Episode 14 - Keeping Promises

Katherine and I had several journeys under our belt when this story begins. It was almost her 21st birthday at this point and I had taken her on another trip before her birthday gala was to be held.

We stood at the TARDIS looking out into space, this time at a nebula that made me think of the Eagle nebula, but with purple and violet and blue instead. "Gorgeous," Katherine breathed.

"My favorite color, too," I added. "So, birthday girl. You're at that magic number of 21. Have anything you want as a present?"

Katherine smiled softly and looked over at me. "I do have one request, yes."

"Somewhere special, then?", I asked.

"You could say that. But it's not what you're thinking."

"Oh?"

"No." She took my hand. "Much to my mother's dismay, I am still without a consort. I could use a dance partner at my birthday party."

"well, I'm sure we could..." I saw the look on her face. "Me? You want it to be me?"

"Yes."

"I suspect Tharkad high society won't survive the Drunk Giraffe and the Funky Chicken," I pointed out.

That caused her to laugh. "That would be hilarious," Katherine agreed. "But I think a more conventional dance will be in order."

I blanched. "Katherine, you know I'm not much for..."

"You love the thought and you know it," Katherine said, interrupting. "Promise me you'll be there, Doctor."

Seeing the look on her face I knew there was no getting out of it. I let out an exaggerated sigh. "Sure, I'll come. We'll have a dance."

"Good." She went back to the TARDIS controls. "So, where to next?"

"Well, there are plenty of..." I was interrupted by beeping from the lower section of the control room. I took the stairs down and faced the device I'd spent months putting together. It was about my height, a series of systems tied together in a single structure with an emitter hanging over the top. Green lights were flashing on it. "The simulations are done already?", I said in wonder. I went up to it and checked the results. As I did, a smile crossed my face. "Haha! Excellent. It should work! Well, probably..."

"Doctor?" Katherine looked down over the railing. "Is that your secret project you keep going on about?"

"Yes, yes it is," I answered. "It's taken me months of work and study. Better part of a year now, actually. Remind me to return to the Watchtower some time and thank Doctor Palmer, his notes were most useful."

"Weren't you going back to deliver medication to that one young lady from Star City?"

"Already did. Doctor Franklin was kind enough to provide the HIV cure for Mia. Saved me the trouble of putting one together." I clapped my hands. "Okay, looks like everything is in order. Just have to get us to the right cosmos and timeframe." I dashed back to the stairs and up to the controls.

"Doctor, if I may..." Katherine leaned against the rail as I got to the controls. "What is this project about?"

I looked up at her and lowered my eyes. "Keeping a promise," I answered. "A very important promise."

"Oh?"

"I... well, you'll find out soon enough." I winked at her. "You know me, I always love to keep a bit of mystery." I finished switching around knobs and switches to get the coordinates I wanted. "Here we go... tally ho!" I pulled back on the lever.

VWORP VWORP VWORP.

As we shifted I felt the TARDIS rumble a little. "Oh my. Slight disturbance. She'll be fine though." When the engine stopped I raced by Katherine, snatching up my lucky fez along the way.

"Doctor, really?", Katherine asked, stifling a giggle.

"It's my lucky fez," I insisted. "I always wear it for the big things. Fezzes are cool." I winked at Katherine before I turned out threw open the door. "Well, not what I expected."

I had figured I was coming out into a city, but instead it was a structure under an open night sky, unblemished by light pollution. I stepped out onto white flooring of a raised platform, a slab of white in the middle with a golden railing at the head of it. I brought the sonic out as I approached it, Katherine behind me. When we got up beside it, Katherine took my arm as she saw the figure laying on it. "Who is she?", Katherine asked.

I lowered my eyes and brought my sonic up to scan. "Homura," I said lowly. "Her name is Homura Akemi."

Homura was unconscious, or rather comatose, laying like she was prepared for a coffin with a black bow set with a rose laying under her hands. I drew in a sigh of guilt and set my hand on her's. "I'm sorry," I murmured. "But I'm here. I'll make it better."

I noticed her soul gem wasn't on either hand, meaning it was in its normal form, much like a Faberge egg... if Faberge eggs were made to hold souls. I looked up and found it above her, above the golden rail and seahorse shape at the head of her resting place. A rather impressive energy field of lattice energy structures moved about it. Inside it had turned almost completely dark, definitely a bad sign. "Quantum isolation field," I said, holding the sonic up to it. "How quaint. And that narrows down the field of suspects, doesn't it... Incubator?"

Speak the Devil's name and, well, you know how that goes.

"And who are you?", a voice asked. Not just a voice but a chorus of them. Katherine looked around, startled, as golden circles levitated around us, red eyes showing inside. From the darkness of the shadows in this little structure one little form emerged on the far wall and jumped over to join us.

"What is that thing?", Katherine asked.

"An Incubator," I answered. "Well, the Incubator I should say. Hive mind, biodrones. They look like cute cats with bunny ears. It sometimes calls itself Kyubey because it sounds cute. I call it the Bunnycat of Lies."

"Who are you?", I was asked.

"I'm the Doctor," I answered, bemused that for the third time I was introducing myself to the thing. We had a tie so far; our first encounter it had gotten the better of me (I like to think falling off a bloody skyscraper and then a satellite dish contributed, though) and the second time I'd shooed it off. Now... well, best of three, it looked like. "I'm a Time Lord. This is my Companion. No, we're not interested in any deals you have in mind."

"Doctor?", Katherine asked, a little confused.

"Remember how Harry and I warned you about the Sidhe and to never make deals with one?", I reminded her. "Same rule here this."

"I sense great hostility, I am uncertain as to what we have done to offend you," Kyubey protested.

"Oh, of course, you always play that innocence card," I guffawed. "Tell me, actually, don't... I can guess for myself." I gestured to our surroundings. "This is all an experiment of your's. Homura is your guinea pig. You want to test why magical girls fade from existence when their soul gems become irreversibly corrupted. Perhaps she mentioned something to you of a former version of the world where they didn't."

"My, you know quite a lot, Doctor."

"Again, Time Lord." I held up my sonic toward it. "I'll ask kindly once. Lower the quantum field."

"I'm afraid I don't see the benefit to such an action."

"Is this the part where you bring up your obsession with entropy? Because frankly..."

There was a shift in the air around us. Two black-clad figures materialized out of thin air around me and grabbed me by the arms. Looking at them and their otherworldly, hand-drawn appearance, I realized they were familiars.

"It would appear that Homura has sensed you and sent an invitation to enter the field, Doctor." Kyubey looked like he was smiling. Granted, he always looked that way, but it looked rather fiendish. "It will make the experiment more interesting."

Katherine went up and grabbed one of the familiars, trying to make it let me go. It shrugged her off, hitting her with its arm and knocking her to the ground in front of the TARDIS. "Doctor!" She reached out for me.

"Get back in the TARDIS! Be ready when I call you! Be ready, Katherine!" I could already feel time-space warping around me. However this "invitation" worked, I was about to know soon enough.

The world seemed to drop out from under me. I felt the two familiars let me go and hit the ground a moment later. Above me the night sky looked, well, normal. And around me, there was a city... ah yes, Mitakihara. It was lit up brightly as far as the eye could see.

Of course it was Mitakihara. Why wouldn't it be? Hadn't I... I...

