I
As Madoka's eyes opened, for a brief moment, her consciousness lagged behind her and she believed that she was back home, in her own room. That would have been so nice, to wake up and find out it was all just a dream... but it wasn't. She looked at each of her hands and feet to verify that she was still tied down. Indeed, she was. She pulled at the rope on her left hand lazily, not actually expecting anything. She already spent a good portion of last night trying to free herself, but with no success.
She looked around the room for a clock, having not seen one last night while the room was dark. Perhaps she could find one now that there was some sunlight coming in. There wasn't, though. All she spotted was the pile of clothes atop the dresser on the other side of the room. She looked through the cracked door and saw Homura still fast asleep on the couch.
How long had she been tied to this bed? It was dark out when it happened, but not incredibly late. She thought maybe around eight. What time was it now, though? She didn't have a clock to go by, but the sun seemed to be at full blast so it must have been at least eight in the morning.
Twelve hours, she had spent at least twelve hours laying on this bed spread eagle, staring at the ceiling, and sucking on a cloth that was soaked in her own saliva.
The thought of it alone made her want to scream, but even screaming seemed to frustrate her more because without any other motion available to her, and without much actual sound being made through the gag, it really was not much of a release. Did Homura plan to make her go through this again every night? She could not stand the thought of it. She needed to find a way out of this.
For now though, all she could do is lay there and wait for Homura to get up and untie her. As anxious as she was to get up and have mobility again, another part of her dreaded Homura waking up. It's not that Madoka hated her. Despite all that has happened, Madoka partly felt bad for her. There seemed like a very sad, broken person. Even as far-fetched as her story was (witches, Magical Girls, and time travel), Madoka believed it. Still, Homura was unpredictable and Madoka saw how her mood could swing. Madoka knew she definitely had to be careful with handling this situation, not knowing what Homura might be capable of.
After waiting for a while, though, Madoka just couldn't take it anymore. She decided she would just go for it and try to wake Homura up so she could finally get off of this bed.
She hollered as best as she could through the gag, trying to get her attention. Madoka was never a very loud person in the first place, so her muffled yells through the gag did not make much noise.
She then tried thrashing around on the bed to see if she could make any noise that way, but the bed was too soft and sturdy so it barely made a creak. After forcing her muffled voice through the gag for a little while longer she gave up, coming to the realization she was just going to have to wait. There was no way she could make enough noise to rouse the sleeping Homura.
She laid her head back and stared at the ceiling. She had turned down the dinner Homura made for her last night, and therefore hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. She was really hungry now, and dying to eat breakfast. As if concurring with her thoughts, her stomach gave a long growl. Homura's head then moved and looked over to Madoka with tired eyes.
Seriously? Madoka thought.
II
Homura let out a yawn and stretched as she sat up on the couch. She looked over at Madoka and gave a slight smile, but Madoka did not seem very happy to see her. She supposed it could not be helped. She had put Madoka through a lot last night, but hoped the rest of their time together would go more smoothly.
"Good morning, Madoka," she said as she entered the room. Madoka just glared back at her. "Did you sleep well?"
Madoka yelled through the gag, the frustration was plain on her face.
"Sorry, I'll take that off in just a moment."
Homura climbed on top of her and pulled her head up into her arms as she started working at undoing the knot around the back of her head. Madoka's face was right in front of Homura's chest as she did this. Madoka let her eyes sink away, feeling embarrassed by the closeness.
Homura finished with the knot and tossed the rope away, then pulled the pillowcase from Madoka's mouth. It was completely soaked with saliva. Homura grimaced and held it away from herself with two fingers. A bit of drool rolled down from the corner of Madoka's mouth as Madoka sighed and looked away, her cheeks flushed red.
"Ugh, be right back. I'll take care of this." Homura brought the soiled clothes to the kitchen and threw it away. She then wetted a paper towel for Madoka's face and went back into the room. "Hold still," she said as she dabbed the corners of Madoka's mouth and cleaned her up. "There, better now?" Madoka didn't respond to that, rightfully irritated by her situation.
"You know, you could have taken that out last night," Madoka said, dryly, her eyes fixed on the wall. "It's not like I could call for help with you sleeping right there."
"Oh, yes, I suppose I could have. I'm sorry about that."
Madoka wondered if it really was an oversight.
"Can you untie me now?" Madoka asked anxiously. When Homura did not respond right away, Madoka looked her in the eyes and said, "Please?"
"Just a little longer, okay? I need to take a shower first." Homura got up and walked over to the pile of clothes she had gathered last night and shuffled through them.
Madoka glanced between her bindings, subconsciously pulling at them with desperate irritation creeping onto her face. "B-but!"
"It's just a little longer, I promise." Homura picked out a purple t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts and showed them to Madoka. "Mind if I borrow these?"
Madoka's head shot up. "A-are those mine?" Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "D-did you break into my house!?"
