Hours had passed since the events that had happened in the school gymnasium and outside Tomura's school. From the hospital room Homura was stationed in, the shining moon was visible in the night sky as moonlight shone through the window and onto Homura's sleeping body. Homura was lying on a white bed, surrounded by darkness, heartbeat monitors and such while she wore a white hospital gown. Her breathing normal, Homura's eyes slowly opened and the girl sat up on her bed, using the bed railings for support, "W-Where am I?"

She still felt dizzy, like her head was spinning around endlessly. Sitting up only made it worse, but for some odd reason, most of the symptoms she was experiencing had suddenly disappeared from her body. She brought a hand to her forehead and felt it return to its normal temperature, "What's going on here?" she wondered, looking around the pale white room and the window beside her. Rubbing the scar on the side of her head, Homura coughed into her hand, her throat feeling sore and dry.

"Homura."

She looked up and across the room, seeing no one around her that could have called out her name. Homura was going to go back to sleep when she heard that voice again.

"Homura... I... need your... help..."

"I-Is anyone there?" Homura called out to the voice and got off the bed, her head ringing as she did. Stepping towards the door, Homura pulled it open and poked her head out of the doorframe. No pain came from the movements she made, but walking into the dark with nobody around made her increasingly frightened. There something was calling to her, and as if Homura was attracted to that voice, she followed it to its source. When she gave one last look back at her hospital room, she saw a change of clothes that Narita had most likely left for her and put them on before heading out into the corridor.

Hands fidgeting, the hospital was nothing but quiet as light poked through the windows and barely allowed Homura to see where she was going. She reached a small elevator in the end of the hall and instinctively, she selected the ground floor button on the holographic display, feeling that the source of the voice came from there. Her feet shivering from the cold floor, Homura breathed into her hands and rubbed them together to keep them warm.

Sitting inside the train as it traveled to Mitakihara, Mamoru lied against the corner of his seat while a glint of moonlight reflected off the glass window behind him. The train was completely empty except for a few people here and there, talking quietly to each other as Mamoru could see the train entering the borders of Mitakihara. His phone to his ear, he was talking to Joseph who was on the other end of the line, "Are you sure about this? You don't have anyone to watch the Hermit while you're gone."

"It's fine. I owe your dad a favor or two, so I don't mind watching over him for now. And for the Hermit, I got a new part-timer to watch over the place for me. In the mean time, your dad's alright. Get some rest, kid, you'll need it. I'll take care of him and make sure he doesn't overexert himself again."

"... Thank you, Joseph," Mamoru muttered, holding his scarf tight, "I'm sorry if I-"

"No need to thank me," Joseph chuckled, "For now, just try and stay calm. I'll tell you if your dad has anything he wants to say to you. Good night."

Closing the phone and pocketing it, Mamoru folded his arms and leaned his head on the armrest, letting out a breath that could be seen in the cold air. When he had reached Kazamino City, the nurses explained to him that it was a slight stroke caused by overexertion and overworking of aging his body that had caused this mess. His father was fine, but he would have to rest in the hospital for a while.

Mamoru had begged to stay with his father for the night, but the timely-arrival of the bearded bar-owner had allowed him to go back to Mitakihara without any worry for his father's health. Right now, it was 7.00 PM and he was wondering if anything had happened during his absence. Mamoru had sent a message to Tateyama to answer this, but he had received no reply whatsoever. Over the train intercom, the train was announced to stop in just a few minutes.

A call came and Mamoru flipped his phone open to see that it was from Hideki. He clicked on the 'answer' button, "Hello?"

"Mamoru..." Hideki sounded distressed, there was a lack of energy in his voice and Mamoru had a feeling something was up.

"Hideki, what's wrong?" Mamoru asked, sitting straight up and crossing his legs.

