It was still early in the day and, despite not having caught much sleep, Kyoko felt pumped up.
Today was going to be a big day.
As if in agreement with her, thunder boomed throughout the room.
It was going to be her first time, since her falling out with Mami, visiting Mitakihara city, Mami's territory and possibly her last.
In a hurry, Kyoko finished up her breakfast.
Finishing her last piece of toast with added haste and gulping down what remained of her glass of milk.
Kyoko glanced out the window as it thundered once more, the storm outside was unrelenting. having grown only worse with time.
She could already feel it, surprisingly enough and it was approaching faster than expected.
She wasn't sure how much time she had.
She checked around the room.
And then did the same once more to make sure no food was left behind.
Once she was satisfied, she gathered the few things deemed worth taking along, she rushed out of the place where she had been staying.
She had a feeling she had to make haste.
If not, it might all be over before she even arrived.
Something was wrong.
Why could she feel its presence so clearly from so far?
Without fully realizing it, Kyoko had started traveling at high speed.
She had to get there.
She had to find out.
A minute later, she... came to a stumbling halt.
What in the world?
Mitakihara city was looking like a hurricane had hit it.
It felt unreal.
Just like that, within the span of mere minutes, half of Mitakihara city had been destroyed.
Nothing more than a wreck now.
It surely had already killed more people than all the witches she had fought before combined.
Half the city was now just the site of a horrific supernatural disaster, and amidst it all, at the center of the storm, where huge chunks of buildings floated bizarrely through the sky, the witch had to be.
If only it was all some kind of stupid joke.
No matter though, she wasn't going to back down now.
If anything after the moment of shock wore off she felt like she had to urgently get there and find Mami.
After all, for all Kyoko's intentions to kick Mami's ass, she preferred if the girl stayed alive at least long enough for that to happen.
Running and jumping her way past fallen rubble and broken buildings, through destroyed and empty streets, Kyoko passed wrecked cars, furniture, and household items that lay about chaotically.
She tried feeling out for Mami's magical energy signature but to no avail.
The huge amount of magical energy radiating from the witch made it nearly impossible to find her.
For a moment, Kyoko felt fear or perhaps a pang of despair.
Mami might have died already.
She might soon follow.
Still, she carried on.
As she got closer and closer, there was still no sight or trace of Mami.
No muskets, no ribbons, or anything of the like.
However, there was something. A faint trace of a kind of magical energy that wasn't the witch or its familiars.
It even flared up a little.
Good, that likely meant Mami was using a grief seed.
As soon as Mami was done recovering her magic, the two of them could start going at this witch together.
Though the witch was strong, the two of them could take it down.
Feeling the energy move again, Kyoko decided to head over to Mami and reveal her arrival.
Mami could then send that Rookie back home if the shrimp was still alive or hadn't fled anyway.
Kyoko wasn't left to wonder for long. Once she got close enough to the source of the magical energy, that she had felt, it became clear.
Pink hair and a frilly attire quickly gave away that it was the rookie and not Mami that she found here.
And while the rookie was still alive, there was still no trace of the blonde.
No way... just where was Mami? What had happened to her?
She wanted to ask the girl about it but she was busy fighting the witch.
Constantly on the move, weaving and dodging her way through a whole barrage of attacks, the girl never seemed to catch more than a few brief moments of respite.
If she distracted her even a little, she might cause the girl to get hit, possibly even killed with what the witch was throwing at her.
For now, the rookie seemed to be holding up well on avoiding the attacks that came her way.
She even found herself the occasional moment to strike back. The giant witch, however, seemed largely unfazed.
As if without a care, it just kept up this maniacal laughter that had already become grating to Kyoko's ears.
The girl, however, seemed unwilling to budge.
Damn it. Couldn't she just take the hint and retreat for now?
It looked like she was going to have to pull the girl out of there herself.
The girl, however, started conjuring up a huge arrow aimed towards the gigantic witch.
One that she was pouring more and more energy into.
What was she doing?
She was going to use up all her energy with this one attack.
Too late to stop it, Kyoko couldn't help but track it with her eyes as it soared through the sky and crashed into the upside-down witch.
It left behind a great flash of pink and the Witch got blown back. Kyoko had to admit that it had packed more of a punch than she had expected.
Like she expected though, the girl was left in a bad spot.
She was panting and slightly shaking.
Her gaze was cast downward and it looked like she was only barely able to stay standing.
With the way it was storming, Kyoko felt like the wind might even knock her over soon.
Kyoko could now only barely feel the magical aura, that before had burned brightly around the girl.
The witch held no mercy and launched another attack on the girl.
