Les Fleurs du Mal – But Not the Soul
Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica. All Madoka-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Studio SHAFT and Gen Urobuchi.
[-]
Across her hundred-odd time flows, Homura had faced off against Mami Tomoe numerous times. The older girl's lethal combination of mental instability and moral certitude always made her easy prey for the Incubators' manipulations, whenever they sensed that Homura might pose a real threat to their plans.
Unfortunately, the number of those fights that Homura had won approached approximately zero.
The closest she'd come was that battle in her own Labyrinth, where she'd only claimed "victory" with the cheapest of cheap tactics. Only to have them turned against her right afterward, thanks to the blonde's surprise "ribbon clone" gambit.
And that'd been Homura at her most powerful. The top of her fighting shape.
As an unathletic, anemic, nearsighted human, she didn't stand a chance.
"Come out, come out!" Mami called out in a gallant, singsong voice. "It won't hurt in the slightest! In fact, it will feel wonderful!"
Not that they could hear the words very well, over the volley of gunfire that accompanied them.
Homura and Madoka dove behind another row of pews just before the bullets could reach them, tearing apart the aged wood like cardboard. The two girls were grasping each other's hands for dear life, so tightly that the veins turned blue.
"You're brainwashed, Mami-senpai!" said Madoka loudly, trying once more to reach her. "You just got finished escaping the secrets and lies that've plagued you for years! Are you really going to dive back in?"
"On the contrary. For the very first time, my eyes are truly opened!" Mami exclaimed back, continuing to punctuate every few syllables with another gunshot. The muskets were floating behind her telekinetically, forming a halo of weaponry. "We thought there had to be a choice! For some to be happy, others must suffer. For some to have Hope, others must be plunged into deepest Despair."
She formed three muskets into a larger cannon, firing a round that completely disintegrated the remains of the pews. Homura and Madoka were forced to sprint for dear life, taking refuge behind a pillar at the last second.
"But that was a lie! A lie to lead us astray from our true purpose!" cried the Messenger, her expression utterly deranged. "We Magical Girls are to lead humanity to a future where there are no hard choices! No sacrifices or hidden costs. Everyone will be equal in Our Savior's light!"
Her voice cracked noticeably as she added, "No one…will be left behind…"
"We can't keep hiding forever. At this rate, she'll wind up bringing down the entire church," said Homura in a low voice, as the pillar that was serving as their shield was methodically chipped away by ribbon-filled bullets. "If only we had something we could use as a weapon…"
"Homura, we're not hurting her!" Madoka chastised her partner. "She isn't in her right mind!"
Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the reverse. Mami seemed wholly unconcerned with collateral damage as she fired off one barrage after the next, kicking up a massive cloud of demolished wood and stone.
"If we can't fight her, then we need to run," Homura whispered hurriedly. "There's no getting through to her when she's like this. Trust me…I've learned the hard way."
"That was when Mami was all on her own. Before she had us," Madoka insisted, even as their surroundings continued to be shredded to dust. "You and I both know that's the only true cure for Despair. Friendship…and love."
"Ya got that right, pinkie," drawled another, rougher voice.
All of their attentions snapped to the opening Mami had made in the stained-glass window, where two more girls were striding forward, hands clasped together. Sayaka Miki and Kyoko Sakura wore identical, cocky grins, their weapons held casually at their sides.
Homura's guard instantly flared up. As long as Kriemhild Gretchen sat at its apex, no agent of the Law of Cycles could be trusted.
"Careful, Madoka," she said quietly, throwing out an arm to keep the girl from impulsively running toward her best friend. "They're almost certainly brainwashed as well."
Mami seemed to be thinking much along the same lines. She allowed the pair to join her at her right shoulder, casting them an indulgent smile.
"I'm so happy to see you both here," she told them, her voice practically glowing with warmth. "Soon, we can all finally be together. Once and for all."
Sayaka nodded swiftly. "Looking forward to it," she replied, before turning to her roommate. "You ready?"
Then, without any further warning, the two of them extracted their Soul Gems from their bodies, and slammed them into Mami's with all their might.
[-]
Both Sayaka and Kyoko already had a pretty shrewd idea of what they'd see here, before taking their first step inside.
Mami's mental landscape was a world of vibrant sunlight and cool, clean air. The salty scent on the wind told them they were close to the ocean.
"Did it feel like this? Goin' inta my head, I mean," Kyoko asked the other girl, wincing. "Cuz it's jus' so damn…warm in here. Like the whole world's smotherin' me with a big blanket."
"That's how it gets you," said Sayaka, her eyes narrowed at the horizon. "It really doesn't want her to leave, and it especially doesn't want anybody to help her leave. If you don't keep your head on straight, it'll swallow you whole. Make you part of the dream too."
"Hard pass," Kyoko grunted. "Now, c'mon. She's gotta be here somewhere. With, y'know…them."
It didn't take a lot of searching. They'd appeared along the side of a narrow roadway, and following it for a few minutes brought them to a secluded beach. One that, against all logic or reason, was empty – save for a single family.
The two Magical Girls hid behind a white minivan, which was decorated with the seal of the National Diet. Cautiously, they peeked their hands around to get a closer look.
"…No, that part of the bill is non-negotiable. We can quibble over the minor details, but forced sterilization as a prerequisite to gender reassignment is unconscionably barbaric," a tall, curvaceous woman spoke into a cell phone. "If we can't even manage that level of reform, then what's the point?"
Meanwhile, a stocky man with a well-trimmed beard was splashing around in the shallows of the water, alongside a teenage girl who was almost taller than he was.
Both of them bore hair the color of sunflowers, and identical smiles of absolute joy.
"Anyway, we'll take this up again on Monday. I'll fight tooth and nail if that's what it takes," the woman added after a few seconds. "For now, it's my day off, and I'd like to spend it with my family."
And with that, she hung up her phone, took off her sunglasses and wide-brimmed hat, and dove into the ocean right alongside the pair.
