A/N: Sup. Thank you for the reviews of the previous chapter, especially to the guest pointing out a typo in the first freaking paragraph. I will fix it as soon as I figure out how. Without further ado, here we go again.

The day when Homura was supposed to start attending classes has finally come, and she has once again found herself walking the familiar path to school. Today she would finally meet Madoka proper, and the brunette could hardly wait. It was quite a while since she has seen the girl alive and well, after all. Well, 'seen' is the wrong word; she has been near her several times now, but only to prevent an early contract.

She had yet to directly interact with her ward. Holding back from speaking with Madoka as soon as she spotted her was difficult, and it only made her even more anxious about the inevitable encounter.

Thinking about her plan seemed like a good distraction, so Homura did just that. What she had in mind was awfully simple - just do her best to repeat the previous timeline as closely as possible, while keeping her friend away from harm's way. If by some miracle she managed to accomplish her goal this time... Well. Her nightmare would be over. Madoka would survive and Walpurgis would not.

Yet, the girl was well aware of the fact that she would most likely fail. The only reason she could protect Madoka from contracting so long in most timelines was careful and meticulous planning backed by years of experimentation. Homura knew what dangers she would have to face, what tricks would the Incubator use and how to counter them.

This timeline would be thrown off the rails at the very beginning, and Homura will have to carry on basically blindfolded. She would be lucky if she even managed to get the mystery man to appear at all. Should she accomplish that much, Homura would attempt to interrogate the bald individual about his whereabouts during the last month, and hopefully use that information during the next loop.

Speaking of derailing the timeline, the event that caused it before seemed inconsequential at first. It had to do with obtaining supplies, and the unforeseen consequences of taking them from the wrong people. When it came to obtaining armaments, stealing from the Yakuza was always a preferable choice over taking JSDF's supplies. However, the mafia's weaponry never packed enough of a punch to fit her purposes.

When she, by total accident, found out about an illegal arms deal taking place in Mitakihara, Homura quickly decided to rob the participants blind. What she didn't consider beforehand was that a goon's locker getting emptied would do little to upset anyone important. Fortune's worth in explosives, munitions, and guns disappearing were likely to ruffle some feathers, though.

She did not encounter a similar problem before, because the military preferred dealing with missing equipment with hushed voices and covert investigations. The criminal underworld did not. Nobody competent enough to make it big in the mafia would take 'It just disappeared into thin air, boss.' as a valid explanation, no matter how true it actually was... Maybe if the mafia boss was stoned out of their damn mind, but they would realize something was wrong immediately after sobering up.

The deadly mix of powerful people who wanted heads to roll, armed people who did not want their heads to roll, and their inevitable conflict of interests eventually lead to a rare event - an actual firefight on the streets. A firefight Kyubey would lure Madoka into in hopes of forcing her to make a wish to survive.

Even the rat made mistakes, though. When Homura arrived at the scene the only thing she saw was her friend's corpse laying in a pool of blood. Every participant of the fight soon joined Madoka in death, their bodies fit only for identification by dental records.

Those events needed to happen again, at least in part. She has already stolen the weapons the day before. Leaving the bastards guarding them alive left her with a feeling of actual physical sickness. Unfortunately, she needed them breathing, at least for now. All that was left to do was wait for things to escalate once again.

All in all, what the girl was trying to cause was a brief gunfight that claimed the life of a magical girl candidate, and shortly afterward, the lives of all of the idiots who couldn't even kill each other properly. It was likely that the soon-to-be deceased girl didn't have to be a candidate, maybe there was no need for a civilian casualty at all, but she was not taking any chances. The only issue left was figuring out who would be the unfortunate victim.

Madoka was out of the question, obviously. That left...

"Hmm. Two birds with one stone, as they say." Homura said to nobody in particular, as she noticed a head full of blue hair in the distance, belonging to one Sayaka Miki. Might as well use one problem to solve another one.

Soon enough, Homura stood before her classroom, waiting for the teacher to call her inside. Currently, said teacher was spewing a long tirade about her newly-former boyfriend.

