My awakening on the 8th of June was accompanied with a fading feeling of betrayal. It wasn't hard to put two and two together and realize that the nightmare I'd had last night must have focused on Kyoko killing Sayaka in their upcoming battle.

Wonderful. The day hasn't even started yet and the TGIF feeling's already been ruined. Thanks, brain.

I groaned as I rolled out of bed, sluggishly rising to my full height and rubbing my eyes to clear away the sleep.

Fuckin' hell, having to wait so long just to let the damn thing shut down's such a pain. Why can't we just flip a switch and conk out? Would save me the trouble of fretting over getting my eight hours.

Breakfast was more of the same, but it didn't taste any less great. Honestly speaking, the routine feeling of having the same thing to eat every morning gave me a nice sense of structure in a situation that by all means was a complete and utter mess.

Praise the heavenly ambrosia that is chocolate chip pancakes, and screw anybody who believes that blueberry or whatever other added ingredient is superior. Y'all are a bunch of uncultured swines, and nothing will convince me otherwise.

That line of thinking probably wouldn't do very much in terms of endearment to others, but this was one hill that I was comfortable dying on. Not literally, of course, but I'm sure you get the point.

A little while later, I left the hotel. Figuring that there was really no other productive things to do, I resolved to continue patrolling for witches until something happened. With that in mind, I hit the shuffle button on my playlist and set out to the tune of AC/DC's "T.N.T."

I ended up not finding much of interest, besides another couple old crime scenes, which I determined to be the work of the signature I'd been tracking yesterday. If nothing else, it certainly worked fast. I had to imagine it had built up a sizable hoard of Grief Seeds by now, what with all the witches that had fallen at its hand.

Sheesh… if she's been doing this for as long as I think she has, she'd probably have over ten of 'em by now… I thought there weren't enough witches around here to support five contractors at once? Or was that just another lie brought about by one of them falling into despair on their own?

I sighed, unable to find the proper answer to my question.

Argh… I know the little shit doesn't outright say anything false, it just omits things. But it's not omnipotent, which means it could have been telling what it believed to be the truth without knowing it wasn't the real deal… damn it, this is getting me nowhere.

In the end, I filed that train of thought away for later, when I actually had a shot at putting the pieces together, and continued on my way.

I kept at it for hours, cycling through a few of my different playlists, listening to loads of different tracks. Most of them were from various video game and anime soundtracks, with occasional pieces from actual bands sprinkled in here and there. The vast majority of those bands were old ones that I had been introduced to by my parents, or through movies, with the scant few 21st-century tracks being the responsibility of licensed promotional material and other such things. I never did keep track of modern music trends and "hot new artists."

Eventually, I checked my phone again and saw that school had let out. A short time later, and the device buzzed with a notification.

Messages - 1 (Seyiku)

Oh, boy… if this is what I think it is, I've got a trying few hours ahead of me.

'Hey, I was thinking of going on my first hunt today. Do you think you could come with me and make sure I don't do anything stupid?'

I involuntarily gulped at the confirmation the text gave me. I was right - today was going to suck. Nevertheless, I had to act like I was clueless as to what would be happening.

'Sure. The more the merrier, plus I don't really have anything else worth doing.'

She quickly replied with a meeting time and location, and my free hand came up to rest on and rub my forehead.

Why'd this show have to have a plot full of suffering? Why couldn't it be what it was marketed as? Why, Urobutcher? I never wanted to do any of this side-playing bullshit… I have to keep track of so many damn moving parts…

I let out a tired breath, squared myself up, and kept walking.

Well, no sense crying over spilt milk. I did what I did, now I have to live with the consequences. It's probably not a good idea to keep this kinda secret from Sayaka, but I'm in too deep to stop now. All I can do is keep wearing the mask, and hope she doesn't do something irreversible when it slips.

When the hour arrived, I collected myself and changed course to the designated spot. I met up with my new colleague in short order.

