Chapter 7

I

At first all Sayaka could hear were the sounds of a machine gun going off. She was behind the counter with her back to a wall and her knees curled up to her chest. When the spray of bullets had ceased she quietly peeked over the counter top.

The witch stood in the doorway, and it was much bigger than she imagined it would be. Its face was dark and twisted like its familiars, the colors of its body distorting and seemed to constantly change from one dark hue to another. The only consistent thing about the creature was the golden sheriff star on its chest and its evil grin made of bright white teeth. In its big arms it held a massive gun which was itself at least as big as either of the girls fighting it.

Homura and Mami had both hit the floor when the witch had started firing, now that it was distracted with reloading they both took position and started firing shots at it. With each bullet that hit its target the witch seemed to flinch back a bit, but the shots did not seem to have much of an actual effect.

Sayaka's eyes opened wide in terror at all of this. They might as well have been throwing pebbles at it! The bullets practically seemed to just bounce off!

The sheriff finished feeding a fresh bullet clip into the gun, and it started to make a whirring sound as the barrels began to spin. Mami and Homura both fled in opposite directions just seconds before the shooting started. As they ran they both continued blasting shots in the monster's direction.

The sheriff followed Homura with its spray of bullets. The massive gun slowly swept the bar as bullets went zipping just behind Homura's head as she ran.

Suddenly, Homura disappeared. The creature stopped in a moment of confusion, then set its sights on Mami instead.

Mami continued firing her weapons as she fled the assault. She would make one of her muskets appear, grab it out of the air and dispense its shot before tossing it to the side and making a brand new one appear. But where had Homura gone?

Then Sayaka spotted Homura standing on the creature's back. Simultaneous with her reappearance every single table and chair in the bar flew through the air and crashed into the witch as if they were thrown there by some great force. The witch lost sight of Mami and its gun rose towards the sky as it flinched back from the blows. Homura was now holding two pistols and she started firing each of them repeatedly right into the top of its head!

The creature screamed with a bone chilling roar, then threw Homura as a horse dismounts an unwanted rider. She tumbled through the air, outside the bar, and then landed hard on the sandy ground outside. The witch dropped its massive gun to the ground and turned away from Mami, now with sights only for Homura. With one of its massive hands it held its own head as if trying to sooth a really bad headache. The other hand reached inside its own chest then pulled out again, now holding a large pistol proportionate to the size of its abnormally large hand.

Homura tried to roll away, but small shadowy hands rose out of the desert floor and grabbed onto her. They grabbed her by her arms and legs and locked her into place, holding her tight against the sandy ground. She looked from one arm to another and tried to shake them away, but it was no good.

Another three hands rose out of the sand and took hold of her shield. They used some kind of curse to lock it up and when she tried to spin the gears and stop time the shield would simply not respond. The witch had figured out her power, it seemed.

"Damn it!" she yelled, thrusting back and forth as she tried to break free. The sheriff's white teeth made a menacing grin as it pointed its gun at her. One black finger moved onto the trigger. Homura was helpless to defend herself, and could do nothing but lay there and await the execution.

Suddenly, yellow ribbons shot up from the ground all around the witch and started attacking it. They wrapped themselves around its arms and pulled down so that when it fired its gun the bullet hit nothing but sandy earth, creating a cloud of dust inches away from Homura's leg.

Mami jumped onto the witch's back and used it as a springboard to jump high into the air. Sayaka retreated from her hiding place behind the bar and found a window to look out of so she would not miss a thing.

Sayaka watched with wide eyes and a slack jaw as more ribbons grabbed onto the witch and forced it into a kneeling position while Mami continued to rise high into the air above it. She looks so cool! Sayaka thought.

Mami smiled as she pulled her ascot out from under her collar and threw it into the air. "Now for the real execution!" Her magic light filled the air in a display of beautiful rainbow color that emulated her SoulGem. The colors grew brighter and less transparent until they actually took on a physical form.

