The sun still hanged high on the sky, a small trickle of students going back home from their clubs served as background noise as Madoka watched the metal bucket fill with water, the rhythmic flow of the water that came out of the tap hypnotizing the girl.

There was a small noticeable pulse to the waterflow every time it lost a bit of pressure, without realizing Madoka breathed at the same rate as the pulse would come out.

The sound of the water coming out of the faucet was enthralling in the girl's blank mind state, the only thing that tried to pull her off such a state being the few droplets of water that splashed into the hand that she was holding the bucket with.

Water filled the bucket slowly but surely. The violent vortex that formed where the flowing water hit, raising and raising to the top of the bucket…

Water spilled out of the now overflowing bucket, completely drenching Madoka's sleeves.

"-Ah!"

Madoka frantically went to turn the faucet off, her other hand getting wet in the process. The girl pulled the bucket away from the faucet, a bit of the overflowing water spilling out with the movement and almost hitting her.

"Now I did it…" whispered Madoka to herself with a defeated look in her eyes.

The girl left the bucket on the ground and inspected the damage done to her uniform. The sleeve had been drenched to a miserable state up to the elbow, the uncomfortable feeling of the wet fabric sticking to her arm placing a disgusted expression on Madoka's face.

The girl let out a long sigh as she bent down to pick up the bucket again. If she had been wanting to go back home as soon as possible before, she sure was wishing to get there now.

Madoka carefully started to walk towards the school garden with the bucket in her hands. The water sloshed around with every step she took, but at least it wasn't spilling anymore. It did weight quite a bit, and the thin metal handle wasn't helping to mitigate it either.

Madoka turned around the corner, the school garden now in full view. And more importantly, Homura working in it.

The girl wore her hair tied up in a ponytail and was currently in her P.E uniform – a thing that Madoka realized she should have done too –. Her usual calm face stained by a faraway look in her eyes as the girl gripped with strength the shovel she was wielding. Homura placed the shovel straight into the ground and pushed down on it with her foot, the blade of the shovel almost completely disappearing into the dirt under the girl's pressure.

"How are you doing?" asked Madoka as she approached Homura, the girl's lost gaze slowly focusing back into the real world when their eyes met. "Aren't you tired?"

"I'm fine" answered Homura with perfect calmness in her voice, as if she hadn't been digging a hole for a few minutes already "Just a bit more and it will be deep enough"

Madoka hummed in a questioning tone as she left the bucket next to the tree that they were going to transplant, the apple tree having grown to big for any of the pots they had around was due a new home since a few days back.

Madoka moved a bit closer to Homura, being sure to not get in the way of the girl's shoveling as she did so, as much as Homura's gaze had come back to its more usual look… The girl was still off, she had been so for a few days now and it annoyed- no, it angered Madoka. It wasn't that she wanted Homura to tell her everything, but the girl was clearly troubled about something.

And it was how Homura wouldn't even tell her what irked her. Madoka wanted to help her, but she couldn't do so if she didn't even know what she had to help with.

"Why did you refuse the help from the club president?" asked Madoka, her eyes fixed on Homura's working form.

"I don't need it" quickly answered Homura as she lifted dirt off the ground and threw it into a small wheelbarrow that was close to being full "I can do this by myself, he would have been useless"

"Hmmm…" Madoka's gaze followed the movement of the shovel, the repetitive motion slowly putting Madoka into a trance.

Point at the ground. Dig in. Dig out.

Madoka wasn't really sure what was in Homura's mind. Or rather, she wasn't sure what could trouble someone like her. And if she didn't know, how was she supposed to help her?

Point at the ground…

Well, of course there was something that the girl could be worried about. The rumors had only been getting worse, even more now that word that they were living together was spreading around.

Dig in…

But was it that what troubled Homura? The girl had always said she didn't care about such things… but of course Homura never said anything that could worry Madoka. She never did anything that wouldn't benefit Madoka.

