I

Kyoko slid on her heels, forcing herself to a stop as she got closer to the cage and saw what was inside. The black haired Magical Girl was inside firing away with a machine gun, her little pet girl from earlier was hugging onto her leg and... and... she was totally naked! Kyoko turned her head away, scratching the side of her nose with a bit of blush creeping in on her face. "And here I thought I saw every weird ass thing these labyrinths had to offer." She shook it off and laughed, then drove the blunt end of her spear into the ground.

The black haired girl shot her a look. "Break the lock! I'll cut you a path!" Kyoko didn't seem very interested in going along with this plan. She let out an exaggerated yawn to signal her disinterest of the situation, then shrugged with a mocking grin.

She took another look at the pet girl. She was peeking out from behind her master's leg, using it to keep her body hidden, and all Kyoko could really see from this angle was an immodest amount of skin. The girl's face was bright red from embarrassment, though she looked at Kyoko with pleading eyes, begging for help. They held eye contact for only a moment before the girl got too embarrassed and her eyes shot away.

"Kyoko! Quit messing around!" The Magical Girl yelled over to her.

"Hey! How the hell do you know my name!" Kyoko yelled back, raising a fist. A few familiars had stumbled their way over to her, so she picked up her spear and sliced their heads off with one quick slash, then retook her posture.

"Does it matter?" the Magical Girl called back. She fired another burst into the familiars, then started reloading. "You can have the GriefSeed! Just help us out!"

"Yeah right, so you can just shoot me in the back while I'm distracted by the witch? I don't think so! I think the two of you are just fine where you are!" She raised her spear to rest it over her shoulder. As she began to turn away, she looked back for just another moment to flash one of her sharp toothed grins. "Don't worry, the labyrinth will disappear when I'm done with the witch. Then you and your girlfriend can get back to playing your kinky little games in private!"

Suddenly, there was a large explosion from within the cage, and the grin fell off her face. Most of the familiars fell back from the force of the shockwave, the ones who were centered around the blast were blown apart. The explosion was focused around the door in front of the cage, but it was large enough that the two inmates inside were completely lost in the flames!

Her eyes widened and a wave of guilt shot through her body. "Shit!" she screamed and without thinking she ran toward the cage.

When she had turned her back on them she didn't think that they were actually going to end up dying! She cursed herself over and over, wishing she had just helped them out. She might not know them, or owe them anything, but she didn't want to be responsible for two people dying right in front of her! She slashed at a few more familiars who got in her way as she approached.

There was still a heavy layer of smoke floating in the air. The bars around where the lock had been were broken and twisted with more thin lines of smoke rising away from them. She put her hand around one of the bars to pull it open but it was so hot it burned her and she let go right away. "Damn it!" she yelled as she shook the pain away. She watched the inside of the cage with wide anticipating eyes, trying to look through the smoke to see what had become of them.

The smoke started to dissipate, and she could see a single silhouette crouched down in the back corner. Which one was it? And was she alive or dead? Kyoko couldn't tell yet.

She looked around and noticed all the familiars were starting to crawl away from the cage, completely losing interest in the three of them. That was bad, as it usually meant the witch was on its way. "Hey!" Kyoko called into the cage, "You alive or what?" The smoke cleared enough that she could see it was the Magical Girl, but where was the other one? She blinked and realized the pet girl was cradled underneath her owner. She had protected her from the blast with her own body.

The Magical Girl lifted her head and looked back at Kyoko with narrow angry eyes. The clothing on her back had been burned away, and Kyoko could see burns and seared flesh all along her shoulders and her back. "Hey!" Kyoko grinned awkwardly, with one hand scratching the back of her head. "You made it! Your friend alright?" The pink haired girl peeked over her master's shoulder, her face was the brightest shade of red Kyoko had ever seen on someone before, but she supposed having someone laying on top of you while you're totally nude could have that effect on a girl.

"I-I'm ok!" she said in a small meek voice. Then the air all around the labyrinth became wavy, and the bars of the cage, along with the familiars and everything else in sight started to become translucent and disappear.

II

Before they knew it, the three of them were back in the tunnel that they had started in, except there was much more light now. They were just a few steps away from the threshold at the end, which was now emitting a powerful glow of blue light.

Homura slowly pulled herself back to her feet, and Madoka remained on the ground right under her. As Homura turned to face Kyoko, Madoka could see the damage that had been done to her back. "Homura! You're hurt!" she said with deep concern in her voice. Then, thinking she was still nude and laying bare for the two of them to see, she shrieked and crossed her arms and legs over her body. A moment later she realized the clothing was back to normal and let out a sigh of relief. She pushed herself back up onto her own feet and put a hand on Homura's shoulder, avoiding the burns, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, with a hard voice. "This is nothing."

"Even if you say that... it looks really bad! We need to get you to a hospital!" Homura pulled away from Madoka's touch and started walking towards Kyoko, her eyes dark and murderous. "H-Homura!"

She reached under her shield and produced a handgun, which she then lifted and pointed right at the spear wielding Magical Girl. Kyoko tensed up, firming her grip on her own weapon and taking a battle ready stance.

