Homura walked through Mitakihara's streets. Her gaze fixed on the ground in front of her. Everything around her didn't matter to the girl, her mind simply stuck in the day she had just spent with Madoka. Had she deserved such a day? Probably not, no, absolutely not. She had yet to repent for her sins, and spending time like she had with Madoka would only make it harder for her to do so. After all, the only reason why Madoka was trying to approach her at all was because she didn't remember all the things Homura had done.

But maybe, just maybe, Homura should listen to what the Devil had said. Maybe she should enjoy spending time with Madoka. She didn't deserve it. She knew it wouldn't last for long. But she had already failed the initial plan of becoming a concept and leaving the world behind after giving Madoka back her ribbons. She had noticed this was like it always had been. Homura wasn't strong. She didn't have the will to leave Madoka behind when she had the opportunity to live by her side. The same mistake she had been making since the loops began: getting close to Madoka always ended with the girl she so much loved sacrificing herself.

And she had already done so. Why not enjoy it while it lasted? She had known from the start that Madoka would end up becoming her enemy, so let her be. When the time came if Homura couldn't make her stay… she would find a way to save her, probably one Madoka wouldn't like.

Homura's house finally appeared at the edge of her vision. She walked towards the front door, taking the keys out on the way. The door slowly opened, revealing her small apartment. One that she had modified during her loops, and was now back to the same old self that it had been the first time she had seen it. Homura walked towards the small living room, in it an old dusty couch for two people welcomed her, on top of its armrest laid a small black figure.

"Amy" The cat turned her head around, facing Homura with a curious look on her eyes.

Homura didn't remember when she had started to pick Amy from the streets, making sure the cat wouldn't be in danger had become an important part of her time loops; If she didn't do so, the amount of times that Madoka would end up contracting to save Amy were astonishing.

Homura slowly moved a hand towards the cat. She hadn't spent much time with her this time around, her dolls had been taking care of the cat for her and they didn't seem to be doing a bad job (Though she had monitored what they were doing the first week). Homura's hand finally reached Amy's head, the cat purring as it pressed its little head to it.

"Say Amy" Homura kept petting the cat, her presence had always calmed her down. Though, she hadn't been able to take care of her after Madoka became a concept… She hadn't been in the right mind to take care of anyone during that time. "Would you like to meet Madoka?"

The cat kept purring, completely oblivious to the question Homura had just asked her.

"I promised her she could come see you" Homura's voice slowly turned into a gentler one.

As much as she had always taken Amy in under the premise of doing it 'just to protect Madoka' she knew that was a lie, or at least, a half lie. It had been during the first loop that Homura had met Amy. A week before Walpurgisnacht first attacked the city.

The sun was setting as Homura and Madoka walked towards Homura's house. The group had decided to split after having defeated today's witch, but a few minutes after Mami left Madoka had stopped Homura and asked if she could stay over at her house. Homura didn't have a reason to say no, so after a brief stop in a convenience store for some ingredients they were heading towards her house.

Homura remembered today's fight, she had once more only watched from afar (Though since the last incident Mami had started to give her some kind of enchanted weapon in case she needed it, she knew it was more for appearances than real protection though). Both Mami and Madoka had been amazing, flying through the labyrinth as they shot bullets and arrows to the witch. Homura had imagined herself fighting by their side at that moment, being able to fight next to Madoka would fill her with joy.

"Ah!" A sudden surprised expression came from Madoka, as the pinkette rushed towards one of the sides of the road.

Homura walked behind the girl, intrigued by what had caught her attention. Madoka was petting a black cat, the cat purring as the girl moved her hand across the feline.

"Do you know her Kaname-san?" asked Homura, her meek voice earning a gaze from the cat.

"Yeah…" Madoka's expression turned into a gentle and proud one. The cat moved swiftly between the girl's hand trying to be petted as much as possible. And when she realized Homura was there it walked towards her and asked for more, Homura complied with a small smile on her face "This is the cat I talked about"

"Ah…" Homura gently pet the cat's head.

