They entered the witch's barrier, the plain run-down building morphing into a cave full of sweets and sticky foodstuffs. Their footsteps echoed through the brightly-coloured hallways, and a few needles flapped by on cotton gauze wings. She knew in her heart this wouldn't be easy, but she was the sempai here; she had to be brave and –

"Stop. Do not come any further."

Akemi Homura stood in front of them (how had she got there? She hadn't been there before), wearing an odd grey disc around her wrist. "There is a plot afoot here. If you value your life – your true, original life – you will turn back." The girl's purple eyes glared at Mami's shoulder, just like Jotaro's did. "I don't know why you're here, or why I'm here, but I know we shouldn't be doing this. We can't get out…" She shook her head, staring past them towards the entrance, losing all her focus. "We can't get out…"

Mami frowned and, with a small sigh, transformed into Hierophant Gold. "Okay, Homura-chan. Be calm. Maybe you should leave this to the rest of us, okay?"

Homura shook her head again and smiled, showing a pair of abnormally large canines. Like a vampire, or something. Suddenly her voice was different somehow, more… vibrant. She finally made eye contact, and Mami found herself wishing that she hadn't. "Oh, you can take the witch if you so desire. It will make it that much easier for me to achieve my goal. But… I warn you, you may regret it. Or, rather, you may forget it." She looked down. "I don't remember what I'm doing here…"

Mami sighed and allowed her golden ribbon-like tentacles to wrap the dark-haired girl up. Homura offered no resistance, merely staring at the tendrils with an odd expression. "This witch is different from the others, Mami-san. You should be careful out there."

She glared at Homura for a moment, then without a second glance walked off down the corridor, leaving the rest of them to follow along in her wake. Homura simply stared blankly ahead.

They really were similar, her and Jotaro. But… somehow Homura reminded Mami of someone else, as well. Someone with an ominous past and a connection to her own life, like… an old boss or a friend. (But that was crazy. She didn't have any friends.)

(She thought of Jotaro, and wondered why she felt a connection to a complete stranger.)

"You know," said Sayaka, thoughtfully, "we never did come up with a codename for Homura-chan. Any ideas?"

Madoka shuddered, and hugged Kyubey closer to her chest. "She… seems crazy, but I have a feeling some of what she said is true. It feels kinda creepy, so she needs a big, creepy name, like… [DIO]."

DIO. The name sent a shiver down their spines, the air suddenly seeming a lot cooler than it had been. A name of great mystery and power, as of one who had rejected their humanity… and yet, was that weakling half-mad girl a suitable carrier for such a name? Somehow, her dark hair and small frame seemed not to fit with a name with such an aura.

Damn and blast, there was no time for thoughts like this. Best to move on. "We're here. The witch hasn't noticed us yet, but… I think there are familiars around. Sayaka-chan?"

Sayaka nodded, and turned around to the left, into a gallery that surrounded the witch. A moment later, the soft thunk of a baseball bat told them she had found her first target.

"Madoka-chan, Jotaro-kun. Watch me and learn, okay?"

The two of them nodded. Hierophant Gold turned away and burst through the doors, jumping down into the central room. (Her soul felt odd; she felt uncomfortable in open spaces like this, but she had no choice.) The witch, a small red doll-like figure on a high chair surrounded by cake stands, sat limply and stared out into the void.

Two of Hierophant Gold's tentacles twisted, then morphed into a pair of long, intricately decorated muskets; she took one in each hand and shot them, one after another at the witch. The doll shook with the rebounds. Mami began to summon more of them, first five, then ten, then dozens, taking shot after shot, and sometimes all at once with a cry of "Unlimited Musket Splash!"

And then she turned to her two hangers-on as Hierophant Gold, and asked them, "Should I do my special move?"

"Special move?"

Hierophant Gold winked at them coquettishly, and a much larger ribbon-tentacle began to form. Slowly, it twisted up into what looked like a giant cannon, aimed at the small and helpless doll.

"No witch can just deflect this!"

A breath. "Golden Splash Finale!"

There was a boom. The cannon unravelled, and Hierophant Gold gave a curtsy. The witch convulsed, once, and opened its wide, unnatural mouth.

"Something's wrong." Jotaro pointed at the witch. "What's that coming out of its mouth?"

"Mami-san, get out of the way! Something's coming!"

A black beast reared up from somewhere inside the doll – how did it all fit? – and stared at Hierophant Gold hungrily. Mami was halfway through transforming – her head stuck up from the green-tentacled body – and she looked up at the monster just one moment too late.

It ate her.


Fuck.

"Oh my god…" Madoka stared in horror beside him. "What do we do? Where's Sayaka-chan? Oh my god…"

The lower half of Mami's body dropped to the ground. The black monster bent down to finish its meal.

Jotaro stared, and tried to remember how you were supposed to transform. It was easy, right? He wasn't sure.

"Tch. She's dead, huh?" Homura was standing next to them, fiddling with her grey disc. "Guess fighting one witch won't hurt."

Then, in the space of a breath, she was standing on the tall tea-table, staring at the slowly undulating black behemoth. "Look over here, monster."

The black thing looked up, staring at the dark-haired girl curiously. It bit down, breaking the legs of the tea-tables into splinter without even thinking about it.

"Over here. Are you sure you bit the right place?" Homura tipped her head from the top of an impossibly high cake-stand. It bit down again.

"Useless. What a useless witch." She turned her back on the leviathan from yet another cake-stand. It chomped down once more.

She landed daintily on the last remaining high chair. "And now, I would like you to explode, if you would be so good."

On cue, a large explosion rocked the snake-like black beast, quickly followed by a second. A small smirk appeared on Homura's face.

The third, largest explosion shook the whole foundations of the barrier, blowing the gigantic witch's head to smithereens and spreading pieces of black something to every corner of the room.

The barrier weakened, wobbled, and at last disappeared altogether. Sayaka, appearing from behind where there had been a pillar before, looked around in confusion; the other two stared at Homura. She caught the falling grief seed in her hand and stared at it vaguely.

"Homura-chan…" Madoka's voice was shaking. "Mami-san…"

The purple-eyed girl looked up. "Mami-san, or [Kakyoin], as you seem to have named her, is dead. She will remain that way unless…" She grinned, showing those pointed incisors once again. "Unless you find a way out of here."

"Out of where, exactly?" This mad girl was being too vague, too annoying. He was starting to get pissed off. "How do you know all this?"

Homura shrugged. "I don't know. The thought just occurred to me, as if I suddenly remembered it. But…hah…" She shook her head. "I don't know how to get out. The only other thing I just remembered…" With a cool, calculating attitude, she pointed at the three of them. "You three are my enemies. And if I figure this out, you're on your own."

With that, she was gone, as if she'd never been there in the first place. Beside him, Madoka dropped to her knees.

"Mami-san…"