….I get the feeling this chapter is going to get mixed reviews. But I'm proud of what I've written so far, even if it is a bit tangled and far-fetched at some points.
Anyways, sorry for the late update. I spent most of last week in the ER getting pumped full of saline. Apparently I'm deathly allergic to Benadryl.
...Yeah. Go figure.
Anyways! Enjoy.
Chapter 9
Full Circle
"You're...joking. You have to be."
"It's the truth, Hitomi." Homura said, refilling the tea she had set on the small red counter in the center of her room. "It's a far-fetched tale for a non-Magical Girl to believe, but it's the truth, all the same."
"But..." Hitomi shook her head, trying to make some sense of the information. Tossing off the blanket she used for that night's sleep, she began pacing around. "You're telling me something like witches exist? In this world? Why have we never seen them?"
"You do, actually." Kyouko muttered, gnawing on the ever-present Pocky stick in her mouth, still lazing about on the couch. "Suicides? Depression? Accidents? Crime? Name one bad thing that happens in this city, and I'll bet you ten bucks it's related to the effects of a witch."
"So..." Hitomi shut her eyes. "How do you fight these things? I can't believe that you girls can take on what you say you do!"
Homura sighed. She didn't want to take the extra step, but Hitomi was being difficult in believing this. She couldn't exactly blame the girl, but enough was enough. Turning to Kyouko, she nodded once, signaling the main evidence to come forth.
With a small flash, Homura and Kyouko materialized their uniforms; Hitomi watched with wide eyes as Kyouko summoned a large spear to accompany her, while Homura drew an RPG from her compact shield.
Hitomi, needless to say, was speechless at what just happened. Two girls that she knew only as classmates and brief friends, suddenly revealing that they were combatants in an ever-present war, that happened right under humanities noses. And here they were, brandishing weapons of every sort from seemingly nowhere...
Hitomi fainted.
Darting forward, Kyouko grabbed the girl before she collided with the table. "D'you think we went a bit...overboard?"
"She wanted proof. She got it." Homura replied, helping to lay Hitomi on the nearby sofa. "When she comes around, hopefully she'll remember what happened."
"No kidding..." Kyouko turned back to the many screens lining Homura's wall. "So, whats the plan from here on out?"
"I'm still working on it. We'll need Madoka and Sayaka here first before we do anything special. Mind fetching them for me?"
"What? In that weather?" Kyouko grumbled, not liking the idea at all. "Why do I have to do it? You could get it done with your time-stopping!"
"Time stopping or not...I'm not the person for this task." Homura replied, flushing red.
Kyouko caught on immediately. "Still a bit jealous, huh?" She shrugged in defeat. "Makes sense. Not like I have anything better to do." She gestured towards the table. "Hand me that tea, would ya?"
Catching the mug from Homura, Kyouko downed the concoction in one gulp, turning towards the door. "Back in a jiffy!"
"You better be." Homura said, watching the girl go. The moment the door was closed, she sighed, dropping her emotionless facade. Glancing at Hitomi, she affirmed the girl was still out of it before allowing a small sob to escape her throat.
"I can't...I can't do this..."
"Homura?"
Homura snapped out of her grief-induced outburst, looking around the room for any sign of the voice. "Kyubey?"
"May I...speak with you a moment?"
Homura sighed. "Make it quick."
"I've been able to piece together that you're a time traveler, Homura." Kyubey began, his voice echoing throughout the apartment. "I've also been able to figure out why Madoka would make such a powerful Magical Girl. Your interference with time."
"Don't even think about-"
"We'll discuss that later. I need to ask you something urgent, Homura."
That caught the girl by surprise. "W-what?"
"The reason you keep restarting time...the reason you continue this cycle of tragedy...is because Madoka dies every time. Correct?"
Slightly irritated, Homura nodded. "Yes. Why?"
"Reasons for which I cannot explain now. For the moment, everyone is alive, including Madoka. Should that remain if Walpurgisnacht is defeated...you would not reset the time loop again?"
"No."
"Perfect. Thank you, Akemi Homura." With that, the voice faded, leaving behind a mildly stunned Homura.
"Since when did...Kyubey thank people?"
The first thing Sayaka noticed when she woke was how warm she was.
The second thing she noticed was that she couldn't move. At all.
Stifling a yelp, she began scrambling about, trying to untangle herself from whatever was pinning her, before pink hair flooded her vision.
Sayaka immediately stopped struggling, realizing where she was. A small smile formed on her face when she realized that it was Madoka's arms that were pinning her, and the warmth of her body was keeping the outdoor rain away.
For a moment she contemplated whether to stay where she was or attempt to forage some breakfast. She was a second away from choosing the former before a loud growl escaped her stomach, causing her to blush furiously.
'That'll wake her, for sure...Food it is then.' Sayaka thought to herself as she gently removed herself from Madoka's arms. Rolling off the bed to avoid hitting the sleeping girl by mistake, Sayaka quietly tiptoed around the bed to reach the bedstand, where she left the two golden hairclips she used as accessories. She knew from personal experience that wearing them while sleeping usually led up to being caught with one's head trapped on a pillow. Ever since that day, she made sure to take them out before sleeping.
Snatching up the clips, she fixated them to her hair, glancing at the rest of the items on the stand. A small pink clock reading six-thirty in the morning sat farthest to the left, ticking away at an ever-present volume. Beside it, several trinkets lay strewn about, from baubles to sewing supplies to school notes.
One thing caught her eye, however: a small, pink ring, no smaller than a dime, lay half covered by a journal. Picking it up, Sayaka idly wondered how Madoka afforded such a piece of jewelry. She knew the girl wasn't fond of metallic accessories, always preferring the dual-pink ribbons over any sort of earrings or makeup. She considered that Junko may have bought it, but quickly discarded that thought. The woman was exactly the same as Madoka: metal jewelry didn't seem to exist in the Kaname household.