Homura looked at the cat, the one that had been saved by Madoka's wish. The reason Madoka had become a magical girl in the first place. That was the kind of thing Madoka did, going into a world of fighting just to save a stray cat...

Maybe if the cat had been fine Madoka would have used her wish to heal Homura's heart instead. For a second Homura felt jealously towards the cat, but she quickly shook those feelings away. Madoka had already done a lot for her, she shouldn't think that kind of things.

"I'm still worried about her" said Madoka, now getting up from her crouched position "She is still a stray. And since Papa is allergic to cats, we can't adopt her"

"I'm sure she'll be fine" said Homura, for a second the girl thought about placing a reassuring hand on Madoka's shoulder. Though she took so long to think about whether she should or not that the opportunity flew by.

"I'm worried about what will happen to her when… When Walpurgisnacht comes" admitted Madoka, the girl had been acting more nervously during the past few days. "Mami said it doesn't need to hide in a labyrinth so…"

"Don't worry!" said Homura, raising her voice a bit more than she used to "Tomoe-san and you will defeat Walpurgisnacht in no time!"

Madoka looked at Homura, her pink eyes piercing Homura's soul with all the kindness in the world.

"You two are amazing when fighting together!" Homura kept talking, knowing that if she were to stop her embarrassment would catch up with her "You will save the city Kaname-san. I'm sure everything will be fine!"

Madoka put on a happy smile, though her eyes still spoke about her worries.

"Thank you Homura-chan"

Homura stopped petting Amy. Though not for long as the cat stood up in her hind legs as she tried to make Homura pick her up. Homura let out a sigh, but a smile was on her face.

"The dolls have been taking care of you" Amy finally got Homura to pet her more, the cat kept purring "There is no need for you to be like this with me"

Homura felt Amy putting power on her hind legs, and before Homura could react the cat jumped towards her; forcing Homura to hold her in her arms.

"You really are like her-"

Something hit Homura's head with enough force for it to explode in contact. A red juice started to flow through her back, staining the new clothes Madoka had gotten her. At the other side of the room was one of her dolls: Yakimochi. The doll held another tomato ready to be thrown.

Homura carefully let Amy out of her arms, slowly leaning down until the cat could easily jump out of her embrace. She then turned towards Yakimochi and pierced the doll with her eyes. The doll simply looked at her with her eternal smile, readied the tomato, and threw it at Homura; who didn't try to dodge it. The tomato hit Homura on the forehead, its juices flowed freely down her face.

"What's the problem, Yakimochi" said Homura, her voice as cold as the night. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"G̵o̵o̷d̶ ̷fo̶r̵ ̶n̵ot̴h̴i̶n̷g̴ ̵i̷s ̴m̵a̵k̶in̵g̶ ̵a̵ ̵mi̴s̶t̵a̴k̴e̷" the doll said, her eyes defying Homura's gaze "G̶o̷d̷d̵e̴s̴s̵ ̷w̷il̶l̷ f̶l̶y ̵a̶w̶a̴y̵ ̶i̴f̴ ̵y̶o̵u k̶e̵ep̵ ̴t̶hi̷n̷g̴s l̵ik̷e ̷th̷i̵s ̷"

"What? Are you going to say that you are jealous?" Homura scoffed, her eyes losing the shine they had acquired the day before. "What I do doesn't concern any of you. You are nothing but my familiars"

The doll looked at her, though her expression didn't change Homura knew the familiar was probably thinking. As much as she hated the thought of it, her familiars were quite independent; ever since she had changed the universe they had become their own beings, still tied to Homura yes; but compared to her others familiars the dolls were the only ones that could speak.

