A Curse Between Us

by Netherwood

Homura presides over her new world, but a paradise built on sin cannot endure. Sayaka struggles, Madoka slumbers, and curses lurk in wounded hearts. Post-Rebellion.

4. Chapter 4

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OoOoO

A Curse Between Us

Chapter 4

OoOoO

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Her samurai dashed across the screen, waves of mooks collapsing in the wake of his passing as they each fell to a single stroke of the sword. With simulated speaker-blasted screams, the horde of obstacles peeled away until only the level boss, the enemy general draped in a cloak of crow feathers, stood between her and victory.

Their history teacher at school once mentioned that the golden age of the samurai story had been in the Edo period, when samurai theater burst into massive popularity. In Edo, the real-life samurai themselves were already on their way to irrelevance as a unified Japan relaxed into peace and the age of the merchant and the bureaucrat. The samurai plays that so gripped the public consciousness, tales of daring and honor and duty, were mostly spun out of fanciful romanticism. Stories infected the public mind, driving out the historical memory of reality.

Sayaka hated that lecture.

Her little play-actor slumped to the ground, bleeding out from a dozen wounds, and Sayaka mashed the buttons to make the continuation countdown plummet to zero.

"Yo, Blue!" Kyouko bounded up to her through the arcade, landing with her whole upper body leaning on the control deck of the samurai game. "You having fun yet?"

"This game is stupid." Sayaka still entered her name into the high score rankings anyway.

"Oh come on, don't be like that! Just find a new one then. In fact…" Kyouko leaned out in front of Sayaka, blocking the screen. "I got an idea for some fun."

"Oh really?"

"You know what I'm after, Blue. Only one reason I come to the arcade, isn't there?"

Sayaka looked off to the side. "We should figure out what we're going to do about the upswing in wraiths."

"Really? Really? The sun is shining so hard it's gonna burn someone's face off, the birds are out there squawking about how much they want to hook up before the day's done, and you want to spend our beautiful Sunday afternoon talking strategy?"

"If it's such a great day, why are we indoors in a noisy arcade?"

"You know what I think?" Kyouko pulled herself up to sit on the game's control deck and leered at Sayaka with a fanged smile. "I think you're chicken."

Sayaka felt her lips quirking upward into a grin, but forced a glower. "Say that again, jackass."

Kyouko leaned in closer, supporting her arms on Sayaka's shoulders. "Bawk bawk bawk baaawk."

"We can talk about wraiths after I beat your ass into the ground," Sayaka declared. She lifted Kyouko bodily off the machine, smiled at her friend's cheers, and carried her over to the DDR machines.

One of the regular customers saw them heading there and sent up the general alarm. By the time they'd taken their places, they had a crowd of regulars and curious newcomers gathered around them. Sayaka and Kyouko didn't look all that different than the other kids, teens, and college students who visited this place, but word had gotten around that when a pair of girls, one with short blue hair and the other with waist-length crimson hair, got on the DDR machines, you forgot about whatever game you were playing and watched the show instead.

"Hey hey, look at this! They got new songs!"

"Must've released a new pack." They shared a grin. "Grab the hardest one and crank it up to challenge!"

The song didn't seem to understand the concepts of "warming up" or "mercy." Right from the first note they had a blaze of arrows scrolling across the screen at speeds that almost required memorizing the entire song to get anything done. They didn't care. They hit them all with inhuman reflexes, moving together in perfect time. The crowd cheered as their combos climbed higher.

"Hey, did they really say they never done this one before? There's no way, right? That's gotta be BS."

"Never seen them before, have you? Hang around man, you'll get used to them doing this."

"You should see their freestyle, you could just set up a camera and make a music video of it."

Kyouko was the one who first dragged Sayaka onto the DDR machines after they met, but Sayaka took to them fast enough. DDR reminded her of fighting, the only time her head was truly clear anymore. Whether it was combat instincts telling her she needed to move now and strike here or music pounding and arrows flashing across the screen telling her to hit these pads in this order, she knew exactly what she needed to do at a basic level and her body responded perfectly to her certainty. It was simple, in a way nothing else was. There was only the moment, no false past or rigged future. When she was fighting and dancing, she could forget how gray the world was.

Sayaka and Kyouko pounded the last step as the music cut. The crowd around them burst into applause as they laughed with exhilaration and took their bows.

And then, a twinge of hate at the edges of their minds.

'You feel that, Blue?'

'Wraiths.'

'In a damn hurry, too.'

The miasma was on the hunt, moving as fast as any Sayaka'd ever seen. And it was heading unerringly in their direction.

'So let's go out and meet it.'

OoOoO

Sayaka remembered how they met.

She'd been patrolling months ago a little before midnight, and just entered the last bank of miasma in the area. She had only been puella magi a few weeks, but stubborn dedication and flying solo had developed her skills faster than the wraiths could kill her. A flash of crimson caught her eye. A girl with a spear was already in the park covered by the miasma, fighting six wraiths off with a spear and cursing them out at the top of her lungs.

Her spear was segmented, the pieces joined by chains and writhing like a thing alive in her hands as she twisted and wove through her swarming enemies. It flailed and struck, keeping the wraiths at bay. But it was a duelist's weapon, meant to entangle a single foe. Using that tactic against one in a group of six would leave her defenseless against the other five, and the blunt flailing segments of the spear weren't doing damage fast enough on their own. The girl would win eventually through sheer attrition if she could keep up her flawless dance, even alone. She was just that good, Sayaka could see it. But if she slipped up, the wraiths would have an opening and swarm her.

Sayaka didn't hesitate. 'Coming in on your left!'

She cut one apart on her way in. The crimson girl took advantage of the wraith's sudden shock to strike snakelike with the head of her spear, piercing a second wraith through the core of its body. From there Sayaka slid easily inside the crimson girl's guard, chains whirling around them as they stood back to back.

"I fucking had 'em on the run, kid! Don't need your goddamn help!"

"Don't mind me, I'm just getting my exercise!"

"Fine, whatever. We're rushing the ones on your front, then. Go!"

Sayaka stormed the closest wraith, and the crimson girl's flailing spear kept the others from counterattacking. As if they'd practiced this together a hundred times, they moved in tandem, protecting the other's back, striking like two weapons held by the same warrior, timing their blows to take advantages of openings the other created. The swarm of wraiths found themselves divided, scattered, and torn apart by the two comrades.

Afterward, they sat spread out on the grass in the park beneath a tree's canopy. The crimson girl laughed. "Alright, I'll admit it, counting heads and taking names hasn't been that fun in a long time. I'm actually glad you showed up and butted in." She whipped out a bag of peach gummies, shook a few into her mouth, and held the bag out with a fanged grin. "Sakura Kyouko."

"Miki Sayaka," she replied as she took a handful and popped one in her mouth. "I guess it is kind of fun when you're winning, isn't it?"

"Damn sight better than losing. Where'd you learn to dance like that? I haven't seen you around before."

"I learned on my own. I've only been doing this a few weeks."

Kyouko looked over at in her in surprise. "Really. You kick a lot of ass for a greenie."

"Well it seemed like a better idea than sucking and not getting anything done."

"Fair enough." Kyouko kipped up off the grass and began to walk away, stepping onto a walkway lit from overhead. "Anyway, I'm gonna find someplace warmer. Hope I run into you again, Blue."

Sayaka eyed her. The flowing red cloth of Kyouko's puella magi outfit was dignified, almost venerable, and called to mind the robes of a holy man, but she'd dropped those after they gathered the grief cubes and cleansed their gems. The only thing her actual clothing had in common with the layered crimson skirts was the cute poofy black bow in her hair. Sayaka didn't think anyone complaining about the cold chose that thin black tank top because they liked its look, and the ratty blue-green jacket thrown over it wasn't much thicker. Her short cut-off jeans were so worn that they certainly hadn't started their life as deliberate cut-offs. The boots that ran almost up to her knees were the only part of her outfit that looked sturdy, and even those were scuffed up and down their length.

"Hey," Sayaka called out. Kyouko stopped. "You got a place to stay?"

"I'd call that more of a second date question, kid," Kyouko said, face flat and good humor gone.

"I'm serious. You can crash in my room tonight, sneak out in the morning, then I bring you home and introduce you to Mom and get you set up for real sometime tomorrow. I can't tell her I met you out fighting monsters when she thought I was in bed, but she wouldn't mind at all if I said a friend of mine needed a place to sleep."

"And what do you even care for? You just met me. Don't go throwing your charity out to whoever wants to leech it off you, Blue. We already lost enough with this puella magi gig. Just go back to your cozy little cottage. Me, I'm going to find a hotel to break into. See you, loser."

Sayaka jumped to her feet and chased Kyouko down. She grabbed the other girl's shoulder and spun her around. "I care because it isn't right!"

Kyouko shot her a glare of pure venom. "Shit, you're just like her, aren't you? I don't give a fucking damn what you say about me stealing food or breaking into hotels. I'm no one's martyr, bitch, and if you think different I'll break every damn bone in your body."