Sayaka was torn from her thoughts as the stirring Madoka sat up, rubbing at her eyes blearily. Looking over, Madoka's eyes widened slightly.
Sayaka cocked her head to the side, wondering why she was getting such an intent stare from Madoka this early in the morning. Surely her hair wasn't messed up that bad...was it?
Chuckling lightly to try and rid some of the tension, Sayaka waved her hand. "Hey...Madoka."
"Hey..."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Okay..." Madoka sighed. "It was...warm."
"Ehehe..." Sayaka flushed red. "Yeah...you were warm."
"So were you, silly."
The two stared at each other, the beginnings of an awkward silence beginning to form. Sayaka coughed slightly once more, once again breaking the strange tension. "So...Hey!" She held up the item in her hand. "Where did you get this, of curiosity? I thought you didn't like metal jewelry."
"Ah!" Madoka gasped, but covered her mouth in the nick of time. "Its...something my mother gave me!"
"Oh?"
"Y-yeah..." Madoka fidgeted nervously. "Err...may I have that back?"
"Huh? Sure..." Sayaka said, handing the ring to Madoka. She quickly placed it on her fourth finger, sighing in relief as she did so. Sayaka became even more confused at this. "Madoka? I've never seen you wear a ring. You alright?"
"Nothing!" Madoka said a little too quickly. Sayaka caught this instantly.
"There wouldn't be 'nothing' if you were this flustered..." She sat down on the bed next to Madoka, setting a hand on her shoulder. "What's up?"
"Well, it's..."
"It's okay, Madoka, you can tell me." Sayaka smiled. "Its just a gift from your mom, right?" Then, laughing: "It's not like you contracted with Kyubey or anything!"
Sayaka laughed at this, but noticed a little too quickly that Madoka wasn't laughing. Instead, her whole body had tensed up as stiff as a board, unwilling to move and speak. Sayaka swore she saw traces of tears in Madoka's eyes.
Her eyes widened. "You...didn't make a contract...did you?"
Madoka remained silent.
"You...did."
With nowhere else to go, Madoka raised her head, showing her bleary eyes and the fresh tears that ran down her cheeks.
"Yes..."
Kyubey idly remembered an old human saying as he teleported to the front of a large house."When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
He knew he had emotion. Now he needed to figure out why she gave them to him.
Slithering his way through the bushes, Kyubey eyed the small tree that gave access to Madoka' bedroom. The very reason that the girl made her wish like that continued to confuse him. For the past month, she had tried to contract suing the most ridiculous of wishes, only to be stopped time and time again by Homura. Kyubey still didn't' understand why Homura wanted Madoka to avoid contracting so badly. Back then, only the thought of reversing Entropy came to Kyubey's mind, but now...he wanted answers.
Imitating the movements of a common squirrel, Kyubey scrambled up the tree with surprising ease, pressing the side of his body to the wall right next to the window. Finally, he could hear the sobbing of a girl on one end, and the slightly interrogative, but non-accusatory voice of another.
Kyubey immediately recognized the two.
"What are Madoka and Sayaka arguing about...?"
"You wanted him to understand?"
Madoka nodded shakily. "All this time, he's only been concerned about entropy...about saving the universe. But he never considered the sacrifices that people had to make the despair people had to go through!"
Her voice trembled as she spoke; Sayaka clung to her a little tighter. "So...I wished for him to understand. I didn't wish for hope, or a selfish reason. I just wanted him to understand the suffering people went through because of him..."
"Idiot..." Sayaka muttered, stroking Madoka's hair affectionately. "You knew you'd turn into...into one of us, and yet you still made that wish? What kind of thinking is that, huh? I don't want you dying because of some stupid wish like that..."
Madoka chuckled bitterly. "It doesn't matter to me. Everyone is out there, trying to stop the worst witch in existence...and all I can do is stand on the sidelines and watch like every other time."
"Worst witch?" Sayaka interrupted.
"Walpurgisnacht." Madoka muttered. "A witch with no barrier. A witch far beyond the power of anyone...except for me."
Sayaka sighed. "That doesn't matter, Madoka. If I'm bound to fighting this thing because of the stupid duty Kyubey put onto me, so be it. You may have contracted, but there is no way in hell I'm letting you within a mile of this 'Walpurgisnacht.'"
The two sat in silence for some time before Madoka's sobs renewed. Sayaka pulled her down slightly so the two were laying down on the bed, arms around each other.
"Madoka? What is it?"
"I..." Madoka whispered. "Even if you tried to stop me...I can't face Walpurgisnacht anyways."
"Huh? Why?"
Madoka nodded. "If I do...the moment I attack it, I die..."
"What?" Sayaka stared at Madoka with a mix of confusion and shock. "How...how do you know?"
"I just know. Trust me, please..."
"Of course I do." Sayaka whispered, returning her attention to calming Madoka down. "Can you...tell me why?"
Madoka sniffed away some tears, before nodding. "Kyubey said that I'm fated to be the strongest Puella Magi...and as such, I'm destined to defeat my fiercest foe. But the moment I do, it'll use up so much of my magic that I'll turn into a witch right away."
"Ah..." Sayaka muttered, gripping Madoka a bit tighter. "So there's no way around that, huh?"
"No..."
Before the two could continue further, the door to Madoka's room busted open with a loud crack. The two girls turned in shock to see Kyouko, soaked and panting, standing in front of them.
Immediately, given their position, a wry smile began to form at her lips. "Don't tell me you two were about to-"
She was cut off by a massive elephant plushie slamming into her face at full steam ahead. Sayaka, who had already readied another stuffed animal, stood, furious. "Don't even think about that!"
"Okay, okay! Don't get your britches in a bunch..." Kyouko said, her face suddenly turning serious. "Madoka, Walpurgisnacht is coming. We need everyone at Homura's apartment, muy pronto.".
