For whatever reason, Kyoko had decided against chasing us down while we made a tactical retreat with an unconscious Mami. It didn't exactly make a whole lot of sense to me, considering just how unbelievably angry she'd been, but maybe realizing that I'd literally taken a bullet for her put her in a state of shell-shock long enough for us to make our getaway. Of course, that explanation had its fair share of holes too, but I instead chose to focus on the road ahead of me and the weight I was carrying rather than on a question I couldn't answer.

We slowed down once we were sure we'd put enough distance behind us to throw our would-be antagonist(s) off the trail. Sayaka and I carefully lowered our load, slipping her out of the carry we'd improvised before sitting her down against a building, at last giving our arms time to rest and recover. I took a moment to lean against the wall of concrete myself, puffing out a tired breath and raising my hand to my forehead.

"Holy hell, I'm beat. That was like speedrunning a freakin' marathon with a bag full of rocks." I glanced at the recuperating blue bull. "You holding up alright?"

"I should be asking you that," she heaved between inhales. "You're the one who got shot."

The hand came down to rest on the brand-new hole in my jacket. "Well, either my nervous system's gone haywire or your healing ability's amazing. If it weren't for this little hole, I'd have a hard time believing I'd even taken a bullet." Despite everything, I managed a chuckle. "Seriously, I knew you were speccing into paladin, but I thought you'd prioritize tanking, not supporting."

I was met with solemn silence. "...right, not a good time."

Okay… great. What do I do now? Mami's broken, Kyoko's pissed, Homura's… well, Homura, Sayaka's…

I took another peek at said girl's face. I got a whole lot of morose, but nothing that could actually become immediately dangerous, to my admittant shock.

Huh, she seems like she's taking this a lot better than I thought she would. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

My vision drifted over to Madoka, who then finally decided to voice her thoughts with a downcast look. "Audrey, I… I-I'm so sorry… because of me, you…"

A fond sigh left my mouth. "Don't worry about that. I mean, if anything, I should be the one apologizing."

"For what?" Sayaka piped up. "I don't remember you doing anything worthy of an apology."

I shook my head. "For not telling you sooner about what really happens when you make a contract."

Her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh… that."

"Yeah…" I murmured. "Even if you wouldn't have believed me, I probably still should've said something. Something that… I dunno, would've made this whole train wreck go over better." I looked down at the lifeless blonde. "Made her reaction less violent."

Madoka wasn't giving up that easily. "Even still…"

I stopped her with my hand. "That's enough of that, now. The reveal would've happened sooner or later. All you did was shorten the timeframe. Besides, did you really expect this all to happen when you threw me off the bridge?"

"N-no…" She swapped between looking at me and off to the side. "I just wanted to stop you from… doing something drastic."

Her words took my mind back to what just happened.

"I don't want anyone to die."

I pondered that for a moment. "...y'know, Kyoko told me earlier that she had a little chat with you yesterday. Did she tell you anything that might've influenced you into pulling that stunt?"

She started avoiding meeting my eyes, and went quiet. It took a bit before she was able to work up the will to open her mouth.

"She said that you were… unpredictable," she began. "And how that made you dangerous. She couldn't figure out what you were like or what you were after." She turned upward slightly. "Then she mentioned the threats, and how she got the feeling that you were the kind of person to actually go and make good on them if it came to it, even if it seemed like you couldn't…"

Finally, she turned back to me. "The last thing she told me before she left… was to be careful around you, because you couldn't be trusted not to do crazy things. And… I don't want to say I believed her, but I couldn't stop thinking about it." Back to the floor her gaze went. "I had a talk with my mom that night, and she told me that sometimes, it's better to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. So… I guess I thought if you didn't have a way to… you know, then…" She trailed off.

I was left silent while I processed that, nearly tuning out the low "I'm sorry" she once again offered.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Honestly, I can't blame her. She only wants the best for everyone, and that includes people that I'm not on friendly terms with.

I blew out a breath. "Well, what's done is done. We've all dug our graves. The only thing left for us is to lie in 'em."

Sayaka put on a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I hope they're shallow. I don't wanna have to claw my way through six feet of dirt to get back to the surface." Her hand came up to hold her forehead. "Ah, geez. The zombie life's gonna be weird, I can already tell."

"Ehh, I dunno…" I responded. "I mean, yeah, our bodies are technically dead, but they only show it if our Gem connection's cut. I'm pretty sure if we got you an x-ray right now, you'd be the picture of health."

She gave a chuckle devoid of humor. "At least I'll be able to get through my check-ups without causing a mass panic. And I guess I could hold the world record for 'best possum player.' Small victories, huh?"

