Ouch.
Homura silently waited for her binding to be let loose. She had already given up on struggling to get out. With nothing else to do, she pondered about the situation at hand.
The ribbons that bind her hand managed to hold onto her for a long time now. It would seem that Mami had lasted much longer than usual. It is even possible that Mami may be winning this one. In any other circumstances, Homura would have silently cheered for this victory, but now that Mami is a threat to Kriemhild – and by extension, Madoka – it is no longer something to cheer on. Judging from how close Madoka and the rest were to Kriemhild, Homura could already predict them going on a crazy mission to take back Kriemhild's grief seed, in the event that Mami manages to take it away.
Homura would not allow this, of course. As long as Madoka is safe and Mami is available to unleash her arsenal on Walpurgisnacht later, Homura wouldn't mind. But the current situation threatened to put Madoka and Mami at odds with each other.
A treacherous part of her mind contemplated if she should just go back in time immediately. The uncertainty that comes from having a new major factor in this timeline can be overwhelming, and it made a side of her think that this timeline was already doomed from the start.
Homura shook her head, or at least, tried to. She banished the pessimistic thoughts away while reminding herself of all the good things that this timeline has to offer. Their trust. Kriemhild's soul gem-purifying ability, Sayaka's own karmic potential, Hitomi's status as a trump card, and Mami's new loadout. If only she could gather them all without things going unnecessarily volatile – like right now…
Her mind then drifted to other topics, such as the possible threat in the form of other magical girls, mainly Oriko Mikuni and Kirika Kure. Homura does not know much about them, as she had only seen them in a couple of timelines, at least. From the way Oriko spoke and fight, Homura had concluded that Oriko can see the future – to what extent, Homura was unsure. It was fairly easy for Homura to connect the dots that Oriko must have seen Kriemhild and tried to prevent the destruction of this world by any means necessary, including by preemptively killing Madoka before she could even make a contract.
Killing Madoka clashes with Homura's goal.
In the timeline after that disaster, Homura tried something – she intended to shatter Madoka's soul gem before it would even turn into a grief seed…
…And just like that, Oriko did not set her sight on Madoka.
At the end of that timeline, Madoka's arrow was not enough to deal the killing blow to Walpurgisnacht, it only weakened the witch. But that single arrow was enough to completely taint her soul gem. And just as she had intended, Homura shattered it.
It never gets easier each time.
However, before Homura rewound time, she decided to stick around a bit, out of curiosity. Lo and behold, Oriko Mikuni and Kirika Kure arrived to finish off Walpurgisnacht on their own.
In the timeline after that, neither Oriko nor Kirika ever bothered with her again. Homura wasn't certain as to why. Perhaps with Madoka's karmic potential growing with each time loop, Kyubey took priority of Madoka and ignored both Oriko and Kirika, thus they never got the chance to even make a contract – and that's assuming that they were only recently contracted.
But if that's not the case, if those two contracted before the start of the time loops, then Oriko must have either predicted Homura's success, or Homura shattering Madoka's soul gem, which Homura did do.
But what about the previous timeline right before this one? Homura had failed to shatter Madoka's soul gem in time, and as the result, Kriemhild was able to successfully hatch. And yet, neither Oriko nor Kirika ever went with their awful, costly scheme to kill Madoka again. Had she predicted that Homura would accidentally bring along Kriemhild back to the past as well? Does that mean the witch is no longer a threat to that future?
So many pointless speculations, but it's not like she could do much else than to hang around wrapped in Mami's ribbons in complete silence. Just because she's a hardened magical girl, does not mean she is immune to human emotions such as boredom. Besides, it may not seem like it at first, but knowing her (potential) enemies might help her later on. At least, she hoped it would be helpful.
Her mind drifted to other potential threats to Madoka and Kriemhild. If Mami fails, then Kyubey would probably ask other magical girls, most likely Kyoko, to take up the challenge. With a grief seed as precious and powerful as Kriemhild's own, the challenge to obtain it would be so enticing, especially to those who prioritize their own survival above all else, or those that know what truly happens when a soul gem becomes fully tainted.
Convincing someone like Kyoko to not hunt for Kriemhild's grief seed would no doubt pose a great challenge for Homura.
She'll just have to try her best.
Her mind then drifted to Kriemhild, a testament to her nearly-good-but-not-good-enough-success in the previous timeline-
Her thoughts were cut off when the labyrinth around her shuddered and started to flicker away. It would seem that Mami successfully defeated the witch. This means that Madoka and the rest are at the mercy of Mami, and there's nothing Homura can do about it.