"Ib̷a̴r̵i ̵w̶a̶s̶ r̶i̷g̴h̷t̷" said Yakimochi, the doll now turning away to leave "A̶i̷ ̶i̵s̷ b̶e̶tt̵e̶r̴ s̶ui̵t̷e̶d̴ ̷t̴h̷an g̴o̷od ̶f̶o̷r̵ ̵n̷o̷th̶i̴n̶g̷ ̵f̴o̶r ̵t̶hi̵s ̶j̴o̴b̴"

With the doll now gone Homura simply looked at the empty doorway. Her mind completely focused in trying to hold back the… fear she felt towards her dolls. They knew her, they knew her better than even herself. There was a reason why she always tried to appear strong in front of them, she never was able to get rid of the feeling that they only followed her because they wanted to. Not because they had to. And Yakimochi last words stuck with her, Ai, the supposed fifteenth doll. Homura had always assumed it was herself, for she didn't feel any other doll in the entire universe…

No, there was no time to keep worrying about this. When the time comes she will find a solution. Yes, when the time comes. Just like with Madoka, when the time comes she will think of something. When the time…

No, she wasn't about to start thinking about what will happen in the future again. She already had enough of her fair share of 'time' related problems. She was now almost omnipotent, there was nothing that could take her away from Madoka.

The sun filled the streets with its warm light. Every few steps a small part of the city was replaced by a tree or colorful flowers, it really was spring. A few cars went down the mostly empty street, a group of people here and there accompanying the sound of the engines. In one side of the street, balancing herself on the stone that divided the road and sidewalk, a white haired girl hummed a simple melody.

Nagisa, with a smile on her face, held tight to the purse Mami had given her. That was because today she was on a mission. A life or death mission nonetheless. For tonight they were going to eat hamburger… and they had run out of cheddar.

But Mami was busy with her studies, and did not have the time to go buy it herself. As such, in a noble sacrifice, Nagisa had volunteered herself to go in this difficult quest. Besides, this way she would have time to think about some stuff away from the prying eyes of Homura's creepy familiars.

Oh? How did she know? Well…

The day the group had gone to Mami's house. Even if she had been outside, something that in retrospect had saved her, when Sayaka's memories came back and the girl transformed she got her memories back. As they both came from the Law of Cycles, the connection they shared had awoken her own memories. They still held a small part of the Law of Cycles after all, they needed to in order to keep their bodies in the physical world after all. One part reacted to the other, and… Well, Nagisa got her memories back.

Of course, unlike Sayaka who clearly didn't think much, she didn't act. What would she accomplish anyways? Homura had taken care of the Law of Cycles herself, there was no way someone that only held a tiny fragment could face her.

Besides, this was way better than the Law of Cycles. Sayaka had always liked to make the place seem better than it really was. It was just a constant feeling of warmth and hope. Sure, way better than being a witch that much was true. But this world Homura had made had given Nagisa the opportunity to live once more, this time not having to worry about her soul gem being filled with grief. She had a nice life together with Mami, she could eat cheese again, she could feel more than just hope.

So, if someone were to ask her whether she was going to fight the devil to try and take the Law of Cycles back… That was a hard no. She wouldn't help Homura either mind you, or at least she didn't think she would. Hell, if the knowledge of this whole past lives got too annoying, she might go up to her and ask her to erase her memory again…

Maybe ask for cheaper cheese.

Because she could do that right?

The streetlight turned red, Nagisa stopped at the edge of the crosswalk and waited while she bobbed her head from side to side to the same tune she was humming. An old woman next to her seemed to notice this and smiled at the little girl, Nagisa looked at her and smiled back. If she had learnt something with her time with Mami was that people enjoyed being smiled at.

She went to look back at the other side of the crosswalk, and here smile quickly faded. At the other side one of the creepy familiars was waiting for the light too, its eternal smile on her face. The familiar wore short blonde hair, and was keeping her gaze fixed on an ant in the ground.

The light turned green. Nagisa started to walk to the other side, trying to move away from the familiar without making it too obvious. The familiar though, kept looking at the ant, unmoving. Whoever that was they had to be the dumbest familiar to ever exist. Even Nagisa's small familiar now seemed like geniuses compared to that one.