"No, I mean it's not right you need to steal and live on the street! Didn't you say we already lost enough? We're the only ones who can fight the wraiths, we're out here trying to protect everyone, and you're living on handouts and breaking into hotel rooms? Where's the justice in that? Where are you parents?"

"Dead, motherfucker, dead because of my goddamn stupid wish!" Kyouko shoved Sayaka back hard, breaking her grip on her shoulder. "Newsflash, dumbass: the world doesn't run on justice. The world doesn't care we're out here bleeding and dying and vanishing without a trace. People don't know we're the only reason they're not getting eaten by giant toga freaks, and like hell they'd care if they did." Kyouko laughed, right in Sayaka's face, and shot her a cruel leer. "Now go blubber and cry, bitch, 'cause come down to it, all you hero-types are exactly the same, just a bunch of sniveling cowards without the spine to back up your"

Sayaka punched her in the face.

The pure shock of it was probably the only reason Kyouko didn't immediately pounce on Sayaka and wreck her shit. Instead, she reeled back and stared dumbfounded, giving Sayaka the crucial split-second she needed to grab her by the jacket and lift her off the ground.

"I don't give a fuck if the world's rotten!" Sayaka shouted. "If the world's as messed up as you think it is, then I'll just be better! I'm not telling the universe to give you back your parents, I'm telling you I'll give you a bed in my house! And if you don't want it, I'll fucking break your legs, drag your ass home, and spoon feed you pudding while I nurse you back to health!"

Kyouko's soul gem transmuted off her ring finger and into her hand as an egg. A burst of crimson light, and a spear snapped out from the gem's crimson depths. It hit Sayaka with the flat of the blade, knocking her away. She fell on her rear, but kept rolling into a backward somersault onto her feet. She got ready to block or punch, and stopped.

Kyouko was laughing.

Kyouko was hunched over with her hands on her knees, barely keeping herself upright, completely overcome with the sudden laughter. "You," Kyouko managed through the laughter. "Listen to you! You're ridiculous!"

Sayaka scowled. "Not that ridiculous."

"Yeah, you are." Kyouko took a few long, deep breaths. "Gonna break my legs as a personal favor to me out of the goodness of your heart. Right. Well if you're going to be a bitch about it, maybe I will crash at your place awhile. You know, just to keep all the other, less deserving leeches away from a naïve little girl like you." Kyouko grinned, wolfish fang poking out. "Least you've got guts, Blue."

Sayaka took a moment to fantasize about punching her in the face again, then stepped closer and raised her hands to the black eye already forming on Kyouko's face. "Here, hold still."

With the faintest hint of music and a dim blue light, the bruise vanished in seconds. Kyouko blinked in surprise, raising a hand to her eye. "That felt… that felt clean. Fresh. Huh. I'm pretty sure the bone was cracked, too." Kyouko looked at Sayaka, suddenly looking much more relaxed. "Food, a place to crash, and healing. You keep being this useful, I just might have to keep you."

That was how Sayaka remembered meeting Kyouko for the first time.

The memory was washed out and gray, an ancient crumbling parchment with its lines of notes barely legible, an artifice. Growing up in Mitakihara, hugging a sobbing Madoka before she boarded the plane to America, realizing with horror what she'd done by making such a selfish wish to heal Kyousuke's hand… all of it gray, all of it faked, all of it not hers.

There were flashes of color, flashes of things she knew. Madoka, Madoka in a pink dress, Madoka with golden eyes, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude so strong it nearly brought Sayaka to tears. Being lost in a dark ocean, endlessly entranced by music as she recalled glimmers of light and a life of dedication. The betrayer. A raging battle of monsters through the streets of Mitakihara.

And the first memory longer than a flash, the first memory secure in her mind, the first she knew was truly hers…

The sky blotted out with black feathers. Akemi, standing at the riverside, so confident, so superior, smiling at her defiance with amusement, lips parted. "Then I suppose I shall deign to be your enemy when the time is ready. But do you really think you can stand against me, Miki Sayaka?"

And then the wound in her heart, the hole where something greater than herself had been torn away, and a longing pain for someplace else, someplace she couldn't remember.

And the gray memories were slowly pushing their way in, trying to bleed with color.

She was a stranger here.

OoOoO

The miasma broke, and Kyouko came back with a handful of grief cubes. They'd already shifted back to their civvies when they reappeared, so even in daylight they looked like no one unordinary. "Alright, fine, I'll admit I see your point," she said as she handed half over to Sayaka. "Wraiths in this city are all lunatics. DDR's out for the day, but we can talk about it while we eat, try to figure out what's up with them. Damn it, the way they're coming out of the woodwork, it's like every single traffic jam or stack of homework in the city is pissing people off enough to make its own wraith swarm. We need to get Kyubey over here, maybe he knows something."

"Hey Kyouko." By chance, they'd intercepted the wraiths in the very same park where they'd first met. Or, hadn't really met, but remembered meeting. "Have we met before? Before I punched you out and dragged you home, I mean. Maybe someplace far away, or a long time ago. Did we meet in another life?"

Kyouko looked ready to jump on the bit about punching her out and dragging her home. Couldn't let a jab to her honor go unsnarked at, after all. But something in Sayaka's expression brought her up short. "What, you mean like reincarnation or something?"

"Or even just as kids. Maybe my Mom showed up to your family's church one Sunday? Or we passed in the street while our parents were pushing us around in strollers and we thought to ourselves, 'I'm going to grow up and fight monsters with her one day.'" She laughed, pressing shaky hands to her forehead. "Anything, anything at all! Anything to explain how I feel."

"Anything's possible, I guess." Kyouko hovered over her, caught between reaching out and not disturbing the minor freak-out in process. "You okay, Blue? Where's this coming from?"

"I don't know, I don't even know. How can I?" Would it be so bad? She almost wanted that memory of their first meeting to be true. She almost wanted to embrace it as hers. If her memories were to be believed, that brawl in the park led to a camaraderie that made the long fight bearable. She'd never fall as long as she had Kyouko watching her back, and she'd keep Kyouko from falling to the dark in return.

"Sayaka…" Kyouko edged closer, still unsure what to do. Sayaka had no such hesitations. She stepped forward and dragged Kyouko close, clinging to her like a life preserver. The other girl squawked before returning the hug, holding Sayaka as she trembled. If it was all fake, if it was all Akemi's lie, then why did this feel so right? Why had she been waiting for a chance to stand like this with Kyouko?

Why did she want this so badly?

Her feet left the ground as Kyouko hefted her into a princess carry and brought her to the tree they'd rested under eating peach gummies (but that never happened) and set her down under its shade. Kyouko sat behind her, her back against the tree, and Sayaka scooted back to lean against her. Kyouko's arms slid around her.

They sat in perfect silence, not wanting to ruin the moment. They were so used to butting heads and snarking that if they opened their mouths to say so much as "well isn't this comfy?" odds were good that they'd be flinging insults inside of fifteen seconds. Even as jokes, that didn't belong here.

Even worse would be honesty—if Kyouko tried to tell Sayaka how worried she was and drove her to put up her happy mask, if Sayaka wondered aloud whether every moment they'd shared was a lie. So they sat there without speaking, Kyouko trying her best to soothe problems she didn't know and Sayaka unable to name her pain aloud.

They sat so long Sayaka could almost believe the day had paused and the world was revolving around them. But that wasn't true at all, was it? There were two people in this world infinitely more important than she was. Perhaps she could say the world revolved around them. She wanted to stay here forever, but there was work to be done. "We really should talk about the wraiths," she said.

Kyouko started. "Huh? What's that? Wraiths. Right, wraiths."

"…were you asleep?"

"Maybe. So, wraiths."

"Wraiths." Sayaka took a deep breath. "I think we should go after the Great Curse."

"Eh? But that's Mami's territory!"

"We've been getting weird wraiths for weeks with no clue what's causing them, but the Great Curse is already the biggest anomaly around here." Sayaka twisted around to half-face Kyouko. "If we want to find out what's really wrong with Mitakihara, starting with the biggest, deepest crack seems like a safe bet."

"It's gotta be fine, though. If the Great Curse is acting up, I'm sure Mami would go looking for help." Kyouko slapped a hand over her forehead. "The hell am I saying, her only options are ice queen Akemi, newbie Miki, and me. She's probably running around in circles freaking out trying to keep that thing in line herself."

Sayaka turned away from Kyouko and laughed. "Also. Well, you know. I may have been sneaking into Tomoe's territory to get a look at it. She might have thrown me out once or twice."

"God dammit, Blue!" Kyouko bopped her on the back of the head. "Fine, whatever. There's this voice at the back of my head that sounds suspiciously like you, and it's been nagging me to set things right with Mami anyway."

"Pretty sure that's called your conscience."

"Huh, right, forgot I had one of those. Knew I'd have to do this sooner or later somehow. I'll try to nab her at school or something, see if she's willing to not shoot my face off for the shit she and me did."

"Thanks for that!"

"You're gonna be the death of me, Mickey."

