"The Force guided me to Earth. The Dark side gave me my new apprentice. And she, in turn, freed me from the chains Palpatine had on me. The Rebellion quickly became the new object for her rage. And I regret nothing she has done."
- Darth Vader, Galactic Emperor, AD 2017
Homura Akemi was no longer a true Puella Magi.
Her Soul Gem was no longer glowing with any sort of light, nor was it the state she was familiar with when those unfortunate girls 'witched out', as Kyoko dubbed it in one timeline.
A shame that Mami killed her in a near-psychotic rage when she broke. Sayaka avenged her beloved with a rage the time traveller had only seen in herself before attacking Walpurgisnacht in a suicidal charge, which managed to mortally wound the monster.
And resulted in Madoka committing suicide later on.
'A wasted timeline.' Homura made damn sure that would not happen again.
The pinkette, meanwhile, was spending time with the one man who would make things different.
Darth Vader was a broken man, Homura had learned: once known as Anakin Skywalker, he was married to a beautiful woman before the fall of the Republic, and injuries suffered from a duel forced him into that intimidating suit.
And his 'master' was responsible for him losing it all. Just like the Incubators were for her fate.
'Just as my cycle must end, so must this cycle with the Sith.' The Jedi were all but extinct, and would fade into the night.
But the dynasty that Madoka would found would endure for a thousand years.
The door opened, and homura focused on her new master and teacher. Who was walking with a now-awake Madoka, who was crying. Homura nearly drew her lightsaber to attack Vader (Madoka crying was a major 'fuck no' in Homura's book) but she held back once Madoka spoke up.
"That's… sad… You didn't deserve to lose her!"
"…no, I did not."
Madoka was the kindest and most sympathetic soul in the known universe. Vader must've told her about his life.
That made her take a vow: Palpatine must die.
"Now, we must make sure of your safety, young one. Your comrade has told me of a threat to your person." The menacing armor became more so as Vader's tone somehow turned darker, if that were possible. "And threats are something I do NOT tolerate."
On THAT, the younger-yet-older apprentice agreed with.
Sayaka's wish was two-fold. "I wish to heal Kyosuke and for the power to rescue Madoka."
Kyubey would have smiled had it been able to process emotion. Another Puella Magi had joined the ranks.
Mami was smiling (stupid lonely girl) that she had a new comrade, and Kyoko...
Well, she liked the newb. She had spunk. A little too close to Mami's idiotic ideology for her liking, but nothing that couldn't be cured with a little hard schooling.
Hard schooling that would come soon, as a squad of the assholes in white marched past city hall, escorting some guy that wore a naval uniform of some kind. From the plate on the left breast of the uniform, the bastard was an Imperial admiral: probably Vader's XO.
Kyoko looked at the paper that gave the IDs of every major Imp in death Squadron that she stole from city hall to confirm it: Fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel, commanding officer of the Executor.
The cold feeling that prickled her being confirmed the presence of their enemy. "And here comes a witch." Mami transformed into her uniform before Kyoko shook her head. "Why bother? Those Imps can do more damage to a witch."
"They can't use magic."
"One of their fighters fuckin' blew up a Familiar, Mami. I don't think it MATTERS."
Eldrich energy consumed the squad and the Admiral, and they were pulled into a labyrinth. "Well, those guys are screwed."
Kyoko was only PARTLY right.
Ozzel's DL-44 heavy blaster and the trooper's E-11s easily killed the familiars in the barrier, even if the heavy recoil of the latter weapon made their shots more inaccurate.
The dead familiars were more than enough proof of their power.
But the towering doll-like monster above them was absorbing blaster bolts like a TIE Mauler crushing organic personnel. "KEEP FIRING! KEEP FIRING!"
And the only thing Ozzel was supposed to do was talk to the mayor of the damned town.
"You weren't lying, Kyoko." The smoking remains of the Familiars was distasteful to Mami, but it proved that Kyoko WAS telling the truth.
"What can I say? It happened."
More blaster fire was heard inside the maze, along with screaming.
When they arrived at the location of the witch itself, Ozzel was blasting away, the stormtroopers long dead from the witch crushing them to death.
