I

"What did he say to you!" Homura demanded.

The world had gone back to the eerie windless version of itself that Madoka was starting to become just a little too familiar with. Kyoko stood nearby, frozen in time, with her mouth half open as if she was about to say something. Homura's grip on Madoka's shoulders was tight enough that it was actually starting to hurt, and she had such intensity in her eyes that Madoka shrank away, feeling a little bit afraid.

"N-nothing! Nothing really, but..."

"What did YOU say to HIM?"

"NOTHING!"

Homura let go of her, momentarily freezing her in time, and snatched the collar and chain out of her hands. She locked it back around Madoka's neck, pulling her into the time flow once more. Madoka looked around confused for a moment, before realizing the collar was back on her neck.

"Come on," Homura said, pulling on the chain and starting to lead the way. Madoka stumbled after her. "We are grabbing a few things from the hotel, then we are changing locations."

"I didn't tell him where we are!" Madoka insisted, "I didn't get a chance to say anything!"

"Why do I not believe you?" Homura moved quickly enough that the collar was constantly tugging at Madoka's neck.

Homura was being really mean and not letting her get a word out. Finally, Madoka got mad. She grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled on it with all her strength, snapping it out of Homura's grip. Homura looked back at the now time-frozen Madoka, then snatched the chain from where it hung in the air. When Madoka unfroze, Homura was giving her a stern scolding look, but Madoka was in a confrontational mood and did not shrink back.

"He said something about Sayaka! What are you not telling me?"

"It doesn't matter, we need to get moving."

"It does matter! Sayaka is my best friend and if she is involved in all this I need to know!"

Homura just looked at her as if she were irritated, then flung her hair back and started to lead the way again, pulling Madoka along. Madoka hated it when Homura acted like this, and usually she couldn't help but fold under the pressure when Homura was forcing her along. This time it was different though, because she had an idea that Sayaka was in danger and she wouldn't just let it go.

She stumbled after Homura for only a few seconds before planting her feet and grabbing onto the chain. Homura was forced to stop. She looked back, feeling herself running out of patience, and started pulling on the chain even harder, but Madoka wouldn't give in.

They ended up playing tug of war, Homura mostly winning because she did manage to pull Madoka a few steps along, but it wasn't enough to be considered any kind of progress. They both grunted and pulled, their eyes locked with each other, neither one willing to back down from the struggle.

Finally, Homura stopped, realizing how pointless it was, and so did Madoka. Madoka anxiously awaited what she had to say, or what she would do next. Homura let half a smile creep on her face and she spoke placidly; "Alright, fine. If that's how you want to do this." She held the chain up where Madoka could see it.

"Homura! DON'T!" screamed Madoka, as she sprang forward at Homura. She almost managed to get a hold of her, but Homura took a single step back, and Madoka felt the very tips of her fingers brush against Homura's long silky hair before the chain dropped from her hand and Madoka was once again frozen in time.

II

"So what exactly is... the deal with... you two... any..." Kyoko looked around for them, but they were nowhere in sight. They had both been standing right in front of her just a moment ago, but they completely vanished into thin air. She pulled up her spear to rest it over her shoulder as she took a three-sixty look at her surroundings. "Huh, rude much?" she joked to herself and then laughed. "Oh well." When she turned around to continue on her way, who did she see but Kyubey, sitting on his haunches right in front of her and staring at her with his creepy glowing red eyes.

"Looks like they disappeared again," he said.

"Yeah, no kidding, any idea where they went?"

"Not a clue, this is the trouble I've been having for the last two days."

"Well, if I had to take a guess," Kyoko mused, waving a single finger around in the air. "Theyyy went..." She pointed. "That'a way!" And she started walking.

"You're going after them?" Kyubey asked. He got up and started paddling along beside her with his small soft steps.

"Yeah, I think I want to know more about this little anomaly of yours. You know, keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all of that. Right?"

"Which is she to you?"

"Haven't quite figured that part out yet."

"What are you going to do if you do find her?"

"Haven't figured that out either. For now, I'm probably just going to observe... but..." She stopped, Kyubey followed her queue and stopped as well. "Sorry, but if I do find them, I don't think she wants you around." She grinned. "Sooooo… You're kind of in the way."

She suddenly spun the spear around in her hands. The stick end caught Kyubey right under the chin and putted him up into the air. His face was void of expression as his rag like body rose up into striking distance. Kyoko spun her spear around again, then tightened her grip and swung it like a baseball bat. She struck Kyubey's limp body with a perfect hit using the flat side of the blade. She caught eye contact with him at the midpoint of the swing, his indifferent little smile remained unchanged as she followed through and sent him soaring over the building tops.

