I
She did not think with any lucidity about what she was doing. Once she had started moving she couldn't stop herself. She hated seeing Madoka when she was upset, and she hated even more how Madoka tried to turn away when all she wanted to do is comfort her. Maybe it's that she finally couldn't take it anymore, and decided to be more assertive. Next thing she knew, she was on top of Madoka, straddling her, and holding her face. Then, after Madoka still tried to deny her by saying "Let me go" Homura leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead, whispering "No"
When she raised back up, to look down at her captive and gauge her reaction, Madoka just stared at her with a shocked expression on her face. Homura moved her thumbs along the bottoms of her eyelids, and down her cheeks. When her left thumb came close to the corner of Madoka's lips, it stopped there.
This wasn't the same Madoka from her past lives, she knew that. In some of her past lives, Madoka actually did love her in return, and it was okay to touch her lips, and kiss her there. This was not one of those Madokas; so wouldn't it be wrong to try and do it now? She looked so much like those other Madokas, though, and she really was the same person after all. It's just their interactions with each other over the last few days were different enough from the past lives that this Madoka had a different opinion of her.
Homura's hand pulled down on Madoka's chin, gently forcing her lips apart. Her other hand went around to the back of her head and stroked her hair. This was Madoka, and Madoka loved her. Homura knew she did, because after reliving the same months so many times, she knew Madoka better than Madoka knew herself. If Madoka loved her in just one life, then didn't that mean she would always love her? Even if she didn't know it, Madoka really was hers; so it really wasn't so bad. Was it?
Homura leaned forward, her long dark hair fell over Madoka's face. She got close enough that she could feel Madoka's breath against her own lips, and she started blushing. She felt an eagerness to close the short distance that was now between them.
Is this okay?
Madoka shook her head back and forth, as it was her only means of resistance. "Homura! No, no, stop," she said it softly, not with any kind of resentment as Homura might have expected. She fidgeted around beneath her captor, not actually accomplishing anything as she pulled against her bindings. Homura pulled back a little, and looked at her. Her hair was still falling over Madoka's face, and her right hand dropped away. Her other hand held lightly to the back of her head. Powerless to stop her, Madoka just stared at her captor with emotional eyes, her breathing was unsteady and her heart fluttered in her chest. "Y-you can't... just…" She wasn't sure what words to use, but Homura seemed to understand.
She rose herself up fully, her hand slowly fell away from the back of Madoka's head, and she sat up straight with both arms at her sides. Her legs were still straddled around Madoka's waist, and she could feel the motion of her captive's breathing beneath her. Homura stared forward with a sad distance in her eyes.
"I'm sorry…" she said slowly. "This is... hard for me. I know you have only known me for a few days, so this seems strange… But I've known you so much longer." Her eyelids flickered as she stared forward. As she continued to speak, her voice wavered, "I know you so well." She put a hand to her face to hide the fact that tears were forcing themselves from the corners of her eyes.
"Y-you had something important to do? Right?" Madoka said quickly. The quick dismissal felt crushing to Homura.
Her head turned slowly, and she set her watery eyes upon the clock she had set on the dresser. "That's right…" she said in almost a whisper. Then she leaned toward the nightstand to grab the tape and the cloth she had brought in to gag Madoka with. When she brought the cloth to Madoka's mouth, her lips parted without any complaint.
"Please don't hate me for this."
"I don't," she shook her head. "I don't hate you."
Was she being sincere? Or saying it out of fear? Or was it just to be nice?... Homura didn't know.
"Thank you," Homura said. "You are too kind." And then she pushed the cloth against Madoka's lips and stuffed it inside her mouth. She put her free hand around the back of Madoka's head, and held her hair back as she lifted it, and started wrapping tape around. She wrapped it around five times before she was done, then set the tape back by the night stand. She took a few moments to straighten her captive's hair, and to look at her. "I'd never do anything to hurt you," Homura said, still running her fingers through the pink hair. Madoka, now stripped of speech, just stared at her with wide eyes and nodded agreeably.
Homura wanted to hug her, and just lay on top of her and feel the motion of her breathing, but she knew she had to go now. More than that, she didn't know whether or not Madoka would be comfortable with anything like that.
