I

Madoka's eyes opened and she looked around the room. Everything was dark, and the furnishings which lined the walls stood in tall vertical shapes, casting long wavy shadows on the ground around them. The walls seemed to climb up higher than she could see, and if there was a ceiling, it was lost to a distant fog. She glanced over to the clock Homura had set up, and saw that the numbers were changing at a rapid rate… each digit was cycling from zero to nine in a random order. Was it broken?

Great, she thought, now I'll have no idea when Homura is getting back...

She sighed, and tried to stretch the muscles in her arms; they were starting to feel sore from being held in the same position for so long. When she did, she found an abnormal amount of movement from her left. She quickly looked over and her heart jumped when she saw that the corresponding noose around the bed frame had become loose somehow. She lifted her left hand over her face to verify that it was free, and saw the rope was only lightly looped around her wrist. How did...

She could escape!

With one free hand all she had to do was untie herself, and she would be able to get away again. She rolled over onto her side and got her fingers working at the noose around her right wrist... but she stopped. What if this was a test? What if Homura had snuck in while she was sleeping and untied her left hand just to see what she would do?

She looked over to the bedroom door, which was cracked slightly with a thin ray of red light coming in from the other room. What if Homura was standing right behind that door right now? Madoka had sworn to her she wouldn't try to escape again, but if she went back on that, how would Homura react? She had gotten mean last time and tied her up in a way that was painful… What if she got even meaner if she tried to escape again?

Madoka decided to use her free hand to remove the gag, at least. She got her fingers working at it, and once she managed to pull up one ribbon of tape the rest came off rather easily, although it stung her skin as it was removed.

After pulling the wet cloth out of her mouth and tossing it to the side, she called out to the living room, "Homura?" but, there was no response. She watched the red light through the doorway, and thought that she saw a shadow walk by it. "Homura is that you?" She looked back to her right wrist which was still tied, and considered it for a moment, then called out, "I-I'm untying myself now! Um... I'm not trying to run away, or anything!" She started undoing the rope and as an afterthought added, in a small voice, "D-don't be mad..."

Once she was done, she sat with her legs hanging over the side of the bed and massaged her wrists, then got up and started walking towards the door. She stood with her hand on the doorknob, the red light from the other room reflected on her face, and she could hear movement. With a deep breath, she pulled the door open, and was suddenly blinded by the light. She screamed and backed away, but then felt something grab onto her.

She looked at her wrist and saw that a thick green vine had shot forth from the doorway and wrapped around her wrist. She let out a scream, and more vines came out of the doorway, wrapping around her arms, legs, and torso. "HELP!" she screamed as she tried to pull away, but the vines started pulling her in. "No! Someone please help!" she screamed once again, as she was pulled closer and closer to the red light.

There was a sudden flash of red as she was pulled in, and the next thing she knew she was suspended in the air with the vines holding her above something she could describe as a giant venus fly trap, except it had sharp teeth all around it's edges, and in the center there was a long drooling tongue. Madoka screamed and thrashed around against the vines that were holding her, continuing to scream for help with as much power as her lungs could possibly produce.

By the monster's feet, she could see those same creatures with the cartoon faces from before. They all held torches and pitchforks and danced around, letting out bouts of that squeaking laughter. "NO! SAVE ME!" Madoka screamed as she was lowered closer and closer to the monster's mouth. "HELP! Someone, PLEASE!" She could feel the warmth of it's tongue as she was lowered into its mouth, and suddenly its jaw snapped shut around her.

"HRRRAAAAP MWWRRRREE!"

Madoka woke up, screaming into the gag and thrashing against the ropes that bound her. She was breathing heavily, and it took a moment for her to realize it was just a dream. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at her bindings, then glanced around the room, verifying she was still in the hotel.

She felt a slight burning around her wrists from pulling on the rope too hard. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. When she felt her racing heart slowing down a bit, she glanced over to the clock; It was back to normal, and it read: 04:13.

Homura said four hours, and she left at noon. That meant she should be back any second now, maybe she had even already arrived. Madoka lifted up her head and looked towards the door which was open just a crack. She moved her head to the side as much as she could to try and see into the other room, but couldn't see anything no matter how hard she tried.

What was scaring her is, Homura said four hours at the MOST, and it was already more than four hours. Madoka could still feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as she thought, Homura, where are you?

II

Homura became more and more anxious as time continued to pass without the sweets witch making her appearance. She had relived these months a countless number of times, and knew everything that was supposed to happen within a very narrow margin of variability. The sweets witch always appeared here on this day, without fail, but this time it's appearance had already been delayed by over an hour…. something that has never happened before.

She looked at the clock stationed above the hospital's front entrance. She told Madoka she would be home by now, and Madoka was undoubtedly wondering where she was. Poor Madoka... Homura felt bad enough about having to keep her away from her family, and the conditions she had to keep her under, but it seemed like so many little things were going wrong to just keep making the situation worse and worse. She had to put that out of her mind for now though, and focus on the problem at hand.

