Puella Magi: A Cyclical Magica

…

- A Wish to Save Us All

"Checkmate," Homura scoffed. "I don't believe that. Not for a second."

Xulbey couldn't physically frown, but Madoka imagined that if any featureless being needed to earn that right, it was this Incubator. "You disappoint me, Homura. I've just laid out a plot more diabolical than anything Kyubey had ever created, than anything he every could create.

"Unless you are simply suicidal, I imagine you know that Madoka—"

Homura had listened to enough overly-confident blather for one day. She turned her attention to Sayaka, defeat absent in the sapphire-haired girl's eyes.

Sayaka gripped the edge of the sofa cushion, her passion sending shivers through Madoka's skin. All of this talk of alternate timelines, differing plans for the fate of her best friend, the creation of the Alice abomination, none of it really mattered. At this moment, in this timeline, Sayaka had to protect a city. She had to protect her friend from chaotic space aliens…and all of her resources were in this room.

For the first time, Homura and Sayaka saw eye-to-eye.

"What's the plan?" Sayaka shot up like a rocket.

"We can't beat Alice on our own," Homura said coolly. "Tomoe is nowhere to be seen, but I know for a fact that she's still in town."

"How?" Madoka asked innocently.

"In no timeline has Mami Tomoe simply given up in the face of witches." Homura paused, and then added, "At least, not from having to fight witches."

Madoka didn't ask for an explanation.

"If we can find Tomoe, we'll have three Magical Girls on our side," Homura continued, her plan obviously coming up on the spur of the moment. Not that Madoka could fault her for anything: not only was this the umpteenth plot to save her life, but it also came at the end of being outsmarted. Homura could never have expected this, but she could certainly react to it with skill. "With three of us, we might stand a chance."

"Ladies, would you stop being so foolish?" Xulbey scoffed. "You don't know how powerful Alice is. What's the idea, for Miki and Tomoe to defeat my perfect weapon? Hardly. Defeating witches is one thing, but fighting Alice is a hell far beyond their fate."

Xulbey's words fell on deaf ears. Only Madoka listened as the words broadcast through the air. She shifted in her seat, torn between the battle plans and the skeptic arguing that their efforts were a fruitless example of desperation.

That was hardly all of it, though.

…She was already dead?

…Worse than that, she was only here to bring the apocalypse?

That's what Xulbey had insinuated, at the very least. Alice was her equal and opposite reaction to the choices she had made in the past. Or rather, the choices that an alternate her had made in alternate worlds. But because they were all connected by one shared universe, that Madoka that had sacrificed herself to destroy witches was just as much at fault for Alice's existence as this Madoka right now, sitting on the couch with as much power as any other girl in eighth grade. The only reason she was brought back at all was because Alice wished for vengeance…

"Homura?"

Madoka chimed back into reality. She didn't know how long she had been distant; Homura and Sayaka were watching a holographic map along the wall and pointing to the horrifically-large concentrations of witches throughout the besieged Mitakihara. The only pairs of eyes concentrated on her were the bulbous red ones of Kyubey, and the ominous green set belonging to Xulbey.

She struggled to breathe.

"Homura," she asked louder. "I…I want to know."

Both Puella Magi turned to watch her.

"All of those people…everyone in trouble just outside your door…"

Her voice began to crack.

"It's all…it's my fault, isn't it?"

Homura was falling over herself as she raced for Madoka's sullen form—

"It's my fault that you've spent your life trying to beat the Walpurgisnacht, it's my fault that you've all died so many times, it's my fault that you became a Puella Magi and everyone out there dying right now is all my fault and—"

Battle-hardened hands fell on Madoka's and rested in her lap for a quiet second. The air in the room hung as Homura's violet eyes gripped Madoka's tight and refused to let them retreat into their meek shell.

"Listen to me, Madoka Kaname, and you listen well," Homura ordered. "None of this is your fault. None of this is anybody's fault.

"Alice exists because that Incubator wants to use you to rewrite reality. It's not the first time someone has come after you for that, believe me.

"But every time, I've been the one to create that scenario, to bring you to this same exact fate, every time."

