Alright, an announcement:
I've decided that there's not going to be any suffering in this story at all, and that we'll from now on follow the amazing slice-and-life adventures of Homuhomu as a normal girl. There'll be lots of cozy moments, lots of happy-happy moments, and I assure you there will be absolutely no suffering at all whatsoever from here on out.
If you were misled by the previous chapters, then I'm afraid you'll have to adapt to my new happy formula.
Enjoy~!
Friday, March the 25th
Today was a peaceful day.
As Homura walked out from home, wearing the all-so-familiar uniform of Mitakihara Middle School for the 'first time' and holding a small bag in her hands, her red-framed glasses keeping everything clear as her dark hair flowed behind her, she felt better than usual. Even as she walked past piles of worn-out buildings that disrupted what would otherwise be a beautiful, clear sunny day, she didn't mind nor notice.
Having managed to make friends with Madoka beforehand by sheer luck, she even felt a bit excited, although she knew deep down that this was the day when things truly began to heat up. This was only the beginning of this timeline, and there were going to be many obstacles in the near future, which was why she would have to be as prepared as possible. Her grenades were prepared inside her bag just in case, disguised as soda cans. That way, she would be prepared when something unexpected happened.
"Nyan."
Her attention was caught by a by a little black cat sitting by the pavement, as if having waited for her. It was the same one she saved two weeks ago, and this time, she wasn't very surprised to see it.
Certainly a strange cat, one without a collar or owner yet perfectly clean with barely any traces of dirt. Perhaps it had some way of cleaning itself. Looking down at Amy, she felt like she was forgetting something.
"Little black cat, are you alright?" she asked spontaneously, and it made a gesture that might've been a nod before looking down at the ground.
"Nyaaaan…" it purred weakly.
"I I know. You're hungry, correct?" It made her smile as she recalled a distant memory. "Look, I have cookies. Would you like some?"
Reaching into her bag, she took out a small box, opened it, and took out a few cookies. Then, kneeling down, she gave them to the cat. It stared at her at first, then nibbled the edges suspiciously, but once it was convinced that they were safe, it started munching on them with enthusiasm.
So small, and yet all alone, Homura thought as she got up again. Every day, it has to take care of itself, lick its own wounds, find its own food, and if it dies one day, nobody will care. "Amy, do you think you'll ever give up someday?"
The cat looked up from its meal with a puzzled expression, and seeing it almost made her giggle.
"Forget it. I was just talking to myself."
Then, upon flicking her hair, the raven-haired girl went on her way. Having talked to a cat and given it all of her cookies without a reason, she couldn't help but feel a little silly, though maybe a little silliness was what she needed to keep herself calm. There was no way that she'd ever be able to save Madoka if she spent her time being depressed about every single little thing.
Stopping before the school gate, Homura had to take a deep breath first before entering. Even after having done the same thing over dozens of times, still she felt the need to mentally prepare herself. After all, if she went into class in a nervous, stumbling mess, then it was only going to make her current situation worse. Now that she thought about it, why hadn't she gone to meet up with Madoka on the way to school? Oh well, it was too late for that now.
Finally, after taking a deep breath, she went in.
"Okay! Now that that's done, I'd like to introduce a new transfer student to everybody."
The familiar voice of the teacher, Ms. Saotomo, could be heard speaking to her class from the glass corridor, though perhaps that was because she was so attuned to listening to this scene that she could hear things even from half a block away, even over her own echoing footsteps and thoughts. She was ready for this. Having repeated it so many times now, there was no way she could mess it up even if she tried to.
"Come on in, Akemi-san!"
Calmly, keeping her pace not too fast but not too slow, Homura walked into the classroom. Whispered exclamations spread across the students, such as 'she's cute!' and 'whoa, she must be super-smart!', but she remained quiet while making her way to the whiteboard, before glancing at an excited, waving Madoka. Noticing that Madoka had just started wearing the familiar red ribbons in her hair, her heat beat faster. With a smile, she waved back, which only served to stir the crowd even more. But as she paid a little more attention, from the corner of her eye, she could feel the blue-haired Sayaka look at her oddly.
"Now, please introduce yourself," the teacher, gesturing towards her.
"My name is Akemi Homura," she spoke out in a confident manner. "It's nice to meet you all."
