I don't own any characters :(

Pain racked my body with each slash. The two hostile Puella Magi had attacked us as we walked in the direction of Kyoto. Both of them had swords. Their Soul Gems shone bright green and bright orange. I barely had time to transform before the first sword struck, sending me reeling backwards. With each cut, I could feel myself weakening but I forced myself to stay standing. I would not let them near Madoka. One of them swung for my neck. Lifting my hands, I stopped the sword mid-swing and the blade sunk into my hands. The other darted in and stabbed me, kicking me off of the blade afterward. The flurry of blows continued. Would I die here?

Then, it stopped. Why did they stop? Was it to let the pain sink in? Were they mocking me? I staggered to the side, rivulets of blood flowing out of various wounds all over my body. The world looked blurry. Somewhere in the distance, I heard metal ringing against metal. The ground rushed up to meet me, and I prepared to flinch at the impact of collapsing. But I didn't. Soft hands broke my fall, and I felt myself slowly being lowered to lying down position.

Madoka had caught me.

Even as a regular girl, she had protected me.

Tears brimmed in my eyes.

This wasn't right. I was supposed to be the one protecting Madoka.

I could feel a sheen of darkness appear in my Soul Gem. I looked up and found the azure eyes of Miki Sayaka staring down at me. Her lips moved, but I heard nothing save for the rush of blood in my head. Her hand moved. In it rested a grief seed. I mustered the last of my strength and gripped her hand, pushing it away.

"No…" I croaked. "Don't waste it on me…"

My voice continued to speak of its own accord. I had no control.

I deserve no salvation. Let it end here. I'm useless. Worthless. I don't deserve to even be in Madoka's presence. I can't even protect her after all she's done for me. In the corner of my eye, I see Madoka run away. Am I about to turn? I hoped it wouldn't hurt. The pink-haired girl reappeared. She reached for my Soul Gem.

Shattering. The cacophony of shattering glass filled my ears, causing my head to throb. I wanted to scream. The noise. It was too loud. Voices came rushing to me again. I tried to recognise each voice through the sound of glass ringing in my head.

"You ….you're so sneaky.…"

"...rry up, Madoka! Use the ….seed!"

"Homura-chan...st...with me!"

Suddenly, the air filled with the acrid smell of blood. I could see a spray of red at the periphery of my vision. A grief seed pressed against my Soul Gem. I turned my head weakly. Kyōko held a girl by the neck, her spear impaled on the limp form in her grasp. A body lay by the redhead's feet, surrounded by shards of green glass. I began to see double, and the world spun. I rolled over, retching. A metallic taste filled my mouth as my saliva came out pink and red. A thump sounded, the sound of a body hitting the floor. Everything quieted down. I rolled back to face the sky. The sound of shattering glass filled the air again, but this time it was muffled.

Was I dying? I didn't know. Did I want to? Yes. No. I don't know.

Just die. I can't die yet. You're worthless. That's not true. Yes, it is. No, it's not. Madoka needs me. Who the hell would need someone weak like you? I… I…But Madoka… Kyoto… Pathetic. You're nothing.

My thoughts drifted off. Rain pattered down from the clouds above.

The world faded to black.

A bland white ceiling stared back at me as I opened my eyes.

.

.

.

White ceiling? The hospital?! I sat up violently, causing my vision to darken and my head to spin. I could hear voices. Where was I…?

I looked around the room. Four backpacks lay in a corner. One of them was knocked over sideways, a box of Pocky half-exposed from the bag. A small wooden table rested about two feet from where I sat. I was on a couch. It wasn't the hospital, and I was not in a new time loop. Where was I? What was I doing?

I stood, taking an unsteady step before I fell again, landing on the table with a loud crash. My memory was fuzzy. I remembered...rain...blood… That's right…. We were attacked by two Puella Magi...

"Homura-chan!"

Madoka's voice. In an instant, the pinkette was beside me, helping me to my feet. Two sets of footsteps entered the room and I found myself in the presence of Kyōko and Sayaka.

"Wh-where are we? How did you two find us?" I asked. The stutter in my voice was painfully evident.

"We're in Tokyo, Homura. Your parents' place. Madoka took us here," Kyōko said, taking a bite out of an apple. "You left a grief seed in some building here and Kyuubei said you were the last one to use it. We had sensed you outside Tokyo before that but we didn't think too much of it."

My head hurt.

"So...was it you two that I sensed outside Tokyo before and not the two who attacked? What happened to those two?"

"I killed them," Kyōko responded nonchalantly, as if she were simply discussing the weather. Before I could say anything else, Madoka tackled me in a hug, nearly knocking me off my feet. I was still unsteady.

"Homura-chan! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Stuck in a hug with my head awkwardly looking past Madoka's shoulder, I could see Kyōko holding in laughter. I gave her a death glare, but I could feel heat building in my cheeks anyway. After a few seconds, I was released and I turned to Sayaka and Kyōko.