Next thing Sayaka knew, there was a giant gun floating in the air alongside Mami. It was even bigger than the witch's massive gatling gun - it was even bigger than the witch itself! Mami grabbed onto the end of her weapon and took aim.

"TIRO! FINALE!"

Her gun (which was more like a canon) produced a great explosion. All different colors of the rainbow burst forth from the massive barrel. The colors flew like ribbons and twisted and wrapped around one another until they came together in the shape of a bullet and blasted right through the witch's chest.

The witch let out a hideous scream as dark colors which exactly inversed the rainbow emitted from its body. It made more terrifying screaming sounds as it starting melting into a puddle of black goo, and eventually disappeared.

Mami landed on the roof of a nearby building with folded arms and a smug grin on her face.

"Woh!" Sayaka said as she came out of the bar. "That was amazing!" Then she saw Homura and tensed up. Homura picked herself up from the ground, gave Sayaka a cold dead eyed stare, then flipped her hair back and walked over to the GriefSeed that sat in the witch's puddle of goo.

"I'm taking this!" she called over to Mami as she reached for it, but when her hand was mere inches from obtaining her prize a ribbon appeared and grabbed onto it, then flung it back in Mami's direction. Mami jumped from the building and caught the seed in midair. She did a front flip and landed back on the ground ten yards away from Homura with a fresh musket appearing in her grasp, it's barrel aimed directly at the dark Magical Girl.

"Give that to me!" Homura demanded.

"No way!" said Sayaka, "Mami's the one who killed that thing, so it's hers!"

Mami smiled and chuckled. "You know, I really have no problem letting you have this. After all, if you hadn't gotten its attention I never would have had time to pull that off. However, there is this issue concerning a certain Madoka Kaname."

Sayaka nodded as she joined Mami by her side. Homura stared them both down coldly.

"Madoka is of no concern to you," Homura said to Mami, then she looked at Sayaka. "And you too. It is best you just forget about her."

"You! How can you say something like that?" Sayaka raised a fist. "What the hell is your problem anyway? What did you do with her!?"

Homura did not answer.

"How about this," said Mami, "give us Madoka and you can have the GriefSeed. More than that, I will be willing to just forget about all of this." Homura still would not respond and just stared her down in her typical cool intense way. "You understand what I am saying, don't you? I'm trying to give you a pass. Do you really want to be enemies? We could be powerful allies if we just worked together, you know?"

Homura flipped her hair back. "I could never be allies with someone like you."

Mami grinned sheepishly. "Very well, then."

Next thing Homura knew, rainbow light appeared all around her and ribbons formed. The ribbons shot at Homura with the purpose of binding her. Homura quickly used her own magic and set the gears spinning on her shield.

II

"Damn it!" Homura grunted, looking at the ribbons that surrounded her on all sides then looking at Mami's silly grinning face. "That sure was a close one." She carefully stepped around the ribbons. She knew that if they had actually grabbed onto her then Mami would be pulled into her time flow as well. She did not know whether or not simply touching them would be enough to have that effect, but she did not plan on finding out.

Homura took a good look at the frozen duo. She could take them both out right now if she wanted, and never have any problems from them ever again. One bullet into Sayaka's head, and one into Mami's flower hairpin that was actually her SoulGem. If she would just do that then there would be no one left to "rescue" Madoka. After that, keeping her safe would be much easier. She could not bring herself to do it, however. She never could, no matter how much trouble any of the other magical girls caused her she could never bring herself to harm them.

The truth is, at one time they were all her friends. Sayaka, Kyoko, and even Mami. She would save them all if she could, and she had tried countless times to do just that, but always failed. This time she was going to save at least one, though. She would save Madoka.

She snatched the GriefSeed out of Mami's hand and exited the labyrinth.

III

"Wah, where did she go?" Sayaka looked all around for Homura who seemed to have just vanished. Mami looked at her empty hand which should have had a GriefSeed sitting on it, but it, like Homura, had disappeared and she made a fist.