Dig out…

Maybe she was trying to think of a solution to the rumors? That would very much be a Homura thing to do. Try to solve a problem until she ended up hurting herself in the process.

Point at the ground…

All the while Madoka was here just doing nothing to try and solve it. Just standing around hoping that things will get solved on their own. Depending on everyone but no one depending on her. Not like she could do anything, right?

Dig in…

Like right now, Homura was digging a hole and she was just watching. She was pretty sure that Homura had told her to go gather water so she would feel as if she was doing something. And she was more than sure that Homura would not let her help move the tree either.

If the club president was useless, then…

Dig out…

"I guess I'm useless too huh…"

The shovel stopped mid swing, the dirt that was on top of it spilling to the sides at the sudden stop.

The lack of movement made Madoka realize she had said that out loud. The girl's eyes nervously raised from the shovel blade to see Homura's face, the girl's expression full of emotions that fought to be shown just in the girl's eyes; surprise, anger, indignation, grief.

"Ah- It- I didn't want to say that out loud! Don't worry about it, Homura-chan!" quickly tried to rectify Madoka "It was just a dumb intrusive thought!"

"Madoka-" Homura muttered.

"Really! Please don't worry about it!" interrupted Madoka "I know you don't think that way! I was just thinking about stuff and kind of went into a dark direction that's all!"

Homura's eyes were still fixed on Madoka with a worried look on her gaze. The girl dropped the shovel and almost took a step towards Madoka, Homura clearly restrained herself.

"It's fine, really!" tried to reassure Madoka one more time.

"…What made you think that?" asked Homura, her voice barely loud enough to be heard. A hushed hurt undertone in her voice that the girl couldn't hide.

Madoka fidgeted in place the girl not sure if she should even tell Homura that it had all started because of her not talking about her problems. If she should maybe just lie and say that it had been the rumors and not Homura not relying on her.

How would Homura even react? Would she get angry at her? Would she blame herself?

What would she do if she said it had been the rumors?

"I…" Madoka nervously gulped, a knot forming in her throat as she imagined the worst case scenario and tried to come up with a way to mitigate the consequences.

"You have been troubled lately by something and…" Madoka's brain tried to work at full capacity, just searching for what she thought were the best words to tell Homura without hurting the girl in question "I just started to wonder why you wouldn't tell me what it was… If I had done something, or how I could help you, and… it kind of went downhill from there…"

Madoka's eyes met Homura's once again, the girl's eyes open in surprise for a second before they slowly were filled with that warm melancholic gentleness that they sometimes carried.

"Of course it all started because you wanted to help me" Homura sighed, deep in her gentle gaze a crimson flame soared with strength; a clash of emotions dancing around it.

"Homura-chan?" Madoka took a step forward, the look in Homura's eyes filling her with an inexplicable worry that pushed her to act.

Yet she couldn't grasp what 'act' meant in this case.

"It's okay, Madoka. You don't have to worry about that." Homura closed her eyes "That's not a problem anymore, I already found a solution"

Homura slowly opened her eyes, the flame now gone from the deep amethyst eyes of the girl that felt strangely off in color.

"I didn't tell you because you shouldn't have to worry about such things"

"B-but I want to help you!" jumped Madoka, Homura's words bringing her concentration back to the conversation as her mind started to forget about what she had seen almost too quickly "I want to be there for you when you are feeling down"

Homura looked at Madoka with a longing look, her lips slowly curving into an appreciative smile.

"I'll ask for your help next time"

Madoka studied Homura's eyes in search of any trace of a lie, but she was only met with the girl's gentle gaze; just a bit off. She should have let it drop there and then, to stop worrying about it. But something deep withing her simply insisted that Homura wasn't okay.

That there was a hidden resolved sadness in her gaze. That the girl had somehow taken the worst possible solution to her problem. That she had set herself in a self-destructive path out of fear and false conviction.

"Homura-chan I-!"

"There you are!"

Madoka turned towards the voice, the sight of Kyouko and Sayaka running towards them not being enough to erase the clearly irritated frown on her face. A frown that got a questioning look from Sayaka as she approached them.

