Finally picking this story back up. Sorry for the unintended hiatus. In this eighth chapter: more flirting and world building. Enjoy if you can

Many years ago, Beacon Academy training hall...

Madoka fidgeted. "Why are we doing this again?"

Homura cocked her pistol. "With of the kind of weapon you use, you're at a massive disadvantage at close range. You need hand-to-hand training to compensate. That is why we're doing this."

"But why do you have a gun?"

Homura walked a few paces away from Madoka. "That's because guns are more effective than bows at close range." To that, Madoka frowned. "It's just a statistic. You don't have to agree with it."

Homura stood facing Madoka, hands at her side. "Now, like we practiced. I'm gonna shoot you and you need to disarm me."

Madoka bent her knees and leaned forward. "How does this help if I'm surrounded by Grimm?" she asked, stance now readied.

"We'll get to that later," Homura said impatiently. "On my mark."

"Wait!"

"Mark!"

There was a blur of pink as Madoka surged forward and kicked Homura's pistol out of her hands. Just as quickly, Homura grabbed Madoka's leg and pulled, shoving her shield into the archer's face. Madoka collapsed.

"I was going to ask what you meant by disarm," Madoka grumbled as she sat up. She pouted at Homura. "You should have told me you'd still fight without your gun, cheater."

Homura smiled. "Perhaps I am a cheater," she admitted. "Not all opponents are helpless without their weapon. However, they're usually less of a threat when unarmed." She picked up her pistol from the floor. "You did pretty well considering this was your first try. Have you done this before?"

Madoka shook her head. "Aside from the things we practiced earlier, this is my first time."

Homrua nodded slowly. "Well, I'm sorta just teaching you shortcuts. Against someone with actual training, you'd probably have to try much harder."

Madoka raised an eyebrow. "You didn't have formal training?"

Homura chuckled. "No. I'm completely self-taught." She tapped her chest. "Remember that scar you saw? That was from surgery. For a long time, I was too sick to be a huntress. I felt a lot better when someone unlocked my aura - enough that I could realistically become a huntress - but I lost a lot of years that could have been used in training."

Homura stood once more a few paces from Madoka who was now on her feet and read.

"How'd you, you know, get as good as you are now?"

Homura aimed her pistol. "Honestly? I was lucky. Mark!"

Madoka sidestepped the first shot, ducked under the next, pulled the gun from out of Homura's hands, and aimed a kick to the back of Homura's knees. As Homura leaned back from the impact, she swung an arm towards Madoka, bringing the both of them crashing to the floor.

"Lucky!?" Madoka asked as she scrambled over to Homura in an attempt to pin her.

"Yes!" Homura yelled, desperately trying to push Madoka off. They rolled back and forth a few times as their melee continued. It ended with Homura lying on her back, her shoulders pinned and a knee on her chest.

Homura laughed weakly. "Lucky," she breathed. "You're sure you haven't done this before?"

Madoka smiled mischievously. "I may have wrestled with my younger brother back in the day." She got off of Homura and stood, offering a hand. "So what was that about being lucky?"

Homura took the archer's hand. "As I was saying, I was lucky. No one knew I'd be so good with weapons and fighting - not even me." Now on her feet, Homura rubbed the part of her hip that hit the ground when the two fell. "I got by on talent and tactics - passed the combat portion of Beacon's entrance exam through careful planning and quick execution."

"Hmm. I remember that. You were the fastest time on record."

Homura thought back to the entrance exam where they were tasked to take down a suit of armor carrying a large battle axe. Since her surname started with 'A', there was only four fights she could watch before it was her turn. She had to quickly determine what she had to do to dispatch it. It was actually pretty simple - drop a few dust-bombs inside of the suit and it fell apart quite easily. If only preparing a landing strategy for the initiation was that easy.

"Me, on the other hand..." Madoka winced, as if remembering her own experience with the entrance exam. "I didn't really like that thing," she muttered. "I nearly ran out of time trying to kill it. I wasted most of it trying to get some distance since it kept charging me."

"Which is a prime example of why we're doing this," Homura said, reloading her pistol. "Let's try that again. See if you can do it without needing to wrestle your target for ten seconds."