"M-Mamoru, when you get back here, come over to the hospital. We... There was an accident. 2 accidents," Hideki's tone and what it implied made Mamoru feel a shiver run down his spine. The green-haired boy sat frozen for a moment, his mouth gaping open, "Just come quick, please. It's important."

Hideki then suddenly hung up and Mamoru stared at the blank screen of his phone with eyes wide with worry. 2 accidents, he thought, it can't be about Takuya and Tateyama. There was no way. Mamoru continued to repeat this in his mind over and over, clutching his phone tightly as paranoia settled in his mind. Biting his lip until it bled, Mamoru buried his face in his hands as his face contorted. Just what was going on?

The hospital lobby's faulty lights flickered as if they had not been changed for a while, leaving Hideki, who sat in one of the long, comfy chairs, in a combination of dim light and pitch-black darkness. They constantly switched back and forth, Hideki paying little attention as he held his phone in his hand. A sunken expression crossed his face and Hideki stifled a small cry.

Hideki placed a hand on his bandaged body, a set of crutches lying beside him. Hideki knew he had made a mistake, he shouldn't have accepted that letter or that challenge without thinking. His attitude had gotten a hold of him again, and now, because of his recklessness and stupidity, Tateyama was lying down on a hospital bed while Hideki and Tsukuyo were constantly worrying about his condition. But when Hideki heard about Takuya's accident, he knew he had to stop blaming himself and try and do something to help. Those two needed whatever they could get.

Hideki didn't exactly know what happened to Takuya, but what he know of was that he had got into a car accident during the heavy rain that was occurring this afternoon. An ambulance had been called by the principal of Tomura's school and it had brought Takuya here, where Hideki had met up with Narita and a male friend of hers. They said they brought Homura here too for treatment and medical care. When they asked what happened, Hideki explained to Narita about Takuya and Tateyama's accidents. Tsukuyo had come to visit for a while as well and she had left with Narita.

It was now only a few minutes since he had called Mamoru with his phone, but it felt like he was waiting forever in the dark lobby. Right now, Narita was taking care of Tomura back at home with Tsukuyo since Hideki had offered to stay here in their stead. It was the least of what he could do right now, and he had even gave a small message to his father that he would not be back home tonight. He wanted to put in an apology for his behavior yesterday as well, but he hesitated, and instead chose to speak to him in person instead.

A nurse with rounded glasses and white clothes came into the lobby with a clipboard in hand and Hideki immediately approached her, leaving his crutch behind, "How are they...?"

The nurse pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and explained in a solemn voice, "Ikezawa Tateyama had suffered from a sudden heart attack, but thankfully, he is recovering from this as we managed to revive him. He would have to stay here for the night, just in case, and maybe for a few days," she cleared her throat and continued, "As for Fujimaki Takuya, he is..."

Hidei's lower lip trembled, bandaged hands shaking. The nurse could see this and changed her words.

"... Recovering, at least. He was lucky to only received a few broken bones. Nothing our medical science can't fix, but he will have to stay here for the next few days if he is to fully recover."

"Alright, thanks for telling me," Hideki sighed with relief, eyes closed.

The nurse bowed down and went up to the counter to talk to the receptionist. As Hideki sat back down, he saw an alarmed security guard run up to them and whisper something. He couldn't hear them, of course, but it seemed urgent as the security guard then ran out of the lobby with a few other armed guards. Leaning back in his seat, Hideki wondered how long would it take for Mamoru to arrive.

Outside in the hospital backyard, Homura wondered about, barefooted as the cold wind blew against her frail body. The moonlight and lights placed along the path revealed the small, thin path she walked on, as Homura was being drawn to the voice that called out to her. But when she would focus on that voice to find out where it was, it did not take long for her to get lost in this small area of dark trees and thin paths. The cold wind rustled the leaves on the trees, the breeze sounding like the howling of a wild animal.

"Homura... over... here..." the voice called again.