I directed a finger gun and a wink at her. "See? Now you're talking. I bet there's quite a few outside-the-box uses for that little trait." I adopted a thinking pose, and my eyes turned upward. "For example… you could be the best death scene victim actor there ever was. Hard to top a performance where you actually die, am I right?"

The laugh was a bit more genuine this time, but not by much. Another round of silence fell.

"...hey, Madoka? Audrey?"

The pinker perked up. "What is it, Sayaka?"

She looked away for a second, as if she was trying to decide exactly how to put her thoughts into words. When she did, her forlorn gaze came back to us.

"Thank you. For sticking by me," she began. "I know I'm not really… the best person the world can offer. I'm reckless, I'm stubborn, and I get into fights a lot. I'm not all that smart, and I don't really understand how the world works. And…"

Her arms slowly raised up to weakly hug herself. "I'm scared. More than I've ever been in my entire life. I… I don't wanna turn into a witch. I never wanted to hurt anyone - especially not you. But now… if I end up in a bad spot, and none of you happen to be around, then…" Close scrutiny of her body would reveal that she had started shivering. "Just thinking about it makes me want to go down to the docks, tie a weight to my ankle and jump off the pier. At least then I wouldn't put any more people in danger."

I had to bite back a quip about suicide never being the answer when she continued. "But I can't. I may not be the quickest girl on the uptake, but I'm not stupid. I know that if I went and offed myself… all I'd be doing would just be tossing a heavier load on your shoulders. And I know that's not something either of you would do if you were in my shoes."

The next time she opened her eyes, they had gained a sharpness to them. "So I won't. It doesn't matter what odds we go up against, or how terrified I am, because I've made my decision. You both chose not to leave me hanging when I stepped into this crazy, screwed-up world. Returning the favor and staying at your side's the least I can do."

A tiny grin appeared on her face. "I mean, if I didn't, I'd just be wasting my wish. I can't help heal anyone if I'm not around, can I?"

I blew out a breath, arms folded. "...y'know, normally I'd ask you if you were really willing to risk dying for that, but now that you know the truth… I bet it almost sounds like the lesser of two evils."

"Right?" She managed a single laugh. "Man, and to think I was all fired up about this not even three days ago. Now it just feels like I made the single biggest mistake of my life when I signed on Kyubey's dotted line." She lowered herself into a squat, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Freakin' rat. Who even cares about your stupid entropy, huh? It's not like any of us even have a chance of living to see it pay off…"

"Yep, that's the issue in a nutshell," I huffed. "Dying for the greater good's all fine and dandy, but usually you're doing it for a cause that's a bit more… short-term. Not to mention one you actually believe in. And something tells me that the little devil hasn't really given you any appealing reasons to buy into its whole 'become a witch, save the universe' gig."

A sigh left her mouth before she stood back up. "Either way, like you said, we can't do anything to change it now. The only thing we can do is… keep fighting, I guess." She stretched her arms up above and behind her head a bit, then turned to me. "We should probably start heading home now. I think we're all gonna need a bit to let this sink in."

"My thoughts exactly." I knelt down next to Mami's unconscious form, taking note of the somewhat strained impression her sleeping face gave off. "Whoof… we'll probably be better off if I handle her again. 'Course, it's not like we have a choice anyhow." A mild groan escaped my throat, and my fingers came up to pinch the bridge of my nose. "Great. Duct-taping that glass heart of hers back together again's gonna be a trip and a half. Honestly, I'd probably be better off shooting for something like a blowtorch or superglue. If only I had the luxury…"

I took notice of a few imperfections on her uniform, and set about fixing them to give my hands something to do. "But, well, if I didn't, I'd be a pretty crappy excuse for a buddy, wouldn't I? Not to mention that I already labeled myself as her personal therapist, and I'd prefer not to go back on my word."

Spotting no other flaws, I flashed my comrades a two-fingered salute. "Don't you worry, I'll figure something out. I mean, I pulled it off once. Who's to say I can't go two-for-two?" Even I could tell that my smile was paper-thin, but hey, I tried.

I then grabbed my patient by the waist and hoisted her up, slinging her over my shoulder. She was still pretty heavy, but compared to last time, it felt more manageable. "We really should get going now, though. We don't want your parents issuing curfews."

"Yeah." Sayaka started walking, then stopped and turned sideways to look back at me. "Take care of yourself, all right? Don't overdo it." She briefly glanced at the hole in my jacket, then my luggage. "And… good luck." With a nod, she made her exit.

I went about leaving myself, but was halted by an unsteady voice. "U-um… Audrey?"

I looked back, and saw a head of pink hair timidly approaching. "Yeah?"

"Can…" She was unable to finish, but tried again. "Can I go with you?"

I briefly wondered if her home was on the way back to mine or vice versa, before deciding that it didn't matter. "You don't need to ask. C'mon."