Homura thrashed in desperation.
She was so desperate that she almost didn't notice that the witch's labyrinth had continued to exist despite Mami's supposed victory. Not too long after, the binding that held her weakened and became loose, but still there. Something must've happened, perhaps Mami got seriously injured. What is certain however is that Mami hasn't died yet, but that may change soon.
Homura paled at the implication that everyone else may be at the mercy of the witch at this very moment, and wasted no time by ripping some of the weakened ribbons off her body, just enough for her to run to where she was supposed to be. Leaving the less-important bindings wrapped.
When she was finally able to run unrestricted, she dashed into the middle of the witch's labyrinth with haste.
"Madoka, everyone, please be okay!"
Her remaining ear was ringing.
With whatever is left of her will to survive, Mami stumbled away while the witch chewed on a good portion of her body. Missing half her brain, she can't even think of anything. She just allowed pure instinct to guide her.
It all happened so fast and the bite had been relatively quick that she barely felt it. Her pain receptor shuts off by instinct. Blood poured out of the massive wound by the litter. She didn't think how she was able to stand at all. She can't.
When the witch finally swallowed its catch, it raised its predatory gaze on Mami, who had – either out of an act of defiance or desperation – had raised her rifle with her remaining, shaky hand.
The witch carelessly charged at what is left of Mami. Carelessly, because by luck, Mami managed to land a stun shot inside the witch's mouth. The effect was instantaneous, the witch writhed on the ground, struggling against the stinging feeling in its mouth. Meanwhile, the knockback had knocked Mami unconscious and away out of sight, probably behind some sweets.
While all of this is happening, Madoka, Kriemhild, Sayaka, and Hitomi just stood there, frozen in shock and fear. Their fight or flight response fails them. They should have run away while the witch was still stunned, but after witnessing firsthand how fast this witch can move, they had collectively thought that it would be pointless.
Everyone despaired.
Well, almost everyone.
With a last sliver of hope and no small amount of desperation, Sayaka cried out.
"KYUBEY! I WANT TO BE A MAGICAL GIRL!"
…
Nothing happened. Kyubey didn't appear to grant whatever wish that she had at the tip of her tongue. All it does is catch the attention of the witch, who slowly recovered and had set its sight on the girls.
Like everyone else around her, Sayaka despaired.
Kyubey had already left.
Not too long ago…
Somewhere in the distance, Kyubey watched as whatever was left of Mami stumbled in primal desperation for survival.
Kyubey was…almost disappointed, "Ah, it would seem that Mami finally lost to a witch, a somewhat unprecedented outcome."
Knowing that the anomaly – Homura Akemi – would probably arrive just in time to save the girl who holds that abnormally powerful grief seed as well as the rest, he concluded that there was nothing else to be done here and turned away, already moving on to another plan that he had thought of shortly after Mami received that gruesome damage. If he is to get his hands on that entropy-defying grief seed, he'll have to take decisive measures in order to achieve it. Someone like Mami doesn't truly have what it takes to obtain that grief seed, always distracted by other matters such as the wellbeings of bystanders and the likes. Thankfully, most other veteran magical girls do not share this chivalrous notion.
"I'll just ask other magical girls nearby to retrieve the grief seed. Preferably someone with experience comparable to that of Mami. And I already have some candidates in mind." Kyubey monologued as he calmly walked away from the center of the labyrinth.
He sighed. The work of an Incubator is never done.
Initially, the witch wanted to finish off this tasty yellow magical girl. But as time went by, this magical girl was proving to be quite hard to devour. This is why as soon as the witch recovered, it decided to set its sight on the other girls in its labyrinth. The pink one – radiating a presence similar to its own – looked particularly more delicious than the rest.
The witch wanted to eat that one first.
It turned its large body and charged at the terrified girls, who had hugged each other in fright and despair.
"AAAAAAAAAA!" Kriemhild shrieked at the top of her lungs.
"WE'RE DEAD!" Sayaka cried out at an equal volume.
"I don't want to die…" Madoka sadly whined, completely cutting off Kriemhild's shriek.
"My only regret is that no one will find my body." Hitomi muttered in resignation, in contrast with the reactions coming from the other girls.
