Chapter 1

Kyoko carefully finished eating her rather elaborate breakfast. Today was a special day.
She was going to head out towards Mitakihara city. Mami's territory, a place she had been avoiding ever since their falling out.
She had set aside some good food for herself. Afterall, a fine meal was the basis on which to start a day off great.
For a long time, she had kept away from Mami, due to the remnant of respect she held for her.
However when it became evident that the blonde had taken a new rookie under her wing, it started bugging her.
The more she thought about it, the more it irked her. The two of them had alledgedly hit it off great, and shared matching hopes and ideals.
It sounded uncomfortably similar to how it had been for her, when she had just met Mami.
Which brought the question, was this an impending disaster just waiting to happen? Mami was such a fool.
What was she thinking? Blatantly replacing her like that, with some kind of carbon copy of what she used to be? Wasn't that just twisted?
She had to go there. She had been thinking on it for a while but with a Walpurgis on it's way, it was now the time more than ever.

It was then she heard the loud noise of nearby thunder, prompting her to hurry up. She swiftly got herself ready and made her way over to a window.
Like the day before, it was storming outside but this time it was even more intense. If what she heard was correct, that was a sign of the Walpurgisnacht arriving.
She had sat ready and waiting yesterday but this time she could feel it. It was near. She had to go now.
The upcoming fight with it was near guaranteed to turn into a big showdown. One she didn't want to miss.
It was the way to kickstart her return to Mitakihara and bring back some excitement into her life, as long as the fight didn't dissapoint of course.
Walpurgisnachts were terrible witches, beyond the power of any regular witch, even a strong veteran like Mami would struggle tremendously against one of them.
Battles with this type of witch often proved fatal. And Mami was planning to face it with only a single rookie by her side. Which was all the more reason, Kyoko had to be there. Those fools were putting themselves into an immense amount of danger. If she could get there in time, that would considerable ease the burden though.
Compared to the Mami she knew, she was nearly as strong now. All she would have to do was just jump in there when the moment's right and turn the tide of battle.
Then when they killed the witch, she would snatch away it's griefseed as her throphy. No way she was going to have Mami or Kyoko 2.0 have it

As Kyoko neared the city, she was thrown out of her thoughts and almost stumbled over. What the hell had happened?
The view before was unreal. Even having heard of some of the wild rumours about this Walpurgisnacht, she was astounded.
This terrible witch's had single-handedly caused destruction on a scale she had never once witnessed in person. The city looked like a disaster zone.
Like a hurricane had it, twice, only more bizzare. And among the giant mess, in the midst of it all, floating amongst torn up buildings and countless pieces of debris, was the grand witch itself

Kyoko sighed. Of course it just had to turn out be a complete fucking disaster. Life really liked messing with her.
At least it looked like the witch wasn't going to be a pushover. Nope, no worries there.
Plenty of huge fucking witch bringing an end to the entire city within minutes to go around for everyone
The more she closed the distance, the clearer she could feel the true strenght of the witch.
The massive amount of destruction it had caused was already a nice indication, but damn if these gaint waves of power that radiated off it didn't prove it.
This witch was a monster and Mami was fighting this thing alone. Well with that stupid new sidekick perhaps, if the runt hadn't ran off.
She had to give to Mami, it took guts to stand tall against something like this. Given the other girl was only a novice, she wouldn't even blame her if she had indeed fled.
That made her remember, back when she had been training under Mami, they had once talked about taking on a Walpurgisnacht.
They had lightheartedly made a promise to one day take one on together. It wasn't too late yet to make it come true, she supposed, even if the circumstances had drastically changed.

Running and jumping her way past rubble and broken buildings, through empty and destroyed streets, Kyoko passed wrecked cars, furniture and household items lying about in chaotic fashion. Among this big mess, and in the sky above it, she kept looking for a certain yellow hue. Of course it wasn't easy to spot, given the mess the city had become, but as long as she got herself closer and closer to the witch, she would eventually find her.
She tried feeling out for Mami's magical energy signature but to no avail. Throwing glances at the witch and confirming that it still looked occupied with someone or something was the most confirmation she could get that Mami was still out there fighting it.

After a little while, she finally picked something up, a magical signature different from the witch and her familiars.
It was hard to make out but she was certain. That had been a magical girl she had felt. Mami was nearby.
She rushed over to the location she had felt it originate from but a wave of dissapointment hit her.
Pink hair and a frilly attire made it clear it wasn't Mami but what had to be that new apprentice of hers.
Afterall, she perfectly fit what little Kyubey had told her about that her. Why was this girl out here fighting alone?
Where the hell was Mami? Had something happened to her? That girl likely knew.