They lapsed into silence again, enjoying the sunlight playing through the branches of their shade tree. Sayaka looked out over the park, and… padding through the grass toward them…

'Hello, girls.'

the enemy, the enemy that tore them open and devoured everything inside

writhing on the ground, agony lancing through her, red eyes leering as it explained that this was a favor, paw pushing into her soul, sadistic fuck

'Now, that's simply uncalled for.'

don't let it lie don't let it trap kill it kill it kill kill kill kill kill

'Interesting that my presence should provoke this reaction, though. According to Akemi Homura, you shouldn't recall enough to react this strongly. Perhaps the retention of just enough information while lacking context and structure is the reason the reaction is so uncontrolled, though? In fact, that may explain many of your difficulties in general. I'm not entirely convinced Akemi Homura knows what she's doing. Broad memory wipes can be quite tricky when you want to leave the subject functional, but even so, I never would have botched one this badly.'

"Betrayer! Liar!"

"Whoa, Blue! Sayaka! Calm the fuck down!"

Kill it before it poisoned everything, kill it before it led them all to destruction. She couldn't move her arms anymore, couldn't reach it. She pushed a phantom sword out through her gem instead. It pierced Kyubey's head and pinned it twitching to the grass.

'Really, now. This is unproductive.'

"END YOU!"

"The hell are you still doing here, Kyubey? Get out of here!"

'I wanted to talk. Once Miki Sayaka calms down, we can do so.'

"Idiot, she's not calming down til you're gone! Out!"

'Such irrational beings. This is generating unnecessary work for me, you know.'

Sayaka twisted and writhed, struggling to get loose. "He's gone, calm down for God's sake! I'll move your gem out of range if I have to! He's gone, okay?"

It's gone. The message trickled through the righteous fury and brought her back. She was lying on the ground, wrapped in a net of Kyouko's chains. "Let me out."

"Are you calm yet?"

"Yes I am perfectly calm!"

The chains vanished, but Kyouko didn't relax. "So, yeah, Blue. I know the bunnycat's got spares, but seriously, what was that?"

Bisected, pinned by quivering swords to trees or lawn, gouged open and white spongy innards spilling out. Bits and pieces of at least a dozen Kyubeys littered the park.

Sayaka sat up and dismissed her swords. Kyouko was waiting, but her head… pounding, the phantom pain of her missing life. She couldn't explain this. They remembered Kyubey being nothing but helpful, no matter how vicious a lie that was. If she were as slippery as the bastard maybe she could come up with something, but now her head was pounding itself open.

"Don't trust him." She put as much force and command and pleading into it as she could. "I'm going on patrol."

Kyouko stared at her. "What? No, don't run off, you idiot!" She jumped forward and grabbed Sayaka's cloak. "At least clean your gem first!"

Sayaka looked down at the gem over her navel. It was roiling with grief. "I'll clean it soon as I'm away from that, I promise." She pointed at the array of dead Kyubeys, then tugged her cloak free and leapt away.

Kyouko sighed. There was no one left in the park to see Sayaka take to the air; they all ran when she'd started screaming and throwing swords around. No doubt they were getting the Kyubey mental massage treatment. Sayaka was supposed to be the one was careful about this sort thing, damn it. Kyouko prepared to jump after her.

'Wait a moment if you could, Sakura Kyouko.'

Kyouko looked around. "No, damn you, I've got places to be."

'Surely she'll be fine on her own for a few moments. Besides, Miki Sayaka is precisely what I want to talk about.'

Kyouko paused, eyes narrow. Sayaka was already out of sight, and if Kyubey knew something… "Alright, so talk. Fast."

'Thank you.' Kyubey's latest body trotted down from the branches of the tree they'd been sitting under. 'Firstly, wugh!' he said as Kyouko yanked him off the trunk and dangled him in front of her.

"Firstly, you're gonna tell me what you did to set Sayaka off on her marshmallow killing spree."

'I'm as puzzled as you are on that count. I don't recall ever treating Miki Sayaka any differently than I would any other puella magi.'

"Well think harder, bub, because that? That right there?" Still holding Kyubey in one hand, she waved him toward the killing grounds, where other Incubator bodies were already leading resource reclamation efforts by devouring the fallen. "That's got a reason behind it. A girl doesn't just wake up one day and go, hey I know, I'm gonna go on a screaming murder rampage! That sounds fun!"

'Perhaps she regrets making her contract and irrationally blames me? I recall her having difficulties with the nature of the transformation the contract works on your bodies.'

Kyouko grunted in annoyance and tossed Kyubey aside; he landed nimbly on all fours and scratched his face with a hind paw. "That's old news for her and you know it. It's gotta be more recent, she never used to flip out like that around you."

Kyubey cocked its head. 'Is that what you remember, Sakura Kyouko?'

"Whaddaya mean? Of course she's never treated you like target practice, not that I saw anyway. I'd remember that kind of splatter." Kyouko stopped short, tugging at her ponytail as she thought. "Actually, come to that, have I ever seen you two together?"

'Regardless, I'm hoping you could bring a message to Miki Sayaka for me. I haven't been able to approach her due to exactly this sort of reaction, but I'd very much like to talk with her if she can bring herself not to kill me. You can also tell her not to worry about the wasted bodies or the work I'm doing to erase the memories of witnesses to her outburst. The unnecessary expenditure is regrettable, but I bear her no ill will. I'd be grateful if you could pass that along.'

"What, that's it? You just want me to run a message? I thought you actually knew what was up with her!"

'But I do.'

"What?!" Kyouko dropped to her knees in front of Kyubey and leaned down to be closer to him. "Really? Really really?"

'Really.'

Kyouko threw her arms up. "Whoo! Finally, some good news!"

Kyubey watched her.

"Well?" Kyouko rolled back to a sitting position and pulled out a celebratory stick of pocky. "So what's up?"

'Unfortunately, I cannot say.'

They stared at each other for a second before Kyouko burst into violent swearing. "Seriously? Seriously?"

'Seriously.'

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Kyouko punched the ground, leaving a hole inches deep. "Wait, holdup, this is one of your stupid rules, isn't it? The one about not giving dirt on puella magi to other puella magi without their say so? But me and Sayaka aren't at odds or nothing, so it's okay, right?"

'I take my standards of conduct very seriously. Besides, if Sayaka is hiding information you want to uncover, then you are technically at odds even if you're not competing for grief cubes or territory.' A spear blade hit him in the forehead, tore through his skull, split him down his body, and severed his bushy tail. The two halves flopped to either side.

Kyouko lowered her gem. "Okay, I see the appeal. Gonna have to apologize to Blue for stopping her."

'However, I can say that if you want to find out more, you may be able to persuade some information from Akemi Homura.'

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Kyouko shot a glare at the newest Kyubey, which had walked out from behind the tree trunk.

'It means, quite simply, that Akemi Homura knows the cause of Miki Sayaka's recent problems. If you consider that useful information, then please consider passing my message along to your partner in return.'

Kyubey slipped behind the tree again. Kyouko stuck her head around it, but he'd already vanished. The Kyubey cleanup crew had already finished eating themselves and ran off to the same wherever-they-went-when-they-vanished. The body Kyouko speared was still lying there, but it seemed Kyubey wasn't going to retrieve that until Kyouko herself was gone. It looked like the furry rat bastard really had said all he was going to say for now.

Kyouko scoffed and sent out a pulse, feeling for Sayaka's mind. 'Hey Mickey, where you at?'

Sayaka took so long to respond that Kyouko thought she wasn't going to for a minute. 'Patrolling.'

'Fine, whatever, if you need space that badly, far be it from me to hang around my best friend. At least tell me you cleaned your gem.'

'Clean as a whistle! You don't need to worry about little old Sayaka!'

'Okay, no, you don't get to do this. You don't get to grin and act like nothing's wrong after that, Blue. Talk to me, will you?'

'Can I ask for a favor? I promised Madoka I'd drop by and tell her more about puella magi today. I don't want her to see me like this. Could you go see her in my place?'

'What? It's not Pigtails I'm worried about here!'

'Please? I'll be fine.'

'Oi, where are you?'

The sense of Sayaka's mind faded. Kyouko got no reply, no matter how she called out.

OoOoO

The betrayer Kyubey was loose. Loose and trusted, and she couldn't do anything to stop him. Sayaka sat slumped on the roof of Mitakihara's concert hall, head in her hands. Memory told her that the bastard loyally assisted puella magi, and if she needed any more proof of how twisted Akemi's world was, then the mass of seething hatred she felt at the mere thought of Kyubey being trusted was enough.

She should go drag Akemi out her of her apartment and fight her then and there. Just two swords, bow and shield. She ached to do something, but she knew who would win that fight. Her enemy was a monstrously powerful puella magi, just being near her was enough to feel her magic saturating the air with the taste of rusted gears and wine. Besides that, the devil had other tricks, ones Sayaka didn't know and couldn't counter. Otherwise she wouldn't be in this position.

Better to come at her sideways. She hated it, but it was the only thing she could do. Keep Madoka away from her. But that was impossible. They were already friends, and Madoka hated seeing her friends fighting. All she could do was wait for the devil to slip up and show her true colors in front of the others.