It would seem that this is the end for them. Neither Homura nor Kyubey was nowhere to be seen, and Mami was in no condition to even stand up, let alone fight. Nothing and no one could save them now. But then…
When the witch got within biting distance, time seemed to slow down as Kriemhild and Madoka felt something strange. Some sort of energy coursing through their body. It felt powerful, simultaneously sinister and yet sanguine, and…it felt natural. Madoka narrowed their eyes, and on instinct, Kriemhild's grief seed released a burst of energy, momentarily blinding everyone in a bright – albeit desaturated – pink light and knocking away her friends – gently – as well as the other witch – violently.
When the worm-like witch regained its bearing, a tiny building-sized hand – made of pure darkness – swatted away the witch, sending it flying over a considerable distance across the labyrinth.
Now that the threat is a fair distance away, Madoka looked at herself to figure out what had just happened. Since they were in a rush, Madoka could only catch on to the fact that she was wearing something frilly, while holding a somewhat-familiar bow – seemingly made of withering woods – on her left hand, while her right hand had swelled in size and coated in darkness from the upper arm to below.
Sayaka was the first to notice the change since Madoka herself did, "Madoka?! What's going on?! What are you wearing?!"
"…Isn't that the magical girl costume that you showed us the other day? The one that you drew?" muttered the shivering Hitomi.
Madoka looked down and observed herself. The clothes indeed looked like the ones that she drew on her sketchbook, but there were indeed some differences that she had no time to properly point out. "Oh! Yeah, it is!"
"The witch is coming back!" Hitomi cried out, not giving Madoka the opportunity to fully observe herself.
"Madoka! Kriemy! Do something!" Sayaka followed.
"On it!" Kriemhild exclaimed as she somehow reverted her enlarged right hand back to normal. As if on instinct, they summoned a magical arrow and placed it on the bow. The way they took aim at the approaching witch and pulled the arrow felt…natural. It felt like they – both Madoka and Kriemhild – have done this before.
They released the arrow, and the arrow struck the witch's forehead.
The witch was knocked back at first, and then started thrashing wildly in agony.
Meanwhile, the sapient witch down below cannot help but smile as they firmly gripped their bow in anticipation. How could they not? With their newfound power, there remains hope that they could get out of this alive and mostly intact.
As Kriemhild and Madoka waited for the next assault, they summoned another arrow and prepared to fire at moments' notice.
As for the clown-like witch, the pain had apparently been unbearable that it had shed itself for the second time to a fresher body.
"Urk! How many times is it going to do that?" Kriemhild muttered worriedly as they pulled the arrow on their bow.
"Hopefully not a lot." Madoka answered as they aimed at the incoming witch.
"You can do it, you two!" Hitomi cheered, or at least tried to. Everything that had happened had worn her down.
"Yeah! Kick its ass!" said Sayaka, who had clenched her fists in anticipation.
Their hopes were collectively dashed once again. Whether they were unlucky or if it was just their inherent clumsiness, their arrow missed by a few inches to the right. Not even grazing the clown-like witch. For what it's worth, the witch momentarily stopped and blinked to process what had just happened, before continuing its charge with renewed vigor.
"OH NO!" both Madoka and Kriemhild bawled at the same time.
"WE'RE DEAD!" Sayaka cried out, again.
Hitomi said nothing. She just sighed softly and laid down on the ground in defeat.
But before the witch could get close, something whizzed over Madoka's shoulder and exploded on the witch's face, forcing it to shed for the third time. Suddenly, Homura – looking like a lemon-stained Egyptian mummy while still covered in Mami's ribbons – ran past Madoka, holding a brand new RPG-7. Wasting no time, she fired the rocket at the disoriented witch, forcing it to shed for the fourth time immediately.
While the witch was completely distracted, Homura whipped her head to look at Madoka, looking…no, not angry, just frustrated. A frustration that soon shifted to confusion.
A few seconds ago…
Homura ran as quickly as her enhanced body would allow. Passing through many familiars until her surroundings became nothing more than a blur. She gritted her teeth. No matter what awaits her at the center of the labyrinth, she would be ready.
Eventually, the familiar blue hair that belonged to Sayaka came into sight, and not too far from there, Madoka stood, clad in her magical girl outfit. Homura momentarily faltered.
"No!"
Wasting no time, she shoved past Sayaka, who had been standing in the way, "Get out of the way!"
"Wha- oof!" Sayaka was shoved aside, making her fall on top of Hitomi – who barely reacted.
Sayaka was about to angrily retort to Homura for the rough treatment, but completely forgot about it when Hitomi spoke to her, "Oh, Sayaka. I never took you to be someone who would give up so easily."
Rough treatment aside, the appearance of Homura raised Sayaka's spirit. "Homura's here! We're saved!"