Homura shrunk back a little and scratched the side of her face nonchalantly. She hadn't considered that Madoka might be upset about that.
"Well, I did not exactly break in. I simply snuck in while time was stopped is all, and grabbed a few things. All your things, for you. I did not steal anything if that's what you think."
Madoka sighed and dropped her head back. Considering her current situation she figured she should stop being surprised by anything this girl did anymore. Still, she couldn't believe her nerve. "You can borrow it, it's fine."
"Okay… well, I'll be quick. Alright? Just a few more minutes and I'll untie you."
III
Sayaka wanted to just bag school for the day, but Mami convinced her not to. Mami claimed that despite her Magical Girl career she had never missed a single class.
"If you're planning to become a Magical Girl you have to understand that it doesn't mean you can just write off all your other personal responsibilities. It's kind of like having a part time job. That's something you should take into consideration before making the contract."
"I guess you're right," Sayaka said with a yawn. The problem was she had only gotten about four hours of sleep last night and she was exhausted. Although, she started to feel a little more energetic after drinking some tea and eating a breakfast muffin Mami gave to her.
Since Sayaka had slept in her street clothes from last night, Mami offered to let her borrow one of her old school uniforms. Sayaka took one look at Mami's chest, then glanced down at her own, but did not bother pointing out the obvious reason why that plan might not work.
She decided to humor the idea, however, and it turned out the uniform fit better than she would have expected. It was two years old, after all. The thought made her look down at her own average sized bust again, and it filled her head with hopes and dreams. She glanced back to Mami's rack and thought: one day.
They finished their preparations and walked out the door together.
"Hey Mami, mind if we make a slight detour?" Sayaka asked as they left the apartment complex Mami lived in. "I always meet my friend Hitomi before school, and I'm worried she'll end up being late waiting for me if I don't show up... usually we meet Madoka there too... but..."
"Sure, it's no problem; and try not to worry too much about Madoka. I'm sure she will be fine. That GriefSeed Homura stole from us won't last forever, eventually she will have to come out of hiding and we can get her." Mami smiled, "We'll have Madoka back before the end of the week, I promise."
Sayaka returned the smile and nodded, feeling reassured.
It was a short walk to where they met up with Hitomi at the usual meeting place.
"Hello Sayaka, how are you doing?" she asked as they approached.
"Could be better," said Sayaka.
"Is Madoka still missing?"
"Yeah I'm afraid so... she..."
Sayaka was cut off when she heard Mami's voice whispering inside her head. "Sayaka, don't tell Hitomi about anything that happened last night, okay?" Sayaka looked at her, confused. "Oh, I should have mentioned we can speak telepathically, Kyubey channels our thoughts to each other." Sayaka then noticed Kyubey perched up on a nearby tree branch, his doll-like face staring down at the group.
"R-really? Cool!" She then looked back to Hitomi. "Yeah, she's still missing."
"My, how terrible..." said Hitomi; she took note of the silent exchange that had just taken place between Sayaka and this other girl that she had never seen before.
"Oh, this is my friend, Mami Tomoe," Sayaka said.
Mami smiled and bowed. "It's nice to meet you, you must be Hitomi."
"Yes, it's nice to meet you as well, senpai," said Hitomi as she returned the bow.
After the introductions were made they all started walking to school together. For some reason Hitomi seemed to be uncharacteristically quiet this morning. Sayaka was about to ask if something was wrong, but Hitomi started talking first.
"Sayaka, you normally come from near the park but today you came from a different direction. Didn't you?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, well I stayed at Mami's house last night."
Hitomi let out a small gasp, which earned her a raised eyebrow from Sayaka. "Oh… I-I see, and… that's a new uniform you're wearing. Is it not?"
"Huh? Well, no not exactly, this is one of Mami's old uniforms. I'm just borrowing it."
"Oh... is that so..." Hitomi's hands fidgeted within one another, her face beginning to glow red. "I-I didn't realize, I-I mean... all of this."
"Um, realize what?" Sayaka asked as the trio slowed down to a stop. Mami seemed a bit perplexed herself.
"Everything you told me… a-and the fact that you can glance at each other and seem to know what the other is thinking. That kind of closeness is..."
"Eh... Hitomi?" Sayaka asked, smiling awkwardly, seeing that her friend was once again putting her rather unique set of reasoning skills to use.
"Sayaka!" Hitomi yelled as she grabbed Sayaka's hands, "I-I had no idea! I'm so happy for you! But- but she's a girl! You- you can't! It's-" she released Sayaka, turned to Mami and bowed her head. "I am so sorry, I just forgot I had to do something important I must go do! I've got to run!" She then turned and ran away screaming, leaving the two of them in her dust.
Sayaka buried her face in the palm of her hand, while Mami just stood there with a befuddled look on her face.
"Um... Is she always so... energetic?" Mami asked.
"Yeeeeaaaah, she's got a lot of problems."