"I am sorry," she said, and looked back to Sayaka. "It was my fault she got away. I should have just tied her up the second I had an opportunity to... but, I thought maybe if just talked to her..."

"It's not your fault," Sayaka reassured her. "That chicks just a total psycho!"

Mami nodded. "Now that I know she can not be reasoned with, I'll get her next time for sure."

They exited the labyrinth, and walked down the dark alley that once belonged to the Mugger Witch. When they reached the end there was one last bright flash of light as the portal disappeared. Sayaka looked back, wondering what that was and Mami explained: "Now that the witch is gone, the labyrinth it created has nothing to sustain itself." Outside the alley she took a look up and down the city street. "This side of town has just gotten a little safer."

"So, killing witches helps people, right?" Sayaka asked.

"That's right," said Mami with a wink. "I knew to come here and look for a witch because there had been a lot of murders here lately. Things like suicides, murders without any clear motive, unexplainable deaths; Witches are always linked to those kinds of things. If that witch were to continue on, who knows how many more people it would have hurt!"

"I see." Sayaka looked down the alley where the portal to the labyrinth once was.

"It's late," said Mami, "I live close by, you're welcome to come stay with me tonight if you don't want to walk all the way back to your house."

"Sure," said Sayaka as she gave her a smile. "That sounds great!"

IV

Homura held the GriefSeed against her own SoulGem and watched as the black coloring disappeared and the gem returned to its bright rainbow colors. She breathed a sigh of relief when it was all done. It really had been close, she had gone to the limit and pushed far past it tonight. If Mami had succeeded in grabbing her with those ribbons and preventing her from using the GriefSeed then there is no doubt she would already be transforming into a witch right now.

After fully using the GriefSeed, her SoulGem still was not back to a hundred percent purification. It was in good shape now, but she observed that there was still a slight black fog floating around beneath the colors. It would be fine for a while though, and she could probably go for another three full days before needing to hunt down another one.

Three days: By that time Kyoko should be arriving here in Mitakihara Town. In many of her past lives she had allied herself with Kyoko, who had repeatedly proven herself to be useful. She may have had a quick tongue and was easy to anger, but she was also easy to manipulate. Although, Homura did not think there would be any use for her this time around. Homura had no plans of going against Walpurgisnacht or dealing with any other high class witches, which is usually what her alliance with Kyoko had been all about. This time she figured she would just ignore Kyoko and try not to cross paths with her.

Then she heard Kyubey's voice say, "Well done."

She noticed him standing atop a fence that she was passing under. When she looked up at him he jumped down and sat on his haunches down by her feet. She watched him with a raised eyebrow.

"You want this, right?" Homura asked, holding up the spent GriefSeed. His little red eyes just stared at it. With a flick of her wrist she tossed the GriefSeed toward him. A hole opened on his back and he jumped up to catch it. Once that was done the hole closed and he returned to a sitting position.

If a GriefSeed absorbs too much energy from a SoulGem it is at risk of hatching a new witch all over again. That is why it had to be fed to Kyubey, who in turn harvested the energy for his people. Homura did not know much about Kyubey and what kind of creature he was, all she knew is that he was an alien who collects the emotional energy of humans. The whole Magical Girl system was developed solely for filling that purpose.

"So, how long are you planning to keep this up? Homura Akemi," Kyubey asked. Homura gave him no response. "Your magic is powerful, but I suspect it's only good as long as your opponents don't know how it works. The witch you just fought seemed to have figured it out, and there is no doubt Mami will as well."

"Actually, it would not surprise me if she already figured it out," Homura responded. "But, it won't do her any good." Homura grabbed her pistol from under her shield and aimed it at Kyubey.

"Are you really doing this again?" he asked. "You know it is pointless."

"Not necessarily. I can't have you following me. Besides, this is one of the few things that still gives me some joy in this life."

"You can not hide Madoka Kaname forever, you know."

"We'll see," she said, and pulled the trigger.