"Oh, that's nice." Hitomi smiled and muttered.
Homura stopped just a few distances away behind Madoka and fired a rocket at Charlotte – the witch who owns this labyrinth, which stopped the witch in its track. Loading another rocket, Homura went in front of the pinkette protectively and fired another rocket at Charlotte. She shot a frustrated look at Madoka, but that expression then shifted to confusion when Homura noticed that something looked off with Madoka's magical girl outfit.
With the witch currently preoccupied, Homura took her time to observe what Madoka was wearing. At first glance, it would seem like Madoka had contracted, which means Homura had already failed. But it turns out to be not the case. The outfit looked nearly indistinguishable from the magical girl outfit that Homura was more familiar with at first, but then she noticed how the color is more desaturated than usual, a bit gray-ish even. In addition, Kriemhild's enlarged yellow ribbons were tucked neatly under Madoka's own large red ribbons. Finally, the biggest difference is that instead of a soul gem, the thing that hangs on Madoka's neck is Kriemhild's grief seed.
Homura wasn't sure how to feel about this, and decided to turn away to the witch in the distance.
Charlotte, too, looked somewhat different than usual. The overall shape looks similar to how it looked in every other timeline, but those similarities end with the teeth and the wings. Instead of a row of canines and tiny red and blue wings, the witch sports a proper set of human teeth and larger white angel wings.
"What happened to it? Did Kriemhild's existence affect its appearances too?" Homura thought.
Three years ago…
T'was the night of Halloween 2008. A 12-years old Madoka and Kriemhild – dressed in a white angel outfit, sporting a pair of large angel wings and a glowing halo over their head – was browsing through a Halloween shop in Mitakihara's mall. The two, alongside Sayaka – who dressed as a poorly-armored knight – and Hitomi – who was dressed in…something orange. Madoka couldn't tell if it was a cat, a bear, or a fish costume – decided to visit a Halloween shop that night, and almost immediately split up to do their own things.
As for the pinkettes, they weren't there to buy anything in particular. They were just window shopping. Looking in awe at all the Halloween-themed items that are put on display.
Kriemhild picked up a life-sized prop skull from the shelves.
"Eww…Kriem-chan…Why did you pick it up?" Madoka muttered in disgust, not eager to be listened to by any eavesdroppers nor was she eager to be picking up skulls, however fake they may be.
While Kriemhild was equally disgusted, she already steeled herself beforehand in order to do whatever shenanigan that she had planned, "I know, I know, it's gross, but I want to try out something."
Now Madoka was curious, "What is it?"
"You'll see. I saw this on TV once!" Kriemhild grinned and clarified, (not) clearly referring to The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
Kriemhild took over and cleared her throat, purely for dramatic effect. Then she held the skull up in front of their face.
"To be, or not to be…" she started.
"…that is the questio-" she continued while she whipped her body – as well as the prop skull – to the opposite direction…
…startling a younger, white-haired girl – Nagisa Momoe, the girl who would later turn into Charlotte – who just so happens to have been standing behind the pinkettes at the time, "Ah!"
"-Wah!" Kriemhild yelped in surprise.
Back to the present…
Homura shook her head, "No. Not every deviation has to be affected by Kriemhild's intervention…"
She then took another good look at Charlotte, "…right?"
Without further ado, Homura disappeared and reappeared in front of the witch in midair, ready to pull out some explosive to kill this witch.
"That was the last rocket that I could afford to use for now. I'll have to use my bombs!" Homura thought to herself as she pulled out a homemade sticky bomb, primed it, and threw it right at Charlotte's face before disappearing away to a safer distance. Five seconds later, the bomb exploded. Since it was Homura who made it, the explosion completely engulfed half of the witch, forcing it to shed for the fifth time.
"If this witch is anything like the previous timelines, then it's two more to go." Homura calmly reminded herself as she stood on top of Charlotte's head, holding another sticky bomb. Wasting no time, she primed it and retreated before the witch even noticed. The ensuing explosion severed Charlotte's neck. "One more."
"Wow…" Hitomi muttered in amazement.
"Look at her go!" Sayaka cheered with renewed hope. "She's hurting the witch a lot more than Mami did!"
"To be fair, Tomoe-san had us to keep an eye on us while fighting that witch." said Hitomi, eyes glued to the action.
"It's like she already knows how to beat this witch…" muttered Madoka, who summoned another arrow, just in case.
