Between Littlewitch Romanesque and Salt and Sanctuary I am surprised I got this out when I did. I sat on it for a while, editing small bits of it but I just kept doing that. If I didn't upload it I may have never even stopped "editing" it. Again, I have no reliable beta reader of yet so expect some grammar issues. Enjoy!

Everything was large. No, it wasn't large. Mami was really small. She only took up half of the backseat of the car and her head barely reached up to the window.

She watched the pretty lights pass by out the window. Sometimes there was a car, but it was dark out so not many cars passed by. She was getting sleepy. The bumps and steady rumbling of the car was making it hard to stay awake.

Her Mother and Father were in front seats. They had the radio on. It was playing music that her Father loved. He said it helped him focus on things. Mother always found it silly, but she never stopped him from listening to it.

Her parents were talking. She didn't get what the conversation was about. It had lots of big words like "patients" and "inventory". She didn't mind though. Her Father was a doctor, and her Mother ran the hospital that they both worked at. She was used to them having hard conversations that she didn't understand.

Suddenly everything was white. No, not white. There was a bright light. Mami couldn't see anything with how bright it was.

She jerked forward and then it stopped. She started flying towards the roof and then everything went black.

When her vision came back she was on the roof of the car. The seats were above her. She saw her Mother and Father in front of her. She thought her Father was wearing green, not red. They must have been asleep, neither was moving. Mother said adults sleeping on the road was bad, but since her Mother and Father are "reponsiple" people, they must be allowed to sleep on the road.

She tried to crawl forward and wake them up so they could explain what happened. Mami couldn't move, something had her leg.

She was getting very sleepy. Maybe if she took a nap, she would wake up in bed again. She didn't know why she moved to her bed when she fell asleep. Her Father said it was the sleep fairies, he must be right because he is always right.

Before she could close her eyes a bright light blinded her again. It was coming from above, where the door was. There was a man in the light. Was he an angel? Maybe the sleep fairies thought she was already asleep when she really wasn't.

She was really tired now. Her eyelids felt so heavy. She closed them and started to drift off. Tomorrow she could tell her Mother and Father all about the Sleep Fairy that she saw that night.

Mami jerked awake. Cold sweat was running down her body. Her breathing was labored and her heart was pounding.

A nightmare… That was it was. The accident was years ago. She was just having a dream. Just a dream, it wasn't real. She was in her bed in her house and she had just woken up.

It took several minutes for Mami to calm down. She hadn't had that nightmare in a long time, she was hoping she would have outgrown bad dreams at this point. She was fifteen, bad dreams were something little kids had. She was growing into a young adult; She shouldn't have them anymore.

Staying in bed wasn't going to help her get back to sleep considering how woken up she felt. Pushing the covers away Mami swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a moment. Her heart was still racing; She could feel the pounding her neck. She took a few moments to steady her breathing before she stood up.

She pulled a pair of slippers on and went to the door of her room. She slowly opened it and stepped into the hallway. All the lights were off and the windows were dark. It was likely still late at night. In her panic she hadn't checked the time. She looked back over her shoulder into her room. Her clock read twelve forty.

Mami let out a large sigh. She had planned to wash her face and try to go back to sleep, but she doubted sleep would come easily, if at all.

She walked through the dark hallway to the restroom. Slipping inside, she closed her eyes before turning the lights on. The brightness wasn't as bad with her eyes shut so she took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light.

Once she was no longer blinded by the sudden brightness, she went to the sink and turned the water on. She splashed her face with luke warm water and cleaned the sweat from her face. She shut off the tap and looked at the sink.

Her face was slightly red and her eyes were watery. Was she crying? Maybe she should have checked before washing her face.

Large bags sat under her eyes, not surprising. Sleep had been cruel to her lately. Whether it was that she couldn't sleep, or that she was able to sleep but she didn't feel rested, she was always tired lately. It was almost the anniversary of the crash.

She didn't like using that word. "Anniversary" made it sound like a good thing. Losing her parents, being badly injured and the painful adjustment to living alone as a young girl was horrible. It took her so long just to accept the death of her Mother and Father, the time spent learning how to take care of herself was salt on an already agonizing wound.

She smiled slightly. She did another medical idiom. She never did stop doing that, though she didn't really want to. It was a way of remembering her parents.

She took a towel and wiped the water from her face. Her body felt disgusting, like it had a second layer of rotten skin on top of her own. A bath at this time of night would make too much noise, she didn't want to bother her family by waking them up.

