I
Madoka, collared and chained, looked up with wide doey eyes, her fists still clenched around the hem of the skirt she was wearing.
'She's... too cute…' Homura had to look away, lest she suffer a nosebleed. She tried her best to hide her feelings behind a cough and force a serious expression back onto her face. "It's okay, right? It's not too tight or anything?"
"I don't think so..." Madoka's hands grudgingly released the skirt and raised to the collar. It was made of strong fabric, colored pink, and had small metal spikes every couple inches all the way around. Madoka ran both of her hands around it, as if verifying it was there. Then with downcast eyes she spoke in a small disgruntled voice "Do I really have to wear this?" Homura nodded. "What if someone sees me?"
"I'll be careful not to let that happen. I have to keep you hidden anyway, there are news reports out about you so it would be bad if someone recognized you, right?"
Madoka's hand tensed around the collar as if she was thinking about ripping it off. Her eyes dropped and traced the chain that ran from her neck down to where it was held in Homura's hand. She let go, and spoke in that same small voice. "Okay..."
Homura looked into her eyes, Madoka avoided meeting the gaze and just stared at the ground. "We'll be lucky if no one has already seen you. More importantly, it's lucky that Kyubey did not notice you while you were out. It'll be fine now that I'm here, but it could have been bad." What she avoided saying is that it was lucky Sayaka wasn't here, because then it was almost guaranteed that Kyubey would be nearby.
Furthermore, if Sayaka had gotten to Madoka she would swear everything Homura's been saying was a lie. If that happened it would be impossible to make Madoka believe the danger is real. It would not even be entirely Sayaka's fault, either. At this point in the timeline she was still blissfully ignorant of what Kyubey really was, and what it actually meant to make a contract with him.
Homura put her hand on the top of Madoka's head, which sunk down at the touch. Madoka was shorter than her, and looked up through the tops of her sad innocent eyes. "I know it's hard to perceive danger from something you have never seen, and have very little knowledge of, but I promise you the danger is real. Once Kyubey gets a hold of you he doesn't let go until he gets what he wants." Homura took a moment, remembering all those past lives that had ended so tragically "If that happened... Everything I did up until now will have been for nothing. I know you hate this, but it's far better than the alternative."
Madoka didn't seem to have anything to say to this, but Homura hoped she was getting through to her. Finally, she pulled the chain a little to snap the distant Madoka into motion. "Well then, shall we?" Madoka looked at her with some trace of resentment, but ultimately she just nodded, agreeing to come, and allowed herself to be led by the leash.
Even if Madoka was still skeptical on the reasons, Homura thought she had at least finally gotten the point across to stop resisting. Maybe Madoka's little escape tonight was a blessing in disguise. Now that she knew simply leaving the hotel room wasn't enough to get away, maybe she would realize how pointless it is to even try. "It doesn't matter where you go, Madoka, I can find you, and when I do all I have to do is stop time and take you right back." That is what she had said, and now more than ever Madoka should be understanding the truth of that statement.
However, Madoka did still have one more trick up her sleeve (or down her skirt, to be more precise). As Homura led her through the house, Madoka very slowly snuck two fingers into her skirt. When Homura's back was turned she got her fingertips on the ribbon she had hidden there and pulled it out very slowly, being careful not to make any sudden movements. Once out, she let it fall through her fingers and drop to the ground, right out in plain sight where Sayaka would see it when she got home. It might not lead to anything, but she just wanted Sayaka to know that she had been here, and that she was still alive and trying to escape.
She watched Homura's back as she led her through the house and thought, Please don't notice!
At the front door, Homura stopped with her hand on the knob. Her head turned, and Madoka's heart began to race. Was Homura looking at her? Or was she looking past her? It was dark in the house, but the ribbon was on the ground and in plain sight.
"No more tricks, okay?" said Homura. There was a sense of amusement in her voice, the corner of her lip rose in a half smile. What did that mean? Did she already know? Was she just messing with her?
Madoka tried her best to hide her guilty conscience, but it was a struggle to keep herself from glancing backwards to see just where the ribbon had landed. Homura stared into her for a while before saying, "I'm going to stop time until we get out of the neighborhood. I'll resume time when we are in an area less familiar to you. Just like before, I don't like moving slow while my magic is being used, so keep the pace up. Alright?" When Madoka didn't respond right away Homura yanked on the chain, forcing her to step forward. "Alright?" she said again, a bit more assertively.
"Y-yes!" Madoka squeaked out nervously.
Homura's eyes narrowed, and that same smile touched the corners of her lips. The gears turned, and she led Madoka out the front door.
II
"Why is this happening?" Madoka thought to herself.
There was still a light rainfall but the small beads of water just hung in the air, frozen in time. She stomped through a puddle and it came to life in a splash, then froze again at the climax of its fountain. Madoka looked back at this phenomenon and took in how beautiful it was, thinking it looked like a flower made of blue crystal. Her pace slowed when she did this, and she was instantly jerked forward by the chain. Homura just glanced back at her, then continued as she was.