My head began to ache. I felt something in it, something clamping down my thoughts, my memories. It was strangely familiar, which isn't surprising given I'd already had my memories taken before, just that at the time even that was something I rarely could remember.

No, I'm not just supposed to be here! I pushed my mind against the effect, forcing myself to think, to feel, to remember. This place was not real. It was... a pocket dimension, not just that, it was a labyrinth. A pocket of distorted space-time created by a magical girl giving in to despair. I'd been pulled in.

Whatever was trying to suppress my memories began to slacken. I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because I'd been conscious of the transition, or my Time Lord brain was more robust than it expected... either way it somehow left me resistant and allowed my thoughts and memories to re-impose themselves. I looked out at the city and remembered what I was here for.

I'd come to keep a promise. And if I was going to keep that promise... I was going to have to save Homura from this latest plot by the Incubators.

I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised that it wasn't going to be that easy.

It was an odd place, this false Mitakihara. As authentic as it looked, there were little problems. The zeppelins in the sky made me think of Gotham City, for one. And it wasn't just that kind of problem. I could feel the slight warping of time-space around me, a sort of spatial "offness" that you don't feel elsewhere. The TARDIS didn't feel like this either; this wasn't a well-maintained pocket dimension at all. It was something... oily and wrong.

I had felt it once before.

Namely, when the TARDIS had crash-landed into Mitakihara during Walpurgisnacht's attack.

In other words, I was trapped in a witch's labyrinth. Or, more accurately, Homura's labyrinth. Which meant she was already on the cusp of witchhood, beyond my power to save her. And I couldn't let that happen.

Okay, first things first. I had to get down.

I looked around at the building I had been placed on. There was a door leading to what I presumed were the fire stairs. I moved down as quickly as I could until I found the top floor's door. I walked into what looked to be a normal office building and followed signs to an elevator door. I hit the call button and... nothing.

A quick scan with my sonic screwdriver confirmed that it wasn't a real elevator. It was a prop. The whole bloody building was a prop.

I let out a sigh and returned to the stairs, taking them as quickly as I dared. Gravity functioned, so it wasn't as hard as going up would be, but it still took me the better part of ten minutes and left me a bit winded at the bottom. I went out into the streets and the lifeless, faceless beings milling about in it, emulating the evening cycle of a city. I brought out the sonic and looked for something that was actually real.

The sonic pulsed faintly, indicating there was real life in the general vicinity. I moved along at a brisk pace, looking for it, watching the purple tip pulse with greater frequency.

As it turned out, I didn't need it to find life. All I had to do was follow the gunfire.

It led me to the battered remnants of a hollowed out building. Even in this oily distorted world I could feel the more precise shifts of someone slipping into a slower time stream, moving faster than anyone from normal perspective. It was a familiar sensation.

All that was left was to determine who Homura was fighting.

I pulled out the sonic disruptor and held it up as I moved in, setting 42 active and waiting should any rounds fly my way. I crawled over rubble as the thundercracks of firearms, manmade and magical constructs in alternating cracks, went off ahead and above me. Moving around one column I got a glimpse of yellow and white, leading my eyes to track until I found...

Mami Tomoe. And Homura. Fighting each other.

It was rather impressive, honestly. And Mami's skills as a tactician were on full display; I could barely make out the whisper of a string, cloaked from the human eye, connecting her to Homura's ankle; an ingenious solution to Homura's time shifting. They flipped in and out of my frame of reference, as if the world was a skipping record.

It was a good thing I had my sonic disruptor ready. Bullets struck the protective dome I had it generating, ricocheting away from me. I took cover to ensure I didn't take a low angle ricochet that went under the disruptor's protective field.

I wasn't sure what was going on here, why they would be fighting like this, but the important thing was that I had to get to them, talk them down, and warn them about what was going on.

Another series of cracks overhead led to more masonry and stone falling around me. I could hear a sudden cry of surprise and pain. Had...?

No, it wasn't from either of them.

I kept to cover as best as I could as I followed the cries to their source. It was a small girl, with white hair and dark clothing, although given the amount of stone on her I couldn't see much of what she had on. And my sonic made it clear she was alive, not simply another puppet of this false world. I ran up and started grabbing debris, pulling it off of her. "Hold on, I'll get you out!"

The high-pitched voice of a very young girl replied with, "Who are you?"

Before I could answer there was a big, big explosion of thundercracks. Bullets went flying everywhere. I focused on keeping the protective field up so we wouldn't be hit by anything.

It worked rather well, so I was briefly surprised when an impact smacked into my head.

Very briefly, since upon the impact everything went black.

I returned to awareness with a severe pain in my head. I moaned and sat up, opening my eyes. The small girl I'd helped was close, enough to see the strange heterochromatic eye colors of yellow and orange, and beside her Mami was kneeling over, not looking the least bit disheveled by her fight.

"Doctor, are you okay? What are you doing here?"

I blinked and looked at her. "...how do you remember me?"

"I..." She blinked. "I've been remembering many things in the last few minutes. Homura was right about that."

I banished the throbbing in my head. "Where is she? Is she alright?"

"Someone took her. I think it was Sayaka." She showed me a fire extinguisher that clearly had taken a sword hit.

Which, of course, meant it was clearly Sayaka, who I remembered could be handy with a fire extinguisher.

Of course, there was also the issue that Sayaka was supposed to be dead.

"I'm afraid I have a lot to tell you and your friends, and not much time to tell it," I said. The little girl gave a nod and I directed a look at her. "Yes?"

"Doctor who?"

I actually smirked at that. "Just the Doctor." I looked to Mami and wondered how she could remember me after the timeline change... but only for a moment, as the answer was pretty obvious; aside from Homura she was the only magical girl to have been in the TARDIS. Even if everything of her world was rewritten, the TARDIS' participation in it could not be overridden like that. "And you, young lady?"

"They call me Bebe, but I used to be Nagisa." She sniffed. "Do you have any cheese?"

I raised an eyebrow. The last meal had indeed included a cheese dish. "Well, it's more operative to say I had some... but we really should get moving. I need to find Homura."

"She's out of control right now," Mami said.

"Yes, I rather noticed your fight with her. It doesn't look like you had too much trouble with it. Rather surprising."

"That's because Mami is smart and used a decoy made of ribbons the entire time," Bebe proclaimed. "She's super smart like that!"

I looked at Mami. "You can do that? Really? It would have been bloody useful at the Air Temples."

Mami blushed. "I've been perfecting them, I wouldn't have done very well with them at that time."

"I see. Well." I got to my feet. "Short story is... this is a very nasty little pocket dimension being fueled by a living being's despair, in this case Homura's. We've all been pulled in. The Incubators have instigated this to test for the force that causes soul gems and the magical girls with them to disappear when they've become corrupted and, well, they must be stopped before they do any real damage in trying to thwart that."

"Bebe said Kyubey was responsible?"

"He is. It is. Not what it seems, that thing. Anyway, we need to get to Homura, and then I have a plan to crack that barrier. And, finally..." I patted my head, confirming there was nothing on it. "I need to find my fez."

Bebe offered the fez immediately. The poor thing was damaged on one side, hit by the same rock that had struck me. And hit first by the look of things. In all probability it had saved me from a severe head injury. I took it and signed, inspecting the damage, where the dust of mortar and stone had stained the bright red coloring. "There you are," I mentioned before I put it back on. "My lucky fez, works every time."

