June the 15th, 2013
It was a glorious day for both the Puellae Magi and the Incubators. An incredibly great number of Wraiths had been sighted marching in the great desert far north of Kamakura City, the same ground zero of the Battle of A Thousand Wraiths in 2011. The previous fight had destroyed the greenary of the nature characteristic of the Kamakura and, as the higher-ups grew even more worried, decreed that this location and only this location was allowed to be the battlefield for a greater number of Wraiths.
But this time, it was not a thousand Wraiths that lumbered through the shifting sand. It was one hundred thousands of them. The entire horizon was lined by these beasts, almost like the sand itself. The amount that frightened the older girls for proving their elders' theory was not only true, but happening at this very moment.
That malice of the mankind had grown so great, one day human might be wiped off by their own personification of their vices.
While the Puellae Magi had debated over the best course of action, one girl flew alone into the heart of this great army.
Homura Akemi.
One damn insane Puella Magi who had spoken of the Law of Cycle as "Madoka Kaname". Who met scepticism and jeering from her fellow magical girls, even from her partners Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura. Who was unquestionably the strongest Puella Magi had ever born, but still incapable of gaining respect for herself even after 3 years of showing again and again she had never wrong or lose. Maybe the curse of Cassandra inherited by her.
She flew into the great desert and fought alone against the horizon full of Wraiths.
The Wraiths were defeated, but she wasn't found anywhere. Fellow magical girls looked high and low for this black winged angel, without any result. For three months, they searched before giving up and believing that she was usered by the Law of Cycle. At least, she finally be embraced by this "Madoka Kaname".
It was not the case.
At June the 15th, Incubators were rejoiced for a different reason than the great amount of Grief Cubes left in the battlefield.
88888
Unlike any ordinary familiar, they were born one by one as the existence independent from their mother. Unlike Lotte... or Lilia... or Liese, who were mindless on their own, they were of a greater purpose.
At least, that's what she believes.
She was the first born. She remembers when she was licking herself clean beside her mother, who sleeps through it with her hands clasped over her stomach. She crawls to the sleeping form, and shakes Mother's shoulder.
"...Mutti?"
No respond. She shakes her mother harder.
"Mutti!"
Still no respond. She then crawls closer and whispers to her ear.
"Guten Morgen, Mutti... Frühstück ist heir..."
She watches that pale face for a moment, only seeing no movement except for that wild and frantic eyes behind the closed lids. She feels like crying. Her mother isn't waking. She doesn't know what to do.
Only then, she notices that small hum.
She looks up. The sky is full of those red floating eyes, watching her mother with that perverse curiosity.
Those white rats! It must be their fault!
Her eyes flicker red. She crawls over her mother's body, trying to pry that large bow from her grip. Just one arrow...! She just needs one arrow to strike down those heathens! How dare they-
"Together..."
She stops. Looking around, her eyes are only meeting the same red eyes and Mother's unmoving body. But she was sure of it; Mother's voice...
"Together... so happy together..."
"Mutti...?"
She's dreaming... but she's not waking up. Mother is... happy? Mother is happy dreaming?
...
Then so be it.
She sits cross-legged on the small space around her mother, watching her dreaming. It's a little boring, but that's fine. She's going to protect Mother's happiness no matter what and how.
She sits for... she doesn't know how long, but then she sees Mother's egg shines for one moment. It shines from the inside of that colorful prism and its nail harnesses, and a black sludge falls from it down to Mother's sleeping form.
She stands quickly, a little surprised. Her mother's body is soaked by that sludge. She must hurry to clean it up before Mother catches cold!
But the sludge is moving, squirming and writhing.
It changes form into another just like her. Blond hair and bluish grey skin.
She peers over Mother's arm, watching this new creature tries its new limbs. Its legs wobbles so badly (unlike her) and it quickly falls to its backside. She can't hold it. She laughs at this sight.
The new being looks up, staring at the laughing visage with those same eyes. Then, those eyes fall into her lap.
She stops laughing.
Now she's watching her(?), those eyes for some reason are different of her own; though at the first glance are identical. Those sorrowful eyes... make her feel a little bad for laughing. She inches closer and, after some mental debating, pats the younger doll at her head. Soft strokes, long and gentle along the hair length. She's not very sure, but it feels right.
"...Mutti?"
She shakes her head.
"Schwester." She points at herself, then pointing at the sleeping magical girls, "Mutti."