In the distance, Charlotte started attacking much faster than usual. Most likely in desperation. Homura, however remained unwinded and continued evading Charlotte's bites.
Homura stood on one of the tall tables, "I'll finish this now!" said Homura under her breath. She pulled out another grenade, primed it, and tossed it at the witch. The grenade engulfed the witch in…smoke?
Homura had accidentally thrown a smoke grenade instead of something lethal.
"What the- Why do I even have that?!" thought the now-panicking Homura.
Before she could prepare another explosive, Charlotte burst out from the cloud of smoke, having taken advantage of this element of surprise. The witch was too close and – ironically – there was no time for Homura to prepare another explosive. So Homura decided to stop time once again.
But before she could even do that, a familiar pink arrow struck the witch from the side and engulfed it in a magical pink explosion – finally killing Charlotte.
Homura just stood there, frozen in shock, until a grief seed hit her head, snapping her out of it. She caught the grief seed before it could fall somewhere unreachable.
The witch's labyrinth crumbled, dropping the girls – including what is left of Mami – on the hospital rooftop, exactly over the flower garden. The moon shone brightly that night, its light brilliantly illuminating the roof and everything on it.
Kriemhild looked around them and dissolved their magical bow, "W-where are we now?"
"…This is the hospital rooftop's flower garden." answered Sayaka, who instantly recognized where they are.
Hitomi also recognized this place, "Why, yes it is. How did we get here?"
That question went unanswered as they shifted their attention to Homura, who stood in front of them. She looked weary, but otherwise fine.
"Homura-chan? Are you alright?!" said…Madoka? Kriemhild? Everyone was too weary to tell.
Homura said nothing as she strode to the pinkettes, wearing the expression of someone who demands answers.
When close enough, Homura firmly gripped their shoulder. "What…happened?"
Madoka was confused, "What do you mean?" she asked back. So many things had happened, Homura had to be more specific about it.
Homura momentarily looked down at what the pinkettes were wearing, just to make sure that she was not imagining this. She then frowned and looked back up, "Did you make a contract with the Incubator?"
Madoka shook their head, "N-no. No, we didn't."
"Then what is this?!" Homura almost shouted. Almost.
Sensing that Homura was unhappy, Madoka tried her best to answer anyway, "I don't know! It just happened when that witch was about to eat us! Kriem-chan, do you know what happened?"
Kriemhild rubbed their chin, equally as clueless as Madoka, "Umm…No, I don't. But for some reason, it did feel natural wielding that bow. Please tell me you felt the same way, Madoka-chan!"
"Now that you mentioned it…" Madoka trailed off. Not noticing that Homura went stiff at the implication that the pinkettes might recall pieces of memories from the previous timelines.
"…" Homura said nothing as she slowly relaxed her posture.
"…" Madoka also said nothing as her own outfit dissolved back into her school uniform.
So it would seem that Madoka gained a power similar to her magical girl power, and yet she had not made a contract with the incubator. The grief seed that dangled on her neck gave Homura an idea that this might have something to do with Kriemhild once again. Unlike the present Madoka, Kriemhild had been a magical girl before, albeit briefly. Perhaps – in a near-death experience – Kriemhild's witch power manifested through Madoka. Judging from how clueless both Madoka and Kriemhild are on the matter, this might have been the first time it happened.
Homura sighed, her grip slowly loosened, "I'm just glad you're safe."
"How about you, Homura-chan? Are you hurt?" the pinkette asked again.
Homura let go of their shoulder as she examined herself, "Unscathed." she said, as she started getting pieces of ribbons off her body. She then looked at Sayaka and Hitomi, who had been standing behind Madoka and Kriemhild the whole time, "How about the others?"
"We're okay!" answered Sayaka, with half-forced, half-genuine cheer.
Hitomi remained weary, however, "I think we should worry more about Tomoe-san."
There she lays, somewhere behind Homura, barely clinging to life. The shock and blood loss alone would have killed a man, but Mami was already regenerating, albeit quite slowly. Not to mention how murky her soul gem is from how much she had to regenerate. Right now, she had at least stopped bleeding.
Madoka was nearly stunned by the terrible sight, "Homura-chan! Can you heal her?!"
Usually, for the sake of self-preservation, Homura would have declined regardless if she could heal others or not. Using magic in any way would only sully her soul gem. But since Kriemhild could cleanse her soul gem whenever, Homura decided to agree, "…I can try, but I'll need Kriemhild's help on this one."
Neither Madoka nor Kriemhild questioned it. They just nodded without hesitation.
