Destruction. Chaos. Bloodshed. Death.
It all happened simultaneously, as screams of the victims — innocent and guilty alike — rang in the air.
The white Puella Magi almost immediately found the cause of all this devastation, idly watching in the sidelines as the war continued.
Kyubey...no, the Incubator then twitched it's ear, as though listening to something, before many other Incubators rose to the skies, the clouds parting, assomethinggolden glowed in the middle of it all.
A black-haired Puella Magi — Homura Akemi — and a white-haired boy in black robes — Toshiro Hitsugaya — leaped up to try to interfere with whatever it was they were doing, but was too late.
Emerald eyeswatched in horror as literally every being alive suddenly stopped fighting and began writhing in agony as their very souls were converted into energy. Their bodies dropped to the ground, dead.
Her surroundings started to dissipate, slowly turning into pure energy.
Just as the world began to crumble and fall apart,everything was engulfed in white, as she felt herself get pulled out of her premonition.
...
...
...
Oriko Mikuni jerked up, her previous mission of eliminating Madoka Kaname all but forgotten. She didn't know what had happened for the future to change so drastically... But what was done was done.
Steeling herself, the blonde Puella Magi tied her hair into its usual side-ponytail, and called out for her loyal friend.
A Puella Magi with short, choppy black hair and amber eyes arrived shortly, and Oriko gave her a gentle smile, as though she wasn't about to deliver ground-breaking news to said girl.
It didn't matter if her target had changed; her world was still at stake.
She knew what she had to do.
0.0
Sayaka Miki stared blankly at the ceiling in her bedroom.
...he really was gone, wasn't he?
She wasn't dreaming at all...was she?
The bluenette turned to see Madoka, who'd passed out a few hours before.
That girl was probably the closest she'd ever have to family. After failing to get Sayaka out of the house, she'd made sure the teen at least ate properly, and managed to coax her into getting a change of clothes before proceeding to play a few board games and talking about random things, never once even touching the subject of Kyousuke's demise.
Gingerly sitting up, she opened a small box on the night table, finding a small, golden necklace with a sapphire pendant — a gift she'd been given on her last birthday. She treasured the objet like it was sacred; almost as if her life depended on it.
She could still remember that day in perfect detail.
{~$~}
Her mother had finally, finally been scheduled to come back to Mitakihara from her business trip; and it'd be just in time for her birthday. The bluenette was so excited and eager to please that she'd immediately gotten to work, cleaning the entire house, putting up handmade decorations, cooking up a feast and baking a large chocolat cake herself — she even made the frosting and, with much difficulty, put some beautiful, chocolate accessories on it.
And then she waited.
And waited.
And waited...
After a few hours of watching the door, ever so excited to welcome back her mother, she decided to call and see if the plane was late, and everything came crashing down.
She wasn't coming. She'd decided to go sightseeing with her friends over in California instead.
Sayaka had spent the entire afternoon preparing everything for nothing.
A few hours after she'd tearfully ripped down all the decorations, shoved the food she'd made into the fridge and locked herself up in her room, a knock came at her door. She hadn't been in the mood to answer, and ignored it.
Whoever it was continued knocking for a solid ten minutes, before seemingly giving up.
She didn't care.
But then, a familiar pinkette came directly into her room through the bedroom window, and screamed 'Happy Birthday ' as loud as she could, a bright smile on her face, with the small present in hand.
{~$~}
Shaking away the memories, the teen finally decided to wear it for the first time. Why not, after all?
It was about time she moved on anyway. It wasn't like she was a stationary zombie or a cursed rock or something.
Madoka was obviously the only person who truly cared for her now (except maybe Hitomi and her newer friends); her parents were perfectly fine with casting her away whilst shutting her up with enough money to live on, and Kyousuke...Kyousuke was gone for good. She could grieve, yes... But her friend was still there for her.
She would have to settle with what she had.
Sayaka heard Madoka groan as she woke up, rubbing at her eyes as she shifted, then sat up. She stared at her blue-haired friend — likely wondering why she was there when she awoke — before perking up and asking Sayaka for the time.
It was just past five thirty in the morning. Fairly early, in Sayaka's opinion.