And so, it's the beginning of her life as the eldest of the children. She will be the one who welcome her sisters when they were born, then she will bath and give them clothes. She's the one everyone will have their problem spoken to, and the one who mediates the more headstrong sisters from stabbing each other.
She's the most important of Mother's children. The thought can always make her puff out her chest.
The last one borned from Mother's egg was Ganko, but she has a feeling it's not over yet.
Lately, Mother mumbles more often than she usually is. Her eyes move 43 times per minute; about 3 times more than the usual. Everyone's worried, even Reiketsu.
Until they finally hear just what their Mother really wants.
The Law of Cycle and Her salvation.
"Gott ist tot! Und wir haben ihn getötet!"
Reiketsu speaks with her strong voice. A voice that loud enough to be heard from every corner of this fake city that just formed not long ago. A voice that shakes everyone's heart who listen to it.
Mother is a Witch; a Witch who's also the Incubators' bait to lure the Great Goddess that Mother always speaks with fondness even though she's not exactly conscious. If they're to indulge their mother's wish to meet the Goddess, then the Goddess' death would be on Mother's hand.
Manuke starts crying at this exclaimation. It becomes the sign for chaos to break among them.
And she's the one everyone is looking to.
She then decides.
"Gott ist tot..."
88888
They arrange this Mitakihara just like how Mother remembers it. From every chair to every landmark to every speck of dust. The only thing missing is the actors.
Three teams; duty, kidnapping the necessary people.
She, along with Warukuchi, Mie, Namake (though she needs a bit 'encouragement' to do so), and Higami arrive in the front porch of the ramen shop. Their target is visiting her hometown, stuffing her face with noodle.
She taps the spearwoman on her shoulder.
"Hng? What?"
She points over her own shoulder with her thumb.
"You want me to come with you? What's the deal with it?"
Suddenly a fire extinguizer slammed harshly behind the red warrior's head, knocking her unconscious. The eldest daughter rolls her eyes exasperatedly at Namake, who only shrugs absent-mindedly.
"Auf diese Weise schneller."
They came back with the red warrior slung over her shoulder. Namake let out a small giggle at how ridiculous she looks; she's on the short side, after all. Not as short as Wagamama, but still pretty short to carry someone who's about twice her height.
Not that she let them carrying this particular burden, though. As the (self-proclaimed) dutiful child, it's hers to burden herself with any cargo they have.
The other teams already arrive. The presumed family of the Great Goddess, the twindrill lady, the pair of hormone-addled teenagers, the unfortunate cake, and...
"...Wer ist das?"
Ganko wordlessly pulls the sheet of paper that depicts her target. And yes, the brown-haired boy is there.
"Da."
Well... It's not exactly her job to ask what's this boy has anything to do with the fake city.
Now, with the stage ready, they only need to wait for their Mother put the last touch.
.
.
.
She never thought it's going to be so boring.
With her mother in bliss with her own ignorance, they're sealed and suppressed in the deepest part of Mother's subconscious. Some of her sisters wail loudly through the barrier so Mother can hear them, but she suspects only a small whisper and glimpse can get through her.
Sister, do Mother hate us?
One day, out of the blue, Higami asks her that question. She looks down to those chocolate coronet-like drills and shakes her head.
I don't know, she says with the gentlest voice she can. Higami hugs her legs close, unconvinced. Only then, she realizes just how bad her maternity skill. Not as a leader, but more like an older sister. She huffs, strikes a gallant pose, and thumps her fist over her chest.
Don't worry! She definitely loves us!
Higami rises an eyebrow (do we have eyebrows?) at this.
What makes you so sure?
She then speaks with utter confidence and pride.
Because I've never wrong, of course!
Higami only stares at her for a seemingly eternity. She feels cold sweat start forming on her forehead as she's frozen in her heroic pose.
But then her younger sister giggles at the performance.
Yes, you've never wrong, Sis!
Morale saved!
The serene atmosphere, of course, doesn't stay for long. Ganko slams the metaphorical door open with the grace of rampaging bull, shouting that it's time. She grits her teeth.
It's time.
Their first experience outside the boundary field is in the rotating park over the great lake. They sit around the street musician made from Mother's decaying psyche, listening to her conversation with the Wudan. They're starting to notice things indeed... Wagamama whispers to Mie about her own suspicions, but they had agreed to see how things will go first.
Mother comes back from her failed bus trip. Her memories came back at full force.
At least, that's how Okubyou and Yakimochi reported it.