"That was really low, Kyoko," said Homura, her voice going completely cold. "Even for someone like you."

"What the hell? Someone like me? You say that like we know each other!" She clicked her teeth. "Besides, can you blame me? Would you really risk your neck for a total stranger like that if you were in my position?" Homura was about to argue that she would; but, her past lives came back to haunt her. She remembered the many times that she had not only turned her back on strangers but she had turned her back on some of her closest friends. This thought weakened her resolve, and the gun began to lower.

Kyoko, ever the opportunist, saw this and took full advantage of being given an opening to strike. She leaped forward with her spear, slashing at the opposing Magical Girl. When the spear was just inches from hitting its target, however, Homura disappeared and the spear simply swooshed through thin air. Next thing Kyoko knew, she felt the cold steel of a gun's barrel pushing into the back of her head.

"Nice trick," said Kyoko. "Pretty handy, but let me give you a little... tip!" With a quick twist of her wrist, her spear spun around and crashed into Homura's legs with the blunt end, and Kyoko took a dive out of the way of her gun. She quickly spun back around and made another downward slash, leading with the bladed end of her spear, looking to fillet the girl who had just been knocked to the floor!

Once again, however, she disappeared just before contact and Kyoko's spear simply slashed through the water that lined the floor. She quickly jumped back and looked for her opponent as she brought her spear to a defencive position. Homura was now standing a few yards away from her, staring down the sight of her gun and they were right back to where they started.

"Stop it!" Madoka yelled, and quickly ran in between them. She stood in front of Homura, with her back to Kyoko, and spread her arms out wide to act like a shield. "Please stop fighting! You should be on the same side!"

Homura spoke sternly as her thumb flipped the hammer back on her weapon, "Move out of the way, Madoka."

"No!" she yelled, her face scrunched up in that stubborn expression that Homura knew all too well. "Just look at yourself! You're in no condition to fight with an injury like that! If you kill her, who will there be to take down the witch?" Madoka kept eye contact with Homura a moment longer, Homura just stared back, not letting her face reveal any emotion.

"It doesn't matter," said Homura. "I was willing to give up the GriefSeed before, but now that I have this injury I'm going to need it for myself. I can't afford to let her have it, understand? Now move!"

Madoka gave her one of those narrow eyed pouts and then turned around. She approached Kyoko, her face the perfect picture of innocence. "Kyoko?" she spoke softly, "Is that your name?" Kyoko just nodded and watched the pink girl suspiciously. "I know you're not a bad person." She stepped even closer, and Kyoko flinched back. Unexpectedly, Madoka grabbed onto her hand. Kyoko tried to pull away but Madoka held on firmly, yet it was with a soft enough touch that Kyoko didn't feel right about using too much strength to force herself away.

Madoka smiled. "You were worried about us when you thought we were hurt, so I know you're good! So, could you please go defeat the witch, and when you're done can you please share the GriefSeed with Homura? She was hurt really badly and she needs it!"

"Listen, chick," Kyoko said, her eyes shifting away. "You ain't a Magical Girl so you don't understand how these things work. We don't just share our GriefSeeds like that." That sharp grin hit her face once again. "Hell, I would actually prefer it if Smiles over there actually did die. Less competition, you get it?" She pulled her hand away more forcibly this time, causing Madoka to stumble from the sudden force. "So get the hell away from me! You're in over your head, little girl!" She gave the pink girl one of the evilest most menacing looks she could muster, but it quickly faded away when she saw the girl just continued to stare at her with those wide stubborn eyes.

"What if it was someone you cared about that was in trouble? If you knew there was someone who could help them, how would you feel if they just did nothing! There's no way you're that cold! I know you're not! So..." Her face tensed up, "So stop with the act!"

Kyoko flinched back, putting up an arm as if to defend herself from the words. She looked past Madoka and switched her sight to Homura with an expression that almost seemed to be asking for help. She shook herself out of it and regained her posture. "Whatever!" she yelled, and she began walking at a steady pace and moved right past Madoka. Madoka turned and watched her go. As Kyoko got closer to Homura they both seemed to tense up, but Kyoko said, "Go ahead and heal yourself, I'll let you purify your gem a bit, but just enough to keep you going. Got it? Then I get the rest." Homura nodded. "And if we ever meet like this again, I get first dibs next time. No complaining!"

"Alright, deal," Homura said, half of a smile creeping onto her face.

"Besides, you did clear out most of the familiars, so I suppose you are entitled to some portion of the reward." With that, Kyoko continued on, and stepped into the blue light at the end of the tunnel.

III

"Does it hurt?" Madoka asked. She had taken off the collar and wrapped the chain around it, and now had it folded neatly in her hands.

"Not really," said Homura, although she had let out a pained grunt as she kneeled down. She held her SoulGem in the palm of her hand and its soft glow started getting brighter. Madoka looked at her wounded back, and saw that there were small strings of rainbow coloring weaving around under her skin, focusing near the wound. "Us Magical Girls have a higher tolerance for pain than ordinary people." She looked at Madoka and gave one of her half smiles. "We can take a lot." Madoka just nodded and leaned her back against the side of the tunnel as she watched.

