A/N: Hey everyone! So last chapter we were introduced to the beginnings of the plot through the backstory Homura provided in her portion of the first chapter. Something I didn't explain last chapter is that Homura's first person section and the third person section that followed were part of two different time periods. So, for future reference, I will add some information here so that you guys won't end up confused later.
First Person Narrative = Taking place in the year 2017 sometime after Lelouch first appears as Zero.
Third Person Narrative = Taking place in the year 2010 when Homura has reset time to a few months before the Britannian invasion of Japan.
Italic Third Person Narrative = These sections are similar to the normal third person narrative except that the narrator of those scenes is actually a character speaking. For example, C.C. often gives a small speech at the beginning of each episode in Code Geass. In these small speeches, she sometimes refers to herself in the third person. Assume that if this type of narrative shows up, someone unseen is speaking it.
Warnings: This story is basically one huge AU of Madoka Magica, except for Homura's flashback episode near the end of the series. In other words, the events of the anime and Rebellion have not occurred and will not occur. Also in this story, Homura has only been through twelve cycles rather than the rumored 100, meaning that her character development is an ongoing process. As for how Code Geass will tie in...well, it'll eventually be explained. For now, I have to keep you guys guessing.
Opening Theme: O2 by Orange Range
Ending Theme: Enrai (Distant Thunder) by Do As Infinity
Disclaimer: In addition to not owning the rights Madoka Magica or Code Geass, I also do not own the rights to a Code Geass novel entitled, STAGE -0- ENTRANCE by Mamoru Iwasa. This novel is set during the time Lelouch and Nunnally were living with Suzaku at the Kururugi mansion. The final section of this chapter is an excerpt of one of the book's chapters, modified by me to fit my writing style. I will put a proper citation at the end of the chapter. I definitely recommend buying the book Code Geass fans, it is so good and gives a lot of insight into certain characters.
Now with all that said, let's get to this chapter!
"If you enter this contract, you will live as a human, but also as one completely different. Different rules, different time, a different life….
The power of the king will make you lonely indeed." ~C.C.
April 16th, 2010
5:04 p.m.
~Mitakihara City: Kaname Residence
Midway through the afternoon, streams of electricity began to crackle through the sky and thunder loudly proclaimed its presence to the entire city of Mitakihara. Seconds after this explosion of sound, the charcoal clouds angrily opened, sending down a torrent of cold rain upon the civilians traveling the streets and the vehicles moving along the previously dry roads.
Homura Akemi traveled by shadow, having transformed into her magical self in order to combat a witch nearing the residential district where Madoka Kaname lived. She pocketed the grief seed it carried after her victory, knowing to save it for when her soul gem truly needed purification from her inner turmoil.
With her feet quietly sloshing against puddles, the raven-haired girl found herself slightly agitated by the almost vicious storm. She was used to the timelines being different in subtle ways, which included weather patterns, but this particular day, no matter the timeline, was the one exception to the rule. In twelve cycles, March 16th, 2013 remained a day where the weather was eerily perfect, foretelling another doomed effort.
Today was the first instance where the weather actually reflected Homura's sorrow for having failed in the previous cycle.
Despite the fearsome force of the wind and rain, the now fourteen year-old magical girl found her way to Madoka's home. She scowled at the building briefly before silently drawing closer. "Kyubey will be here soon...and when he arrives I'll be waiting to end him."
Removing a simple handgun from her shield, Homura once again ducked out of side, careful not to make a single sound as she hid herself behind the bushes growing near the house. Checking to make sure she hadn't been spotted, she dove across the tiny backyard in a quiet sprint. When she saw the silhouette of Madoka's father in one of the windows, Homura used her powers to freeze time temporarily before bolting out of sight again.
Once safely next the window to Madoka's room, she snuck behind another nearby bush, keeping her body poised to attack the second Kyubey made his appearance, even as her knees began to sink into the muddy ground.
For an hour, violet eyes scanned the area, waiting for a glimpse of the prey they desired.
"I won't lose her this time," she thought, gritting her teeth when Madoka's plea for salvation began to echo in her head like an anthem for probably the thousandth time since making her vow. "I'll protect her. She won't die!"
It was as she was still waiting for Kyubey to show up that Homura heard the sound of the window near her opening followed by an exclamation of, "Wow, it's really pouring!"
"Oi! Madoka! Close the window! You're gonna get water everywhere! Your parents will kill me!"