"I don't know. That was actually kind of fun," Madoka said with a giggle.

"Miss Kaname."

"Okay, okay. No need to get testy."

Late afternoon, Atlas Training Arena B...

Kyouko had spent little over a week pestering one Homura Akemi for a sparring match. The infamous Angel of Death shot down her offers one after another but eventually caved in to her demands. Perhaps it was due to her devilishly charming good looks? Or perhaps it was due to her incredible persistence? Regardless of the reason, the two now stood across the arena, sizing each other up for their battle.

Kyouko, of course, wore her usual red battle robes, marking her as the only bright spot in the otherwise sterile room. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she brandished her spear. At the other side of the room stood Homura, face calm but eyes seemingly glowing in an intensely analytical stare. Strangely enough, the unusual frisbee-like metal contraption she usually had strapped to her belt was instead now strapped to her left arm, which she held at the ready.

"Huh. So that thing's actually a shield?" Kyouko noted.

"It is many things," Homura replied cryptically. Kyouko shrugged off the vague answer. It was just the kind of response she expected.

"Set time limit: Ninety seconds," Homura announced. The screen above the arena came to life, displaying the specified time limit. It also displayed Kyouko and Homura's aura levels, abstracted into video game-style health bars. "Begin in five seconds."

A timer appeared at the center of the screen. There was a short beep every time it counted down. Both Kyouko and Homura tensed.

Like Mami, Homura was primarily a ranged fighter. That meant that Kyouko would need to keep close in order to stay on even footing. She could argue that she'd have the advantage in close quarters but, after a frustrating series of defeats against Mami, she'd learned not to just assume that. Homura would put up a good fight. She just didn't know how good a fight.

A loud buzzer sounded upon the timer hitting zero. In that instant, all tension released from Kyouko's limbs and she lunged forward with her spear, aiming a stab at Homura's chest. Surprisingly, Homura stood her ground and batted away the spear with her shield and stepped to the side. Kyouko ended up charging right past her.

Kyouko heard the click of a gun cocking right as she skidded to a stop. Immediately she threw up a latticework barrier, turning towards the sound. She was met with Homura's intense gaze and a pistol pressed against the bottom of her chin.

"Too late," Homura whispered in her ear as she pulled the trigger.

If it weren't for her aura, the bullet would have passed straight through Kyouko's skull, boring a hole into her flesh and bone in a mere instant. As it happened, the bullet flattened itself onto her jaw, flinging her head upwards and backwards from the impact. Her ears were ringing, but she'd survive.

Kyouko only just managed to blink her daze away before the next bullet impacted her square in the chest. She doubled over, the wind sufficiently knocked out of her.

"Shit," she wheezed as she tried to look up.

Aimed right at her face was a shotgun barrel. She could only smile wryly as she heard another click of another pulled trigger.

When Kyouko next opened her eyes, she was met with the arena ceiling. Sitting quietly next to her was Homura, checking the ammo on her weapons. Kyouko laughed weakly as she tried to sit up. "You don't hold back do you?"

"I did warn you," was Homura's stoic reply.

"Man, how long did that take?"

"Two seconds."

Kyouko shook her head. "I'm supposed to be one of Vacuo's elites. And here I am getting my ass kicked over and over by Atlesians and Valeians."

Homura closed her eyes and sighed. "To be fair, it wasn't necessarily a fair fight. You probably didn't know this, but I'm actually quite adept at close quarters combat." She stood and offered a hand. "Also, you're much more vulnerable at close range than you'd think."

Kyouko raised an eyebrow, accepting the hand. "Why do you mean?"

"I'm sure you know." Homura helped Kyouko to her feet.

Kyouko nodded thoughtfully. She did know, actually. Despite being a melee fighter, there was still a limit to how close she could be to her opponent. She needed at least some distance so she could stab someone with her spear. Otherwise, all she could do was block or shove forward with the spear shaft. Added to the apparent fact that Homura was also good at melee combat? What chance did Kyouko ever have of defeating her?

"I wanna go again."

An odd smile appeared on Homura's face. "You'll lose," she said. She did not object however.