Though the moment Nagisa passed the familiar it turned its head and looked at the girl. Nagisa could feel a chill run down her spine. She knew the familiars wouldn't hurt her, right? The little bit she knew about Homura would mean she wasn't about to do anything that would make her Madoka sad. And Nagisa dying would make Madoka sad, right? Right?

Nagisa kept walking, trying to ignore the piercing gaze of the blond familiar. She didn't look back, though she could hear steps behind her, she wished those steps belonged to the old woman she had seen before. She couldn't look behind her either, because then the familiar would notice she could see her. And if she was right, they had been following them around for quite a long time, her suddenly noticing the familiar would mean she had recovered her memories. And right now, she didn't want to check if Homura considered her important enough as not to outright kill her. The girl was crazy for all Nagisa knew.

Nagisa kept walking forwards, subconsciously increasing her pace with every step taken. And after a minute or two she took a turn, getting into a market street. Nagisa kept walking, and a stand with a few toys outside seemed like the perfect excuse to stop and look around her, so she did.

She could see that the familiar had stopped a few meters behind her, and was now looking around. Nagisa held for a few seconds, making it look like she was looking through the different toys. And after what seemed like an eternity the familiar finally turned and walked towards a barber shop, becoming completely enthralled by the colorful and spinning barber's pole.

Nagisa used this opportunity and starting heading off. Her steps carried her towards the actual supermarket she was aiming for, the familiar nowhere to be seen. The automatic doors of the supermarket closed behind her as the girl let out a sigh. She really was glad that for whatever reason Homura hadn't decided to make a doll follow her all the time.

Nagisa stopped for a minute in front of the lockers, slowly trying to calm herself down. Right, the familiar following her might have been a bit of a problem; but she still had a job to do. That cheese wasn't going to buy itself.

She made her way into the supermarket, aiming towards the cheese aisle. On the way there though, she had to go through her most arduous task. The sweets aisle laid in front of her, many kinds of candy and cakes surrounded Nagisa, singing songs as if they were mermaids. Nagisa looked at the purse, only enough money to get the cheese she wanted. She knew she could probably spend half of it instead if she were to pick a cheaper brand, but that would be a decision she knew would regret when the time came. As such, she steeled her resolve, looked right in front of her, and marched through the sweet's aisle.

She walked and walked. The long aisle seemingly growing in size with each step she took. The smell of different flavored cakes calling for her. Golden bags full of gummies stared at her with pleading eyes. A box of different donuts was being carried by one of the workers, refilling the previously empty trays. But Nagisa persisted, her resolve didn't waver for even a second, for her true prize laid at the end of this torturous road.

And so, she reached her destination. The cheese aisle laid in front of her, dozens of different cheeses staring at her. Oh, how much she had wished to eat cheese while in the Law of Cycles, a pleasure she couldn't indulge in. For that, she thought, she had to thank Homura, twice. Had she not become a witch at first, she would have never been able to eat cheese again, and now thanks to this world she could eat even more. Nagisa did a mock prayer as thanks, though she really hoped the devil wouldn't really receive it.

Somewhere else in Mitakihara a certain devil sneezed.

"Your old man didn't like onions, right?" asked Kyouko as she looked through the vegetable aisle of the supermarket. Normally Kyouko would buy stuff the same day, but seeing as tomorrow Sayaka's dad was going to come back she thought she would prepare something special. As such, she and Sayaka had gone to the only supermarket that opened on Sundays.

"He doesn't like the texture" Sayaka wore some plastic gloves as she tested different tomatoes, trying to find the best ones "You can use it if you make it into a mush"

"That won't be the same tho" Kyouko sighed.

Kyouko kept looking around for good vegetables, now that it was spring though she might use the opportunity to get some good strawberries. Kyouko ended up taking a bag of onions for the week and placed it in their shopping cart. While Sayaka was still choosing tomatoes Kyouko looked at the bluenette.