"Sorry, are we interrupting something?" asked Sayaka.

Madoka opened her mouth to speak, but Homura was faster than her.

"No, it's fine" said Homura the girl picking up the shovel again "Hadn't you two gone to your house already?"

"We did yeah" answered Sayaka.

The sound of the shovel cleaving into the dirt way more violently than before made Madoka make a small jump. The annoyed clicking of the tongue that Homura did before going at it gentler the next time was enough to let Madoka know that the girl had not intended to do it so strongly.

"But we also thought that you wouldn't come if we didn't pick you up…" added Kyouko, the girl trailed off as she raised a brow towards Homura "Okay, sorry, but what's with the hole? Are you going to bury a corpse or something?"

"You think she would bury a corpse?" asked Sayaka

"Hmmm… no, no, you are right" nodded Kyouko "She is more the type to melt the body with acid to get rid of all evidence… like, to hide the fact she was going to sell meth or something"

"Who are you even comparing her to? I don't think she would do that" added Sayaka with a playful tone that felt alien to the still worried Madoka.

"I mean… she is good at chemistry" finished Kyouko.

Madoka looked at both girls with a confused look, her mind still too focused on Homura to even understand what they were talking about.

"You really think I would get rid of evidence in the middle of the day? It's just for a tree" finally answered Homura, seeing that the other two had stopped talking.

Sayaka and Kyouko looked at each other with raised eyebrows before looking back at Homura with entertained looks in their eyes.

"We knew it was for a tree Homu" mockingly explained Kyouko.

Sayaka failed not to laugh at the slightly annoyed frown that Homura had in her face which clearly spelt 'why would you ask then'

"We just wanted to joke around a bit, didn't expect you to take us seriously" added Sayaka.

Homura indifferently looked at them for a few seconds before she went back to work in the hole, the annoyed frown in her face slowly going away as she focused on digging.

"Girl, you've been getting more annoying lately huh" complained Kyouko, her attempt at a taunt not even getting her a glare from Homura.

"She still won't tell me what's wrong…" lamented Madoka as she walked closer to the other two.

"I'm fine" said Homura, the girl's eyes completely focused on the hole.

"Eh, not sure about that. It sure doesn't look like you are" added Sayaka, only to get ignored too as Homura took one last big swing with the shovel.

After Homura made sure that the hole was deep enough, she left the shovel on the ground and walked towards the potted apple tree.

"Let me help" proposed Kyouko, the girl rolling up her sleeves as she spoke.

"No" cut Homura as she approached the potted tree.

"What do you mean 'no'? There is no fucking way you are moving that by yourself" Kyouko exaggeratedly gestured towards the tree "That thing is like twice your size"

"I'm with Kyouko on this one" added Sayaka "you will just hurt yourself. I can't even believe that Madoka would let you do this alone"

"I tried to tell her not to, but…" Madoka trailed off.

"There is no need for that" affirmed Homura as she placed herself in front of the tree and used the bucket that Madoka had brought to soften the soil around the tree. With a small garden shovel she started to dig out the roots while being careful not to break most of them.

"I know you are strong and all that, but really, you are going to hurt yourself" pressured Kyouko, now walking towards the tree too. "Just let us help"

Homura forcefully shoved the garden shovel into the dirt next to her before standing up and embracing the now loose apple tree from the trunk.

"Homura-chan please, let them help" pleaded Madoka, granting her a pensative side glance from Homura "I don't want to see you get hurt, please"

"Do I have to remind you that you have to do what I say today?" barked Kyouko, an angry look on her face "Let us help you dumbass"

Homura let go of the tree and turned around to face them directly. The girl raised a hand, presenting the tree to the other two.

"Go ahead" said Homura in her dismissive tone.

Sayaka and Kyouko looked at Homura with a mix of disbelief and a tint of anger at the girl's tone. Kyouko let out a defeated sigh before she tapped a clearly annoyed Sayaka in the shoulder, shaking her head to let her know that it wasn't even worth it, and started to walk towards the tree.

