Save those Time
All Madoka ever wanted was to be strong enough to save the people around her. But how could Madoka save that pretty lady she met when she realized she herself was the one who needed to be saved? Partially AU
The papers slipped past Madoka's fingers as it floated to the floor and she sighed heavily, squatting down and taking her own sweet time to pick up the mess she made. It was a really rough day for Madoka that day, having to run between emergencies units so many times in just a few hours and filing of reports wasn't exactly Madoka's favorite thing to do, but she never failed to put that smile on her face and finish her task. But as for today, she didn't have the energy or will to even muster a small smile.
Madoka never got any sleep ever since that day she almost lost her life. It was Doctor Hiashi that called her that night, asking about her whereabouts since she was never late or absence from her work without a very good reason. But the only reason she could made up that day was that she had a stomach flu so she wasn't able to attend work and applied for a sick leave for the following day as well. For the past two days, Madoka had been on her bed, wrapped in her warm blankets and trying to cry herself to sleep.
Doctor Hiashi was concerned and asked about Madoka's well being when she looked like she just finished a war, but how could she ever say the real truth to anyone? All she did was to dismissed his worried questions and told him that everything was fine and he didn't have a choice but to believe her.
Madoka looked at her watch. It's almost two in the morning and she should be doing her rounds as usual now. She was rather slow in her work, and by the time she reached Tomeo Mami's ward, it's around five minutes past 3.
Homura observed Madoka quietly as she started checking on the machines and filling up the necessary data on her chart. She narrowed her purple eyes, not in a furious manner but Homura was rather curious at how Madoka had changed so much since the last two days. Madoka had became a little skinnier than usual, in an unhealthy way.
"Someone else came to check on her condition yesterday. Why?" Homura asked, breaking the silence.
Madoka blinked, not sure if that question was a joke or what but she still explained that simple reason that anyone could have known. She turned away from her clipboard. "I didn't come to work." Madoka said plainly.
"No, that's not the answer." Homura stated, her tone cold and unfriendly. But at the same time, Madoka could feel the tiniest bit of concern and maybe understanding beneath that icy voice she used. "Are you afraid to come here? To see me?" Homura continued.
"It's just that!-" Madoka stopped before another word came out and swiftly looked away, embarrassed at her sudden outburst. Homura blinked calmly, her eyes staring lazily at Madoka as she uncrossed her arms effortlessly. She slightly leaned against the side of the wall.
"Just what?" Homura drawled.
"I'm just... afraid," Madoka muttered but quickly added. "What are the things I can see and not see? It's just too... horrifying." Madoka wrapped her body with her arms and closed her eyes, feeling the sleeve of her nurse uniform for comfort.
There was a short silence before Homura spoke, her tone almost sounded like an innocent girl asking a question. "You look tired."
Madoka wearily looked up at Homura and afforded the best grin she could give but all she could show was a weak smile. "I guess so. I didn't sleep for the past two days."
Homura peered at Madoka silently before looking down at Mami for a while.
"Then are you afraid of me?"
Madoka's smile faltered and her arms dropped down to her side, one hand still clutching onto her pen and clipboard. She was suddenly loss for words, not sure how she should answer or what exactly was her true answer. Madoka's guilty-filled eyes darted. She could have comforted Homura, easily saying that she wasn't afraid of her, but Madoka couldn't for some reason.
Homura blinked carefully, her eyes never leave Mami the whole time.
"Am I the reason why you couldn't sleep?"
Madoka straightened her posture, almost feeling confident in her answer. "No."
And with that answer, Homura slowly nodded and made her way to the door and never once glance back, leaving Madoka alone with Mami in the ward again.
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Madoka dragged herself to the door and started fiddling with her keys, slotting the correct one in and pushed the door open. She entered the house sloppily, not bothering to put her shoes properly after kicking it off since she was just too tired to even bend down and use that small effort that would cost two seconds of her life.
She wanted to sleep and she would do anything just to get at least three hours of that. But no matter how tired and how hard she tried to, she just couldn't sleep like what she wanted. Her mind was filled with the memory of that night and images of the demon dashing towards her, killing her and tearing her into pieces would appear whenever she closed her eyes.
It's a public holiday tomorrow and Madoka couldn't help but appreciate the fact that she was given a day off, she could use that chance to visit Sayaka as well but she wouldn't want to face her best friend with that distress and tired face she had but even if she had the chance to sleep in, it just wouldn't happen.