"Heya," I called out to mark my entrance. I made my next comment after seeing the person next to her. "You sure it's a good idea to bring a plus-one?"

She let out an embarrassed laugh and raised one of her hands to the back of her head. "Well, uh… maybe not, but I'd rather have her here than anywhere else. Besides, she asked for it, and I couldn't really say no to her."

I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized them for a moment, then gave a dismissive shrug. "Alright, then. If you feel like you need to have a security blanket around, I won't judge. Just make sure to keep her outta the line of fire, or we're gonna have problems."

"I hear you," she nodded. She then pulled out her Soul Gem, and pumped her fist. "Let's go!"

We proceeded to stroll through town at a fairly relaxed walking pace, keeping watch for any traces of magic that might lead to any malevolent otherworldly beings. For the majority of our journey, silence was king, and we were left to stew in our own respective thoughts. And as much as I wanted to, I couldn't read the minds of my companions.

Sayaka looked quietly determined, but I had to wonder how much of that was false bravado. This obviously wasn't something fourteen-year-old girls were supposed to do, and outside of the living fantasy feeling it provided at first, it wasn't all that pleasant. Not to mention she'd almost seen someone die because of it, and I had a sneaking suspicion that she still wasn't over that experience, which honestly was to be expected. No child should have to deal with this kind of thing.

Madoka's expression was more transparent, openly displaying her solemn worry for her best friend. It was demure, longing, the kind of look you'd see on someone who believed they couldn't do anything to help. It felt familiar to me, almost as if I'd worn that same expression myself before, back in my old world, and what felt like a lifetime ago. You can probably imagine that I wasn't exactly pleased by that.

...I swear, you can't take three steps in this business without finding someone with a crappy sense of self-worth. Hell, I bet even Kyoko suffers from it thanks to what her wish ended up doing. For god's sake, I don't even have self-esteem that's past below-average! What the fuck's wrong with those writers?! Do they get off on making teenage girls suffer or something?

As for myself… if I had to guess, I likely had a neutral face tacked on. I often found myself defaulting to it whenever I wasn't conversing with anyone or doing any of the feely stuff. It worked fine as a cover to disguise my inner feelings, or at least, I thought it did. I couldn't exactly hold up a mirror at all times.

It didn't take long before I cracked. "Okay, I'm fed up with this mopey atmosphere. Where's the levity? The excitement? C'mon, I thought you were pumped for this!"

Sayaka turned her head towards me with an expression that I probably would have described as 'affronted' were it a bit more severe. "I thought you were the one always going on about how we should take this stuff seriously. That's what I'm doing."

"Well, yeah, but you're acting like you're going to a funeral or something," I replied. "We're not even in any danger right now. You can be serious about this all you want, but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun with it." I slapped a smile on my face to sell my argument. "Lighten up! And don't worry about getting caught up in your own fantasies and dropping your guard. I'll be here to pull you back down to earth if you need it."

Her face softened as she considered my words, before an unsure smile of her own spread across it. "...yeah, you're right. Thanks, Audrey." She directed her vision forwards again, before it dropped slightly. "I really am glad you decided to come with me, you know. Mami may have been able to do this on her own, but… I'm not her. I don't think I ever will be, honestly." Back to me her eyes went, this time accompanied by a noticeably brighter smile. "But with you by my side, I've got nothing to fear. If I have you and Madoka as my anchors, I don't need to worry about losing myself, and I can fight free of the weight of doubt. When we're together, nothing can stop us!"

My own expression turned into a genuine grin as I nodded in approval. "That's the shonen speech I like to hear. You're not you if you're not chomping at the bit, Saya."

She good-naturedly rolled her eyes at my playful jabs. "Oh, now I see what this is about. I'm no fun if I can't get fired up when you take shots at me, is that it?"

"You know me so well," I responded as my grin widened impishly.

A fond sigh left her mouth. "At least you're honest about it."