She didn't recognize the speaker, but her feet carried on to find he or she anyway, as if her subconscious told her to do it. Rubbing the amethyst ring on her left hand, Homura scanned the dark trees around her. Even if the path was a simple straight line, Homura felt like she was going in circles, "Hello? Is anyone there?" she looked around and silence was once again the answer to Homura's question. She frowned, muttering, "There's no one here..."

Turning around to one of the trees, Homura thought of heading back to the hospital and disregard these voices as nothing more than part of her sickness. She had gone too far from the hospital and her feet had already started to hurt from so much walking. If she was lucky, she could end up finding a nurse who could bring her back to her room. But then, Homura heard a low chuckle ring in her ears. Turning around, she looked between a set of trees, and there saw something moving. It looked human, or was it?

A man - or what seemed to be - clad in full black with a fedora, was pinning down some kind of white, striped, cat-like creature to the ground with his gloved hand. His back was facing Homura, so she couldn't see his face, but she could hear the sounds of cursing and low laughter. The cat-like creature struggled in the man's grip, doing its best to squirm its way out of the lock it was in.

"H-Homura," the voice came again, but clearer, and it sounded like it came for that very creature in the man's hand. Taking a closer look, Homura could see that the cat-like creature was bleeding glowing, gold liquid from its body, a pool of it already forming underneath it, "Over here..."

"A-Are you the one who called out to me?" Homura spoke without thinking, stepping onto the grass and closer to the man, "Who are you?"

As Homura went closer, what she saw made her cup her mouth with both hands in fear and disbelief, as she felt bile reach up her throat. Surrounding the man in black was a dim, red aura, but that was not it, as Homura saw that the arm he was grabbing the white creature with was the only arm he had. Homura felt like puking at the sight of the bleeding, tattered area where his other arm would be, a sort of black smoke billowing from his stump. The liquid that bled from the man's wound dripped to the ground as black blobs, like a sort of black ink.

Homura yelped and took a step back when he moved. Then another step back, as the man turned his face to her, allowing her to see the pure white mask he wore that was smiling permanently. That is, until the corners of the mask's mouthpiece began to move ever so slowly into a twisted frown, sending a cold shiver through her entire body and freezing her in place. Who - or what was this man?

"Akemi Homura," his smooth, ringing voice was like an echo, the man standing up with the striped creature still in his hand. Cackling slightly, he 'smiled' again and mused, "It's amazing that you're still alive till now. I guess the poison I gave you wasn't enough after all," there was an odd feeling to his voice, almost like it held no horrible intentions behind it. Even with his frightening looks, his missing arm and his twisted mask, Homura began to lose the urge to run from hearing this calming voice.

"W-What do you mean...?" Homura stuttered, "Who are you...?"

"Oh, so your memories are still jumbled up?" he spoke, nonchalantly dropping the injured creature on the dirt before scratching his chin to ponder on something, "I guess that I was a bit too rough when I stabbed my fingers into your head," he murmured, "Normally, I would just let your run so I could have some more fun, but since you still don't remember anything right now..."

Homura didn't know what to do: Run, or save the creature that had begged her for help. She was still paralyzed with fear, her body unresponsive to her commands.

"Then that makes my job way more easier!"

His frightening, maniacal laughter booming in her ears , a weapon similar to a M1918 Browning rifle materialized in his hand out of thin air in a flash. She heard him switch off the safety, as he then aimed the barrel of the gun at her. Like a deer in front of a hunter's rifle, Homura was unable to move, unable to scream. Her heart was caught in her throat, and the next thing Homura heard next was the trigger being pulled.

The sound of a weapon spewing its ammunition with reckless abandon echoed through the night. Lights flashed between the dark trees as empty bullet casings fell to the floor and began to pile up, the shells jangling as they fell.

Homura dropped to the grass on her back, her hair strewn about. Her entire body trembling, blood leaked and poured from her wounds, creating a puddle of blood around her as somehow, just somehow, Homura was still alive. But the pain cursing about her body made tears form in her eyes, as she only felt one thing besides the excruciating pain surging in her: fear.