The girl wasn't moving, however, likely still exhausted.
That idiot was really going to die if she didn't help her there, and partly it felt like that would serve her right.
However, Kyoko's impulse to save the girl was greater.
Kyoko rushed towards the girl, hastily raising a barrier in front of her.
Jumping towards her with full momentum, she crashed into her.
At that moment everything seemed to happen all at once.
Her barrier shattered, unable to stop the sphere of incoming doom that had already closed the distance.
Within an instant the destructive magic was all around her, hurting her everywhere at once, she wanted to scream but couldn't find her voice.
Before she even had the chance to consider whether this was the end for her, the sheer force behind the attack slammed her away.
By the time Kyoko opened her eyes again, she was soaring through the air.
She was hurting everywhere and didn't know what way she was going.
The air had been knocked out of her and her skin felt like it was on fire.
She zoomed past a lantern, one she only narrowly avoided, by luck more than anything else, only to land onto hard concrete thereafter.
She felt herself tumbling down the road until she hit a hard stop against something.
A brief look revealed that her body had met with the side of a car.
Shit! She was in pain, couldn't find Mami and that girl, there was just no way she survived that blast.
Why was she even holding out hope for it?
Still, she had to get herself up and check.
As she did, a sad sight greeted her.
Amidst some rubble, a little further ahead, lay the lifeless body of a girl.
Not that of the one she had just been trying to save, but that of the girl that she had been looking for.
Mami, the only person she had still cared for, was dead.
Damn it. Damn it!
Anger, frustration, sadness, and a great feeling of loss, all started swirling together into a toxic cocktail within her.
The witch was meanwhile still laughing like it was all was some kind of twisted joke.
Kyoko braved through the pain and jumped up, summoning a huge magical spear which she started channeling her energy into.
The witch, even at this sight kept up its laughter all the same, but slowly it started to distance itself from her.
It was also sending more and more of its familiars towards her.
No way was she gonna let it get away though.
"Shut up, you gigantic piece of shit. Just die!" With that, Kyoko took off and closed the distance between them, all the while summoning barriers
to stop any familiars from getting in her way.
When she reached the witch, she slammed her magic-infused spear into it and it didn't take long for it to break through its defenses.
As the giant witch started crumbling apart, Kyoko returned to the ground.
There was a bright flash of light and a few moments later the witch and its familiars disappeared completely.
"Mami, it's okay. I did it."
She had slayed the Walpurgisnacht.
She had avenged her, but Mami wasn't coming back.
Taking a look at the giant grief seed that the Witch had dropped, she smiled faintly.
At least she had her trophy now.
Deciding to save it for it now, she used a regular grief seed to absorb the taint of her darkened soul gem.
After that, she simply sat there for a while, sinking.
She was bruised and battered and though she had won it didn't feel like it.
As she sorted out her feelings, the appearance of another girl gave her pause.
Wasn't that? It was? As she tried placing the girl Kyoko realized she actually didn't know her at all.
A uniform similar to Mami's indicated she was from the same school, though she seemed a little younger.
She had long black hair, worn in two long braids, and looked as fragile as the red glasses that adorned her face.
The girl was making her way over to where the pink-haired one lay.
As expected the rookie hadn't made it. The other girl kneeled next to the body, tears in her eyes.
Damn it. Kyoko felt like she could cry some herself. Things had turned out for the worst.
In the end, she hadn't even gotten to speak to Mami before she died.
Only now she felt how much she had wanted to do that.
When Kyoko looked up, she saw the other girl hadn't moved a bit.
The girl still sat crying over the dead body of her friend. She must be grieving too.
It made them something like companions in suffering.
Slowly Kyoko had started approaching the girl, she wasn't sure what it was but the girl intrigued her.
It was then a small white creature showed its face and started talking to the girl.
Kyubey. What business did he have with her?
Listening in on their conversation, it soon became clear he was offering her a wish in exchange for becoming another magical girl.
What the hell was he thinking?
There was no way that weak-looking girl was fit to become one.
Kyoko jumped in between the two of them, grabbing their attention.
The girl skid back, before looking at her.
"Wha... who are you?"
She was surely surprised, probably a little scared even.
Most of all, she looked sad though.
Was this girl actually thinking of making a wish despite what had happened to the other girl and Mami?
"Listen, uhm. I'm Kyoko and as you can see, I am also a magical girl.
And I don't know what you are thinking, but making a wish won't bring you any good."
She wasn't sure why but she wanted to get through to this girl.
The girl spoke didn't look at her but did speak again in a small voice,
"Madoka... I can't... not without her." Tears were still falling down her face, she was clearly broken up over it.