That got me a giggle from the young girl.

As we walked along, Mami asked the obvious question. "Doctor, what are the Incubators?"

"A powerful, advanced alien civilization capable of converting emotion into energy," I replied. "Energy that exists outside of the normal universal system. They use this energy to fuel a system that withstands entropy, that is, the heat of waste energy that will potentially degrade the universe..." I went on to explain, in broad strokes, how this related to the "magical girl" system, and how it used to function. I knew Mami would be sensitive to it, although at least Madoka's changes made the news something she could bear more easily.

"So that's why she attacked Bebe. She thought Bebe was one of these 'witches'." Mami shook her head. "To think of all the times I pet that creature."

"It's good at manipulation. Granted, it doesn't need it as much in this new timeline, so I suspect its behavior is less manipulative and more honest. On the other hand, I doubt this is the first time they've tried to experiment with soul gems to find out what your 'Law of the Cycle' is. This is just the first time they've put real, overbearing effort into it." I sighed. If we weren't already on bad speaking terms, I'd almost be ready to scold Homura for letting the Incubators know about what was supposed to happen with darkened soul gems. "Can you reach the others? It's best if we're all together to help Homura when she finally realizes what is going on."

When we all met it was at the courtyard near the school, along the small stream that ran there. Aside from Homura, none of the other magical girls knew me

The red-haired girl needed no introductions, especially not with her irritated tone of voice. "Who is this guy? He's not another fake." Kyoko eyed me over, showing some distrust.

"Ah, Kyoko Sakura. Charmed." My eyes moved to the girl standing beside her. "And Sayaka Miki. A pleasure as well."

Unlike Kyoko, i saw a flicker of recognition in her blue eyes. Rather surprising as I'd never interacted with her. Of course, I had questions of my own concerning the fact she was supposed to be dead.

Then again, so was Bebe, whom Kyoko now noticed. "What the hell is going on here?!", she demanded at seeing Bebe in normal form. "You're a magical girl too?!"

"Uh huh. I was in disguise."

"So what are you doing here, Doctor?" Sayaka was looking at me intently.

"Oh, I'm here to help. To keep a promise, I should say."

"He's got weird stuff with him." Bebe went up to Sayaka and handed her... what was that? I patted my pocket and realized one of the scanners I kept on my person had been removed, or had fallen out somehow.

Sayaka inspected it closely. "This is weird. But I'd expect that."

"Huh?" Kyoko looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean by that? And where's Madoka? Everyone's supposed to be coming, right?"

I swiveled my head slightly. "What? Madoka is here?" That didn't make sense, that didn't work. She'd moved on to a higher plane of existence, she existed at all points of time with no links to a mortal life. She was literally erased from the memories of history.

"Yeah, why shouldn't she be?", Mami asked me.

I went to speak but looked toward Sayaka first. Sayaka was looking at me with curiosity, but nothing too intense. What was she doing here? And Madoka was here too? How? And then there was Bebe, who was...

I'm pretty sure that despite my best efforts, my expression showed realization. "Of course," I sighed, snapping my fingers. "This is a rescue mission, isn't it?"

I seemed to finally make Kyoko snap. "Just what is he talking about?! What's going on dammit?!"

"How much have you told them, Doctor?" Sayaka asked.

"Mami knows about the Incubators," I explained. "And how the world worked before Madoka's ascension." Seeing the frustration on Kyoko's face, I realized I might end up with a spear in my face if things weren't explained. "I was just drawn in, so this is clearly your show. Tell them what you need. But let's be quick about it, eh? Homura's condition is worsening, and if she's questioning this world like you say she is... then it might all come apart soon, and we need to be ready." I brought out the sonic. "I'll scan, you talk. And then I'll answer..."

There was the trill of a ringing phone. All eyes turned to Kyoko as she reached into her rear pocket on her shorts and pulled out a cell phone. "Hey, Homura?"

She had our attention. "Wait, witches? Is this something else I'm supposed to remember?"

"Tell her to meet us here," I urged in a low voice.

"Why don't you come meet me by the school?" Kyoko's brow furled. "What about Madoka? Of course I know her, I... Wait, are you... do you mean?!"

"Kyoko, give me the phone," I asked.

"Is this a bad joke?", Kyoko demanded, ignoring me for the moment while Homura spoke on the other end. "Are you all right? Where are you now?"

Faint orange light appeared below us,, growing brighter by the second. "Look out!", Bebe shouted.

I turned and looked up, just in time to see the zeppelins in the sky catching fire and crashing toward the ground. The front of one looked horrific, like a flaming face with sharpened teeth.

And it was coming right for us.

We all jumped away, barely evading as the flaming dirigible crashed into the walkway, sending stone and soil spraying up as it flew along and left a flaming trail of destruction behind it.

I picked myself up from the ground, seeing everyone lit up by the flames, and nearly lost my footing as the ground rumbled beneath us. The city beyond us was lit red with flames as new structures shot up from the ground. They looked unreal, drawn from a stylistic painting, and as the city trembled and made itself over into a blazing inferno, I realized what had happened. I could feel the oily, wrong nature of the place grow sharper as all pretense was dropped.

I looked to the others. "We've got to get to Homura, now." And without waiting, I pulled out my sonic and broke out into a run, following the readings as best I could through the warped skein of the world around us.

The others were quickly on my heels. "Hey!", Kyoko shouted. "You still haven't explained what's going on!"

"No time!", I shouted back.

"What do you mean no time?"

"Because Homura knows," I replied succinctly. "She knows she's the witch of the labyrinth. And if we don't get to her before she succumbs to the truth, we may never get her back."

Dodging flames and shifting buildings is never fun. But it was what we had to do.

I was in the lead, but I suspect that was only because I was the one with the handy scanner. We had to jump to our right to avoid a new building sprouting from the Earth, all wrong and looking more like a painting than anything. My hand itched as I thought about grabbing the TARDIS remote. But that would risk Homura; she had to be in the right mental state when the quantum isolation field was broken if I was going to have time to deal with her soul gem.

From the flaming ruins of the fake city a structure rose into he air, resembling something like a bee hive. The sonic's pulsing grew more rapid as I pointed it toward the structure, which looked to be hundreds of feet into the air. "Well, that's inconvenient," I remarked. "Any ways up? Can't a couple of you fly?"

"I have a better idea." Mami held out her arm and yellow ribbon is flew from it, spiraling together and tangling until they formed a sort of platform. I stepped on it and gave it a test. Despite an instinctive certainty that it wouldn't hold, it did in fact hold. It held everyone. Mami motioned slightly again and the ribbon platform lifted off.

"You really have been working on this, haven't you?", I remarked.

The platform couldn't go fast enough. Although it was moving at a decent clip, I felt rising impatience as the world around us finished shedding the facade of "reality" and became the bizarre landscape of a labyrinth. Time was short.

We pulled up into the structure proper and entered through sets of arches. The others jumped off as the platform came to the ground. here were figures in what looked to be a colosseum, as in the Colosseum. Toy soldier figures were standing around us. Familiars, or at least one type; I recognized the other inhuman-looking black clad models as the ones who'd dragged me in here.

One area looked like a bedroom or sick room etched out of a structure of shelve. Homura was standing in it and in the middle of a conversation, from the sound of things.

