Hey, it's this story again! Sorry for not updating as I used to. Here's the new chapter POV Homura

MADOKA MAGICA

I fear that some things cannot be changed. If what happened earlier was any indication, Sayaka Miki's decent into despair is inevitable. I suppose the least I can do is prevent Kyouko Sakura from falling as well...

Failure is looking more and more likely...

MADOKA MAGICA

Homura and Kyouko were wandering in a neighborhood in the outskirts of Mitakihara. Shortly after ending the battle between Kyouko and Sayaka, the raven haired girl brought the red head there. She had something she wanted the other to see.

"Hey, it's Akemi, right?" Kyouko began as the two of them entered an alleyway. "You mind telling me what the hell we're doing here?"

"There''s a magical girl nearby. You can sense it right?" Homura noted. "She's Ritsu Watanabe from two towns over. She chased a witch into this city with the intention to kill it."

"Okay, yeah what about her?"

"While she did succeed in slaying it, both the battle and the journey to this city had expended too much of her magic"

They rounded a corner and, sure enough, there was a girl with dark green hair sprawled against the wall at the end of the alley. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were dead, her breathing was ragged, and her magical girl outfit was in tatters. She looked absolutely exhausted. She stared blankly into the darkened soul gem she was holding up in front of her face. It looked like it was supposed to be glowing a brilliant hue of emerald yet instead it was tainted with darkness that seemed to suck in any light that touches it.

"The level of corruption in a magical girl's soul gem is directly tied to two things. One is the use of magic and the other is her emotional state. Any of those two will cause it to darken" Homura stated. "When a soul gem darkens completely, the soul within will undergo a severe transformation and the gem breaks open. From that broken gem, the corrupted soul will be freed and will materialize into this world. That soul is called a witch"

The girl began shaking violently. There was an audible crack from the girl's soul gem. A powerful shock wave pulsed outward, pushing the two back a step. Floating above the thrashing girl was was a grief seed that was expanding. When it grew to the size of a basket ball, it exploded in a brilliant flash.

Homura and Kyouko found themselves in a large dark cage. The floor was grey and tiled pavement. The cage was a criss-cross of rebar. From the ceiling hung fans with propellers made of razor sharp sickles spinning fast enough to rip things to shreds. At the very center of the barrier was what looked to be a horse-sized mantis with a heavily scarred female human torso for an upper body and a tangle of flesh, metal, and concrete for a lower body, with its eyes turned yellow and grown to the size of diner plates, jaw ripped off and left hanging in a disturbingly bloody smile, and hands both wielding large scythe blades that seem to be made nails, pipes and human bones, flattened and sharpened into a deadly weapon. At its feet was the corpse of the former magical girl, still and lifeless.

Kyouko transformed into her magical girl outfit. "Akemi, what the fuck just happened!?" She yelled, brandishing her spear.

There was a flash of purple and Homura was clad in her magical attire as well. "Exactly what I told you" She said, raising her shield. With a click, her shield turned and the sand stopped flowing from one chamber to another. The world stopped and turned to grey.

The raven haired girl took out a shotgun from her shield and began pumping lead into the creature's chest. The pellets shot forward, scattering as they went, only to stop short as they became frozen in time. Once all six shells were shot at the mantis, she pulled out a propane tank and put it in the way of the six shotgun blasts. She then pulled out a lighter and lit it. She returned to her place next to Kyouko and turned her shield back.

The magic hourglass, now upright and flowing, returned time to it's normal speed.

The witch stumbled back as a fiery explosion materialized out of nowhere. It screamed as it caught fire, flailing around, trying to put out its the burning flesh.

"Separate the torso from the mantis body!" Homura ordered Kyouko as she pulled out a pipe bomb. The red head was quick to respond, dashing forward and slashed, disemboweling the witch while it was still writhing in flaming agony. "Get back! Now!" She raised her shield and stopped time once more.

She bounded forward and jammed the lit pipe bomb into the mass of concrete, metal, and flesh - straight into the wound Kyouko had inflicted. She took out another bomb and pushed it up the severed human torso. She then jumped clear, dragging Kyouko by the collar.

When she unpaused time, the two separated bodies were blown apart simultaneously. The labyrinth faded shortly after.