Turning around, knowing what would happen, she could see that Ms. Saotomo was having trouble with writing her first name in hiragana, so she took the marker herself. Her hand steady and focused, the class was stunned as she wrote a 'ほ' (Ho), then a 'む' (Mu), and finally a 'ら' (Ra). How many times did she have to write her name on this same whiteboard? She'd lost count, but it had probably been so many times that her writing style eventually evolved into something with high finesse.
Once she was done, she bowed to everyone, and as if breaking a spell, they all broke into applause, with Madoka clapping the loudest. Knowing this was more than enough to warm up her heart.
"Well, er…"
At a loss of words due to the impressive show, the teacher nearly forgot what she was going to say, but managed to remember it before it slipped her mind.
"Ah yes! Akemi-san has been hospitalized for a long time due to a heart problem, so it's been awhile since she's been to school. That's why, please understand that she may not be familiar with some things. Everyone, do your best to help her when you can!"
This information acted as the fuel for the class to start chattering amongst themselves, and many of them probably wanted to unload a ton of questions onto Homura as she made her way to her seat at the back. Indeed, shortly afterwards when break came, her table was surrounded by other girls in her class. She tried to answer each of their questions patiently, as she'd done again and again in the past.
"Akemi-san, which school did you go to before?"
"I went to a Christian school in Tokyo."
"What club were you in? An art club? Or the literature club?"
"I wasn't in any."
"Your hair looks so gorgeous! What shampoo do you use?"
"U- um, excuse me! Homura-chan!" Standing at the back of the small crowd was a nervous Madoka, and as their attention turned to her, it probably didn't help one bit with her confidence. In fact, she was shaking. "Y- y- you're still a bit unwell, right? So um, since I'm the class n- nurse, I think I should show you where the nurse's office is..."
"Is that so? In that case, Akemi-san, would you like us to accompany you as well?"
"Eh?!" Having not expected this, she gave Homura a pained expression, begging to help her with this. It seemed like she wanted to talk about something, though it wasn't clear about what.
With a nod, the raven-haired girl held her forehead to show that she was sick.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," she told the crowd, getting up from her chair. "I feel somewhat lightheaded anyway, so it would be best if I'm taken by the one in charge."
Madoka let out a breath of relief, and proceeded to lead the way out. Just before they went out, Homura turned around to see that Sayaka was eyeing her with deep suspicion, possibly even more so than in past timelines. That wasn't a very good sign. Still, it had to wait another time. Once they left the classroom, she let out a sigh, though they were still in plain sight due to the glass-like structure of this school. The sound of the other classes talking amongst themselves could be heard, though faintly, and their presence outside of class no doubt attracted a few stares.
"I- it's this way," the timid schoolgirl called out, awkwardly walking around a corner and turning her head round every few seconds to see if her friend was still there.
"You don't have to be so nervous." Homura was bemused by her weird behavior. "Is something the matter, Madoka?"
"S- s- sorry! I, um," Fumbling about her words for a bit, it took a while for her to figure out what she wanted to say. "I just wasn't expecting you to be so cool, that's all… Wehehe~"
"Sorry if I scared you," reassured Homura, and she stopped to breathe a little.
It looked as though they'd stopped by an empty hallway up in the air, and a familiar one at that. Then again, there wasn't much that wouldn't be familiar to her in some form. From here, it would look as though they were standing upon a platform in the sky.
"So, is that what you wanted to talk about?"
"No! I mean, well, how should I say this?" Waiting patiently, it looked like Madoka was trying hard to find the proper words. "Um, okay. If I tell you, promise not to laugh, okay?"
"I won't, I promise you."
She couldn't help but admit that she was both confused and intrigued by this, since this event wasn't something that happened normally. Standing still, she paid close attention.
"Alright. Well, last night I had a dream. About you," Madoka began, but she stopped just to see if Homura was going to start laughing or anything.
Instead, she looked completely serious, which encouraged her to continue.
"So um, I remember that you were in this strange outfit fighting a huge monster in the sky all by yourself with the city in ruins. I think I was screaming out your name, and there was this little furry animal talking to me about wishes and magical girls, but I can't really remember what he was saying since I was so scared for you, and the last thing I remember is you running up towards me in the middle of all the ruins…"
"I... see."
How?
How how how how how how HOW HOW HOW HOW DOES SHE...?!
...Homura, calm down.