But the world, there were things in the world to learn about, cracks to explore. The wraiths were acting wrong. And the Great Curse, a desolate abomination. Akemi's world was wrong, cracked from its foundation, and she would find clues in the Great Curse what she could do with those cracks, she was sure of it.

She only needed to wait. Kyouko promised to talk Tomoe. She'd gotten a few looks at the thing from the outside and wanted to rush and break the Great Curse open, find out what secrets it hid, but she needed to wait. It was the best path for now. She had to wait, while Kyubey ran free and Akemi did as she pleased and Madoka slid deeper and deeper in with Akemi with every passing day.

And all of a sudden, a magical presence was there behind her on the rooftop as if sprung from the world itself. Sayaka jerked her head up and turned to see Akemi strolling toward her. She was in her puella magi clothing, shield on her arm chattering quietly as its clockworks spun. "Whatever else may change, Miki, you still find ways to frustrate me with all sorts of puzzles."

"If you're looking for an apology, go ahead and try holding your breath. I wish I could do worse than aggravate you."

Homura shot her a tight smile. "No apology necessary. Believe it or not, I can imagine worse fates than putting up with you."

"So, what problem am I giving you this time?"

"You've handed me something of a balancing act. Continue behaving so erratically, and the others will worry for your sanity." Akemi walked a circle around her, hand on her chin as if examining a compelling specimen. "On one hand, it's useful to me if they mistrust your insights. On the other, their worry might lead them to dig for answers more than they ought. The trap applies to you too, of course. It's a fine line between discrediting yourself and nudging them to action. You blundered too far in one direction today."

Her blood simmered, but she somehow couldn't work up the indignation to make an issue of it. She couldn't even find time to collect herself without Akemi knowing and strolling in to taunt her. And of course she couldn't get away with the actual fuckup without being seen. She suspected from the start that Akemi was keeping a tight watch on her. Being able to intercept her meeting with… Tomoe's new trainee, or whoever she was, was simple enough evidence of that. Akemi probably laughed herself silly watching her rush about stabbing Kyubeys in a blind rage. "Don't you have better things to do than spy on me?" She knew she sounded worn and tired and bitter. She couldn't help it.

Akemi shrugged. "Usually, yes. I can't personally pay attention to everything in my domain, after all. But this time, the Incubator simply told me what fun you two were having."

Sayaka stiffened in shock. "You—you're working with him?! Even knowing what he is, you listen to him?"

Akemi's lips curled up, as if she found that funny. Sayaka's blood was pounding again, the boiling anger perpetually sitting in her gut swelling again.

Fuck waiting.

She transformed into her duelist's uniform in a blue surge of magic, already charging Homura with a wordless snarl before the sword even finished forming in her hand. Akemi was ready, dancing back out of reach.

"We've done this so many times, Miki, and only once have you managed to gain the upper hand."

Akemi stepped just out of range every time Sayaka's blades tore pointlessly through the air. Sayaka was fighting sloppily and some corner of her head knew it, but she couldn't stop. This was artless rushing. But Homura knew what Kyubey was, knew him for his lies and betrayal, knew the danger he posed, and she was cooperating with him? Sayaka bullrushed her, trying to force her way through the careful precise dodges. Akemi's shield—held on the far side of her body, where it was harder for Sayaka to interfere with—chattered and whirred, and Sayaka stumbled through thin air where her enemy had been an instant before.

"You couldn't push your advantage to finish it then, and right now you're a pale shadow of what you used to be. What are you hoping to accomplish with this little squabble?"

She twisted flung two swords hard at Akemi's new position, whirling like buzzsaws, one high to take her head off, the other vertical toward the center of her body to split her in half. Akemi spun low and to the side, and both tore past her without doing more than fluttering her hair with their wind. Sayaka pulled another sword and charged again, driving forward with the point to impale. Instead of nimbly flowing away again, Akemi reached into her shield and pulled out a desert eagle.

A shot rang out, and Sayaka's sword bucked to the side as the bullet hit the blade. Sayaka tried to shift into a tackle, but Akemi was already ahead of her. Sayaka's breath rushed out of her as she barreled into Akemi's bony shoulder and rebounded off. The clockwork shield chattered and spun again, and Akemi flickered out of sight while Sayaka was still reeling. Then something hit her from behind, and Sayaka found herself thrown face first to the ground with the force of the collision.

A weight pinned her from above, small and slight, but twisting around her and yanking her limbs into unusable positions. One arm was pinned against her waist, the other pulled tight to almost breaking, and Akemi's legs tangled with hers. "This serves no purpose, Miki." Akemi spoke right into her ear, breath hot on her neck. "You can't beat me as you are. You can't even force me to use more than my shield and puella magi powers."

Sayaka threw her head back and felt a satisfying crunch and a spray of hot blood.

"Really, Miki? Very well, then." Annoyingly, she didn't even sound like she'd just had her nose broken.

A ring of Clara dolls stepped into existence around them, though Sayaka could only see their lower bodies with her head against the ground like this. The hafts of their sleek black spears lifted, rising out of sight, and she waited for the blow. But it didn't come, or at least not where she expected it. The spears plunged down around the two of them, crisscrossed over their bodies. The spears interlocked into a cone-shaped cage around them, with a Clara doll holding each spear securely down. The weight of the prison pressed down on Sayaka, added to Akemi's own, making leverage or movement nearly impossible.

She tried anyway, but barely managed an angry writhing. The weight all across her body was too much, and Akemi was still grappling her from behind, too close and too tight.

"I know, Miki, I understand. You hate him. You may not even know why, but I left you with that feeling still in your heart. I know, I hate him too. Look, Miki. Stop fighting me and look!"

One more Clara doll walked outside the ring of spears, bone-white zigzags along the hem of her long dress. An Incubator landed at her feet, dropped from her arms just outside the ring in front of Sayaka's face, and she found herself staring despite herself.

It landed like a ragdoll on its back, limbs splayed in all directions and head twisted at an unnatural angle. It made no attempt at righting itself, or even seemed aware of its position. But it was clearly alive, taking shallow breaths and shuddering in agony. Its eyes trembled unfocused, staring off at Sayaka's left without seeing.

"I'm not 'cooperating' with the Incubator, Miki. I've leashed it, chained it to my will. Does it look like a threat as it is? Look at its agony, Sayaka. Doesn't it please you? Don't you feel glee to see it suffering like this?"

She did. Sick pleasure and a sense of satisfied vengeance twisted in her chest at seeing the Incubator wheezing and tortured. "What… what happened to it?"

"It was always so eager to collect our grief for its own purposes. How many times has a young girl begged it for explanations, for some reason that would make sense of the agony it put them through? How many girls has it looked at across the worlds and across time and told them about entropy and how their pain was serving to provide energy for its own survival? How many girls, Sayaka, just wanted to know why they had to suffer, and were given nonsensical reasons about things that had nothing to do with their broken hearts and shattered lives?"

Homura laughed silently, body shaking with mirth against Sayaka's back. "It's done. If the Incubator wants our pain so badly, then I've decided that it can have it. Grief drains from our gems to the Incubators now, and it can feel the pain of the grief when it processes it from our gems or from used grief cubes. Do you remember a time when you fell as low as you possibly could, a time when all you could remember were regret and glimmers of far-off light? That is the pain our dear friend Kyubey suffers for its wages now. Doesn't that please you, Sayaka? Won't you admit I've done something just?"

Floating entranced by music in the depths—a knight without hope—clinging to glimmers of a life of dedication. Sayaka shivered. She remembered that feeling of sinking endlessly into despair, even if she wasn't sure when and why. It was the worst feeling she could imagine, and it was the Incubator's fault somehow. The pleasure and hate twisting in her gut was almost burning over as she watched the Incubator lying just beyond the spears; she trembled, wanting to weep with delirious joy, and felt a sudden surge of gratitude to Homura for doing this to the betrayer.

But she remembered the towering fury at Akemi that was her very first real memory, she remembered Madoka chained, and she punched the strange emotion down back into her gut where it couldn't get loose. "Why keep it at all?" Sayaka demanded, but with shaky voice. "Why not make our grief go away?"

Homura shook her head against the back of Sayaka's neck, her hair twisting around Sayaka's face. "Grief does not simply disappear without suffering in a world of pain such as ours. That is beyond the power of even a goddess. Curses must be mended, sins must be borne, and grief must be cleansed. And why suffer it ourselves, when we have such a convenient scapegoat skilled at processing grief already at hand? Harvesting our grief was its goal all along. I'm simply forcing it to earn its own wages now."

"And who bears your sin, devil?"

"Myself, as I always have." There was note of something strange in Homura's voice that Sayaka couldn't pin down—pain or anger or fierce satisfaction—but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. "Are you going to continue being rash if I let you up now?"

"Just let me go."

The spears and the Clara dolls vanished—all but the one that brought the Incubator here. Sayaka scrambled up as soon as the girl trapping her let go and rolled off her back. Blood ran down Homura's face from her nose, and as she stood Sayaka caught glimpses of shallow wounds across her back, lines of them radiating out from the center of her back and staining her clothes crimson. Homura's stance was like she didn't feel it at all. She probably didn't; that was an easy trick for any of them.