It wasa tuesday though, so she'd have to get up soon and go to school if she wanted to avoid being absent a second time. Resigned, Sayaka sighed as she stood, going down to kitchen after having offered one of her uniforms to Madoka and letting her use the shower — the girl was still in her uniform from the day before, now wrinkled and a little dirty, and she knew the pinkette wouldn't be comfortable going to school looking like that.
...
In fresh uniforms and ready for the day, the two girls unanimously decided to go to Akemi's house to pick her up since they were actually a little early.
Sayaka knocked on the ravenette's front door a few times, and both girls were slightly surprised when they weren't answered — that girl was usually pretty quick to open the door.
The two friends were, understandably shocked when a very tired-looking Tomoe answered the door instead, dressed in casual clothes, and informed the two that Homura was currently recovering from seemingly grievous injuries she'd received the night before. What exactly happened, however, was a mystery.
Suzuki and Hitsugaya had gone to check on her, though she was doing just fine according to Yasutora's friend, who'd been the one to find her.
Tomoe, who'd been exhausted because of the day before, had reluctantly chosen not to go to school for once upon both Yasutora's and Suzuki's insistence, and called the school to inform them that she 'wasn't feeling well'.
Disconcerted, the two teens made their way to school, encountering Hitomi along the way like they normally would... But it didn't feel the same.
Sayaka hadn't anticipated just how hard it would be to focus in class, instead feeling worried sick about Akemi. Hours passed achingly slowly, and by the time it was lunchbreak the girl thought she'd go insane.
She knew she'd been told not to worry about the ravenette, but an undeniable feeling of dread plagued her gut, and the fact that Kuchiki was absent as well didn't help. Madoka obviously had her thoughts elsewhere as well, as she hadn't payed attention to a single word Hitomi had told her during the entire period of lunchbreak.
As the bell rang, signaling the end of lunchbreak, the bluenette had had enough.
It wasn't like she cared much for the history lesson she was supposed to attend anyway.
Approaching her pink-haired friend, she tapped her shoulder to get her attention as the latter packed away her bento.
"I'm ditching, Madoka. I gotta go see Akemi."
Madoka whirled around, shocked, and gave her a scandalized look.
"S-Sayaka! We have a test next period and you already skipped school yesterday! I know you're worried about Homura-chan — and I don't blame you for that — but is that really a good idea?!", the pinkette whispered, wary of anyone in earshot.
The blue-haired teen sighed.
"I... Just call it a gut feeling, okay? I don't think... I mean, I feel like we're missing something here. Something's not right... Just... I gotta go."
Instead of receiving the frown of disapproval she was expecting, her childhood friend's eyes widened incredulously.
"Y-you too..? I've been feeling the same since this morning..."
She but her lip, facial expression alternating between worry and confusion, before settling on shaky, but tentative determination.
"Alright then... But I'm coming with you!"
"Eh? Isn't your mom gonna get angry though? This is the second time you're gonna miss school, and this time you don't even have a good excuse from her point of view...", Sayaka said skeptically, wondering just how the pinkette planned to keep herself out of trouble.
Said girl just shook her head.
"I'll worry about Mama's reaction when I get back, and let her know in the meantime that I might come home late. This is more important. We should get Mami-san too; she wouldn't want to miss this if something is really going on."
0.0
Several Incubator terminals took their designated places across Japan, releasing large amounts of hollow bait specifically designed to attract Gillian-level hollows as the protocol had indicated.
Unbeknownst to the majority of the human population, several gargantas would soon rip open the skies, putting their first step to the plan in motion.
...
...
...
A lone Incubator watched as a confused Hitomi Shizuki looked around the school, unable to locate her two friends.
Contracting the girl hadn't originally even been considered — her potential wasn't the highest — but she would be by far the easiest in the group to manipulate thanks to her ignorance, and would make a bigger impact faster than most other potential contractees.
By timing this right and saying the right words, the Incubator would be able to use her to eliminate a few potential threats.
For the first time in centuries, the Incubator smirked, practically splitting its face in two, its eyes glowing an ominous red.
Let the games begin.