"...Akemi..." Kyouko whispered as she picked up the grief seed.

"You may call me Homura."

"Fine, Homura..." She continued. "Why did you show me this?"

Homura ran a hand through her hair and looked at the moon above them. "Because I need your help and your ignorance in this matter would be detrimental to my plans"

"... What makes you think I'll help you anyway?"

"Mami isn't dead yet." The raven haired girl turned toward the red head. "Would you like to see her"

Kyouko returned Homura's impassive stare with a displeased scowl. "You're serious about this, right? You're not joking...?" There was a certain amount of desperation in her voice when she said that.

"I never joke" Homura said flatly. She pushed her glasses up, a thin smile on her face. And the piece is captured. All according to plan.

MADOKA MAGICA

Homura and Kyouko sat at opposite ends of a circular table. In the middle of said table was Mami's soul gem, surrounded by six grief seeds, with a steady stream of darkness flowing from the golden gem into the black spheres.

The room was quiet. The only sound came from the gears of clockwork, spinning endlessly on the ceiling, casting dark shadows on the pure white room. The shadow of a swinging pendulum was periodically cast over the red head as she stared that the glowing yellow egg on the table.

Kyouko finally broke the silence with a question. "That's really Mami, isn't it?" She asked. "It isn't just some sort of trick?"

She looked desperate. It was as if the answer meant the world to her. At that time, it probably did.

Homura sat hunched over the table, hands clasping each other in front of her face. The light reflecting off her glasses shone ominously as the pendulum's shadow swept over her. "You know as well as I do what the touch of Mami's soul feels like." She said "Find out for yourself"

The raven haired girl eyed the other after she said that. The red head seemed reluctant to extend her mind to feel the presence within the soul gem. She looked at Kyouko who hesitantly made a telepathic connection with the golden jewel.

She suddenly recoiled. "That's her... That's really Mami..." She said shakily. "It's true... Kyubey ripped out our fucking souls and put them in these stupid eggs..." Her hands clenched tightly on the table. "Tell me what happened to her."

As the shadow passed over her face again, Homura smiled ever so slightly. It lasted less than a second as when her face was no longer in shade, her face was impassive as usual.

"Mami Tomoe was fighting a witch made of yarn and needles." She said. "Due to the witch's powers being similar to her ribbon powers, Mami had trouble fighting even its familiars. She thought one of its larger familiars was the witch itself and was caught off guard when more of them dropped from the ceiling."

"There were too many for her to deal with..." Kyouko already knew where things were going. But still, she couldn't guess how Mami managed to survive, if only as a soul gem.

"Sayaka Miki was there when she fell" Homura said.

"What?"

"Sayaka Miki, the magical girl whom you fought earlier today. She was a friend of Mami." The raven haired girl stated. "As Mami was being overwhelmed, she made a wish. The result was this: Mami Tomoe, brought back from the brink of death."

"She... she saved her...?"

Kyouko's astonishment came as no surprise to Homura. As with previous timelines, the three of them shared close relations when they were alive. Finding out Sayaka Miki's role in Mami's survival probably made a bigger impact to Kyouko than those two nearly killing each other.

"Sayaka Miki feels guilty for the state Mami Tomoe is in." Homura said. "I reiterate, a magical girl's emotional state is directly proportional to the corruption in her soul gem. Negative emotions will cause it to darken and that corruption with in turn worsen her emotions, further darkening the gem. Sayaka Miki is not a stable person..."

The red head stared numbly as the bespectacled girl spoke. "So.. So she's gonna turn into a witch...?"

Homura removed her glasses and stared her straight in the eye. "Sayaka Miki will fall..." She said with a melancholic conviction. "It is inevitable..."

"I won't let that happen." Kyouko said standing up. "I'll keep her from becoming a witch."

When Kyouko had left, Homura sighed. If only you could...

MADOKA MAGICA

Kyouko Sakura is not likely to survive if Sayaka Miki is allowed to become a witch. If worse comes to worst, I will have to kill her before that time comes. I still hope that it doesn't come to that...

MADOKA MAGICA

Mostly just faffing about in this one, huh? It seems my habit of stretching things out is starting to seep into this story. Rest assured, we've reached past the half way point. This story won't be longer than 26 chapters if I can help it.