Despite all the troubles that Mami had given them, none of them wanted Mami to die. Despite everything, she was a middle-schooler just like the rest of them.
Homura knelt next to Mami, while the rest surrounded them to have a closer look as Homura does her magic. She held out a palm, which then glowed purple with magic. Homura was no healer, but everyone can see that it's working…kinda.
"It's working! It's working!" said Sayaka excitedly.
"It's pretty slow though…" commented Hitomi.
"Healing isn't my strong suit." said Homura, not taking her eyes off Mami.
"Um, what am I supposed to do here?" asked Madoka, who was still unsure on how she could help.
"Healing can take up a lot of magic. I need you to touch both me and Mami. Her soul gem is in need of cleaning as well." answered Homura without diverting too much attention.
"On it!" the pinkettes said as they commenced the cleaning right away, gluing themselves right next to Homura, who – for a split second – stiffed before regaining her composure.
And so they healed her. Slowly, but surely, her torso started to regenerate some bones and tissues. Mami remained stiff through it all, the only indication that she is still alive coming from her gentle breathing and gradually-glowing soul gem on her head.
"…This might take a while. You two should probably go home." said Homura.
"Why? What about Mami?" Sayaka asked.
Homura thinned her lips, "I'm not sure how long this will take, this might take all night."
Sayaka's eyes widened, "What?!"
"So you four will be here the whole time?" asked Hitomi.
Homura closed her eyes in silent determination. Her heart might be cold, but it is not yet as cold as the chilly night that surrounds them all. "I will do what I must."
Before Sayaka and Hitomi could leave, Kriemhild had an idea, "Umm…"
Hitomi knew that Kriemhild was about to suggest something, "Do you have a better idea, Kriem-san?"
"How about…we take Tomoe-senpai to Homura-chan's house, and then we can continue healing her there? We can tell our parents that we're having a surprise sleepover!" said Kriemhild, perhaps a tad bit too enthusiastically, before turning her head to Homura with a frantic expression, "…If you're okay with that, I mean…!"
Homura looked straight at the pinkette with a blank expression. "…"
The intimidating look made the pinkettes gaze away. "…"
Well, the idea is certainly better than staying up late and up the rooftop all night…
…So Homura nodded, "…Sure."
The pinkettes blinked at that response, no longer feeling intimidated, "What?"
Even though it was a great idea, Sayaka and Hitomi looked troubled. Sayaka voiced her concern as to why, "Madoka might get a pass for a sleepover this sudden, but…"
Hitomi continued, "I don't think our parents would be so lenient."
Kriemhild tilted her head, "Try them anyway, you two might get lucky."
Sayaka shrugged, no harm in trying. "Eh, why the heck not."
"I can't believe it was that easy." said Hitomi as she hung up her phone, feeling no small amount of astonishment from how easy it was to get a permit to have a sleepover at Homura's place.
Madoka was nearly as astonished herself, "Huh…Sayaka-chan gets a pass sometimes, but Hitomi-chan too?"
Hitomi nodded, she was perhaps a tiny bit giddy at the idea of visiting Homura's home, "Yes, my parents are more concerned with how dangerous Mitakihara had become during the night recently, and thought it would be better if I stay with Akemi-san for the night. But I still have to already be back at home at 6 in the morning tomorrow."
Sayaka crossed her arms, having gotten a similar response and permission after calling her own parent, "Wow, same."
Pocketing her phone, Hitomi looked at Homura and the pinkettes with her answer, "There you have it. I guess we can stay for a sleepover after all!"
Madoka beamed upon hearing that, "Great! You should have seen Homura's home! It's like stepping into a white void, and there's also this cool clockwork on the ceiling-"
Kriemhild cut off Madoka as gently as she could, "Don't get too excited, Madoka-chan. we're doing this to help Tomoe-senpai recover, remember?" Kriemhild reminded.
Madoka rubbed her head and grinned, "Wehihi. Yeah, I remember. But the fact that Homura-chan could help Mami-san makes the whole thing not as bleak as it would have been."
"True." Kriemhild can't argue with that.
The girls cautiously walked all the way to Homura's home under the cover of the night, making sure to not be seen by anyone. The whole setup might give people the wrong ideas.
Homura led the way, carrying Mami by her hands – one of which is still bare bones. Homura was trying her best to not be affected by the uncomfortable feeling in her hand.