"The great senator from Mitakihara Prefecture joins the battle!" the man called out. "But shall she lend her aid to her devoted, faithful, responsible husband, who drove us three hours out to the coast…"
"Or her loving daughter, who made the sandwiches we ate for lunch?" a bikini-clad Mami interjected with a wink. "I'll remind that I used real espagnole sauce for the demiglace."
"Hmm…both tempting options," said the woman, making a big show of looking conflicted. "But I think I'll have to go with…neither."
Without any further warning, she slammed both arms down into the water, soaking her husband and daughter alike.
"Ack, no fair!" he sputtered playfully. "That's a politician for you. Always playing dirty! Sweetheart, I think we may need to form a temporary coalition against this new threat."
"I suppose, if there is no other choice," Mami spoke, as dramatically as if she was reciting lines on a stage. "But cheesecake shall be the non-negotiable reward for my services!"
The exchange went on like that for some time, each member of the Tomoe family splashing the next in turn, making a big show of every alliance and subsequent, inevitable betrayal. Sayaka and Kyoko watched on from the sidelines, sharing a conflicted glance.
"I know we have to pull her out," the blue-haired girl whispered. "But…"
"Yeah, know whatcha mean," her roommate finished for her. "She's been through so much shit. Parta me jus' kinda wants ta sit back an'…let her have this."
"Difference is she had to go through most of that crap alone," said Sayaka. "That's not gonna be the case anymore. We won't let it."
"She's done so much fer us," Kyoko murmured back. "Time ta pay summa that back."
Her fingers reached out, lacing around the other girl's. Sayaka accepted them readily.
"On three, then," she told her. "One…two…"
But before she could finish counting, the van they'd been hiding behind suddenly lurched to the side. Mami stepped around it, her saltwater-drenched body glistening in the sun, but her features set as firm as steel.
"Let us get one thing straight," she declared sternly. "I will not be leaving this world."
[-]
Kriemhild Gretchen waved her hand, calling her servant forward.
The Messenger obeyed readily, carrying a clipboard and adjusting her lapel. This one's name was Dongmei, a girl from early twentieth century Singapore who was well-known for her organizational skills.
Thankfully, she barely batted an eye at the sight of her mistress brutally torturing Iroha Tamaki. None of the Messengers paid the girl much heed, literally incapable of understanding her defiance against their holy Savior.
"How fares the project with which I tasked you?" the Witch demanded, turning away from the pink-haired girl without releasing her grip on her scalp.
Pure, concentrated Despair continued to flow into her body, as well as the Soul Gem that housed Yachiyo Nanami. At this point it was a fairly automatic process, and didn't require Gretchen's explicit action.
"Excellently, my Savior," said Dongmei, glancing down at her figures. Of course the clipboard didn't actually exist, in the traditional sense, but it was how the studious girl's mind chose to interpret things. "An estimated forty-seven percent of the Incubator population has been absorbed into the Law of Cycles. Completion of the project should come in about three days."
"You have three hours," Gretchen ordered the girl. "I will need as much mana as possible if I intend to break through the Barrier around this one's universe."
She glanced briefly at the screaming Iroha again, but spared her no further thought.
Now that she'd usurped their position, the Incubators served no purpose save as glorified batteries. Gretchen almost had to laugh at the acute irony of it all.
She'd consumed all the ones on Earth as soon as she ascended, but the emotionless aliens had spread themselves to the far corners of the universe, in their futile quest to combat the forces of entropy. The very entity who had given her a new lease on…well, "life" wasn't quite the right term.
"If we are to meet that deadline, I require more resources," Dongmei told her. "Can any of my fellow Messengers be repurposed?"
Gretchen waves a hand again. "Take any or all of them. It matters little," she said dismissively. "To save the multiverse, I need energy. Energy, to a Witch, is synonymous with Despair. And the Incubator race has absorbed enough Despair to accomplish my mission a thousand times over."
"Then it shall be done, my Savior," replied the Singaporean girl, bowing low. "Is there anything else I may do to serve Your Grace? For creating a world where my brother still lives, you have my eternal devotion."
"That will be all. Leave the rest to me, child," Gretchen declared, her attentions reverting again to the only ordinary human in her realm. She cradled Iroha's chin in her dainty fingers, offering her a small, cruel grin.
"What I'm about to do next will require some…concentration."
[-]
Sayaka supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised. Both she and Kyoko had demonstrated that these dream worlds weren't the same type of illusions that Homura had trapped them within – first unconsciously and then intentionally, following her rebellion.
Those illusions did their damnedest to trick you into thinking they were reality. They relied on subterfuge and misdirection, to keep the mind too disoriented to question the parts that didn't make sense.
The visions cast within Gretchen's Barrier were far more insidious. On some level, the victim always knew that what they were seeing wasn't real. It was their own mind directly generating their personal paradise, after all.
But the peace and tranquility they offered was so tempting, so seductive…
That most simply didn't care.
Sayaka had only gotten out because she was too pigheaded to accept such easy answers. And they'd only escaped Kyoko's dream because their bond, ultimately, was stronger than any false heaven their brains could conjure up.
Mami Tomoe, however? The girl so twisted by pain and loneliness that she'd been in a state of self-destructive depression for the past three years, driven solely by a crusade she knew now to be a lie?
Kyoko was right. Convincing Mami to cut off her own head would be easier than getting her to leave this place.
"Look, we know the deal. This world gives ya the life ya woulda lived if yer whole Wish came true – no tricks, no strings," said the red-haired girl. "So yer entire family gets the 'tied ta life' deal, not jus' yer ass."
She reached forward, placing a tentative hand on her mentor's bare arm. "An'…An' I know how good that's gotta feel. Trus' me on that," she continued in a lower voice. "But do really ya think that's how they'd wan' ta be remembered? Dontcha think ya should…"
But Mami cut her off by sweeping her arm roughly, throwing off Kyoko's grip.
"Do you truly think that's what this is about?" she asked, her yellow eyes blazing. "I'm well aware that I'm spitting on my parents' memories. Settling for a facsimile of the real thing, because I'm too much of a coward to accept that they're gone. And do you know what else? I…don't…care."
If she didn't know Mami as well as she did, Sayaka would've been terrified at the tone of her voice. At the deranged look in her eyes.