Without waiting for a reply, she beckoned the two flustered girls out the door. As Kyouko exited though, she noticed Madoka's tear-stained face.
"Hey, Madoka? You okay?"
Only nodding slightly, Madoka jogged forward and laced her arm around Sayaka. Kyouko watched on with a confused look on her face.
"Strange..."
'Is this...shock, again?'
Kyubey shook off the numb feeling that just coursed through his body and shakily descended from the tree. Ducking into the hedges beside the house, he watched as Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyouko left, hanging a right towards the city center. Once they were safely out of sight, cresting the top of the small hill, Kyubey dashed from his hiding spot and ran across the street, ducking into the more open hedges of the yard beyond. The thick layers of branches would deter anyone that may hear strange noises, and the interior of the bushes was open enough to allow him to work freely.
Satisfied that nobody was around, a faint white glow materialized around the construct as he summoned a small Soul Gem, hollow and inert.
"Now..." he muttered to himself. "What can I do with you...?"
The door to Homura's apartment was forcibly flung open as Kyouko, Madoka, and Sayaka entered the small chamber. They found Homura huddled over a small computer, clicking wildly as witch data and charts flew across the massive walls of her house. Hitomi, who had finally woken from the information-overload, was once again leaning against the couch, a small cup of tea resting in her hands.
"Homura? What is all this?" Sayaka inquired, turning toward the girl. Many of the photos showed, to Sayaka's limited knowledge, a massive, floating purple ball of a witch. However, there was no contorted barrier or signs of twisted images around the massive body; all she could see was the ruined destruction of the city around them.
"This..." Homura started, turning around in her chair and raising a hand towards the many images, "Is Walpurgisnacht."
A collective intake of breath was heard throughout the room as the images played out one after another. Terrifying spectacles of Mitakihara, now a destroyed, barren wasteland of twisted metal and steel frames, littered each photo, one after another. Walpurgisnacht stood tall in every single one.
"As most of you in here know," Homura stated once more, having vacated her seat in favor of pacing around the room, "I am a time traveler. I have distorted the laws of time in order to repeat the last month over and over again, all for the sake of one exit."
"What exit?" Sayaka asked, reeling slightly from Homura's sudden revelation. "What kept happening in those other timelines?"
Homura's eyes hardened slightly, the images of her friends, all dead, coming back to her in a flash. "No matter what I do...everyone dies. This is the first timeline that I have come through where most all of us have survived. I've seen Sayaka transform into a witch at least four times, Kyouko get killed by Sayaka, Mami, or myself an equal amount..." She paused, sucking in a harsh breath. "And Madoka. I've seen you die, every time. Many times, by my own hand...many times, by your request."
Turning her back to the group, Homura tried to hide the tinges of tears in her eyes. "But I will not stop. This is the first time we've made it so far with most everyone alive. All we need to do is defeat Walpurgisnacht...and we'll have our exit."
Regaining her composure, Homura gestured for everyone to sit down, before turning back to the map.
"Alright, everyone. This is the plan. Kyouko, Sayaka, come up here please."
Nodding silently, the two girls jumped up and hurried over to Homura.
"We will go to the clock tower on the east end of town and prepare traps there. That is where Walpurgisnacht will arrive, so we must contain her there. Understood?"
Both girls nodded.
"Good. Get over there now, I'll join you momentarily."
Kyouko and Sayaka made their way towards the door; Sayaka paused to give Madoka's hand one last squeeze before leaving. Homura turned toward Hitomi and Madoka.
"You two must get to the police station and evacuate the townspeople to the community center immediately. The sooner, the better. Once everyone is there, stay there, and wait for our signal. If we defeat Walpurgisnacht, you'll know. If we don't..." She sighed. "Then there's a good chance nobody will make it out alive."
Hitomi winced slightly, while Madoka's expression grew to that of pure surprise. Homura seemed to catch on, and immediately turned towards her.
"There's nothing you can do, Madoka. You know that if you contract, you'll die from the magical overload. There's simply no way I can have you participate."
"But, Sayaka-"
"Will be fine." Homura interrupted. "I'll make sure of it."
Madoka sighed in defeat. As much as she wanted to argue, there was no getting past Homura.
"I'm glad you understand, Madoka. Now, go."
Silently, the two walked out the door, gently shutting it behind them. Homura watched them leave, staring at the now-closed door for several seconds.
Wondering just how the hell they were going to pull this off.
Stopping time, she leapt out of the window adjacent to her, making her way towards one of the many Yakuza hideouts.
It was time.
Irked at the lack of progress, Kyubey poked and prodded at the inert Soul Gem in mild frustration. For the past fifteen minutes the construct had been trying to find a way to modify the Gem's intake of Grief, in order to prevent a sudden transformation of a witch.
Kyubey wasn't sure what or why he was trying to fix the Gem himself. For the many generations he had been on this planet, nothing had mattered to him more than the reversal of Entropy, and the contracting of Magical Girls to accomplish that goal. Their emotions and their feelings never mattered to him before, so why would they now?
'Emotion.' He realized. It surprised him how much he was affected by Madoka's wish. She wished for him to understand what the Magical Girls went through, but he didn't realize how much of a bias that had leaned on. He could have come out even more focused on his goal for Entropy...
Kyubey shook that thought off. Bias or not, the way he felt about the system, and the girls he contracted, was set in stone now. Nothing could change what he felt, and nothing could change what the girls in the past felt as their souls were turned to fodder.
But at least he could do something about it now.
Examining the Gem once more, Kyubey opened the gold lining, exposing the interior of the gem. Inside of it, several complex runes and seals lined the casing, designed to keep the soul entrapped and safely caged. Unfortunately, one particular rune stood out; it took the shape of a star attached to black clouds. This seal kept the Soul from leaking out of the gem, but also kept Grief from leaking out as well. As such, there was nothing he could remove without risking the soul of the girl itself.