She looked back towards the towel. Should she undress and wipe herself down? It would be rather easy, but it would take time. If someone came in during it and saw her, they might ask why she was doing it and she didn't want to bother them with her troubles.

She could pass it off with an excuse if that happened. "Oh I spilled a drink and didn't want to make noise with a bath." Something like that would work, she hoped.

She took the wash bin from under the sink and filled it with warm water from the tap. She took a rag and let it soak in the water. Slipping her nightgown and women's briefs off, she took the rag and began to run it down her body.

It wasn't quite like a bath, not nearly as soothing, but it was somewhat calming. It felt like the water was washing away the bad feelings. She washed all over her body until the disgusting feeling on her skin left. She took one of the nearby towels and quickly dried herself. Her body wasn't very wet since it was only a wet rag and not a real bath. She could take a bath in the morning.

She redressed herself and went back to her room. Her gown felt gross as well, the sweat must have clung to it. She undressed again and tossed her clothes into her hamper before taking out a new set of sleeping clothes.

Before she could move back to her bed and try to get to sleep, her stomach growled. She paused for a moment, and placed hand on her stomach. She was hungry, but going downstairs for a quick snack was…

It was bizarre. She wanted to get some food, but at the same time she didn't want to eat anything. Her stomach would keep pestering her and keep her from sleeping, getting something to eat may be the smart choice.

She left her room again, this time turning to head down the stairs. Her eyelids felt heavy despite not being tired, so she closed her eyes and let her knowledge of the house guide her past obstacles. She quickly entered the kitchen and moved to the fridge. She opened it up and shuddered as the wave of cold air hit her face.

She took a moment to look over what was there, before pulling out the carton of milk and setting in on the counter. She grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured herself a glass before taking out two slices of bread and placing them in the toaster. Leaning back against the counter, she closed her eyes again as she slowly sipped at her milk.

The nightmare that she had, it was one she was used to. For several weeks after the crash she was barely able to sleep, the nightmares and memories of the accident refused to stop haunting her. As the years went by since the accident, eventually they began going away. She still occasionally had them, most of the time during the week of the accident, but they didn't cling to her like they did when she was younger.

She was tired of them, so tired of them. She had accepted what had happened. Her Father died instantly, her Mother was knocked unconscious and bled out quickly but didn't suffer. Somehow she had managed to get out with nothing lethal. Her leg was badly wounded from a piece of metal that was stuck in it, but otherwise she only had cuts and bruises.

Were it not for another car on the other side of the road, she wouldn't have survived. The man who saw the crash called an ambulance and quickly investigated. According to the old newspapers she found dating back to that day, the man was an off duty emergency medical technician and was able to perform first aid which kept her from losing blood. Her parents could not be saved sadly, and the driver of the truck that they had crashed into did not survive either.

After the accident, a close friend of the family moved in with her and helped her because she was so young. Mami was unable to do almost anything for the first week out of the hospital. The survivor's guilt bore down on her mind and kept her locked in her room curled in her blankets, begging and pleading anything that would listen to give her Mother and Father back. Each night would consist of either a nightmare about the accident, or a dream where they survived that would quickly turn into another nightmare. It took several weeks before the memories stopped haunting her, and several months before she could spend a night without any nightmares

"Mami?"

Mami opened her eyes. Did she just hear something? Maybe it was her toast signaling it was ready.

"Mami?"

It wasn't the toast; it was a voice. Mami turned around to see who was in the room with her. It was her new mother Junko Kaname.

"Good morn- err… Good evening Mother." Mami gave a small smile. Why would her mother be up so late? She had work in the morning and being up at almost one in the morning wasn't a smart idea for someone who needed to get up early.

"I keep telling you Mami, you don't need to be so formal with me." Junko was wearing a bathrobe. Mami didn't know what she had underneath as the dim lighting in the kitchen blended with the dark robe. She must have woken up and come down for something.

"I know. It is simply who I am to treat others with respect."

Junko shook her head. "Respect and formality are two different things. You can be informal and rude, but still respectful, just like how you can be formal but disrespectful."

Mami was silent. She was slightly worried. Had she made too much noise and woke her mother up? Maybe instead Junko had come down for the same reason she had, a late night snack. A ding stopped her before she could continue her thoughts.