As a nurse, Madoka had reminded her family and friends that using sleeping pills just to get some sleep was the worst choice ever although it proved to be effective to a certain extent, but what choice could Madoka even choose from now? She shuffled her feet towards the kitchen and started opening cabinets, trying to recall where did she put her bottle of sleeping pills and silently praying that they hadn't expired since it's been long since she bought a new bottle.
Just before she was about to open the last cabinet, the doorbell rang and she froze, now fully awake at the fact that something so unusual first time happened to her at this timing. Although its quite early in the morning, there shouldn't be any visitor at this time since everyone Madoka knew should know that the day time was just like Madoka's night time. And even if she did have any visitor, who would come so early?
The doorbell rang again.
Madoka sucked in a deep breath before making her way out of the kitchen and towards the door. Her fingers smoothly wrapped around her doorknob as she opened it slightly, ready to slam the door shut if the visitor was anything Madoka didn't want to see. Even though demons didn't have hands to ring the doorbells, they could still use their heads, right? But in that split second, Madoka let out that breath she held for so long once she realized who the person was.
"H-Homura?" Madoka gasped.
They stood in their position for a long while before Homura cleared her throat. "Can I come in?"
Madoka widened her eyes, cheeks tinted pink as she stepped aside. As Homura passed her by, Madoka bit her lips and pointed out her views.
"You don't really have to do all these right? I mean, ringing doorbells and coming in like that." Madoka closed the door as she turned, gulping in surprise as Homura was staring at her with a curious look that Madoka never seen before. It's not like she never looked at her, but her eyes were always bored or empty and cold, never with that curious or interested look.
"Is there something wrong with my face?" Madoka softly patted her cheek before moving to her forehead.
Homura's eyes moved towards the door before she flicked her gaze back at Madoka. "So would you rather I appear in your bedroom, standing by your bedside, staring down at you like how I always do to Mami?"
"T-That's not what I mean." Madoka blubbered. She was never able to feel normal and calm whenever she was around Homura. Her words would always twist and turn and Madoka felt like she was running in a maze, trying to find the correct path or rather a correct answer to reply Homura without having to feel embarrassed or anything. Until now, Madoka wasn't sure if it was Homura's way of talking to her that made her feel so flustered every time. Madoka sighed.
"You don't have to force yourself to do things that are unlike of you. If your powers allows you to pass through walls or fly into my room through the windows, I can get use to all of these." Madoka muttered as she glimpsed down, shuffling her feet. Only when she could hear a soft scoff that made Madoka's head shot right up and for a second, she thought that her neck would snap at how fast she lifted up her own head.
Madoka stared at Homura as she was giving a small smirk and their gaze met in an instant. Before Madoka could even respond or react at the sudden eye contact, Homura spoke, that small smirk still plastered right on her face.
"Nice try, are you trying to make me spill out my powers to you?"
"W-Wait what?" Madoka waved her hands desperately, shaking her head to emphasize her point. "That's not my intentions!"
"I was just kidding."
Madoka almost choked onto nothing. Almost. Did she even hear her right? Was she kidding? Did she just say she was kidding? Was this even the same Homura she knew from the start? Madoka rubbed her eyes furiously before looking at the same spot where Homura was standing and indeed, she was still standing there. This was neither a dream nor a hallucination.
Trying to get rid of that silly thought, Madoka coughed on purpose as she approached towards her bedroom. "B-By the way, why are you here?"
Homura followed her, not that it surprised Madoka at all.
"You said you couldn't sleep."
"Yeah but... why are you here for?"
Bright purple eyes moved to stare at the pink eyes that were looking back at her with a questioning gaze. Those pink eyes were no longer as bright as the ones Homura first seen before and it was quite clear that Madoka was speaking the truth about how she couldn't find sleep as eye bags were forming under her heavy eyes. Homura looked over at the bed that was barely touched.
"I'm here to help you sleep." Homura nudged Madoka over to the bed.
Madoka stumbled forward as she fell gently on the bed, creating that soft bouncy feeling. Madoka looked back, staring at Homura as if she had three heads.
"What...?" That was what Madoka could only muster to say.
"Lie down."
Madoka did like what she was told. She fluffed her pillow and pulled the blanket to her chest until she sit up straight again. Homura gave her a warning look.
"I haven't brush my teeth though."
"Sleep."
Madoka slowly lied down on her bed again and shut her eyes on command before peeling them open, watching Homura who was still standing at that same spot. "Are you just going to stand there until I sleep?"
