I'm back with another chapter to this story. In this chapter, Homura goes to her part-time job, Sayaka returns from her trip with Winter, and Kyouko watches Mami teach her students. Enjoy if you can!

Afternoon, Atlas Central Command, 20th Basement Floor

Harsh white light streamed into the elevator upon the doors opening. Homura raised a hand to cover her eyes while they adjusted to the brightness. Once they did, she took a moment to breathe in the cold sterile air before stepping forward.

As she was ordered, she had arrived at the specified meeting place - the reception area of Atlas Research and Development Laboratories.

To Homura's immediate left was a small reception desk. It was empty as a matter of course but it did have a rather conspicuous person-sized camera pointing directly at her. Homura turned to stare coldly at it. For a moment, there was only silence as Homura and the camera exchanged emotionless looks. Then, a cheery voice of Kyubey greeted her from all directions.

"Good afternoon, Homura Akemi. We are pleased to see that you are right on time. We trust that you are well rested?"

Homura sighed, her breath condensing into a small puff of vapor in front of her. It was the standard greeting for whenever she was called in to do work. She was sick of it. "Spare me the pleasantries, Incubator. Where will the test be conducted?"

Kyubey seemed unfazed by Homura's icy reply. "We shall assume you are well rested," he said with not even a hint of sarcasm. "The details have been uploaded to your scroll. Please proceed to Chamber D-021."

Homura waited in silence for a moment. When she was sure that no further orders were coming, she pulled her gaze away from the camera and began her long walk to her designated chamber.

The general layout of the laboratory was a simple but vast grid of hallways reminiscent to the symetric road layout of the city up above - Homura assumed it was a deliberate design decision. The hallways themselves were fairly wide, with a black tiled floor, muted grey walls, and a ceiling with intensely bright light panels embedded into it at regular intervals. The paint coating the surfaces was made of the same light-absorbing and soundproofing material as in the interrogation rooms. It was done to prevent outside interference during any testing but it inadvertently gave the hallways an oppressive atmosphere about them.

The specific chamber she was headed to was within an L-shaped collection of adjacent chambers and hallways called the Aura Modification Division. It was located in the southwestern quadrant of the floor and was roughly a five minute walk from the elevator at the pace Homura was moving.

As she pressed on, Homura passed by several reinforced steel doors. She knew they all lead to chambers owned by different divisions of Atlas R&D so she didn't have access to them. Still, she was always curious what went on inside them. It was probably not pleasant but she was curious all the same.

Five minutes passed by quickly and Homura arrived at her destination. The door to slid open with a pronounced hiss just as she reached it. As usual, Kyubey had made sure to greet Homura at the door as he let her in.

"Let us not waste time, Homura Akemi. Please enter."

Homura raised an eyebrow as she stopped at the door. "You're using that body," she commented, noting how Kyubey was in his child-disguise. The boy stared at her for a moment in response.

"I have grown rather fond of this body, actually," Kyubey said, smiling eerily at his hands. "I'm sure you're aware of how unusual this acquisition of a 'preference' is. Such a change in my personality was deemed so highly improbable that this is rather big news. The scientists believe that my brief interactions with you over the course of the past two weeks are the primary cause of it. We are running prediction models now on how we shall deal with it moving forward."

He waved his hand dismissively. "This is not relevant to your purpose here. You shall be updated on any developments should it be necessary. Now, please follow me."

Homura did as ordered and stepped into the room.

Meanwhile, Atlas Hangar Bay...

Sayaka felt her knees tremble as she stepped out of the dropship. After an eight hour flight, she could barely feel her legs. She had to repeatedly stomp her foot on the hangar bay floor to get any sensation out of them.

As Sayaka stifled a yawn, she heard the prominent click of Winter Schnee's heeled boots approach. She immediately stopped her foot stomping and stood straight. She faced Winter and moved to give a salute.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Winter said before Sayaka could even raise her hand. "You do realize that you're on-leave now, right? There's no need to be so formal."