The other voice was noticeable for its high pitch and, simultaneously, its complete lack of emotive tone. As I looked around I realized there were several Kyubeys moving in and out of the shadow, conducting the conversation together. He stopped as we stepped up. "Very interesting. Where is Madoka Kaname, though?"

"She's none of your concern," I growled. "I think it's time we put an end to your little experiment."

"You."

I had never heard that pronoun spoken with such venom before.

I looked over and saw Homura's eyes staring right at me, with an intensity that would have melted solid... anything, I think. "You tricked me!", she shouted.

"I'm sorry, I was out of line when I drew you into the fight for the Air Temple," I replied.

"This isn't about that!", she raged. "You told me I'd save Madoka! You said all I had to do was keep looping! But it was the problem all along! It's why she sacrificed herself, why we lost her... why I lost her!"

The familiars began hefting weapons and coming for us. Or, rather, coming for me.

"You could have stopped her!," Homura screamed. "You could have beaten Walpurgisnacht yourself! And she wouldn't have had to..."

Twinned with Homura's rage and feelings, the familiars charged us. I whipped out the sonic and tried to use the same disruptive setting I'd once used to stop Walpurgisnacht's little minions. But either being inside a labyrinth or some other change made the effort ineffective.

"Finally, this looks like some fun!" Kyoko generated her spear and charged, slashing at them all.

The others joined in as more of the familiars appeared from the shadows. Sayaka went at them with swords drawn, on my back, and Mami and Nagisa took the flanks. "Did you know about what would happen to Madoka?"

"I did," I replied. "My question, how do you know who I am? I'm guessing..." I ducked to avoid getting struck by a swinging staff in the air, buying time for Kyoko to kill it with a single swipe as part of her ongoing offensive. "...that you are here with Madoka to save Homura from the Incubators. That you are essentially the magical girl equivalent of a valkyrie or herald."

"We're more like her secretaries."

"Ah. And I trust magical girl Valhalla agrees with you? Lots of ethereal sleepovers and the occasional pillow fight, I imagine."

"It actually gets boring sometimes, but a happy kind of boring," she informed me.

"It'd be perfect, but we don't have cheese!", Nagisa complained, having overheard us.

I used the sonic disruptor and blasted what looked very much like an 18th Century line soldier off of Nagisa's side. "Quite horrible, that. No cheese. I can't imagine the thought of eternity without a good cheese. Life isn't worth living without some Lancre Blue." I looked back. Homura was leaning against the glass of the model house she was standing in, her expression full of fury and anger. "I need to get over there and calm her down if our plan is going to work."

"Breaking the Incubators' isolation field?"

"Right."

"Well, we had thoughts on that," Sayaka revealed. "It involves hitting it a lot."

I smirked. "I suppose with magical girl powers that could work. But I have a better idea, one that will shatter it beyond the Incubators' ability to restore it. I just need a few minutes of calm and, preferably, a calmed down Homura."

"We'll do what we can. Excuse me." Sayaka leapt ahead, swords slashing, and went to cover Kyoko's back. I turned away, knowing they would want that private moment. My eyes focused on Homura as I blasted another grenadier familiar with the sonic disruptor.

I moved forward, ducking under another of the blackhats' bayonets, and with setting 42 activated ran ahead and plowed into the numbers of the black coats. I took the moment to look over the situation, and it was not looking very good. More were pouring in, responding to Homura's emotional state, and the girls with me were going to be overwhelmed by them quickly. Nagisa had evened the odds somewhat, spawning her own familiars it appeared - perhaps a function of being one of Madoka's heralds? - but the numbers weren't enough, our space was too confined.

And above it all sat Kyubey, watching impassively at the fighting his actions had wrought with that same plastered on smile.

Too bad I couldn't wipe it from his face. It was sort of permanent.

"Homura, you've got to listen to me. Stop this!" I got closer, right near the glass. "They're all here to save you! Madoka came to save you! Stop fighting us and..."

"How dare you?! You come to me like a friend but... but you're not! You're just like the Incubators, we're only here for you to trick and manipulate into doing what you want us to!"

"I was wrong, Homura! I was wrong. I..."

"Why didn't you save Madoka, Doctor?! Why did you let her sacrifice herself?!"

"Because it was a Fixed Point," I answered. "Because..."

"I don't care!" Homura raised her arm and, in a single gesture, the entire top section of the structure she was standing in exploded, turning her room within into a ceiling. I looked away long enough to blast a familiar with the sonic disruptor to send it back. With more attacking I put on Setting 42 to hold them back. "You let Madoka take on a burden she never wanted! You..."

"There was nothing I could do to stop it," I insisted, realizing as I did that this was an anger, a wrath, that would not be assuaged so easily. "History cannot always be changed! I've tried! I already tried here! That's what I was doing when we first met!"

More familiars flowed in, these the ones in black suits, and I couldn't shield from them all. One went around my disruptor's deflector field and, being a quick bugger, smacked my arm with its staff. The impact hurt like the dickens and caused me to drop the disruptor, leaving me open to get swarmed.

"Doctor!" Mami had seen me go down, but the grunt I heard from her a moment later told me she was in her own danger.

I found myself held down, on my knees, barely allowed to look up as Homura levitated downward, wearing a black dress that was not her usual thing. Red lines erupted from her feet as they touched the ground. She came toward me and, just for a moment, generated her time buckler to pull a gun out.

Which she promptly pointed at my head.

"I told you not to come back unless it was to save Madoka," she said. "And I told you what would happen if you tried manipulating me again"

"I didn't," I protested. "And that's why I came back! I can save...!"

"I don't believe you!," Homura screamed.

And then she pulled the trigger.

There was a thundercrack.

And with it came a bolt of lightning.

The thundercrack was from Homura's gun, pointed at my head. The lightning... was the flash of pink energy that zoomed across my vision, vaporizing the bullet and hitting the gun barrel enough to throw Homura's aim off.

Homura's rage-filled eyes went wide. Anguish and fear took the place of the rage that had been burning inside of her. The red lines began to subside.

We both turned our heads.

Madoka was holding her bow, ready to string another shot. The look on her face was not angry or upset or bewildered; it showed only what I could call sad kindness. "Homura. Please don't. I can't let you hurt him, he's trying to help you."

"Madoka..." When Homura glanced back toward me, I could see shame in her eyes, shame and uncertainty and total, complete fear. "I'm sorry. I can't..." She fell to her knees and began weeping, overcome.

Even with the familiars stepping back, I did not move. This wasn't my part. I knew that for this, I was a mere spectator.

As Madoka moved forward I could feel the energy building around her.

"Took you long enough," Sayaka teased gently, walking up beside her, with Nagisa following. They each put a hand on her and I could feel the thrum of power, the power that Madoka had attained with her wish to prevent all witches from ever being created. This was clearly not even a smidgen of what she had become, but it was still enough to be, at least, extremely impressive.

Homura didn't stir from where she was crying. Madoka knelt down beside her and took her into a hug. "It's going to be okay," she assured her friend.

"It's not though. You had to leave everyone you love! Nobody remembers you! You're suffering because I couldn't save you!", Homura wept. It was clear now that for all she harbored anger towards me... nothing compared to how much she was hating herself for what happened to Madoka.