I chanced a look back, and caught Madoka giving me a relieved smile and a single nod, along with a private message. 'Thanks, Audrey. She might not show it, but that did wonders for her. I feel the same way, you know. If I'm by your sides, I know that I'm in the single safest place I can be.'

'Well, what can I say?' I shot her a wink before turning forward again. 'If you can't have a good time with it, why bother?'

On the inside, like always, it was a different story.

Haaaa… if I keep this up, it's only a matter of time until someone sticks me in the 'Stepford Smiler' category with practically everyone else in this damn show. What even is being happy, am I right? Does it taste good or something?

Either way, my plan worked. They both became more talkative now that the oppressive atmosphere had been dispelled, allowing all three of us to relax a bit and temporarily forget that we would soon be risking our lives for a thankless job.

Key word there being "temporarily."

Inevitably, we picked up a signature that we identified as hostile. Believe it or not, though, this one in particular felt vaguely familiar, like I'd felt it somewhere before. That fact caused me a bit of confusion until I realized why.

Wait a second… the familiar Saya should be about to fight… it's the one with the airplane body, right? The one that flipped between that, a car, and a boat? Yeah… oh, that's right. I killed the witch making them the day I met Kyoko. I wonder how this one got away… while I'm on that, did canon ever explain how familiars function after their witches die? Do they just do what comes natural and kill people until they become witches themselves? Or do they get kill-switched and die with the labyrinth?

I decided to cut off that train of thought before I could spiral down another rabbit hole and space out. A few minutes later, we arrived at a certain alleyway.

"This should be it," Sayaka announced upon checking her Soul Gem, which was flashing like a strobe.

"Alright." I stepped forward. "I'll take point."

We advanced into the alley, the walls warping and twisting into an alien landscape that I'd seen once before.

"This signature I'm reading indicates that this labyrinth is likely the creation of a familiar, not a witch," Kyubey observed.

Sayaka glanced around, taking in the green sky and pseudo-2D look of our surroundings. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful. I am still new at this, after all."

"Smart girl," I approved.

A few more steps, and I realized that giving her some tips would be an idea with more pros than cons. "Keep your eye in the sky for this one, by the way. This labyrinth reminds me of a witch I killed a few days ago, which makes me think that one of its minions escaped somehow and found its way here."

Madoka gasped all of a sudden, and thrust a pointer finger out. "There! I see it!"

Following her mark led to the discovery of our target, which happened to be the familiar I'd predicted it to be. Like its fellows before it, it was currently flitting about aimlessly, making incomprehensible noises as it did so.

Sayaka wasted no time, quickly transforming and making her intentions known to our foe. Spawning a garden of swords around herself, she set about tossing them right at the hapless thing. But like I had observed when I had fought them before, attacks at this range were all but useless, with each and every one either avoided or just poorly aimed.

"It's too fast," I advised. "You'll have to get up close and personal if you wanna land any hits."

She quickly swapped her gaze to me, before reverting to the enemy. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"No idea. I was only able to kill them because they had to get close so they could kill me." I finally suited up myself, and sent off a few token blade beams that ended up doing nothing as the vehicular enthusiast continued to run. "This one doesn't seem to want anything to do with us, though. I'd suggest trying to lead our targets, but that won't be much help if it has enough time to react."

"So, what?" Sayaka turned to me again, noticeably more irritated now. "You're saying we're stuck?"

I surveyed the scene again, then looked back at her. "Well, unless we can find a way to either lock it down or surprise it, it's gonna keep dodging. And I don't see any hiding spots or convenient nets lying around, so… yeah, we're stuck."

My admission made her flip between glaring at our opponent and glaring at me a few times before speaking again. "You've gotta be kidding me." A few seconds later, a storm of swords accompanied with a scream of frustration was hurled towards the familiar. A louder scream of frustration was released when none of the swords hit their intended target.