"M-my mistake, Ma'am." Sayaka found herself stuttering.

"Relax, Sayaka Miki," Winter said with thinly veiled amusement. "We are both effectively civilians for the next forty eight hours. Now take a deep breath and exhale slowly."

Sayaka did as she was told and breathed deeply. As the air exited her lungs, the tension in her shoulders loosened. She found that she felt a little bit calmer now.

"Good," Winter said, seeming to notice Sayaka's change in demeanor. "Now, I noticed you were stomping around. I take it your legs have gone numb?" Sayaka nodded. "Attempt to heal them with your aura."

Sayaka looked down and focused on her legs. Unexpectedly, a circle of music notes flashed under her feet. It lasted for less than a second before disappearing but immediately the numbness of her lower half disappeared. "Whoa..."

Winter smiled proudly. "You're improving. I doubt you even thought about summoning that glyph just now. There will be much to assess in our next training session." With that last comment, Winter bid Sayaka farewell and walked away. Within seconds, she was out of sight, disappearing into the crowd.

Sayaka stood and stared for a moment before walking away as well, quietly wondering what Winter had in store for her when she reported back on the Tuesday of the following week.

For exactly twelve days, Winter had taken Sayaka to a private Schnee-owned fortress deep in the mountains. She had spent her entire stay there under a brutal and strict training regimen that involved things like meditating under the freezing cold torrent of a waterfall or dodging people armed with wooden swords while blindfolded. All of it aimed to increase Sayaka's awareness of her own flow of power - the way her aura interacted with her body and the world around her. If she was aware of the flow of power, the use of her glyphs - or even her healing semblance, really - would become much easier.

Eventually, Sayaka arrived at the hangar bay exit, suddenly realizing that she had forgotten to do something very important. Dammit, I told Hitomi I'd call her as soon as I landed! She slapped her palm to her forehead, swearing internally.

Quickly, she found a private-enough corner by the window, set her bag down on a chair, and fished her scroll from out of her pockets. She then speed-dialed Hitomi and waited for her teammate to pick up.

"This is Hitomi. I'm currently out on a mission so please just leave a message and I'll get to it later. If it's an emergency, call Central Command and ask them to patch you through to me. If it's important enough, they'll connect you. Anyway, leave a message after the beep."

Sayaka bit her lip as she heard the aforementioned 'beep' in her ears. Military personnel who were currently on-duty could not be contacted through civilian channels. Of course, as a licenced huntress, Sayaka could always use a military channel to call Hitomi. However, those were strictly monitored she did not want to face disciplinary action for wasting military bandwidth just to say 'hi'.

I guess I'll leave a message, she thought wryly.

"H-hey, uh... Hitomi...? It's... it's Sayaka..."

She scratched her cheeks. Why did she feel so awkward trying to talk to her over the phone?

"I said I would call when I got back so... well... Yeah, here's the call... I'm back from... from... well, I don't know what the place is called but... uh... Right..."

Sayaka wanted to scream. What the hell was she even saying?

"It's been a long two weeks hasn't it...? We have a lot to talk about... I think..."

Sayaka shook her head. She had a bad feeling that she'd start rambling if she kept going much longer. She had to finish quickly.

"Just... call me when you're free, okay...? I... I missed you..."

Sayaka let her message continue in static silence for a moment, hesitating on saying goodbye. In the end, she hung up without saying anything.

I miss her, Sayaka thought to herself glumly as she stared that flashing 'call ended' text on her scroll. Her and Kyousuke...

Sayaka stood there in silence, letting her realization sink in. As it did, a wave of emotion passed through her, threatening to break her composure. Not here, Sayaka, she thought to herself, steadying herself against the glass window. She grit her teeth and wiped away the tears forming in her eyes. Not yet... Wait for when you're in your apartment...

She shouldered her bag once more and made her way home as fast as she possibly could.

Meanwhile, Atlas Training Arena A...

Kyouko drummed her fingers on the bench she was sitting on while she watched Mami instruct her students. Weekends were technically days without classes but these students were a special case. Specifically, they were students who were part of a remedial combat class.