"-never date men who insist they can't eat fried eggs done over hard! And boys, you'd better not grow up so petty as to fuss over how your eggs are done, okay?" she heard from the inside. She was fairly certain that the sermon was nearing its end.

"Now that we got that out of the way... We will be receiving a new transfer student today! Come on in, Akemi-san!"

Finally. Homura has tried to stop the 'egg lesson' many times but never succeeded. It started out as just a way to get some entertainment during the relatively easy beginnings of a timeline. She began with simple things, like walking inside the class on her own, distracting the woman somehow or even asking her to drop the topic directly. After several failed tries, Homura started to think fate itself was taunting her as if it wanted to say 'You can't even change THAT, ya loser!'

Saotome-sensei would deliver her questionable lecture no matter what. Literally. Because of completely unrelated reasons, as she would never resort to such things, the school was set on fire in one of her loops, and the woman delivered her speech during the evacuation.

The only thing left to try was outright shooting her teacher, which she didn't do for obvious reasons. Shooting someone for being annoying was on another level of madness, and Homura was not quite up there yet. She was also irrationally scared that being shot might not actually stop Saotome either, and that would probably break Homura's sanity. It was better to live in uncertainty, rather than confirm her fears.

At least the woman always spewed her bullshit first, before calling Homura inside, so she accepted the state of things as they were, and was merely grateful for the small mercy of not having to listen to it.

She opened the door and confidently walked to the front of the class.

"My name is Akemi Homura. Pleased to meet you." she said calmly and proceeded to ominously stare at Madoka. The girl appeared surprised, but not as flustered as in most timelines. A small irregularity. Interesting. After a moment, Madoka did avert her eyes and shrunk under Homura's gaze as usual. She would prefer to act more friendly towards her, well, friend. However, presenting herself as a detached and mysterious person often made Madoka take her words more seriously, and she needed any advantage she could get.

After her short introduction, she sat down at her usual desk and focused on Sayaka Miki. If everything went according to plan, the girl would be dead soon, taking Madoka's place as the victim during the imminent gunfight. She pitied her, she really did. Miki was an annoying obstacle, but the blunette was not really to blame for it. Her naive views of the world caused her to pick up the contract with expectations of being a noble hero. Only to have those expectations collide with reality in horrible ways, causing the girl to fall... Often dragging Madoka down with her.

For once, her demise would serve to protect their mutual friend instead of harming the shy girl. Dying for the sake of people she wanted to protect would probably be how Sayaka would want to go, even if she was unaware of her service. Besides, the girl could not be saved. Homura tried, oh, how she tried. But it never worked.

'Same goes for Madoka, yet you continue in your efforts. You are condemning Miki because you are too WEAK.' Spoke the malicious voice of her conscience.

'No... No! I am doing her a favor! Just look at how she usually ends up!' she responded desperately.

'Lying to yourself again, eh? Miki was not involved in this mess during the first timeline. She wasn't doomed, but you changed her fate with your shenanigans. Now YOU continue to KILL HER every time you refuse to take action.'

The voice was correct, of course. She ignored it anyway.

It wasn't long until the class was over, and Homura was swarmed by her curious classmates. Their questions were met with short, often one-word answers and the girl was doing her best to project an image that made it easy to understand her thoughts.

'Leave me the hell alone.'

Her body language and verbal hints went unnoticed, as always. It was time to get out of here.

"I'm sorry..." She said and brought a hand to her forehead, faking a headache. "Today's been a stressful day, and I'm feeling unwell. I need to excuse myself and go to the nurse's office."

"Oh... Of course, we won't be stopping you! I can show you the way myself." offered one of the girls.

"Do not trouble yourselves, I will ask the nurse's aide to lead me there." Homura replied and hastily stood up to not allow any of the girls to answer. Madoka was surrounded by her friends, and Homura needed to isolate the girl, so she approached the pinkette and forced herself to remain calm.

"You are the health officer for this class, yes?" her voice came out even and without a hint of emotion. Success.

