/post/90004785446/ : prompt, "Victory!"

Homura had become too familiar with a certain mocking laugh. That lady-like howling that never stopped, no matter what manner of weapons brought against it. Even worse than Walpurgisnacht's laughter was the silence that followed her departure. Not once had defeating her led to anything other than watching Madoka die again and again.

It was still drizzling, each droplet hitting the flooded ground with a chorus of quiet splashes. The screeching defeated laughter faded out, and Homura gripped the edge of her shield instinctively. Still a few more minutes before she could reset and try again.

"Is it over?" The sound of Sayaka's voice brought her out of it. She stood not far behind her, clutching her blood-slicked shoulder. There was no open wound, but Homura suspected she only healed the surface to conserve magic, which did little to stop the pain, in her experience. Over….

"We did it, it's over." Mami was standing mostly upright, discarded guns scattered around her feet disappearing one by one. She was cleaner than Sayaka, if only because she could stand further back while fighting. Normally at the end of a fight, and even during, Homura suspected, Mami wasted a burst of magic to clear herself and her clothes of all blood, making it all the more striking to see her like that. Over.

"Hell yeah." Kyoko's voice lacked the excited edge it had before the fight. She was bent over, spear buried in the ground and using it as a support. Out of all four of them, Kyoko was in the worst shape. She was fast enough to avoid almost every hit, but she was both on the front lines and lacked Sayaka's enhanced healing magic.

"It's over…." Homura couldn't believe it even after saying it. Her hand dropped to her side when she let go of the shield.

"What a damn wreck." Kyoko kicked a piece of rubble and watched it splash into the water several feet away. She was the only one to break the silence; nobody else spoke up, presumably in absolute disbelief. They beat the ultimate witch, there was nothing that could be said.

"It's over." The phrase repeated in Homura's head. She knew she would do it eventually, but now knowing it was reality…. Was it even reality? She hurt too much for it to be a fantasy.

"Oi, you okay?" Kyoko glanced in her direction, spitting a mouthful of blood out.

"I think we're all in shock right now, Sakura-san." Mami inspected herself for damage as Sayaka used her own magic to keep Kyoko from bleeding out.

"You need anything?" Sayaka turned to Homura, soul gem held out.

Homura didn't answer her, she only took one last look at her shield. There was still a little while left; soon the sand timer mechanism was about to be completely useless. If this was real, she wouldn't need to reset time anymore.

For what was probably going to be the last time, she turned it and froze her surroundings. Just one more time, she didn't need to feel guilty about wasting magic if this wasn't going to happen anymore. It might have taken her just as long to run through the city and back to the bomb shelter without it, but it was going to be less time actually wasted. This was an emergency, she told herself. Using magic was completely reasonable.

It took the last of her only remaining grief seed to give herself enough magic to clear herself of the blood and dirt caked on in places like an extra later of skin. She broke into the bomb shelter, transforming back as she allowed time to resume.

Her senses were all on high alert, but it didn't take her long to find Madoka. She was in the hall by the entrance, leaned against a wall hugging her arms around herself and staring at her feet.

Homura didn't waste time calling out to her, she only ran. Madoka must have heard her pounding footsteps, and she pushed herself off the wall just enough that by the time Homura reached her, she could get both arms around her.

"Homura-chan, I can't- nh." She was only vaguely aware of Madoka wriggling around to free her arms and return the hug. Her breathing was labored but every time Homura tried to let go, she only held her tighter. It wasn't until Madoka started gasping weakly that she was able to force herself to loosen her grip.

"You're alive." It didn't feel real until she could say it, hold Madoka like she was going to disappear like she always did. She shook, too afraid to hurt her to hug any tighter but desperately needing to wrap around her and never let go.

"I'm right here." Homura's legs shook and her knees threatened to buckle. Madoka guided her safely to the floor where Homura collapsed into her immediately.

"You're alive. You're alive." All she could do was repeat it, hammering it in that it was real. They all survived. "You're alive." It felt so good to be held like this, after wearing herself down fighting Walpurgisnacht. "You're alive." Her chest tightened and her eyes stung, giving her only a few seconds warning before tears started flowing freely.

"Yes, I'm safe. You did it." Madoka spoke in a quiet voice, gently stroking Homura's hair. It was nice, she'd gotten so lost she almost forgot what it felt like, but she only cried harder. "Are the others okay too?"

Homura nodded. Speaking was impossible, her voice caught on every breath and she was feeling guilty over how quickly Madoka's shirt sleeve was becoming soaked.

"I'm glad." She was too embarrassed to lift her head, but Madoka sounded happy. Homura was sure that she was smiling, but even if she looked, her vision was too blurry to see anything.

"Hey, Homura-chan." Madoka kept up the rhythmic stroking, even though her hair was probably getting greasy from sweat. "You did good."

She had finally settled the loud sobbing, but found herself too choked up to speak. Homura squeezed her just a little tighter in acknowledgement.

"I'm proud of you." Her words of encouragement made her feel lighter inside, though it did little to remove the heaviness in the pit of her stomach. Each action was so soothing though, she worried she was going to fall asleep right there, nestled against Madoka's shoulder, curled into herself.

"You told me…you came from the future, right?" Before leaving, she'd briefly explained her situation, just enough to stress how important it was that Madoka stay put in the bomb shelter. "What happens now?"

Homura's jaw quivered but she could force some coherent words out. "I don't know." She didn't have time to waste on thinking about what would happen afterwards. All attention was on surviving, and she succeeded.

"This is where you started?" Homura only nodded this time. "Then…neither of us know what's coming."

She nodded again. That was frightening, but she was still riding on the high of disbelief and couldn't be afraid of anything.

"Everything is like normal, then." Madoka moved her hand to brush the hair out of Homura's face, even when she turned away. "We can live like normal people, you don't have to be afraid of this moment anymore."

It wasn't going to be normal, she was still a magical girl. But this was the closest to normal she'd reached in…too long. Years.

"We'll wait for the others to come back." She pulled Homura's hair back behind her ears to wipe the tears off her cheek, although it was already starting to dry. "And then we'll go out when they release us, and…I don't know. But we'll be able to do it together now."