If she left, and the sweets witch did show up and Mami ended up getting killed by it, then Sayaka's own chances of surviving to Walpurgis Night would drastically be lowered. Homura wanted to rush back to the hotel and be with Madoka, but she didn't know what would happen here if she did.

She didn't know. For the first time in years of repeats, she had no idea what was going to happen next. Too much had been changed, and this timeline was becoming far too abnormal and she felt herself losing control of it. That loss of control scared her, because she was so used to having it.

Then, Mami and Sayaka exited the front door of the hospital, and Homura quickly put the newspaper back up over her face and cautiously peeked over it so she could watch them. There was someone else with them, a small girl with white hair who appeared to be only eleven years old. Who was she? Then, Homura noticed Kyubey walking along with the three girls and an idea occurred to her: Could she be a Magical Girl?

Homura threw the newspaper into a trashcan by the bench she was sitting on, then walked down the street to a phone booth. She ducked down inside it, and from outside a brief flash of light could be seen as she transformed. Once that was complete, she stopped time and exited the phone booth to find a better vantage point to tail them from.

Unknown to Homura, while she was tailing Mami and company, Kyoko was tailing her. Kyoko ducked down when she saw the flash of light, knowing what it meant, then cautiously peeked back out from over the building's ledge. Crap, where did she go? Kyoko thought to herself, as she bit down on a lollipop, crushing it into a dozen pieces inside her mouth.

Her eyes searched the building tops, and saw a spot of black peaking over the top of another building further down the street which the other three girls were walking.

So, it seemed Homura was now planning on following the girls who Kyoko was originally following herself. Therefore, she just had to stick with her original plan, but be careful not to be seen by Homura herself. Then, hopefully when Homura was done following the three of them around, she would quit using her little vanishing trick and Kyoko could then continue to follow her back to her hideout normally.

Kyoko wondered about the third girl who was now with them, and the appearance of Kyubey made her nervous. Did he contract another Magical Girl? What was he thinking? This city was already overcrowded as it is. Well, maybe he didn't actually contract her yet. If that was the case then Kyoko thought she might have to persuade the little girl out of making a wish so she didn't end up getting added to her list of problems.

III

"I knew I should have wished to just eat the cake with Mama!" Nagisa complained as she carried the uneaten cake inside its container. "Stupid doctors wouldn't even let me in to see her!"

Sayaka palmed her face as an expression of pure annoyance creeped up on her, but she had given up on arguing semantics with the young girl.

"Don't worry." Mami said with a smile "I'm sure there will be plenty of chances in the future. The doctors are probably just trying to be sure her condition is stable before they allow her to have visitors."

"I guess so…" Nagisa said a bit solemnly.

"Anyway, how far is your aunt's place?" Sayaka asked, "We'll walk you back home if you want."

"Um… it's not far, my aunti and uncle have an apartment near the middle school."

"Really?" Mami asked, and her smile brightened, "That's convenient, I actually live in the same area. My apartment is on the second floor of Mitakihouse."

"Oh wow!" Nagisa said, suddenly snapping out of her disappointment about the cake. "Aunti's place is right across the street from there! Um… except… since Mama is going to get better now, I'm probably going to move back to my own home soon."

"Oh, where's that?" Sayaka asked.

"It's… um…" Nagisa put a finger to the side of her face as she thought over how to explain. "You know that big bridge to the north of the city? I live in the neighborhood that's right at the end of that."

"Hey, that's where my other friend from school lives," said Sayaka. "Her name's Hitomi, do you know her?"

"Hmmm… I don't think so."

"Oh, well anyway, that's a pretty ritzy area of town. What do your parents do anyway?" Sayaka asked.

"Um, well my daddy passed away a long time ago… but before that he founded the Mitakihara Dairy Corp."

"The dairy factory, huh…" Sayaka said, palming her face once again. "Well, that explains a few things… W-wait a minute!" She suddenly realized what that meant. "When you say he founded it…"

Nagisa looked at her, a bit confused. "He founded it! What's your problem, weird girl?"

"Ah, it's nothing! Never mind!" Sayaka said, waving her hands apologetically. Holy crap, that means this girl's loaded! Mitakihara Dairy Corp was the biggest supplier of dairy products (mainly cheese) in this entire region of Japan. Hitomi's parents were stock brokers, and she is what Sayaka would consider a richgirl, but if what Nagisa just said was true, then that means she's on a whole different level.

As they continued walking to Nagisa's house Mami explained a few things "Since your a Magical Girl now, you're going to have to start collecting GriefSeeds to keep your SoulGem pure."

"GriefSeeds?" Nagisa asked.

"Yes. They are something that witches drop after we defeat them." Mami revealed her SoulGem and showed it to Nagisa. "See how there is a bit of fog inside my gem? That's from using magic. As you use magic, more fog will appear inside your gem. Also, it will naturally start to appear over time, that's why we need to collect GriefSeeds in order to purify them."

"I see…" Nagisa said, looking at Mami's gem curiously. Then, she took out her own SoulGem, looked at it, and then held it up. "Mine doesn't have any fog yet! Um… Is getting GriefSeeds hard?"