What followed was a series of matches that all sort of blurred together into the formless impressions of failed attacks and gun shots. Within ten minutes, Kyouko was already sprawled out on the floor, panting heavily. Consulting the screen, she could see her aura levels were already in the red zone. As expected, Homura had mopped the floor with her. Multiple times.

"You're getting better," Homura noted as she knelt beside Kyouko. "I'm surprised how quickly you adapted your barrier to prevent my quick take-downs."

Kyouko managed a pained grin. During their later battles, Kyouko had jury-rigged her barriers to be more mobile and denser. It ended up costing her a lot more energy to use but it was better than letting bullets hit her directly.

"You did pretty much the same kind of technique every time," she breathed. "Unbalance me, then shoot me in the head. My aura blocks the shots but I still feel the impact. I needed something else to block it."

Homura nodded. "It is an effect of aura that many people don't pay much attention to. Aura can shield you from cuts and broken bones but won't prevent a well placed attack to the head from knocking you out."

Kyouko grunted in reply. She vaguely remembered learning about that during her days in training. It certainly made sense at the very least. Shake your skull violently enough and the squishy brain inside was sure to react badly. Of course, whatever brain damage she'd get would always be temporary. It'd get healed within a few minutes thanks to her aura... probably...

"I guess that's why you always tried to get me off balance. It doesn't work if I just tank the shot. I'd just shrug it off like any other hit."

"Precisely."

Kyouko attempted to sit up, flailing her arms feebly for a moment before she managed to get both shoulders halfway off the floor. Very quickly she fell back down. Her limbs suddenly felt like butter. She hadn't felt so weak in years.

"Help," she said sheepishly.

Homura sighed. "Your soul is prioritizing the regeneration of your aura. You're going to feel weak for the next few hours." She threw Kyouko's arm over her shoulder and helped her stand. "Do I need to take you to the Hospital Ward?"

Kyouko smiled wryly. "I'll be fine. Just get me to a bench. I should be able to rest easier there."

With Homura's help, the lancer made her way into the locker room where she sat herself down on the bench nearest the locker she was assigned. Homura then pulled out a bottle of water from her shield and offered it to Kyouko.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Hom. How much dignity are you gonna steal from me today?" Kyouko accepted the bottle and poured all of its contents over her head. "Ah, much better."

"I'd like to point out that you proposed that the loser of our match would 'buy dinner' for the other. How soon until I'll able to cash that in?"

Kyouko blinked before pouted. "That's just twisting the knife, Homura. Not cool." She chuckled and shook her head. "Give me a few hours to recover and I'll take you out tonight. Meet me... I guess at seven? Central Plaza, south side."

Homura shot her that same odd smile from earlier and then turned to leave. "I'll see you then, Kyouko."

Evening, Atlas City Central Plaza...

In front of the southern gate to Central Command was a large open space with a monument right in the center of it - statues depicting a scientist, a soldier, and a huntsman standing as one under the banner of Atlas. A foot path leading to and around the monument was ringed with conifer trees and lined with flowers, all of them blooming despite the frigid temperature. It made for a picturesque view.

Officially, the place was called Atlas Central Plaza.

Unofficially, Central Plaza also referred to a highway that ran north to south through the entire city. Specifically, it referred to a four mile section of road, starting from Central Plaza proper, stretching all the way to the middle ring of the city. Most of the city's highest rated restaurants and hotels could be found along this street.

Near one of those restaurants was Kyouko, occupying one of the many benches dotting the walkways on either side of the highway. She sat there in a thick green hoodie and black pants, idly munching on some cookies - she kept a box of them in her pockets. Part of her wished she had something a little bit warmer. For a summer night, it was surprisingly chilly. As it stood, her food was the only thing distracting her from the long wait in the uncomfortable cold. An actually warm meal would have done wonders for her mood.

"And there it goes," Kyouko sighed as she swallowed the very last of her snack, leaving her with nothing but the cold and the silence to keep her company. She looked up and scowled at the street lamp flickering above her. "Dammit, Homura. It's already seven. Hurry up already."

As if in response to Kyouko's complaint, a familiar feeling aura appeared at the edge of her senses. As it got closer, she could more clearly discern the signature. She turned towards its source and was unsurprised to see Homura in her black and white dress approaching from a distance.

