Chapter 10

Shadow Storm

The house was in ruins. A huge chunk of the front had been torn out, and fires raged everywhere. The bushes on the lawn had almost burnt to ashes, and there was a large crater, as if some sort of explosion had gone off.

Homura collapsed to her knees. Was she too late. Was Madoka gone?

"Was this where you sent her?" Kyosuke asked.

"Y-yes." Homura leaned over and punched the ground. It was weak, no more than a tap. She didn't have the strength. She had failed. Again!

Maybe she could go back in time. After Madoka' wish she hadn't had her time powers. Then, later she had them, but it was in truth, a dream. After fixing the world, she hadn't tried to use them, but now it looked like there was no option.

"I don't think she's dead, if that's what you're wondering. But that-"

"How do you know?!" Homura rounded on Kyosuke, grabbing his shoulders.

"I don't speak German, but..." He indicated to something lying in the road. One of her Clara dolls. She looked like a mess, and had tire tracks over the front of her.

"Yakimochi!" Homura rushed over to her. With a snap of her fingers, her injuries were healed, and she sat up, dusting off her dress. "What happened here?!'

"Oh, Herrin. Ich habe versucht, Ihre süße Madoka zu retten, nur um von den grausamsten und unerwartetsten Komplikationen gebremst zu werden. Oh! Es war schrecklich, als es auf mich niederprallte und-"

"Get to the point!"

"Madokas Freunde ließen mich mit einem Auto hinüberfahren, als ich versuchte, sie zu retten, und nahmen dann höchstwahrscheinlich mit ihr ab. Ich weiß nicht wo sie jetzt sind."

"So she's alive." Homura breathed a sigh of relief though it was instantly replaced with more worry. She needed to find where she had run off to, and quick.

Even from a distance, Sayaka could feel the heat that the Heartless was giving off. The fire at the gas station seemed to pale in comparison to it, the air shimmering around it's blades. As it stepped over a piece of metal debris, the metal near instantly began to glow red.

"What do we do?" Nagisa asked.

"We kick it's ass!" Kyoko said. She formed her spear, and charged towards the Heartless, joined by Madoka.

"Wait!" Mami said.

"Do we even have plan?!" Sayaka asked.

"Help them! Keep those smaller Heartless off them. Nagisa, you and me take out the flying ones!"

"Got it!" Sayaka held out her hand, and her cutlass appeared. The weapon just felt right in her hands, and the proper stances came naturally, like she was a veteran warrior.

Sayaka rushed forwards, watching as Madoka and Kyoko attacked the large Heartless. Unlike the others, it seemed to have some combat skill, as it blocked each of their swings and pushed forwards, sending them stumbling back.

As they did, the smaller knights attempted to swing at Madoka. Sayaka leaped forwards slashed at it, cutting it in half, causing it to disperse into wisps of darkness, before slicing down two more.

"Watch your backs!" She said.

She then noticed out of the corner of her eyes something glowing, and threw herself to the ground as a one of the bell Heartless shot a fireball at her.

She say Kyoko leap over her, attempting to hit it with he spear, at the same time that Nagisa fired a stream of bubbles. The Heartless was destroyed, and Kyoko was blown back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted.

"You jumped in front of my shot!" Nagisa shouted back.

A sudden surge of heat alerted Sayaka to the movements of the large Heartless, and along with Madoka, she blocked the downward swing of it's blades. Up close, the heat was scorching.

The monster was strong, pinning both of them down, unable to do anything more than futilely attempt to push back against it's weight. A weight that was getting harder and harder to even keep up. The molten blade drew closer and closer, and the heat became sweltering. Sayaka started to avert her gaze as she felt part of her face begin to sear.

There was sound of a gunshot and a flash of light against the Heartless' helm, Mami's shot knocking it off balance. When the weight was lifted, a pink aura surrounded Madoka and she shot up like a rocket, striking the creature again in the head, sending it sprawling onto it's back. Afterwards, she came crashing down, though the Heartless rolled to the side, and flipped up, it's trail shooting out fire, which Madoka narrowly dodged.

As Madoka reengaged with the large Heartless, Sayaka turned to block the swing of one of the knights, and countered with a swing, destroying it, only to have to duck as something only barely missed colliding with her.

Somehow, Kyoko's spear had extended, becoming a whip like weapon that destroyed an entire row of knights.