A fang poked out of the corner of her mouth as she watched his accent. She put a hand over her eyes as if to shield herself from sunlight, and watched as his small rag-doll body disappeared out of sight over the building tops. "Yup, that's a homerun alright!" She laughed, clearly amused with herself, then continued on her way.

She did not have much to go on, but she imagined they were somewhere in the center part of the city. Her reasoning for this was based on a lot of guesswork, but it was as follows: Madoka is friends with the rookie, and the rookie is allied with Mami, which means they all probably go to Mitakihara Middle School. If that's the case, then Madoka and the rookie likely live in the suburbs just south of the city. She wasn't one hundred percent sure, but she thought they were traveling north when she first laid eyes on them, so there was a good chance they were coming from the suburbs. Maybe the pet girl had tried to run away and make it back home, only to get caught by her master and was now being led back to where she had been held captive?

Whatever the case, Kyoko had a good feeling they were not hiding out in this run down desolate part of the city as she had been. Homura did not seem like the type to hunker down in an old abandoned crack house. More than that, Kyoko had noted the care that Homura had for her little pet girl. If she was holding her prisoner somewhere it would be somewhere at least moderately comfortable. Since they were heading north, everything south was cut out, so by reason of deduction their hideout was either at the center of the city, or in the rich area far to the north where all the mansions were.

It was an incredibly long walk back to that rich northern part of the city from here, so therefore the center of the city was the most likely place. Now, where in that center part of the city was the question. Well, Kyoko knew from years as an experienced squatter that there were only two feasible options in that part of the city: either a hotel room or an apartment. She figured her chances of actually finding them tonight were pretty slim, but if she moved her own headquarters to that area, and kept an eye open, she figured she would spot the black haired Magical Girl eventually, and be able to stalk her back to her hideout, wherever it was.

As Kyoko walked along, she noticed something on the ground out of the bottom of her eyes. She always had a knack for catching minor details. She kneeled down to check it out: It was blood. It was just a few drops, but she pressed her finger onto it and took a look. It was still wet, it had been dropped there only moments ago. She focused on her SoulGem and it had a strong reaction, signaling that the blood belonged to a Magical Girl. She stood and looked further down the road to see another blood drip. She didn't know what it meant, but at least she knew for sure she was heading the right way.

III

Existence without time can be a hard concept to grasp. Although it would be invisible to her; one could almost imagine the struggle taking place right before Kyoko's eyes. As if the Magical Girl and her captive were ghosts, leaving behind small hints and clues of their existence in the physical world, even though they themselves existed somewhere between time and space where they could not be seen, heard, or touched.

From Madoka's point of view: Simultaneous with Homura dropping the chain she felt her arms being forced behind her back. This wasn't a new experience for her, and she did not have the same confusion of what was happening as she did before, but all the same, she was powerless to resist it. Breaking away only meant freezing herself for her captor, making it that much easier for the Magical Girl to continue to do as she pleased. Regardless, Madoka fought back.

"Stop! Not again!" she screamed as Homura forced her into submission and brought her to the ground. Her hands were forced together in a way that made the back of her wrists touch, with her palms facing outward. Then she heard a zipping sound, and she felt her thumbs and wrists being locked together by a thin wire that dug into her skin if she tried to pull on it.

Madoka screamed and thrashed her body. Homura put a hand on her head and held the side of her face against the ground, trying to keep her still. The angle Madoka's arms were locked at had her hands positioned just below the space between her shoulder blades, making it so that Madoka was unable to move her arms without causing herself pain in the shoulders.

If she tried to pull free from the tie, the wire dug too hard into the joints of her thumbs and hurt. If she tried to move her arms up or down, her shoulders got a sharp pain. Tears of frustration streamed from her eyes as she felt herself losing freedom once again. "LET ME GO!" she screamed, kicking her legs as that was the only part she could move freely.

"Not until you are through with this tantrum and are ready to come along peacefully."

"I won't! Not until you tell me what's going on with Sayaka!" As Madoka said that she felt Homura's hand push harder into her face, she grunted and strained to look up through the corner of her eyes to see the darkness that had come over Homura, and Madoka felt scared.

Homura released her, and pulled her up to her feet "Miki is not your concern. Just forget about her!" Homura was positioned behind Madoka as she forced her up. Madoka was in no mood to be forced along right now, however, and did the one thing she could think to resist. She flung her head backwards, and crashed the back of her skull right into the center of Homura's face, but connecting with far more force than she had actually intended. She turned around to see what she had done, but halfway through turning around time froze.

Homura had fallen to the ground. She never expected such an aggressive action from Madoka, and therefore ended up taking the blow cleanly. She pulled her hand away from her face and found that there was blood on her palm. Her nose dripped a few more red drops which froze in mid air just before touching the ground. Homura turned her face upward, her eyes full of fury, and she looked at the frozen Madoka. She stood there, locked in time, with an anxious look on her face, her lips sneered in aggression, but her eyes were wide and guilty about what she had just done.