Kyouko stood and whistled as Homura drew near. "Damn, girl. I still can't get over how well you pull off that dress. You look like a princess or something."

Homura raised an eyebrow. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Kyouko. And Mami Tomoe will not be pleased to know you're flirting with me."

The lancer grinned, throwing an arm over Homura's shoulders. "I flirt with everyone, Hom. That's just how I am. Now come on. I ran out of food waiting for you. I'm starving!"

An odd smile appeared on Homura's face as she removed Kyouko's arm. "I'd like to point out that I am right on time. You should have rationed your food better."

They entered the restaurant and seated themselves at a free table. A waiter came by shortly after and took their orders. After which, they waited for their food.

"I can't imagine Miss Tomoe is happy with how you are. I'm under the impression that she's the jealous type."

Kyouko tilted her head curiously. "And I was under the impression that you were a lot less talkative. What gives?"

Once again, that odd smile found its way onto Homura's face. "It is customary during a date that the parties involved have a conversation. Of course, I am under no obligation to do that."

Kyouko leaned forward and rested her chin on her palm. "Uh huh. Then why are you doing it?"

Homura took a moment to answer. In that time, a waiter arrived again with a pitcher of water and two glasses. He filled both of them before politely bowing and leaving. As they watched him walk away, Homura took a sip of her glass. Only after that did she finally speak.

"I don't hate you, Kyouko," she began. "And, while being friendly with people is not exactly something I'm used to... I do think it's worth it to try - at least with you..."

Kyouko blinked. Homura's reply was completely unexpected. Something about hearing those words from a stoic loner seemed to strike her in ways she couldn't reliably describe. It was a strange feeling. Kyouko found herself chuckling. "Playing hard-ball, are we? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were after my heart."

Homura closed her eyes and took another sip. "Do I have it? If so, that was rather easy. I'm surprised you and Miss Tomoe are still together since your heart is so easily swayed."

Kyouko smirked. "Well, to be fair, we're not together together."

Homura snorted, rolling her eyes. "Excuses. These days, all I ever hear about from other huntsmen and huntresses is about the wild red huntress that Major Tomoe is seeing. They all assume that you two are together and I have seen enough evidence to agree with them. Even if you two are not in item, you most certainly act like you are."

"Didn't take you for a gossip."

"I cannot help what my co-workers talk about when I am around." She closed her eyes and took another long sip of her drink. Upon setting her glass back down, she sighed deeply. "You are egging me on," she noted.

Kyouko grinned. "What gave it away? Was it that I'm barely fighting back or that I'm just giving you more ammo with every reply?" With a shake of her head, she downed her glass and released a hearty laugh. "You know, I haven't heard that dry snark of yours since that bunker mission in the north way back when. Didn't realize how much I missed it until now. Why's this the first time I've heard it since? What happened between then and now?"

Homura stared blankly for a moment before shifting her gaze to her glass, sitting half full with water. "The people of Atlas all lie in extremes of any one spectrum," she whispered. "Seriousness, positivity, a sense of justice, a thirst for the thrill of battle. Everyone in this city has something like that. And that something always overbearing in its own right." She tapped the glass, letting ripples dance across the surface of the water. "Stay in this city long enough and you'll find what yours is. And it will be your burden to carry for the rest of your life."

Kyouko nodded thoughtfully. Part of her agreed with Homura's statement. Between Mami, Winter, Sayaka, and the few Huntsmen and Huntresses she had interacted with, there was usually something extreme about them. So what was Homura's...?

A long silence followed before Kyouko resumed the conversation, changing the topic. But in the back of her mind, she was still thinking about it. Obviously something was bothering Homura. And after the speech she just heard, she knew it was something heavy. She'd needed bring it up again soon.

But not tonight, Kyouko thought. Tonight, I just want her smiling that odd smile of hers. I wanna give her a good time...

Many years ago, Beacon dormitories...

Homura stood by the window, staring at Remnant's shattered moon. For the first time in a long time, it didn't actually look shattered. It was a pristine circle, illuminating the sky as the sun would during the day. It was a beautiful sight to behold...

