We're back to where we started. The bus stop. The bench sags under my butt. It creaks every time I shuffle. I stare at the glass in my hands. One red, one purple. The Clara Dolls are hiding in the shadows. I can hear them giggling, see flashes of their eyes, but I don't know where they're at. "Madoka, look," the cat orders, but I don't know where he wants me to look. His tail points to the sky before curling into a question mark. "Up." I tilt my head back, but nothings wrong. Nothings up there.
"It's these streetlights," the cat complains. "They pollute. Here." It swishes its tail and the streetlights collapse, toppling one by one like dominos. The bulbs burst as they smack against the pavement. "There." And now I can see. The sky is translucent. Images flick around on the other side.
"What's going on?" I can only see movement, can't make out any shapes. "What is that?"
"You would've been able to see better outside of the city, but Madoka that's you. That's the real you."
I squint my eyes.
"Madoka, this a dream." I stand up.
"You've repeated this dream thousands of times, thousands of different ways, but each time its the same. One of your friends is in trouble, become magical girl, save them."
I can make out the black shape.
"Only you never do. Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, Homura. Puppets that you loose every time."
And suddenly I remember.
"But you can keep trying."
Everything.
"You get as many redos as you want."
Madoka Kanae was…
"Would you like to try and save someone else this time?"
A magical girl.
"Would you like to save someone you don't even know?"
But now she was…
"Do you want to save them all?"
A witch.