ZERO WEEKS LATER: LOOP 1342

Rachel slumped down on the seat opposite from Homura, who was organizing a set of images on a holographic display. She always worked so diligently, she never gave up hope that Walpurgisnacht could be destroyed.

She wasn't just fighting to free herself from the loop.

She was fighting for Madoka.

Rachel wished she had that kind of motivation. It had been… decades, probably more, since she started. Memories from before the loop were a nonexistent blur.

She had no connections with anyone back in the USA. She had gotten so efficient at leaving the country that she could get to Japan within the day after waking up at the beginning of each loop.

She didn't need to sleep anymore.

To dull the emotional pain, Rachel started drinking. Alcohol didn't last long in a Magical Girl's system, but it provided nearly a full ten minutes of bliss after a full bottle.

Rachel drank an entire body of whiskey, and then dropped the bottle on the ground.

The glass shards didn't matter.

She hadn't walked in here barefoot in a hundred years.

"I think… I think I'm losing hope… Homura."

Homura pulled up a specific image of an ancient drawing. "We're going to try the strategy we talked about a few loops ago."

"Do you feel anything, Homura?" asked Rachel.

Homura looked up at her.

"I… I don't know how long I can keep doing this. We try, we fail. We try, we fail. We try, try, try, try… try…"

She buried her face.

"Try…"

She looked at Homura with teary eyes.

"I want to go home… but I don't even know where home is! I've spent the majority of my life here! In this fucking war room with this stupid fucking guillotine swiging back and forth for the past century!" She jumped up, punching the spiked pendulum directly in the side, breaking it off its pole and embedding itself in a wall.

Rachel landed and walked back to her spot.

Homura had no reaction.

"I work to save Madoka." she stated, deadpan. "That is my motivation. That is what I fight for."

"Is she even worth it?" Rachel responded.

Homura stood up. "What did you just say?"

Rachel stood up as well. "The loop doesn't start as soon as Madoka dies. I've seen her get murdered hundreds of times, and sometimes the loop doesn't restart until a full few minutes after she does! I'm starting to think there is no connection. If she's collateral, so what?"

"Stop. Talking." demanded Homura.

"No, actually…" Rachel put her hand on her chin. "I've never seen what you're doing when the loop ends."

"Shut up!"

"Homura." Rachel glared at her. "What are you doing at the end of every loop!"

"You need to stop right now." Homura grabbed her shield.

Rachel extended her shields.

Neither activated their power. Not yet.

"Answer. The question." said Rachel. "I can resist your power. You can't resist mine. I will win a fight between us every time. And you know that!"

Homura didn't respond.

"My Soul Gem has broken more times than I can remember. I've never seen yours break. You always retreat when I'm on the ground and the fight is lost. Where do you go? What do you do?!"

Homura slightly rotated her shield.

Rachel further extended her own.

"Answer me!"

"I'm causing it!" Homura yelled.

"... what?"

Rachel stood there, motionless. Seconds turned to minutes.

Homura looked off to the side. "I… I need to save Madoka and destroy Walpurgisnacht. Both. Not one or the other. It can be done. I know it! If we just keep trying, we can end this!"

Rachel snickered.

The snicker turned into a chuckle.

The chuckle turned into a laugh

The laugh descended into insanity.

Rachel kept going, arching her head back and laughing into the air.

She looked back at Homura with a broken smile.

"One hundred years. You've been lying to me for a hundred years. None of this is because of the witch… or Madoka… this is just… just one Magical Girl subjecting me to eternal torment! So she can rescue someone who doesn't even know her!"

"But I know Madoka! I can-"

"No! Now it's time for you to shut up! I don't care about any of this! I don't care about your friend, I don't care about Mitakihara City, and I definitely don't care about you! End this loop so I can go in peace!"

Homura didn't respond for a second. She let go of her shield, looking down and to her side.

She turned to Rachel.

"No."

"And there it is. There it fucking is!" yelled Rachel. She retracted her shields, sat down, and put her hands on her head.

Homura kept her shield ready.

"I thought about killing you. I thought about ripping off all your arms and keeping you chained up so you couldn't reach your shield. I thought about causing damage to your Soul Gem so severe it would leave you alive, but squirming in pain, unable to come up with a coherent thought. I thought about coming here every loop and making it my mission to kill Madoka until you gave up."

She looked up at Homura.

"But all that's too good for you."

Rachel shot herself up, extended her shields, and rushed at Homura.

Homura tried to block it, she tried to stop time and parry the attack, she tried to bring her shield up.

Nothing worked.

Rachel had done this before, after all.

Homura fell to the ground, two bloody stumps were her arms used to be. Her shielded arm was thrown clear across the room, and her other arm was next to her. She tried to stand up…

Rachel cut off her legs.

Homura couldn't feel pain. She squirmed on the ground as nothing but a torso and head. Her limbs would grow back in a few hours.

But Homura didn't have a few hours.

"You said you wouldn't do it!" yelled Homura. "I know we can beat Walpurgisnacht! You need to think rationally!"

"Rest assured, I don't think you're lying to me." Rachel retracted her shields. "But I think you telling the truth here is even more horrifying. Walpurgisnacht is invincible. We've tried every weapon invented by man; nukes, railguns, even that orbital laser once. Nothing left a scratch on it. I don't know why it's invincible, it just… is."

Rachel sighed.

"Kyubey, come out." she said, sitting down. Homura continued to struggle.

"Rachel Somers."

"What could you possibly have to say to that thing?! This is between you and me!" yelled Homura.

"You know, I forgot I had this. Probably around… fifty years ago? I kept sidelining it, confident that we wouldn't need it to defeat Walpurgisnacht. That was back when I believed your lies.

Rachel looked at Kyubey.

"Alright cat thing. It's time."

"Rachel Somers, are you finally going to use your wish?"

Homura's eyes widened. "You had a wish ready this entire time?!"

"For a split second, I was almost tempted to use it for both of us. To wish that Walpurgisnacht was harmable by conventional weaponry. But you know what?"

Rachel looked straight into Homura's soul.

"I don't think you deserve that. You kept me here for hundreds of years against my will, fighting your fight, trapping me in your loop!"

Tears fell down Rachel's face.

"I… I can't even remember the names of my parents, Homura! Can you? Can you remember any of your life beyond this loop? Any interactions with others that don't involve that stupid fucking Madoka?"

Homura was crying. She didn't respond.

"No… I thought not."

She turned to Kyubey.

"Rachel!" yelled Homura.

"I wish-"

"Don't do this! Please! I'll do anything!"

Rachel turned to Homura, interrupting herself.

"Can you give me my life back?"

Homura stared forward with teary eyes, desperately keeping her head up to keep her eyes on Rachel.

She had no response.

Rachel sighed.

"Kyubey, I wish that I never became a Magical Girl."

A flash of light consumed the room as Kyubey closed his eyes.

Rachel was gone when it calmed down.

Homura stopped squirming.

And stared.