Homura's gaze widened considerably, her brain short-circuiting for a good couple of seconds as she noted the very distinct tone of Sayaka Miki's voice. "What in the..."
Unable to fathom this turn of events, she activated her time stopping power and sprung out of the bush like a whack-a-mole in order to get a closer look at the situation unfolding before her.
At the sight she saw, the time traveling Magical Girl was unable to stop her jaw from dropping.
"Wh-what is...how..."
Muttering incoherently, Homura stared past Sayaka, who looked like her normal self, wearing her school uniform from Mitikihara Middle School. She was also wearing the silver ring of the Magical Girl around her middle finger. Clearly Kyubey had already gotten to her, but this wasn't caused the stoic girl's jaw to hit the ground beneath her feet.
What caused that hilarious spectacle was the sight of Madoka Kanme as an eight-year old.
An eight-year old!
Homura couldn't believe what she was seeing. Madoka still looked like Madoka, as adorable and sweet as ever, but...it was clear that she was significantly younger, too young for Kyubey to make a contract with, or so the time traveler hoped.
Of course this question remains on her mind.
"How...can this be...what...happened?"
The raven-haired ran away from the pair then, her time magic dissipating half a second before she turned the corner of the house.
Hearing the slight sound of someone's foot scraping along the grass, Sayaka Miki blinked, unbothered by the rain as she stuck out her head to look. "Hmm?"
"Hey! Saya-chan! Let's go play in the rain!"
Shaking her head, the blue-haired girl shut the window without turning to face the child behind her. "No way, kid. You'll get sick."
Madoka lifted her significantly smaller hands to her chest. "Awww, come on Saya-chan! I thought you said you always wanted to dance in the rain. It's raining now, so let's go!"
Laughing at Madoka's pout reflected in the glass, Sayaka finally turned around. "You're too good of a listener, although you forgot part of it."
The younger girl gave her babysitter a quizzical stare. "What part?"
Tapping Madoka's nose lightly, Sayaka replied, "I said I always wanted to dance in the rain with Kyousuke. And by dance in the rain, I mean twirl around in a drizzle...not in that mess."
"But I thought you liked the water," Madoka stated, sounding confused. "You always say you're like a fish. What kind of fish doesn't like the water?"
"Madoka, you can't take everything I say literally..."
"Someone's a freaky fish," the child interrupted, pointing an accusatory index finger toward teen with a look of mock horror.
"What...I'm not..."
"Saya-chan is a freaky fish girl! Saya-chan is a freaky fish girl!" Madoka continued to sing this over and over, prompting an angry blush from the older girl.
"Alright, that's it," she answered, moving her fingers as if they were spider legs. "You've unleashed the tickle monster. Prepare for a painful demise. Ahahahahaha!"
"Ah!" Madoka began giggling the second Sayaka got her hands on her. "No! Don't Saya-chaaaaan!"
Sayaka's responding grin was flat out demonic. "Begging for mercy are we? You're weak, Mado-chan."
"Keeyaaaaaahahahahaha!"
Unbeknownst to the two of them, Homura was inside the house a short distance away, having picked the lock on the front door. After disabling the alarm, she began to move about the house, looking primarily at the photos to see if she was hallucinating somehow. She thought she got her answer when she picked up what had to be the most recent picture. Within it, eight year-old Madoka stood in between her parents wearing a simple red dress and a silver party hat. A banner in the background read Happy New Year.
Homura removed the photo from the frame in a panic, flipping it over to see if there was a date written on the back. There was...
"January 1st, 2010," she breathed, noticing the significant bump of Mrs. Kaname's stomach. Homura knew her best friend had a younger brother...Tatsuya Kaname. She also remembered Madoka was at least seven years older than him, maybe eight by a couple months. Had she gone too far back into the past? No, Sayaka was still the same age...then again she looked slightly more mature to Homura...was she actually older now?
Carrying the photo and its glass frame in her hands, the confused girl walked briskly into the kitchen. She had never actually been inside Madoka's house before, but she knew most families kept calendars and other such things posted on their refrigerator doors.
"This will explain it," she thought once she stood before the stainless steal appliance. Just as she suspected, the calendar was held to the door with a magnet.
Ignoring the X's and circled dates, Homura focused all her attention on the bold heading at the top of the page.
It read, April 2010.
Sayaka barely heard the sharp sound of breaking glass over Madoka's fitful giggles. Upon hearing it though, she stopped her assault on Madoka's sides, rising from the bed quickly as a serious look overcame her features. The younger girl didn't notice, she was still trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard.