Sayaka was prepared to continue her ineffective rampage when a quiet voice cut in. "U-um… maybe you could try baiting it?"

This caused us both to turn to Madoka. "We're gonna need something more in-depth than that," I prodded. "And it doesn't seem interested in us anyway."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean that kind of bait." She shook her head. "I was just wondering if you could try making it dodge to a specific spot, and then attack it before it moves again."

I thought about that for a moment. "So… something like having Sayaka throw a sword at it to make it dodge, then having me shoot a beam at the spot it dodges to in order to hit it there?"

She nodded rapidly. "Yeah, exactly like that!"

"Hmm…" The blue-hair did some thinking of her own. "We'd have to be pretty fast to catch it. Not to mention that we need to predict where it'll move to, and our aim'll have to be spot-on."

I raised a hand. "I can try and use my future vision to see how it dodges. We'll still need to be the fastest deadeyes in the west, though."

"Well, Clint Eastwood, if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it," she replied. "Now get ready to draw. It's high noon."

I blinked. "Didn't know you were a fan of old cowboy movies."

Madoka leaned in close. "Her dad's a huge American media nut. She's seen lots of classics. Mr. Holland's Opus is her favorite."

"...huh," was all I had to say to that.

A quick peek forward told me that the little bugger would attempt to strafe left in the event it was attacked again. I relayed this info to my battle partner, and prepared to fire off what would hopefully be a direct hit.

"And… go!"

The green light galvanized her into action, throwing another barrage of blades at the target. An instant after she did so, I let loose a projectile of my own.

Lo and behold, it actually worked. When the annoyance attempted to avoid the swords, it stepped right into the path of my arc of energy, and suffered an unpleasant impact. Unfortunately, it was a resilient little shit, and was still standing when the cinematic cloud of dust kicked up by the hit blew away.

"Oh, damn it, that's right," I groaned. "These guys are hardier than your average lackey. We'll have to nail it a few more times before it gives up the ghost."

I saw Sayaka slump over a bit. "You're killing me over here, Audrey."

That got an eyeroll out of me. "Winners don't whine, Saya. Now suck it up and get ready."

We managed to pull off a second success in the same manner. The familiar was now getting a bit more desperate as we prepared for a third strike.

"Now!"

Once again, Sayaka showcased her impressive throwing arm, chucking another group of swords at the hapless victim.

Unfortunately, none of them got the chance to land. A mass of metal sharpened into a triangular point attached to a chain lashed out, knocking every single projectile out of the air before they got close to our target.

"Now just wait a damn second!" A voice that I was anticipating rang out. "What the hell d'ya think yer doin', playin' tag?!"

One of the fallen swords planted itself in the ground, allowing the red-coated new arrival to briefly use it as a landing platform before it disappeared into blue motes of energy.

The familiar seized the chance it had been given, and bolted off.

Sayaka obviously wasn't a fan of that decision. "It's getting away!"

She made to rush after it, but was stopped dead in her tracks by the spearhead that was suddenly inches away from her throat, courtesy of the redhead. "Hey! Ya blind or somethin'?! That thing ain't a witch, it's a familiar! It ain't got any Grief Seeds!"

I ran up to the two as the labyrinth collapsed without the source of its being. "Whoa, there, let's not get murdery! Maybe pull the sharp object away from the neck, huh? Y'know, the thing everyone needs to survive?"

Kyoko turned to look at me, but refused to move the spear. "What's yer deal, yankee? I thought ya were one 'a the rare smart girls in this biz! The hell're ya doin', helpin' this bozo out?"

Sayaka's eyes flicked over to my direction. "Audrey… why is this girl talking like she knows you?"

My vision couldn't decide whether it wanted to focus on her or the lance. "That's because she does. She stole one of my kills a few days ago, and challenged me for seed rights. Luckily, I was able to pass her test, but only just barely." In the end, my anxiety won out, and I grabbed her shoulders to drag her away from the weapon. "I'd hoped we wouldn't run into her until later, but I guess fate decided it was time it screwed us over again." I let go once I felt we were far enough from the glorified pointy stick. "Point is, she's dangerous. Very much so. Whatever you do, don't drop your guard."