It took a little while for Homura to process this through her mind, and then once Madoka's words had finally sunk it, she had to try her best to contain her complete and utter shock upon hearing this. It seemed to be an accurate retelling of what transpired in the previous timeline, but how could it be possible for Madoka to dream about it?
Was this Kyubey's doing, by any chance? Was it? Could he possibly be trying to sabotage her mission already?! Had he reacted so badly to their previous encounter that it had driven him to go on the initiative? How did he even find out?!
The thought made her fists clench, but on the outside, Madoka looked scared after misinterpreting her dark expression.
"D- d- d- don't misunderstand! It's not that I wanted you to get hit by one, and it was a really really strange dream!" Since this was coming about all of a sudden, Homura gave her a very confused look. "Please don't get angry at me, because I do care for you a lot, Homura-chan, and I don't want to see you hurt! I'm really glad you're okay! So that's why…"
"It's... It's okay, I-" Homura mustered the strength to respond and explain herself, but it turned out that it wasn't needed.
"Oooooh, what do we have here?" Another voice chimed in impishly, and Madoka jolted. "Confessing on the spot, Madoka? Hehe, how brave! But you know, it's known as forbidden love in here, so I can't say I approve of this!"
"E- e- eh, Sayaka-chan, since when were you there?!" Her face blushing heavily in embarrassment, she turned around to see Sayaka. "It- it's not what it looks like, okay? I was just telling Homura-chan that I care about her, and well, I, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff! At all!"
"U-huh."
"Really! Really really!"
"Yeah, yeah, just wait until Hitomi hears about this~" Sayaka joked, taking her by the hand. "By the way, classes have almost started, so we should get back quickly! Come on!"
"Sayyaaaaakkkaaaa-chaaan, you're not listening to meeeeeeeeeee!"
At a loss for words, Homura watched as Madoka was dragged away by her best friend, unsure as to whether or not she should just let it be. Taking a step towards them, she was tempted to raise her voice and call out—
However, her intentions were silenced as Sayaka turned around and glared at her coldly. It was only for a split second, and she could've easily missed it had she blinked, but the venom contained within was unmistakeable. Watching them return back to the classroom, being friendly with each other, it wasn't something she wished to disturb anyway, but she knew from personal experience that she needed to be constantly wary about the other girl. For now, it didn't matter.
More importantly, how could it be that Madoka dreamt about the past timeline? That couldn't be possible, could it? She considered asking Kyubey, but after a bit of thought, it might be for the best if he didn't know what was going on, else he try to interfere with her goals. This was, of course, assuming that he played no part in it, which Homura severely doubted.
This is only the beginning, she repeated to herself, and this time she wouldn't have her magical powers to help her.
Since she only had one wish, she would have to think it over very carefully. Wishing for something as reckless as 'don't ever make a contract with Madoka' straightaway, and then being unable to repeat the cycle if things went horrible anyway, would be extremely dangerous.
Because of that, she would have to proceed carefully from this point onwards.
"I had no idea you could keep a secret," said Sayaka with a wide grin on her face. "I mean, you didn't mention her at all, so when you said something about a 'secret friend I'm gonna introduce you to' this morning, I didn't really believe it until the transfer student walked in and the two of you were like, really friendly with each other!"
"I'm surprised as well, Madoka-chan," Hitomi added.
Madoka giggled in response. "Well, I wanted it to be a surprise for the two of you! Wehehe~"
"It's nice to meet you both," Homura greeted them in a calm manner.
Having only just entered the café, she felt tense, but hid it beneath an air of subtlety and coolness. She was sitting next to Madoka, while the tomboyish blue-haired girl called Sayaka and the refined green-haired one called Hitomi sat on the opposite side of the table.
When she entered through the glass-domed mall, she could remember attracting more than a few stares from other people around her, but she was used to them by now. She'd already ordered her drink, so if the speed was anything like the later dates she came here, then it would take approximately one and a half minutes to come. But these were minor notes, and all thoughts about them were swept away by the fact that she was sitting next to Madoka again.
From here, being so close to her pink aroma, it was nearly impossible to resist the urge to snuggle up against it, yet at the same time she was far too self-restrained to ever let herself to do so.
"Did the two of you meet online?" asked Hitomi all of a sudden, upon taking a sip from her straw. "You both seem tense and not very used to the other."
"Well, that's…" Homura opened her mouth, but was cut off.