"Homura...?" From her bed, Madoka stirred. She looked to Homura sleepily. "Can't sleep?"

Homura shook her head. "Nightmares again," she explained.

Madoka frowned with concern. "What was it about?"

Homura massaged the bridge of her nose. "The same thing as always - I was in an empty city fighting wave after wave of Grimm. I didn't know why I wasn't retreating. For some reason, I just had to stand my ground even though I knew I couldn't hold them indefinitely. Something about reinforcements?"

She sighed and looked down at her hands. "I was doing okay for a while. Good positioning and well timed explosives made it pretty easy. But there was just too many of them. Eventually I ran out of... well, everything. Bombs, ammo, dust - I had nothing left." Her nails dug into her palms as she clenched her fist. "Right before I was overwhelmed, I managed to get on top of a building. When I looked to the distance, I didn't see any dropships or reinforcements - just an ocean of black and white that went on for miles.

"It was hopeless..."

Homura heard Madoka whimper. Homura had told her about the dream before, though that probably didn't make it any less heart breaking.

"Whenever I have this dream, it's always so vivid. I always remember it so clearly. It's like... like... like a vision or something. Is it my time powers? Some outside force? Or maybe it's just a coincidence that I keep getting it?" Homura pressed her palms to her face. "I don't understand..."

Homura felt arms wrap around her. "I don't understand either," Madoka said, pulling her into a tight embrace. "But I won't ever let that happen. You and I are teammates - partners. If you ever find yourself in a situation like that, know that I'll be right by your side."

Homura put a hand on Madoka's arm, closing her eyes for fear of breaking down into tears.

Past Midnight, Atlas Hospital Ward...

Through the vacuum sealed glass, Homura watched the girl lying in bed. She had white hair and looked no older than fifteen. Based on the markings on her hospital gown, she was a terminally ill patient.

"Good morning, Homura Akemi."

A familiar and unpleasant presence tore her attention away from the girl. In the silence of the sleeping Hospital Ward, a voice spoke in a quiet yet cheerful tone, words clearly understandable even from across the hall. From the darkness walked a small boy, with white hair and blood-red eyes.

"Kyubey." Homura once again wore look of disgust. "They let you out of Central."

"I actually have free reign to go wherever I wish so long as I don't trespass on private property. I just don't often take advantage of that privilege." He turned to the girl in the locked room. "Nagisa Momoe," he said. "That is the name of the girl in that room."

"Nagisa Momoe," Homura repeated hollowly. She returned her attention to the girl in the locked room, staring somberly at her sickly figure. "Is she the next test subject?"

"Hmm. No. Not yet. While she is certainly a candidate, she still has some months ahead of her. Should the procedure not go as planned, it may very well kill her. We'd rather not bring her to an early demise."

Homura bit her lip. The way he had phrased it made it sound a little bit more humane but it didn't change the fact that he was talking about making use of a human being in a potentially fatal experiment. Even after two months, Homura could only barely stomach the thought of it.

"Since you are here, I'll take this as an opportunity to remind you that the next operation is on Saturday at sixteen-hundred hours, same meeting place. Please remember to stay well rested. We'd like to have you at peak physical and mental condition on that day."

With that, Kyubey stalked away. In just a few steps, he had already disappeared into the shadows, his very presence extinguished like a snuffed out candle.

Homura watched this happen with a stoic glare before once again returning to Nagisa, asleep on the bed. A numbing sense of helplessness came over her. When will it end? she wondered, gingerly putting a hand on the window.

The answer never came to her...

End of chapter...

Once again, I'm deeply sorry for the long hiatus. I had no desire to write for this story for the longest time and only recently did I feel inspired enough to come back to it. It also doesn't help that I'd been unbelievably busy these past few months.

At least half of this chapter was drafted seven months ago. Certain scenes worked on before the hiatus. Specifically, the two flash back scenes were the only ones I had written and edited to completion in January. Everything else was written and/or completed just this past week. I feel like there are shifts in the writing style of this chapter because of that large time gap between scenes. I'm unsure of how noticeable the changes are, though.

To all the readers who were left hanging, thank you for waiting. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until the next one.