She either didn't listen or didn't care, and undid my hard work by stepping forward. "Whatever. Why'd you let that thing escape? For all we know, you just put a bystander in serious trouble!"

Kyoko just pulled out another snack from somewhere and took a bite. "Didn't ya hear what I just said? Ya kill it now, and ya don't get no spoils." She then decided that holding the spear up was no longer productive, and swapped to a resting position. "Here's some advice - they usually turn into witches after they eat four or five people. That's when ya hit it 'n swipe the Grief Seed. Ya don't wanna stick the pig before ya fatten it up, do ya, rookie?"

Sayaka couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You mean you're just gonna let those innocents die? What kinda monster are you?!"

Said girl made as much of an exasperated gesture with her hands full as she could. "The kind that knows how the world really works. Hate to say it, but ya gotta break a few eggs if ya wanna make an omelet." She started stalking towards Sayaka herself. "Didn't yer teachers ever tell ya 'bout a little somethin' called the food chain?" The swordie began backing away when Kyoko got too close, and kept going when she didn't stop. "Well, in case they didn't, here's a quick crash course: the witches go 'n eat weak humans, and then we hunt 'em down 'n eat the witches." The pair had passed Madoka and I by now, and went a little further before stopping.

While she was reciting her monologue, I was sending a quick message to Madoka. 'You should probably back up a bit. Something tells me this is about to get ugly.'

The redhead took a quick break to take another bite. "Love it or hate it, that's just the natural order 'a things. The weak gotta give up to the strong."

Upon the conclusion of that sentence, a wall of glowing red chains with links shaped like diamonds sprung up, separating Madoka and I from the red and blue onis. This elicited an "oh, no" from the pinker and a "crap" from me. But…

Huh, this actually works in my favor. If I can convince them to stay here and focus on each other…

Sayaka was probably grinding her teeth together by now. "Why, you…!"

I took this opportunity to put my idea into practice. First up, a private message to my partner. 'Saya, I'm gonna see if I can break away and catch the familiar. I really don't wanna leave you here with her, but as it stands, that's our only option. Just keep her attention on you, and try and hold out as long as you can. I'll see if I can't come back and try to do something once I track down and blast our target.'

I saw her eyes briefly flick to me before going back to her opponent. '...all right. You better hurry, though.'

Now, for another message, this one directed at the red baroness. 'Okay, Kyoko, I'm bugging out. If you know what's good for you, you'll keep it light. Remember - head on your own spear.'

Since she was facing away from me, I missed the smile that appeared on her expression. 'Heh. Looks like ya ain't a lost cause after all. Go on, get yer ass outta here.'

That taken care of, I leaned in close to whisper to Madoka as I began to step away. "Keep an eye on them for me. I'm gonna go stop the familiar. If things look like they're getting out of hand, notify me immediately."

All she could do was nod mutely, which I returned. "Good girl. I'll be back."

But before I left, I sent one last message to the resident aggressor. 'Oh, and don't let slip that I had any involvement in this setup, all right? I just wanna knock off the rose-tinted glasses, not destroy my relationship with her.'

I heard a mental scoff as a response. 'Yeah, yeah, whatever. Piss off already.'

With that squared away, I made my exit. The moment I left the alleyway, I flashed back to casual wear and pulled out my Soul Gem to track the escaped familiar. I picked up its signature almost instantly, and sped down the sidewalk in the direction it had run off.

The entire time I was moving, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was making a very poor decision. Kyoko and I both knew that my ability to enforce the threats I'd made wasn't up to code, which meant that she could choose to ignore any one of my rules for the fight at any time. The one I feared the most was obviously the whole 'don't kill her' bit, because in the unlikely event that neither I, Homura, or Mami was there to save her, she could very well end up actually putting Sayaka down for good, and by extension, wipe me off the face of the multiverse.