Homura beat Xulbey to the chase. "It's my fault that the world is like this, and believe me, I've wrestled with that truth more than you will ever know.

"But…remember how Magical Girls are created?"

Madoka fought back tears. "You said…they're created from wishes."

"Right. Some of us with for ourselves, and those same girls end up dead before they can blink.

"But Sayaka Miki wished for someone else, and Mami Tomoe repents for her wish every day that she's breathing, in every timeline.

"Do you know what you've wished for, Madoka Kaname?"

She shook her little pink head—

"You made a wish to save us all. Each and every time, that was your motive. We three wanted to save people, but you wished to save people.

"It's who you are, Madoka. It's why this is never your fault, and it's why we're all getting out of this alive.

"Now…before we go and save the world, is there anything you wanted to add?"

Sayaka cleared her throat. "I've got one," she said with a mock smile. "When do I get to beat Chika's face in?"

…

Mami Tomoe crashed not into or against, but through the skyscraper from the force of the witch as it whipped her with its tendons with unfailing accuracy. As she soared to the ground hundreds of feet below, Mami fought against exhaustion and extended her crimson ribbons; the bands tied themselves around the antenna of another building nearby, allowing her to swing safely to the roof of a lower tower and catch her breath. The witch had ignored her after that mighty blow, instead choosing to resume its inhuman rampage.

Her every muscle screamed for mercy, but Mami Tomoe would go down fighting.

Mami's tired eyes scanned the area viciously. Somewhere in the few minutes between fighting the horde and being overwhelmed, she had lost sight of Kyoko and Yuma—

"Mami! Are you there? Come on, don't tell me I'm using this thing wrong…"

"Sayaka?!" Mami shouted. It took her a second to realize that the voice was from her mind. Sayaka was using the Puella-Magi telepathy link for the first time. "Sayaka, I can hear you. What is it? Are you alive?"

"Oh, we're just peachy over here. The world is just about to end, and we've been utterly boned by this Xulbey character, but beyond that—"

"Tomoe, this is Akemi," another voice rang out. "We have a plan, but we need more numbers. Where are you?"

"Homura Akemi," Mami said, her tone less than excited. "Isn't this a pleasant surprise. I suppose you want my help?"

"It's not about me," Homura fired back. "Alice is going to kill us all unless we can counterattack, but it's more difficult than that. Aoki Chika is in the way."

Mami hated having to talk to Homura in the arena of her mind, but she welcomed the chance to catch her breath. "Aoki Chika? I thought Kyoko killed her—"

"Like Sayaka told you, it's gotten complicated. We need to regroup."

Regroup? Easier said than done. She had to find her friends first, then focus on saving the world. If Kyoko or Yuma were hurt from Mami's overzealous desire to protect everyone, she might never forgive herself. Mami paused. "I'm a little busy at the moment…"

"Where can we meet you?" Homura ignored the implied refusal in Mami's words.

Steel and concrete collapsed around her in all directions. Mami spun quickly, searching for the aggressor, but the bruises on her legs were screaming bloody agony—

"Mami! Help!"

—Yuma!

Mami sprang forth, ribbons launching into the air as she soared through dust and debris. She didn't know how far up she had flown, or how far the earth was below her, but it didn't matter. Her ribbons raced toward the voice—

The pulled taut—

"Mami!" Yuma shrieked as the ribbon whipped back, pulling the two girls together. The golden warrior could only catch a glimpse, but the wounds on Yuma's head alone didn't tell an optimistic story—

"Watch out!"

The dust cleared—

Below them, Mami laid eyes on a witch with the jaw of Cerberus and demonic claws, reaching out to rip them both to shreds. Mami knew she had to act fast, but she was past panic; she was trained.

Kicking her legs out with a dancer's prowess, Mami flipped over the witch just as her ribbon retracted. Yuma began to free-fall with her—

Mami's practiced hands went to work. With an impeccable skill, Mami reached out and took Yuma's little girl fingers into her own, pulling the child into her protection. And with the other—

"Eat lead!"