But she'd already seen her mentor at her absolute worst. So she and Kyoko both held their ground, even as Mami's ranting escalated in volume and franticness.
"I thought I'd grown beyond this. Finally accepted every part of myself, including the darkest corners," she said. "But just one look at these illusions of mother and father, and I crumpled like wet tissue paper. I haven't grown at all, Sayaka-san. In the end, I'm still that crying little girl, trapped in the wreckage of a car."
Mami collapsed to her knees, face buried in her palms.
"You're all so strong," she choked out, her throat seizing as she tried to force out the words. "And…And I'm just so, so weak…"
"Senpai…" murmured Sayaka, biting her lip. She knew she'd need to choose her next words carefully. "We aren't strong alone. None of us have ever been. Not me, not Kyoko, not Madoka…and definitely not Homura. But together…"
"No. No, I'm sorry," Mami interrupted her, hands still covering her eyes. "I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but…I just can't. I can't keep fighting. Not when this is so much easier."
"Okay, fuck this!" Kyoko suddenly exclaimed. Before Sayaka could stop her she was already bending down, and grabbing Mami by the scruff of her collar. "Where the hell's the badass mentor who taught me everythin' there is ta know 'bout bein' a Magical Girl? Where's the girl who can shout a stupid, dramatic, fake-Italian attack name an' level a city block with one shot?"
The redhead gripped Mami by both wrists and forcibly wrenched them apart, revealing a face that was soaked by hot tears.
"Where the hell's my bes' friend?" she finished demanding.
The older girl didn't speak for a long time, the only sound in the air being her rasping, trembling sobs.
Until, finally, she looked up at the girl she'd once taken under her wing with red and puffy eyes, and said in a tiny voice, "You think my attack names are stupid…?"
Kyoko's lip curled into a fang-toothed smile.
"Stupides' things I ever fuckin' heard," she replied. "But that's okay. It's parta yer charm."
She held out a hand to help Mami to her feet. And for a moment, it looked like the blonde was about to take it.
But that was the moment the shadows of Mikage and Tetsu Tomoe emerged from the beach's sands, rictus grins stretched across both of their faces.
"You wouldn't do that to us, would you?" hissed her fake mother, the voice staticky and distorted, like it was coming through a bad filter. "You wouldn't leave your dear parents behind…again?"
"Stay here, where it's safe. Stay here, where you are loved," added the illusion of her father. "You won't have to make any more hard choices. You'll never suffer again."
"The hell's goin' on?" asked Kyoko, looking panicked as the shades began to close in on the still-kneeling Mami. She made no effort to escape. "It wasn't like this fer us! Even…Even Momo didn't…"
"Like I told you, this whole world comes from your own mind," said Sayaka in hushed tones. "Mami-senpai's subconscious must be summoning these things up."
"Because deep-down, I don't believe I deserve to be rescued?" Mami called out, surprising her students; they hadn't realized she'd been listening. "That's right. I'm too broken to truly play the role of the angel. I shouldn't have even tried. There's no point in trying to deny it any longer."
Her parents' limbs were now elongating, becoming less distinct. Turning into tendrils that wrapped around the unresisting Mami's stomach and throat.
"Here, I can be punished. Here…I never have to face my failures again," she continued in a melancholic voice, as the shades began to drag her body beneath the sand.
"Bullshit," snapped a harsh voice, causing all of their heads to turn at once. Even the illusions seemed surprised.
After all, the speaker was someone none of them would've ever expected in this place.
"If I'm not allowed to drown myself in a whirlpool of self-pity…" said Homura Akemi, her fingers laced tightly around Madoka's as they both strode forward. "Then I'll be damned if I let the same thing happen to my senpai."
[-]
Several minutes earlier, the former goddess and devil had been staring blankly at the still forms of the Messenger trio, utterly bewildered as to what to do next.
"I'm sure something suitably impressive is happening within the confines of Mami Tomoe's mindscape…" declared Homura, frowning slightly. "But from an outsider's perspective, they're all just standing there."
Madoka matched her expression, chewing her lip for good measure. Those types of little tics were simultaneously unsettling and adorable, when paired with her inhuman eyes.
"There has to be something we can do," she said. "Sayaka-chan, Kyoko-san, and Mami-senpai are only in this mess because they swore themselves to the Law of Cycles. I'm responsible for their fates. For all my Messengers' fates."
"Be that as it may, we are presently biologically human in every way that counts. We don't even have Soul Gems anymore," replied the black-haired girl. Her fingers reached up to her left ear, instinctively, to brush at an earring that wasn't there. "Even if we wanted to intervene, we couldn't."
Both their gazes were locked on a point just above Mami's head, where Sayaka and Kyoko were frozen in place, pressing their Soul Gems directly against the older girl's.
Glows of blue, red, and yellow pulsed in time with one another, like a trio of tiny heartbeats.
"I can't accept that. I won't," spoke the former goddess insistently. "Maybe if I…"
She started to reach out toward the meeting of Soul Gems, but Homura caught her wrist before she could.
"There's no telling what might happen if you touched her right now," she said. "Mami Tomoe is serving as a direct conduit to Kriemhild Gretchen. If she gets a hold of you…"
Her eyes squinted and turned askance. "I…I just got you back," she added in a much smaller voice. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you again."
"And you won't," Madoka assured her, gently but firmly tugging her arm from the other girl's grip. "But I told you Homura, this isn't how things are going to go from now on. Making decisions for each other. Instead, we're going to talk things through. And then decide together."
Homura bowed her head, and nodded slowly. "Sorry…" she whispered. "Old habits."
She was surprised to see Madoka crack an almost impish smile.
"It's okay. I didn't exactly expect you to change eight years of instincts in a single night," she responded, leaning over to peck the other girl on the cheek. "And it is kind of sweet when you worry."
Homura blinked a couple of times. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to you flirting back," she said quietly. "Not that I'm any kind of expert myself. But I'm so used to…you know. The feelings only going one way."