"Eh? Madoka, sure I can agree with, but Akemi looks as still as a rock," Sayaka interjected, waving her spoon about. "How could you tell, Hitomi?"
"I don't think you'll be able to understand. You see, when you grow up in a certain way, you learn to suppress your outer emotions," Hitomi explained in a gentle voice. "Being too expressive can be a bad thing sometimes. I've been raised that way myself, so it isn't difficult to recognize signs from others."
"That so? Oooohhh."
"That's an amazing talent, Hitomi-chan," Madoka added in, clasping her hands together.
Homura blinked in surprise. If anything, she certainly hadn't been expecting that to come from somebody she'd barely ever gotten to know in all the past timelines.
For a second, she glanced at the greenette, examining her for the very first time in a long time. The last must've been when she lent out her mathematics notes to help a then-inexperienced Homura, in a distant timeline she could no longer remember. After that, the girl had just sort of faded away from her mind as unimportant, but with a talent like that…
Can she tell what I'm thinking? She wondered warily.
"We met two weeks ago, under a strange set of circumstances," Homura explained, her drink coming shortly afterwards. Deciding it wasn't important, she nonchalantly sipped the coffee from her straw.
"Hey, Homura-chan," Madoka began, and Homura's attention quickly turned towards her. Maybe a little too fast. "How come you're so good at everything in school? Everyone was really impressed with you."
"She totally failed at the athletics though! I'm not going to forget that scared look of hers when she was told to jump!" Sayaka laughed out triumphantly, actually sounding relieved at this, making a gesture as if wiping sweat away from her forehead. "Seriously, I should've taken a photo of that."
"Sayaka-chan, that's not very nice," pouted Madoka.
Hitomi sighed.
"She's been staying at the hospital for half a year now, so it's only to be expected. She must have used that time to study academics, right, Akemi-san?"
"That is correct." Homura nodded. As she moved her head, her glasses tipped down her nose somewhat, and so she calmly pushed it back up.
It wasn't actually true, but she hoped to hell that Hitomi's foresight didn't include figuring out about how magical circumstances had her repeat the same tests and questions over and over again until they'd been fully memorized, about how she made a wish to a devil from the stars so she could repeat the same things over and over again in order to save her very best friend, about how she had to suffer over and over again while having her hopes crushed time and time again, and so on and so forth.
"Akemi-san," Hitomi said. "Do you mind if I make a comment? Some constructive criticism, if you will?"
Though she didn't show it, Homura was starting to panic beneath the surface. Don't tell me she really can—
"It's about your glasses."
Oh, that was all? As relieved as she was, she couldn't help but be curious as she raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I don't think they suit you very well," continued Hitomi. "You have this amazing aura, Akemi-san. Maybe they fit better a year ago, but those red frames simply do not suit you. In all honesty, it makes you look like some sort of otaku, or even chuunibyou."
At that, Sayaka almost choked on her drink, and Madoka turned to her best friend with a shocked expression, wondering how she could say such a horrible thing. But as for Homura herself, she nodded in agreement.
"So what do you suggest I do?"
She hadn't actually put much thought much into the glasses after being forced to wear them again, and apart from being constantly reminded that they were a necessity in this new timeline, they just sort of went by unnoticed in her mind. It never occurred to her to change them to better fit her new, hardened self before. These glasses were something she had no opinion of her own on.
"I'd normally suggest to take them off, but that won't help since you're near-sighted. Instead, you should go find a better pair of glasses. If you want, I'll help pick one for you."
"Hm." Unsure about it, she turned to the girl sitting next to her for an answer. "Madoka, what do you think?"
"Uh, um, I think it'd be great if you could help her look cooler, Hitomi-chan!" Madoka replied awkwardly, surprised that her opinion had been asked. "I mean, I do like them, they're really cute! But Homura's more like, more cool than cute? I guess it's true that Homura-chan's glasses look a bit silly on her~"
A little...'silly'?
Somewhere in Homura's mind, something cracked.
She just called them 'a little silly', right? A little silly... A little silly a little silly a little silly a little silly a little silly A LITTLE FREAKING SILLY...?!
As those three deathly words repeated themselves over and over uncontrollably in her mind, taking up most of her thoughts, it was more than enough to convince Homura. She was just about to nod when-
"Oh, look at the time!" Hitomi exclaimed suddenly, looking at her phone, and she began getting her things as she stood up. "Excuse me, I have to leave now. Sorry, Akemi-san, maybe we can do this another time."