Mami's arsenal of muskets materialized around the witch's garish head, all unleashing their prepared shot the moment they appeared. The witch had no time to react; Mami had left no chances. The demon could only stay put as a volley of metal and pain pierced its flesh with a stinging agony. With an operatic scream, the witch fell back into the cloud and lay motionless.

One down.

Mami and Yuma landed gracefully onto another rooftop, this structure shorter than the previous one but already worse for wear; rubble and metal posts lay scattered, scarring the landscape. Another of these monsters could simply breathe on it and the frame would come crumbling down…but for now, it could provide cover.

There was no defeat tonight. Defeat had never been an option, after all.

That kind of thinking would lead to disaster. Mami couldn't let herself focus on the doom and gloom, especially when there was a bleeding child lying next to her. Mami had landed on her feet and was ready for more; Yuma could hardly say the same.

The golden girl resisted looking at the fallen form beside her for as many precious seconds as she could. Seeing the wounds with her own eyes would make this all too real. She had felt the busted child bones when the ribbons brought Yuma to her; Mami had heard them snap inside Yuma's barely-developing body when they landed in an exhausted mess.

That wasn't even the worst part.

Though her limbs lay mangled by evil, Yuma remained cheerful…and oblivious.

Yuma's words were fine. Her brilliant voice rang out as casually as any other day. Hearing her cheerful tone come out of a crippled body nearly turned Mami's stomach inside-out.

"I can't find her," Yuma begged. "We got separated. I was screaming for her, but I couldn't…"

Every word buried Mami in her own personal coffin. "Kyoko's still out there," Mami managed. "I need to find her, but I'm not leaving you alone. Kyoko's strong; she can—"

"No!"

Yuma's screech bounded through the ruins of downtown Mitakihara. Mami turned to ice.

"No," the child repeated. "I…I'm the only reason she came here. Oni-chan's here because I've been ordered to be here." The words belonged in a confession at school, not a battlefield.

…Wait.

"Ordered?" Mami asked, knowing full well that she wasn't helping the situation any. A girl was bleeding out, and Mami wanted to ask her for details. A violent cough sent Yuma's body into spasms, and specks of red fluid onto the blasted ground. Mami knelt beside her and moved to cradle the dying warrior's head—

"I said, no," Yuma repeated, this time more gently. This time not with anger, but with resignation. Resignation that belonged to women far older than themselves. "It's all my fault. Mami, please listen to me.

"When I made my wish, I…I just wanted to have friends," Yuma said jubilantly.

"I ran away because I had no friends, Mami. I couldn't take it, and so I ran." Yuma closed her eyes and laughed a hollow laugh. "Crazy, right?

"After I met the kitty with the green eyes, I asked him to give me a friend…"

"That's when you met Kyoko," Mami whispered. She hadn't meant to.

"Oni-chan watched over me for so long, it almost felt like I had a family again. She was my best friend and my older sister…the two things I had always wanted…at the same time. She was the best…

"But," her voice started to fade out. Mami struggled to tune out the carnage in the distance. "The kitty showed up last week. We hadn't seen him in so long.

"He wanted me to come here," Yuma went on. "I didn't want to go, but…but Oni-chan and the kitty talked for a while, and they decided I needed to be here.

"But the worst part was…I actually wanted to be here. And I didn't know why." Yuma broke out into sobs; the tears mixed with the dust and crusted blood on her cheeks before they finally dropped to the ground. "I'm supposed to be here, and this is all my—"

"Yuma, you are not allowed to finish that sentence," Mami forced out, summoning her last bastion of courage. She surprised herself; she worried that her voice might not work in the face of this magnitude of suffering. "We're getting out of here. What happened to us being a team?" She smiled weakly.

The sad smile of the shining Magical Girl did nothing against the impenetrable, inevitable sorrow within Yuma Chitose.

They were silent for a while. Even as the world burned around her, Mami heard nothing aside from Yuma's labored breath.

"When you find Oni-chan," Yuma started. Her voice was a desert where there once was life. "Tell her I'm sorry?"

Her smile hung as an unfinished portrait.