Remedial Combat classes. When Kyouko first heard about it, she almost couldn't believe it. She had spent five years in Shade academy and not once had she ever heard those three words said together is such a way. She could understand remedial classes involving math, science, history, and all that other crap. They were complicated. But a combat class? How complicated was swinging a sword or shooting a gun? You could have the sloppiest fighting style in the world and still pass combat classes. Just how bad could these students be that they'd need remedial classes?

But then she actually met the students and finally understood.

The student Mami was currently fighting slammed hard onto the training room floor.

"Please focus, Cadet Evergreen," Mami said evenly, hands behind her back.

The student, Evergreen, shakily picked himself back up, wobbling slightly. "I am focusing. It's hard, okay?"

"Do not talk back to your commanding officer. Can you do it or not, Cadet?"

The boy nodded, finally regaining his balance. "Yes, I can do it."

"I cannot hear you. Can you do it?"

The boy stood straight. "Yes, Ma'am!"

Kyouko watched the exchange with interest.

The cadet Mami was addressing was Lawrence Evergreen, a third year student. He had a semblance that allowed him to control how gravity affected his body and wielded two retractable wrist blades that also functioned as sub-machine guns capable of firing small caliber rounds. He was a full head taller than Mami and looked quite fit. Based on those facts alone, there was no reason that he'd need the remedial classes.

However, there was one particular thing about him that justified it. His left leg was amputated just above the knee and had a been replaced with a prosthetic. The boy had apparently lost the use of said leg during a mission just over a year prior.

It had taken him a while to recover, even with the help of healers. It had taken him even longer to get used to the prosthetic, his body initially rejecting the leg's artificial nervous system. Now, with the leg properly calibrated, he was finally allowed to resume his training.

Mami raised her shotgun baton. "Bear your arms, Cadet. We go another round."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

With the starting ring playing through the speakers, Evergreen rushed forward with a flurry of slashes and stabs, all of which Mami blocked and deflected with her weapon. Even still, Mami was being forced back slowly.

"Left, right, left, left, right. Cadet Evergreen, you're falling into a pattern." As Mami said that, she ducked under a high slash and pushed forward with her free hand. Evergreen stumbled back.

Without giving him time to recover, Mami took a step forward and swung her baton. Evergreen managed to throw up an arm to block the hit but was suddenly put off balance by a kick to the shin. Evergreen started backing up, face strained in concentration as he blocked and dodged Mami's advancing series of swings, punches, and kicks.

"Good footwork, Cadet, but you're losing ground."

With a grunt, Evergreen attempted to knee Mami in the chest. Mami merely stepped back and dodged the move completely. She then began blocking the follow-up slashes.

Kyouko was aware that Mami wasn't fighting seriously but she still winced internally every time Evergreen left an obvious opening that Mami didn't capitalize on. The attempt to knee Mami was a perfect example. She could have easily performed a low sweeping kick and knock the boy down if she attacked right as he landed.

Still, Kyouko was impressed. Mami was holding back just the right amount without seeming like she was going easy on him - just enough to pose a challenge. She seemed to have a perfect grasp on the boy's skill level.

Evergreen, on the other hand was also quite talented. Mami was relentless in her attacks but he still managed to find openings for attacks of his own. Sure, none of them actually landed, but he at least knew how to spot an opening. Similarly, he had a pretty good grasp of his defensive capabilities, knowing when to take a hit and when to take a step back. If he wasn't constantly stumbling over himself from clumsy footwork, he'd be quite the formidable opponent.

The two clashed for a minute more before Mami declared the fight over.

"Congratulations, Cadet. You passed," Mami told Evergreen. "The official make-up exam is on Monday at thirteen-hundred hours. I expect good results from you."

The boy gave a stiff reply though it was clear he was overjoyed. "Thank you, Ma'am. Yes, Ma'am."

"You are dismissed." Mami turned to her other students who were all watching from the benches. "We have time for one more match. Have you decided who will go next?"