She fell into step behind me as I began walking. For the most part, she stayed quiet as we traversed the nighttime streets, cars and weirded-out bystanders alike occasionally passing by. Sometimes when I looked back to check on her, I got the impression she wanted to say something, but thought better of it and stayed quiet.

The third time that happened, I had to stop ignoring it. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh?" Her eyes briefly peeled themselves off the ground before going back. "Oh, uh… n-no…"

She really needed to work on those deflections. "If there is, just say it. It won't do any good if you keep it bottled up."

Madoka kept silent. I started to wonder if she wasn't going to take my advice before I heard her voice again. "I… I don't understand how you can just… accept everything that happened tonight."

I turned to focus on her while she continued. "I threw your soul off the bridge, you got shot, Mami broke down, and on top of everything, you're… you're going to…" She was unable to finish the sentence. "I just don't get how you can handle all of it without cracking."

I considered how to answer that. "...when you get pushed down as many times and as often as I have, you eventually start to learn how to land in a way that doesn't hurt as much."

"What do you mean?"

My gaze fell to the floor. "Ever since my teachers stopped sugarcoating how the world really worked, every lesson I've learned and every lecture I've endured had one constant underlying message: 'don't try to change it.'" Vague, hazy memories floated up from the depths of my brain. "Even before that, back during my elementary school days, it was being beaten into me by the people who ran my life. They could feed me all the bullshit they liked about how I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up, but what they did when I acted outside of how society wanted me to said otherwise."

I blew out a breath. "Eventually, I realized I had no choice but to accept it. I mean, what could I really do, anyway? I'm just a kid. Hell, this 'vacation' wasn't even my decision in the first place. I only went along with it because I had no real choice."

"So…" She began to put the pieces together. "You just gave up trying to fight it?"

"Yep," I confirmed. "After a particularly nasty incident, I came to the conclusion that just keeping my head down and learning how to roll with the punches would be for the best. If I didn't draw attention to myself, I wouldn't cause trouble for anyone else. But, well…" My mood wouldn't stop swirling down the drain. "Just like how there's no such thing as a free lunch, swallowing that bitter pill came with a price."

The gloom also started affecting my conversation partner, making for one hell of a combo with the existing vibe. "...what was it?"

A lot of other people probably would've hesitated. Me…? "I… completely lost any personal motivation to do anything for myself. All of it was replaced by an artificial fabrication implanted by whoever was telling me what I should do next to get ahead in life." If I didn't know better, I'd say Mami got a bit heavier then. "All of my old goals were thrown to the side, and I just couldn't be bothered to find any new ones because I was so caught up in being a puppet. Study these subjects, do this project, keep yourself in shape, pass this class with a B average or better… it never ended. The fact that my brain decided to erase any information I'd learned the moment it stopped being potentially relevant was just insult to injury."

I stopped at a crosswalk, hitting the button and waiting. "I became so much of an empty husk that eventually, my only sources of enjoyment ended up coming from screens. Force-feeding dopamine into my brain with little white lies of progression and attachment was the only method I had left to make me feel good about myself." The light on the other end blinked, and I plodded on. "In hindsight, trying to make a few friends probably would've been a good idea, but I, eh… I've never really been all that good at dealing with other people. Not to mention the one time I did, it was torn to shreds by Kyubey in probably the worst way imaginable."

"Yeah…" I was almost convinced that Madoka'd managed to hit rock bottom on the emotional scale. Almost. "You really did like her, and then you ended up having to…" What sounded like a sniff reached my ears.

"Oh, c'mon, don't do that." Another phony grin taped itself to my face. "You're gonna set me off, and we won't get anywhere." It fell off pretty quickly. "But… that's basically me in a nutshell. Pretty sad excuse for a human being, aren't I?" I didn't let her answer. "Honestly, if it weren't for recent events, I'd liken my life to some kind of never-ending series of trainwrecks. Completely unable to stop itself from being railroaded into crash after crash. In fact, it might still be that way, given what's coming."

By the time I noticed I'd let that last bit slip out, the damage was already done. "What's coming?"

My free hand came up to my face and I helplessly sighed, figuring that since the cat was out of the bag now, I might as well go all in. "...about two weeks from now, Mitakihara's going to become the target of the most powerful witch we'll probably ever see."

Madoka's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"A giant jester hanging from a gear that us in the business call Walpurgisnacht," I elaborated. "Packing enough destructive force to wipe entire cities off the map. All without even needing a labyrinth of its own."

"How do you-"

"Vision," I cut in. "Although Homura was the one who gave me the actual deadline."

Her eyebrows flew up. "Homura did?"

