Mami opened her eyes.

That was it. That was all she could do. Her entire body was so sore that she didn't dare move anything. If she felt this bad, she didn't want to know what she currently looked like. She decided it was better to focus herself on something else until her body felt better. She would have tried to get some sleep, but she was certain she'd just woken up. It wouldn't have been possible anyway, with a bright blue light shining in her face.

She tried to think back to what had just happened. No luck, though, as all that came to mind was Madoka. What that thought meant was hard to tell. More of her senses returned slowly, causing her to realize they had all been numbed up until then, and also causing her to notice a few peculiarities about her surroundings. It smelled like someone nearby had been baking cake and throwing fruit everywhere. There was also a distinct taste of candy, and the very air felt charged with sugar-induced energy.

A low gurgling sound, like a growling stomach, echoed around her. The sound was much larger than a Human, and her mind starting immediately thinking through various large animals it could be. She didn't like the results, which seemed to stick on dinosaurs and whales. What she saw pass by her line of sight only a few moments later was far worse than either.

It was long, like a giant bulbous snake moving through the air over her head. It had a large maw filled with razor sharp teeth, along with a pointy nose ending in a red tuft and two long feathery wings sticking off the side of its head. The body was black and speckled in red dots, while the face was white with two yellow patches on its cheeks and wild, crazy, multicolored eyes. The incredible visage sparked a flash of a memory.

Mami sat up with a start, shocks of pain running through her stiff body but being largely ignored. Remembering the creature she had just seen, she turned around to see where it had gone. She just caught the tail end as it wound its way around the side of a mountain. Looking to the ground around her, Mami nearly cried out in shock at the sight of two still forms laying on the ground near her. Stifling herself, not wanting to draw the clearly predatory beast back her way, she forced herself onto her hands and knees in order to crawl over to the nearest form.

Sayaka's familiar face was calm and quiet, but to Mami's great relief her friend was breathing shallowly. She shook Sayaka for a few seconds before moving on to the second form. The pink hair immediately identified her as Madoka. Mami shook her as well, hoping she could wake someone up. She didn't want to be alone with such a crazy-looking creature wandering about.

"Yo! Someone else woke up! Nagisa!"

Mami whirled at the sound of the voice. Kyoko stood several meters away, holding what looked to Mami like a big clump of chocolate cake dripping in chocolate glaze. By the state of her face, Mami judged that Kyoko had found a lot of food and taken part in it less sparingly than usual. It did some good for Mami's nerves to see someone she knew and trusted up and about, though. The mention of Nagisa gave her even more hope.

That hope vanished when the snake-creature appeared behind Kyoko. It gurgled as it drew nearer, brushing against the ground and right past Kyoko. It kept coming, freezing Mami in place with fear until they were face to face. Then it opened its mouth and...

Nagisa's voice echoed in Mami's mind. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake. I thought it would take much longer."

Mami couldn't move, awed, terrified, and sincerely dumbfounded. This monster was Nagisa. Cute, adorable little Nagisa. She'd grown up so fast.

Nagisa continued. "Kyoko woke up earlier this morning, and she's been stuffing her face ever since. After how long I waited before she woke up, I thought I would have to wait at least that long before anyone else woke up as well. But now you're awake, and that means Madoka and Sayaka will be awake soon too."

Mami finally managed to overcome all the strange feelings that were keeping her from moving. She remained bolted in place, but got out a few words. "How... long were you... waiting... alone?"

Kyoko chuckled. "Yeah, this will be the reaction of the century. Wish I had a camera."

Nagisa's massive face made itself into a frown. "The planet was all lava and smoke when I woke up. It changed over time. I think... I think it changed because of me."

Mami hadn't really taken in her surroundings yet. She glanced around, but things weren't really registering on her mind. Everything was still a bit fuzzy. "What did you change? How long have I- how long have we been asleep?"

Nagisa made a face that Mami knew meant she was embarrassed that she had been overthinking it. "I can't tell how long the days here are, because it's not our planet or our sun. The sun is blue, so we're somewhere out in space. But assuming the day and night cycle is the same length as on Earth, you were all asleep for... five thousand eight hundred and nineteen billion days."

Mami was speechless. She had to have heard wrong.

Nagisa tried to make light of it by smiling. "I didn't want to sound annoying by saying the exact number, so I rounded to the nearest billion."

Kyoko sighed. "Yeah... she says she counted. Nothing better to do around here. But that's the long and the short of it. We've been sleeping, with Bebe as our guardian protector, for billions of years. I wasn't able to do the math, but I'm pretty sure that's billions of years. I'm right, right?"

Mami slowly sat herself down, afraid she'd keel over. "Y-yeah... that's right. About... um... more than ten billion. I... I don't know..." And then she started to cry. 'My God... what happened to us? That long, it's... unthinkable. My... my... my b... sh-sh-sh..."