Madoka followed closely behind Homura, carrying Mami by the legs, which were completely intact aside from the few bruises here and there. Homura had initially insisted that she could carry Mami alone, but Madoka also insisted that she herself should be helping in carrying the blonde magical girl to their destination, reminding everyone that she is the nurse aide after all, making it her responsibility to help the injured.
Sayaka and Hitomi followed closely behind, keeping their eyes on any onlookers and eavesdroppers that might spot the four (five) suspicious girls carrying a badly-mauled blonde.
After a few stressful close calls, they finally arrived at Homura's home.
"Next time, I'm shoving Mami straight into my shield." Homura thought, exhausted by the ordeal that they all had to endure that night.
"Can one of you hold her for me? I need to get my keys." said Homura, looking at both Sayaka and Hitomi.
Both aforementioned girls looked at each other, Hitomi's expression silently pleading for Sayaka to hold the blonde. Sayaka silently sighed, "Alright, I'll do it. But hurry up."
Homura nodded. Sayaka and Homura switched places as Homura started rummaging through her shield for her keys, while Sayaka held Mami by the – thankfully partially restored – hands.
Whether it was intentional or not, no one can say, but Homura sure took her time to find the key to her home. Sayaka was about to complain before Homura finally pulled out the key from her shield.
Without any other delay, Homura opened the door.
"Come in."
Despite the scarce amount of home decoration, Hitomi marveled at what few decorations and furniture that is featured at Homura's home. The pendulum on the ceiling caught her attention the most.
Even so, Homura expressed her thought on not being able to accommodate more than just Madoka as a guest, "Sorry about this. I wasn't expecting any guest tonight."
"It's alright, Homura-chan. You did say you were recently transferred, did you? Not to mention your work as a magical girl. There's just no time for you to tidy up the place a bit more." Madoka answered, looking no worse for wear even after lifting Mami's legs for this long.
Homura nodded, "Y-yes, that's right."
"Hey, Homura. Where are we supposed to put her?" asked Sayaka, who was also not looking worse for wear, but much more reluctant on lifting Mami.
"I believe I have some spare futon in my shield. Give me a moment…" said Homura as she started rummaging through her shield yet again, this time for some futons that she had kept around, just in case. Not too long after, she singlehandedly pulled out five futons and gracefully set them up all at once.
"Put her down here." said Homura as she pointed her finger at the leftmost futon on the floor.
"On the left one?" Sayaka asked for confirmation.
Homura nodded, "Yes."
Sayaka and the pinkettes gently put Mami down onto the leftmost futon.
"Phew. Well, since this is also a sleepover…" Madoka muttered, before pointing at something in front of the row of futons, "Homura-chan, your TV works, right?"
"It does…" said Homura. "…I think? I haven't used it in a while after the fourth time loop." Homura silently added to herself.
At some point, Sayaka had wandered off somewhere in the house, while Madoka turned on the TV and started scrolling through the channels to find something good to watch. Hitomi made herself comfortable on the futon and was soon joined by the pinkettes.
Sayaka soon reentered the room and joined them with something behind her back, with Hitomi beckoning her to sit down on the futon as well.
From left to right, there lies Mami, Homura, Kriemhild, Madoka, Hitomi, and Sayaka. Homura kept her magic flowing to Mami at all times, while Madoka shared the same futon as Homura, close enough in case either Mami or Homura needed their soul gems to be cleansed at moments' notice. This leaves one of the futons vacant, only used by Sayaka as a space to stretch her legs. While Homura dedicated most of her attention to healing Mami, the four other girls were watching whatever it is that Madoka picked on TV. Homura doesn't mind, just hanging out with her friends like this felt nice. It reminded her of what she struggled for this whole time.
For a moment, they had forgotten that they just got out of a life-and-death situation.
For a moment, everything's gonna be okay.
Sayaka lightly laughed as the assassin – on the TV – who dressed as a police officer started shooting his revolver at the protagonist of the show. She then chugged a bottle of some soft drink that she found in Homura's fridge. This caught Homura's attention, which made Sayaka promptly stop.
"O-oh, hey Homura. I can't help but notice that your fridge is filled with all sorts of sodas. I hope you're okay with me taking one for myself. Ehehe…"
"R-right." Homura nodded, unsure of how to feel about this.
She then turned her attention back to Mami, who remained unconscious at that moment. "…Was that always been there?" Homura thought, referring to the abundant stock of drinks in her own fridge.
Yeah, everything's gonna be okay.
Meanwhile, at the same time, somewhere in some alleyways in Kazamino...
"WHAT?!" a certain redheaded magical girl shouted, holding a certain white little critter in her hands.
