magical girls but we're in a different land. Guess we're part-timing." Madoka grinned a little at the thought of being a part-time magical girl. It made it sound like it really was job, which in a way it was but it was a job that they couldn't get out of. Could they?
When the girls got to school, they went directly to Saya's office. "Explain." Homura ordered as soon as she saw the counselor. Saya raised an eyebrow and poured some coffee. "Hm? Explain what?" she asked. Homura glared a little and Saya smiled. "Ah. I see you've visited The Realm." Once again, Homura was puzzled by Saya's words but this time she asked for an explanation. A real one, not just side comments and riddles. Why were their dreams so similar? Where they connected? Was this another world? Why had she been in it too? Was she a magical woman? Saya waited for Homura to finish her ranting of questions before answering. "Your dreams are indeed a different world. This world is called The Realm, where other versions of you fight for your happiness. The person you saw there was not me, but rather my protector. Her name is Black Gold Saw and I will warn you that our other selves tend to not be very friendly towards each other. They can be indifferent and not harm you, but I wouldn't try to push their boundaries. They're whole purpose of living is to protect us, they alone do not feel but if you are to ever hurt one of the girls here emotionally, be aware that they will come after you in the other world and try to kill you." Madoka and Homura glanced at each other and then back at Saya. Their dreams led to a different world? A world based on human emotions? That sounded like a witch's labyrinth. Madoka explained to Saya about what witches were and how their labyrinths worked but Saya assured her that this was not the case. "Nobody gets hurt in our world because of what happens in The Realm. They only help, not harm." Madoka nodded and looked over at Homura who hadn't said a word since Saya's explanation. She didn't know what to think, according to Saya, this wasn't a labyrinth and according to Madoka, witches shouldn't even be able to exist but the person in the other world wasn't someone else, it was her. It was her and Madoka as magical girls. Maybe Saya was saying the truth and the girls in The Realm couldn't harm the girls from this world but, they weren't really from here now, where they?