"Uhm... H-how do you..." Madoka stammered, obviously surprised about the sudden question. Her duties were one of the things the girl took seriously, though. She quickly regained her composure. "I mean... Yes! Yes, I am. Is there anything you need?"

"I have been informed of your position by the teacher if you are wondering. I am a bit under the weather and would like to see the school nurse. Could you show me the way?"

Not long after the conversation, the two girls were walking the familiar path to the nurse's office. Madoka was acting differently than in most timelines - she was slightly more confident, and less awed by Homura's presence. The change was slight, but Homura knew exactly what caused it, and she wasn't happy about it.

Madoka would often dream of her last moments during the previous loop. Those dreams would usually feature Homura in some way, and the time-traveler liked to make use of that in her efforts. She would usually act more authoritative in their talks while presenting an image of a mysterious stranger that far knew more than she let on. A stranger Madoka somehow saw in a dream. She would then give her a few ominous, yet vague warnings about the things to come, and that coupled with the prophetic dreams would usually put the shy girl on guard about anything weird going on. Those simple actions ensured Madoka would not jump at the first opportunity to contract and would be wary of the Incubator appearing out of the blue.

Madoka did not dream of her this time around. Homura was not present to witness the girl die last time, and the subtle tests she performed proved that the nightmares if there even were any, did not include her. The glare she would center on Madoka during her introduction to the class was one of the ways to check it. Madoka was surprised and flustered, but not in the way Homura expected. It was 'Why is this weird girl staring at me?' flustered, not 'what the hell is a person from my dream doing here, and why is she glaring at me?' kind of flustered. Absence of an advantage she was used to complicated things. Which is why Homura has allowed Madoka to lead the way for a change, a different approach was necessary.

Madoka glanced back at her with uncertainty. "Akemi-san... Are you feeling well enough to talk for a bit?"

She received a nod in response.

"Well, my name is Kaname Madoka." She said and rubbed her neck while smiling awkwardly. "Though I am sure Saotome-sensei already told you that..."

"You are correct. I was told your name when she mentioned your position in the class." Homura lied. "She informed me beforehand because I might need your help more often."

That got Madoka's attention. "O-oh. Why, is there something wrong with you, Akemi-san?" Said the girl and immediately covered her mouth, apparently aware of her poor choice of words. "Ah, no! I mean, is there..." she stammered "...U-uh... Anything I should know? You don't have to tell me! I'm just the nurse's aide, so it might help if I knew..."

Good ol' Madoka. The girl was a far cry from the brave heroine that saved her useless self so many timelines ago, but her main traits - boundless kindness and concern for the wellbeing of those around her, were still there and holding up strong. It was a shame she was so self-conscious as a result of Homura's actions, but it was definitely better than the alternative.

The brunette held up her hand in a calming gesture. "Worry not, I understand." She reinforced her words with a genuine smile. "I am grateful for your concern. There was something wrong with my heart, you see. I had to stay in a hospital for a while, because of an inborn defect, but I have made a full recovery thanks to modern medicine and..." Magic "...a fair bit of luck. I will have to report to the nurse from time to time for a checkup, though. Since we will probably spend some time together because of that, you should just call me by my first name."

A relieved nod and a goofy smile were what she received as a reward for her effort. "Ah, of course, Homura-chan. You can call me Madoka as well!" Madoka's smile became warmer. "Also, if you ever need help with anything or... just want to talk, I guess, feel free to chat me up, okay?"

Thus, the pleasantries were over, and as the name implied they were actually quite pleasant. She enjoyed talking to Madoka on more or less equal ground, without the whole 'Shit is about to hit the fan, and you are standing inside the soon-to-be-brown-zone, so you better step BACK' atmosphere of their usual conversations. It was nice. Duty called, though. The Incubator would begin approaching her friend directly soon enough, and Homura needed Madoka to be on guard.

"Now that you mention it..." an idea popped into Homura's head. "... there was something I wanted to talk about. Not with you specifically, but just... with someone." A curious tilt of Madoka's pink head urged her to continue. "Actually, nevermind. It's not very important, and you'd probably find it stupid anyway." Said Homura, with a tinge of expertly faked embarrassment.