That wasn't even getting into the fact that I was essentially going behind Sayaka's back in order to increase her chances of survival. I may have been doing it for a good cause, but I doubted she would be very understanding if she found out I set her up. Honestly, keeping it a secret was probably just making the potential fallout even worse, but I was pretty sure that the rookie already had enough problems to deal with at the moment. For all I knew, telling her that I'd kinda-sorta betrayed her trust (except not really) would be the straw that would break the camel's back and cause her to witch out.

In short, I was stressing the hell out. Which likely wasn't doing my emotional stability any favors, but I had better things to worry about. Like cornering the familiar.

As I'd expected, it didn't take very long to find. I found the labyrinth about a block away, inside another alleyway.

What I didn't expect, however, was the second magic signature I detected inside it.

That's…!

Before I could finish my thought, however, silver flashed in front of my eyes, and time hit the pause button on reality to give the vision my undivided attention.

"Ya can't seem to pick up what I'm puttin' down, and it doesn't look like beatin' the lesson into ya's gonna work. Oh, well. Guess I'll just hafta kill ya!"

As quickly as it began, the glimpse cut off, and I came back to the present.

...can't say I didn't see this coming. She knows I have no power over her. It was only a matter of time until she decided to stop humoring me.

Just then, all of a sudden, I felt a surge of magic flare out of the labyrinth I was standing next to. A few seconds later, one of the signatures inside it disappeared, and it began to dissolve. In the process, it deposited the one thing it still contained back into the outside world.

Said thing happened to be a girl, with her back turned towards me. I heard her let out a breath, before she turned around. Two things happened in the next moment.

The word "Audrey…" left Mami Tomoe's lips, and my phone received a message.

I pulled it out, dreading the confirmation of my vision, and checked the text that Madoka had sent me.

'Hurry up! Things just got dangerous here!'

"...shit." Shoving the device back in my pocket, I jogged up to a confused Mami, grabbed her arm, and started pulling her in the direction I'd come from. "We'll talk later. Right now, we've got a serious problem."

Her expression went from lost to hardened instantly as she started running on her own, allowing me to relinquish my grip. "What's happening?"

"Sayaka's in trouble," I answered. "You know how she made a contract recently?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't."

"Well, now you do. Anyway, she took me and Madoka along on her first hunt, and we found a familiar. But unfortunately, a new contractor in town stepped in and stopped us from killing it. Sorry for making you finish the job, by the way."

She smiled despite the situation. "It's no trouble. But what's this about a new Magical Girl?"

"Her name's Kyoko Sakura." It was hard to miss how her eyes widened and how her pupils shrunk when I said that. "I encountered her myself a few days ago. We parted on neutral terms with a mutual nonaggression agreement after I won her respect, but now she's out for blood. Saya's, to be exact."

We were quickly eating up the distance between us and the battle as I was speaking. "She blocked our path and started going on about how our ideals sucked or something like that. I was able to break away in order to track down and finish off the familiar, but I had to leave Saya behind in the process. I told Madoka to ping me if things got ugly, and it looks like they have."

It was only a minute or so away now. "I suggested the nonaggression agreement because I knew I couldn't beat her, so I can't do anything to help without marking myself for death. But you… you're a veteran. You know your way around your skills. And I'd bet dollars to donuts that you have more experience than her. If anyone can get her to back off, it's you."

Watching Mami basically go to war with herself and interpreting the course of events as conveyed through her expressions was… certainly an experience, I'll say. She went back and forth, back and forth, arguing for one side before switching to another over and over, before she finally came to a conclusion.

I could see the steel cooling behind her eyes as she delivered her answer. "You chose the right girl for the task, Audrey. Lead on."