"Which is it this time? Piano lessons, classical dance?" asked Sayaka.
"This time it's Japanese tea. We'll be tested soon, so I don't know how long I'll have to study there."
"Heh, it must be nice to be born into a middle-class family…" Sayaka remarked in a fake-remorseful tone. "Akemi, you're probably in one as well, right?"
As Hitomi left, Homura turned to face her and answer her question. Her mouth opened—only for nothing to come out.
It was a simple question, wasn't it? About family. She just needed to say so. Simple.
She just needed to—answer.
Thoughts without form raced into her mind, and without even realizing it, she was mentally scrambling for the answer to that question. It was weird, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out. It was weird. She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything before that sudden day when she got a heart attack for the first time and was hospitalized.
Did they ever visit her? Did they ever even send flowers? What were their faces like?
Had that much time passed? So much time, that she could hardly even remember who they were, or what they were like? Within moments, she found herself mentally panicking as she tried to find an answer to that simple, yet impossible question.
Luckily, Madoka saw through her distress almost straightaway, and stood up from the table.
"W- we should leave too, don't you think?"
"Probably."
Sayaka had raised an eyebrow, but after a shrug, let it be and got up. Her expression changed to a grin as she leaned over the table. It seemed like she had some plans of her own.
"Hey, Madoka, wanna go to the CD store on the way home?"
"It's for Kamijou-kun, right? Alright," replied Madoka, smiling in understanding. Then, as if just remembering about her other friend, she decided to add, "Oh, can Homura-chan come too?"
A subtle, cold breeze passed by. The blunette frowned for just a short instant before replacing it with a smile, a forced smile where the edges were twitching in annoyance. Mechanically turning towards Homura, with this forced expression, she wasn't sure what to answer. But after some consideration, she let out a tired sigh, as if admitting defeat.
"Yeah, yeah, she can come too. If she wants to, anyway."
"That would be appreciated," said Homura.
It was five o'clock, and the sun had begun to set.
Despite having a bad feeling the whole time while checking out music with Madoka and Sayaka, having felt as if there was some sort of ominous presence close by, nothing happened, much to her relief. It must've been paranoia then, since she was so used to unexpected things happening. Now, she was a little disappointed that she hadn't bought a CD or two. It might've been nice listening to music in order to pass the time.
However, at the same time, she felt as though she was forgetting something, something that was supposed to happen today. It was probably something related to Kyubey though, and should he dare to approach them out in the open, she would be ready for him. In her mind, she was already forming multiple scenarios to get rid of him without the other two noticing, even in her current state.
"See you tomorrow, Homura-chan, Sayaka-chan!"
Smiling, Madoka waved goodbye to her friends before going on to merrily walk down a separate path.
Satisfied with this, Homura proceeded onwards to walk down the other path. Carrying her bag the whole way through was tiring, but as long as she didn't exhaust herself by running and kept a steady pace, she should be able to make it without any problems.
Though to her distaste, even if she knew that this was going to happen, she and Miki Sayaka found themselves walking down the same path. The air was cold between the two of them.
It's only three minutes before our roads differ, she reassured herself.
Surely enough time to reach home before something happened.
"Hey, Akemi—san."
Sayaka's footsteps stopped in their tracks, and her tone was one filled with reluctance.
"What is it?" Homura asked.
The sunset was directly ahead, the sun itself almost completely over the horizon.
"Er, er, I'm sorry if I've been a little cold to you today, Akemi-san!"
Sayaka admitted this in a regretful voice, forcing herself to say the words out loud, and she bowed in apology as she did so.
"I wasn't sure what to think of you at first, and to be honest, if I hadn't seen you struggling during sports, I wouldn't be able to trust you. I guess it just came as a shock when I found out that Madoka had a secret new friend, and you're probably going through a lot within since this is your first time hanging outside the hospital, so um . . . yeah. I'm sorry! Truly sorry!"
The type of tone she used was a vaguely familiar one. Thinking back, it wasn't dissimilar to the tone she used in the first few timelines back when they were closer friends.
There'd always been a void between the two that neither of them seemed able to cross no matter how hard they tried, conflicting even when they agreed on the same thing, and Homura never once believed that it was worth getting close to her again after all the trouble she caused for Madoka and the others. But here, things were going in a different direction. Because she had displayed flaws, Sayaka was currently making the effort to trust her. As Madoka's friend.