A girl with prosthetic arm stood up and dropped into the arena. With a metallic click, her hand pivoted at the the wrist and a small saw blade folded out of her forearm. With her off-hand, she unholstered the magnum pistol on her belt.

"Maria Bloodhunter. You do realize that you're already likely to pass the exams?"

"Ma'am. With all due respect, I just wanna fight you."

Mami smiled wryly at the reply. "Fair enough," she said. "We begin in five seconds."

Kyouko found that she was smirking wide. She liked this Maria Bloodhunter. She had a feeling they'd have a good time if they were ever together. "This chick better have the skills to back up that attitude of hers," Kyouko chuckled to herself.

The training room echoed with the sound of steel and gunfire for a while longer.

Atlas R&D Laboratories, Chamber D-021...

Homura took a seat next to the vacuum sealed metal coffin that the scientists had set up - stasis pod, they insisted she call it. Within the stasis pod was a woman hooked up to a life support system. She had no hair and had a misshapen face, but was undeniably a woman.

"You know the drill," one of the scientists said through the speakers. "Begin the procedure. Incubator will facilitate the process."

Homura looked up at the glass window and frowned. She said nothing however. Instead, she removed her left glove and produced a small diamond shaped jewel that she had hidden inside it. It glowed a brilliant magenta and radiated a gentle warmth.

As she bathed in the light of the jewel, she began speaking to the person in the coffin.

"Hello there." She said, voice even and steady. "I know you can hear me and I know you can't speak. Even still, I think this is a conversation both of us must have."

There was a moment of silence as Homura awaited a response. Then, in her mind, she heard a voice.

"H-how...?" the voice asked. "How can I hear you? And How can I talk to you? They said I'm supposed to be asleep."

"Magic and miracles exist, in one form or another," Homura replied. "And you are asleep. It's the only reason we are able to speak right now."

"Are you the one they were talking about? The one who will give me a new body?"

Homura pursed her lips. "Something like that."

"I know that I might die from this. But I'm at a point where I'd rather be dead than live on like this. Success or fail, however this goes will be a better outcome for me than just staying as I am. Whatever you're going to do, please do it."

Homura closed her eyes and nodded. "That's all I needed," she whispered softly. She then looked up at the glass window once more. "It's done. Begin the transfer."

The voice of Kyubey blared in the speakers. "Transfer sequence initiated. Please stand by..."

The machines around Homura came alive, the sound of thousands of small whirring fans filling her ears. The transfer boot up would take at least three minutes to complete, allowing Homura more time to examine the test subject in the pod.

Homura had skimmed enough of the file sent to her to know the basics. The test subject was a huntress in her late 30s who was suffering from full body paralysis. She had supposedly died three months ago in a blizzard but was apparently found a week later by a team of huntsmen and huntresses who had wandered off their routine patrol path. It was a miracle she hadn't been eaten by Grimm. The file made particular note that she had no living family members or any possible affiliates.

Atlas technology was advanced, but it could only go so far. While it was perfectly possible to create a full-body cyborg little by little, to do so all at once would put too much strain on whatever remains of the original biological body. They weren't at a point where it was viable yet. However, the Aura Mod division had proposed the alternate solution of simply transferring the soul of a person into a robotic body. They already had something of a success in creating an artificial soul that could control complex machinery. The team originally working on it had been transferred to a different department as ordered by the higher ups but their research notes were still readily available to the scientists of the Aura Mod division.

But the creation of a soul specifically to inhabit a vessel and the transference of an already existing soul into a vessel were two different things. There were borders they could not cross, and one of them was the fact that souls were tied to the body they inhabited. They had to bend physical laws to be able to do what they aimed to do.

That's where Homura came in.

"Boot up complete. Thank you for standing by. Awaiting operator's input..."

Thanks to Homura's semblance, she had powers over space and time. She was usually limited to her available pool of aura so her powers had limits. However, she was very much in a position to do things that were far about her normal limits - especially for something like this.