And as the doll-like form finally succumbed to super-heated plasma, a MASSIVE caterpillar-like form emerged from the body, looking almost clown-like.
It was comedic enough to nearly belie the fact that this thing was a monster. Ozzel dropped his blaster when the monster swooped in…
And bit hard enough down on his neck to rip out his spine along with his head.
It then began to feast on the headless body.
"That's just disgusting." Sayaka materialized a sword in order to fight the witch, and the battle began. Kyoko scoffed before she picked up Ozzel's blaster. Bastard got what was coming to him.
The TIE Interceptors flew around the Executor in pretty patterns. For Madoka, they lost their wonder after the fifth lap.
Homura had promised her that as soon as this 'Incubator' was reduced to a non-threat, she would be sent back home.
Homura was a stranger and Vader might've gone some questionable things according to some of the white armored troops, but she felt that at their core, they were GOOD people.
Homura certainly was: she kept all of the promises she made to Madoka up till now.
That did not mean she wasn't lonely. She wanted to go home.
She had free run of the ship, including the hangars… but no clue how to fly and unwilling to ask for help.
She'd SEEN Vader decapitate that stormtrooper.
And she didn't want to see anyone die for her sake.
Red met purple as Homura's new lightsaber, inherited from a long dead Jedi, made contact with Vader's blade. A quick study, Homura had already mastered basic katas with her blade and was now dueling Vader naturally.
The Dark Lord was a little slow, but more seasoned in terms of dueling as he soundly defeated his apprentice without injuring her. Soft, perhaps.
But Homura was superior thanks to her time abilities. She was duelling him to learn, not to off him and take his place. So injury was not only impractical, but stupid.
"The Force is weak on your world. So much so that few can be felt, and even then, most of them are tainted. As if the life has been drained from them."
"They were. The Incubators have drained their life force, their soul, if you will, from them and placed it in a gem."
Groaning was heard as the metal bent and rippled from Vader's rage. While the Sith had done questionable things in their existence, including the rakghoul plague, removing one's force essence was a line even they did not cross.
Although his master would for the sake of power. He so needed to die.
The Sith's rage abated long enough for him to place a holocron into Homura's hands. "Learn from it. Study it well."
While Vader did not keep many holocrons, he had enough to teach his apprentice the basics of the dark side. He preferred to learn by experimentation, which was slightly less risky than jumping in using more advanced techniques.
His apprentice was wise enough to learn by example. The last thing he needed was her to blow up the ship screwing up an advanced technique.
Her advanced mental age would come in handy.
April 2nd 2011 - day 24 of the occupation of Earth by Death Squadron
China and the countries of Asia refused to stand down and surrender to Imperial authority. Many of the major settlements had suffered the wrath of the Empire, their bases simply glassed off the face of the planet. A Chinese-built MiG-21 exploded at the hands of a TIE/LN, crashing into a Type 80 MTB, destroying both. This would be the end of the great People's Republic of China.
And Kyoko, watching from Mami's TV, scowled at the ass-whooping the Imps were giving Earth's militaries. "Ok, blue, you want to get your girlfriend back."
"Not my girlfriend. Westermarck."
"Oh, sister-figure. THAT I get. So, any idea where she is?" Sayaka looked at the pictures of Death Squadron's ships, released to the public by observatories all over the world.
"I think she's on the big one. The REALLY big one: the Executor."
"That would be Darth Vader's flagship. Do you think Madoka-san is still alive after so long?"
Sayaka nodded in determination. "She's gotta be! And I have to get onto that ship and save her!"
Kyoko hooked a thumb outside as a Sentinel-Class shuttle flew overhead. "There's your way on board. Question is, can you get there without getting caught?"
Kyoko did not want to see Sayaka get hurt. She had tried to convince her to give up on Madoka, as getting onto the SSD was suicide at best, and losing the newb wasn't going to look good.
That, and Sayaka was cute. Not that Kyoko was going to ADMIT that.
Due to reasons unknown, Mitakihara was now the major staging point on Earth for the Empire. And the presence of the ISD Avenger (whose captain was currently undergoing something of a major mental redecoration) was enough to make damn sure everyone knew it.