Despite myself, I cracked a smile. "Thanks. I mean it." The sounds of fighting were beginning to come into earshot, and I returned my focus to the front. "The brawl should be up ahead. Get ready."

A cry of pain suddenly rang out, which I determined to be from Sayaka. Soon after, we heard some would-be parting words from her opponent. "Game over!"

Several things happened in the next few moments.

Mami and I skidded to a halt at the alleyway's entrance, just in time to see Kyoko leap up to deliver the coup de grace on her wide open foe. Mami transformed and summoned a musket, which she snapped upward to aim at the potential killer of Sayaka. While she was doing that, Madoka was saying the words "I wish-!" She was also interrupted by another new arrival.

"There's no need for that."

I blinked, and Sayaka was suddenly twenty feet closer to us, causing Kyoko's attack to instead split the concrete that the downed sword wielder had just been lying on. The shock of the impact caused Mami to reflexively squeeze the trigger, blasting off a round that pierced straight through Kyoko's side, the momentum of which sent her spinning away from her spear, leaving it to clatter to the floor. A few seconds afterward, Homura made her entrance proper, landing between the two combatants.

Her attention drawn by the gunshot, Sayaka's head swiveled over to us as we rushed over to her, the wall of chains that had blocked her off from Madoka having broken down by now. "Mami?! Is that really you?"

We knelt down and picked her up. "Yes. Don't worry, you're safe now. I won't let her hurt you anymore," was Mami's reply as we got Sayaka back to her feet.

When she looked steady enough, I gave her two hard pats on the back. "I told you I'd come back, didn't I?"

A weak smile spread across her face. "You actually said you'd try, but I guess Yoda decided you were worthy of the 'do or do not' line." My response to that was a derisive snort.

A low groan coming from the far side of the alley drew our attention to Kyoko, who was picking herself up. In time, she was standing on her own, retrieved spear in one hand and the other holding her injured side. It was actually kinda difficult to tell the blood from the fabric of her outfit due to how close they were in color. "What… the hell just happened?" Despite probably being in immense pain, she still managed to lift her weapon up and point it accusingly at Homura. "How the fuck didja do that?!"

Mami stepped forward, raising another loaded rifle and training it on the redhead. "My sincerest apologies, Kyoko, but I'm afraid I must ask you to stand down. Please, for the sake of your well-being, leave the area immediately."

The black-haired girl decided to join in. "I would advise you to listen to her, Kyoko Sakura. With these odds, I doubt you will be able to secure a victory." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Be warned, if you choose to continue fighting, I will not hesitate to remove you. I do not tolerate imbeciles with no sense of self-preservation."

The girl in question flipped her gaze between the two a few times, before finally lowering her weapon. "...damn it. Alright, fine." She instead slammed it into the ground, and directed a look of cold-blooded hate at the blonde. "I'll let ya have this round, Tomoe. I got no idea how ya healed up so fast, and frankly, I don't care. But ya better believe that this ain't over. Not by a long shot." Her next words were directed at the time traveler. "I dunno what yer angle is, Mystery Girl, but if ya try 'n pull this crap on me again, I'll kick yer ass six ways to Sunday. And that's a promise." After that, her glare bored into the newbie. "As for you, rookie… ya won't be so lucky next time. Bet on that."

The next few moments of staring context was spent directing a message at me. '...ya had a hand in this, didn't ya, bitch?'

I sent a glare of my own her way. 'I'd say you got off pretty light for almost breaking one of my rules. So, feel like taking me seriously now? Or am I gonna have to screw you over even more?'

I could swear that she was just about to crack her teeth from how hard she was gritting them. 'Fuck you.'

'No thanks, you're not my type,' I shot back with a smug grin that made no effort to hide how satisfying this was for me. Bamboozling her at the observation deck was neat, but that paled in comparison to actually forcing her to retreat, and even better, rubbing it in her face.