"You almost hit me!" Sayaka said.

"Well don't get in my way then!" Kyoko shouted. Her weapon contracted into it's spear form, and she charged towards the giant Heartless.

Sayaka wanted to rebutt, but there were bad guys here right now. She needed to focus on that. Instead, she growled, but followed Kyoko.

The bladed Heartless was keeping up with all of Madoka's swings, and countering with some of it's own. When Madoka swung at it's legs, it cartwheeled away, pushing of it's own swords. It then swung, unleashing a wave of fire, that the three of them had to dodge out of the way of.

The heat was unbelievable, and Sayaka watched as it hit a building across the street, lighting it on fire. The fire spread quickly, and from that blaze emerged more fiery Heartless, forcing Mami and Nagisa to focus their projectiles in that direction.

More knight heartless came charging in, attempting to surround the three of them, only for Madoka to charge forwards again. She cut a path through the knights, moving past them, towards the giant Heartless, leaving Sayaka and Kyoko behind to fight the rest. Kyoko leaped over the crowd of knights to join Madoka in her attack on the leader, leaving Sayaka surrounded.

Great.

Sayaka barely managed to avoid getting impaled as multiple Heartless rushed her at once. Ducking beneath their thrusts, she swung upwards, cutting down two of them, and then turning to strike at two more.

Off to the side, she saw Madoka and Kyoko attempting to land strikes on the leader. However the creature blocked or dodged each attack, countering with fiery strikes that forced them back on the defensive. Kyoko's spear thrusts were turned aside, even able to avoid it's whip form. When Madoka attempted to attack with her Keyblade, she was likewise countered with a wave of flame that nearly engulfed her. Madoka quickly leaped out of the blaze, though Sayaka could see a few scorch marks on her.

A flash to her side caused her to refocus on her own battle, but too late. The knight cut into her leg, causing Sayaka to stumble, and then suffer a cut on her arm, and then across her side. She swung back, destroying the last of the knights, and then turned back to Madoka to see that the giant Heartless was missing.

"Where?"

"Look out!" Kyoko shouted.

A shadow above was her only warning as the Heartless came diving down towards her. Sayaka attempted to leap out of the way, but it was too late. The Heartless hit the ground and everything became roaring flames.

"SAYAKA!"

Madoka watched as Sayaka screamed in pain when the fiery explosion engulfed her. She was sent flying back, trailing smoke and fire before landing hard on the asphalt, unmoving.

No! No! Not you too! Madoka froze, everything else fading from her awareness. Sayaka had been her friend since she was old enough to remember. Always there for her. Even when she was in America, they'd still regularly kept in contact. And she was going to lose her too? Her legs trembled and she collapsed to her knees, the Keyblade falling from her hand.

Kyoko turned to Madoka, worry on her face, though it quickly changed to a scowl.

"Don't just lie there!" Kyoko shouted, grabbing Madoka by the shoulders and shaking her.

"W-what do we do?" Madoka said.

Mami was already rushing towards the downed Sayaka, while Nagisa shot more bubbles at the Heartless, knocking it off it's feet.

"We need to get out of here!" Mami said. "Kyoko, start the car! Nagisa, keep it distracted! Madoka! Help me get Sayaka into the car."

Kyoko looked back at the Heartless, and then at Mami. She snarled, but nodded, running towards the car.

Madoka managed to jolt herself into action, and with Mami's help, lifted the blackened Sayaka, carrying her to the backseat of the car. As she looked back, she saw more Heartless begin to appear. Nagisa's bubble shots could only do so much.

"We're ready!" Mami said.

"Alright!" Nagisa let off one last blast and then ran towards the car, diving in and shutting the door behind her as Kyoko floored it. Once again, the tires screeched and the girls took off.

"She's still breathing!" Nagisa shouted. "Where are those first aid supplies?"

"They were back at the station when it blew up! I don't have any more!" Mami answered.

"So what do we do then?"

"We could find a hospital!" Mami suggested.

"A hospital?!" Nagisa froze. "Y-yes, that's probably for the best."

"We haven't seen anyone so far! What the hell makes you think that there's going to be doctors there?" Kyoko interjected.

"Maybe not, but their will still be medical supplies!"

"For this?! Do you even know how to treat burns like that?"