Kyoko dropped her blob of cake and rushed to Mami's side. "Are you okay? Mami, what's wrong?"

Mami had broken down near completely, crying into her hands. "My baby... Charlotte... she's gone. She's gone. My little girl is gone."

Nagisa's voice was calm and comforting, though it did little good for Mami. "We're not. We're still here with you, Mami. We're not gone."

"She's right, you know. The universe is infinite, and we shall traverse the entire great expanse. But we shall always be together." The three of them looked up to see Madoka had awoken. She smiled gently. "And in infinity, familiarity will always be found somewhere."

Kyoko jumped up. "Hey! Now we just have to wait for Sayaka! Oh, uh..." She reached down and grabbed a hand full of the ground, offering it to Madoka. "Hungry? It tastes like chocolate cake."

Madoka's entire outward appearance changed and she blocked the sight of it with her hands. "Oh, no! That's gross, Kyoko! It's dirt!"

Kyoko was incredulous. "No it's not! It's chocolate cake!"

Nagisa interrupted. "I told you. Just cause it tastes like chocolate cake doesn't mean it is chocolate cake."

Sayaka's voice stopped them all. "Damn it all, can you guys keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."

Dropping the dirt cake, Kyoko rushed over and sat on top of Sayaka. "You've slept ten billion years. It's time to wake up."

Sayaka's eyes shot open. "Ten billi- fucking what?!" She shot up, quickly taking stock of her surroundings. "There's no way I... I'd never sleep in that long! What's going on? Why..." She took a good long look at the others, then dropped her gaze to herself. "You guys... it's been a while, so... I think our clothes disintegrated."

Turning bright red, like she hadn't noticed before, Madoka quickly covered herself. Nagisa nudged Mami to try and get her to move, but the fact that she remained curled up into herself told that she'd also noticed. Kyoko didn't seem to mind. Sayaka sighed and stood up, quickly covering herself as well. She looked around a bit more.

"I heard Nagisa... where is she?"

The giant beast opened its mouth, but the voice was in their heads. "I'm right here."

Sayaka jumped back. "Woah, geez! The hell happened!? Madoka, what's going o-" Memories hit her like a tidal wave. "Madoka!" Forgetting herself, she stormed over to her friend and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "What have you done!? What did you do to Nagisa?! Why are we all naked!? Why does everything smell like strawberries?!" She paused for a second, staring in shock at something behind Madoka before shouting one last question. "And why the fuck is Kyoko eating the world!?"

Nagisa's focus shifted suddenly, alerting all of them in an instant. "I hear something... nothing lives on this planet but us and... no, it's different."

Sayaka and Madoka stopped their struggle. Mami looked up. Kyoko nearly dropped her food. Four voices spoke in unison. "Nothing but us and what?"

Captain Tyrone Douglas peered through his binoculars. He liked what he saw very much. He also didn't like what he didn't see. Regardless, he allowed himself a smug grin. "They're Human, from the looks of it. Women, and four of 'em. Not old ladies, but they're certainly not underage. My expert analysis is thirties, but handled aging well. Blonde twin-drills on one. Another has blue hair. The other two... maybe pink and red hair, it looks like."

A voice called him over the radio. "What color are their eyes?"

The Captain made a face. "Now how am I supposed to know that?" He shook his head. "Alright, Miss Shizuki. You wanna have a look?"

Hitomi appeared beside him on the ridge. "Give them here."

Handing the binoculars over, the Captain turned to the rest of the party. "Osakawa, Akihara, have you found that gold yet?"

All the members of the away team were wearing breather masks, obscuring their faces, but the clean-shaven head and short blonde hair gave the two away. The were scouring the ground for the trace amounts of gold the scanners had picked up. Akihara looked up at him. "We've got the location down to within a few meters. I don't think it's under the surface either."

Hitomi's gasp drew the Captain's attention away. "See anything that you like, Miss?"

Osakawa called over, reaching down and picking something tiny up off the ground. "I found something!" He held it up, wiping it off with his finger. "It... it's a locket."

Hitomi shoved the binoculars into the Captain's hands and stormed over to Osakawa. "Give it here."

"Wha...?"

"I said give it here!"

He reluctantly handed it over. "O-okay then."

Hitomi opened the locket, seeing what was inside. "No... this is all wrong."

It was a small photo, showing three young teenage girls wearing the same school uniform. A short, pink-haired girl with red ribbons. A grinning blunette with a yellow hair clip. And a serene girl with green hair.

"How can this be here? How can... they be here?"

"Wake up now. You have visitors."

Saldor's voice reached deep into the massive, ancient ship. Something stirred, raising its head. Coiling around itself, it hissed at the thought of intruders. Such welcome intruders indeed.