"No." The gentle answer came as Madoka's hand gently worked through the locks of Homura's hair, twirling them and looping the locks together into a braid. "You're so lonely and sad, I wish I had come for you sooner than this. You would be happy."

"I don't deserve to be happy," Homura wept. "I've been..."

"It's okay." Madoka briefly looked my way. "I remember you, Doctor. Are you alright?"

"I am." I stood up at this point. Even though she had spoken to me... I felt very much like an intruder as the other girls gathered closer. This wasn't my place. I didn't belong here.

None moved further as the scene played out. Homura let out years, it seemed, of grief and loneliness. Madoka gently wove her hands in and out of the locks of Homura's hair until she had recreated the braided pony-tails Homura used to wear, which she bound together in ribbons. I watched the scene and felt relief, sadness... and guilt. I hadn't warned Homura of what was going to happen. I couldn't have... but it didn't change the fact that it hurt her.

I had done the responsible thing and had still caused pain. Unavoidable yet always something to regret. I'll always wonder if I could have come up with a better way, a better method, something to have prevented the terrible pain playing out here.

Homura's weeping subsided slowly. Madoka didn't end the embrace so much as she shifted, freeing her arms to bring something up toward Homura's face. With a tender smile she put Homura's glasses back on. It was a more complete transformation than Clark Kent ever managed with the same thing; just looking at her brought to mind not a graceful magical girl of skill and power, but a wounded young girl who had gotten mixed up in this mess solely to get back her friend. A friend that meant more to her than life itself, a friend she had quite literally sold her soul to save.

It was a beautiful moment. Naturally, it had to be spoiled.

"Madoka Kaname. The Law of the Cycle." Kyubey waltzed up amongst us. "Now that you've revealed yourself, isn't it time to bring Homura with you? Dissolve her soul gem and make it vanish, just like you do with the others."

Eyes started turning toward the little bugger. I took the first step of intercepting him, standing between him and where Madoka was consoling her friend. "Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you? The whole point of this painful little experiment."

"I would be most interested to know just what kind of being you are, Doctor. We do not know of any species with 'TIme Lords'."

"Oh, of course you haven't. I'm not from this cosmos." I glanced back to the others. As we talked, more Kyubey bodies were entering the colosseum.

Kyubey processed this information and returned to business. "Madoka, Homura's soul gem is beyond the point of no return. If you don't use your power on it, she will transform into a witch, and she will have to be destroyed."

"Madoka, don't," Homura pleaded. "I won't let them hurt you."

If nothing else was done that moment, I was sure Homura would strike out again. She would do something inadvisable, something that would push her beyond the point of saving.

"I'll take it from here," I said to her gently. I pulled out a phone and keyed it on. "Hello."

"Doctor?! Are you alright?!" Katherine's voice hinted at worry.

"A little banged up, but bright as rain," I answered. "Remember what I showed you on the TARDIS controls?"

"...yes?"

"Turn the Regulator to one third, if you would please. And then hold on."

"I'm doing it now, Doctor."

"How are you doing that?", Kyubey asked. "You shouldn't be able to communicate outside of the field like that."

"Oh, only you can?" My smile grew a little shark-like. "I've got a surprise for you, Incubators. You're not the only ones with advanced quantum manipulation technology."

I brought out my TARDIS remote and activated it.

For a moment nothing happened. And then, just as it seemed it hadn't worked... VWORP VWORP VWORP.

The TARDIS materialized behind me. "Everyone in," I said. I looked to Homura and Madoka, who for obvious reasons wouldn't be joining us. Neither would the two of Madoka's heralds. They didn't exist outside of this place... well, Homura did, but that was because this was inside her... you know what I mean. "Don't worry about Homura, Madoka. I'll take care of her. I made her a promise and I mean to keep it."

"Thank you, Doctor," she answered.

There was a surprising whimper to the side. I looked over to see Kyoko embracing Sayaka, looking very much like she wanted to cry. They whispered to each other. I thought it best not to listen in, so I didn't listen. I simply heard what they said. It was loss and regret.

The Kyubeys began approaching the TARDIS, so I took up station in front of the door, sonic screwdriver extended. "Don't. I don't want to disable the lot of you. We'll be having a talk when we get out of here."

"You're trapped inside the isolation field now, Doctor," Kyubey pointed out. "How can you get out?"

"You let me worry about that. Go bugger off, we'll be out of here soon enough and I can give you a proper talking to."

Mami and Kyoko boarded the TARDIS behind me. Katherine was waiting at the door as I backed in and closed it, making sure the Incubators couldn't enter. I returned the sonic screwdriver to my pocket and went to the controls.

"It's so much smaller on the outside," Kyoko remarked.

I gave her a look. "Bigger on the inside. It's more fun if you say 'bigger on the inside'." I flipped several levers and switches, moved the Regulator to a wider position, and took up my place at the main lever. "Alright everyone, hold on tight. This could get a bit bumpy."

I pulled the lever. "Tally ho!"

Golden light seeped around the controls. The TARDIS engine began to VWORP, but with a higher speed to it, changing the pitch of the most beautiful sound ever. She sounded ready, like she knew there was a barrier and had decided it needed a stern seeing to for trying to block her way.

The TARDIS shook underneath us as it struck the isolation field. With the Vortex Regulator open and adding more energy to the shift, the quantum barrier was faced by power the Incubators had never faced before. I could imagine the sight from within the field; golden light beginning to gather at its boundary and growing, the field flashing and wavering as it faced the energies of the TARDIS.

It resisted fiercely, making us rock about in the control room. The Incubators were good.

But I knew the TARDIS was better.

"Hold on!", I shouted out again. "We're almost there!"

The TARDIS kept going and the Incubator field held... it held...

And then it broke.

It shattered like glass trying to hold in a speeding bullet. In one flash of energy the entire field collapsed, unable to restrain the TARDIS. "Ha ha! Take that, bunnycat!" I pet my hand on the TARDIS control. "You showed them my girl!" With a flip of the switch I set her down on the ground. I raced by the others and threw open the door, my sonic screwdriver already in hand. I pointed it toward the pedestal that Homura was laid upon and keyed the screwdriver. It activated the machinery inside and brought the rose-covered platform down toward us.

I didn't have a lot of time. Homura's soul gem was on the cusp, the very line. If I was to save her, it had to be now.

Around me, Incubators started to coalesce. "You are more powerful than we had realized," they conceded, their voices overlapping in an eerie "I am Legion" way. "What will you do now?"

"Give you a scolding," I remarked. "It's bad enough you still pursue adolescent girls, children too young to understand what you're asking of them and what you're offering. But you're also bloody greedy with this witch business. I stayed away after Madoka changed this cosmos because you could do the harm you did before. And here you are, ready to begin that bloody business all over again."

"The grief cubes are an inefficient means of gathering energy compared to the power of a magical girl becoming a witch," the Incubators replied. "To resist entropy we must have more energy."

"Not this way," I answered. "I won't allow it."

"You are quite advanced, yes. But how would you stop this process? It is clear to us that without external interference, the inevitable fate of magical girls is to become witches. This process is natural and must be resumed. We will find a way. You are one being. How would you alone stop us?"

I had so many answers, some of them nasty. A virus that would so thoroughly destroy the Incubator hive mind that it lobotomized their entire civilization. A temporal event that wrecked their homeworld. I could go back in time and alter their development, if I wanted to risk it.