Like it or not, Kyoko was right. Sayaka was in terrible shape, those had to be, what, second or third degree burns? Just looking at her blackened body made Madoka feel ill. If they weren't treated, her odds of surviving looked low. And even if they did somehow manage to stabilize her, she'd be in no shape to travel for a long while. They'd have to hole up in that building, defending her, putting themselves at risk and…

Oh god! What the hell is wrong with me?! Was I really about to justify leaving Sayaka behind?! Madoka recoiled in horror. What was happening? To this world? To her? Sayaka was her best friend, and she was… glowing?

"Somethings happening!" Nagisa said.

The car suddenly swerved, and Mami shouted. "Kyoko, eyes on the road!"

"Fine!"

The others watched in awe as the Sayaka's injuries were enveloped in blue light, and began to heal. First the burns faded as new skin grew over them...

"Sayaka! You're okay!" Madoka embraced her.

"I'm… okay?" She was confused. How were they in the car now? They were fighting that fire sword thing, and then… "W-what happened?"

"You took a hit! Real bad!" Madoka said.

"How bad?" Sayaka said, still trying to comprehend what was going on. First of all, Madoka was smiling, and that was good. Secondly, why were her clothes damaged? Then the memory came back. The fire. The pain.

"Third-degree burns bad." Kyoko said. "You were on fire. And not the good kind of on fire."

"What?! But then, how am I still here?!"

"You… healed." Nagisa said, relieved.

"Healed, what do you mean healed?"

"Look!"

Madoka pointed to Sayaka's leg. The cut there was healing, radiating a blue light as it did so. It didn't even hurt. She looked towards the cut on side, and her arm, and they were doing the same as well.

"Whoa." Sayaka looked herself over. There wasn't a single trace of her injuries. In fact, in fact, she felt perfectly fine. The only trace of the battle were her damaged and bloodstained clothes. "Cool."

"Well it seems we don't have to go to a hospital then." Mami said. Nagisa breathed a sigh of relief.

"So then where are we going? We never decided that." Kyoko said.

"Well..."

"Hey, guys? I think I see some cars out there, following us." Nagisa was turned around, looking out the back window.

"Cars?" Kyoko looked in the mirror. "Yeah, I see them too."

"More survivors?" Mami wondered.

Madoka and Sayaka turned to look as the vehicles. They weren't like any car she had seen. They were oddly colored, and the grill in the front of the vehicle looked more like the teeth of some dangerous animal. What they were was horrifyingly confirmed when she noticed the heart-shaped hood ornament.

"Heartless!" Madoka shouted.

"As cars?!" Mami exclaimed in disbelief.

"Floor it!" Sayaka shouted.

"Are you kidding me?!" Kyoko sped up, though the Heartless cars sped up as well.

"Were not losing them!" Sayaka said.

"Open the windows!" Mami said.

"What?!" Kyoko asked. "Why- oh!"

She nodded as Mami picked up her musket. With the window lowered, Mami leaned out, and opened fire. A single shot bullseyed one of the Heartless, destroying it. "Nagisa, help keep them off us!"

"As you wish!" As the back window was opened, Nagisa inhaled, and blew out of the trumpet, and a flood of bubbles flowed forth. Upon impacting with the car Heartless, they exploded, obscuring their view briefly, though when it cleared up, the Heartless were nowhere to be seen.

"Awesome!" Sayaka said.

"Not awesome!" Kyoko said, looking to the side. "I see more incoming."

True to her words, more Heartless had joined the pursuit, turning off of side streets. Now, alongside the cars were Heartless resembling motorbikes. Rubble in the road didn't appear to mean much to them, as they simply jumped over it.

Nagisa released another stream of bubbles, though the motorbikes swerved, dodging the attacks, only to be shot and destroyed by Mami.

Sayaka watched as instead of reloading the musket after firing it, she simply discarded it, and then somehow conjured a new one to shoot.

"Ah crap." Kyoko said.

"What?" Mami asked.

"Yes, it would appear we are managing to hold them at bay." Nagisa offered.

"Yeah, those ones! Not these!" Sayaka pointed forwards, to where a group of rocky looking Heartless were blocking part of an intersection. As she watched, a massive pile of sand rose up to form into some sort of worm like monstrosity.