"You Puella Magi can sure take a beating," the man laughed, twirling his gun by the trigger guard, "The name's 'Clyde', by the way - master of espionage, assassination and info extraction - Those bullets I just shot you with? Specially made by a friend of mine," Clyde then looked over to the white creature at this feet which was struggling to move, golden fluid pouring from its wounds and bruises, "Keep still, Sanbey," he said with pure sadism in his voice, his gun vanishing from his palm, "You'll get your turn soon."

Homura struggled to speak. It was already hard to move, much less breathe, in her state. She brought one of her hands in front of her eyes and saw the crimson fluid that stained her fingers like red paint. She felt like she was going to puke, but shock and pain overwhelmed all her senses. Tears falling from the corners of her eyes, Homura rolled onto her chest and tried to crawl away, crawl towards the direction of the hospital.

Clyde strode up to her and gave a hard stomp on her back to get her attention, making her shriek in pain and unable to move. She clawed at the ground, desperate to get away, "Hey, still awake? 'Cause I'm not done with you just yet," he knelt down and pulled her up by the neck, bringing them both to face level to talk face-to-face, "There's still questions I have for you, little girl," now that she was up close, Homura saw nothing but an empty purple spaces underneath his mask, as if the mask itself was his face.

"I... I... d-do..."

"Don't worry," Clyde falsely assured her with a 'grin', "You won't have to be willing for me to get my answers. I'll just do it like this!" Clyde then tightened his grip around Homura's throat and dug his sharp fingers into her skin. Homura's irises shrunk, a visible breath escaping the smiling mouthpiece of Clyde's mask, "I'll make sure I get everything I need this time," digging into her nervous system, Homura his fingers insert something into her bloodstream before it traveled up to her head. Her memories began to feel distant and her eyesight became blurry.

Her feet dangling in the air, Homura stared up at the starry sky above her, happy that at least that she got to look at something so beautiful before she died.

"H-Homura!"

Like a persistent white devil, the small creature named 'Sanbey' that was lying on the floor moments ago, got up from the floor. The striped creature sprinted to Clyde and leapt into the air. Before Clyde could react, its three tails glowed a bright golden color and the creature slashed across Clyde's chest like a hot knife through butter. The black-clad monster howled in pain as the slash marks burned like the heat of the sun.

"Gah! Fucking pest!" Clyde's hand released Homura and swatted the creature into the ground. Sanbey cried as he hit the ground, his body shaking and trembling, "You goddamn- The vials!" from the slash marks in his clothing, glowing vials of golden fluid - similar to the ones that bled from Sanbey - spilled from the hole on his clothes and dropped to the grass. Ignoring the rare pain Clyde had not felt for a long time, he knelt down to pick the vials one by one up in a panic, "No, no, no!"

While he was distracted, Sanbey stood up again, struggling to even stand still. He limped over to Homura who was lying on the grass with shut eyes, completely still. Hoping that she was still alive, Sanbey picked up one of the dropped vials with his mouth and held it over Homura, biting down on the glass with his teeth to crack it open and pour the fluid all over her wounds, "Wake up, Homura... wake up... please..."

The liquid washed over Homura's face and body, cleansing the blood that leaked from her wounds and subsequently seeping into her injuries. It was like magic as the injuries, despite being severe, began to heal and close themselves up from being exposed to the golden fluid. The black substance that was inside Homura's bloodstream was expelled from one of her wounds and evaporated from being mixed with the mysterious liquid. Sanbey sighed in relief and dropped the cracked vial from his mouth, "Thank god..."

"What do you think you're doing?" a cold voice asked before a hand snatched Sanbey by the neck and threw him into a tree. Clyde walked up to him and then repeatedly kicked him in the stomach, striking the small creature repeatedly over and over, "Since I've extracted most of the Dycic energy from your body, I might as well kill you now to save me the trouble of catching you again!" Clyde summoned his rifle to his hand and dug the end of its barrel into the side of Sanbey's head, "I've been trying to find you for years, Sanbey, but now, I'm sick of it! I can finally start Lord Phantom's plans and it starts with your death!"