"Oh, Homura-chan, don't put yourself down. If you wanted to speak with me, then do it, I promise to take whatever you say seriously!" came the reassuring response. Too easy.

"If you say so... I've been having strange dreams." Homura's eyes darted around in search of the Incubator. It was imperative that it did not learn of their conversation. Seeing no white rats nearby, she continued "With a bonus of some hallucinations. Apparently a side effect of having an inefficient heart - once it starts malfunctioning, everything else goes downhill as well, you know?" she wasn't sure if it was actually true, but it sounded believable enough. Madoka's expression was filled with worry, but the girl knew her manners and allowed Homura to continue. "I often saw a white... cat-thing during my episodes. It usually was talking with various young girls, and then..." Homura's flinch wasn't entirely faked. "...it leads them to their deaths. Sounds funny, doesn't it?"

"Well, dreams could have many meanings, Homura-chan." Madoka's voice was shaky for some reason... could it be...? "Maybe it had to do something with your past? Like a bad memory or something?" Homura was planning to stop right there, but now a new theory formed in her head. It would probably scare Madoka, but that could be useful... she had to check.

"I saw a girl that looked kinda like you." Pink eyes widened. Homura pretended not to notice. "She was being led by it into a shady corner of the city. Then a firefight broke out, can you believe it? The girl got hit by a stray bullet and bled out." By the time she finished Madoka was shaking. Bingo. She was sure now - her friend did dream of her previous demise. It was just a different dream than usual since her death differed from the norm. It was hilariously obvious in hindsight. Might as well add an additional scare, just to be sure. "And then the cat-thing ate her body. It really scared me at the time, but I kinda got over it now. A weird dream, yeah?" she added with some mirth. Madoka was all too willing to confirm that the dream was just weird.

"H-haha! You a-are right H-Homura-chan... What a strange d-dream you had. Oh, look. We are near the n-nurse's office already, haha..." The girl was barely maintaining her composure, and Homura could hardly blame her. When Madoka saw her own demise during a nightmare she must've been frightened. Now, she learned that someone dreamt of the same thing, and she was terrified. Homura could only wonder what her friend would feel when Sayaka actually died in the way she saw herself die. If everything went as planned then it was unlikely that Madoka would interact with the Incubator without screaming. The little devil would find a way around it, for sure, but it would take time. Lots of time. She did not expect things to go so well.

"Already? A shame, it was a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you for listening to my ramblings, it really helped to share it with someone. It would be unfair to take more of your time, though. I can handle myself from here." said Homura with a real smile. It was real for all the wrong reasons, but a real smile nonetheless.

Today was the big day. Both for Homura and Sayaka. The former would begin her difficult mission of making a series of unlikely events a reality, and the latter would die. During the previous loop, Madoka and Sayaka were hanging out on the day of the gunfight. Miki's parents called her and requested that the girl return home, afterwards the duo split, and her friend was approached by the Incubator. With its cutesy voice, it told her that a lot of people were in danger and she was the only one who could save them. It technically spoke the truth, a lot of people were in danger from each other, and Madoka's imminent contracting would probably cause the fighting to stop. Homura learned that from the white rat himself, who appeared genuinely mystified as to why its plan did not work. Then the time-traveler shot it and set out to find something to distract herself from her ridiculous failure.

Things were different this time. Homura has broken into the Miki household and promptly stolen everything that resembled a phone or could be used to contact Sayaka. By the time her parents managed to solve that problem it would be too late. On the other hand, she ensured Madoka's early return home by making her mother drunk. Junko Kaname was at a bar, drinking with her coworkers, and every time the woman would order anything, Homura would dutifully spike her drink with vodka during the stopped time. Homura brought a whole 1 l. bottle of the beverage... It was not enough. The container was empty and her target was looking a bit disheveled, but otherwise ready for a second round. Junko unknowingly downed it all, in addition to what she was ordering, in an impressive display of alcohol tolerance that would make even the hardened veterans of the trade blush. It was almost respectable. Homura was short on time, though. She hurled the empty bottle at the woman's head from the shadows and watched her fall from her chair. Junko hissed, cursed and threw a few loose accusations before heading home dejectedly.