She lifted her legs up and climbed off the bed. As she stood by the bedside she took another moment to stare down at her adorable little prisoner. Madoka just stared back at her with wide confused eyes. "I won't be gone long," she said, brushing her fingers along Madoka's cheek. Madoka's eyes rolled away with a sigh, but Homura's face softened at this. Then, she leaned in and kissed Madoka on the cheek. A soft moan came through the gag, and Madoka's fists balled up, weakly pulling against the rope that bound them; it was a pitiful attempt to move away. "I know how you must feel about this, but you're going to be safe. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." The backs of her knuckles brushed across the spot she had just kissed. Then she turned to leave the room.
After shutting the door, she leaned her back against it for a moment and let out a sigh of relief. Madoka may or may not hate her for what she was putting her through; but at least while she was tied up like that she would be safe, and Homura's mind could be at ease.
II
Mami had taken Sayaka to an empty field somewhere on the outskirts of the city where Sayaka could take a first run at practising her magic. The grass was high, past their ankles, with some patches of brown crabgrass and tall white dandelions spotting what was otherwise dark green.
Sayaka briefly reflected on how she and Madoka once thought if they could blow all the petals off a dandelion at once, a wish would be granted. She was maybe six years old when she had made a wish; "I wish me and Madoka could live together and be like sisters!"
A few weeks after that, her parents had struck some kind of big business deal that required them to travel for long periods at a time. They had gotten Madoka's parents to agree to watch her while they were away, and for years after that Sayaka thought that her wish had actually come true. As she got older, she stopped believing in magic and wishes, though, and thought that it was just a coincidence.
Now, it turned out that magic and wishes really were real after all. Who knows, Sayaka thought as she reached down, maybe you really can get wishes granted this way as well. She plucked one of the dandelions out of the ground, and held it close to her lips. Madoka, I'm sorry I didn't use my real wish to save you. I think you would understand. But, I'm still going to rescue you! I promise I will!
She pulled in a deep breath and closed her eyes. I wish for Madoka to be safe, and for me and Mami to be able to rescue her soon! She then blew out with all of her strength. The white petals tore away from the force of her breath and danced through the air until they caught themselves on a gust of wind that spread them all throughout the empty field. Sayaka looked at the mostly naked stem that she now held, and frowned when she saw there were still a few small white petals stuck to its bulb.
"This is a pretty good area to get some practice in," Mami explained, gesturing around. "No one ever comes by here, and we can see far enough in all directions we'll know when someone is coming. This is where I came to practice when I first became a Magical Girl."
Sayaka dropped the dandelion stem and started looking around. The field they were in ended in a river which had a bridge bowing over it. On one side of the bridge she could see the cityscape walls of Mitakihara. On the other side, the road continued over the horizon and would eventually lead to Kazamino.
They couldn't see it, but aside from the steady stream of traffic running over the bridge, there was a girl with long red hair leaning over the guide rail and spying on them using her magically enhanced eyes.
"Alright," Mami said, "First thing you should do is transform. Just like when you changed your SoulGem, just think about it and it should happen."
Sayaka put her hand to her SoulGem earring, and concentrated for a moment. She really didn't have to think all that hard, it was like she just instinctively knew how to make it happen, and next thing she knew she was being covered by light. Looking down at herself during the process, she blushed, not realizing her current clothing would start to disappear. She was relieved though, when the process was done, and she had a new set of clothes. She might have further complained about the fact this new outfit was a tad revealing, but she was too caught up in thinking how cool it was to worry about it.
"Woh, this is awesome!" she said, laughing as she spun around in a quick pirouette.
Mami smirked in response. "Alright, now just keep reaching for your magic and see what else you can do."
"Oh, alright…" Sayaka thought for a moment, then held out her right hand. She didn't know why, she just thought that felt right. She felt for the magic inside herself, then the next thing she knew a blue glowing light appeared around her hand until it started to become solid and take form. She closed her hand around it and it took the shape of a sword. When the light disappeared she held the sword in front of her and stared at it, awestruck.
"Very good," Mami complimented her, smiling as she watched Sayaka waving the sword around in the air like a child playing with a new toy.
Sayaka held out her other hand, and did the same thing, the process was faster the second time and she was now holding a sword in each hand.