But I had a better idea.

I looked back to see Katherine and the girls watching the conversation. Katherine... she had yet to see me like this, ready to commit some large-scale destruction of my own if it stopped something horrible. I didn't know how she would take it. I didn't know how she would take the approach I'd decided upon.

Then again, it was one the Incubators would probably survive, so it wouldn't be too bad.

"So that's it then? You'll keep feeding upon Humans for energy? Not a care in the world that they are a sentient species as well?"

"We are not malicious towards Humanity, Doctor," the Incubators protested. "We acknowledge them as a sentient species and seek to enter a mutually beneficial arrangement. It is true that some Human girls have died, and some would be turned to witches when we succeed, but compared to prolonging the universe, that is a logical price to pay."

"You say you're not malicious, eh?"

By this time the pedestal had reached the bottom. Homura's darkened soul gem glittered, well, darkly in the seahorse cup thing at the top. I walked over and grabbed it, holding it up. "You talk about this like it's a power source. Energy. I suppose, to you, that's what it is." I advanced on the nearest gaggle. "You don't understand Human emotions, after all, or any for that matter. You don't have any. You have no idea of what this feels like. You have absolutely no idea, no real idea, of the damage you cause, or what you're talking about when you speak of. You don't understand." I reached down and, with my free hand, snagged one of the Incubator bodies by the scruff of the neck. I could feel the hive mind through it.

No, beyond the hive mind. I could feel the Incubators as a whole. I sensed them across the vast spaces of this galaxy, even to others, a mind bent to a single purpose; Save ourselves. Stop entropy. It is not logical to be ended.

"This isn't just a bunch of emotional energy," I growled, holding Homura's soul gem up to it. "This is a being. She has hopes and dreams, she has fought and suffered and struggled against what you've done. All to save one friend, to fulfill one promise. And this is what you've done to her. This is all pain and despair and sadness. Her's. From your works. You say you're not malicious? Then it's ignorance. And that may be even worse."

I looked at the gem. Last time I'd seen it like this, I'd drawn the darkness out myself. And it had almost killed me. Homura's despair and mine... it was too much for even a Time Lord to bear. Oh, maybe I could do it now, now that I was more experienced, but if something went wrong I didn't have Jan and Hannah to save me from it.

"I've felt it, you know," I said to the Incubator I was holding. "I once took her despair from her to clean the gem. Her pain and despair is so powerful it nearly crushed me." I looked into its permanent smile and alien eyes and smiled. "And that's where we have a problem, isn't it? You don't know what this is. You've never felt these things before."

I reached my mind into the soul gem. Homura's pain and loneliness began to seep into me, the black energy forming around my hand.

"Do you know what a Doctor does, Incubator?", I asked. "Doctors don't just heal. They teach."

And with that said, I pressed Homura's soul gem against the Incubator, and in one push of telepathic power, I turned myself into a conduit.

A conduit to press the darkness of Homura's gem into them.

Black surged out of the Gem and into the Incubator. It thrashed in my grip and forced me to hold it steady as I kept pushing. As the conduit I felt was within, the crushing loneliness and sadness of Homura Akemi, the despairing feeling that she had failed Madoka, but it didn't overwhelm me because I didn't hold onto it. I sent it on its way, tears already forming in my eyes.

A wail erupted from Kyubey that I'd never heard from him. Blackness soon permeated the form in my hand... and from there it shot outward. Black began building in every Incubator present as the legion of voices wailed in inconsolable agony. The hive mind had never set itself up to block off any portion of its drones. There was nothing stopping what I'd started, indeed, nothing stopping it from jumping from Earth across the stars. Through the Incubator I held, I could see the dark energies cleansed from Homura's gem take hold across all of the Incubator civilization.

You might think that would dilute the effect. You'd be right, in most cases.

But when it was a civilization that had never known these emotions before... it was all the more potent.

As one the Incubators recoiled and screamed. No! No, it hurts! Stop it! Stop it! PLEASE DOCTOR MAKE IT STOP!

Their voice boomed in my head. My response came immediately.

"Oh? It's too much for you, eh? This is what just one girl lives with. One. And you would have caused this for millions over the coming eons."

"Please stop!," the Incubators around us screamed. "Please Doctor! We will cease the experiments! We will do anything! Make the pain stop!"

The pleading was pitiful, but understood. They'd never experienced such a sensation before. It was frightening to them, frightening beyond words. Their minds would fail if they took on more.

So I relented. I cut the connection.

I'd cleaned most of her gem out, but I didn't stop pulling it. Again I took it upon myself. Tears rolled down my eyes as I sobbed openly, feeling the loss and betrayal Homura felt over Madoka's fate. I went to my knees and felt my hearts nearly burst; even that little bit of it was overpowering.

When I opened my fist, through the blurring of my tears I saw the purple gem shining again. I stared at it.

A hand touched my shoulder. I looked up and saw Homura's face, blurry as it was. Tears rolled down her eyes as well. She came down on her knees and embraced me.

"I'm sorry, my dear," I said to her. "I'm so, so sorry."

Homura said nothing. There was nothing to say. There was only weeping.

It took a while for me to work through the grief and loss I'd taken on. When I was done I looked out at the field of stricken Incubators, still trembling where they sat from the after-effects of being exposed to Human emotion. With great gentleness I took Homura by the shoulders. "I'll be right back. We still have something to talk about."

She nodded, wiping at the tears on her face.

I walked into the TARDIS and retrieved a data solid I'd prepared from intense study. I stepped back out and looked to Katherine, who was taking in the scene.

Homura was still looking down at her knees. Mami seemed the best adjusted, but she gave me a sad look. She remembered everything now, including the terrible loneliness in her life. Kyoko...

Kyoko was trying to hide it, but I could sense the bitter sobs almost waiting to come out. She had remembered everything too. Which meant she had regained Sayaka just to lose her again.

"Isn't there something we can do for them?", Katherine asked me.

"There is. I need to deal with the Incubators now, but if you will... I need something from the TARDIS. I think you know what."

She must have caught the look in my eye because she nodded and stepped inside.

I walked on to the Incubators and knelt down in front of them. "I trust my point is clear?"

"We had no idea," it answered. Alone. The hive mind was apparently too weak, still, to speak through them all. A few even looked damaged beyond repair. "Human emotions are too dangerous to meddle with."

"Good. Unfortunately, this cosmos isn't free of threats. The wraiths are still out there. Earth, and other worlds I suspect, will need help dealing with them."

"We cannot fight," Kyubey insisted. "It's not something we're capable of."

"Perhaps not. But you can help other species defend themselves from such threats." I held up the data solid. "Agree to do so, and I will provide you with another way to deal with entropy. They are called block transfer computations. You can't use computers; they get altered by the BTCs. Your species is still organic in structure, it can calculate them. You can use the BTCs to create links to extradimensional spaces that will draw in entropic forces."

"You would give this to us?"

"No. I would make a contract with you. If you help other species fight the wraiths, and in doing so you do not manipulate the youth of any species into contracts they are not ready to understand, I will provide you with the relevant data. When it comes to contracts, you will focus on older sentients. Any candidates approached are to be left alone if they say no. Those who are interested will travel alongside veteran magic wielders first, to learn what is at stake and what is expected of them. They must know and understand all aspects of this life before you let them make contracts. And you will never, ever try something like this experiment again. If I catch one whiff of you breaking this contract, I'll put an end to the deal and you can face entropy like any other cosmos. Do you understand?"