Each of them got on a different side of the tree before they carefully picked it up and started to move it towards the hole. Slowly they guided the tree into its new home until its roots rested comfortably in the hole. Homura picked up the shovel while the other two held the tree in place and started to fill the hole in silence.

When there was enough dirt around the tree, Sayaka and Kyouko let go of it. Homura kept filling the hole back up and stomped the ground to make sure it wasn't loose.

Homura left the shovel on top of the wheelbarrow before she turned towards them, a cold look in her eyes.

"I guess we are leaving now"

"Yeah" answered Kyouko. "That's the plan"

"I'll go after I put everything back and get changed" said Homura before she started to wheel the wheelbarrow into the storage room.

"I- I'll help" jumped Madoka, maybe getting her mind busy with something would help not to think about everything.

"There is no-" Homura stopped herself, looking back at Madoka "right, thank you, Madoka"

Madoka weakly smiled at the girl before picking up the bucket and the gardening shovel, and walked behind her. Sayaka and Kyouko simply waited for them to come back.

Madoka and Homura entered the poorly lit storage room, the smell of humidity and dust quickly making it harder to breathe. Madoka dashed towards the shelf where the things she had gathered belonged to, trying to finish before Homura could leave the place.

A task that probed quite easy, seeing as how Homura had to make her way with a wheelbarrow through narrow hallways.

"Homura-chan?" asked Madoka from behind the girl.

"Yes?" asked Homura, eyes still focused on where the wheelbarrow was going.

"Uhmm…"

Madoka stopped to think for a second, should she press the girl a bit more? Should she leave her be for now, hope that she will follow her word and tell her the next time she is in trouble? Should she be worried about the solution Homura had found to her unknown problem?

Homura stopped walking, turning back now to face Madoka with a slight worry in her eyes.

"Madoka?"

"Sorry, it's nothing. Just wanted to say goodbye away from other people" said Madoka as she tried to put on a smile that felt sincere.

Homura looked at Madoka with languishing eyes, a small tender smile appearing on her lips as she spoke.

"I understand" said Homura in her ever calm tone "I'll be waiting to see you again tonight"

Madoka truly smiled this time, her eyes filling with melancholic happiness as she spoke.

"Me too"

Their eyes were kept locked on each other, soft smiles on their lips and a comfortable yet doubtful silence surrounded them. Madoka took a step forward after a moment of hesitation, only to stop dead in her tracks before she even finished moving forward.

"Well, see you tonight Homura-chan" Madoka stopped for a second "Please be safe and don't do anything dangerous"

"I won't" smiled Homura "See you, Madoka"

Madoka stood in place, their eyes still looking directly at each other before she gathered enough courage to turn around and start walking outside.

She had to take a peek behind her, not sure if Homura would still be there when she looked.

Homura closed the door behind her, the soft click telling her the lock was on.

She walked towards the locker where her clothes laid, the door easily opening with a beep after she showed it her student ID.

"I want to talk" spoke Homura as she started to undress herself.

"Oh? You do?" sarcastically said the Devil, her form appearing behind Homura with her raven wings encompassing the room and blocking the light that came through the window "Thought you were trying to kill me rather than talking"

Homura threw the Devil an uninterested side glance as she finished pulling off her shirt, the big scar on her chest the only remainder of who she used to be.

"We both know you won't die" added Homura as she neatly folded her shirt. "I just want to take back what was mine"

"How are you sure you are the real deal though? As far as we are concerned-"

"I don't care who is" interrupted Homura, her earring glowed with a deep blacker than black light as the Devil's form was stripped of her wings; her fake body forced to feel gravity falling to the ground in the process. "But I know that if I take you back, I'll be able to protect Madoka"

"You won't last a week" smugly said the Devil as she got up, putting on the same strong front that Homura always used "I know what you want to do with our full power…"

The Devil walked towards Homura until their faces were mere centimeters away. The Devil's hand grabbed Homura's chin and forcefully raised the girl's face to meet the Devil face to face, full crimson blood eyes looking straight into Homura's own blood tainted amethysts.