Normally, Kyubey would have done nothing to try and modify the runes placed on the Gem. However, given his newfound emotional goals, his desire to, as humans had put it, 'experiment' with the runes outweighed the protocol he was supposed to follow.
Examining the rune, Kyubey was able to recognize a clear pattern in how the rune was used. There was no way he could remove the rune entirely, otherwise the Soul would simply leave the gem and dissipate into the void. At the same time, it was impossible to add another rune over it; there were no others that his species knew that could contain the soul of a sentient form.
Kyubey's eyes widened slightly. Perhaps he could modify the rune itself...?
Experimenting, Kyubey's eyes glowed slightly as he removed the black cloud from the rune, leaving only the star shape. If the symbols were the locks to the rune, removing only half of it would, with any luck, create a one way door: allowing grief out, but sealing the soul itself within the gem.
The response was immediate. Kyubey ran an artificial sample of hope and grief through the gem. As he thought, the sample of hope was reflected back into the gem, whereas the grief simply passed straight through, vanishing in a whisp of smoke.
"Perfect..." Kyubey muttered to himself. With this, he could stop the witch transformations that took the lives of the girls he contracted. But he knew he couldn't just change the gems magically. Each gem was the soul of an individual; If he tried to modify all of them based on the same template, there was no telling what would happen to the soul inside.
They would all have to be done manually.
"Wonderful."
To Sayaka and Kyouko, Homura seemed to materialize out of thin air as she announced her presence. Needless to say, the shock from seeing her appear from nothingness, along with close to twenty five tons of C4, several miles of detonating cord, and plenty of gasoline, sent them both reeling backwards.
Homura, unfazed, merely tilted her head. "What?"
"N-nothing..." Kyouko muttered, eyes still wide at the amount of explosives Homura brought. "So what do you have in mind for all that?"
"I'll be busy rigging those two buildings..." Homura pointed towards two high-rising communications towers, "with these. Walpurgisnacht is large, and therefore can't move well. When it gets trapped under the buildings, the rest of the explosives come into play." she finished, motioning towards the remainder of the explosives.
"Wow..." Sayaka muttered. "So that's the finishing blow?"
"No. That's just the opening scene."
Sayaka's jaw dropped to the floor.
"We're up against the most powerful witch in existence." Homura muttered. "We have to show it no mercy, and give it no quarter. Otherwise...otherwise this world is doomed."
"Can't let that happen, huh?" Kyouko chimed in. "Well, fine by me. Sayaka, finish up with our little project, then meet us near the towers, mkay?"
"Got it."
Homura paused for a moment. "What 'little project? Is that what you've been working on beneath the river?"
Kyouko merely smirked and eyed the river, watching Sayaka dive in. "Wouldn't be much fun if I spoiled the surprise now, would it? You'll see what we mean soon." Smirking devilishly, she fell into step behind the time traveler, who now had a very confused look on her face.
Homura and Kyouko ran off towards the towers, the massive array of explosives tucked safely away in Homura's shield. Reaching their destination, Kyouko reacted quickly, grabbing the packs of C4 from Homura and tossing them as high as she could, allowing them to stick to the outer surfaces of the tower. Within minutes, the building was covered in thick slabs of plastic explosives.
Homura wired a single detonator to her wrist, setting a manual timer and detonation code. As soon as they were there, they were gone, sprinting off towards the next tower.
The second tower was halfway covered with C4 when Sayaka appeared. Using her own intuition, she summoned several Claymores; large-hilted swords with heavy blades, and jammed them into the ground in between the towers. Squinting her eyes, Sayaka focused her magic into the swords, and soon what looked like several smaller swords, in the shape of thorns, covered each sword. Homura gave her a questioning look.
"When Walpurgisnacht falls...she won't have an easy time getting these out."
Kyouko chuckled at the ingenuity, while Homura simply nodded.
The minutes ticked by as if they were hours, and soon Kyouko, Sayaka, and Homura found themselves overlooking the city of Mitakihara, the wind and rain whipping into their faces as they waited for Armageddon to rear its ugly head. Kyouko had taken to chowing down two Pocky at once, the sticks hanging like the tusks of a walrus out of her mouth. Sayaka had a single stick hanging as well, and even Homura chose to nibble on one during their brief downtime. Together they stood on the edge of the city's bridge, watching the tides of water whip underneath them from the unstable winds. The girls were seemingly unaffected by the pouring rain and torrential winds, as they showed no reaction as they stared into the sky.
"Hey." Sayaka said suddenly, turning towards the group.
"Hm?"
"What if...what if this doesn't work?" Sayaka shifted on her feet uneasily. "I don't like to sound like a pessimist...but what happens if we can't beat Walpurgisnacht?"
"Then Homura goes back in time and tries again." Kyouko stated. "We've pretty much got an unlimited number of chances. So frankly, I'm not too worried about it."
"But..."
"No, Kyouko."
Kyouko turned in surprise towards Homura.
"I can turn back time, sure..." Homura began, shifting uneasily. "But that doesn't change the fact that, every time I do, something happens to screw everything up. If I do go back, you guys won't remember anything...I'd have to meet you all again, gain all of your trust again...and frankly, I'm not sure if I can do something like that again."
"Why?" Sayaka asked, confused.
"This is...this is the first time I've gotten through to see most everyone alive." Homura said, her voice cracking a bit. "This is the first time I haven't been alone in facing Walpurgisnacht. I just...I just don't want to lose anyone again.
"I've found what it means to have friends...I've found what it means to place my trust in someone once more. I once said I wasn't human, but now...I believe I've regained it." Homura shook her head lightly. "And if I went back in time, I'd just lose it, all over again."
"Hey." Kyouko interrupted, slapping Homura on the back. "There's no need to worry about that. None of us are going to die. We made it this far, right?"