"We understand. We will obey all stipulations of your contract without exception."

"Very well." I handed the solid over. Kyubey batted it around with his ears and knocked it into the port on his back, as if it were a grief seed.

For a moment nothing happened. And then, one by one, the Incubators blinked away, taken by some form of transporter system.

"What did you give them?"

I turned and faced Mami. "A means to avoid their greatest fear. They've agreed to my stipulations on further recruitment for the fight with the wraiths. I'll be back from time to time to keep an eye on things, but whatever you must say about them, they have the literal honesty of a Sidhe."

"And if they don't do what they promised?"

I looked to Kyoko. "Then I make them regret it."

This left only one thing to do. I walked up to where Homura was staring at the ground and brought her to her feet. "It's going to be okay," I promised her.

"No." She shook her head weakly. "I failed Madoka. I didn't save her."

"Well, actually, you did," I said. "You saved her from the fate Kyubey had in store. And by doing so, you enabled her to save your entire cosmos. I know that's not what you want to hear, though. You want her back."

"I do," Homura admitted. "I want her back more than anything."

"I know." i settled my hands on her shoulders and looked over her to where Katherine was stepping out of the TARDIS with a very important machine. "I made you a promise once. I did something horrible to you when making it, yes, and that means keeping that promise is all the more important to me." I let a smile come to my face. "That promise is why I came here, Homura. I believe I can fulfill it, here and now."

Homura remembered. I could see it in her eyes, the sudden flaring of hope.

I stepped around her and up to the device; my project. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the quantum scanner. Seeing the light blinking, two quick green pulses, made me laugh out loud. "Oh my. Well well... Everyone, your attention!" That got the attention of Mami and Kyoko; for the first time I noticed that the other people who had been actually alive in the false world were arrayed around us, slumbering on furniture. They were dead to the world.

I slipped my scanner into the machine and watched it confirm the data was viable. It loaded the data for use immediately. "This has taken me some time to build," I confessed to them. "I had to borrow and beg for parts, even steal some I admit, to make it work. And I'm convinced it will. Everyone cross your fingers, the ZedPM that's fueling it is the only one I could find and its on its last legs."

"Right." I finished my absolutely-last-step preparation commands.

Here went nothing.

"Tally ho!"

With a flip of a switch the device came to life. A "vreeeeeee" sound came from within as the projector device compiled the separate data structures and prepared them for the device at the top; the quantum compiler, cobbled together from basic concepts I took from Astronema's digitization machine. The process was taking a lot of power and the only thing I had that could properly power it without blowing the machine's delicate parts to bits was the old ZPM I found in one of many spots in the Pegasus Galaxy (it wasn't like the Genii could use it, after all).

There was a little sputtering in the machine, a flicker in the lights. The ZPM was running low on juice. "No. No no no, you hold out, alright? You bloody well hold out," I urged.

The others were looking in interest. I could feel the hope coming from Homura and knew that if this failed, she would be heartbroken all over again.

The machine beeped several times, sucking the ZPM dry and having trouble finishing its final operations. I noticed the power meter on the ZPM reach dead levels.

It wasn't going to work.

No, I wasn't going to let it go that way. It was damn well going to bloody work.

The lights went out on it. The others gasped; even Mami and Kyoko, having little idea what I was doing, seemed intent on this working.

"You bloody well work!", I shouted, and then I applied a Spike Spiegel diagnostic.

That is, I kicked the bloody thing.

Oh, sure, that wasn't going to work, but it felt good.

And a moment later, just long enough to be clearly not related to the kick, the machine flashed back to life. The quantum compiler llit up and generated a wide field below itself. As the energy on the ZPM drained to its final exajoules (or was it petajoules?) three figures coalesced, assembled by the compiler from the raw quantum signature data I'd loaded into it.

Madoka. Sayaka. Nagisa.

"It can't be, how the hell?!" Kyoko's outburst was half-bewildered, half-overjoyed.

Madoka was in a school uniform, the other girls in their magical girl outfits. Obvious, of course; that was how the quantum scanner read them. I waited patiently while the machine confirmed it had instituted 100% compilation. And then, with a final flicker and warning tone, it died, the ZPM within completely drained.

The three girls looked around. "Where...?" Madoka was especially confused, looking around.

And then she cried out.

The others did too, and all three fell to their knees. Homura rushed forward. "Madoka!"

I intercepted her, holding her back. "Wait! It's happening! Just as I thought it would!"

They cried out and squirmed a bit, though they all remained on their knees.

"Doctor, what...?" Katherine looked to me with concern from beside the machine. "What's wrong with them."

"It's quantum synergy," I remarked. "They're exact quantum duplicates, this is forging a link with their counterparts. If I'm right..."

Well, if I was wrong, it'd be for nothing. They'd be absorbed with their ascended goddess and valkyrie selves, and everyone would be disappointed. All of my research indicated this was a good possibility. Their other selves had so much power, after all, and it wasn't clear that Madoka could exist outside of her new form.

I was willing to bet it didn't work that way.

Madoka looked up at us. Her eyes turned gold. She was linking with her ascended self.

"Come on, come on. Finish the link. Finish it and stay..." I urged.

"Madoka, don't go!", Homura cried.

"I'm..." Madoka seemed to fade around the edges.

My hearts fell. It wasn't going to work. After all this, it wasn't...?!

"You can be both," I said. "You can be here and everywhere. This is the way, make it work!"

"Please," Homura begged. "Please come back. Don't leave me alone again," she cried.

It looked like it was for nothing. All three of them were beginning to show signs of being absorbed by their higher selves.

And then... my hearts fell into my stomach. It wasn't going to work. It had been a good idea, but it simply wouldn't...

There was a shift of energy in the air.

Madoka's eyes turned normal.

She stopped groaning and looked down at her hands. "What...?" She toppled over, looking spent.

"Madoka!"

I let Homura go at that point, letting her hold her friend up.

The other two were doing the same now. Their forms stabilized and they fell over. Kyoko and Mami went to their sides to aid them.

"Doctor...?" Katherine looked at me. "Did it work? Have you?"

"We'll know any second," I answered.

Madoka looked up and opened her eyes. "Homura," she murmured. "How am I here? What happened to..." Her expression straightened. "I'm... real again?"

I couldn't restrain it anymore. I shouted in glee and pumped my fist. "Yes! Yes yes yes!" I grabbed Katherine and lifted her into my arms to spin her, drawing a surprised yelp from her that turned into a laugh. "It worked my dear! It worked perfectly! Ha ha ha ha! Everybody lives! Oh, how I love being able to say that, Katherine! Everybody lives!"

Kyoko helped Sayaka up. "What..?" Sayaka looked at me as I twirled like an idiot with Katherine in my arms. Well, two Sayakas... wait, that was the dizziness and euphoria. "What happened?"