Sayaka ran her hands over herself as if checking to make sure Akemi hadn't done anything to her; she knew it was stupid, but she felt dirty after having the devil wrapped around her and breathing in her ear. The last Clara doll, with short choppy blonde hair and a veiled hat fit for a stroll in the park over its dreary sundress, picked the broken Incubator body up. She held it like a precious pet, cradling it in her arms and stroking its fur even as she grinned like a happy idiot at the farcical display she was putting on. The Incubator still gave no sign it even knew what was happening; its head flopped loosely over the Clara doll's elbow.

Looking back at the blood across Akemi's face, Sayaka suddenly became very aware that she hadn't taken any damage worse than a shoulder to the stomach during the whole exchange; Akemi hadn't even tried to hurt her, even though her nose was dripping and her back covered in shallow cuts. She almost offered to heal her enemy's wounds. Almost. Instead she said, "Kyubey's suffering. Good. But not all its bodies are useless like this, and it still can't be trusted."

"Which is why no one here is trusting it. I will know if it disobeys me in anything. I told you, I have it leashed, and am very much enjoying that fact. Don't speak to the functional Incubators if you fear them that badly. Simply leave them to me."

"I don't trust you, either."

"Noroma, come here." The Clara doll bounded over to Akemi, eager to follow orders, and her owner wrapped her arms around her from behind and rested her head atop her minion's. "Is my world really so bad, Miki? The Incubator is chained. Madoka is safe. You can be with Sakura here as well."

"You stay away from Kyouko!"

"That wasn't a threat, Miki." A hint of long-suffering annoyance crept into Homura's expression. "I have no reason to separate you. Only here in my world can you finally be at each other's side. You two were drawn together, over and over, but failed almost as often. Can you be sure you would still have this happy arrangement if you pulled me down from my throne? Hate me all you want, despise me for my sins, but consider your circumstances carefully."

A world washed out of color, a washed out first meeting, a washed out camaraderie, all of it one more lie—Sayaka's blood ran cold as she glared at the devil's grinning face. She wanted to ram a sword through her, start another fight and force her to stop lying about Kyouko. Fuck, she hoped it was a lie. She held the anger back, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

Until her and Homura's heads both snapped in the same direction as they felt a sudden swarm of wraiths rising from the city. Kyouko's mental voice came to her. 'Sayaka! Something's wrong with Madoka! Get the hell over here!'

And Akemi was right there, her shielded arm reaching out to her. "Take my hand, Miki," she said, and then huffed in annoyance at Sayaka's expression of horrified disgust. "I can get you there faster, or I can beat you there and wrap matters up on my own. Your choice."

She only hesitated an instant, angrily wondering why Akemi would give her the chance at all. But Madoka needed her now. She grabbed the hand, and Akemi cranked her shield.

OoOoO

Kyouko stood in the road in front of Madoka's house and reached out. Madoka was in there, a weak shadow of a magical presence she would've completely missed if she hadn't already met the girl and gotten a good look up close. Not much magic at all, but maybe enough for this. She pushed out toward Madoka's presence with her mind.

'The aliens are watching you. They always have and always will. They're looking for their long lost princess's best friend's roommate, but you'll do instead. The government is putting mind control drugs in your water supply to make you forget about the magic dancers who hide bodies in their spare time. Look at that, pink one, you went crazy from the stress. Maybe you should relax by taking Kyouko out for ramen.'

She gave it a count to five before sending a second message.

'Nah, I'm messing with you, we totally get telepathy with the love and justice package. You probably have just enough magic to pull it off, just try to think back at me real loud.'

After a moment she felt the thin and fumbling reply. 'Kyouko?'

'Hey, picked that up fast, didn't you?'

'You scared me! And now Tatsuya's looking at me funny because I jumped so high!'

Kyouko snorted, and wished she'd tried this where she could watch Madoka freak out. 'Oh no, funny looks, what'll we ever do? Shit came up and I'm Sayaka's stand in today, come on out and we can talk.'

'Oh. You could come in instead if you like?'

'Remember you made that crack about your mom would like me? I'm not going near your family til I figure out what you meant.'

'Silly, I could just tell her you're staying with Sayaka and you'd be fine.'

'What's that got to do with anything?'

Madoka's laughter bubbled along down the connection. Her telepathy was already much stronger and steadier than when she'd started. 'Give me a minute to tell my parents I'm meeting a classmate and I'll be right out!'

OoOoO

They headed for the nearest park to have someplace to talk. There were a few kids running around, but mostly they had it to themselves. Kyouko took one look at the playground and charged over to the monkey bars. Madoka sat on the edge of the platform next to them, looking up. She still couldn't get over how graceful her friends seemed. She remembered Homura balancing perfectly on the spinny thing the other day, and now Kyouko was walking easily across the top of the bars while barely paying attention. There were kids stopping to stare.

"So, um…" Madoka began. "So what happened to Sayaka?"

"I don't even know what's up, but she's majorly pissed about something Kyubey did. She's off cooling her head. Oh, Kyubey's that Incubator Sayaka told you about. Little bunnycat thing."

"Oh! Where is she? I should go see her!"

Kyouko dropped between two bars, caught herself, and started doing pull-ups. "Nah, she already threw me out with instructions to stick to you, so just leave her for now. We can drill her when she's mellowed out."

"But…"

"I know, I know. Just trust me, it's better to wait on this one. She'll just clam up right now." At the top of her last pull-up, Kyouko spun upside down and hooked her legs around a bar, letting her body hang down. She gave Madoka an upside-down grin, enormous trail of hair falling around her face. "Sayaka said you got questions, so spill."

Madoka shook her head in wonder. "How do you do it? How do you stay so… so happy and carefree? You're out there fighting m-monsters and risking your life every day but you still go to school and get excited about strawberry cake and…" She waved to Kyouko hanging upside-down, "And play on monkey bars just because they're there, and how do you do that?"

Kyouko blinked, like that wasn't at all the sort of question she expected. "What else am I gonna do, hyperventilate into a paper bag all day? You ever hear anyone say 'the only way out is through'? It's like that. You just keep your eye on what's in front of you and kill it if it needs killing. Don't worry about the rest."

"That… that sounds so strange."

"I dunno, maybe it's one of those things you gotta live through to get. You find out what starving is like, and you'll be happy with a full stomach. You almost get yourself killed fighting monsters a few times, and suddenly sitting around playing video games is the best thing in the world."

"I don't think I could ever be that strong." Madoka pulled her dangling legs up and hugged them. "Running from those wraiths was terrifying. I couldn't ever go back to pretending everything was alright if I had to fight those over and over and over."

"Meh, you get used to the fighting." Kyouko flipped herself right-side up, swung to the end, and dropped down onto the platform next to Madoka. "And don't sell yourself short, Pigtails. You handled yourself pretty good against those wraiths. You've got a level head on you."

"B-but all I could do was run away!"

Kyouko scoffed. "Big soul-eating monsters like that coming at you straight out of some anime, and you didn't panic, you got out of there, stayed ahead of them, made them chase you down. We felt them hunting when we were charging over to save you, I know exactly how long you held out. Most people just go to pieces first time they're in real danger, magical demons or not."

"But, but I still would have died if Sayaka and Homura hadn't shown up right when they did!"

"Yeah, 'cause you're a squishy little human they eat for breakfast. Just take a damn compliment, will you? Wraiths that aggressive, most people wouldn't last anywhere near as long as you did. But keeping your head like that, you'd take them apart if you were puella magi." Kyouko grinned and punched her shoulder lightly. "Hell, if you had more magic and a legit reason to make a wish, I wouldn't mind having you at my back in a fight."

Madoka shook her head, holding back the beginning of tears. "Somehow, that makes it even worse. If you think I'd be a good puella magi… but all I can do is stand aside and watch. Isn't there anything I can do? Is there…" She rubbed her hand across her eyes and leaned forward, pleading. "Kyouko, you said I don't have enough potential to make a contract. Is there a way to train magic?"

Kyouko smacked her upside the head and shot her a glare for good measure. "Bad Pinkie."

"Ow! Hey!"

"I told you, Pigtails, you're better off not getting dragged into this. You've got a good life, don't chuck it aside."

"But my friends are already involved, how can I not be? I'm worried about all of you!"

"Well you can't train magic if you're just a potential, leastways not that I've heard of, so there's no point in getting worked up anyway."

"What if there were?" Madoka grabbed Kyouko's shoulders and didn't let her look away. "If I wanted to help Sayaka, would you really stop me from making a wish? Or pretend you had a second wish, but you could stop living like this if you didn't use it? Wouldn't you want to help her anyway?"

"That's… that's different! You don't ditch the people who got your back, okay?"

"It isn't different, it isn't different at all! Even if I just met you and Homura, Sayaka is my oldest friend, how am I supposed to leave her on her own?"

"Look, one day Sayaka and me are gonna die together…" The look Madoka gave her was absolutely horrified, and Kyouko realized maybe wasn't the best way to say that. "I mean… aw jeez, that's not what I meant, don't start crying on me, Pigtails, I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Then wh-what did you m-mean?" Her breath was hitching and her eyes were shining as she looked at Kyouko. "Kyouko?"