"Yeah!" Sayaka added. "If its like what you said, and everyone seems to die before this...well, if we're all here now, then this must be the one that works!"
Homura nodded, her expression stiff. She wanted to believe their words so badly, but...for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to hope for it to be true.
Something would go wrong. She knew it.
But perhaps...things would go right, after all.
A sudden gust of wind whipped at the girls, nearly throwing them off balance despite their inhuman strength. Shielding their eyes, the girls looked past the torrent of rain to see a purplish portal rip its way into the gray sky. All around them, steel clad buildings seemed to forget about the laws of physics as they lifted into the air, suspended by seemingly nothing. Circus-like familiars and tethered, colorful ribbons gave way to the same purplish color, this one more tangible and all the more terrifying.
Walpurgisnacht, the witch with no barriers, the harbinger of the helpless, hovered over Mitakihara, laughing manically, as if it had not a care in the world.
Kyouko snarled, snapping off the last of her Pocky and downing the entire thing in one bite. She materialized her spear, swinging it in a graceful arc. "I guess this is it, huh?"
"Yeah." Sayaka muttered, readying her sword. "All or nothing."
Homura readied her SMG, loading a fresh magazine into it. Turning to the girls, she saw nothing but the fiercest of determination in their eyes.
"Let's do this."
Kyubey paused his experiments when a tremendous roar shook the very earth beneath him. Looking up in shock, he saw the twisting cogs of the most powerful witch in existence, looming over the city like an ominous eclipse.
Kyubey paled instantly.
"Oh no..."
If what Homura said was true, then this was the inevitable Armageddon for the human race. Normally, Kyubey wouldn't be worried about the outcome, since, no matter what happened, he would collect enough energy to reverse Entropy tenfold. However, his newfound emotions sent a surge of panic coursing through his veins, and suddenly his mind was on high gear, trying to find some solution to an inevitable slaughter.
Idly, Kyubey thought back to the times he didn't have emotion. His lack of shock at seeing the newly revived Sayaka chilled him to the very core. He should have felt ecstatic in that one of his warriors came back from the prison of Grief. Reversing the process alone was-
'Reversing the process...'
The small compartment in Kyubey's back glowed, and form it was spat an inert seed, its grief already drained and converted into thermodynamic energy.
"This better work..."
Madoka and Hitomi stared beyond the community center's windows as the storm intensified tenfold. Most of the city was able to evacuate entirely, either reaching the safety of the community center of leaving the city altogether. There was little to do on their part save wait out the storm.
Hitomi was shaking like a leaf. After the sudden revelations made to her just that morning, there was little that the girl could trust. Looking over at Madoka, she noticed her sitting there, quietly thinking with her eyes closed.
Prodding her on the shoulder slightly, Hitomi tried to get the attention of her friend. "Madoka?"
Cracking an eye open, Madoka came face to face with the green-haired girl. "Hey. Whatcha need?"
"How are you so calm during all of this? The end of the world is about to hit us, and-"
Madoka cut her off. "It's okay, Hitomi. Homura, Kyouko, and Sayaka are out there fighting. If anyone can defeat Walpurgisnacht, it's them."
"I guess..." Hitomi muttered, lapsing back into her own thoughts. "How do you deal with all of this?"
"Hm?"
"Was...it easy to accept this at first?" Hitomi asked. "Was it easy to see that girls were out there risking their lives for something like this? It just doesn't seem right at all!"
Madoka smiled slightly. "No, it wasn't easy. It still isn't easy. There's a lot you don't know, Hitomi...about the Magical Girls. About Sayaka."
"Such as?" Hitomi asked, confused.
"You understand the concept of the witches, right?"
"Yeah."
Madoka smiled slightly. "They never told you witches were Magical Girls brought down by despair...did they?"
Hitomi's mouth fell open in shock. "No...way..."
"Way." Madoka countered. "Sayaka fell to that as well. She became a witch for a time...but we were able to save her."
"How...?"
"It definitely wasn't easy. Homura didn't believe there was a way at first, and Kyubey...Ah. Sorry, you haven't' met him yet...but Kyubey didn't understand or really care either. He probably doesn't, still." Madoka said. "But we were able to bring her back. If we didn't'...Sayaka would surely be dead right now."
Hitomi was in shock at this point. "We should be helping...we should be trying to stop this thing..."
Madoka shook her head. "You're not contracting, Hitomi. I won't allow that. And besides, there's no way for me to help without dying either."
Hitomi was about to ask why, but Madoka cut her off. "Just trust me on that one."
"Madoka..." Hitomi muttered. "Did you contract?"
Madoka remained silent. The two girls continued to watch the pouring rain outside. Faintly, they could feel the reverberating clash of explosions beneath them. Others perhaps mistook it as thunder, or a crashing street pole.
But they knew better.
Walpurgisnacht crashed to the ground in a graceless heap as the twin communication towers were blown off their hinges with a well timed C4 blast. The moment the dust cleared from the resulting explosion, Walpurgisnacht attempted to lift off once more, only to find itself jammed into the ground, several longsword jammed into the cogs on its body, pinning it to the ground.
"Homura, NOW!" Kyouko shouted, driving her spear into the underbelly of the witch. Sayaka followed suit, sending a wave of swords towards the underside of the witch, before leaping away.
The moment the two fighters were within a safe distance, Homura activated the charges on her wrist. Immediately, several red lights began to glow ominously around Walpurgisnacht. Within seconds, the entire city block was alight in a towering explosion.
"Damn..." Sayaka muttered. "That's a helluva lot of damage."
"Don't let your guard down yet! You two, keep it busy! I'll ready the rockets!
Nodding, Kyouko and Sayaka launched themselves forward, cutting their way through waves of familiars. Homura leapt off the bridge and performed a graceful swan-dive into the river below her, activating a small button on her shield. Aligning her feet with the bottom of the river, she rose to the surface with the help of several SAM turrets, all armed to the teeth with armor-piercing rockets.