She had been acting strange since she came back from the shopping mall. The reason wasn't exactly clear though. Kyouko had thought that after their little talk she had understood that asking Madoka herself was the best thing she could do if she really wanted to know. Besides, the way she looked was almost as if she had seen a ghost. And it had been bothering Kyouko the whole night, it bothered her so much that she ended up not sleeping at all. Though, thankfully, when morning finally came Sayaka did look a bit better; or at least the girl hid it better than yesterday.

Kyouko had thought that Sayaka would keep trying to avoid her. She was quite surprised when the bluenette said she would accompany her to buy the groceries for tomorrow. And she felt like the usual Sayaka during the whole trip, so maybe she had been telling her the truth and yesterday she was just tired. Somethings about yesterday still annoyed her, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it.

"You think these will be enough?" asked Sayaka as she held a bag of tomatoes.

"Yeah" answered Kyouko after a few seconds of thinking "Should be"

Sayaka nodded and tied the plastic bag, placing it in their shopping cart. She then turned her head to look at Kyouko.

"So, what else do we need?"

"Let's see…" Kyouko took out her phone, and after a few clicks opened a notepad where the two new recipes she wanted to make were. "Your dad is allergic to seafood so we are going to use pork instead"

"I've been thinking…"

"Yeah?" Kyouko started to pull the cart towards the meat section, Sayaka following next to her.

"Won't a… paella, was it? Be too much for dinner?" Before Kyouko could answer Sayaka let out a sigh "Actually, no, don't answer. I think I already know what you are going to say anyways"

Kyouko put on a grin as she gave the girl a side look.

"It's gonna be the best paella you ever had; you will want seconds trust me"

"It will be the only paella I've ever had" corrected Sayaka "You don't have a tough competition. Besides, since when do you know how to cook Spanish food?"

"I've been watching videos of a Spanish dude"

"Wait, you know Spanish?" asked Sayaka, her eyes going wide in surprise.

"Hell no"

"…"

"I just looked at what he was doing, and I was able to get the recipe I thought would be the best" Kyouko said proudly, Sayaka simply let out a sigh.

[-]

They both walked towards the checkout. Kyouko looked around, in search of the line that seemed to be moving faster. After a few seconds though, it was Sayaka the one that found the fastest one. They both walked towards the line and got in it; sure, there were shorter lines, but this one was clearly moving faster. Due to Kyouko's experience the worker probably was about to finish their shift and wanted to quickly get over with the remaining clients. Kyouko apologized in her mind for making the poor guy have to work a bit longer.

Kyouko looked to the person right in front of her, the white hair catching her attention. And after a moment where she tried to get a better look at the little girl, she finally recognized her.

"The cheese brat!" Kyouko exclaimed, which earnt her a confused looked by Sayaka and the kid.

"Ah!" the girl exclaimed as she turned around, though Kyouko saw the girl looking behind them for a split second "What are you two doing here!"

"What do you think?" mocked Kyouko at the dumb question the girl had said, she saw the cheese the girl was holding in her hands "What, making Mami buy you more cheese again?"

"I- I wasn't the one that asked for it this time!" annoyedly said Nagisa "We needed it for today's dinner!"

"Ahhh~!" Sayaka said as she finally realized who the girl was "You are Tomoe-senpai little sister then?"
"That's right, Momoe Nagisa!" proudly announced the white haired girl "It's nice to meet you Sayaka!"

"Wait, you know my name?" asked Sayaka confused, and Kyouko could swear she saw Nagisa flinch for a second.

"Mami probably told her." said Kyouko, a playful look filling her eyes "Though by her reaction she probably didn't say anything good about you"

"Oi" Sayaka bickered as she 'gently' elbowed Kyouko.