Her tongue stuck in her mouth for a long minute, but there was no other way about it. Kyouko ran her hand through her hair and wished she didn't have to ram this home for Madoka. "Actually, that really is how it is. We don't last. If we're lucky, we find something worth living for. Better yet, we find someone, throw our backs against each other. We last as long as we can and swear we'll live forever. But we all die in the end. We don't last, we just go down swinging and live good right now. You shouldn't need to get sucked into that."

"Th-that isn't right." Madoka really was crying now, slow silent tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Yeah. It's not. But that's how it is for us."

Madoka hugged herself, trying to quell her shaking. "No one should have to die thinking it was all pointless. They should always have something to hope for. And what about the girls who never found someone like you and Sayaka did? What about someone like Homura? None of us should ever die alone. There… there should be someone to meet them, someone to tell them they did well and take them home."

Kyouko felt like she ought to hug the poor kid. Madoka hunched over, shaking harder every second, and then Kyouko felt like she ought to grab her to stop her from falling off the edge of the platform. She nabbed Madoka just before she pitched off the edge and pulled her close. "There… there should be… someone." This wasn't just hard crying, Madoka was having some kind of seizure. She whimpered against Kyouko's body. "Kyouko. Kyouko? It hurts, Kyouko."

Why didn't Blue tell her Pigtails had a condition? No, not the fucking time. Get her off the playground, get her somewhere she can't fall. Kyouko stood up and took Madoka with her, not caring who saw her moving at an inhuman dash while carrying another girl like she weighed as much as a doll. She needed soft, someplace Madoka couldn't hurt herself as much. She ran for a thick patch of grass.

"Kyouko, what happened to me? Why does it hurt?" Madoka's voice was distant, like she was speaking from somewhere else instead of right there next to Kyouko in the park.

Kyouko laid her down in the softest patch of grass, then hesitated while she watched Madoka's violent shaking. She couldn't remember what you were supposed to do with someone having a fit. Hold them down, or stay clear? But if it was stay clear, was that for their safety or yours? Kyouko smacked her head. Was she magic or wasn't she? Her healing didn't scratch Sayaka's mojo, but it was better than nothing. She put one hand on Madoka's chest, above her heart, and reached out.

Healing magic always felt weird. She could feel the muscle and bone and organs and other tissues, all knotting together in ways far too tangled to follow properly, but it wasn't just like looking at a machine's innards. Actually healing damage didn't have anything to do with knowing how to put the pieces back together right. You could feel the pieces, sure, but you were also doing what Kyouko could only describe as asking the body and spirit if it was okay, and nudging it back into the shape it already knew it was supposed to be.

The pulse of her magic raced through Madoka, and couldn't find anything wrong with her body. Wasn't a seizure your brain messing its signals up? But nothing was wrong there. She dove deeper, looking beyond the brain, beyond the heart, beyond the body itself. She kept going deeper, plunging her awareness all the way down to the soul.

Madoka's spirit felt like plunging into molten gold, a vast glory burning as it pressed in around her, too much to bear. How? Wasn't Madoka's magic weak? Where did this celestial flame come from? Kyouko grit herself and pressed deeper, the light and heat of Madoka's spirit pressing in from every side as if to suffuse her. And at the heart of it all, at the core of Madoka's being...

something cracked

Kyouko reeled back, mind screaming at the brokenness buried inside Madoka, distantly aware that she'd fallen to the ground. Something was very wrong with the spirit of the girl writhing in front of her. Something was shattered in there.

"Holding me… something holding me apart," Madoka whined.

Kyouko pushed herself back up from the grass, and stopped dead in place. There was magic everywhere, pushing down over the park like a physical weight, tasting to her extra senses like the heat of molten gold. It felt like the crack in Madoka's soul.

And she could feel the miasma banks flowing toward her position from the city around the park.

Hell if she knew what was going on. But she bound Madoka's arms and legs in chains, as tightly as she dared in hopes it would keep her from knocking about, and picked the shaking girl up. "Sorry, Pigtails, but we've gotta move."

OoOoO

The only sounds in the unnaturally still world were their feet as they landed and jumped, their breath, and the whipping of the rope tying them together. As they jumped from building to building, cars sat still in the streets below them and birds hung mid-wing. Sayaka couldn't help but look at the washed-out colors of this world between moments and shudder as she remembered the same desolate feeling from the devil's memories forced into her mind.

The miasma wasn't hard to find. Even in the frozen world, the feeling of its hunger and rage filled the air. The dark mist crouched over a park not far from Madoka's home and the thicker city district nearby, straddling the road between them and seeping into both. It was already swollen to the size of several city blocks, and still expanding fast from the way the frozen mists arced outward reaching for more. Sayaka shuddered as she guessed at how large it would be and how many wraiths would be hunting within it if they hadn't used Akemi's little cheat to get here faster. She would do whatever she had to, but fighting a whole army of the filthy monsters wasn't an inviting idea.

The mists at the edge writhed as they pushed through to the false world within, suddenly animated at their touch and grasping for them as if afraid to be still and lifeless again. They found Kyouko almost at the edge of the park, frozen midair just off the ground at the very end of a jump. Madoka, face locked in pain and limbs tied with chains, laid secure in her arms. Magic like molten gold, precious and searing, beat against them.

Behind her, a swarm of at least three dozen wraiths gave chase, fanned out in a half-circle and the nearest maybe twenty feet back. Out of physical reach, but more than close enough for their magic blasts to be a problem. It was strange. If she'd seen a crowd of wraiths like this at any other time, Sayaka would grit her teeth, bring out her two-handed sword, start screaming for Kyouko, and pray. But like this, it was impossible to be afraid of them. Even with malevolent magic coming off them, it was hard to think of them as a threat while they were frozen. More like a hideous art installation. Nowhere near as terrifying as the vast dead emptiness of Akemi's frozen time.

"I once said something to her about leaving unnecessary baggage while fighting," Akemi mused, leaning in to peer at Kyouko's gritted face. "I'm rather glad she didn't this time."

"Well?" Sayaka asked. "It's your messed-up frozen world, how do we do this?"

"Touch them and they'll join us. Best to catch Sakura, if you can do it without jostling Madoka. Otherwise she'll just keep running and freeze again before her understanding catches up with her reflexes."

Sayaka positioned herself in front of the aerial pair and reached out to touch Kyouko's arm. Relief swept through her as color swept Kyouko and Madoka, driving out that damn gray. Sayaka caught them both and half-backpedaled half-slid, draining off the impact.

Thankfully, Kyouko recognized who caught her before she got over the shock of being suddenly plucked from the air. "Sayaka? How did you get…" She looked around the frozen world, eyes widening, and settled on Akemi and her still quietly chattering shield. "That trick's kind of fucking terrifying. Just so's you know."

"We're moving away from the wraiths," Akemi said, no room for distractions or disagreement. "Bring her quickly."

Kyouko took a fast look at Sayaka to gauge how she was handling working with her hated enemy, got a nod in return. Neither of them argued with the order. Madoka was shaking hard in Kyouko's arms, who would probably have bruises or worse from flying elbows, but her guard ran on without caring, Sayaka's hand on her shoulder to keep her in the stopped world.

Akemi pulled up short as soon as they were outside the wraith's accurate blasting range. "Set her down and move away," she ordered.

"What? Leave her?" Kyouko asked.

"To keep her safe while we deal with the wraiths. It'll be as though no time passed for her. She's in unnecessary pain every second you keep her here.Hurry!"

"Okay, fine, sheesh." Kyouko grumbled under Akemi's suddenly intense glare and set Madoka down on the grass as gently as she could. Color and motion leeched away from the thrashing girl immediately. "So now what, do wraiths get yanked in here too if we stick somethin' sharp 'n' pointy through 'em?"

"That won't be necessary." The rope tying Sayaka and Akemi tightened as the latter walked toward the swarm of wraiths—which were now facing the wrong direction after the puella magi moved—and raised her left arm with the bucker shield and its twisted clockworks. Her black bow set with purple gems appeared in her hand; her magical presence surged.

Sayaka opened herself to it, wanting to get a better feel for that power. It was strong, stronger even than Tomoe's, and she didn't think Akemi was even tapping into the other magic that felt like black feathers, the power of a devil. What she used now was overwhelming enough on its own. Rusty metal gears grinding onward endlessly on a path that stretched from horizon to horizon, a machine held together by momentum as much as anything. Dark wine swishing about her heart, reeling and drunk on pain and pleasure. Sayaka flinched away.

Akemi drew the bowstring and aimed above the wraiths rather than at them, and a single arrow of purple light sprang into existence ready to be loosed. A wreath of purple power crackled around it, a corona of magic so strong the world seemed dimmer by comparison. Sayaka heard Kyouko hiss in surprise.

The arrow flew. It tore into the sky screaming retribution and exploded in a torrent. Lines of light spread across the ceiling of miasma above the wraiths, twisting and curving upon themselves in patterns that Sayaka's eye couldn't follow. Familiar, almost painfully so. She'd seen this before, but couldn't remember feeling scared or hateful about it. But why? The idea of facing the devil while this much power was getting thrown around was grim; if she'd seen her enemy do this before, why didn't it call up that feeling?

