Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Mirai Nikki or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Chapter 12: Bind

"I'm ready to talk now," Homura said.

Kyoko wearily opened an eye to look at her and yawned. "About time."

They were on a train heading back to the capital. Homura had exhausted herself flying away from the battle, and so they had paid someone to take them to the nearest station. Kyoko had attempted to get more information out of her during the trip, but Homura had remained silent with her eyes closed the whole trip. It had reminded Kyoko of Homura's amazing ability to drive her insane.

Homura opened her mouth to speak, but Kyoko held up a hand to stop her. "Tell me about Madoka first. I vaguely recall you saying that name once before and being confused at the time."

Homura eyed her for a moment. "Very well." She folded her hands and looked down at them before looking back up. "Do you remember Mami talking about the 'Law of Cycles?'"

"Yeah. It's some old story passed down by magical girls. Something about being consumed by negative emotions and overuse and then having our energy returned to...something. I didn't really care for that metaphysical crap."

"Yes, I can imagine. Mami and the other girls are right for the most part, but they don't mention the most..." Homura brought her hand up to her mouth. "Most important part."

She closed her eyes for a moment and looked up. Kyoko raised her eyebrow at this, but she waited. Homura regained her composure and continued.

"Magical girls are in a miserable state. Fighting an omnipresent, never ending enemy that seeks to consume us and everything else. Needing to hunt these wraiths in order to stay alive. Putting our lives on the line each day, grabbing every scrap of dark essence we can to preserve ourselves."

It's not all bad.

"But as bad as all that is, at one time it was much worse. It was only through the selflessness and love of Madoka that we escaped that wretched reality."

"What was so bad about it?"

Homura didn't answer. A minute crawled by. Kyoko began growing impatient before Homura spoke up. "Magical girls wouldn't disappear when their soul gem became too corrupted. They would become monsters. Monsters called...witches."

"So you had to fight wraiths and witches? If I knew that was going to happen to me, I'd make sure to have a huge stock of cubes from wraiths so that I'd never be in trouble."

"That was impossible because wraiths did not exist."

Kyoko stared at her silently for a moment. "So you mean...you only hunted...corrupted magical girls?"

Homura nodded. "Most magical girls didn't know that was their fate. They thought witches were just monsters that spawned from negative emotions. Well, I suppose they were right in a way."

Kyoko tried to wrap her mind around this. It seemed so insane, hunting girls who became witches and then eventually becoming one in turn. What was the point of becoming magical girls then if they were the source of the problem? If Yuno and Kyubei hadn't tried to kill them, she would never have believed Homura. "So when did that all change? I've never heard of witches or anything like that."

"That's because in this world, they never existed. Madoka rewrote the fabric of reality and changed our fate. She is every magical girl's savior and yet only I know her name."

"So...so what's this got to do with the ribbon? And Yuno and Kyubei?

Homura stayed silent for awhile, but this time, Kyoko waited patiently. She could see Homura was trying to organize her thoughts. She may not really know.

"For the past few months," Homura said, "I've been getting premonitions. It's how I knew that girl and Kyubei were looking for me. I don't know what they want to do with the ribbon though. I only know that whatever they're planning, it can't be good for Madoka or any of us."

Kyoko rubbed her chin. "Well, do you have any theories?"

Homura flicked her hair back with her hand. "None that I am inclined to share at the moment."

Kyoko groaned and rubbed her face. "You are so frustrating!"

Homura ignored her and stared straight ahead, looking to all the world like she was indifferent to everything around her.

Kyoko rested her chin on her hand. Okay, think Kyoko. Why would they want that dumb ribbon. She mulled over this, but without more information, she couldn't figure out what they hoped to do. She sighed. "We need more information."

"Yes," Homura said, "if we want to stop them and survive."

/人◕‿‿◕人\

Kyoko tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as she walked through the park. Her legs were still sore from all the traveling, despite having used some magic on them. Even magic wasn't a cure all. She was happy she didn't have any jet lag though.