"…And let me tell you something, " The Devil's flame roared with the same passion that had created this universe, Homura's eyes recovering their violet tone as it did so "you can't be a god and live as a mortal, Akemi Homura"

Bony wings started to grow back from the Devil's back as she held Homura's head in her hand, the light in the room slowly dimming around them.

"That's just how the universe works" finished the Devil.

Homura slowly closed her eyes, focusing on the war that had been happening since this morning in her mind and trying to push back.

"I don't care" Homura opened her eyes, red tainting them once again as her purple gem turned black. She didn't feel when the Devil grip tightened, nor did she care. "I'll forsake the laws of the universe as many times as I have to for her"

The Devil's hand started to rot away; the Devil hurriedly pulled away from Homura only bone being left on her hand. Homura looked at the irritated Devil for a second before she turned around once more and started to put on her school uniform.

"I didn't call you here to ask about your opinion" said Homura as she carefully unraveled her clothes "I want to ask a favor of you"

The Devil focused on trying to put her hand back together, the flesh and skin slowly forming back into their porcelain skin. The black glove that had been melted away crept down from her forearm, coiling around the newly formed hand in a second.

"Why should I even help you?" hissed the Devil as she tried to take back more power from the now unstable flame.

Homura finished putting on the top of her uniform, the girl adjusted the big ribbon as she spoke.

"Because it will be the only opportunity that I'm willing to give you to be near Madoka" Homura stopped for a second as she looked outside the window "You'll make sure that she doesn't reach the Law of Cycles while she's alone"

The Devil stared at Homura until the other girl finished properly adjusting her ribbon, her mind still processing Homura's words.

"Oh? So you are accepting my deal then?" said the Devil as she tried to recompose herself "You were being so aggressive before though~"

Homura untied her ponytail, her hair flowing down to her hips in an almost unnatural manner as she turned around and faced the Devil.

"Don't misunderstand me, I'm not planning on letting you go completely unchecked"

Homura focused all her power on trying to take more of that passionate flame for herself, the forceful manner in which she did so making a single crack appear in her soul gem, if it could even be considered that at this point.

"I know you plan on doing something. I know you will try to backstab me"

The same black liquid that emanated from the grief sphere at the center of Hell slowly filled the room until it reached their knees, the liquid promptly gathered in different spots until various Lotte soldiers appeared in position, their spears pointed at the Devil.

"But unlike with the Law of Cycles, I can easily take care of you"

The Devil locked eyes with Homura and took a step forward, the Lotte reacting to the movement by readying their weapons.

The Devil's gaze remained focus on Homura before she kept walking forward, the Lotte at guard but never attacking.

"You think I am scared of some simple familiars?" The Devil reached Homura and towered over her thanks to the high heels she carried herself in. "I have the dolls on my side, you know it"

Homura raised her eyes to meet the Devil, her face completely stoic as she talked.

"They'll follow whoever they think is stronger"

Homura ignored the Devil, turned towards the door and started to walk away. When she reached the door she reached for the handle and held her hand over it.

"If you still think you are stronger, then go ahead and use them"

Homura focused on the Devil, using her power to give her a real body like that of a doll. A sharp pain hit her head the moment she did so, a nauseating sensation from completely separating a part of herself overcoming her as she heard another crack appear on her soul gem.

"I hope you make yourself useful and keep Madoka safe" Homura strained to talk, having to use magic to make her voice not come out broken.

Homura grabbed the handle and opened the door, getting out of the changing room the Devil was now in with a body to use.

Current date: Friday, 30th of May.

A/N:

Sorry for being late again, been sick for these past two weeks but recovering already!

January has been the worst month for me, glad it's already over and I can hopefully get back on the right track.

Also, we reached 200k words! Yay!