"The explosion in the cage, you caused that right?" Madoka asked.

"I needed a way to blow that cage door down... honestly I wasn't expecting to take that much damage myself, guess I underestimated my little homemade bomb just a little." Her voice was heavy and stressed, although she said she was fine, Madoka could tell she was in pain. Madoka frowned at her, worried that it really was more serious than she was letting on.

"You should go to a hospital," she said.

"No need," Homura said again. "Honestly, there is nothing they could do for me that my magic can't do ten times better. So it's pointless. Don't worry, I know it looks bad but this isn't the first time something like this has happened to me. I'll be fine."

Madoka's eyes widened at the revelation. This is the kind of thing Magical Girls have to go through? Then, she thought about Kyoko on the other side of the threshold, and she worried that she was in danger. Occasionally the blue light at the end would pulsate and become brighter for a few moments. They could feel a wave of pressure hitting them, just like when they were first standing outside the portal before coming inside the labyrinth.

"Is Kyoko going to be alright fighting that thing by herself?" Madoka asked.

"Her? Yeah, she'll be fine."

"Did you know her before? In one of your... past lives?"

Homura nodded.

"Were you friends?"

"You could call it that. Really, we were more like allies, we would team up whenever we had a common goal."

Madoka watched the pulsing blue light. "She's really a nice person, right?"

Homura shrugged. "Depends." Madoka looked back to Homura, she could see the wound was closing up. The dark red of exposed flesh was hardening, and around the edges the second degree burns were actually starting to disappear. She noticed that Homura's uniform was also slowly stitching itself back together, using those same strings of colorful light that traveled throughout her body while she healed.

There was another pulse from the threshold and the blue light became brighter than it ever had before. Madoka shrank away from it and shielded her eyes, Homura just watched with a placid expression. "What is that!?" Madoka asked, concern in her voice. "Is Kyoko alright?"

"She's fine," Homura answered. "She just won." Then, as if she had taken a queue from Homura, Kyoko appeared from out of the blue light, her shadow stretching far down the tunnel. There were small cuts and scratches all over her arms and legs, her clothing was torn in a few places and there was a somewhat more serious wound on her forehead that had blood dripping over her eye.

"Jeez, that one was a pain in the ass." She hoisted up her spear to rest it over her shoulder. "You seriously owe me one." The labyrinth became wavy again, just as it had back when the cage disappeared. Next thing they knew, the walls of the tunnel were melting away and they were once again standing on that rundown basketball court.

Kyoko tossed something over to Homura, and Homura reached her arm up and snatched it out of the air. "There, just like I said, don't use all of it," Kyoko warned her.

Homura nodded and then pressed the GriefSeed against her SoulGem. Madoka watched as the cloudiness from the SoulGem started to get pulled into the GriefSeed which grew darker and darker from the process. She was glad it seemed Homura was going to be alright, but she noticed all the cuts and scratches on Kyoko, as well as that particularly deep wound on her forehead. "Kyoko, thank you for helping." She bowed her head. "But, are you okay?"

Kyoko clicked her teeth. "Yeah, yeah, I'm perfectly fine. That witch was a real pushover, actually. It's vines just kind of overwhelmed me so I got hit a few times, but none of them did any real damage. Anyway, it's alright as long as little miss sunshine over there doesn't use up too much of my GriefSeed." Kyoko watched her closely. "Hey, alright, that's enough now!" Homura obeyed and removed the GriefSeed. She looked at it to verify it still had some use and tossed it back to her. Kyoko examined it as well, and seemed satisfied that Homura hadn't used too much. Madoka noted that the clothing on Homura's back had completely stitched itself together and there was no sign of the wound underneath anymore.

Then, Madoka heard something. She heard a voice inside her head, "Madoka Kaname." She looked around, confused. "Up here!" She looked along the tops of the buildings and spotted two glowing red orbs peeking over the edge of a building. "We can speak telepathically, just think of whatever you want to say and I can hear it."

Madoka's heart sank. Was this the incubator? As if it could read her thoughts, it answered. "Well, yes, I am sometimes referred to as an incubator, but you can just call me Kyubey!"

Homura stood up, "Ready to go, Madoka?" she asked. She reached for the chain in Madoka's hands and noticed how she was spacing out. "Are you alright?" Madoka looked back to her, a panicked look creeping onto her face. "Madoka?"

"Quickly, Madoka! Tell me where she's been hiding you! I can send Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki to rescue you!" At the mention of Sayaka's name, Madoka's eyes shot back in the direction the incubator was hiding.

"Sayaka?" she said out loud.

Homura grabbed her by the shoulders. "Why did you say that!?" she demanded, then looked in the direction Madoka was staring off in.

"Quickly Madoka! Tell me!" But before Madoka could string another thought together, Homura set the gears spinning and stopped time.


-Atomyst

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