She had a hoodie on and kept her head down so as to avoid attention but also did her best to look in every direction without getting noticed. Here. It's got to be here. Has to be. She'd been thinking this for hours, but she hoped that the more she did, the faster it would come true.

She kept walking, avoiding eye contact with anyone. This was easier than she thought because everyone seemed to be in a slight daze. She didn't pay it much mind and focused on her task, scanning the area. Wait a minute. She stopped, recognizing her surroundings. I've been here already, and the park's not this big. Excitement trickled into her. It's got to be here!

She cautiously made her way around the park again. She sensed an almost imperceptible twinge of magic and found herself facing the way she had come again. So that's it. A barrier of enchantment magic. If that hadn't been Kyoko's type of magic as well, she doubted she would have noticed it at all. She looked around but there was no one nearby. The enchantment magic probably had a stronger effect on normal people and kept them further away. Kyoko focused and enhanced her vision. She felt the magic resonate slightly and the previously invisible barrier became barely visible. It stretched in a large dome over what must have been a quarter of the park. She was impressed that such a thing could be built.

But who made it? Yuno doesn't have enchantment magic. Actually, Kyoko wasn't sure what kind of magic Yuno had besides being insanely strong and fast and summoning knives. But I'm sure this isn't her magic. Kyoko was sure Yuno was on the other side of this barrier though.

Kyoko took a breath and did her best to clear her mind. She took a step forward into the barrier. The instant she felt the magic acting on her, she sent a small stream of magic back. The opposing magic was redirected around Kyoko, allowing her to penetrate the barrier and glide through. She smiled but then became serious. Yuno was here somewhere. This was where the danger really started.

Kyoko cut off all but the smallest of ties to her magic, making her veritably invisible to magical detection. She then got down on all fours and slowly crawled along the ground, hiding behind shrubbery whenever she could. It was evening now, the sun low in the yellow sky. The long shadows cast by trees and bushes helped conceal her as she crept closer to the center of the dome.

It was slow going, but Kyoko dared not go faster. She remembered her last spying experience. A chill ran down her back, and she could feel the memory of a sword against her neck. She shook the memory away. No, she didn't want to repeat that at all.

The sun was lower in the sky. Kyoko wasn't sure how far she'd gone. Am I even going the right way? She thought so, but maybe she'd got off track. She stopped to get her bearings. A dull buzz, just at the edge of hearing, sounded in her head. She hadn't noticed it until she had stopped moving. What is that? Now that she noticed it, she couldn't get it out of her head. She was amazed she hadn't been aware of it.

It was coming from further up ahead and slightly to the right. Kyoko made her way there. The buzzing grew louder, yet Kyoko knew that the park was silent. The dichotomy was strange. Her ears were telling her there was no noise yet her head was saying there was. It wasn't a buzzing of sound. It's magic, but what kind of magic is this? I've never felt it before. Though louder, it still barely registered in her mind. It was like breathing. It's there, but you block it out unless you focus on it.

Kyoko saw a light up ahead. She carefully made her way towards it, making sure to stick to the shadows.

"...must be a faster way."

Kyoko froze. Yuno. She was just out of sight. Kyoko made to move forward but her limbs refused to move. She glared at her arms. Don't quit on me. Yuno's nothing. I can take her. I'll shove her sword down her throat. She ignored the voice in the back of her head that knew she was lying and slowly sank onto her stomach and army crawled to the closest tree.

"It takes time to open. Have patience Yuno."

Kyubei. She had thought it would be here too. She sidled up next to the tree and carefully peeked around. Yuno was in her magical girl outfit, sword in hand with the point resting on the ground at her side. Kyubei was laying on the ground next to her. What they were looking at was what captured Kyoko's attention. A large circle was hovering in the air. It was about five meters in diameter with edges that seemed to merge with the empty space around it, making it hard to tell where the circle actually ended. It was completely white and yet didn't seem to give off as much light as it should, as if it was simultaneously sucking back in light as well. In fact, Kyoko had a hard time focusing on the center, her eyes constantly being drawn back to the edges. The buzzing was stronger than before and Kyoko knew it was coming from whatever that circle was.