Nagisa left her block of cheese on the belt, the guy behind the checkout quickly grabbing it and passing it through the scanner. A beep could be heard, and the worker read the amount aloud. Nagisa started to get the money out of the purse she was carrying around.

"Say" started Kyouko "It's getting quite late, want us to accompany you home?"

Nagisa almost dropped the money at the proposition. The girl tried to recover her composure and spoke as she got the receipt without looking back at the other two.

"N-no!" She took the cheese block and started walking away "Thanks, but there is no need!"

And with that the girl quickly fled to the streets, leaving a confused Kyouko and Sayaka behind. The two started to put their things on the conveyor belt.

"What's up with her?" wondered Kyouko as she focused on emptying her cart.

"Maybe she is just shy?" said Sayaka who was getting ready to pay.

"Not sure…" Kyouko looked behind them, where Nagisa had been taking peeks at, but was met with nothing. "I hope she is ok"

Nagisa ran.

She ran like she had never ran before.

Having met one of Homura's familiars was already bad. But having met Kyouko and Sayaka afterwards, who were being followed by FOUR familiars… that was even worse. She imagined the familiars talking between them, if they even could, saying how Nagisa had acted suspiciously. Telling Homura that they thought Nagisa had recovered her memories, and that she should take her out.

Nagisa looked back, trying to see if one of the familiars had followed her. In retrospect that was a dumb move on her part, she had tried so hard not to look when only one was following her, and now that FOUR may be right behind her she was going to look back. Thankfully for her, no one that she could see was following her.

Slowly she calmed her pace until she came to a stop. She had run for around ten minutes before stopping, and her breathing was irregular. She had been so focused in running that she had forgotten to breath most of the time, and now her body was screaming in pain. She saw a nearby park and tiredly walked towards it.

Nagisa let her body collapse on the bench. The wood creaking a little with the sudden impact. And while she laid down, she opened her eyes and looked forward. She would soon come to regret that decision. Far away from her, on top of a tree branch, sat two familiars she had never seen. And these familiars were clearly looking at her as they laughed.

One of the familiars had short blue hair made up in two buns, while the other seemed to have two braids and a big round winter hat. Nagisa tried to remember if any of these had been with Sayaka and Kyouko, but they didn't look anything alike. Had these two been following her since the start? But how did she not notice them before?

And that was when it clicked. She could easily see the ones that were following the others for that same reason. They had been following the others. They didn't have to hide from Nagisa. They had to hide from their objectives. These two though, they were hiding from her.

Nagisa hoped, no, prayed that they didn't notice anything. That they had been sent after Sayaka's blunder and not before. She had taken care not to use any of her powers just in case, and at this moment, she was happy she hadn't done anything.

Sadly, her hopes were crushed when one of the dolls looked straight at her eyes as her grin widened. They knew. They were laughing at her. That was when the one with the blue buns dropped off the tree, and disappeared before touching the ground. Nagisa quickly got up from the bench, expecting to get hit at any moment.

She placed her hand in one of her pouches. Holding her soul gem that laid in ring form. She was prepared to transform at any moment. She simply didn't want to be the one to make the first move. If this had all been a big misunderstanding, maybe she could fix it. Maybe they didn't know she had her memories back.

She was holding her breath. Each second became minutes. Each minute became hours. And time seem to almost come to a complete stop. Or rather… it actually did.

"I knew it was a good idea to keep an eye on you"

The sounds of wings flapping came from behind her. Nagisa turned around, only to look the last thing she wanted to see.

"Now, I'm in a good mood today" said Homura in her devil outfit, her raven wings opened wide behind her. "So be a good girl and don't make this harder for yourself"

Current Date: Sunday 18th of May.

A/N: I had to check my notes before writing this chapter, almost forgot about Homura sending people to follow Nagisa after Sayaka's incident.

Hope at least some of you liked it! We will be going back to normal days soon, but I had to start setting up some plot stuff. I said the plot will be moving slowly, and I mean… 90k words to start moving it along are quite a lot.