Author's Notes: Here is the second edition of Chapter 2, complete with the Chapter preview and the Acts system I wanted to add! Aesthetics is a female dog that I don't necessarily take kindly to.

Magia, Pacem, Bellum Terrarum

A Fractal Story

"So, you want to know about Walpurgisnacht…" Kyuubey said with interest while he viewed the floating screens scattered around Homura's room, "The witch that wanders around in aimless circles, destroying everything in her path."

A screen displaying a sketch of the witch in question then drifted between Homura and Kyuubey. The creature turned its gaze from the screen to Homura then commented, "You really are interesting, Homura Akemi. I wonder how you heard about her."

Homura stayed silent, her patience tested by Kyuubey's searching gaze. Her silence then finally prompted him to carry on.

"Walpurgisnacht, as you already seem to know, was created at the end of the event you humans call the 'Second World War'," Kyuubey recounted as he stared straight into Homura's eyes, "It was a time of hatred, suffering and grief… Also, it was one of the periods of human history when Witches were numerous and their attacks rampant."

"The Second World War was rife with suicides and massacres." Homura replied with disgust, "It's not very hard to make a connection between suffering and Witches… let alone Walpurgisnacht."

"Yes, witches were everywhere." Kyuubey admitted, "Every nation ravaged by the war and the suffering that accompanied it was also ravaged by witches. Therefore, many girls secretly chose to take up arms and become magical girls to counter the despair."

"And you happily gave them contracts…"

"Why, yes of course! How could I refuse?" Kyuubey asked, curious as to why Homura was so taken aback by that fact, "They themselves pleaded with me to give them the strength to fight. I gave them the strength they asked for and even granted them a wish! It was more than a fair deal for them, don't you think? Giving them strength and granting a miracle, that is.

Kyuubey then paused for a moment then sighed, its eerie smile ever present on its face, "You too have had a miracle granted for you… right, Homura?"

The way Kyuubey asked her that made Homura feel rather uneasy. She felt as if he was trying to coerce information out of her, on top of actively trying to read her mind. Sweat slowly dripped from Homura's forehead as she was locked in a staring contest with the red-eyed creature. She knew Kyuubey looked at her with great suspicion and distrust, just as she did towards Kyuubey.

Unaffected by the silence, Kyuubey reached for the screen floating between them. He held onto it and the sketch of Walpurgisnacht was replaced by black and white static, as if someone was rewinding a VHS tape. Kyuubey let go of the screen and random video clips began flashing from it – distorted and unclear. However, Homura could still make out three different girls from the alternating videos.

The screen showed a Japanese girl sitting alone in a train, meditative and silent. It then jumped to an American lady in her early twenties looking out to the sea and the setting sun from the balcony of a large, white plantation house, a half-drank Coca Cola bottle in her hand. The third time around, the screen showed a young Filipina girl walking happily with her mechanic father in a hangar full of USAFFE interceptor planes. Homura was starting to get confused.

"Three girls…" She muttered in thought before asking, "Why am I seeing three girls?"

Her eyes sharpened.

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"No, no. I would not be able to make a joke even if I wanted to – nor would I be able to lie." Kyuubey assured, "Ask me a question and I will answer it truthfully."

"Who then are those girls?"

"They are the three girls responsible for the birth of Walpurgisnacht." Kyuubey replied, "The tale of these three girls and the tale of Walpurgisnacht are, as some of your humans would say, one and the same."

The video then finally stabilized, showing a scene in the Tokyo Imperial Castle in late 1941.

Act I - 1941

Top officials of the branches of the Japanese military had come together for an emergency meeting to discuss the course of action they wanted to take in the coming days. Unlike in their previous meetings which were noted to be serious and fearful, the officials were in unusually high spirits – they joked, smiled, smoked and laughed merrily.

Only days ago, the very thought of war with the United States of America would have struck fear in the Japanese central command. But that day, grand offensive battle plans sweeping through all of the Far East were drawn up. The maps they had spread out over the tables were marked with the fortresses and encampments of the Allied forces and the Americans throughout the Far East and their proposed offensives would strike at each and every one of them. Against their better judgment, they were very much eager to execute it. It was a strange sight, caused by the marks on the necks of the officials that were invisible to the untrained eye – Witch's Kisses.

The officials had become bloodthirsty, pushed to the edge by the frustration that had built up after the withdrawal of American investments in Japan in 1939 and the more recent oil embargo imposed against them. Rather than listen to reason, they had let their emotions guide their decision-making. They had unwittingly led themselves into the witch's barrier.

Within this barrier, a red moon shone menacingly over an endless field of grass littered with rotting corpses that never ceased twitching. Huge grey skies changed at an unusual pace and spectral Taiko drummers beat their drums on and on. Thousands of short, colorless and faceless soldiers clad in bones resembling the armor of samurai stood lethargically in formation, holding up fluttering banners with strange runes and symbols and their katanas hanging at their sides. In the center were rows of Torii arches, set permanently ablaze in dark blue flames, lining a path stained with blood and littered with bits of flesh and torn limbs. At the end of the path was an ill-fashioned statue of a girl made from a bizarre mix of cast iron and papier-mâché. Japanese fans marked with more strange runes floated around the witch, rising up and down to the beat of the Taiko drums.

That statue was the witch of the realm.