"Ok, we know that a shuttle from that thing goes up to the Big One every day at 3:30. It's happened every day since Japan surrendered to the Imps. So, you just need to GET to that shuttle and kick enough ass to get your friend back."
"What about Darth Vader?"
"Oh, he'll try to stop you for sure, so avoid his ass."
Sayaka glowered at Kyoko, but the redhead WAS right. Vader had a laser sword that looked like it could cut through steel and he could choke you to death without even touching you.
Vader was at the top of Sayaka's Avoid At All Costs list. Her parents were no longer the worst thing she had to worry about.
"So, Hobbit my way into the industrial area, sneak onto a shuttle, get to the Executor, avoid Vader and get Madoka out of there. Simple plan. I'm going to die."
Meanwhile…
An EF76 Nebulon-B frigate and a squadron of T-65 X-Wings entered the system near the edge of the galaxy, doing their damnedest NOT to be seen by the oversized fleet.
Death Squadron was overkill for one planet, so Vader had to be here for personal reasons.
The Neb-B picked up dozens of transmissions, indicating that the planet's military, while planet-locked, was actually bigger then the entire Imperial army: three times the number of men, in fact.
But size does not equal strength: the Imps had superior weapons and had space vessels and they were using that to their advantage. Half the planet was under Imperial control, and military resources from the individual nations of that world were being turned to the Imperial conquest of the world.
But this had to be taken back to high Command. And it would, as the ships turned to leave the Sol System.
Sayaka Miki was good at hiding when she wanted to. And the Imps might've had the ability to kill witches, but they could only barely make out a Puella Magi in uniform.
And the two pilots in the Lambda-Class shuttle were too focused on their job to care too much about looking for any stowaways, so bonus.
"ST-015 en route to SSD Executor. Request clearance to land."
"Clearance granted."
Sayaka clinched her fists. 'Madoka… Hang on, I'm on my way!'
Homura's eyes snapped open as she woke up, Madoka sleeping on top of her chest. The pinkette had been crying, and Homura could not stand to watch that happen. She comforted her beloved, and they had fallen asleep.
Sayaka Miki was coming. She knew Miki's presence like the back of her hand, and she was coming to the Executor.
The door to the room Homura and Madoka shared opened as Darth Vader entered, uncaring for his apprentice's state. "We will soon have an intruder, my apprentice."
"I know, master. I can feel her. I will deal with her."
"You do not decide who will deal with the intruder."
"It is Madoka's childhood friend. And if she dies, she will resent us both, master."
Vader was forced to think that over. And he found that his apprentice was right. "Very well. You will deal with her."
Homura bowed her head before Vader left, and Homura placed Madoka gently on the bed. "I will be back soon."
19 kilometers from stem to stern and she had NO FUCKING CLUE where she was! She had been on the ship less than an hour, and she'd run from the hangars to the officer's club and was somewhere between the bridge and a room that had a rather accurate drawing of Vader's helmet on it on the map.
She made a note to look for more helmets and AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Kooh. Purr.
Kooh. Purr.
Sayaka slowly turned to see the one thing she had not been looking for.
Clad in his black armor and breathing that creepy as all hell breathing, Darth Vader stood at the end of the corridor. "I have been waiting for you, Sayaka Miki. The Force is strong with you." Sayaka drew a cutlass from her cape, holding it in a ready position.
"Your friend is safe. But if you wish to fight…" A snap-hiss was heard from BEHIND the bluenette, forcing her to spin around and use the magically-enhanced blade to block a purple energy blade wielded by…
HOMURA AKEMI?!
"My apprentice will gladly oblige."
Ron the True Fan: Vader understands Homura's pain, and love is so HARD to break. Thus, he puts up with his new apprentice's need to protect Madoka. And her lightsaber?
Well, there once was a man named Windu...
That's right, folks: Samuel L. Jackson's lightsaber now belongs to someone equally or more badass.
And to clarify pairings, this is Madoka/Homura and Sayaka/Kyoko. It just won't be light-hearted or kind. The dark side will twist their minds a little. It does that to everything. (Points at the physical manifestation of the dark side, otherwise known as Palpy)
A special thank you to Takeshi Yamato for betaing.