There was a problem though. The girl was already engaged in combat with the witch.
Constantly on the move, weaving and dodging her way through a barrage of attacks, never catching more than brief moments of respite.
How was she going to ask her anything like that? If she distracted her, it could definitely get the girl hit and the witch was throwing in some pretty hard hitting attacks.

For her part, the girl did well on avoiding the attacks that came her way and even found herself the occasional moment to strike back.
The giant witch however, seemed largely unfazed. As if without a care, it just kept up this maniacal laughter that had already become grating to Kyoko's ears.
The rookie however, seemed unwilling to budge. Damn it. Just what kind of bullshit had Mami fed her that she wouldn't take the hint and just run away right here?
She would just have to pull the girl out of there.

The girl, however, begun firing off a huge arrow towards the giant witch. One that she was pouring more and more energy into.
Way too much, infact. What did this idiot think she was doing? There was no way she would have enough left in her tank to fight on after that.
Was she just stupid or was she actually trying to get herself killed? She was about to yell at her, but the girl already released her attack.
Kyoko couldn't help but follow it with her eyes as the arrow soared through the sky and then crashed into the giant witch, leaving behind a great flash of pink.
The Witch staggered back. It had been hurt quite a lot, she could feel it. She had underestimated this girl. Her attack had nearly done the trick.

However the girl was now panting and shaking slightly. She stood still holding her hands to her knees, her gaze was cast downward.
The witch wasn't doing well but this girl was looking like even the wind might soon blow her over. The magical aura, that before had burned brightly around her, could only be felt faintly. The girl really wasn't going to last like this. When the witch launched another attack her way, the girl didn't even seem to respond.
The fool was really going to die, if she didn't interfere, and a small part or her felt that was right, but her reason and desire to save the girl were even greater.

Had she a little more time, she would have pushed the girl out of the way. Instead, Kyoko had to make do with hastily raising up a barrier in front of them.
Disastrously, it proved to be no match for the brutal force of the attack. The barried shattered in all but a moment. Only slowing but not stopping the sphere of incoming doom and then it violently hit the both them. With her eyes closed, Kyoko could only feel the destructive magic as it flooded over her body and slammed her away. By the time she opened them, she was soaring through the air, feeling disorientated. She was in pain, had the air knocked out of her, and her skin felt like it was on fire.
Just barely did she manage to avoid crashing into a lantern, more by luck than anything else, but the rest of her landing was rough.
She crashed and tumbled down the road, not stopping until her body met with the side of a car.

Damn it! Given the pain she was in and the damage she had suffered, she could only hope the other girl wasn't dead. But how likely was that?
Still, she got up, only to find another terrible sight greeting her.
Amidst some rubble, a little further ahead, lay the lifeless body of a girl, not the one that had gotten hit just moments ago, but the girl that she had been looking for. Mami, the last of her family, was dead. Damn it all! Misery and anger, hopelessness and frustration, started swirling together into a toxic cocktail.

The witch was meanwhile still laughing like it was all was some kind of twisted joke.
Jumping up high, Kyoko summoned a huge magical spear and poured more and more energy into it.
The witch, even at this sight kept up its laughter all the same, but slowly it moved away from her. It had also started sending more and more of its familiars towards her. No way was she gonna let it escape though.

"Shut up! You gigantic piece of shit! Just die!" With that, she took off and closed the distance between them, all the while summoning barriers to stop any familiars from getting in her way.
When she reached the witch, she could feel her magic infused spear break straight through its defenses.
A few short moments later the witch started breaking apart. "Mami, it's okay. I did it." She had slayed the Walpurgisnacht. She had avenged her.
But Mami wasn't coming back.

She didn't know what to do with the emptyness and sadness that started filling her.
Taking a look at the giant griefseed that the Witch had dropped, she smiled faintly. At least she had her trophy now.
For a while Kyoko simply sat down, lost, her thoughts sinking away she got pulled along by the flood of emotions.
Bruised and bathered, she was beaten, tears refused to stop dripping down her face. Only the appearance of another girl gave her pause.
It was... who exactly? An uniform similar to Mami's showed she was from the same school.
She had long black hair was worn in two long braids, something she had never seen before, and looked as fragile as the red glasses that adorned her face.