The foreign sound of wooden slippers parting blades of grass then resounded throughout the barrier. It quickly caught the attention of the statue, its iris-less eyes trained at the source of the sound. The statue found a lone Japanese girl in a blue kimono patterned with morning glories walking slowly towards the army. A hairpin the girl wore bore a magnificent paulownia-shaped gem that gave off a dull turquoise glow. She held a naginata firmly in her left hand and a Type 100 submachine gun in her right.

Not pleased with the unwelcome visitor, the witch reached for one of the fans floating around her. She lifted it up then waved it down, ordering the soldiers to march towards the girl in the blue kimono.

The faceless army marched together, their orchestrated footsteps akin to thunder. The girl walked onwards patiently, her face showing no fear. When the vanguard of the army was within striking distance, she finally attacked.

Large swipes from her naginata cleaved scores of colorless soldiers at a time and long bursts of submachine gun fire would mow down the soldiers that had come to reinforce their lines, allowing her to press forward. The girl in the blue kimono wedged her way through the enemy and got onto the stone path towards the witch.

Ahead of the soldiers now, the girl slashed at the flaming Torii arches and they collapsed behind her – blocking the path of her pursuers. Thus, the battle had become one-on-one; a duel between the girl in the blue kimono and the statue witch.

Under the cover of the burning arches the girl open-fired at the witch. Immediately, the fans circling the statue came together and blocked the bullets – deflecting them as if the fans were made of sturdy metal. This defensive maneuver however would work towards the kimono girl's advantage. Using the fans as a sort of springboard the girl managed to jump onto them and then pounce at the statue. The girl ran up the statue witch's back and, with a clean swipe of her naginata, she beheaded the witch.

The girl jumped down from the broken statue and landed on the bloodied path where a Grief Seed now sat. A moment later, the barrier of the witch crumbled apart and she found herself at the central courtyard of the Imperial Palace.

Listening in on the conversation of the officials huddled in their room, the girl noticed that their previous euphoria had banished. Their intention to strike at the United States of America, however, remained firmly intact. Orders were already being given out to begin preparations for an attack. The influence of the witch was gone, but the witch had succeeded in accelerating the beginnings of the War in the Pacific.

The girl had come from Hokkaido, travelling southward by boat then by train to Tokyo, defeating a handful of witches and many more familiars along the way – all of which seemed to have the same goal as the witch in the Imperial Castle. She couldn't help but think that the same was true elsewhere in the world.

She heard about the tragedies all over the world; the massive bombardment of Great Britain by the Luftwaffe, the rounding up of Jewish people throughout Axis-controlled territory and the grand systematic massacre and rape of women by Japanese troops in Nanking, China. The list went on and on. The number of witches gathering in Asia greatly troubled her, but she could not figure out what they would gain from provoking the a war. The patterns she started to see didn't make sense.

Little did she know that the war in the Pacific was the next piece of the puzzle to set up the stage for the greatest and most tragic drama known to man.

"Walpurgisnacht… was born in the Far East?" Homura snapped in confusion, "Didn't she come from Europe?"

"My, my." Kyuubey scolded with a shake of its head, "As studious as you may be, it seems you've been studying the wrong war theater."

Shocked, Homura turned to the books that spilled out of her bag earlier. All of them pertained to events that had taken place in Europe and North Africa. Only Mami's book of armaments covered the Pacific War to an extent.

"Don't blame yourself for making that mistake." Kyuubey comforted, "When people talk about the Second World War, Germany, Russia and the United States are the first countries that come to mind. What about British India? What about French Indochina? What about New Zealand? The Pacific War is generally forgotten…"

"In the same way Puella Magi are forgotten after they are gone."

"Precisely!" Kyuubey agreed, not showing even a hint of remorse, "And that's all for tonight."

The screen that floated between the two of them became fuzzy static again before reverting back to the sketch of Walpurgisnacht. Kyuubey then hopped off the table he had been standing on then proceeded to leave Homura's home.

"Where do you think you're going? You haven't told me who Walpurgisnacht is yet."

"You didn't ask to tell me who she was." Kyuubey pointed out. "You only told me to tell you about her. That's a very broad question. I told you something about her and her story – I even showed you her companions. I think that will suffice."

"Wait a minute!"

"My apologies, Homura. It's gotten late. I have somewhere else to be. An Incubator's job is never done." Kyuubey sighed, ignoring Homura's call. "Millennia have passed, and still, my work is unfinished. Entropy is quite a troublesome concept, don't you think so?"

At the threshold of the girl's room, Kyuubey stopped for a moment.

"I'll be back some other time, but you ought to at least know what it is you are actually seeking. Then, I will provide you with all the answers you need."

Once Kyuubey was gone, Homura sat at her couch alone and at a loss. Many of the theories she had conjured up about her foe were flushed down the drain with her first talk with Kyuubey. The answers he provided only spawned more questions that wouldn't give her rest. She did not have the patience to wait for the ferret to come in once he felt like talking again. Seeing the book of armaments she had set aside while Kyuubey talked, Homura remembered someone she might find useful.

She decided to pay Mami Tomoe a visit.

To Be Continued

Episode 3 Preview:

"To have tea with a friend is enough to brighten up one's day.

I have plenty of tea to go around,

But it's not very often that I have someone to share it with.

So then, will you have a cup of tea with me?

Only friends are welcome in this house."

-Mami Tomoe-