"Same deal, you two!" Homura shouted through the telepathic channel. "Get away, now!"
Silently praying that her mental command was heard, Homura stopped time, manually firing every turret that rose from the riverbed. All in all, thirty missiles were now frozen in the air, ready to fly.
Resuming time, Homura watched as the missiles impacted dead on into Walpurgisnacht, sending the massive witch crashing to the ground once more.
Kyouko and Sayaka, slightly singed, landed near Homura once again. Kyouko turned to Homura, slightly irked. "Can we do much else other than be bait?"
Homura flushed red slightly. "Sorry, Kyouko."
"Not a bother to me, just-"
Kyouko was cut off as a spinning gear slammed into her stomach, sending the spear wielder flying. The two remaining girls turned in slight shock, but were knocked away by beams of energy fired from the gears on Walpurgisnacht's back.
Quickly regaining their feet, Kyouko and Sayaka drew their weapons once more, going entirely on the defensive as a massive barrage of beams, waves, and familiars charged them from all sides. Homura stood still, her submachine gun aimed outwards, wanting to fire but not wanting to risk hitting Sayaka or Kyouko.
"Hey, Sayaka! You ready for that?" Kyouko shouted over the chaotic battle.
"May as well!" Sayaka shouted back.
'What are they talking about?' Homura wondered to herself. She watched the two girls disengage from the battle with a high leap into the air. Sensing the opening, Homura opened up with a full salvo of ammo, clearing away at least two dozen familiars with one magazine. Pausing a moment, she watched Kyouko and Sayaka land in the river, immersing themselves in the raging waters.
"What the heck are they doing?"
Homura's question was answered several seconds later as a low rumble coursed through her body. Looking down in mild panic, she saw the river itself part from the force of the tremors, and from it rise a massive behemoth of twisted metal.
'What the fuck?'
The monstrosity was easily thirty stories high; nearly as tall as Walpurgisnacht itself. In one robotic 'hand' was a massive Western-style Rapier, as long as at least forty city buses. In the other hand lay a gigantic, two pronged spear, only slightly shorter than the sword.
"Homura? Meet Laus."
Kyouko and Sayaka landed on each shoulder of the gigantic construct, closing their eyes. Simultaneously, blue and red lines of magic flowed from their bodies into the machine; it slowly groaned to life, propelled by magic itself. Stepping out of the river, it raised its sword high into the air, silently demanding a challenge from the maniacal witch.
"Holy shit..." Homura muttered, her jaw wide open. She quickly focused on the telepathic channel. 'How did you make this thing?'
"Pretty easy, once you get it right! All we needed was a shit-ton of scrap metal, and we let magic do the rest!" Kyouko's voice filtered through. "Our weapons won't do much against Walpurgisnacht, so we made a little something to compensate!"
"We'll still need your help, Homura." Sayaka said. "Keep the familiars off of us, and we'll take down the big guy here. Whatever you have to do, do it."
Silently obliging, Homura took off, circling around their newfound ally, firing bursts from her submachine gun. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched in fascination as Walpurgisnacht was blown away by a powerful stab from Kyouko's super-spear.
Walpurgisnacht, still laughing manically, levitated into the air once more. Bringing several large buildings off the ground, it launched them towards Laus at an enormous speed.
Homura blew away another round of familiars when the telepathic channel came to life once more, Kyouko's urgent voice coming through.
'Homura! Break off!'
Wasting no time, Homura dove away from Laus, just in time to avoid the massive skyscraper that flew past her, She turned in shock, expecting the construct to be down for the count by the massive building.
Instead, she saw it standing tall, its massive sword out in front of it. Homura could only assume it chopped the building in half entirely, as two evenly bisected piece of skyscraper lay several dozen feet from Laus.
Wasting no time on speculation, Homura dove back into the action, blowing away several familiars trying to climb onto Laus with a few well placed bursts.
Blown back by a sudden gust of wind, Kyubey regained his footing and resumed his long run towards the last known source of impact.
There was only one way to prevent a tragedy. And he had to do it fast.
A massive rumbling shook the community center, causing both Madoka and Hitomi to bolt upright, panting heavily. Both of their faces were ashen from the sudden tremor.
"Madoka? You okay?" Junko asked her daughter, unsure as to why she was so frightened. A storm like this was unprecedented, sure, but to see Madoka in such a state of turmoil worried Junko to her very soul.
Without warning or explanation, Madoka stood up and began walking, almost zombie like, to the windows of the community center. Ignoring the merciless flashes of lightning coming within feet of the building, Madoka stood there, staring blankly out of the window. Worried sick, Junko caught up to her.
"Hey, whats going on?"
Madoka remained still.
Junko sighed. "Madoka, I can't help you unless-"
She was cut off, however, by Madoka, who, instead of reply, began going down the stairs, towards the exit of the building. Slightly shocked, Junko grasped her daughter's shoulder, spinning her around.
This time, Madoka noticed.
"Mama."
"Yes?"
"Watch over Hitomi. And Tatsuya. Please."
Junko could only stare at her daughter in confusion. "What...?"
"My friends are out there. They need my help." She paused, considering her next words carefully. "I...don't know why they do. I just know they do."
Lowering her eyes, she added a soft "Please."
Junko remained silent, fighting an inner turmoil within her head. How could she know her daughter was telling the truth? How could she trust her only daughter outside, alone, in the worst storm in the city's history?
The answer, strangely enough, came from Madoka herself.
"Mama. You said I was a good girl. You said I never make mistakes, and I know what to do to help people fix theirs. You can trust me. I'm not going to do anything dangerous or stupid. Please, let me go out there."
Junko raised her hand, wanting desperately to place it on Madoka's shoulder and drag her back to their family. But for some reason, she couldn't. Madoka's logic was sound, and to deny her this was to deny everything Junko had taught her over the past fourteen years.