"Those feelings were never one-sided. I just…needed time, to figure them out," Madoka told her. "And Walpurgisnacht always meant there was a deadline on that. Most of the 'me's never had a chance to get their heads on straight about themselves, much less other people. But I've got all their memories in my mind now. And I promise you…"
And suddenly, Madoka's arms were around her shoulders, squeezing tight.
"I am far from the first Madoka who's wanted to do this," she finished, in a voice that was light and musical.
They stayed in that position for some time – the last thing Homura was paying attention to right now was the clock – but eventually Madoka pulled away, looking toward the Messenger trio and frowning again.
"There's one other idea I want to try," she stated, eyes drifting from one linked Soul Gem to the next. "But I don't think you'll like it."
"If it means putting you in any kind of danger, then you're right about that," said Homura with a sigh. "But…I'll take your words to heart. If you can somehow find it within yourself to trust me, after everything I've done…then I owe you the same courtesy."
"If my theory is right, then this should prove it. If not…" mumbled Madoka, before swallowing the rest of that sentence. "Well, I'm just going to hope it's the first one."
Homura watched on with bated breath as Madoka stretched out her hand again. Slowly reaching toward the Soul Gems, one centimeter at a time, until her pointer finger stopped just short of Mami's golden jewel.
"Connect," she said, her voice hushed but insistent. "Connect."
But nothing seemed to be happening. Madoka kept repeating the word under her breath, and yet the gems remained stubbornly, frustratingly out of reach.
Until suddenly, she added in much firmer tones, "I am Madoka Kaname, and this is a power that threatens mine."
Homura didn't know how to describe what she felt in that moment. It was like there was suddenly…something inside her. An energy that sparked to life, and then rapidly began expanding. Until her paltry human body couldn't contain it anymore.
She clutched her fists tightly across her chest, as the sudden outpouring of power reached its peak. For the briefest of moments, she blacked out completely.
When she came to, Madoka was holding her hand, gently but firmly. And they were standing in what felt for all the world like the shallows of the ocean.
"I thought so," said the pink-haired girl. "Sorry for not giving you more of a warning, but I wasn't sure it'd work if you were expecting it."
"Expecting what?" asked Homura, feeling more lost than she could ever remember being. Usually it was her explaining these kinds of things to a bewildered Madoka, not the other way around. "Madoka, what the hell just happened?"
In lieu of answering, Madoka pointed her arm toward the other end of the beach. Where a trio of very familiar, colorful profiles could be seen beneath the high sun.
"I'll tell you soon, once we're all together. But first…" she answered, her rosy eyebrows furrowed with concern. "We've got a senpai to save."
[-]
Mami Tomoe's mind was an absolute maelstrom.
Of course, this was really nothing new. In the past month or so – depending on how one counted time – the blonde girl had been beheaded, resurrected, mindwiped, brainwashed, mindwiped again, linked to a hundred other versions of herself, and finally enslaved by an all-powerful Witch.
On some level, she knew she should've fought back harder against Gretchen's control. Clearly, Sayaka and Kyoko had managed to throw her off somehow.
Guilt gnawed at her like a disease, for being so much weaker than her precious kohai.
And this was hardly the first time, wasn't it? She was always the first to snap, the first to break. She alone had reacted to the dark truth behind Magical Girls with an attempted murder-suicide.
That's why giving into the Witch of Salvation was so…tempting. Gretchen didn't care about her failures. About her sins and her flaws and her miserably pathetic excuse for a life.
Gretchen accepted her, just the way she was.
Her drowned-out conscience attempted to rationalize. She was hardly the only Magical Girl carrying a sliver of darkness in her heart. They all did, in a sense. They wouldn't have staked their lives on a Wish otherwise.
So it wasn't hard to see things from Gretchen's perspective; to agree that what she was offering them was a mercy. Compared to the dull grays and browns of reality, this fantasy world shined bright as the sun.
Why wouldn't she want to share that light with the friends she loved so dearly?
But if she was capable of deluding herself completely with that lie, then she wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. A nagging voice in the corner of her mind knew – knew – that this wasn't what they would've wanted.
Sayaka, ever the steadfast hero of justice, would never settle for an imitation of the real thing, no matter how seductive. And Kyoko…well, she'd arguably lost even more than Mami had. Yet those losses had hardened her; turned her into the kind of warrior, for good and ill, that her mentor only pretended to be.
It'd been hard enough facing just the two of them. But now…
"Mami-senpai," said Madoka pleadingly. Knowing who she was, what she was, made the fact that she still called her "senpai" feel like a cruel joke. "You don't have to worry anymore. Because we're here for you now. All of us."
And so they were. All of her former kohai were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, arrayed along the edge of the false beach – though Sayaka and Kyoko looked just as flabbergasted at their friends' sudden appearance as she was.
"We can figure out how the hell ya got in here without Soul Gems later," spoke the redhead, once she'd recovered from the initial shock. "Cuz Pinkie Jesus here is right. Every single one o' us owes her life ta ya. We ain't givin' that up without a fight."
"Pinkie Jesus?" repeated Sayaka, thrown off briefly by the bizarre turn of phrase. "Well anyway…look, senpai, we understand. We've all been waking up from dreams, of one kind or another. And it isn't easy. But it's better than living a lie."
"I…I appreciate what you're all trying to say," Mami murmured, without really meaning it. She knew she must look so pathetic, still half-buried in the shifting sands. "But you're wasting your time. I know I'm…awful. To be giving up like this. I just…I just can't…"
But once again, it was Homura who cut her off with a biting, "Shut up."
All three of the other girls turned to her in shock. But Homura, her indigo eyes blazing, continued to barrel forward.
"I may have lost my horns, but I'm still a Devil. And that gives me the privilege to tell you what the others are too kind to say," she said. "Life is hard. Get used to it. I tried running from my problems for eight years, and look how well that turned out for me."
But then, even more unexpected was the raven-haired girl's features softening, and her kneeling down to look her once-mentor straight in the eyes.
"You were one of the first friends I ever made, Mami Tomoe. Before all this became so…complicated," she went on, her voice quiet and measured. "And I could see, even back then, how much you were hurting."