Heartbeats later, the lines and patterns broke and fell to the earth again. Shards of purple magic streaked down, lighting the sky like the sun shining through a stream of rain. The arrows struck, and the rolling thunder of their explosion broke over the wraiths.

The bow vanished again from Akemi's hands, and her arms slowly fell. She drew the fingers of her right hand through her hair, carelessly shaking it loose into ripples. Kyouko recovered her voice before Sayaka did. "Jesus fuck. I knew you were strong, but the hell was that?"

The victorious girl slowly turned toward them, smirk playing about her face, and Sayaka realized she had that desert eagle out again. Before Sayaka could do anything but fall into a guard or Kyouko could do anything at all, Akemi yanked taut the rope binding her and Sayaka together and severed it with a shot. Sayaka rushed forward on instinct with a wordless snarl to stop whatever the devil was doing, but she already knew it was too—

—late. She slid through the space Akemi had just been in. The world was in color again. Kyouko muttered "The hell?" off to her side. She spun around, sword still up, and spotted Akemi where they'd left Madoka. She was kneeling, and Madoka—no longer shaking—had her head in Akemi's lap.

"What did you do to her?" Sayaka demanded, taking several steps forward with her sword up.

"I only helped her calm down a little. Surely you can't object to that, can you, Miki?"

Madoka did look better. Her breathing was a little labored and her eyes fluttered as if she wasn't entirely awake, but she was resting. The sense of molten gold pressing down on them had vanished. One of Akemi's hands cupped the side of Madoka's face, one of Madoka's hands curled around Akemi's other. Sayaka glanced over to Kyouko, half expecting her friend to jump down her throat for being so aggressive with Akemi. Instead, her partner was watching the two girls recovering on the ground with a shrewd but otherwise unreadable face.

"You're hurt, Homura." Madoka reached for Akemi's face and the line of blood trailing from her nose, but her hand drifted unsteadily off to the side a bit.

"Just a bit of sparring. Nothing to worry yourself over." Akemi barely seemed to care what Madoka was saying, instead just smiling down at her as she came to.

"No you weren't. Don't lie to me like that, Homura!" Looking around, it suddenly seemed to strike Madoka what position she was in and what her head was resting on, and a crimson blush spilled over her face. Or was that the flush of anger? She pulled away from Akemi, failing to rise the first time before lurching to her feet. She stumbled, and Sayaka moved to catch her, but Madoka jerked back. "You two were fighting, weren't you? Why? Why would you do that? Don't you understand?" She shook her head, whether to clear it or in disbelief Sayaka couldn't say. "There were wraiths after me again, weren't there? And you two were off fighting each other! There are wraiths out there hunting people every day and you're going to waste time hurting each other?"

Madoka swayed on her feet and almost fell over again; Kyouko darted forward and caught her. Apparently Madoka was happier being caught by the one puella magi who hadn't been sniping at someone else every chance she got, because she leaned in and clung to Kyouko even as she turned back to glare watery-eyed at Akemi and Sayaka again, eyes sharpening with increasing clarity and focus.

"Why would you do that? Stop it! I... I..." Madoka took a deep breath to brace herself. "I'm not going to let you two do this anymore! I don't know why you two are like this, but I don't care anymore! Unless you two can look me in the eye and tell me whatever you two did to each other is so bad and so terrible that you can never ever be in the same room without fighting again, then you're going to stop this right now! And if you do tell me that, then… then I'll never forgive either you!"

Madoka looked from one to the other, daring them to argue with her even as her entire body trembled. Sayaka didn't meet her eye. Akemi's smug smile had fallen off entirely, and there was something stricken hiding behind her grim face. Neither of them opened their mouths.

"Good! Then it's done! You have wraiths to fight, you can't stand here tearing at each other's throats! Because… because if you do…" Madoka's hands were shaking, her voice breaking up. "If any of you died because you wouldn't help each other when you needed to and… and all I could do was sit there and watch, I… I…"

Madoka hid her face against Kyouko, very obviously trying not to cry. Sayaka blew a frustrated breath out through her nose and stepped closer to Madoka, one hand up. "Are you hurting at all? I can heal it."

Hair turned, and one pink eye regarded her from the side. "H-Homura first."

A protest died on Sayaka's lips. Not only was Madoka more likely to deck someone in the face right now than she'd probably ever been before, but Akemi had gotten them here and helped, hadn't she? Sayaka still wanted to know what Akemi did when it was just her and Madoka in timestop. She didn't trust the devil to do anything with Madoka, let alone whatever she might do with magic on top of that. But at least Madoka wasn't shaking herself to pieces anymore, was she?

Not entirely reluctantly, Sayaka walked over to Akemi and healed the broken nose with a touch. She got the spear wounds on Akemi's back while she was at it; those weren't Sayaka's fault at all, but good luck trying to explain it to Madoka anyway. Akemi and Sayaka were both lucky the tiny pink tyrant hadn't properly seen Akemi's back. Surprisingly, Akemi didn't look smug and superior about Sayaka being forced to offer healing; she was still grim.

'Next time I come after you, I won't be off-balance. It'll be with a clear head,' Sayaka promised in the private silence of their minds.

Akemi pulled her baleful gaze away from Madoka. Grim violet eyes met Sayaka's blue, just as hard. 'I'll accept nothing less, Miki.'

Madoka let Sayaka heal her after. Her muscles were bruised and torn throughout most of her body from thrashing around. She stayed burrowed into Kyouko like a blanket the whole time, but gasped in gentle surprise at the clean feeling of the healing magic trickling through her.

"Thank you," Madoka said, tiny voice lost against the larger girl she clung to. "Kyouko? Could we go now?"

Kyouko looked with worry at Sayaka, glancing at Akemi briefly. "Sayaka…"

"Go on, take care of her. No more stupid shit today for little old me, I promise!"

Kyouko didn't seem reassured by the flippant tone, but just huffed and juggled Madoka to the side so she could drag Sayaka into a fast one-armed hug. "Blue, for God's sake…"

"I'm going straight home. Honest, I've had my fill today." Sayaka pulled away, waved once, and immediately began striding off.

"See you around, Akemi," Kyouko called out. "Work with you again soon?" If Homura heard, she didn't acknowledge. She was still mostly watching Madoka, looking worried.

Well fine then. Kyouko was worried too. She was worried about what the hell was wrong with Sayaka, she was worried what the hell was wrong with Madoka that her soul was cracked and pulling wraiths again, and she was worried what the hell Homura had to do with any of it. Homura clearly knewsomething and used it to cool Madoka down back there, and Kyouko didn't know what that something was. Could be she was helping. Could be she was the problem. All she knew was Sayaka didn't like it and Kyubey claimed Homura knew Sayaka's problem.

Not getting an answer, she kept an arm around Madoka and started walking. Homura silently watched them like a graveyard. "They're going to hate me now, aren't they?" Madoka asked. She was out of danger of crying anytime soon, but still sounded miserable.

Kyouko couldn't help chuckling a little anyway. "Now don't let on you're thinking like that. Make the idiots come scraping up on their knees to you to say they're sorry first. I'll give you this, Pinkie, you look like marshmallows but you've got guts under all the poof. You did good."

"But I yelled at them… I never act like that. But… but they're making everything harder for themselves and I'm so worried about both of them and I can't do anything at all!"

"You did more than you think. The power of guilt compels them, 'n all that." Madoka didn't look much consoled. "Hey, let's go out for ramen or something, how 'bout that? Wouldn't want your family to think I just ditched you on your own like this, after all."

"I'd like that. Thank you, Kyouko."

OoOoO

Kyouko remembered when she realized that she had changed her mind.

She'd been living at the Miki house for a month when Sayaka told her that precious Kyousuke was going to be in a concert of outstanding youth talent and the whole family was going. Kyouko tried to beg off, not her scene, not her place, but only halfheartedly as Sayaka included her in the word "family" and smiled at her with those eager blue eyes. So she went, out of place and uncomfortable in the dark green dress that was part of the entirely new wardrobe Sayaka's mom insisted on buying for her.

Mitakihara's concert hall reminded her of her father's church. Not in any particular concrete detail or design choice, though. The concert hall, with its polished wood, austere red curtains, and careful illumination was almost minimalist compared to Sakura church. It was nothing like the endless array of stain glass windows in every color catching the sunlight. The concert hall was a serious place for serious people to dissect an aesthetic experience; Sakura church was a place for yearning hearts to reach above for glory. But for their differences, they still shared a certain grand stateliness, and they could both go straight to hell.

Kyouko clenched her teeth as she sat in the dark. Violinboy was up on stage with a few others as a quartet, playing… she didn't know. Something. She hadn't tried following along in the program. Something metronomic, precisely timed, and intricate. She wondered what they'd do if a wraith barreled through the side of the hall and started eating people? Probably keep playing.