Maybe, just maybe, the friendship they once had a long time ago could still be repaired?
With this in mind, Homura turned around with a faint smile. To answer her apology.
"Miki—"
However, she froze in place as a butterfly caught her eye.
Please don't tell me.
It was quickly followed up by her and Sayaka's vision being derided with hallucinations, colors of green and yellow were beginning to paint over their surroundings, the ground getting softer, and a faint pounding could be heard as quick flashes of butterfly patterns, flower patterns, and many other things were appearing all over the place, the entire scene being highly unnatural and psychedelic in nature. Her senses were screaming out to her that something just outright wrong was happening, and somewhere at the back of her mind, a voice was subtly telling her to kill herself kill herself kill herself kill herself.
Please, no! Not here... not now!
Worst of all, she knew exactly what was happening, and cursed the world for this timing.
But it was happening, and there was nothing to change this as the pavement and buildings distorted, transforming into something akin to a hallucination given form.
The background sounds of cars and urban life were drowned out, replaced by excited, inhuman chattering that emanated from not too far away. The sky had turned into something that looked like a sliding ceiling resembling it, and the buildings had been taken over by random cardboard cutouts of things that made no sense, including long thorns, faceless businessmen, circles, candy canes, garden fences, and most of all, walking butterflies.
Just looking at these things were enough to make Homura's heart beat faster, and she held her mouth with both hands, trying to contain her panic.
"W- wha- what's happening to the town?! Where'd the road go?!"
Looking over her shoulder, Sayaka appeared to be even more scared.
"H- h- hey, Akemi-san, w- where are we?! What exactly is happening?!"
"That's…" Unable to answer, Homura's voice trailed off.
She clenched her fists, and ran through her options. This was a horrible, horrible situation to be in.
"Seriously, just what's going on here?!" Sayaka screamed out.
In response to her plea, abnormal creatures emerged from their hiding spots, looking like tiny fluffballs with mustaches, butterfly bodies, and impossibly thorned limbs, gathering together and circling around the duo with obvious hostility, creeping out Sayaka and blocking out whatever chances they had at survival.
The most they could do was throw their bags at two of the familiars and hope that it would give them some sort of opening to run away, but even if it worked, where to? There wasn't an exit in sight.
Du mußt verstehn
The familiars paused, as if examining the two girls.
Aus Eins mach' Zehn
Und Zwey laß gehn
Und Drey mach' gleich
So bist du reich
Their scissor-like hands snipped again and again, in tune with their high-pitched, chanting voices. Homura was sweating, desperately searching her mind for a way out of this utterly hopeless situation. Kyubey was nowhere in sight.
Verlier' die Vier
Aus Fünf und Sechs
So sagt die Hex'
Suddenly, she remembered the grenades she made. Well, of course. They'd been made specifically in case an occasion like this happened. But Sayaka was here as well, and if she used them in front of her, then that would mean destroying what little hope for friendship and trust they had. Can I really do that?
Mach' Sieben und Acht!
So ist's vollbracht!
No. It couldn't be helped. It was either survive or perish. There was no other option.
"Stay close behind me, Miki-san!"
Due to her racing heart, her mind was getting fuzzy, and she clumsily fumbled around with the zipper to her bag as the familiars began their slow approach, starting to reach a decision that seemed to include their sharp bladed limbs, their malicious intent now obvious with hellish black eyes having formed on their 'faces', more thorned limbs protruding out from them.
Dumping the bag onto the ground so that she could concentrate better, once she managed to open it, she shoved both hands in and took out two seemingly-normal soda cans.
Und Neun ist Eins!
Und Zehn ist keins!
"T- the hell?! Akemi-san, this is a really bad time for a drink right now!" Sayaka yelled at her.
"Be quiet," replied Homura, who was trying to concentrate as she held them against her mouth.
Das ist das Hexen-Einmal-Eins!
Then, using her teeth, she tore the pull-tab off the first disguised grenade and then the second in quick succession, before hurriedly flinging them to the left and to the right. It was just in time too, because the strange beings had been almost upon them when their attention was caught by violent explosions blowing up a fair number of their ranks.
Knowing that this was their chance, she took Sayaka's hand and tried to run through a gap in the creatures' formation, only to find herself lagging and being dragged forward by Sayaka's superior strength and speed instead.