She sighed and bit her lip, but didn't break eye contact with the blonde.
"I couldn't find a way to help you, so I convinced myself it wasn't my problem. That none of your suffering was my problem. Even when I literally had all the time in the world to fix it," she spoke, now gazing around at Sayaka and Kyoko as well. As ever, they finally came to rest with Madoka. "Focusing only on Madoka made things…easier. But it didn't make them better."
"Please, stop this…" Mami whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
But this newly energized Homura – who carried herself with an air she hadn't seen in a long, long time – would not be deterred by her pleas.
"I know now, more than anyone, how you felt. How the pain of loneliness can poison your heart, and send you down a path of blood," she said. "I won't promise that I can cure it. None of us can. But I know…that the only way we have any chance of it, is together."
Kyoko was looking at her bug-eyed. "Don't take this the wrong way or anythin'," she remarked. "But who're ya, an' what've ya done with Homura Akemi?"
"Let's just say that all your plans blowing up in your face and granting control of the multiverse to an omnicidal maniac…" replied the former Devil, her voice and expression deliberately even. "Causes you to rethink a few things."
Unfortunately, those words triggered another wave of darkness to fall over Mami's vulnerable mind.
"Even if we did decide to fight back…" she declared morosely. "Gretchen is far, far too powerful. At least this way, we get a happy dream out of the deal."
"Since when has a battle being hard stopped Mami-freaking-Tomoe?" asked Sayaka. "You know you're the one who taught me everything I know about fighting for what's right."
"Abou' defendin' those who can't defen' themselves," added Kyoko.
"About offering kindness to everyone you meet," Madoka offered her contribution.
"And about never leaving a friend behind," Homura finished, once again affixing her erstwhile senpai with a stare that could rock galaxies. "Look, I…I'm the last person who should be lecturing someone about this kind of thing. But I'm trying to do better. At least as of about an hour ago."
Sayaka stopped in place. Slowly, her head drifted from Homura's kneeling form, and then to Madoka, whose dainty hand was placed on the other girl's shoulder.
"Does this mean…?" she asked, without finishing her sentence.
Regardless, Madoka seemed to realize what she was getting at. Her cheeks as pink as her hair, she nodded once, causing her best friend to break into a catlike grin.
"Finally," she said, with palpable relish. "We're so talking more about this later, but for now…Mami-senpai, are you hearing us? Are you seeing us?"
She was. She truly was. After all the pain and misery they'd been through across a hundred-odd versions of reality, after all the death and the sins and the lies, to see all four of her kohai united in common cause was…overwhelming.
And yet…and yet…
"I want to believe you. So, so much," she told them, through thick, gasping sobs. "I love you four so dearly, and I desperately want to trust in the idea that together, nothing can stand in our way. But…I've seen the contrary, far too often. I've seen each of us collapse – breaking under the strain of our own, unyielding Despair. And I'm too weak to go through that again."
"Enough of that," cut in a soft but determined voice, eliciting a few audible gasps. Because if Homura speaking so harshly was sort of to be expected, Madoka was another matter entirely. "Of all this…weakness stuff. You're not 'weak' because you care about us. Or because you don't like to see us get hurt. That's your greatest source of strength – it always has been, and it always will be."
She bent down, placing one, gentle hand around Mami's wrist, and one around Homura's.
"Both of you…went through so much. And took on so many invisible wounds," she said. "But just because we can't see them, doesn't make them any less devastating. Or your fault. Any more than it's Tatsuya's fault when he falls down and skins his knee."
"Ain't any different fer any o' us," Kyoko piped up, exchanging a meaningful glance with her roommate. "None o' us got through the shit o' all those timelines without gettin' banged up along the way. Y'know. Mentally speakin'."
"But even if it's hard to go through all that crap alone…" stated Sayaka, both of them drawing closer and crouching down, so that all five girls were arrayed in a weird sort of semicircle. "It's a whole lot easier when we do it…"
"Together," Mami finished for her. The delicate ghost of a smile was playing at the corners of her lips. "Yes, I heard you. I think…I finally am hearing you. Fully, and truly."
She turned her head slowly, once to each side, taking in the apparitions of her parents. They'd maintained their grip on her shoulders this time, but remained perfectly still – as if waiting for her to make a decision.
Now, however, the cruel expressions they'd been wearing moments ago vanished entirely, and in their place were smiles as bright as the midday sun above.
"Go on, baby girl," said Tetsu Tomoe. "You've got a new family now. I think it's about time you get back to them."
"Take care of her for us, okay?" Mikage Tomoe asked in a breathy voice, and for a moment, she sounded so much realer than any mere illusion. "And love her like we would. Unconditionally."
Mami's own tears did not stop, but she was able to start pulling herself out of the sand, placing one foot in front of the other. Her parents kept their hands on her shoulders for as long as possible, until at last she stood tall before her kohai. They continued to smile and wave behind her, growing gradually more translucent, before fading completely.
"I just…I just need a moment," she mumbled, deliberately choosing not to look back. She knew they were disappearing, but she didn't have to see it. "And then I'll be ready. For the Puella Magi Holy Quintet to finally be united once more."
"Y'know…" Kyoko drawled, as the dream of a sunny day slowly vanished around them. "That name's really startin' ta grow on me."
[-]
Disappointing. So, so disappointing.
If there was one Magical Girl that Kriemhild Gretchen would've never expected to break free from her control, it was Mami Tomoe. She was a true believer in any cause she swore herself to – whether it be the romantic lie of hunting Witches, Wraiths, or Nightmares – and those causes hadn't granted her heart's most fervent Wish.
Which made her disloyalty…sting, even more than those of her compatriots. The sheer ingratitude of it was galling.
Gretchen had given her everything, and asked for so little in return. And yet a few pretty words were all it took for her to spit in her Savior's face?
The usurper to the Law of Cycles looked down from her Heaven, staring furiously at the pair who had orchestrated this betrayal. Her own Origin…and Homulilly's.
She could have stopped it, of course. Descended to Earth herself and vaporized the entire city in a flash.