Homura wasn't going as fast as she was the other day when they first had to do this, but she was still moving at a brisk pace. If Madoka kept in pace with her she was able to forget about the collar around her neck for a while. Every now and then, though, she would fall behind just a bit and get tugged forward. She wanted to scream in frustration every time this happened, but her lips would just drop into a frown and her face would redden as she put a hand to the collar and forced herself to move quicker.
They moved away from the residential area until they started seeing nothing but businesses. Then, after a while, the businesses gave way to another type of architecture that made Madoka feel very uncomfortable. She looked around at the boarded up windows and trash littered streets nervously. Then Homura slowed down to a walk and stopped.
Madoka's hands balled together under her chin as her wide uneasy eyes looked around this dark and desolate place. She then looked to Homura, wondering why they had stopped.
"I'm going to resume time here. These streets are pretty much abandoned, so I think we will be able to avoid being seen. Even if we are seen, the kind of people who live here aren't exactly the kind that would file a police report. So I'm not too worried about it."
"H-Homura! Don't you realize where we are?" Madoka begged, "Two girls can't just walk through this part of town alone! L-let's go another way!"
Homura just gave one of her subtle half smiles. "You are right, it would be pretty dangerous for two ordinary girls, but I'm a Magical Girl. We will be fine."
Madoka glanced around anxiously. She had never been to a place like this, but she had seen these kinds of things on TV shows and she knew it was the type of place you were supposed to avoid.
"Don't worry. I still don't want you to be seen, so if I notice anyone down the street, or cars coming by, I'll just stop time again. We are perfectly safe, I just need to try and conserve some of my magic. Okay?"
Madoka didn't have much say on the matter, so she just kept quiet. Homura could see the concern in her eyes, and reached a hand over to her. She touched the side of her face and made the nervous girl look her in the eyes. Homura gave her as warm of a smile as she could manage and said, "You are safe. As long as I am here nothing is going to hurt you." The gears spun, and the world returned to normal. Madoka instantly felt light raindrops splashing her face, and the ambient sounds of the city returned to normal.
Madoka pulled away from Homura's touch, and looked around again. She supposed as long as Homura could stop time at any moment there really was nothing to be afraid of. She looked back to her captor and nodded her head. Homura smiled and said, "Okay."
They continued on at a normal pace. Madoka, nervously glancing into every alley and behind every corner. She had started sticking very close to Homura's side without noticing she was doing it. Through the corners of her eyes, Homura took note of this, and she started to blush. A stray cat suddenly hissed at them, breaking the silence, and Madoka jumped, grabbing onto Homura's arm and letting out a small scared scream. Embarrassed by what she had done, Madoka quickly let go and looked away with a clear blush on her own face as well. It made Homura smile, and her heart jumped, thinking how cute that was.
"H-how did we end up here anyway?" Madoka asked, trying to draw attention away from it.
It took a moment for Homura to realize what she was talking about. "When you left you went to the park, right? Then you started heading south. The park is actually to the west, so it was a pretty long detour you took. The way we are going now cuts right through the bottom of the city. It's good you didn't come this way when you were alone, it would have been quite dangerous for you, especially at night." Madoka still walked rather close to Homura's side, now fully conscious that she was doing it, but she couldn't help herself. Homura could not help but notice, and it filled her with a warm feeling. Although, she did feel bad that Madoka was so scared, and decided to try distracting her.
"I bought some manga while I was out," said Homura. "That way we will have more to do than just cards and watching TV once we get back. I could probably grab some video games as well next time I go out." Madoka didn't say anything back, so Homura continued. "There's this one manga, I've already read it, but I think you will like it." Actually, she didn't just think Madoka would like it, she already knew for a fact, from past lives, that Madoka would love it. "It's about this high school girl who has a special power locked inside her. There's an organization who wants to kidnap her, but there is this secret agent character posing as a high school student who acts as her bodyguard. Thing is, he has to keep his identity secret from her, and she is completely clueless about all the battles and assassination attempts that are constantly happening right over her shoulder. It's pretty funny, I am sure you will enjoy it."
"Homura... You never gave me a straight answer before…" Madoka stopped walking, and waited for Homura to look her in the eyes. "How long are you planning to keep me like this?" Her voice was soft, not confrontational, but Homura wasn't sure how to respond. "Just tell me!" Madoka pressed on, still with that soft voice. "I promise I won't freak out or anything, I just have to know what you're planning… and… how long this is going to last."
"Three years, at least," said Homura, as casually as possible. "You will no longer be eligible to become a Magical Girl, and Kyubey will leave you alone."
"I-I see..." Madoka kept her word, and didn't freak out, but there was a deep and sudden sadness when she spoke those words.