"Getting some food?" Junko's question felt more rhetorical, but Mami still responded with a nod.

Her toast was slightly brown, not quite fully toasted, but Mami preferred it that way. The crunch wasn't quite as enjoyable without a cup of tea, but she didn't want to take the time to make any . She took the toast and began to chew on it as she sat down at the table.

"What's wrong?"

Mami slightly jumped at Junko's voice. She hurriedly swallowed her food before responding.

"Nothing is wrong, I just wanted something to eat."

Junko's eyes narrowed but her smile was still there.

"Mami, that won't work on me. I can tell something is bothering you."

Mami sighed. Her father, Tomohisa, was the type of person to simply let things slide if she didn't want to talk about them, but Junko could always find a way. No matter what, Junko would always crack her open and make her talk. It was nice to be able to talk with someone about her problems, but she feared she would be overburdening them with her worries.

"It's… Well… It's…" Mami wasn't sure how to start. She didn't want to appear childish by saying she had a nightmare, but she felt like talking would help her get over the recent nightmare.

"Let me guess." Junko put a hand to her chin. "Was it… what happened to your parents?"

"How…" Mami was stunned. Junko had gotten it exactly right, despite there being no clues to point at that. Mami lowered her head and submitted. "Y-Yes… I had another ni-… dream about it."

"Do you want to talk about it? You have never really done so before. It might help, just talking to someone about it. Either way it wouldn't hurt." Junko's voice was soft and kind. It was filled with a lovingly warmth that only family could have.

She only got silence as a response. Junko gave a soft sigh. "It's ok if you don't, just know that I am here if you wan- "

"I am past it now." Junko was interrupted midsentence by Mami. "The accident I mean. I accept that my Mother and Father died in the crash. I have accepted that I could not have done anything to save them. I know nothing I can do will bring them back. But still…" Her voice grew silent for a few moments.

"It… hurts. When I dream about them; when I think about them; when I cook the meals they liked, my heart hurts so bad. It feels as though it is being crushed and I hate it. Even when I think of the times they scolded me for doing something bad, it still hurts. I… I want them back, even for just a moment. Even if that moment is just for them to yell at me. I want to hear their voice, see their faces." Mami's voice was shaking. Her back shuddered and her eyes began watering as she kept speaking.

"I want to see them again. I want to run home from school and show them my grades and hear them praise me. I want to scold them for burning dinner and then cook for them instead. I want to relax with them on a day off, and talk about meaningless things long past our bedtimes. I want to yell at my Father for all his bad jokes and tease my Mother for her overly massive film collection"

Tears had begun to stream down her face. Were she not sitting down, her legs would have likely buckled and she would have collapsed to the ground. Mami fell onto the table and sunk her face into her arms as she kept crying.

"I-I… I w-want my Mom and Dad back!"

Junko listened silently to Mami's rant, watching her fall apart as it went on. She got up from her chair and moved around over to Mami's side and sat next to her. Wrapping an arm around the sobbing girl, Junko pulled her tight and began to stroke her back, softly shushing as she did so.

Mami shifted her arms so they were now clung around Junko's neck. She buried her face into Junko's chest as she kept crying. She kept trying to speak, but what she said was inaudible due to the sobbing and heavy breathing.

They stayed that way for several minutes. Mami clinging to her new mother as Junko rubbed her back to calm her down. Gradually her tears began to slow and her breathing was getting under control again. Soon the room fell silent, yet they stayed holding each other.

"How do you feel?" Junko broke the silence.

Mami's voice was faint and barely audible. "Better."

Junko gave a soft smile, even though Mami couldn't see it. "That is good to hear. Keeping things bottled up for a long time can be very bad. These type of situations need to happen sometimes, emotions you thought were gone but are really just stuck inside need to be let out or they can overflow at the worst times."

Junko knew that Mami was a strong girl, she had lived several years all by herself. However, Junko felt that the strong, reliable, older sister-like exterior that she showed was Mami's way of staying strong. After she had lost her parents, she suppressed the emotions she had and locked them away in order to move on. She pretended to stay strong, as if it never bothered her, so long that it became her actual personality. Yet deep down, those feelings she had suppressed were still there.

Part of that problem may have been that she had no one to talk with. She was raised to live by herself due to her parent's busy work schedule. After the accident she received help from a family friend for several years until she could truly live on her own, but a friend of her parents is different from a friend of her own. After she began to live alone again, she didn't have anyone. She isolated herself from classmates and did not have anyone she could speak with.