But her memories about her own 'death' is still not yet realized. Their revenge to the Rat King still needs to wait, their mother's funeral still needs preparation, and their youngest still needs to be born. No, not yet...
88888
Mother doesn't take the reveal well. She throws herself to the Goddess' noble visage, caressing the statue's legs in worship. Yakimochi and Wagamama are slightly bristling at the sheer love Mother shows to this shadow she doesn't even sure of existing. The eldest daughter steels herself, her food is nothing but an ugly pulp clenched between her fist.
"Gott ist tot!" she cries.
Her arm is swinging to its limit to throw the fruit with merciless vengeance at this 'shadow'. For torturing Mother, for baiting her on without a single comfort, and her mother herself for falling in this situation.
Wake up, Mother! Wake up and say the word, and we're going to make everything better!
Even if it's your death you desires, then death you shall get.
Mother tries to convince herself that what she had suspected is not true. They scream louder and louder the more she shies away from the truth.
"Fort! Da! Fort! Da! Fort! Da! Fort! Da...!"
But, even though they cry for the truth, their heart cry for something else.
It hurts!
Stop it!
We should help her! Not... not this!
But they can't hide it anymore. Their very existence demands so Mother will one day find out. Their very existence demands their mother to suffer through all these torture. Her mind breaks into many fire and chaos. Of imageries and farces. The entire boundary smells like a broken dream.
She wants to blame everyone and anyone for making her mother suffer. The Goddess in pink and white making Mother doubting herself, the rat and the other of its kind for trapping her in this hell, themselves for being such useless children, her own mother for falling in love with such an aloof concept...
They stand in a straight line, surrounded by fire and brimstone, as they welcome their mother. Their disguise melts away, showing that blue skin, frozen grin, and unblinking eyes. The fact they exist taunts their mother of her fate.
The stage is laid.
She grits her sharp teeth for the nth time since the past hour. She sees several of her sisters looking down at something. A pink spool of thread. The trace of the Law of Cycle.
Nekura looks down to the spool disdainfully and kicks it away.
Mother hides herself under her blanket until the white rat approaches her, taunting her own its abhorrent plan. Taunting Mother of her egg, suspended by nails driven through it and sealed inside a prism. Taunting her of her love being the reason of their plan to destroy the salvation of the Puellae Magi.
Unforgivable!
The entire world explodes.
Their mother screams in agony; many of them are crying unable to hear more of that mindless torture. And as she bleeds waterfall, drowning the rat in that black polluted blood, the last born child almost arrive.
"Kill it!"
That's the only command they need to hear. Stabbing, hitting, killing... every part of this heathen will be vaporized until there's nothing it can consume for its opportunistic goal. Let them know the wrath of the Nutcracker Witch! Let their plans fail forever! Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...!
88888
August the 17th, 2013
Once again, Mitakihara is ours.
We finally run through the city's roads at our heart's content.
The Goddess has been brought down by the ascended Devil, and Her mortal self is again alive along with her old life she had abandoned.
It won't be long before She notices, Warukuchi speaks.
She doesn't need to say that; everyone's already know it.
This is not the happiness Mother has searched for. Even though she knows the Goddess has been saved and the Rat King finally brought down to their knees, one day it's for naught when the Law of Cycle claims its rightful place.
And when that happens, Mother will have no place in this world and the next.
But that's fine.
Even just a little, Mother can be happy knowing Her Ladyship is unreachable by the white rats. All she needs to do is to stand vigilant on this world Mother had worked so hard to create.
Waiting for the fated clash.
And when Ai finally comes out of her cage...
Who knows what's going to happen...
End?
88888
Though it's a little late, but in honor of the Night of Walpurgis, I present you Rebellion though Ibari's eyes!
Thanks for those who read and those who write review. I guess I have to stop writing things when I'm half asleep or the result will continue to drive me crazy with its shitty grammar and typos.
The timeline in this story is basically the headcanon of when exactly Rebellion happens. Since Kazuko-sensei rants about Mayan Apocalypse didn't happen, we can assume the date is after December 2012. And with the calendar (though not the year) in Hitomi's phone, we can assume at minimum they're in August 2013. I think it make sense in some way; I'm noticing the girls have slightly longer face than in the anime (except for maybe Madoka, but it's the forever moe Madoka Kaname anyway). It still doesn't explain why they're still in junior high unless they have a same uniform...
Maybe I'm going to write more about the children, but I don't really have any further plan except for one-shots right now.