"Don't think about anything. Don't think about the fact that they can see you." Homura spoke and Madoka shivered at that thought. "For now, I'm the only one seeing you and all you need to do is to repeat that in your head."
Madoka closed her eyes, trying to absorb whatever Homura had just said to her. "Hey...can you come over for a while?" Madoka shyly gave her request.
Homura made her move as she hovered over Madoka like how she did to Mami. Her eyes, however, were not as sharp as the ones that were watching Mami as if she was born to be a hawk. Rather, her eyes softened in the slightest way that Homura might not even notice it herself.
"What is it?"
Madoka rose her hand and she grasped onto the hem of Homura's clothes. It wasn't cold or warm, it's just a piece of fabric that Madoka felt in between her fingers, but it gave her the sense of support and security that she desperately needed for the past few days in her life. She never really want to burden anyone, especially her family or Sayaka because the last thing she ever wanted was to make anyone worry about her. But she needed this support, even if the person standing in front of her was neither a human of a ghost that she knew for more than a month.
"Give me one minute like what you did last time. I just need one minute." Madoka whispered in her blanket.
There was a short silence before Madoka could feel a small movement in her hand, but the cloth was still perfectly within her hand, not tugged away "Ok." The reply was finally given.
Madoka gave a relief sigh, her grip never once loosened a bit. Her eyes started drooping and her lips parted. After a few seconds, Madoka shifted in her position.
"Isn't it scary and lonely to be all by yourself in this world with no one you can depend on?" Madoka murmured and she yawned. "You can see everyone, but no one can see you."
It wasn't suppose to be a question, neither was it suppose to be a statement, but something struck Madoka that made those words escaped from her mouth. Their conversation they had earlier on at the hospital was stuck in Madoka's head, repeating them several times for a while before she knock off work. Was she really afraid of Homura? Was she really scared that Homura might just turned around and become one of those demons that were haunting her since forever? But even if Madoka was truly scared, she couldn't deny the fact that Homura was the only source of comfort she could get when all these things were happening to her.
"Go to sleep."
That was the only thing Homura could manage to say, as if she had no reasons to argue back, no facts to prove and defend herself that she wasn't scared or lonely like what Madoka said. And this was probably a long time someone ever said such words to Homura and Madoka couldn't help but felt utterly helpless at the moment. She wanted to save Homura, or to at least help her with anything that she could do and maybe Homura could one day be that person who would laugh and smile broadly in public and it would be the prettiest sight Madoka would ever see in the world, and she couldn't wait for that day to come.
"I'm glad..." Madoka's sleepy voice drifted in the room, her words were draggy and lazy "I'm glad that I can see you..."
That one minute Homura promised Madoka wasn't even up but Madoka's hand already slipped and fell onto the bed, her soft snore sounded repeatedly in the room.
.
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For the past ten hours, Homura was standing by Madoka's bed side, watching her and fulfilling that role of being the only one seeing her for that day and the day had already turned into night. Madoka was dead tired and it couldn't be help either. She slept in and just like that, ten hours had passed by and Madoka showed no signs that she was going to wake up soon.
It was already 9 at night and Homura was suppose to be out hunting demons in the streets, the chances of them appearing increased a whole lot at this timing. Homura stared down at Madoka before making her way to the opened window. A thirty minute battle should be enough to wipe out at least a dozen demons.
She gently leaped out, the curtains flew up while she fell right down the building, her hair violently passing through the wind before Homura landed on the ground just like a graceful cat. She brushed her clothes and quietly made her way to the next street where she sensed a couple of demons roaming there.
Homura passed through a garden and cut across this empty plaza, her eyes staring straight at nothing but the direction of the place she was intending to go. Just before she was about to prepare her battle costume, a surprise happened.
"You must be that last magical girl for the previous century that Kyubey talked about back home."
Homura froze and spun around to the sound. She was very sure that there was no one in that area where she walked since she didn't sense any beings nearby. She suddenly caught a movement in the corner of her eye as her head turned towards it, bright purple eyes widened at the source of the voice.
She quickly regained her composure and slowly stepped out from the shadows, watching the little girl who was standing in the middle of the empty parade square. Her curly brown hair shone under the lamplight, along with that cute and clean yellow shirt and black pants. She blinked her brown eyes slowly, her lips thin like a piece of sheet. With a light sound of poof!, the girl disappeared and what was replaced on that spot was a light brown cat-like creature, stretching itself before sitting down like every normal cat on Earth.