She stood and raised her hands over the stasis pod. With a deep breath, she channelled aura into her semblance and ripped a hole in the fabric of time and space.

Many years ago, Beacon Academy Dormitories...

Homura fidgeted as she sat across the bed from Madoka, hands clenched on her lap. Madoka was similarly shifting nervously in front of her.

"So... um," Madoka mumbled. "I haven't been completely honest with you, Homura."

Homura swallowed down a bout of nervousness that welled up inside her. "I... uh... what is this about, Madoka...?" she asked shakily.

Madoka wouldn't meet her eyes. "It's about my semblance. You already know that I can project wings onto my back and fly." Homura nodded, internally bracing herself for the 'but' that was sure to follow. "It's hereditary. My grandmother had it, and my parents say some of my aunts and uncles have it. They say it's uncommon but it happens. My manifestation of the semblance is apparently the most powerful it's been in five generations."

Homura kept nodding. All of this were things she already knew.

"But it's not actually my only semblance."

Madoka let her words hang in the air for a moment before gesturing for Homura to hold out her hands. After Homura complied, Madoka took hold of them. Immediately Homura felt energy flow into her, a certain warmth radiating from where she and Madoka maintained physical contact.

"Aura manipulation," Homura breathed.

Madoka gave her a small smile. "I can transfer aura from one person to another, increase the rate someone regenerates aura, make it so the use of your semblance consumes less aura - I can do lots of things." She shook her head. "I don't actually know the mechanics of my semblance, though. I know what it does and how to use it, but I can't grasp why..."

Homura nodded once more, unsure how to respond.

"Why'd you keep this a secret?" she found herself asking. "And why tell me now?"

Madoka gave Homura's hands a soft squeeze. "Around the time I started here at beacon I... I kind of had a sort of epiphany about my semblance - like some sort of vision. I saw a new way to use my power... but I can only do it if someone is there to help me."

Homura found herself staring thoughtfully into Madoka's eyes. Semblances usually stopped developing at some point during puberty so to discover a new use of her power at such an age would mean she either always had this power or was just a late bloomer. Homura was doubtful it was the latter option for a lot of reasons.

"I am... intrigued... How can I help...?"

The relief in Madoka's face when Homura said that was enough to melt Homura's heart. She must have been quite worried.

"I'm sure know that sharing your aura pool with someone will usually increase your available power by almost double, right?" Madoka beamed. "In my vision, I learned that I can make that increase so much larger."

Homura blinked. "How...?"

"Well I..." Madoka once again averted her eyes, her smile turning into an embarrassed one. "Like I said, I don't really understand the mechanics of it. As far as I can tell, it has something to do with person's soul and how it is projected into this world as aura."

Homura found herself rolling her eyes. "Obviously."

Madoka pouted. "Really, Homura? Sarcasm? Do you want to help or not?"

It was Homura's turn to avert her eyes. "Y-yes..."

"Well, what it will do is somehow establish a direct connection between our two souls, allowing them to work together in producing aura. It'll make us a lot stronger. The only downside is..." Madoka's cheeks lit up. "Well... It will be very intimate... We'll be so connected that we won't have any privacy anymore... not even in our thoughts... It's one of the reasons why I was really nervous bringing this up to you..."

Homura didn't quite understand but had a feeling that the implications were drastic. "Madoka, are you sure this is what you want? Being connected to me like that?"

Madoka put a hand on Homura's cheek, smiling slightly. "You're my partner, Homura. I'd trust you with my life. Who else would I want to do this with than you?"

Homura touched Madoka's hand on her face, nodding thoughtfully. She let out a deep sigh. "For the record, I feel the same way. If there was anyone I'd do this with, it'd be you. How does this go?"

"The first step is actually to gain consent of the other party," Madoka said. "Since that's over and done with... Okay, same pose as before. Hold hands, maintain eye contact."

They did so.

"Brace yourself, Homura," Madoka warned. "This might get a bit... um..."

"Intense?" Homura suggested.

"Yeah, intense could work... Count down from three, okay?"