Madoka soon received a call from her father and was quick to return to her residence. Kyubey approached her, but before it could even introduce itself, the girl screamed in terror and ran home. Apparently puzzled by the display, the rat did not attempt to follow her. Sweet victory. It headed towards Miki instead, unwilling to let such an easy contract go by, it probably thought that getting the blunette on board would make it easier to engage Madoka in conversation. Thus, the girls' places were switched.

Homura made sure Madoka returned home safely - her friend was really scared and Homura was worried she might end up hurting herself by accident or something. As she stood before the Kaname residence watching a head of pink hair disappear behind the door, the brunette steeled herself for what was about to come. Her conscience was probably coming up with a plethora of different epithets to call her once the grand plan came into fruition. With a heavy sigh, she set out for the place where she knew the mafia would be dealing with their differences.

Homura retrieved a pair of binoculars from her shield and took a vantage point atop an abandoned building. The situation was already quite heated down there. Despite the considerable distance, she was from the soon-to-be-arena she could easily make out two groups of armed men in a standoff. Their shouting could be heard from far away and by the looks of things they would soon be backing up their arguments with firearms.

Homura checked the surrounding streets. She could see her. Sayaka was eagerly following Kyubey as it led her through the labyrinth of streets. Trough most of the way the duo was separated from the commotion nearby by rows of old acoustic panels shielding the once lively part of the city from its now empty roads. At some point, the girl seemed to pick up on the cacophony of furious shouts and realized that the place she was being led to was currently occupied by several very angry men. She stopped in her tracks and the Incubator noticed. It turned to her and pointed its head towards the nearby commotion, urging her forward. Whatever was being said between the two she could only guess, but it seemed to have worked as the girl took off in a run, following the thing once more. What happened next was unexpected - as they were nearing the gangsters, the pair suddenly changed direction. They entered a nearby empty alley and she lost sight of them.

A quick timestop and a few jumps were more than enough for Homura to catch up. As she perched up on the roof of one of the nearby houses she found yet another surprise waiting for her - Sayaka has apparently found a trio of young children hiding behind an old storage container. They looked to be about 9 years old and were dressed for school, the unlucky kids must've wandered into the bad part of town by accident, and found themselves trapped. That meant there really was someone to save, and the Incubator was not merely using a figure of speech to refer that way to the nearby criminals.

Speaking of criminals... One member of the smaller group has decided that he'd had enough excitement for today and took off in a run. The larger gang took that as a green light to begin hostilities and opened fire, quickly killing most of their enemies. The runaway has managed to survive and was heading straight towards... Oh shit. Before she knew it, she was holding an assault rifle and taking aim at the sprinter. Wait.

'This is how Madoka died last time. I have to let it play out or risk having to repeat this...' She thought and reluctantly lowered her weapon. Knowing what had to occur did not make it any easier to watch, she didn't want to watch, but she forced herself to anyway. A penance of sorts. Should this loop turn out to be a failure too, she would make an attempt at saving the naive girl one more time. She owed her that much.

The escapee was almost upon them. Sayaka was huddled with the children, hiding behind the sturdy container, a smart choice considering they just heard a war break out nearby. Just as the man was around the corner Sayaka decided to take a peek from her hiding spot. At exactly the same moment when the desperate man spotted her, Kyubey climbed up Sayaka's leg causing the girl to look at it and consequentially hiding her head behind the container again. Homura had to grudgingly admit that the thing's plan was on point. The gangster was startled by the sudden motion and took aim at the girl, but due to the Incubator's timely intervention, only Sayaka's shoulder was exposed to the weapon. The wound would hurt, but it would not be immediately lethal. Two shots rang out. The first ricocheted off the metal container and the second struck Sayaka's shoulder, causing her to drop on the floor and cry out in pain. The shooter realized what he'd done, but did not seem too eager to fix his blunder, and took off in a different direction. He didn't make it far, the shots alerted the pursuers of his location and he swiftly received a few new holes of his own. Served him right.