I set Katherine down before we both got sick. "Quantum synergy!", I shouted. "It worked beautifully! Oh, it had me worried there!" Seeing my explanation hadn't sufficed, I continued. "Look, my scanner devices had acquired quantum signatures of all three of you. Madoka, admittedly, was earlier, I got that back when I saw her just before she made her wish that changed everything. But... what this meant was that if I could put together a device that could use a complete quantum signature and run it through a quantum compiler attached to a matter-energy subspatial converter, it could make a quantum duplicate of what I scanned! A quantum duplicate that was like the original in every way up to the point of scanning! Everything, even information in the brain! That's what sets it apart from being a clone. And it worked! And then there was the quantum synergy part, I wasn't sure if you would get absorbed into your original selves or not because they exist as... whatever it is they are now. But the synergy stopped at the link. You are them, they are you, and here you are again, part of this world!"

My explanation got me a lot of blank looks. "You sure use 'quantum' a lot," Kyoko remarked.

"It's my thing. I am the Visiting Lecturer in Quantum Wibbly at Unseen University, you know. Quantum. Quantum quantum quantum. Oh, quantum quantum quantum, feel it roll off the tongue!"

Okay, I was acting a bit like an idiot, but... it was just... this triumph lifted my spirits like I hadn't felt since... the Citadel, I suppose. Even the retaking of DS9 didn't rouse me like this.

For the first time since I lost Janias and Camilla, I felt like everything was fantastic. I had won a resounding victory, one that I could look back on with pride and joy.

"So, does that mean I can have cheese again?", Nagisa asked urgently.

"All the cheese you want, my dear!" I looked to Katherine. "Don't we have any of that Lancre Blue left?"

"I think," Katherine giggled, looking amused at seeing how giddy I'd become.

"Ah. Good! Lancre Blue for everyone!"

Madoka hadn't moved, presumably because she couldn't. Not with the way Homura held onto her, as if at any moment she might vanish. "You're back. I can't... you're back." Homura started crying. "You're back!"

"It's okay, Homura," Madoka assured her, smiling contentedly as her friend poured out tears of joy on her shoulder.

"Should I be jealous that you aren't crying like that for me?", Sayaka asked Kyoko.

"Hey, don't push it," the redhead retorted, but given the tears I saw forming in her eyes I'm betting she was thinking of it.

"Alright everyone. Time to get you back to the real Mitakihara," I said.

"And to the cheese!", Nagisa added eagerly, rushing for the TARDIS and pulling a hapless, smiling Mami with her.

We had to pile the schoolteacher, the Kanames, and Hitomi and Kyosuke into the TARDIS before we left. It took a short time to put them all back in their beds, safe and sound, after which we saw the others off as well.

By the time we got Nagisa out, there was not one crumb of cheese left in the TARDIS.

By the end of it all, we were near the Kaname house. Madoka was with her family, giving hugs that confused them for how tight they were. Homura stood with me at the TARDIS door, watching it. "They remember her now?", Homura asked.

"Oh yes," I answered. "She... always existed, it's just that becoming what she became... reality got jumbled up about it. Now that she's back in the physical world, the effect is gone. Madoka Kaname always existed, and now she always existed again. It's multi-dimensional higher plane physics at work. And yes, I know how complicated that sounds. Time Lord brain."

She nodded and looked back to me. Her tear ducts had finally emptied, it seemed, so there were no tears as she gave me a tight hug. "I can never thank you enough," she said.

"Not necessary. I made the promise." I got to a knee to face her directly. "After all, where would we be if we hadn't kept our promises, eh?"

I heard an actual laugh from her. A small one. But for Homura Akemi, it was all I need to hear to know how things were going. "Where are you going now?"

"Oh, anywhere. Big multiverse out there. But I'll be back, don't worry." I reached into my pocket and offered her one of my altered phones. "With six magical girls Mitakihara should be in fine hands, but just in case something happens you're having trouble with... call."

Homura accepted the phone. "Or if the Incubators go back on their word."

"Especially then. But that shouldn't be a problem. Their entropy problem has more than one solution now. They don't need magical girls to stave it off. And that's all that mattered to them." I narrowed my right eye. "So, going to go back to the pigtails and glasses? I think Madoka was giving you a hint back there."

She smiled and shook her head. "No. That's not me anymore. Well... maybe I'll take the glasses back."

I laughed at that.

We looked beyond to where Madoka was waving at us. Or rather, waving at Homura, inviting her in. "Well, looks like I should stop taking up your time, Homura."

She nodded. Before I could stand to my full height, she took me into a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Doctor. Thank you for bringing Madoka back."

I put a hand on her back and accepted the tight hug. "You're welcome, Homura."

The hug ended as Madoka came racing up. "C'mon, Dad's making dinner!", she urged, prompting Homura to nod and follow her back. They gave me a final wave before disappearing through the front door.

I had returned the wave. When I was done I stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door. Katherine was standing beside the controls, looking over my ruined device. "You can't use it again?"

"Not any time soon. Some of those parts were rare, very rare," I remarked. "Best to put it with the other stuff. But first..." I twisted a few knobs and shifted the TARDIS.

I had shifted us ahead only a week. When we got back, near one of Mitakihara's parks, we watched from the door as cloaked things moved from the shadows. Wraiths, the new threat of this world. There were people fleeing from them. "Doctor, shouldn't we...?"

"I don't think it'll be necessary," i remarked. "Look."

First there was the crack of flintlock guns, moving in rapid succession. Mami came in swinging on one of her ribbons, firing them like they were a Gatling gun and taking out a wraith in the process.

The sound of a small trumpet heralded the arrival of Nagisa, who shouted "Parmigiano Reggiano!" before plowing in, firing off bubbles from the trumpet that exploded and sent wraiths flying backward.

Flying backward, it was soon clear, into the melee. Sayaka and Kyoko were on top of them in a moment, swords and spear slashing and sweeping their way through the cloaked things. They exploded in flames and darkness one after another.

There was yet more, though. Something, perhaps the fear of the spectators, was drawing the wraiths in. They formed up, pressing on the four magical girls that were cutting through their ranks, and it was just enough to get worried about them. But I knew not to be.

I looked up as two more figures jumped in, or rather flew in.

Homura and Madoka descended, energy wings dissipating from their backs as they hit the ground. They drew their respective bows and stood together, side by side, with knowing smiles on their faces. When they fired the projectiles from their bows turned into a storm of energy arrows, as if they were an entire legion of archers firing their projectiles into an enemy mass. The wraiths exploded and dissipated under the barrage.

Altogether, it looked like they were a rather impressive group.

"Looks like we're not needed," I said. I could see Homura and Madoka looking towards us. They noticed the TARDIS and smiled. I smiled back, nodded, and snapped my fingers to close the TARDIS door. With a pull of the lever we shifted out.

"Doctor, that was such a magnificent thing," Katherine said. "I'm happy we got to help them."

"As am I. So." I clapped my hands together. "Looks like I have to get busy. We have some dancing too get to, right?"

She looked at me. "You're going to come?"

"Of course. I love to dance." I winked. "And if you're worried about me embarrassing you socially, I think we can consult an expert in dancing. It's rather surprising that Mister Vakarian is so good at it, but I've seen Garrus waltz with Commander Shepard. If he can get her to dance well, maybe we have a hope of really stealing the show at your birthday, eh?"

At that, Katherine laughed. "I certainly hope so, Doctor."

With the smile still on my face and my hearts full of glee for what we had accomplished, I flicked more controls and grabbed the TARDIS lever. "Tally ho!"

And off we went, another glorious triumph under my belt.