Homura made her way home as the sun was setting.
After school, she'd gone to see Kyoko - it was about time she sought out the redhead. She was difficult to convince since Mami was still alive and kicking, but the ravenette managed to get her to compromise by promising to give her the Wapurgisnacht's grief seed after defeating it. Being a legendary witch, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that it would give a grief seed that'd be able to purify a soul gem much more than a regular one.
During that time, Kuchiki had gone to Karakura to check on the Kurosakis, promising to be back the next day.

Once Homura had successfully recruited the redhead, she made her way towards Sayaka's house, intent on checking on her.
During her stay, she concluded that Sayaka wasn't coping well at all, but wasn't inclined to become a Puella Magi...yet. In fact, it seemed like the bluenette hadn't even thought about it. Homura knew she'd have to keep tabs on her more than ever now, but then again, the Incubators seemed to have made themselves scarce.

...But was that really a good thing?

Homura was many things, but optimistic wasn't one of them. Such a thing had never happened before, and having the little devils just up and dissappear was way too good to be true.
Had it switched objectives? The thought was almost unfathomable - she was sure she'd been repeating the last month and a half for at least a few years just because they wouldn't leave Madoka alone - but a lot of unusual things had happened in his timeline, so she felt the need to at least consider the possibility. However, instead if being comforted by the fact that it may not be after the pinkette anymore...she felt a horrible sense of foreboding.
From her experience alone, if she learned anything, it'd be that the Incubators never had good intentions. Therefore, this change couldn't be a positive one. Every time things looked alright, something would always happen to ruin it...

So...what on earth was going on...?

There was a gust of wind, and her hair was blown straight into her face, cutting off her thought process.
The Puella Magi suddenly froze and realized with a start that the street was completely empty, devoid of all signs of life.

That wasn't normal. Thatneverhappened.

The street lamps flickered for a moment before turning off completely, leaving her in almost complete darkness.

She should leave...

Feeling urgent, Homura didn't bother to actually transform, conjuring her shield and spreading her magic, trying to sense anyone nearby. It was probably another Puella Magi...right?
Having failed to sense anything, the ravenette put down her school bag and resorted to looking around. If there was someone dangerous, it'd be better to deal with it sooner than later.

This was a very bad idea...

Homura ignored her gut feeling. This wasn't the time to be a coward. Whoever this was, they could affect whether she succeeded or not in this timeline if they were as threatening as she thought.

Run...

The hairs on the back of Homura's neck stood. Someone was behind her, and her soul gem glowed extremely brightly, enough to light up at least a dozen meters around her.

Run...

The girl forcefully shoved down her fear, and turned around. She nearly wished she hadn't.

Orange eyes with black sclera and devoid of pupils bore into hers. The humanoid, deathly pale creature tilted it's head, watching her. It's lips never once moved, but it's hoarse, high-pitched voice was crystal clear, as though the air itself had been it's voice.

"...Pytho...ni...ssam..."

There was an unbearable amount of pressure all around her now, something Homura was appalled she hadn't noticed earlier. It was hard to even breathe, let alone stand.
The creature's eyes glowed, a toothless smirk large enough to literally reach it's ears split it's face, and Homura lost her composure.

RUN!

She went to stop time, but apparently, her reaction time had been much too slow.

"...Male...di...co..."

Her vision flickered for a moment, and pain blossomed in her abdomen. The humanoid monster had dissappeared entirely, her soul gem stopped glowing as brightly, and the streetlights slowly turned back on, though they remained dim. There was enough light, however, for her to realize that she didn't recognize the street.

The ravenette had no idea when she had unintentionally dispelled her shield...or when she had been moved, let alone where.

Looking down, she found her innards spilled out on the floor, and her heart floating in the air in front of her, before it dropped onto the ground with the rest of the gore. Her entire ribcage had been twisted outward, looking like a mockery of wings, and blood pooled around her.

When did it even attack her?

"W...w-ha...a...a...kkkkkk-"

Confused, shocked and frightened for the first time in what felt like years, Homura nearly choked on her own blood, barely managing to cough it out before the entire world turned and she felt like her back and the back of her head had been hit.

She...fell backwards...?

Black spots started appearing at the edges of her vision, an her eyelids became heavy.
Distantly, she thought she heard footsteps, though she couldn't quite tell whether they were going away or coming closer.

The last thing she saw before fading unto unconsciousness was a worried-looking young man - when had he gotten there...? - with black hair and dark-blue eyes, and who wore glasses.

0.0

Mami woke up to a white ceiling, and was momentarily confused before she realized that she was in Homura's house.
She slowly sat up, finding that she had a slight headache, and looked around. The guest room was relatively simple but comfortable; there was just the bed she'd been laying in, a nightstand and a small closet. The clock on the nightstand indicated that it was around four o'clock in the morning.

It didn't take long at all for the other people in the house to notice that she'd woken up - in fact, the second she stood from the bed, the door slammed open, and the blonde barely registered the maroon-colored blur that came straight towards her before Suzuki pretty much barrelled straight into her.

"MAAMIIII-CHAAAAN! I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER WAKE UUUP!"

"E-ehh?"

Finding herself knocked back down with her friend continuously bawling crocodile tears and acting incredibly childishly, she looked to the doorway and found an amused Yasutora just outside the room along with a short, bored looking white-haired stranger who was leaning against the doorframe.
The stranger just nodded at her and left - presumably going to the living room - while Yasutora let her know that they'd prepared some sandwiches for a midnight snack in case she woke up, and invited her to come around if she was hungry.

It was then that they both noticed that Suzuki started giggling, and she suddenly blurted out:

"Actually, Yasutora wouldn't stop coming to check on you like a mother hen! Hitsugaya-kun is the one who finally convinced him to stop drooling at your face!"

Mami's jaw dropped. What?
She turned to Yasutora, who shook his head, a frown now present.

"But that's not all!", she continued, completely ignoring their exchange, "He wanted to call a friend of his to get you to heal faster! He was so worried for his damsel in distress! I wonder when he'll pop the question!"

She blinked, completely missing the implications of the last sentence. He was really that worried?
Feeling grateful, she smiled and thanked Yasutora, who was silently looking away - was that a blush she saw? Nah, probably just her imagination...

The white-haired stranger - probably the one Suzuki called 'Hitsugaya' - came back, his phone in hand.

"There's no longer any need to worry about Akemi. A friend of the Kurosakis found her."

...What? Something had happened?

He looked at her, clearly noticing her change of mood.

"I know him. She's safe from anyone who may attack her again...I'll be letting you two catch up, now.", he said, smirking slightly as he gestured for Suzuki to leave with him.

Oh dear lord.

She didn't even know him and Suzuki already roped him into believing that she and Yasutora had a relationship? Really?

She sighed, slightly ticked off...but also embarrassed.

0.0

Brown eyes watched as the residents of Karakura town - or at least, the night owls that would still be outside at that hour - merrily went by their peaceful lives, unaware of any and all of the supernatural dangers that existed.

The individual frowned. If it hadn't been for him, he'd be ruling the worlds, he'd be royalty.

But... that would be rectified in time. First, he wanted revenge. The cursed orangette would suffer.
The frown morphed into a smirk as he zeroed in on the Kurosaki twins. It'd be too simple to just torture or kill the man...so why not let him watch as all those he fought for fell instead?

...Working for the Incubators would only be temporary. Once his objective was in his reach, he would discard them.

Sosuke Aizen faded back into the shadows.

In time, everyone would bow to him.