Wiping away some tears that had leaked out of her eyes, the pink-haired girl began to speak. "Saya-chan..."
"Quiet Madoka!"
The whispered command caused the younger girl to flinch. Suddenly she noticed the grim expression on her babysitter's face.
"What's wrong," she asked, careful to be as quiet as possible.
Sayaka softened her expression to ease Madoka's worries. "I'm sorry. It's just that I heard something weird just now. You mind waiting here while I go check it out."
She responded with a quick nod, a little worried. "Okay."
Offering one last smile to Madoka, the blue-haired teen opened the door and carefully stepped out into the hall. "Lock this until I come back."
Once again the younger girl nodded, hopping off the mattress as Sayaka shut the door. When the older teen heard the lock click, she took a deep breath, steeling herself for fight. From around the corner she could hear someone taking shallow breaths.
"An intruder, huh? Never had to transform to do any crime fighting." The freaky fish girl moved a little more confidentially down the hall, a wicked smirk replacing the scowl she'd been sporting seconds earlier. "This could be fun, and boy is Kyoko gonna be jealous...oh wait, it could be Madoka's dad. He may have forgotten something on the way to the hospital. I wouldn't blame if he did. His wife chose a pretty terrible moment to go into labor. I mean seriously this storm..."
Realizing that she'd gone into a mental ramble, Sayaka shook her head, choosing to stay cautious just in case, but not to transform just yet. Perhaps she should call out just to check.
Getting her soul gem ready just in case, the teen spoke. "Mr. Kaname?"
Sayaka heard a wisp of air, the breath of someone in a state of panic. She was sure now. Definitely an intruder.
Wasting no time, Sayaka called upon the power of her soul gem, transforming her into her Magical Girl form. Aware of a possible gun attack, she leapt into the room in a speed beyond human detection, her body ducking behind the kitchen table as she withdrew her sword. For a few seconds she hesitated, not sure how she was going to subdue this person. She certainly didn't want to kill him...
More glass shattered, ruining the girl's concentration as did the sound of howling wind from outside.
"What the..." The words fell into nothingness when Sayaka rose to her feet, turning on her heel to see the broken window in the living room behind her. "How..."
At that exact moment, the calendar slipped from the grasp of the magnet, clattering to the floor. She groaned at the sound, her sky-blue gaze still on the broken window. "They're definitely not going to ask me to babysit again. Great...there goes all the cash Kyoko doesn't get to spend on food."
Aggravated by failure, the teen moved around the kitchen bar as a means to pick up the calendar that fell.
She stopped moving at the sight of glass surrounding it.
Sayaka's expression grew even more horrified. "Oh no...that was Mrs. Kaname's one of a kind rose-glass picture frame! It's irreplaceable! I'm so dead! How did the stupid thing even get over here!?"
Too distracted by her imminent doom, Sayaka didn't notice the picture lying face down underneath fragments of the frame, its date mirrored in each piece.
Earlier, in the hour Homura was waiting for Kyubey to show up in Mitakihara City, there was a conflict occurring on the other end of the country, a place where the storm had yet to strike. There the air held an aroma of hostility as well as playfulness; it held innocence as well as corruption.
The cherry blossoms in the trees near the main house of the Kururugi Estate gently swayed along the caress of the wind, its petals breaking away from the branches in a slow dance toward the ground, making a path along the cobblestone walkway leading to the sliding doors of the mansion's front entrance.
Within this expansive and immaculate estate lies a study, and in that study, two men discuss the future of Japan.
The shorter, more stout looking fellow is the Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi. A few minutes ago, he handed a small booklet of documents to the taller man sitting across from him, a soldier named Kyoshiro Tohdoh.
Along with being a trained soldier in the Japanese army, Tohdoh was a teacher to Kururugi's son, Suzaku.
As the soldier began reading through the documents he noted the ashtray on the table. It had at least three cigarette butts inside, all of them belonging to the Prime Minister himself, for Tohdoh neither smoked or drank.
The room, lush with Western-style furnishings, is dark. Early in their conversation, Kururugi shut the blinds, blocking out the light of the setting sun and the grey clouds rolling in. However, even shrouded in shadow, the owner's tastes, different from those of his people, were easily showcased to the soldier. It wasn't very surprising considering the many countries this man had studied in. This international experience is most likely what gave Genbu Kururugi his edge, what prompted the people to vote him their Prime Minister.
As Tohdoh read through the materials given to him, he started to think the choice may have been a mistake. He sighed.