"Someone... h-help." Homura heard Sayaka's hoarse voice and flinched. The girl was losing blood rapidly... was this the Incubator's miscalculation? Was the wound it planned for the girl to receive serious enough to prevent her from voicing her wish? In morbid fascination, Homura watched as the red pool underneath Sayaka's body increased in size.

"I w-wish... someone... please..." The girl inhaled "...please help me."

A blue glow enveloped Sayaka's pitiful form and slowly coalesced into a tiny, blue egg-shaped rock. A soul gem. What would the wish do exactly? It had to do something, the contract was made after all. Also, how would the girl die now? A magical girl's body would not give away from such an injury and even if the Puella Magi was unconscious, the wound would heal rapidly because of her magic. Would Sayaka survive? If she did, then why did Madoka die? Would the gangsters finish off the wounded girl? So many-

'HELP ME!' The thought rang out in her mind like an explosion. She could suddenly feel a slight pain in her shoulder and her mind was filled with sadness, desperation, and fear. Despite the overwhelming feelings, Homura was somehow aware that those were not her own. The pain and torrent of emotions belonged to Sayaka. Was that what the wish achieved? Just broadcasting a plea for help? Homura knew Sayaka's potential was average at best, which limited the possible power of her wishes, but that was pushing it too far. Without Sayaka's usual power of self-healing - brought by her usual wish - Homura was not even sure if she would live, magical girl or not. She did lose a lot of blood by now.

Her musings were interrupted yet again. In all of the commotion, nobody noticed a figure appearing out of nowhere. Homura's breath hitched. It was HIM. She could recognize the hilariously simple face anywhere. She did not manage to get a good look at him, however. The bald mystery opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. Before that could happen, he glanced towards Sayaka's deathly pale face, then to the approaching gangsters. A deep frown marred his expression, which suddenly looked far more serious, and then... he disappeared. What? The three terrified children and Sayaka somehow vanished as well, while all of the approaching men dropped unconscious, like dolls whose strings have been cut.

The world lost its color and froze. Her timestop has finally kicked in, Homura has activated it the moment she spotted the man, and the entire debacle was over before it actually managed to take effect. Less than a second. Incredible. She canceled her ability and stared at the empty spot the baldy occupied just moments before. Unfortunately, Homura was not the only one - the Incubator was quite interested in the same thing as well. The creature could not feel shocked, so it reacted far earlier than Homura did. It looked directly at her and spoke telepathically.

"You were watching."

The single sentence chilled Homura to her very bones. Fucking hell. That was bad. Worse than bad. Dreadful. Sayaka would probably survive, and to locate the walking bald enigma Homura needed her cooperation. Now Kyubey would be able to make the girl hate her guts just by revealing that Homura was watching her die, and didn't do jackshit to stop it. The little monster would be able to discredit her in Madoka's eyes as well, the small amount of lucky progress she'd made would be ruined now. She really wanted to blow the little bastard's head off, but could not. She has screwed up badly and revealing that she knew the thing cared little for its bodies or giving it a sample of her power was not something she could afford.

She didn't have a response for it either. Any lie she could come up with would probably only worsen the situation. So, she didn't respond in any way and just left. The Incubator did not follow her, apparently satisfied with the outcome of its words. Besides, she was sure Kyubey was more concerned about the man. It never mentioned him, and appeared just as mystified about his sudden appearance. Or, more accurately, the fellow was higher on its priority list. A bald dude just popping in and casually pulling that stunt off was sure to grab its attention. At least there was something good that came out of the situation. Homura had proof that the man actually existed, and possessed some sort of extraordinary power. Even Homura would not be able to replicate what he just did, and she could stop time. She let out a shaky sigh. The fact that the whole shitshow was not for naught helped to calm her. Another small mercy it seemed.