Somehow, Madoka had managed to break through to her, and convinced her to visit for dinner. Through the meal, Junko and Tomohisa had picked up on how lonely the girl really was, which lead to their decision to adopt her.

In the house, she did have her sisters, but she never made that special bond that they had. Kyouko and Sayaka always bickered and fought with each other, but they were closer than anyone. Homura and Madoka were similar, with how Homura followed Madoka around like a lost puppy. Mami however, had no one to share herself with.

Maybe they should find a way to fix that. Another adoption may be out the question, but it wasn't completely out either. A pet may be another idea. Some sort of affectionate animal, like a dog or a cat. Something that could keep her company.

Junko cleared her mind of those thoughts, right now she wanted to make sure Mami was feeling better. She leaned back slightly and looked at the young girl. Mami's eyes were red and trails of tears ran down her face. She looked dazed, like her mind wasn't quite there.

"Now then." Junko slowly pushed Mami away and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "Why don't you finish your snack and then let's get you to bed. In the morning you will feel better."

All she got in response was a nod. Mami began to chew on her toast as Junko watched. Junko sat there quietly with a small smile. On the inside however, she was fawning at what was in front of her.

Mami was acting like a little girl, quietly chewing her toast like a hamster would; it was extremely adorable. It reminded her of when Madoka was a little kid. Mami was always so mature; It was a rare sight to see her acting like a young child exhausted from a day of playing outside.

The two sat in silence as Mami finished her snack and drunk the milk. Junko got up and took the glass before Mami could, and tossed it in the sink before Mami could try and wash it.

"Someone can clean that in the morning, bed will come first."

Junko placed a hand on Mami's back and lead her upstairs to her room. Mami moved slowly and acted sluggish and somewhat unresponsive, something Junko expected after that emotional outburst. They reached Mami's room and went inside. Junko lead Mami over to her bed and quickly straightened out the rustled sheets. Pulling them back, Junko watched Mami crawl into bed.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and rested a hand on Mami's arm.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about tonight. It will be our little secret, ok?"

Mami nodded.

"Alright then." Junko gave her a comforting smile. "Get some sleep, sweet dreams." Junko got up and left the room.

Mami rolled over in bed. Her mind was racing, yet it wasn't. She was filled with so many different thoughts flashing through her mind, yet none of them were understandable. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on clearing her head. Soon she drifted off to sleep and had warm dreams of her new family.

The sun rose the next morning and the Kaname household went about their daily morning routine. Madoka rolled out of bed and prepared for class, Homura following close behind her but already prepared. Kyouko was waking up Tatsuya and getting him ready for his day. Sayaka was chatting with Tomohisa about the latest superhero movie released in the kitchen. Mami however, was missing.

She was still lying in bed. The emotional exhaustion from very early that morning had tired her out and she had only woken up recently. She moved out of bed and got dressed and went about preparing for the school-free day ahead. After setting her hair up in their usual drill-like twin-tails style, she went downstairs to greet her family.

Sayaka perked up when she saw Mami coming down the stairs.

"Hey Mami! Why were you still sleeping in? Usually you are already up before we are?"

Before Mami could respond, Junko, who was sitting at the table reading the newspaper answered.

"She was up late last night."

Tomohisa looked up from the breakfast he was making. "Really? Usually Mami is one of the first in bed. What kept her up so late?"

Mami's face paled slightly. She didn't want the events of that night to be revealed. When she opened her mouth to make an excuse, Junko cut in.

"That's a secret between us." Junko winked at Mami, who brightened up significantly when she heard her Mother come to her aid.

"Yes, it is a secret between us." Mami's voice was filled with a warm cheer. "Do not worry, nothing is wrong." She finished her sentence with a large smile.

Her mind and heart were still bogged down with the weight of the emotions suppressed for so many years, but they felt lighter. Much lighter than they had ever been, and Mami was glad. She may have lost her real parents in the accident, but her new family felt just as real as her old family.

I hope this came out well. I have never really understood emotions that well so I wonder if Mami's breakdown felt real and not too sudden. Still I hope you all enjoy it. though a quick question. A future chapter I have planned involves a low life thug. Would you prefer I censor all his swearing (F***, S*** ect.) or keep it uncensored but increase the rating of the story to T at max? Stayed tuned next time when Madoka does something that Homura doesn't enjoy at all!