"Madoka and I are headed for Kyoto. Will you come with us?"

"Kyoto? What for?" Sayaka spoke up.

I shrugged. We had no reason, really, beyond that Madoka wanted to go there. Madoka tugged on my sleeve.

"Homura-chan, we should let Kyōko-chan and Sayaka-chan talk about it. Let's go see your parents. They wanted to talk to you."

"No," I said. I refused to see so-called "parents" who didn't even care about me.

Madoka simply looked at me with those round pink eyes of hers. Damn it. Did she even know what she could do to me if she wanted? I figured she did, actually. I sighed.

"Fine."

I walked beside Madoka out of the room, leaning on her for support as I still had trouble walking. As the door closed, I could hear the two Magi whispering to each other. We entered a bedroom a bit further down the hallway. Both of my parents sat on chairs in there, staring at me. Well, glaring would be a more accurate word for what my father was doing. We stopped, and I pressed my hand against the wall to keep steady, instead of pushing all of my weight against Madoka. I didn't notice it, but the short distance it took to walk to this room had me breathless. Small cuts could still be seen on my face and hands, but I ignored them. I stared at my parents.

"I'm told you two wanted to talk to me. So talk. After that, I'm leaving," I say, as harshly as I can. My voice catches in the middle, and it sounds dry and hoarse, but I supposed that was natural after getting cut up so badly. We stood in silence for several minutes. Then, my mother spoke.

"Homura, there's a safe place being set up in America. You should come with us. I know you're angry, but we can survive there."

The words my mother spouted barely registered in my head. I tuned out the rest of her speech, then sucked in a breath. My parents looked at me expectantly.

"No. I refuse. And even if I said yes, we have no way of getting there. Is that all you have to say?"

"Our friends by the coast survived. They have a boat. It can't get us all the way, but it can get us to Australia. Apparently there's an airport that survived there," my mother replied. I sighed in exasperation.

"You don't get it, do you? I hate you. You think you can abandon me in Mitakihara, then ask me to leave with you just because you heard some rumour? If I hadn't made it clear enough before, let me get it through your thick skull. I'm done wit-"

My head jerked to the right, slamming into the wall. Stars appeared in my eyes, and my knees gave out. Madoka screamed. I could feel something wet running down the side of my head as Madoka rushed to my side, placing her hands on me to help me up.

My father stood, arm still extended, palm still outstretched. He had slapped me. He inhaled and exhaled viciously, eyes holding a fire that I once would have feared, had I still been the same snivelling girl they had left in Mitakihara.

"Show your mother some respect, Homura! Who do you think you're talking to? Who do you think raised you for fourteen years?"

Anger welled inside me in response. I stood up slowly and looked into his eyes, half my face covered in blood. Fury the likes of which I had never felt, not even when insulted by Miki Sayaka, showed in my eyes. Madoka backed off in terror.

"Homura-chan, don't-"

None of Madoka's words clicked with me. I screamed. Grabbing my father's still outstretched arm, I pulled him close and punched him as hard as I could. He flew clear across the room, landing in a heap, out cold thanks to my above-human strength. This time, it was my mother's turn to scream.

The door burst open, and Kyōko and Sayaka were in.

"I SAID NO! GO TO AMERICA IF YOU WANT! I'M NOT GOING WITH YOU! JUST GO! GO AND STAY FAR AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed anything and everything that my mind could process in its sluggish state.

"Akemi-san…?"

"Homura?"

The sounds of Sayaka and Kyōko's voices brought me back to some semblance of reality. I blinked, then stumbled out of the room. No one followed. Not even Madoka. Tears stung my eyes. I felt disgusted with myself. I'm a monster.

...perhaps I should start acting like one.

A twisted grin made it onto my face as I grabbed my bag, unzipping it and taking out one of my very last pistols. Checking that it was loaded, I climbed up the ladder, pausing only briefly when a spell of dizziness struck. Then, I was out of the basement. The rain was still falling.

I looked around. What a stroke of luck. Tokyo was in ruins, but it was far from abandoned. Two people stood on the sidewalk about ten metres away, back turned. I began laughing. I barely sounded human to myself.

Because I wasn't.

I fired. One fell, the other looked confused.

I fired again. The second fell too, and I started to double over in laughter.

Was I going insane? I didn't know. But that certainly felt good. I was still shaking from laughter, but I managed to straighten up. The blood on the side of my face felt slick, mixing with the rain. Some of it flowed into my mouth. It tasted of salt and copper. Disgusting.

Adjusting my backpack, I set off on a walk to find more targets. I felt something akin a splinter in my mind, something inherently wrong with my thoughts. What was it? I didn't know. Why was I here? I didn't know. All I knew was that I needed more people who weren't Madoka.

Somewhere, a still-rational part of me hoped Madoka would not find out what I was doing right now.

A/N:

Hey there... I'll just leave this here... :D