While Clyde talked on, he did not see the figure on the floor that was rising up behind him, bathed in a purple light. Dressed in a white sleeved shirt with a dark purple collar and skirt, she wore black legwear with purple gem decorations on the side, a large circular shield forming on the left arm of her hand, her wavy raven hair picked up by the blowing wind. Wordlessly, she brought a hand over to her shield and out of nowhere, an AA-12 automatic shotgun came into her possession.

"See you in Hell, Sanbey!"

Before he could squeeze the trigger, Clyde was cut off as a tremendous amount of kinetic force blew into his back, tearing off his arms and legs while sending him flying into a collection of bushes and hedges in bloody pieces. He didn't even hear the gun fire, just the feeling of getting shot. Panting, Sanbey looked up, as standing tall in front of him was Akemi Homura, who bore the stoic, quiet expression of a warrior that had seen countless battles. It worked, he thought as Akemi Homura, the time-travelling Puella Magi had returned, "H-Homura... it's... it's today.. the day that..."

"I know," she said as she knelt down, picking Sanbey up and putting her AA-12 back into the storage compartment of her shield. Making sure the striped Familiar was alright, Homura then dashed away to find the path to the hospital in quick pace, "We must hurry, or else the Witch will get to them first," running at a brisk pace, the Soul Gem on her hand shimmered, signalling the nearby presence of a Witch. Looking back, Homura saw that the remains of the man in black was gone.

Climbing back out of the bushes, Clyde groaned and grumbled in anger, arms and legs slowly reattaching themselves to his body as he literally pulled himself together. It would take a few minutes to recover, so he couldn't run very fast as he tried to follow Homura back to the hospital. The large slash marks across his chest were still burning bright as they healed up more slowly than his arms and legs, "Fucking Puella Magi..."

"Hold it right there!"

As if things couldn't get worse, flashlights shined on him as Clyde was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of hospital security guards. From the looks of it, they must have been attracted here from the sounds of gunfire, and from the number of them, it looked like this was the entire security force that was on shift tonight. Their guns were trained on him as Clyde fell to his knees and grabbed his chest in pain.

"Keep your hands where we can see them!" one of them barked, knowing that what was in front of them wasn't human at all.

Clyde chuckled weakly and took out one of the vials from his chest. He clicked on the cover and an injection syringe popped out, "Lord Phantom ordered me to keep quiet and not attract attention, but since I've run into an unpredictable situation, it looks like I'll be the first to make some loud noise," he brought the syringe's pointed end to his chest, "Time for some self-experimentation..."

As Clyde jammed the syringed into his chest and poured the liquid into his chest, he howled in pain as his body bursted with dark energy. Dark lights shone through the eye slits and mouthpiece of his mask as the police fired their weapons at him in shock. But the bullets disintegrated upon contact, burning away from the dark aura, and when the energy died down, Clyde lied on the ground in a heap, the burn marks on his chest healed and his missing arm having grown back in an instant.

The officers slowly apporached the smoking body, guns still trained on him. One knelt down and prodded Clyde's mask with the butt of his gun.

Clyde's mask suddenly shone with life again, the edges of his mouthpiece curving back into a twisted smile as the lead officer jumped away in shock. Clyde then got up to his feet slowly, his movements jagged and jittery. Feeling like he had been reborn and filled with energy once more, Clyde curled his sharp fingers as he looked at every single one of his attackers. With a tone of glee in his voice, he chimed in an sing-song voice, "My turn."

Before they could even fire, Clyde had already dashed forward and punctured an officer's chest with his bare hands, sending a scream of pain into a sky as the sounds of gunfire slowly died out in the night and were replaced with horrified shrieks.