As they ran through the bizarre realm as fast as they could, being closely pursued by the enraged familiars, neither of them bothering to waste their breath on asking questions or talking, Homura trying her best not to trip while holding onto her bag, they came across a door and entered it without hesitation, slamming it shut afterwards.
However, on the other side wasn't freedom, but a deeper level of the barrier. This time they looked to be in a room with crisscrossing staircases, indistinguishable portraits floating about, and there were many more familiars roaming the area.
Not only that, but Homura was feeling weak. Her vision was getting blurry, and somewhere along the lines a crack had formed on the lens of her glasses. Her breathing was becoming uneven. Sweat trailed down through her body. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last before fainting, and she had to lean onto Sayaka in order to prevent her feet from giving way, forcing the two of them to walk.
If they were noticed by the familiars, then there would be no way for both to outrun them. At this rate, there was no way they were going to make it like this.
"Damn it!" The blunette cursed, and Homura might've done the same were she not utterly exhausted. "How do we get out of here?! Is this even real?!"
"There's one more . . . grenade . . . in my bag," Homura managed to muster in between pants, trying in vain to slow her breathing.
"Why do you even have stuff like that, Akemi?! That's just insane! Do you know what's going on?!"
Even though they were practically walking for their lives, barely clinging onto survival, she still had the urge to yell. Less than a minute ago, she'd been filled with regret for her uncalled-for behavior and wanting to make up for it, but now ended up being suspicious of everything once again. In order to save their lives, Homura had to bring suspicion upon herself again.
Why did this have to happen? Honestly, why?!
As if things couldn't get any worse, Sayaka shrieked as a gigantic, deformed monster jumped down from the top of one of the staircases and hit the floor smoothly like an insect.
GERTRUD
Devoid of any resemblance to humanity whatsoever, its body was composed from the many parts of a butterfly, but perverted, displaced, even inverted, giving it an unsettlingly disturbing appearance. Homura recognized it from her past experiences. It was the Witch of this barrier, one which she'd killed many times without a second thought in past timelines. But this time, both girls were too paralyzed by terror to make a move against this twisted monstrosity of nature.
"This must a dream," Sayaka muttered in a trance. "I'm having a nightmare, right...? RIGHT?!"
Even with one grenade left over, there was no way that they'd be able to take on something like this. It was all over.
In her last moments, Homura's thoughts were rushing wildly.
This was all Kyubey's fault! Everything was Kyubey's fault! THAT DAMNED KYUBEY MUST'VE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS SOMEHOW. Homura couldn't be fooled. She knew his plan. She knew what he hoped to gain. It was a perfect plan of his, and it was executing flawlessly. She knew that he planned on her dying here, she knew that he wanted her out of the picture so that he could manipulate Madoka via her and Sayaka's deaths and then have her make a contract with him, and then STEAL HER SOUL and TORTURE HER TO THE BRINK OF DESPAIR. AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. She could even feel his presence close by, coming closer and closer, based purely on her instinct. No doubt he wanted to savor their deaths like the sadist he was—
"Looks like we found you just in time!"
Wait, was that Kyubey's voice?
Just as the Rose Garden Witch lunged for the two human girls, it was suddenly sent flying into the air by a powerful barrage of glowing yellow bullets coming from behind, each and every one erupting in rhythm.
"Are you alright?" A composed voice asked, and Homura turned around, recognizing the person instantly. "That was really dangerous, huh? But it's safe now, so you can both relax."
Sayaka stared at her in a daze, and murmured "Who are you?"
"Right. I suppose I should introduce myself... But, before that!"
Opening up her hands, two magical muskets materialized out of thin air, and she spun acrobatically as she grabbed hold of them. Her movements were far beyond the capabilities of a human. Even as the witch opened up its wings and began to dart straight towards her, seeing her as a threat, she didn't seem to care. Showing absolutely no fear, the magical girl launched herself into direct combat against the abomination.
"Let me take care of this first!"
Within that moment,
seeing her like this,
Homura had never been so grateful to meet Tomoe Mami in her entire life.
.
.
.
Oh good, you guys are still here? Perfect.
Were your hopes crushed? Even better.
Because from here on out, the suffering doesn't stop. The spiral has begun. I was actually going to end this after the Gertrud thing, but this chapter turned out longer than I expected pft~