"Everybody hold on!" Kyoko shouted. She gripped the wheel and swerved hard, throwing everybody about as she turned onto the freeway. Mami was hurled back inside the car, landing on Kyoko's lap before being pushed back to her seat.

"Ouch! Where did you get your license?!" Mami demanded.

"License? Why would I need one of those things?" Kyoko asked.

"Then where did you even learn how to drive?"

"GTA." Kyoko said, as she swerved the car violently, throwing everybody off balance.

"Grand Theft Auto? Are you serious?!"

"Well if you didn't like that, then ya' ain't going to like how I found us this car. Although it is thematically appropriate..."

"WHAT?!"

"Hey, in my defense, the guy was definitely already a Heartless! He wasn't gonna be using it! Consider it Toyota's generous and well-publicized-"

"Don't even go there!"

"Fine, fine, but we really do need -fuck!" Kyoko swore as she narrowly dodged a pile of debris on the road, sending everybody tumbling again.

"Let me drive! It seems I'm the only one here with an actual driver's license!"

"Well, that would be fine and dandy, except were currently fleeing for our lives and you have guns! What am I supposed to do, chuck a spear?"

"Can you guys please settle this later!" Sayaka shouted, and then grunted in pain as a large bump bounced her head into the ceiling.

"Yes, their numbers are only increasing!" Nagisa warned.

"Don't these guys ever let up?!" Sayaka moaned.

"Fine!" Mami said, leaning back outside the window.

Despite their best efforts however, the horde just kept coming. Bullets and explosions were poured into the crowd, but it seemed that whenever a Heartless was felled, another would take its place in short order.

"There's just no end to them!" Nagisa said. "What do we do?"

Mami frantically looked around, and then locked on something ahead of them. "The bridge!"

"What?" Nagisa looked at the bridge as they approached it.

"Nagisa! Bring it down! When were part of the way across, hit the ground with everything you've got!"

"What?! Are you sure?!" Nagisa exclaimed in disbelief.

"Do it!"

"O-okay!"

True to Mami's orders, as the girl's car passed across the bridge, she took in a very deep breath, and then blew on the horn as hard as she could. An entire storm of bubbles emerged from the instrument, aimed directly at the ground. A deafening explosion threw up a massive cloud of dust and mist.

"Whoa..." Sayaka said as she saw the cloud clear. Part of the bridge had indeed been destroyed, rendering it uncrossable. The Heartless horde attempted to brake. Some were successful, though those near the front were less fortunate, and careened straight off the bridge into the river below.

"That was amazing!" Sayaka said.

"Thanks..." Nagisa slumped back into her seat, breathing heavily. "It would seem the coast is clear, for now."

They drove along in silence for a while before Kyoko spoke up.

"So then, do we have a destination or am I just running down the fuel tank?"

"We should… LOOK OUT!" Mami shouted. Ahead of them the road warped and twisted, and a massive wall of concrete rose up in front of them.

Kyoko slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded, throwing everybody forwards. They barely managed to avoid colliding with the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Sayaka said.

"The roads blocked!"

Everyone exited the car.

"What?" Sayaka said as she looked at the new barrier.

"How are we going to get around this?" Madoka asked.

"You won't." Said a voice from up above. Sayaka felt a chill come over her. She recognized that voice. Homura. She was standing atop the wall looking down at them. And what the hell was she wearing? Some sort of backless, showgirl style skimpy dress that appeared to me made of feathers. She carried a black bow had fucking wings. Her eyes glowed with unnatural purple light while fires of the same color danced around her. "This ends here and now!"

Everything Sayaka felt was now confirmed.

"You, Homura Akemi, are a demon!"

Sayaka brandished her sword at Homura. "Who the hell are you to tell us that?! What gives you the right?!"

Homura's eyes narrowed. A violet string appeared on the bow as lightning flashed in the sky above. "You won't be going anywhere without my say so! This is my world."

And so we are nearing the close of the Mitakihara Arc, which should wrap up in about the next chapter. I have to say it went on longer than I expected. Chapters 7-9 were originally intended to be one chapter (as were chapters 2-3 and chapters 5-6), but it kept getting so long that I ended up breaking it up as I wrote.

Also, expect the first appearance of a Final Fantasy character next chapter. You'll probably never guess who! (Though I have left hints.)

Again, thanks to The Name Of Love for beta-reading and idea sounding!

~Dragonexx