"It won't be so bad," Homura said "We'll move out of the hotel within a month. It gets busier in the summer, so it's only temporary. I'm thinking somewhere outside the city. Somewhere that you can have much more comfortable living arrangements. Maybe, when I feel like I can trust you more, we can even start going outside once in a while. You can write your family letters as often as you like. Of course I'll need to read them first. You can send your little brother presents on his birthday, just tell me what you would like to send and I'll get it for you. Maybe I can even come up with a way to allow you to make phone calls, but you'll have to be really good about not giving anything away, or that would have to stop... Madoka?" Homura stopped when she realized Madoka had started crying. It wasn't loud, but the tears were flowing with an occasional sniffle, and her body seemed distressed.
"Madoka..." Homura put her hands on Madoka's shoulders, the leash still held in her right hand with the chain connected to the pink spiked collar around her neck. At least she was allowing herself to be touched this time. "I know this isn't the life you want, but this is the best I can do for you."
"I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I told you I wouldn't freak out, b-but..."
"You have nothing to apologize for." Homura looked around. "We should probably keep moving, though."
They continued walking through the rundown streets at the south of the city. On a rare occasion a car would pass and Homura would stop time until they were out of sight. At another point, she spotted a group of people sitting around on the steps outside a dilapidated apartment building, and she stopped time again until they passed them.
Madoka had seemed to calm down, realizing that she was safe as long as Homura could use her magic. She let out a long yawn, suddenly realizing how tired she was. She was tired even back in the hotel before the escape, but the excitement of the night had kept her from noticing. Now that it was well past midnight, and things felt as though they were calming down, the tiredness was creeping back on her in full force.
"It won't be long," said Homura, still leading the way. "Like I said, this is the fastest route, so..."
Madoka nodded, and then walked right into Homura's back when Homura stopped suddenly. Madoka looked up, confused, Homura's eyes were darting all around and she pulled out her SoulGem. Madoka looked at the gem curiously; Homura had told her about SoulGems but she had not actually seen one yet. It was a pretty little jewel for the most part, but there was a black fog floating around in the middle of it. Homura held it up and it started to pulsate with rainbow light. Homura looked all around, waving it through the air like someone trying to catch a signal on their cell phone. "No... Not now!" Homura said under her breath.
"Homura? What's the matter?" Madoka asked, growing deeply concerned.
Homura's eyes narrowed as she lowered the SoulGem. "There is a witch nearby."
III
Kyoko woke from her slumber. She rubbed her fingers into her tired eyes, then opened them and looked toward the boarded up window. There was no light coming through the cracks, so she figured it must have still been night. Judging by how tired she was, she guessed it was at least a few more hours before daylight. However, she had that certain feeling creeping into her heart that wouldn't let her just go to sleep. It was like there was some force out there, pushing against her and tearing into her soul. Every Magical Girl has had this feeling before, and would know what it meant: a witch.
She grabbed her SoulGem and fed some power into it. It started pulsing wildly. The witch wasn't just out there, it was close. Really close!
She stood up and let her magic cover her in light as she transformed into her Magical Girl attire. Her SoulGem took the form of a diamond and attached itself to her clothing, between her breasts.
"Guess there's no sleeping with all that going on," she said to herself, reluctantly. "Oh well, maybe I can make a detour and find something to eat when I'm done!"
She held out her hand and with a flash of light her spear appeared. She raised it over her head and spun it around, slashing an X into the boarded up window. She tightened her grip, the spear stopped spinning and held firm in her hands, ready to lunge. Her feet kicked off the ground and she speared through the window, the boards being blown to splinters as if a bomb had just gone off as she crashed through.
She stood on the window sill, one hand grabbing the wall from inside, the rest of her body hanging outside as she looked up and down the street with her spear held loosely in her free hand. She looked up, and saw there were plenty more windowsills to grab onto, so with a magic enhanced pull of her arm, she jumped from story to story, scaling up the wall at a speed defiant of gravity.
Once on the roof, she started running in the direction from which she could feel the witch's presence. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, using her spear as a vaulting pole when needed, until she knew that she was very close. She walked the edge of the building and looked down. Her dress and her long crimson red ponytail blowing in the wind as she searched.
At the center of a beat up old basketball court with high metal fences, she saw it. There was a distortion hanging in the air, it could almost be described as heat waves, except with more color. She grinned and prepared to jump down, but then she saw something else.
From around a corner came two girls. One with pink hair, nervously twitching her hands together and clinging to the other girls back, and... and... was that a leash? Kyoko ducked down behind the ledge and peeked over so she wouldn't be seen. She grinned. It most certainly was. The pink haired girl was collared and chained, being led around by the black haired girl who, based on the clothing she wore, was clearly another Magical Girl.
"Well now, this is certainly interesting." Kyoko smiled a sharp toothed grin. "Looks like I found Kyubey's so-called anomaly."
-Atomyst
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