Homura stood, breathing hard, her hair falling over her bloody face in a tangled mess. "You IDIOT!" She screamed at the frozen Madoka. She stood and faced her with her fists balled at her sides. "Just this once, forget about Miki! She's going to die, OKAY? She's weak and she's going to get herself KILLED, and if you try to save her, YOU'RE going to die! You're either going to die or make a stupid WISH!"

She inhaled deeply and let out a loud scream as she fell back to her knees. She hit the palm of her hand into the ground again and again, trying to let out as much of her anger as she could so she would not end up taking it out on Madoka and doing something she'd regret.

Why did Kyubey have to mention Sayaka's name? Madoka was finally coming around, and she was finally starting to obey. Now, that was all out the window. Madoka's undying love for that stupid weak imbecile was something Homura could never get her past no matter how hard she tried. She hit the ground over and over, until she was out of breath, and her hands hurt. She worked out her aggression, and continued staring at the ground a moment longer, giving herself a little more time to regain her composure.

When she was ready, she stood and looked at Madoka, and reached out to her. Her hand moved forward, but stopped with her fingertips just barely brushing the skin of Madoka's face; it was close enough she could feel Madoka's warmth, but not close enough to pull her into the time flow. "Please," Homura pleaded with her, although she wouldn't be able to hear anything that was said. "Just this once... Just listen to me this one time and do what I say." Her eyes looked Madoka up and down, taking in every inch of her, every curve of her body, every part of her that she had held before in a past life. Although she was standing right here, Madoka never seemed so far away. Despite standing right there, frozen, and tied up, Homura had never felt further away from reaching her.

She pulled her hand away, and walked down the street. She found a broken window with enough light shining on it that she was able to see her reflection. She used her SoulGem to heal her bloody nose, wiped away her tears, and straightened her hair, then walked back to where she had left Madoka. Now that she had time to calm herself down, she was ready to pull Madoka back into her time flow. To Madoka, it would seem only a moment had passed and she would still be in the full heat of the conflict. Homura prepared herself for that.

She grabbed onto Madoka's shoulder with the gentlest touch she could manage. Madoka looked at her with a red furious face, and confrontational eyes, but she seemed a bit taken aback, and somewhat subdued by Homura's now calm demeanor. Homura didn't seem to have anything to say, so Madoka started first. "I have to go to Sayaka!" she stated.

"I'm not going to allow that."

"I don't care! I'm done taking orders from you! Either let me go or you're just going to have to drag me all the way back!"

"That can be arranged," Homura said, coolly. "I don't want to do that to you, but if you leave me no choice, I'll have to." Her eyes darkened in that stern commanding way she had. "This is for your own good."

Madoka just glared at her. Homura still had a hand on her shoulder and as much as Madoka hated to be touched by her right now it was pointless to pull away because she would just freeze herself again. She didn't know what to do, and she understood physically resisting Homura wouldn't get her anywhere.

She had to get away... She had to go to Sayaka... "Please." She spoke calmly, looking Homura in the eyes, pleading with her. "Please just let me go. You don't have to save me, and I don't want your help." Homura didn't bother responding to that, her face remained completely still and void of emotion as she grabbed the chain.

"Let's go, I've wasted enough of my magic already. I don't have any more time for this." She flung her hair back and started leading the way once again. The way she spoke was so final that it didn't leave any room for argument, and Madoka found herself following along, just as she always does. It took her a few steps to realize she was letting it happen again, and she stopped.

"No! I told you I'm not going with you!" Homura ignored her, and pulled on the chain. Madoka didn't have use of her arms anymore, but tried to plant her feet and stop herself from being pulled. Using only her neck, she pulled against the collar, but instantly felt a sharp pain in her shoulders and stopped. She shrieked from that sudden pain, and stumbled forward to catch up with Homura and relieve the pressure. The awkward angle her arms were bent at meant if she tensed her muscles and tried to resist it would cause there to be extra pressure around her already aching shoulders. Madoka's eyes widened at the realization. Had Homura tied her up like this purposely for that reason? She watched Homura's back, her long black hair flowing back and forth as she continued to lead.

"You understand now, right?" Homura said, not turning around. "I have the power here, you don't have a choice but to obey me, so just make things easier on yourself and accept it."

Madoka felt her heart sinking. Part of her had the idea that if she was resistant enough it was possible to break away from Homura by pure strength of will. Even back at the hotel, or even as far back as the park when all this started, she never thought her situation was hopeless. She thought she was just too scared to do what needed to be done to break away. Now that she thought Sayaka was in danger, she felt more resolved, and was taking that extra step to resist Homura and try to get away. That strength was fading from her quickly, however. That small glimmering sense of control she thought she could obtain was now disappearing from her sight. She realized no matter how much she willed for it, she could not escape from Homura. She was going to be in Homura's prison for as long as Homura wanted.