"I said, magical girls turn into witches when their soul gem turns too dark." said white little critter, Kyubey, repeated nonchalantly.
"Hey, hey, you were just kidding, are you?! You're just pulling my legs, are you?!" asked Kyoko Sakura, who may or may not be popping veins right about now.
Kyubey closed his eyes, "I have no time for jokes." answered Kyubey.
"GRAHHH!" Kyoko screamed in frustration as she proceeded to violently splat Kyubey on the ground before she started mauling him to red paste with her spear.
Behind the redhead, stood a younger green-haired girl, frozen in shock, from both the revelation that magical girls would eventually turn into the very thing they were supposed to be fighting, and from the older girl's violent outburst.
Once Kyoko was finished with the thin red paste on the ground, she gazed at the younger girl with an almost unreadable expression.
"Hey, Yuma."
"Y-yeah?" responded Yuma Chitose, a little put-off by Kyoko being uncharacteristically apathetic.
"Sorry for dragging you into this."
Yuma wasn't sure what to say or how to respond, but she tried the first coherent thing that comes up to her mind, "I-it's okay..."
This was the wrong choice of words.
Yuma was promptly slammed onto the nearby wall, gently. Kyoko had to use whatever is left of her composure to not go overboard. "What do you mean it's okay?! At some point, some other magical girls will come and kill us, because, by that time, we would already be witches ourselves!"
"I-I..."
"And that's if we don't kill each other first for our grief seeds!" Kyoko continued with a sharp hiss.
Kyoko then relaxed her hold on Yuma and sighed, "I told you that you shouldn't have gotten involved. I just..." Kyoko gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut, "...I just can't stop messing up, can't I?"
Yuma doesn't like seeing her sister figure breaking down like this.
Still pinned to the wall, Yuma gripped Kyoko's shoulder, "Kyoko nee-chan...!" She wasn't sure where she got this tenacity, but she was not about to let it slide.
"Huh...?"
Yuma narrowed her tenacious eyes, "There has to be a way for us to fix this, we just gotta figure it out...!"
Kyoko wasn't exactly convinced, "H-how?!"
"She is right, you know?"
Out of the shadow, came Kyubey, looking no worse for wear.
Kyoko growled and narrowed her eyes, "...I thought I killed you." she said as she looked at the red paste that used to be Kyubey nearby.
As usual, Kyubey was utterly unintimidated, "I have my ways. And before you waste your time destroying one of my bodies, at least listen to what I have to say first!"
Kyoko let go of her grip on Yuma and fixed her gaze on the incubator, "What? Is there a way to fix this?!"
Kyubey nodded, seemingly more excited than usual, "Normally, there isn't. But recently, an abnormally powerful – albeit dormant – witch suddenly appeared in Mitakihara!"
"...And?"
Kyubey started approaching the girls, feeling confident that he won't be killed this time, "In case you haven't connected the dots yet, the grief seed of this witch could sustain your soul gems long past your natural lifespan!"
"...What?"
Kyubey stopped, "In other words, if you obtain this abnormal grief seed, then neither of you would have to worry about becoming a witch ever again!"
Kyoko remains suspicious, however. So she kept asking, "If that's true, then why haven't Mami got her hands on it yet? Mitakihara is still her territory, right? Since you're here informing us instead of accompanying her, I'm going to assume that she failed or something."
Kyubey nodded, "She was killed by another witch that just so happens to be nearby...at least, that's what happened the last time I saw her."
At this point, Kyoko was more disappointed than sad at her former senpai's hubris, "Tch, I bet she was distracted by having to protect some people that got caught in its labyrinth."
Kyubey solemnly nodded, "That is...exactly what happened."
Kyoko sighed, and then stomped and ground Kyubey to dust, for good measure.
Ignoring the red stain on her boots, and with renewed hope and vigor, Kyoko grinned at Yuma, "Well, Yuma. Looks like we're going to Mitakihara!"
It seems Lady Luck decided to bless Yuma that day, and that raised her spirit as well, "Yay! I told you we'll figure it out!"
"Yeah, yeah. You sure did." muttered Kyoko, ruffling the younger girl's hair affectionally.
Said younger girl suddenly realized something, "Wait..."
"What is it?"
"Don't we need Kyubey to tell us about this powerful witch?" asked Yuma as she eyed Kyoko's stained boots.
Kyoko, however, was not concerned in the least, "Ehh, I'm sure he'll come back soon."
Enter Kyoko and Yuma!