Speaking of retreating, that was her next action. In an impressive display of willpower and acrobatics, she wall-jumped up to the top of the buildings composing the alleyway, and disappeared from sight when she leapt onto the roof of the left one.

Surprisingly, the first person to speak up was Madoka. "Homura… you saved Sayaka! But I thought you-"

She cut her off. "How many times have I told you? Is there no end to your idiocy?! I thought I made it clear that you were to avoid getting involved. And yet, at every turn, you ignore me." She wasn't done, turning to me. "And you! You didn't even try to convince her to stay behind! Do you not care that you could be putting her in harm's way?"

"Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game," I bit back. "And you're one to talk about not caring, Homu. Maybe if you actually gave two shits about anyone other than pinko over here, I'd consider listening to you." I shrugged. "But you don't, so… oh well, I guess."

That evidently wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Make no mistake, Audrey Erryn. If you continue to treat this situation in such a flippant manner, there will be severe consequences. Either by my hand, or otherwise." She looked back at Madoka. "I'll say it once more - do not continue to associate yourself with this life. If you keep resisting as you are, I will have no choice but to use more drastic measures."

And with that, she walked off.

"...sheesh," Sayaka piped up. "What's her problem?"

"I'm thinking one too many sticks shoved up the wrong hole," I replied jokingly. "But that's probably just me."

Madoka was too focused on Homura's last words to laugh. "She can't mean that… can she?"

Mami was looking a little frazzled, but was otherwise fine. "Whether or not she was telling the truth, we'll certainly need to tread carefully now. We have no idea what she could do next."

Silence fell for a bit while we took some time to process everything that had just happened. Eventually, I once again was rendered unable to handle the oppressive atmosphere.

"Well, I dunno about you guys, but that mess worked up my appetite. Anyone up for some fast food?"

A/N: Letting y'all know now, that baiting tactic shouldn't have actually worked. A more logical way of doing that would have just been a 'checkmate' strategy, but that would have been a bit too much to explain for my liking.

Anyway, ho-lee SHIT was this thing a monster. We haven't gotten a chapter this long since Charlotte, which is kind of a travesty. But I guess that's how these things go when you try to adhere to a weird-as-hell 6 day update schedule. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if that thing's been beaten to the point of unrecognizability by now with how much I've been breaking it. Basically, to make that long story short: fuck the flu. That damned virus ate up a whole week of productivity which I could've been using to write (and do homework, but who even gives a shit about that, am I right? Heh).

But aside from that, we've got a whole lot of things going on here. I decided to extend the familiar section, mostly because I'd described them as being quite tough the last time they appeared in the story. With that came the opportunity for more jokes to lighten the mood before things got serious, and I'd like to say I packed some pretty good stuff in there. I'm particularly proud of the Clint Eastwood bit, since that allowed me to explain a little further why Sayaka is the one person who can actually pick up most of Audrey's outdated references. Side note, the movie Madoka mentions is Sayaka's favorite is a real movie. I've never seen it, I only put it there because I was trying to find a classic American film with a focus on a classical band. (Y'all can also ignore the fact that it was done in the 90s, and not earlier like most classics.) Kinda sad how The Red Violin isn't American, as that may or may not have been a better fit, but whatever.

After that, we have the big clash itself, and Mami's triumphant return. Betcha didn't think I'd bring her back so soon, eh? Well, suhpraz, mothafockuh. Here she is. I can already tell that dealing with her reservations regarding Kyoko is gonna be a trip and a half, but I made this mess, so I'm the one who has to clean it up. I hope this whole climax was worth the buildup, by the way. We've spent like, what, three chapters now setting this up to blow? But if you feel something wasn't up to code, don't hesitate to leave a review to tell me what you had issues with and, if possible, some advice or a tip or something on how to fix or mitigate said issue.

With that being said, I think that's everything. Now I gotta get back to my timeline and figure out where I'm gonna take this crazy ride next.

I can only hope it doesn't make y'all wait too long.