Madoka tried once more to resist, to plant her feet and stop moving, but as soon as she reached the end of the chain and had to use her neck to pull against it that horrible sharp pain came back to her shoulders. She whimpered and stumbled forward, now walking in pace with Homura. Her eyes were starting to sting. Why… I can't do anything! What am I supposed to do now? She thought to herself, desperately.

"Don't hate me for this," said Homura. "I don't take any pleasure in doing this to you, but if I allow you to have your freedom you will only end up hurting yourself in the end." There was something eerie in the way she was speaking. It was so cold and void of emotion.

"I have plenty of magic left, so I can easily keep you like this all the way back to the hotel. I'd rather not waste it, however. Once we get some more distance on Kyubey I would like to resume time, but dawn is starting to break, and people will be out. Therefore, I would have to untie you in order to do that." She looked over her shoulder at Madoka to see if she was still being defiant. Madoka just stared at the ground, walking behind her obediently, trapped in a moment of distress as she was coming to terms with just how powerless she was. "You understand that you can't get away, right?" Homura pressed on. "So it would be pointless to try and run, or scream for help, and it will only make things even harder on you."

Madoka shook her head. "What about Sayaka?" She asked, her voice small and weak. "Can you at least tell me..."

Homura sighed and decided she had no choice but to come out with it. "She has become a Magical Girl."

Madoka's head shot up. She looked at Homura, hoping it was a lie. She thought about the injuries Kyoko had after fighting the witch, she thought about how Homura had her flesh seared off her back but acted as if it was nothing, even claiming that it wasn't the worst injury she had ever received. Sayaka was going to have to go through things like that too? "But... If you know the future, why didn't you stop her?" Madoka asked.

"She never listens to me. You know better than anyone how hard headed she can be. Aside from that, Kyubey is a master of manipulation, as I have stated before. Just look, after only a few moments with you he had already managed to undo all..." Homura stopped herself and cleared her throat. What was she going to say? 'undo all the work I put into training you'? - 'effort I put into making you obey me'? - That's what was on the tip of her tongue, and she hoped Madoka did not pick up on it. "He… he's already trying to manipulate you as well," she settled on.

Madoka didn't seem to notice anything, her thoughts were too wrapped up in thinking about Sayaka. "She'll be okay though, right? You know the future so tell me she is going to be alright!" Homura didn't respond, and Madoka knew what that meant, her eyes started to tear up.

"I won't lie to you Madoka," she said. "The truth is Sayaka Miki is not like Kyoko or myself, she isn't cut out to be a Magical Girl. For your sake, however, I'll do my best to try and protect her, although she may not want my assistance." Madoka's eyes widened and she shook her head; she knew all too well what Homura's version of protecting someone meant. Homura noticed this and said, "I am not going to go through the same troubles for her as I have for you, if that's what you are thinking. I doubt I could keep that girl under control even if I wanted to. I will do what I can to warn her of the dangers that face her in the future, however." Madoka looked like she wanted to say more, but Homura cut her off, "We can talk more about this later, I'll answer all the questions you have, but can we please get moving now?" Madoka took a moment, but eventually she nodded, although a bit reluctantly.

They were mostly quiet while they walked, but feeling the pain in her shoulders, Madoka finally spoke up, meekly, and asked, "Um... Homura, this is really uncomfortable." She gestured behind herself to signal she was talking about the way her arms were tied. "I'm..." She swallowed hard, hating herself for what she was about to say. "I'm sorry I tried to resist... I-I won't do it again..." She blushed and let her eyes sink away. "I'm just worried about Sayaka is all..." When Homura didn't respond right away she desperately added: "I promise I'll listen to you! So please... I-it actually hurts!"

Homura nodded and moved behind her to undo the zip ties. She looked at it first, thinking it was kind of mean to have done something like this to Madoka, but she couldn't deny that it was effective. She knew the awkward position her arms were forced into would be painful, which was done intentionally to keep her under control, though Homura still felt bad about it. She reached under her shield and pulled out a pocket knife, then carefully put it against the plastic wires. "You are not going to cause me any more trouble tonight?" asked Homura.

"No..." Madoka said again, again hating herself for being so weak. What choice did she have though? She took some solace in that idea, at least. "I-I promise. Just undo it, please!"

Homura cut the tie, and Madoka breathed a sigh of relief. She stretched out her arms and massaged her wrists and thumbs.

"I'll have you on the chain just a little longer. When I'm satisfied we are too far for Kyubey to catch up to us we can walk the rest of the way normally." She pulled on the chain. "Ready?"

Madoka was reluctant to respond, but she nodded her head, there was a worn defeated look in her eyes, and she spoke plainly... "Yes..."


-Atomyst

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