"Then you are the new incubator that's been recently making contracts." Homura spoke as a statement instead of a question. She eyed down at the Incubator licking its brown paw, not caring at how Homura was glaring daggers at it. Finally after it finished cleaning its other paw, its round brown eyes blinked, giving its full attention to Homura.
"Why yes, I'm the current Incubator that is in charge here. Kyubey had finished its quota long ago and now I'm trying to finish mine." The Incubator tilted its small head innocently. "I suppose you contracted with Kyubey, that sly."
"I don't think you're any better." Homura stepped forward and was about to grab onto its collar but it was faster. But no matter what, time still wins everything. In a blink and a snap of her fingers, Homura was already strangling its throat with her bare hands, but the Incubator made no expression like it was suffocating or in pain. Its face was blank and emotionless and it did nothing to even retaliate.
Instead it purred, its tail swishing from one side to another without any care in the world. "Oh, you have some interesting power. Is it teleportation? What wish did you make with Kyubey?"
"Why?" Homura gritted her teeth and spat. "Why of all people, you picked Kaname Madoka?" Homura's grip slowly tightened with ever second that ticked by when the Incubator remained silent. Finally, the small cat head snapped in her hands as she slowly let the body fall onto the ground. She glanced back disinterestedly, the new body of the Incubator was sitting behind her, its head cocking to one side curiously.
"How did you see through my plans? That night when I approached Kaname Madoka."
"You are not suppose to answer my question with more questions." Homura fully turned, her heels clacked loudly as she approached the Incubator, in a second, a bow was shot right through its head and thrown to the other side of the streets. In the dark shadows, the Incubator appeared once again, its body was perfectly fine as it sauntered over to its other dead body and stared at it peacefully before looking at Homura, like it was mocking her for her failure to exterminate it.
"It seems that you aren't answering any of my questions that I asked either." It purred.
"You're no different that Kyubey." Homura gave a withering look. "Kyubey created events that forced girl to make a wish and complete the contract. As for you, you tricked them into following you to places where demons roam about and then activate their abilities to see these demons, causing them fear and having no choice but to be a magical girl so they can only kill to survive." Homura took a confident step forward and then another, her shoulder slouched dangerously, eyes narrowed in anger.
"Kaname Madoka is something interesting." The Incubator gave no interest in showing that it was scared or whatever it was feeling towards Homura's angered appearance. It just tilted its head again, moving its tail left and right before continuing what it wanted to say. "She have a good amount of power within her, and if I were to make her into a magical girl, my quota could be reached soon very easily. However, I can't do it for some reason."
Homura stopped on her track, her eyes never leaving the Incubator even though it was disgustingly digesting its own dead body like it was eating some midnight snacks. "What do you mean?" Homura couldn't wait but asked on her own.
The Incubator started stroking its face with its paw. "You must have find her special isn't it, since she is able to see you. Indeed, she's really unique, but I realize there's a something that is preventing her from becoming a magical girl. A barrier, an obstacle or whatsoever that is forbidding her from possessing that special power, but I won't be wasting my time on her if I can do nothing about it." The Incubator slowly turned towards another direction before glancing back, its movement rather stealth. "I might as well continue with my quota project and get out of this place forever."
"Do you think I can trust whatever you say?" A ball of energy gathered around Homura's hand as a bow and an arrow burst into the air and landed nicely on her hand. She steadily prepared her attack and gawked at the cat-like creature. "And I never said I'm letting you off." Homura snarled. She released her arrow and it shot right through the head just like what happened previously. Homura then magically took out another arrow from the air and started looking around, tracking for any sound made by the Incubator. But there was none. Only after a while, she realized the fatal mistake of allowing herself to kill her prey so easily in the first place, letting it escaped much more easier this way.
Homura stood alone in the middle of the parade square, slowly lowering her hand that was clutching onto her bow and arrows as all of it disappeared in an instant. She glanced up silently, watching the dark clouds spreading across the sky and a soft thunder could be heard in a distant.
"Madoka..." She whispered to herself and closed her eyes. When she first heard that name, Homura felt different for the first time. That feeling when she was about to remember something, but that moment slipped away and she couldn't remember it anymore, no matter how hard she forced herself to. Those memories that were locked at the back of her head but it seemed so familiar yet foreign at the same time. It was confusing, utterly confusing, but Homura just couldn't do anything about it.
As rain started to pour, Homura slowly made her way back to Madoka's home.
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A/N: huh walao what is happening sia
the whole chapter make my face says argh because I argh at all the argh I am very argh now so arghhh
It's Homura's titties next woohoo hell yea
goodbye argh