Yuno idly moved her sword around. "How do I speed it up?"

Kyubei's tail flicked. "You cannot. It is a natural process that takes time, like growing a plant. Pulling at them to make them grow just ruins it. It just started so you are going to have to wait."

Yuno carved a swath in the earth. "And what if they find us?"

"They won't. The barrier is sound and will delay them until it is too late."

"And if you're wrong?"

Kyubei turned to look at her. "Are you suggesting they pose a threat to you?"

Yuno brought her sword up to rest on her shoulder and covered part of her face with her hand. "I just...can't have anything get in the way of Yuki and I." An insane grin spread across her face. "If they come, it won't be perfect. It all needs to be perfect for Yuki. It's him and me, forever and ever and ever."

Kyubei turned to look at the circle again. "Then you can wait a bit longer before that forever since you cannot speed this up. Then the portal..."

Kyubei's head snapped around to look behind it. Directly at Kyoko.

A knife appeared directly into her forehead and everything went black.

/人◕‿‿◕人\

"GAAAHHH!"

Homura turned to look at Kyoko as she jumped up screaming.

"Find anything?"

Kyoko took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down as much as she could. "They're at the park. They'd set up some kind of barrier to keep people out, but I got in because it-"

"What are they doing? Did they have the ribbon?"

Kyoko glared at her before continuing. "I'm not sure. I didn't see the ribbon anywhere, but there was some kind of...giant circle drawn into the air. It was radiating powerful magic."

Homura folded her arms as she contemplated this. "Did the area you were in or the circle look peculiar?"

"Whadya mean?"

"Was space distorted? Bright colors and noises everywhere? Lots of creatures or moving objects flying about?"

"No. Why would there be that crap?"

Homura didn't answer and looked in the distance thoughtfully. "Did they say anything about their plans?"

Kyoko tried to parse meaning from the part of the conversation she had heard. "Something about it opening and being together forever. Something about a portal-"

Kyoko saw Homura stiffen and her eyes widen before she grabbed Kyoko by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Portal? Are you sure? What about it? What did they say?"

Kyoko was shocked. Homura's eyes were wide and frantic, her voice quavering with an emotion Kyoko couldn't place. "I-I'm not sure. That's all I heard before they found me."

Homura scanned Kyoko's eyes for a moment before letting her go and turning away. Kyoko had never seen Homura like this. What's gotten into her?

"Homura, what's going on? Do you know anything?"

Homura didn't answer. Kyoko was about to walk over to stand in front of her when Homura swept her hair back and turned to face Kyoko again. Her face was impassive as usual again.

"I believe they mean to let more demons into our world, perhaps in order to destroy it and start anew."

"What? Demons? That's crazy!"

"Surely you didn't think the demons mere happenstance? Kyubei's been behind them since the beginning. It wishes to increase its harvest of negative energy."

"Kyubei? He's the reason for the demons?" Kyoko gritted her teeth. That heartless, manipulative...! She calmed herself down. "What about Yuno?"

"It seems she thinks that making a new world will allow her to be with this Yuki forever."

"She's going to let the whole world get destroyed just to be with that guy? She's crazier than I thought! No, that's not true. She's just as crazy as I thought." Kyoko summoned her spear. "We need to stop it then!"

"The two of us? I fear Yuno is more than a match. How much time do we have?"

Kyoko nodded. "Some, but I don't know how much. Kyubei kept saying it needed time to open."

"Then there is a possibility we can succeed."

"So what's the plan genius?"

"Yuno will be ready for us to attack now. The barrier plus any new defenses she creates will give her an overwhelming advantage should we fight on her terms. We need to get her away from the portal."

An idea flashed into Kyoko's mind. She grinned wickedly. "I know just how to do that."

Homura nodded slightly. "Good, but that won't be enough. We can't do this alone. You draw Yuno away, and I'll take care of the rest."

Kyoko was puzzled. "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to Asunaro."