Lowering her hand, she nodded once. When Madoka didn't move, she gave her a gentle slap on the shoulder, spinning the girl around and knocking her down a few steps.
Recovering quickly, Madoka turned around and offered her mother a warm, genuine smile.
"Thank you...Mama."
Without another word, she was out the door.
"Junko? Where did Madoka go?"
"To help her friends, Hitomi...to help her friends."
"I see..." Hitomi sighed. Pulling her knees up to her chest once more, she continued to wait.
Hoping that everything would be okay.
Dodging yet another beam of energy from Walpurgisnacht, Laus continued its assault, sending its sword crashing into the gears on top of the massive witch. At the same time, it drove its massive spear forward, skewering Walpurgisnacht all the way through.
The witch did not stop laughing though; with a simple teleportation spell, it reappeared several feet away from Laus, looking slightly worse for wear, but still ready and able to fight.
The battle raged in an agonizing stalemate, neither side able to overcome the other. Homura continued to dance around Laus, keeping the incoming waves of familiars away from the massive construct. However, Homura was quickly reaching her limits; her weapons were quickly running out of ammo, and she herself was running out of stamina.
Walpurgisnacht was once again slammed into the ground by a well placed sword strike, causing a nearby fuel line to detonate along with it. A torrent of fire launched the witch into the air, but once again did nothing only to increase the magnitude of the witch's laughing.
For a moment, it hung in the air, as if deciding what to do next. Laus, along with Kyouko and Sayaka, remained still as well, trying to sniff out any traps that the witch had planned.
Without warning, several beams once again launched from Walpurgisnacht, along with a fresh wave of familiars. Laus braced itself, ready to dodge the incoming attacks and counter effectively.
It paused, though, when Kyouko and Sayaka noticed the trajectory of the beams. They weren't aimed at Laus itself, but more towards its lower body. Maybe it was trying to hamper its movement?
Kyouko realized, a moment too late, that the beams were weaving back and forth, as if they were homing in on something...
"HOMURA!"
Homura turned towards the noise, then to the beams tracking her. Eyes wide with panic, she desperately tried to activate her shield's time stopping abilities. If she could avoid the attack...
Nothing happened.
The sand was dry.
She was out of options.
The beam collided with Homura dead-center of mass, sending her sprawling to the city block below her, The impact kicked up a fair amount of dust and ash, obscuring the injured girl from her friends eyes.
"HOMURA!" Sayaka shouted, trying to turn around and see whether she was alive or not. Before she could, however, she felt Laus twist around, something slamming into it as well.
"Shit!" Kyouko screamed, turning towards Sayaka. "Bail, now!"
Simultaneously, Kyouko and Sayaka dove away, the magic fueling Laus now returning to the girls' bodies as the skyscraper connected with the doomed construct. Though the two girls managed to avoid the impact of the building, the resulting collateral, as well as the flying debris, did a number on them. Sayaka felt a piece of jagged steel cut into her legs, stomach, and arms, wheras Kyouko felt her arm bend and scream in pain under the weight of a massive stone slab.
The dust finally settled. Kyouko and Sayaka blearily regained their senses. Sayaka was definitely down for the count, and Kyouko was in no shape to move either. Looking around, they found Homura not too far away, her leg trapped underneath a steel support beam.
"Homura...Kyouko..." Sayaka whimpered faintly, crawling towards the two girls. Kyouko reached out her hand, grasping Sayaka's in one and Homura's in the other. The gentle contact stirred Homura out of her unconsciousness. When she came to, noticing that both Kyouko and Sayaka were down for the count, she could feel nothing but the tears of dread in her eyes.
"Heh..." Kyouko chuckled briefly, before coughing in pain. "It was a damn good try, at least."
"Yeah..." Sayaka agreed, blood running freely down her face. "At least we gave it our best."
"But we still couldn't beat it..." Homura muttered weakly, tears flowing down her face. "In the end...it was all worthless..."
"Can it, Homura." Kyouko countered weakly. "At least...at least we made it this far. At least...we can end it together. One way or another."
Sayaka nodded as well, grasping both of Homura's hands along with Kyouko.
"Do it, Homura. It's okay."
Tears were pouring down Homura's face, but she reluctantly twisted her shield, ready to start the time reversal...
"I...I can't."
Homura dropped her shield to the ground. "I'm...tired. I don't' want to do this anymore. I don't want to see anyone die anymore..."
Squeezing both Kyouko's and Sayaka's hands, she smiled weakly. "I just want it to end."
"Can't say as I blame ya there..." Kyouko muttered. Glancing up at Walpurgisnacht, she smiled. "Well...see you guys on the other side, then."
"Yeah..." Sayaka smiled sadly, imagining Madoka's sadness at her second 'death'. "See you there..."
The three girls lay there silently, gentle smiles on their faces.
Waiting for the end.
Several minutes passed. The wind was still churning violently. Walpurgisnacht's evil laughter was still hanging in the air.
But they were not dead yet.
Opening her eyes weakly, Homura looked up into the face of a girl she thought she recognized. Pink hair, hung in place by two ponytails.
But that couldn't be who she thought it was. After all, Madoka Kaname never used a rose-tipped recurve bow. Nor did she wear a large pink dress that extended down to her knees.
This couldn't be Madoka Kaname. And yet...it was.
"Ma...doka?"
The girl turned to Homura, a sad smile on her face. Sayaka and Kyouko had opened their eyes too, to witness the spectacle. Madoka turned around to face the towering witch in front of her.
"Homura...Sayaka...I'm sorry."
Homura stared on in shock. Sayaka bit back a scream, knowing what was about to come next. Kyouko had a sad look in her eyes.
Turning around, Madoka readied a magically charged arrow, aiming in the sky towards Walpurgisnacht. Her final whisper seemed to echo across the barren city, ignoring the screaming wind and pouring rain.
"Take care of yourselves."