IV
Kyoko boarded the train early that morning. Last night she made the decision that she was done with Kazamino and ready to move her operation to Mitakihara.
She found a nice window seat in the back and dropped her small duffle bag on another empty seat right next to her. There were not many passengers on board today, so she appreciated the quiet. She sat with one foot up so her knee folded into her chest and her arm rested over it. Her crimson eyes stared out the window and watched the passing landscapes.
Mitakihara was her old stomping ground, and maybe that's why she was going back, simply because it was familiar to her. Well, it was also the best place for witch hunting that she could think of without having to travel a terribly long distance. There was only one other Magical Girl who worked that turf, and she was a fool of a Magical Girl: Mami Tomoe.
It's not that Mami wasn't powerful, because she truly was. In a fair fight Kyoko knew she'd lose nine times out of ten. Although, fair was the key word and Kyoko never took much pride in being a fair fighter. Mami may have been powerful, but she was a fool.
There were two types of creatures Magical Girls had to fight: witches and familiars. Witches of course dropped GriefSeeds which Magical Girls needed to keep their powers. Familiars on the other hand dropped no rewards when killed. However, if a familiar is left alone long enough, it will eventually turn into a witch itself, and actually be worth the effort of killing. Therefore, every Magical Girl who was worth her salt knew to just leave familiars alone and focus their efforts on witches.
Not Mami, though. She would go after both witches and familiars without prejudice, always preaching her bullshit lines about how familiars attack humans too, and they need to be destroyed in order to protect people. The problem with that is: protecting humans is not a Magical Girl's job! It's all about the GriefSeeds! Operating in a way that does not prioritize gathering GriefSeeds above all else is a path that could only lead to disaster for a Magical Girl. It was such a simple concept. Kyoko understood it, and she figured she would never know why Mami did not understand as well.
Kyoko reached for her bag to grab some chips she had stashed there. When she turned she noticed a small face half hidden behind a seat and peeking at her from the aisle. It was a little girl. Kyoko stared back at her for a moment before the kid retreated back into hiding. Kyoko did not think anything of it, and grabbed the bag of chips and tore it open.
After stuffing her face with a few chips, the kid returned, this time in plain sight, not hiding behind the seat anymore. Kyoko stared back at her with a blank expression, and in a small sweet voice the little girl said, "Can you play with me? Please?"
She was young, probably only about six years old, and she stood there in that nervous, needlessly anxious manor little kids often had.
Kyoko sighed. "Buzz off, I don't feel like playing." She then turned back to the window and ate another chip, figuring if she just ignored her she would go away. After a moment she felt the kid tugging on her pants, which startled her and made her face turn red. Her eyes shot back over, preparing to yell at her about keeping her hands to herself, but that innocent look in the young girl's eyes managed to hold Kyoko back.
"Please big sister? Play with me?" she asked once again, in her small voice.
Big sister? She had been called that once. She used to have a little sister who she would play with every day, but that was a long time ago. She wasn't anyone's sister now.
Kyoko narrowed her eyes and forced some aggression into her voice. "I said, buzz off!" The little girl shrank back a bit. At first it seemed she would just stand there, but after a few more moments under Kyoko's sharp uninviting gaze the girl put a finger to her mouth and scurried away.
Thinking that took care of that, Kyoko sighed and once again turned back to the window to continue eating her chips.
Within less than a minute she heard the kid's tiny voice once more. "I'm sorry. I thought you looked lonely and maybe you would want to play."
Kyoko looked back at the kid. She narrowed her eyes further as she leaned forward and put a malicious tone to her voice. "Look, I ain't lonely." She bared her fangs and growled, "I'm annoyed! Get it!? You're annoying me! So go play somewhere else and quit bothering me!"
The little girl took a full step back and put two trembling hands over her mouth. Her wide little eyes stared at Kyoko, glassing over with tears. Kyoko clicked her teeth and turned back to the window, hoping the kid would just go away for good now. She stuffed her face with an entire hand full of chips, but through the crunching she could hear the little girl starting to whimper.
She tried to ignore it, hoping the child would just scamper off. She didn't, though.
With a sigh Kyoko finally put the chips down, deciding that she needed to go to the bathroom. Once she got up and stepped into the aisle, she heard a sob, and couldn't help looking down at the trembling child.
Ah, damn it… she thought as her unrelenting gaze stared down at her. This is just what I needed...
Kyoko bent down and put a hand on the girl's tiny head. With as kind of a voice as Kyoko could manage she said: "Look, I just don't feel like playing right now, okay? Why don't you go do some coloring or somethin'?" The kid stared back at her with her big sad eyes, hiding behind her own hands and trying to hold back her sobs. Kyoko frowned, then stood up and turned away.
After a few steps down the aisle she turned her head just enough to say, "Look, I'm sure you can find something else to do. I just don't think you would have much fun playing with a mean person like me, is all." With that, she walked away and left the little girl behind. Not seeing her again for the rest of the trip.
-Atomyst
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