"Are these facts?"
The stout man sitting before him nodded nonchalantly, his face barely visible in the dark. "If it's not true, then I should fire all our intelligence members. He smiled as he said this. Tohdoh knew only because he could see the man's gleaming, slightly yellowed teeth.
"Why are you surprised, Tohdoh? We're dealing with a tyrant, a one-of-a-kind we don't often see in history. He is a bloodthirsty beast. Britannia Emperor Charles Zi Britannia. If you know that man even a little, it's not something to be surprised about. He is not someone we can continue to appease. I knew this would happen as soon as we took the side of the E.U. and the Chinese Federation, even though it was for a short period of time."
"I see," Tohdoh replied, "And what do we do now?"
Genbu turned away from the soldier briefly, his gaze shifting to the blinds. "For now they're publically saying that it is military training in the East China Sea. So we'll pretend we buy that. I've already told Okinawa Headquarters to increase their troops and hold emergency simulation trainings."
"That's not good. It will give the enemy an excuse." Tohdoh had clearly called Britannia the enemy. This simple statement was symbolic foreshadowing for the war that was sure to come .
"If we show a heavy-handed display, it might start a war," he added sternly.
"Actually, it would definitely start a war," the Prime Minister answered. "Don't misunderstand, Tohdoh. They are already picking a fight with us. Even before we've indicated if we want to fight. It would be pointless to act submissive now." Genbu laughed then.
"Of course, it is my intention that they are doing so."
Tohdoh stared at the man across from him as he chuckled some more. The sound carried through the room for a long minute until it came to an abrupt halt.
Dark, sinister eyes looked back at Tohdoh.
As Genbu was speaking again, his son, Suzaku Kururugi, neared the door to the study. He was there to inform his sensei about how he'd left his sword and a package in the training hall. He also wanted to mention how Lelouch called him a birdbrain of a soldier for doing so.
At the same time though, the young boy was curious as to what his sensei and his father could be talking about for hours on end.
What he heard when he reached the door would change his life...forever.
"...Once we go to war, Japan cannot win against Britannia."
Those words alone made the child's blood run could. Suddenly he was paralyzed, his emerald gaze wide as he continued to listen, only comprehending pieces of what his father was saying.
"Britannia can invade Japan any day, and our nation will lose in a matter of a short period of time."
There was a period of silence, and then, Suzaku heard his sensei speak. "You knew we were going to loose..." The young boy could tell from the pause that his master was choosing his words very carefully, restraining himself from whatever anger had taken hold. "...then why did you make matters worse?"
His father began to speak again, but the boy was barely listening now. His mind had gone elsewhere. To Lelouch, to Nunnally. Britannia was their home country. What would happen to them? According to everyone else around him, those two were nothing more than hostages. He had been warned countless times not to get close to them, but he refused to listen. He liked them. He liked both of them. They were his friends, people he wanted to protect.
As he stood there, almost shaking from terror, he heard his father mention them-his friends.
"By the way, the Britannian children we're keeping at our house," he began. "We need to get rid of them here in Japan. I had a request from them."
The child took a step away from the door, then another. "Not from the father. I guess he's not that coldhearted. But the factional struggle within the family is a bit scary, eh? There are people in Britannia who do not want those two alive."
Suzaku silently backtracked upon hearing those words, and once he was far away enough as to not be heard, he bolted for the exit. A low rumble of thunder ricocheted through the greying sky as he stumbled out, breathing harshly from the effort of having held it while listening to his father and Tohdoh. For a few seconds he simply stood there with his hands against his knees, color draining from his skin as a horrible truth dawned on him.
"He's going to kill them," he realized, his pupils dilating in terror. "My father...he's going to take them away from me."
Without another thought, Suzaku took off in a run again, his legs propelling him toward the small annex building where Lelouch and Nunnally stayed.
A/N: That ends this chapter. Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed so far. If you're liking where this is going, feel free to tell me so in that review box down below. Constructive criticism is also welcome. And, as promised, below is a proper citation for the excerpt I used and modified for the last section of this chapter. If you're a Code Geass fan, I recommend purchasing this book and its corresponding novels. Used copies are probably available on Amazon. That's how I got mine. Thanks again for reading.
Iwasa, Mamoru. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion - STAGE -0- ENTRANCE. Trans. Bandai Entertainment Inc. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., LTD, 2007.
118-122. Print.
Yep, citing things like a boss...although the formatting on fanfiction won't allow for hanging indentation. Oh well. XD