But because of those two, she needed to tread…carefully. They didn't seem to realize just how powerful they still were, despite Gretchen's machinations.
Yet if she could figure it out, then it was surely only a matter of time before her Origin did the same. They were, after a fashion, the same person.
When she first forced her way into this universe, all the cards had been lined up perfectly. Her Origin was unconscious, completely drained by the Incubator's rite, and Homura Akemi at her weakest and most vulnerable. It'd been child's play to convince the girl she was powerless, and thus by dint of her magic, make her so.
She couldn't risk facing them again unless it was on her terms. Otherwise…
No. No, there was no "otherwise." There was far too much at stake here to even contemplate failure.
Perhaps she could send down a few more Messengers to clean up this mess? Ones without a personal connection to her Origin for which to take advantage.
Without meaning to, Gretchen found herself mentally reciting a list of her most powerful servants: Tart, Abby, Kausar, Penthesilea.
But in the same breath, she was already second-guessing herself. What if her Origin did manage to turn them? In their heart of hearts, they would know that she was the one who'd saved them, at the moment of death or corruption. Gretchen could fool the mind, but not the soul.
It was enough to spark fresh flames of indignation. What had she done, in the end, to earn such adulation? Collecting souls once they'd already reached their end, and offering them a consolation prize of warm hugs and empty words?
At best, she'd placed a bandage upon a fundamentally broken system. Girls still suffered, for nothing, their Wishes amounting to a mere blip in the ever-forward march of entropy.
And she'd done even less for the trillions who existed outside the Magical Girl system. The male, the too-young, the too-old. Did they, too, not deserve Salvation?
Her Origin had been given the power of God, and used it for trifles. Relative to what she could do, at least.
Gretchen wouldn't make the same mistake. Not once she had her destined one at her side at last.
For now, and for all eternity.
A thought struck her, and the lips that so resembled Madoka Kaname's took on an uncharacteristically cruel smirk. Slowly, she stroked a finger along the cold, tainted surfaces of the jewels around her neck.
"You never would have qualified for the role under…previous management. But I see no risk in you turning to that accursed girl's side," she said, extracting a handful of Soul Gems from her necklace and holding them aloft.
The black corruption within each was nearly to the breaking point.
"Sasa Yuki, Alina Gray, Suzune Amano, Oriko Mikuni…" she whispered, her clawlike hands swirling around the jewels, slowly drawing out their essence. "Welcome to the ranks of my Messengers."
[-]
They didn't get to work immediately, though perhaps they should have.
Instead, once the quintet returned to the ruins of Homura's old church, they decided to spend their last evening on Earth…
By having dinner.
Very little of this world remained intact, most of it having collapsed when the Devil's powers were stolen, but they managed to find an abandoned-but-intact ramen restaurant not too far from the church. And to five incredibly exhausted – and in a couple cases, desperately hungry – teenage girls, that was far more of a Heaven than any Witch could offer.
"No employees, naturally," said Sayaka as they entered. "I wouldn't exactly mind a bowl right now, but we shouldn't just take…"
"Yer such a goody-two-shoes, yer not even gonna steal at the end o' the frickin' world?" her roommate scoffed, already jumping behind the counter and testing one of the burners. "Look, ya know how I get 'bout wastin' food. Well this food's literally 'bout ta vanish from existence. Don't get more wasteful than that."
"Admittedly, she does have a point," responded Mami, taking up position beside her kohai at the cooking station without missing a beat.
While she wasn't exactly bursting with cheer, her mood had improved considerably since leaving the dream world. Madoka was banking that some nice, hot ramen would help even more.
They needed all the pick-me-ups they could possibly get right now.
Homura, however, seemed to have regressed. Now that she was no longer running off adrenaline from the earlier battle, she'd taken a seat in the corner of the shop, staring silently at her hands rather than any of the others.
She had a pretty good idea what that was all about, and part of her wanted nothing more than to sit down across the table and hold those hands tight. But first things first.
Madoka pulled an apron off the wall, tied it around her waist, and joined Kyoko and Mami in the kitchen.
Thankfully, the storeroom was still fully stocked, and with the three of them working together it didn't take long before the shop was filled with delicious-smelling steam. Madoka had never made ramen at home before, but the others clearly had, and she was at least competent enough to slice up vegetables.
Meanwhile, she watched and listened on as a very unlikely pair formed in the dining area – Sayaka pulling up a chair and joining the taciturn Homura.
"Hey, Transfer Student," she said, with a little wave. "I mean, I know you're technically not one in this time flow. Unless transferring from another universe counts."
Homura slowly looked up and blinked a couple of times, but did not respond.
"…Okay, not a time for jokes. Got it," Sayaka added with a sigh. "Look, I know we've never exactly seen eye-to-eye. Not in one single iteration of reality we've shared. But I want you to know…what you and Madoka have? I'm happy for you. I've been rooting for this since the day I became a Messenger."
The time-traveler's expression didn't give any indication one way or another how she felt about this. But finally she did speak – albeit in hoarse, hollow tones.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly. "Madoka is one thing, but…you three. You know what I've done. The last time we talked like this, before everything went to shit…you told me you'd never forget what I truly am. A Devil."
"And I stand by that. Doesn't mean we can't be friends," Sayaka declared, her lip twitching. "Look…real talk. What you did to Madoka was fucked up. I dunno if she's forgiven you, but I definitely haven't. Not yet."
She paused for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully, before continuing, "But when I ascended, I made a conscious choice not to be the same petty, judgmental person I was on Earth. Everyone makes mistakes – I know that better than ever now. If you're willing to atone, then I'm not gonna hold that against you."
"Most people's mistakes don't run the risk of annihilating the multiverse," said Homura.
Sayaka lifted her arm behind her head, awkwardly scratching it like she always did when she was at a loss for words.
Finally, however, she told the other girl, "Most people wouldn't have the courage to fix it, either."
"Alright, enough of this shop-talk," Mami called out, as she carried two steaming bowls to the table. "There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, I want us all to sit down and dig into this delicious meal."