Mami made one of her muskets appear and pointed it at Sayaka. She winked and said, "Now let's get you some practice using those things!"
Sayaka grinned, taking a battle-ready stance. "Heh, alright!"
They spent the next couple hours training. Mami gave Sayaka practice by sending some of her ribbons after her, which Sayaka had to try and cut before they managed to bind her. When she had a sword in each hand she had more trouble with it; and Mami suggested just practicing with one sword for now until she got better.
Later on in the training session Sayaka started making multiple swords appear at one time in a circle around her. They would float around her and all it took was a flick of her wrist at the hilt of a sword to send it flying anywhere she wanted it to go, which she could use as a long ranged attack.
After a while Mami commanded the contest to a stop. Sayaka was out of breath at this point, but grinning eagerly.
"That's enough of this for now," Mami said, "it is a good idea to practise, but also be aware you are using up magic by doing this." She winked. "You might want to save some for the witches."
"Heh, yeah I guess you're right." Sayaka snapped her fingers and the five swords that surrounded her vanished with a flash of light. Her grin deepened, thinking how cool that must have looked. "Actually, I got something I need to do today anyway. I wanted to go check on Kyosuke at the hospital, you know, to see if the wish actually worked."
"Don't worry, I'm sure the wish did work. We should probably go out on your first patrol when you are done there, though. I can show you a few tricks to tracking down witches while we are out too."
"Alright sounds good. Want to come with me to the hospital? I won't be long, and then we can get started right away."
III
Homura took a bus downtown to where it was just a short walk to Madoka's house. The city streets were damp from last night's rain storm and the air still held the smell of rainwater.
She looked around the neighborhood, reflecting on how normal the rest of the world seemed to stay. No matter how strange or tragic her own existence had become, everyone else in the world went along with their normal lives, blissfully unaware that they too were stuck inside her loop. Reliving their lives, dying over and over again every time Walpurgisnacht hit the town. Homura was the only one who remembered any of it.
She passed by a group of kids playing basketball and turned to speak to them. "Hey you, in the blue shirt." The kid wearing the blue shirt stopped playing and looked at her.
"What?" he asked.
"Nevermind, it's nothing," she said, and continued walking. The kid just shrugged and resumed his game. There was no way he would have known that Homura had interrupted his timeline just enough to stop him from falling down and breaking his ankle; which would have happened in about five seconds. She looked back, and saw him still on his feet.
She knew the events that took place on this street just a little too well, and it acted as a reminder of all her countless failures. She knew she could not keep doing this. She had to put an end to it.
She walked behind a car and looked around to make sure no one could see her, then ducked down and transformed. She stopped time as soon as the transformation was complete then walked the rest of the way to Madoka's house unseen. When she arrived, Madoka's mother was outside and heading down the walkway, just a few feet from the mailbox.
Just in time, Homura thought.
She walked up to the mailbox and dropped Madoka's letter inside, passing just a few feet in front of Junko Kaname. She stopped and looked at the woman for a moment; her eyes were heavy with sadness. Normally this woman was full of strength and vigor, but right now she looked worse than she had ever seen her before. Homura felt guilty, knowing that it was because her daughter was missing. Hopefully this letter would make her feel at least a little better. Junko Kaname was always kind to her, and she did not like what she was putting Madoka's family through.
She went down the street, and hid behind a light post. She made sure no one was in sight and resumed time, also transforming out of her Magical Girl attire. She peeked out from behind the light post, and watched Junko slog over to the mailbox with slow heavy steps. She pulled out a hand full of mail, and started walking back towards the house. She flipped through the envelopes for a moment, then stopped. All the mail fell from her hands and landed on the ground by her feet. A gust of wind blew the other pieces of mail away, but Junko did not seem to take any notice. She stared hard at the single piece of paper, reading it, then quickly ran inside, leaving the rest of the mail behind.
Homura sighed, not knowing if that really would make her feel any better or not, but hoping it would at least be a small comfort. She was thinking maybe she should arrange for Madoka to make a phone call soon. Perhaps that would put her own mind at ease as well, but she would have to make absolute certain Madoka understood she couldn't say anything about where she was or what was happening.
She continued down the street. Now she had to go to the hospital where the sweets witch would be hatching soon, and hopefully save Mami's life.
-Atomyst
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