Shizuki Hitomi was up there somewhere near the front, free tickets to prime seats for violinboy's dutiful girlfriend. Sayaka's mom bought their tickets like the normal plebeians. Kyouko met Hitomi at school, had to put up with her now and then because they both knew Sayaka. Not too often, since Sayaka didn't try to butt her way in between her and violinboy so much these days, but still often enough to know that she was the sort of polite, well-cultured waste of space Kyouko didn't want anything to do with. The Miki party ran into her and her equally worthless rich parents on their way into the concert; Kyouko just sort of glared while Sayaka handled the pleasantries.

And Sayaka, in the seat next to Kyouko. Sayaka, eating up every note and every chord with the kind of worshipful awe that comes only to those who believe in something bigger and grander than them. Kyouko should know, she saw it on her father's face every time he got up to preach. Before she kicked it all over and made it a lie, anyway. Sayaka had something extra besides the worship, though. Even in the dim auditorium lighting, she can see Sayaka shuddering, see her pressing a handkerchief over her mouth to muffle her shaky breath. If she asked, Sayaka would lie and say the music moved her.

Kyouko shoved up out of her seat with a muttered maybe-apology and forced her way toward the end of the row. Violinboy's music chased her to the exit and out the hall.

She should just ditch and head back home, wait out the concert. Hell, she should forget this whole thing staying with some idiot and head back to herreal home at the church, the burnt-out wreckage of the life she already screwed up. Why stick around to watch another spectacular disaster? Sayaka wanted her to sit through a concert? Then Sayaka could chase her down and drag her back.

But she set up on a posh bench near the restrooms in the lobby anyway, feet up on the cushion and grinding a stick of pocky between her teeth like it was personally responsible for this whole evening. A stiff, white-haired usher looked ready to scold her ears off, but one veiled death threat delivered by glare kept him busy elsewhere. She could still hear violinboy's music, piped into the lobby by sound system for the benefit of stragglers. Even out here she had to sit through that crap.

Applause came from hall a few minutes later, and that was when Sayaka found her.

"So you come to yell at me for leaving in the middle, or for eating on their furniture?" Kyouko asked. Flippant, light. Forcibly uncaring.

"It's me, you know," Sayaka said, standing a little ways apart. "Remember, I fixed your leg after you broke it kicking a wraith's head in last week? Girl you work with?"

"Only broke it 'cause you needed your ass rescued," Kyouko reminded her.

Sayaka sat on the bench by Kyouko's legs. "Talk to me, will you? What was that all about?"

"I just… why won't you stop putting yourself through this shit?" Kyouko thumped a fist into the cushion. "You made a stupid wish and it bit you in the ass. Either go grab that idiot Kamijou of yours or forget about it and leave him alone. Don't just stand there at the edge looking in on both of them. She won, you didn't, either get out of the way or go punch her face in and take him anyway! Don't… don't just…" Kyouko hit the wall this time; something cracked. "Don't just stand there looking pathetic, Blue! I hate it."

"A stupid wish?" Sayaka looked up, tilting her head toward the sound of the string quartet coming over the speakers once again. "I guess I did. I realized that pretty soon on my own."

"So forget about him," Kyouko pleaded. "Just stop beating yourself up and stick with me instead."

"I have given up on him. I wouldn't be able to sit there and listen to his music if I hadn't. I healed his hand and made him play again, but I really was thinking 'so Kyousuke will love me in return' when I made that wish." Sayaka shook her head and smiled at Kyouko. It wasn't her usual happy-go-lucky mask she hid behind far too often, though. It was a smile that didn't try to hide her regret, only live with it. "That was why it was a stupid wish, because I was lying to myself, not because I spent it on someone else. But I really do love his music. It's exactly what I wished for, so I'll cherish it."

Sayaka laughed, and went on. "And the rest? I don't want to be someone who does the right thing because I expect rewards. You said it, the world doesn't work that way, and I shouldn't ever expect it to. But I'm not going to get bent out of shape over it, either. What I want isn't important in this world. All I can hope for is to do the right thing as long as I can."

"You have to take something," Kyouko insisted. "You'll starve if you don't."

"Maybe. I'll take what I'm given, I guess." Sayaka's gaze drifted back to the speakers. "Not from him though, except listening to his music."

They sat not speaking for a moment, listening to the music from the speakers. It began quiet and careful, then built to a cheerful lilt and swirled about like it had travelled the world and never found anything to be angry about. On an impulse, suddenly wanting to share in whatever Sayaka saw in violinboy's crap, Kyouko asked, "Hey, what is this anyway?"

"A waltz. 'The Blue Danube,' arranged for string quartet. It's better with a full symphony."

"That's the three-four dance stuff isn't it?"

"Uh huh."

Kyouko slid off the bench and held out a hand. "Come on, then." Sayaka blinked at her in confusion. Kyouko grinned. "They made us learn waltzing back in grade school, I think I remember how it goes. Hell, you can probably teach me if I don't. You gotta dance if there's dance music, right? No damn point sitting around moping. Have some fun, Blue."

With a growing smile, Sayaka took the offered hand and let Kyouko pull her to her feet, and they began to dance in the lobby. They fumbled around at first over who was leading, working out whose hands went where and fighting over which direction to move. They weren't exactly feeling the upbeat, cheerful tune at first, either: Kyouko was still angry, Sayaka's mind still on Kyousuke. But bit by bit they taught each other the steps, and all that fell away. Bit by bit, they felt each other out and practiced moving together. Bit by bit, they turned toward one another and brought each other around.

OoOoO

Kyouko slurped her ramen with noisy satisfaction. Breaded pork strips and noodles in a miso broth. Madoka was tired and far from happy, but the wake of her… fit? outburst? ... had at least left her placid. She ate her boiled egg ramen with much better table manners. They hadn't said much since they left Sayaka and Homura in the park, letting silence and simple food put their worries out of mind instead.

"She saved my soul," Kyouko said. She raised the finger that wore her soul gem as a ring. "And I'm not talking 'bout this shiny thing. Sayaka and me, we ran into each other when I was finally sick of being on my own with nothing to believe in. I thought I was better off on my own looking out for just myself, and everyone I gave damn about was better off without me. Got real sick of that. So, I owe her my soul. That's what I was tryin' to say earlier."

Madoka paused to listen, chopsticks with noodles halfway to her mouth. She didn't ask where this came from, she didn't ask why Kyouko was telling her this. She didn't ask how far Kyouko's belief went, whether she was only watching her friend's back or whether she was trying to stand up for something as far-reaching as Sayaka's justice. She just listened, watched, and nodded once. She just accepted that this was Kyouko.

Kyouko took another slurp of her ramen and went on after swallowing. "Thing is, I think I get where Akemi is. No clue why she's so into you, but she's been through shit and done some shit, so now she figures she's gotta be a bitch and keep everyone else away. I never called her on it 'cause hey, I was the same. Then Sayaka came and kicked my walls in." Kyouko smiled at Madoka. "I figure it's time I do the same with Homura."

Madoka smiled back, pleased, and that was all that needed to be said. They went back to eating.

OoOoO

Long-trained instincts pulled Kyouko out of sleep as her door opened almost soundlessly, but she relaxed again when she recognized the light padding of bare feet across the carpet and felt magic that tasted of water seeping into the room. Murky and churning and choked with brine. Sayaka wasn't doing so good. She'd gone right home like she promised after they parted ways earlier, but spent the rest of the evening playing dumb and dodging every question Kyouko tried to put to her.

The footsteps made their way over to Kyouko's bed, and a weight pressed onto the edge of the mattress. Kyouko rolled over away from the wall and stared at the dark ceiling and waited. Sayaka's upright, pajama-clad form sat in the edge of her sight, emerging from the darkness only by catching the dim line of moonlight through the window.

After long moments, the weight on the edge of the mattress shifted as Sayaka began to stand up again. Kyouko reached out and caught her arm, stopping her. Sayaka's head swiveled around. Her face was in shadow, hiding her eyes. Kyouko desperately wanted to see their brilliant blue. If she could, she bet she'd see tear lines running down beneath them.

"What if I couldn't remember you?" Sayaka asked. Her voice was low and quiet, but that didn't hide the hoarseness lurking at the bottom of it. "What if I was crazy? Would you still watch my back?"

"Sayaka. What are you talking about?" She remembered Sayaka going berserk as soon as she saw Kyubey. Her bleak moods and broken smiles trying to hide them. The way she never seemed to want to say what was on her mind or what troubled her lately. Sayaka stayed quiet. "Hey. You're freaking me out, Blue. Talk to me, will you? I won't know what's up if you can't talk to me."

"Nothing. Never mind. I'm sorry." Sayaka tried to stand up again, but Kyouko kept her grip.

"You dragged me into your house, you're stuck with me forever," Kyouko said. "Don't go trying to ditch me now."

Kyouko tugged harder, and Sayaka let herself be pulled down to the bed. Kyouko threw the covers over both of them and wrapped her up in a hug from behind, gently rubbing Sayaka's hands with hers. Eventually the breathing of the brave idiot who took her in slowed down and her magic calmed into an ocean tide gently lapping at the shore, and Sayaka fell asleep in her arms.

It was a long time before the hot worry in Kyouko's stomach loosened enough for her to follow.

OoOoO