Now that she was out of her funk, the blonde seemed to have naturally slipped back into the "authoritative senpai" role – even though, with time reversals and divine transformations in the mix, it was really hard to tell which of the quintet was the oldest now.
Which didn't change the fact that all four of the others instinctively moved to obey her without question.
There were a few minutes where none of them spoke, simply enjoying the sensation of the hot broth and soft noodles slipping down their throats. Even for those among them with Magical Girl bodies, who didn't physically need to eat, the ramen proved a welcome reprieve from the past few days of battle and magical chaos.
Eventually however, Kyoko broke the silence – her mouth still full of half-chewed noodles and vegetables – with a garbled, "Can't talk 'bout…important shit…cuz you-know-who…could be listenin'. But someone…better say somethin'…or I'm gonna…pop a bitch…!"
None of them quite knew what to say to this mix of profanity and incredibly poor table manners, so it fell to her roommate to clear her throat and clumsily take up the conversation.
"Umm…I think what she means is that it's too risky to discuss our plans anywhere Gretchen might be listening. Which I agree with," she said. "So, trying a new subject…err…"
But she seemed to be at a loss to come up with anything. Madoka couldn't exactly blame her. It was hard to discuss manga or sports or video games when the universe was literally collapsing around you.
"Love talk."
All of them turned suddenly to Mami, who had the widest possible grin on her face. Sayaka let out a flat, "What."
But Mami's smile only broadened further as she repeated, "Love talk. Reading between the lines, it seems that four of my kohai have finally gotten into relationships with each other. Do you think I'm going to let an opportunity like that slip me by?"
The remaining four stared at one another, pure terror in their eyes. They'd been so focused to restoring Mami to her old self that they hadn't realized exactly what they were unleashing.
Their warm, gentle, loving senpai…
As well as the biggest, most meddlesome gossip in all of space and time.
"Please, go on," she said, folding her fingers together and leaning forward conspiratorially. "Tell me everything."
[-]
None of them were very similar to the others, at the basest level.
One stood for the future she would build with her own two hands. One stood for rescuing others from a fate she deemed worse than death. One stood for bringing her twisted artistic ideals to life. And the last stood for nothing but herself.
But they all had one thing in common: a distinct lack of any moral compunctions, if they believed themselves to be doing the right thing.
Kriemhild Gretchen was amply capable of providing the latter.
Oriko was perhaps the easiest to fall into the Salvation Witch's web – knowingly, and mostly willingly. She'd already been primed to accept worship of a Savior, in whose name she might build a new world; shifting from one occupant of the Law of Cycles' throne to the next barely took convincing.
The lone twinge of unease in her mind came from the absence of her steadfast partner. She wasn't permitted to know that Gretchen had deliberately excluded Kirika Kure from her service.
For the multiverse's Savior would accept no gods before herself, and no amount of brainwashing could ever cause Kirika to place someone above her beloved Oriko.
Still, she had been deemed "field leader" of sorts for this mission; Suzune was a follower by both nature and inclination, and Sasa and Alina were far too unstable to give effective orders. At best, they were cannons she might attempt to aim.
But aim she would. Traitors to their Savior stood in Her glorious path, and would be dealt with accordingly.
"We should arrive soon. We must all be ready," she told the others. "Sacred be our duty, and hallowed be Her name."
"Dunno about any of that crap, but I guess I'm on board," said Sasa in dull, drawling tones, her eyes on her freshly done nails. "Knowing our Benefactor was a Witch doesn't change things one bit. She gave me the throne I deserve. I don't even care that it's an illusion. Right now, I'm the queen of my own world, and that's all that fucking matters."
"Le falsità only makes it more meravigliosa for Alina!" exclaimed the mad artist, clutching at her shoulders and shivering in bliss. "È contorto! È marcio! Oh, this is true Paradiso!"
"It just me, or has she gotten even more pukingly Italian since we got handed this gig?" Sasa hissed, rolling her eyes at her erstwhile partner-in-crime.
Suzune alone didn't wear an expression that showed how she felt about the mission, or her newly exalted status. But then, she rarely wore any kind of expression to begin with.
All she said was a muted, "Let us save them from their curse, as I am now saved from mine."
"In terms of tactics, I believe a full-frontal assault will be our only option. They'll be too on their guard for subterfuge," Oriko declared. "Thankfully, Our Savior had Tsubaki Mikoto's Soul Gem ready for you to borrow from. Her flame magic will be far more useful for this battle than Kagari Hinata's memory manipulation. Not that the latter isn't powerful – but I'm sure the Devil will have developed countermeasures by now."
Suzune nodded once, but otherwise did not reply.
"Kinda leaves you and me high-and-dry though, doesn't it?" asked Sasa with a sneer. "At least you have your 'Oracle Ray' crap. If I can't manage to control any of them, my magic ain't worth shit."
"You do not need to succeed, mia bella cara," Alina cut in, stroking a finger slowly along the shorter girl's chin and eliciting a shudder. "All you need do is…distrarli, per un momento. Then Alina and amabile Suzune will have the opening we need to…finire il lavoro."
"Okay there was definitely more Italian than Japanese in that last part," said Sasa. "But I think I get the point. Let's get this shit over with."
"In time," spoke Oriko, scrutinizing the landscape below as they prepared to descend. The outline of Japan looked more like a slice of Swiss cheese, as more and more of it dissipated into nothingness by the moment. "We will need to plan our approach…carefully."
Her emerald eyes narrowed further, as for a moment, she sunk back into her own mental world. A world where she would never again need to glimpse into an uncertain future…
Because each and every day would carry the same fortune. Herself and Kirika, together. At peace at last.
"After all…" she whispered under her breath. "We shall only get once chance at this."
[-]
Meanwhile, four girls who had once been the closest thing in this world to a goddess, a devil, and two angels were dealing with a much more severe problem.
How to discuss their relationships with their all-too-nosy senpai without divulging too many details. And while getting things over with as soon as humanly (Magical Girl-y?) as possible.
"It's, uh…it's very new," said Sayaka, bravely venturing to be the first victim. "In this timeline anyway, obviously we've been together before, but…well, she's only been a Messenger slightly longer than you have, I've at least had all my time up there to get used to all our past lives but we're still kinda…"
"Sayaka-chan," Madoka gently cut in. "You're rambling."