It wasn't fair. Why hadn't she been able to save either of them?
If only she could have been here faster. No, mulling over these things wasn't any good.
She knew that but she couldn't help it.
"Hey? Ah... damn it. Sorry, I couldn't save them. I... " Damn it, she was feeling so useless, out of it, sad and lost and she wasn't sure what to do here so she shifted her focus back onto the girl, "Ah... are you really going to make a wish after all of this? You might think it will fix things but you know, I... I have never seen it end well."
Damn it, why was she even stammering and this girl just kept on crying.
Aah, what was she even keeping herself strong for?
Before she could decide on anything further to say, Kyubey started talking again, seemingly all too happy to continue onwards as if Mami and that other magical girl hadn't just died there.
"It is certainly true that there are no guarantees, but should that stop her from taking a chance?"
Kyubey he asked, staring at them with its red beady eyes.
"Nothing else could ever get her Madoka back, only a wish can make such a thing happen."
"You! Do you even care at all? Mami just died and you are already recruiting the next girl."
The blonde had always acted kindly towards him, treated him like a friend even. Yet, the bastard didn't seem upset about her death.
"It is a shame to lose a magical girl like Mami, but she willingly sacrificed herself in order to save the city.
It's outside my purview to interfere with that." Damn him. Damn it all.
"So you just let her die?" How could he? How could she?
Before she could even gather her thoughts he spoke to her again, as calm as ever, "And here I thought you had stopped caring about Mami."
"That, that's not true." Mami was the only one left that she did care about, even if things had changed between them, even if they might not have gotten along.
She didn't want her dead.
"Mami meant a lot to me. She was always kind... she was my closest friend."
The black-haired girl gazed at her, "You were close with Mami?" the girl asked her.
"I am... I was... Mami, she was like family to me. Damn it."
She never got to tell her. She really was an idiot.
"Ah... well..." The other girl started quietly, "I was thinking, we could go back and protect them."
"Huh... back to what? They are dead, what is there left to protect?"
Was this girl just losing it or was she talking about bringing them back with a wish?
Before she had time to ponder about it, the girl responded, "My wish. I want to go back in time and protect Ma... them."
"Tch... what? Go back in time? Is that even possible?" That would mean a chance to meet Mami again before she would die here.
But could really rely on the power of a wish?
"You have enough potential for it, with that I can grant just about any kind of wish," Kyubey interjected.
"What? If that's so..." Kyoko felt conflicted.
She didn't want this to end up with another wish that got betrayed.
On the other hand, she had lost pretty much everything she cared for and though she wasn't one to give up, this day had left her feeling like a mess and it made this wish sound good.
"I am in." In the end, her wish to see Mami again, her wish to make it right, her own selfishness had seeped through.
She didn't want to use this girl and drag her down into this magical girl business but it seemed the only way and she was feeling too drained
to stop it.
However, she was going to help the girl out once she had made her wish, that was the least she could do in return.
"Just be sure you want this, kay? Also, I will teach ya the ins and out of being a magical girl.
So... so don't go getting weird ideas from Mami... about what this magical girl business is really about, alright? Instead, remember this day."
Damn, it was hard to even carry on the conversation.
"Ah... Uhm..." The girl seemed unsure on how to respond. After a little while, she asked "You will really help me save Madoka, won't you?"
Where she was avoiding her gaze before, the girl was now almost staring at her. Her face still sad but there seemed to a bit of hope sparkling within her eyes.
"I will." Was this really alright? Wasn't she betraying herself and this girl by letting her make this wish?
"Things might not work out the way you want them to you know, but I will do what I can to help you. How's that?" Kyoko asked equally towards herself and the girl.
The girl took a few moments before answering her "Alright, then promise it. Promise me that we will save her."
Of course, the girl didn't know her, was she getting cold feet? No, if she rejected her now. She couldn't have this glimpse of hope taken away from her.
"I promise. I promise. Don't leave me here. I want to go back. I want to go save them. Believe me." Kyoko pleaded.
"I see, I think I do. Then, what was your name again?" The girl asked, still a little timid.
With the girl's answer, relief got added to the whirl of emotions Kyoko was feeling.
"Kyoko, it's Kyoko. Kyoko Sakura."
The girl then gave her own name in response, "Homura Akemi."
She then turned to the white rat. "Kyubey?"
"Well then Homura Akemi, have you decided on your wish? One that you are willing to put your soul at stake for?"
"I have. I wish for me... and... Kyoko to be sent back to the past. I want to do my meeting with Madoka over and this time protect her, ... and Mami."