The girl was making her way over to where the pink haired one lay, she was looking distraught, yet gave Kyoko a sense of comfort.
A companion in suffering, she supposed. Slowly she had started approaching her, not even sure of her own intentions.
It was then a small white creature showed its face and started talking to the girl. Kyubey.
What business did he have with her? Listening in on their conversation, it soon became clear he was offering her a wish in exchange for becoming another magical girl.
What the hell was he thinking? She didn't even know how she was gonna keep up being a magical girl after today. Even if she could manage, there was no way that girl was fit to be become a magical girl.

Kyoko jumped in between the two of them, grabbing their attention. The girl skid back, before looking at her. "Wha... who are you?"
She was surely surprised, probably a little scared even. Most of all, she looked sad though.
It caught her little off guard. Was this girl thinking of making a wish in spite of what had happened to the other girl and Mami?
"Listen, uhm. Kyoko, I'm Kyoko Sakura. And I don't know what you are thinking, but making a wish won't bring you any good."
She had to get this through to the girl. The girl spoke back to her in a small voice, "No... Madoka... I can't... I won't... without her."
Madoka, Mami's apprentice, huh? The one she had failed to save. Shit. The girl looked so broken up over it, it wasn't fair.

Kyoko wasn't feeling any better herself. Not just Mami, but the rest of her family too. All of them were gone.
She could feel the girl´s grief, but would a wish to bring back her friend really turn out well? Wouldn't it cause just more tragedies down the line?
She had made her wish for her father and her family, and where had that left her? A wish looking good from the outset didn't mean anything.
But how could she make her get that? Tears were steadily dripping down the girl's face and her gaze was cast downward.

"Hey? Ah... damn it. You know, it's what got your friend killed. Even if you wished her back, there is no guarantee anything good would come out of it."
The girl just kept crying. Damn it, nothing went well on this day. Could she even be bothered anymore?
Before she could decide on anything further to say, Kyubey started talking again, seemingly all too happy to continue onwards as if Mami and that other magical girl hadn't just died there.
"It is certainly true that there are no guarantees, but should that stop her from taking chances? I am sure, Homura's aware of how dangerous it can be.
Do you really want her one true wish to be denied?"

She wasn't sure anymore what to think about that, but what she did know was that Kyubey was really pissing her off.
"You! Do you even care at all? Mami just died and you are already recruiting the next girl."
Mami had always acted kindly towards him, treated him like a friend even. Yet, the bastard didn't seem upset about her death.
"It is a shame to lose a magical girl like Mami, but she willingly sacrificed herself in order to save the city. It's outside my purview to interfere with that."
Damn it, she couldn't give him back more than an answer of silence, after which he continued, "And here I thought you had stopped caring about Mami."
"That, that's not true." Mami was the only one left that she did care about, even if they had changed, even if they wouldn't have gotten along.
She didn't want her dead. She wanted her back. "Mami meant a lot to me."
The black haired girl gazed at her. "Were you close with her?" She asked. Of course she was.
"I am... I was... I wouldn't be spilling my guts here if that wasn't true. Mami, she was family to me. Damn it."
She never got to tell her. She really was an idiot. After all that that time, she still really missed her family.

"Ah... well..." The other girl started quietely, "I was thinking, we could go back and protect them?"
"Huh... what? What is there to protect? They are dead." What was this girl talking about?
Before she had time to ponder about it, the girl responded, "My wish. I want to go back in time and... protect them."
"Tch... what? Go back in time? Is that possible?" That... meant a chance to meet Mami before she would die here. They really could save them.
Kyubey responded to the question she had asked, "It's hard to tell where the limits lie when it comes to wishes as they naturally defy logic, but I expect it to be possible."

"It's kinda crazy but how I can say no to that?" Right or wrong, did it really matter on this twisted day. Staying here alone was no option.
The girl asked her, "Then you will help me?" while looking at her face, as if trying to read her.
"Of course, I will. It's really your wish in the end, but I am serious about saving Mami. I will help save the other girl too. It was Madoka, right?"
She supposed she would own the girl at least that much. The girl nodded at her, "Uhm, what was your name again?"
Oh, she had forgotten. She didn't blame her under the circumstances. "Kyoko. I'm Kyoko Sakura."
"I see. I'm Homura Akemi."
"Alright, then Homura, let's fix this mess together." Finally, Kyoko felt a sense of hope welling up inside her again.
"Yes..." The girl answered, still a little timid before turning to the white rat. "Kyubey?"
"Have you decided on your wish, Homura Akemi? One that you are willing to put your soul at stake for?"
"I have. I wish for me... and... Kyoko to be sent back to the past. I want do over my meeting with Madoka, and this time protect her, ... and Mami."