Anything to push the pressure off herself, because if you thought becoming a concept of the universe would render oneself immune to getting embarrassed at romantic gossip, you'd be dead wrong.
"Look, we jus' literally gave up our personal heavens fer each other, I think we're done dancin' 'round this crap," Kyoko pointed out, her eyebrows raised. "We're allowed ta joke 'bout that now, right? Ah what the hell, I'm gonna anyway."
The redhead took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, it was with a level of seriousness that rarely came out of her lips.
"Point is…yeah. I'm in love with Li'l Miss Blue over there," she went on, her eyes locked solely on the blue ones seated across from her. "An' I ain't lettin' that go fer a goddamn thing. After all this is over…we got a lotta catchin' up ta do."
"An eternity of it," Sayaka said, nodding once. There was a bit of mist at the edge of her eyelids, no doubt brought on by the sheer conviction in her partner's voice. "I love you too, Kyoko. I don't think I've said that enough, but it's absolutely true."
Mami seemed to be satisfied with that response, because her gaze then turned expectantly toward the last two members of the group.
Madoka swallowed audibly, which was more than could be said for Homura – who had gone still and silent as a statue the moment this subject came up.
"We…talked about it. A lot," Madoka decided to share. She wasn't sure how much else she should say. What they'd built in that dark, dusty orphanage was still so new, so fragile. "I've known how she feels for a while now, of course. Even if I forgot for a time. And now she knows the same."
That seemed to be enough to cajole a response from the former Devil at last. She cleared her throat, coughing over the soup dregs she'd just swallowed.
"I…still can't believe it. I'm still not sure if I should," she said. "But I don't think it's a secret what's driven me, these past eight years. What fueled my sins, and mistakes…and ultimately, Rebellion. If you all truly remember all the past time flows, then you know that I…"
"Yes, we do," all three of the Messengers interjected in unison.
Madoka had to force herself not to react to the sheer cuteness of Homura's red-cheeked reaction.
"Well in any event, I…" she continued quietly, now staring at her hands again. "I've spent so long…chasing this…while at the same time, convincing myself that I was no longer worthy of it, that…"
She didn't seem to have a way to complete that thought, and simply let her voice drop.
After a few beats of silence, Mami inclined her head forward. "Your advice was the one most key to helping me remember myself, in that realm of dreams. So I would like to return the favor," she murmured.
All eyes fell on their mentor, who had her hands folded again – but this time in contemplation rather than teasing.
"I…have never had a partner. Not romantically, at least," she said, a bit of tightness in her voice. Madoka thought they all knew who she was probably thinking of in that moment. "But I have watched on as your senpai, in a hundred days of a hundred lifetimes. I have seen you four go through…so much. And I have seen that what has always pulled you forward, what has served as your iron anchor through darkness and Despair…"
Those hands suddenly reached forward, and clasped each of theirs in turn.
"Is each other," she finished in a throaty voice, tears beginning to well up in her sun-yellow eyes. "I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me. To see you find one another at last."
The five of them stayed like that for several moments, unsure what to say – before Homura suddenly wrenched her hand out of her senpai's grip.
"I told you before, but I just…" she began, before her throat caught again. While Mami was only just beginning to cry, Homura's eyes were already red and puffy, like she'd been holding this in for hours. "I can't understand how you can even sit next to me. Eat together, make small talk. You should hate me for what I've done…!"
"We could," Kyoko stated sharply, before anyone else could respond. "We jus' don't. That's our choice. Cuz we're yer friends, dumbass."
Homura looked like she'd just been slapped in the face.
"I won't pretend your actions were entirely within the right. But I don't think they were entirely wrong, either," said Mami, taking a calmer and more diplomatic tone. "You could've done a great deal of awful things with the power you wielded, and you chose not to. That doesn't excuse what you did do, of course, but…"
She took a deep breath, and then added, "But for example, you were under no obligation to try and restore my mind after Suzune Amano erased it. Those choices you made in the darkness are what show who you truly are inside. Not the fact that you were in darkness itself."
"It's gonna be a long road ahead to make up for what you did," Sayaka told her. "But I wouldn't trust you with my best friend…if I didn't think you were up for it."
She playfully elbowed Madoka, who smiled as warmly as she could. At last, it was her turn.
The former goddess reached forward, slowly entwining each of their fingers, one-by-one.
"You already know how I feel," she said. "But see? You don't have to worry. All of us love you, in our own ways. And true love isn't the kind of thing that dies because you make a mistake. It only dies…if you stop trying to make up for it."
A very long time passed, after these words were spoken. None of them truly knew how the girl who'd once overthrown a Goddess would react.
But finally, they watched as Homura slowly stood up, rested her chopsticks on top of her empty bowl, and thanked each of them for the meal in turn.
Before rising to full height, a blazing fire in her eyes that befit her name.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked fiercely. "It's time for the Puella Magi Holy Quintet to face their final enemy."
This unexpected wave of confidence and determination was infectious, and the other four found themselves scrambling to their feet to join her. The effect was so pronounced that Madoka almost thought she could hear triumphant music blaring in the background.
"Hey, glad ta hear yer finally on board, but…" remarked Kyoko. "But how the hell we gonna do that? Ain't no way we can reach her where she is right now."
But Homura's resolute eyes were locked on the sky outside the ramen shop.
"I'm the one with the most experience being an evil Witch, remember? I know how she thinks," she said. "Her first three servants failed to capture us, so she'll send more. Servants with direct connections to the Law of Cycles, we can use to follow back."
She splayed out a hand to her side, which Madoka took firmly. Mami immediately grasped onto the other.
Kyoko and Sayaka too linked hands, and Madoka reached for her best friend a moment later. Completing the connection.
Moving in unison, all five members of the Holy Quintet exited the shop, walking in step for the first time in an eternity.
"Alright, Gretchen…" Madoka declared, allowing her lover's newfound confidence to permeate her divinely golden eyes as well.
"Here we come."