The world raced to Mami's mind all at once. All around her, people lay hurt and dying in the remnants of the once-lively Mitakihara City. A girl lay dead in her battered and defenseless arms; a witch could come up from any direction it chose and snuff Mami's life out like a cheap candle. Mami didn't exactly care.

…What was it all for?

And not in the cosmic, ridiculous manner. She had led Kyoko and Yuma here to save people, to do the job Mami had convinced herself was the path that these girls were meant to take. Not only had they been unable to save a single soul, but Kyoko had gone missing in action, Mami herself could scarcely raise a fist, and Yuma—

Mami hadn't the time to process the tragedy before her when footsteps clattered to the ground behind her. An all-to-familiar attitude of superiority had arrived at the worst time.

"Is everything okay over here?" Aoki Chika asked, a hand on her hip and an outstretched finger pointing at the crumbled girls. "You both seem a tad choked up over something."

When there was no reply, Chika circled around the two limp forms with a mocking, insulting interest. She caught on quickly enough; the sobs falling onto Yuma's forehead as Mami cradled her friend told the tale.

"Oh, that's what's going on," Chika said. "Death in the group. Sorry to hear. Not that I've ever had anybody around me die, but…I get the feeling it's a bit rough."

Pure adrenaline coursed through Mami's veins. Before she knew it, Mami's pain evaporated, eaten whole by the urge to destroy—

"You might be wondering how I'm alive," Chika put her pointed finger to her lip, trying and succeeding to be achingly cutesy. "You might not understand since you've made such an effort to keep yourself hidden, but…let's say I'm just half of the picture here.

"Granted, you and your friend don't look like much at the moment, either." Chika's shimmering green dress glowed against the gray death surrounding them. The same color that Yuma had embodied only a moment ago—

"But if I remember right," Chika though back, "Don't you not know her? Girls are weird."

Mami rose to her feet—

"I mean, why cry over some girl you don't even know? It's kind of stupid, really—"

"I'll show you what's kind of stupid!" Mami growled, her strength renewed. Kyoko had to still be out there; there were other things that she had to do right now. Fighting another Magical Girl wasn't worth it—

Chika's hammer sprang forth from her pristine headband. "It's your move, pigtails," she gloated.

…

"We've got a plan, then!" Sayaka slammed her fist into her hand. The girls stood by the door, poised and ready for action. The Incubators had both grown quiet as Homura struggled to come up with a plan of attack. Even under pressure, she managed well enough to energize her companions into motion.

"I have to admit," Xulbey said, "I'm impressed."

"Are you still here?" Sayaka laughed. "The three of us have a job to do, so if you don't mind, I'm pretty sure Homura doesn't want you two here when she gets back."

"Right, because you'll survive," Xulbey replied. "Your plan relies on finding Tomoe, and then having you and yellow simply stall for time against my invincible weapon, while Homura somehow defeats the animal that is Aoki Chika.

"Do you even know where to find your third Musketeer?" Xulbey twisted its head, interested.

"She's downtown somewhere," Sayaka said boldly. As the seconds passed, Sayaka grew more and more confident. She was a Puella Magi. Mami had introduced her into this world for a reason, and this moment was it. "We'll use that mind-power-thingy to find her from there, and then we're good to go. Right?"

Sayaka looked to the black Puella Magi for assurance. Homura's no-nonsense violet eyes announced more certainty than any words could. Beside her, Madoka wringed her hands hurriedly, fighting to balance a fine line between optimism and anxiety. Mami, Sayaka, and Homura could do this. They could defeat Chika and Alice, and it would all be over before she knew it. Madoka could go back to her sketch book, back to school, back to the world they all knew. Sayaka could run off with her new violin-playing boyfriend, and Homura could move on with her life.

"Good luck, ladies," Xulbey added. He jumped from the furniture to stroll along the white, featureless floor, under Kyubey's accusing eye. "I do hope you find Mami before Aoki Chika does."

Homura furrowed her brow—

"Because we all know how that will end, don't we?"

A/N: This chapter was very difficult to write. Fight scenes are very much not my forte, and well…review, folks! Constructive criticism is always welcome.