Homura pursed her lips. "Three..."

Madoka gave Homura's hands another squeeze. "Two..."

"One-"

Homura was barely able to get the word out when she suddenly started seeing flashes of Madoka's life. Sights, smells, sensations, emotions, thoughts - they all flowed her Homura in an eternal overwhelming torrent. Then she blinked, and gasped. She was suddenly back in their dorm room, as if not even a second had passed.

"Wow," Homura breathed, unsure how to react to what she just experienced.

"Can you feel it, Homura?" Madoka asked?

Homura put a hand on her head, a vague sense of sheer joy bleeding into her from the outside. She looked up at Madoka who was beaming at her with a thousand-watt smile. Was that vague feeling what she thought it was...?

"You do feel it!" Madoka cheered, rushing forward and pulling Homura into a tight hug. "Thank you, Homura!"

"I still don't understand what's happened," Homura said with a confused smile.

"We're connected. We can sense everything about each other - every thought and emotion."

"That's... well I guess that's good. I don't really feel a dif-"

Homura blinked as a stray thought somehow entered her mind. She looked down at Madoka who hugged her even tighter. "Madoka... Did you just..."

"Don't say it aloud, please!" Madoka begged. "Just... no words... just let your feelings speak for themselves."

Homura stared for a moment before giggling. She could literally feel Madoka's embarrassment through their connection. What an absurd turn of events. Even still, Homura returned the embrace, doing as Madoka asked and transmitting her response without speaking.

Present day, Atlas R&D Laboratories, Chamber D-021...

"Congratulations. You now have a new body."

If the matter-of-fact way Homura had said those words bothered the huntress in any way, she did not show it. Granted, it would be difficult to show such emotion when her body's equivalent of a face was incapable of movement.

The huntress sat up, examining her new body - a sleek skeletal humanoid of carbon fiber and steel. She was shaped like a person and moved like a person but anyone who looked at her would have assumed otherwise.

"I can move," the huntress said. "I almost can't believe it..."

"I am required by protocol to tell you that your current container for your soul is not the robotic skeleton but rather spherical device called a 'core' embedded into your chest. In due time, the core shall be removed from the robotic skeleton and transferred to a body that is properly calibrated."

The huntress raised her hands. "Hey, I'm not gonna complain. This is at least better than being a vegetable." She then crossed her arms. "Although, getting my soul shoved into a metal egg isn't exactly how I saw this procedure going."

Homura touched her left hand, gloved once more. "There are worse ways to go."

The huntress noticed the gesture and seemed sobered by it. "You know... I saw a lot of things when you pulled me out of my old body... are you really okay with this? Doing this procedure for these scientists?"

Homura closed her eyes. "You know what you've seen. What else do I have left...?" She turned away. "The scientists will conduct some tests now. Please cooperate with them." With that, she started walking for the door.

"Hey," the huntress called right before Homura exited the room. She stopped in her tracks but did not turn back. "I just wanted to say thank you... to both of you..."

A moment of silence passed. Homura exited the room with no reply.

End of chapter...

The concept of prosthetic limb technology in Remnant really intrigues me. I'm not entirely sure if Rooster Teeth elaborated on the mechanics of the technology in RWBY Volume 4 but I get the feeling that I wouldn't like their implementation of it even if they did. Regardless of that, I took it upon myself to adapt certain elements of various sci-fi and future-fantasy prosthetics and incorporated them into this story. I touched on some of the little details about the topic in Kyouko and Mami's scene but I probably won't delve too deep into it until I start writing about Kyousuke and his messed up right arm.

In RWBY Vol. 3, they introduced the concept of transferring aura - the manifestation of someone's soul - from one person to another. It got me wondering how that technology was made and what the other possible applications for it were. Eventually, the idea of "shoving of someone's soul into a metal egg" came into my head and I rolled with that. And as it happened, it fit quite well with the fact that this is also a Madoka Magica fanfic.

Between the prosthetics and the whole soul transfer business, I'd say this story is starting to pick up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you all in the next one.