The reverberating twang of the arrow was drowned out by their screams.
"There they are!"
Kyubey suppressed his elation. He finally found them! They were nearly dead, but that meant they were still alive! He could still help them!
Darting forward, he noticed them trapped underneath a small section of rock. If he could move the thing, then he could take care of...
Kyubey stopped. He didn't recognize the fourth girl at first. Nor did he recognize the arrow that suddenly arced into the air, straight towards Walpurgisnacht.
'Shit!'
Kyubey charged forward with all the speed he could muster.
The arrow connected with Walpurgisnacht with perfect accuracy, driving itself straight into the heart of the witch. When the arrow finally came to a stop, it split off into several other arrows, a splinter shot that tore into the body at every angle. And when those arrows stopped, more came forth. It was a neverending assault in the body of Walpurgisnacht
The massive witch crashed to the ground, writhing about in agony as the magical projectile did its job. Several agonizing minutes of pain-induced wailing came forth until every last particle of the witch was atomized.
Walpurgisnacht was no more.
Madoka, breathing heavily, collapsed to the ground. Glancing down at her Soul Gem, she watched in shock and awe as the amount of grief within it began to reach an overload.
"So fast..." she muttered. "Why...?"
Sayaka, using the last of her strength, crawled over to Madoka and tried to hold her, but wound up near collapsing on top of her in the process. Madoka didn't seem to mind, as the moment Sayaka came into range a soft smile split Madoka's lips.
"MADOKA!" Homura screamed as loud as she could. When did she contract? Why did she do it? She was going to die if she couldn't do something about-"
"Coming through!"
Without warning, a small, furry ball came charging through, straight towards Madoka. Without pausing for a moment of explanation, it hit Madoka's Soul Gem dead on.
Kyubey knew he had little time. Quickly finding the corresponding runes within Madoka's Soul Gem, he released the shadow rune engraved upon it. Instantly, Grief began pouring out of the Soul Gem, swirling around in the air in a chaotic storm of black.
Instead of dissapating into the winds, like Kyubey's sample grief, the black swirl seemed to concentrate together, before finally exploding, taking the form of a single, humanoid figure, distorted eyes and a flowing white robe covering its body.
"What...is this monstrosity?" Kyubey muttered, turning around towards the girls. None of them were in any shape to fight at the moment, either from massive injury or exhaustion.
He would have to do this one his own.
The demonic being raised his head, screaming in an unearthly voice as a lance of rainbow-energy arced its way towards the Incubator. Deftly leaping to the side, Kyubey rolled once more, avoiding a robed claw that crashed down on the position he was in moments before.
Kyubey shot to his feet, glancing back at Madoka. Her Soul Gem was now a bright pink, shining brightly as the grief from it was freed.
'Wait a minute...'
The grief from Madoka's seed was filtering out and being absorbed into the form of the demon. If that were the case, then...!
The latch on Kyubey's back, the energy-conversion chamber that took the lives of so many Magical Girls, opened, glowing brightly. From it, a small, white seed was spat out, spinning in the air before landing on the ground in front of Kyubey. Turning towards the newly formed demon, his green eyes burning fiercely.
"You will not harm them any more!"
With a cry of triumph, Kyubey punted the seed at the demon. Immediately, the physical manifestation of grief was sucked into the Seed of Purity, unleashing screams of fury and anger as its very body dissolved into nothingness. When all was said and done, nothing was left but a cloud of dust and the echoes of the demon's final scream.
Unlatching his back once more, Kyubey caught the seed and converted it into energy before turning towards the now-slowly awakening girls. Madoka had regained consciousness fully, the grief-filtering process in her gem completed. Sayaka, Kyouko, and Homura were all still groggy and dazed from their injuries, but were awake and somewhat alert nonetheless.
All of them stared in shock at Kyubey. The construct that just saved them from an eternal hell.
"Did...that just happen?" Madoka asked weakly.
"Yup." Kyubey affirmed, turning towards Madoka.
"But..." Homura spoke up weakly. "Green...eyes..."
"Ah, yes...I'll get to that shortly." Kyubey interrupted. "But first...Madoka. You're the only Magical Girl with enough energy at the moment. You need to heal the others, quickly."
"Okay." Madoka said, determination filling her eyes once more. Moving to each girl, she spread her hands over their bodies, pink light filling the air as their wounds closed into nothingness.
Homura sat up blearily, focusing her attention on the green-eyed construct sitting right in front of her. She immediately shook her head, trying to focus, before looking back at Kyubey once more.
"Kyubey...what the hell happened to you?"
"A lot, to be honest." Kyubey replied. "I'll explain all the fine details later, but for now, all you need to know is that it's over."
"It?" Kyouko piped up, still shaking slightly. "What do you mean, 'it'?"
"Witches. Grief. Sacrifice." Kyubey replied, pacing. "Some of it may remain, but for the most part...it will be gone. All of it."
Homura was about to retort, but noticed the look in Kyubey's green eyes. For some reason, there was something different, aside from that color, to Homura. His smile was far too gently, his eyes were far too radiant...almost compassionate.
Wait, that couldn't be right. Kyubey was an emotionless incubator! How could his eyes show compassion when he had no understanding of the subject?
"Rest assured, Homura, I haven't gone insane." Kyubey piped up, breaking Homura's train of thought. "I'll explain the details later, but for now we need to focus on the cleanup. Be a bit hard to explain to humanity why buildings are floating everywhere, huh?"
Kyouko chuckled without thinking at Kyubey's light statement, whereas Sayaka and Homura stared on in shock. Madoka merely smiled.
"So...is it over?" Sayaka asked, getting to her feet.
"Yeah..." Homura replied, smiling slightly. "Yeah. I think it is."
Despite her confusion, the newfound personality of Kyubey, and the cleanup that had to be done...one thing was certain.
She had found her exit.
Chapter End.