"Yeah." My grip on Mami faltered for a moment, needing another quick readjustment. "Don't know how or why she knows when it'll come, or if she's even telling the truth, but I don't think she'd lie about something that big." I shook my head. "We can worry about where she gets her info from after we deal with it… if we can."

We found ourselves staying quiet for a while after that. Thinking about what would happen in the future wasn't really something I was fond of doing, since it had a larger-than-zero chance of tainting my gem with more despair than it needed. Even if I did manage to keep everyone healthy until Walpurgisnacht's arrival, something told me that it just wouldn't be enough. The witch was the stuff of legends for a reason, and no matter how I looked at it, I seriously doubted that only the five of us could feasibly take it down.

At least, not without Madoka's help. But that would cause Homura to abandon this timeline, assuming the pinker didn't make another wish that rewrote the world like she did in canon, and I had no idea what that would mean for whatever was behind my whole situation here.

Speaking of wishes…

"Hey…" Madoka raised her head. "Maybe I could-"

"No," I quickly denied. "We both know that we'd only be trading one immovable object for another if you made a contract yourself."

Her bout of silence directly after gave me the impression that I might have been a bit too brutal in shutting her down, and I made to apologize after puffing out a frustrated breath. "...sorry. I know you just wanna help, but…" The frustration grew stronger as I found myself unable to find the best words to complete the sentence.

Gah, damn it, why is this so hard?

Eventually, I settled for something that just got the job done. "Look, we've already made our choices. We don't have any other options at this point save for going down swinging. You, though… you still have a chance to live a life as close as you can get to whatever 'normal' is now. We just… don't want you to throw that away for a lost cause like ours."

However, she grabbed my arm in response with a denial of her own. "Don't say that, Audrey. I can't… I won't accept anyone saying that about themselves. Especially not the people important to me." A sudden steel appeared behind her gaze. "I know that none of you want it to end like this. And… and I believe you can change it. After all, isn't that what your special power's for?"

I found myself unable to reply for a moment while I processed that. In time, a genuine grin grew onto my face. "Wow. Now when did you decide to go and grow a spine, huh?" Leaning in slightly, I removed a hand from its carrying position and used it to affectionately muss up Madoka's hair for a moment. "Good on you, pinky."

For her part, she took the tomfoolery gracefully, offering no resistance until I had to move Mami back into position. A solemn smile crept onto her own expression. "I'm just starting to get tired of everyone thinking they're not worth it. All I want to do is help them realize that as long as they're alive, there's still hope. Is that so wrong?"

"Not in the least. Praying for stuff to work out's never a bad thing," I affirmed, before good-naturedly rolling my eyes. "Of course, actually getting involved to make sure it'll work out yourself's even better, but I don't think you're ready for that quite yet. Stick to those baby steps for now."

I successfully managed to get a laugh out of her with that. A tiny one, sure, but again, baby steps. "Right. Maybe tomorrow I'll try giving you some moral support. That helps, doesn't it?"

To this, I released a fond sigh. "Once again, you remind me that you are way too pure for this cruel world."

That was the end of the important conversations. From there, it was either silence or small talk, which we enjoyed despite the lingering atmosphere.

I waited until Madoka eventually left my company before letting any trace of happiness slip from my mask, a faraway sinking feeling settling in my gut.

I just hope that you won't be around to see when everything comes crashing down around me…

A/N: Kept you waiting, huh?

Truthfully, the only things I can say are 'P5R' and 'FF7R' in regards to the huge delay. It got better after I finished them both, but with the whole quarantine situation, a lot of my motivation was still gone. Plus I also started a rewrite of one of my older stories, and I just went blaah. But I finished this one!

As for why this chapter is so short, I think we all needed a cooldown period after the blast that was the last chapter. Not to mention that I'm gonna have to do a lot of thinking on how exactly I'm going to handle the next one, since… well, I'm sure you can tell why, and I didn't want to make you wait longer for potentially an entire month or more.

But hey, at least we've got more suffering, since that's what all meguca fans always want more of, right? We finally get some insight as to why Audrey is the way she is, and why Meduka decided to throw souls (which you should not do. Do not throw souls). Surprisingly, Sayaka also manages to at least show a pretense of staying cool. Whether or not she's actually okay is something I actually haven't decided yet, but that can wait until after I figure out how to deal with Mami.

Speaking of which, like I said, the next chapter might take a while. Our little blonde sharpshooter's not exactly in the best place right now, and I haven't gotten very far on puzzling together how exactly poor Audrey's going to salvage and repair what's left of her. Although, once I manage to get past that, progress might accelerate a little since I already have an idea for what's going to happen immediately after. As a tiny apology for taking so long, here's a hint - it doesn't involve anything related to Hitomi or Kyosuke.

See you next time.