A light.

There was a light. In the darkness it was a glaring thing. The darkness was a relief from the torment of before, so why was it being interrupted by this intruder?

But wait. The torment...was gone.

She looked more closely at it, the shining bright light.

It was a rainbow. A rainbow of gold, accented by a flowing red ribbon. She felt like she could choose. Follow this light, or stay in the cool, forgiving darkness?

Hesitantly, she took hold of the ribbon and went towards the light.

"-all an ambulance!" a voice shouted from somewhere near her.

Mami's head ached as she seemed to come to in a crowd of people. They were looking down at her which was when she realized she must have fainted. Most of them were unfamiliar, but one with unfamiliar concern watched her carefully.

"Are you…?" Homura murmured, hand resting on Mami's chest.

"I...I'm fine." Mami pulled herself up to a sitting position. "Just a little overwhelmed."

"Understandable."

"I bet it was our dessert! The best in the city!" a very panicked waitress was calling out faux jovially.

"I'm fine!" Mami said more loudly, getting up with Homura's help. "I won't need an ambulance."

"Are you sure?" a random pedestrian, a short dark-skinned woman, asked.

Mami looked around at all the laypeople. All the normal people that made up the world that she loved. Smiling, she replied, "Yes. But thank you for the concern."

"Homura!" Madoka cried down from her balcony as Homura and Mami walked up to the apartment building. "Homura, you won't believe it!"

"I-" Mami was cut off as someone jumped off of Madoka's balcony. She started to jump into action but was stopped by the waving hand of Homura.

They fell hard onto the concrete. Then, cheering, they jumped up from the small pile of broken street.

"Ta-da!" Sayaka cheered. The bloody nose she'd gotten healed right before Mami's eyes. "I'm all better now!"

"Really?" Mami couldn't help but ask flatly.

"How many times have I told you not to do that?" Homura said sharply.

"I can't help it! I'm so happy that I'm complete now. And that Kyousuke stopped blowing up my phone ." Sayaka shook her head. "He started threatening to hurt himself if I didn't promise myself to him! How nuts is that?!"

Madoka burst out of the building, again in pajamas. "Sayaka! How many times do we have to tell you-"

"Homura already grumbled about it," Sayaka noted, waving a hand.

Sayaka laughed. That got Madoka to start giggling. Mami couldn't help but to join in for an entirely different reason.

Relief. Everything was fine. They'd managed to defeat Kyubey and save Sayaka and innumerable others.

A fourth voice joined in. Confused, Mami looked over to find a red-head had joined their group, a half-eaten apple in her hand. The girl laughed a couple of more times before asking, "So, what's the joke?"

"Here."

Mami looked up as Homura handed her a plate. She gladly accepted the plate heaped up with a pile of fried rice and egg. Homura sat down next to her as they looked out from the roof across the city. Mami waited until Homura was settled before she broke her chopsticks apart and took a few bites of her food.

It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. For some reason, she expected Homura to be an expert chef.

She took a half-hearted bite before saying, "Homura?"

Homura had to swallow before she replied, "Yes?"

"Kyubey...it said that you had the same dream as me?"

"...Yes. I wanted a normal life, away from all of this world's problems." She closed her eyes. "I wanted friends, family, normal school days…I wanted to be not alone."

"You aren't alone." Homura's gaze snapped to Mami. Mami perfectly countered, "You have Madoka, and Kyouko, and Sayaka…" She reached over and set a palm against Homura's cheek. "And me."

Homura looked surprised for a moment before she smiled. "And you."