Mami smiled. "It can be, but with the three of us working together you shouldn't have any trouble."

"Yup," Sayaka laughed. "Us Magical Girls have to stick together!"

"With you, it might be a little tricky, though," Mami continued. "Considering your age, it might be difficult to explain where you are going when we have to go out on witch hunts together."

Nagisa waved her hand carelessly. "Don't worry about that!" she said with a smile. "I'm a really good liar!"

Sayaka palmed her face... again... "You shouldn't brag about it like that..."

"Anyway, this is my aunti's apartment building," Nagisa said, then pointed across the street to Mami's. "So you live right over there?"

"Yup, that's right," she said with a smile. "Since we are so close, we should be able to speak telepathically when we are both home. That should make planning witch hunts a little easier, at least until you and your mother move back to your own home."

"Haha, yup!" Nagisa said, smiling brightly. "Anyway, thanks for walking with me! I'll-"

"NAGISA!" Suddenly a thin middle aged woman with glasses grabbed Nagisa by her shoulder and pulled her back a few steps. "Where have you been!" she shouted at her as she forced Nagisa to turn around and face her.

Nagisa's head bowed down slightly as she looked up through the tops of her eyes and glared at the woman. "I just went to visit Mama," she said, with a pouting tone to her voice.

"I told you not to go off by yourself like that!" the woman said sternly.

"B-but I wasn't alone!" Nagisa said quickly. "I was with my new friends, Sayaka and Mami!"

Sayaka and Mami just stood there awkwardly as the woman held Nagisa by the shoulder with a firm grip. She looked them up and down with a sharp look in her eyes, then bowed her head. "Thank you for taking care of my ignorant niece," she said. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble for you."

"No, no!" Sayaka said, waving her hands. "Not at all! Seriously!"

"Really, she was a pleasure to be with," Mami assured her. "She was no trouble at all!"

"Apologize to them," her aunt said, using her grip on Nagisa's shoulder to force her to bow.

"T-that's really not…" Sayaka started.

Nagisa looked up at them from her forced bowing posture with a deep frown on her face. "S-sorry for causing you trouble…" she said, grudgingly.

"R-really, it wasn't… um…" Before Mami could finish, Nagisa's aunt grabbed her by the wrist and started leading her away.

"To top things off, you left the kitchen an absolute mess! I want you to clean that up right away, then wash yourself and get ready for dinner, and-" They could hear her berating Nagisa all the way until the door of their apartment slammed shut behind them.

"That was a little…" Mami started.

"Harsh…" Sayaka finished.

IV

Homura still had no idea what was going on, but she knew she couldn't leave Madoka alone any longer, so she had to let it go and start heading back. She at least had a theory, and once Mami and Sayaka were away from this new girl, she was no longer as fearful about them having an encounter with the sweets witch.

It made sense. A witch that always appeared didn't appear, but in its place there was a Magical Girl who she had never seen before. Therefore, it was quite clear who that girl was, and what she could become. If Homura needed any more proof: the girl she suspected of one day becoming the witch of sweets was holding a cake.

What she didn't know, is why. What caused this new Magical Girl to not become a witch? Did her kidnapping Madoka have some kind of butterfly effect that led to this? Sayaka had contracted earlier than normal, for one, perhaps that had something to do with it… Well, Homura figured she would never know for certain, but whatever the cause, this created much bigger problems.

Homura now had no idea what to expect from this timeline. She has observed the subtle ripples her actions had over and over again. Over the countless years of repeating these months, she had learned how to manipulate this world, and she could never be caught off guard or surprised, because she always knew everything that was going to happen. Yet, even with that level of control, it still wasn't enough.

Now, something as major as a new Magical Girl in the timeline caused a situation where she had no idea what to expect anymore. The possibility of this girl turning into the sweets witch at an unexpected moment was only one of many other problems her existence caused. Her existence meant Homura no longer had control over the timeline, and anything could happen!

Although, besides those problems, there was also a vague feeling of hope. There were several timelines when Homura managed to keep all three of the other Magical Girls alive until Walpurgis Night. However, even with Kyoko, Sayaka, Mami, and Homura herself, it still wasn't enough. Even with all four of them as allies and battling together, Walpurgisnacht still won… But it was always close… So close... It was close enough to give Homura hope, and now with a fifth member of the team… maybe, if this girl survived, she could be the one to make the difference, and-

No.

Homura climbed on the city bus. She paid the toll, then found a seat towards the back.

No… she had to manage her expectations. This extra Magical Girl might give her some hope that Walpurgisnacht could be defeated this time, but she also had to plan for the more likely scenario that it wouldn't be defeated. She would attempt to defeat Walpurgisnacht, but her top priority was to keep Madoka safe.

The only way to keep Madoka safe was to continue with her plan. She had to keep Madoka her prisoner, and prevent Kyubey from making a contract. Then, before Walpurgis Night, Homura would move Madoka out of the city, and find somewhere where she would be safe...

Regardless of if Walpurgisnacht was defeated or not...

Homura would find somewhere safe… and keep her there... forever…


-Atomyst

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