Authors Note: Well, as some of you have noticed, there have been some chapter title changes. Just a few got changed. I do want to say that this chapter is a bit slow, but things will get exciting again starting next chapter.

Though her time as a magical girl had not been long, and she was still very green to this new world, Sayaka would pride herself as doing well for a novice. While she had nothing to compare herself to other than Kyubey's words and opinions on her level of power compared to other magical girls, she still thought well of her strength and skill. She had managed to get used to the late night witch hunts and mastered sneaking out of her home quickly. That was quite a plus.

There were not a lot of witches in the city, not yet, so most nights were empty patrols, or hunting down a lone familiar. Very rarely had she found a witch, but that was about to change. Kyubey had explained that a powerful witch, a conglomeration witch, had lured many witches to the surrounding areas when it had arrived, but its death had left Mitakihara in a temporary peace. They were beginning to return, however, and soon their numbers and strength would grow back to the normal population that Mitakihara often held home to.

Kyubey assured her that so long as Sayaka continued to grow as a magical girl, she should have no problem handling them when they reached the city. So that's what Sayaka did: continue to practice and hunt, questioning Kyubey about what this new job entailed whenever a question came up.

It seemed that her magic was primarily healing related, as her wish had been to save Homura. Her magic would automatically and quickly heal her own wounds, but she felt as though there may be more to it. As well as healing, she had received a sword, and her love of music had been melded into her magic too. Healing and fighting, a good combination in her own opinion.

For the most part, Sayaka didn't care much about the witches she hunted. Destroying them, destroying the familiars, that was her duty. It was her duty as a magical girl to protect this city, to keep it safe from these despair-formed monsters.

But mostly, because it would keep Homura safe from these nightmares-made-real.

Perhaps it was wrong of her, but deep down inside of her, she could care less about this city and the countless lives within. Justice and love? Perhaps if things had been different, she would fight for that. She would fight to defend this city because it was the right thing to do. But she had changed; that wasn't who she was, not anymore. She didn't fight these witches for love, she didn't fight them for justice. She fought them to keep Homura safe.

Homura, who was the only anchor she had left in this world, the only force that was keeping her stable, and the only one who mattered to her anymore.

The anger she felt when she cut the familiar down before it could hurt her beloved friend...her blood had turned to ice when she saw the scene, and her her whole mind screamed to kill when her sword tasted the first drop of blood. She had not expected to find Homura in this labyrinth, and it had sent her into a merciless rage when she did.

More of the familiars had taken to the sky after Sayaka entered the scene, coming towards them like a volley of huge black arrows. Even from a distance, their rotting flesh filled the air with a disgusting stench.

She could feel Homura's eyes on her as Sayaka cut down the familiars as though they were nothing, never once letting a single feather or splatter of blood get close to the defenseless girl kneeling on the ground.

Despite their size, and despite their numbers, these familiars were terribly weak. It wasn't impossible that it was because of the damage they suffered from each other, or maybe it was because Sayaka was just that strong. It didn't matter. All that mattered was how it only took a few well placed cuts to kill them.

"You okay, Homura?" Sayaka asked, landing beside her after the flock of familiars had been dealt with. Now she just had to find the witch...should she take Homura with her, or leave her here and trust that nothing would happen? She couldn't protect Homura and at the same time deal with the witch, could she? No, she would try, that was certain, but it would make the fight more difficult.

However, the labyrinth began to vanish around them, the area warping and twisting until it was gone and the two girls were left inside of an alley. Great, the witch had escaped...at least those familiars didn't even take very much magic to deal with. Sayaka would have to go after it, but it could wait until tomorrow. She had more important things to do right now.

"Homura?" the bluenette tried again, noting that her friend hadn't said anything, and turned to look at her. Homura was still staring wide-eyed at her, mouth opening and closing a few times as she struggled with what to say. As calmly as she could, Sayaka knelt before her and began checking for injuries. If that witch had harmed a single hair on her head...

"Sayaka..."

Hearing her name being spoken, the magical girl looked up and stared into terrified violet irises.

"W-What's...what was that...? W-What's going o-on?"

"Here," Sayaka said, handing Homura a warm cup of tea before taking a seat next to her, no longer in her magical girl outfit. Her mother had been understanding when she told her that she would be spending the night with Homura tonight, as Sayaka wasn't sure how well Homura would handle everything once it was all said and done. She was already worried enough about Homura right now. The labyrinth itself...Sayaka knew Homura, she knew that what happened in there was going to lead to a difficult night for her.

The smaller girl gave a shy nod, accepting the cup with both hands before staring back at the floor where Kyubey sat, thankfully remaining silent for now after introducing himself, seeing him talk had given Homura quite the fright. Ganko had long since ran off and hid somewhere after spending almost five minutes hissing at the creature.

"So," Sayaka said, seating herself next to Homura and staring up at the ceiling, "Where to begin..."

"At the beginning maybe," Homura responded dryly.

Fair enough, Sayaka mused. "Yeah, then, I'll give you the quick run through," she decided, not sure if Homura would want all the small details. "I'm a magical girl. I made a contract with Kyubey: in exchange for a wish, I was given magic and have to fight witches and their familiars. That's what attacked you earlier: familiars."

She watched as Homura stared down into her tea, saying nothing, and after a pause, Sayaka continued to talk. "Witches are nasty things. They lure people who are distressed or depressed into their labyrinths and kill them. According to Kyubey, they're responsible for a good chunk of unsolved murder cases and missing persons," she explained, her eyes never leaving Homura. "In fact, you remember the day we met and I didn't want you to go on that bridge because a lot of strange deaths had been happening around there? They were probably because of a witch." She could understand why this would be a lot for her to take in. It had been quite a shock to Sayaka herself when Kyubey told her everything, and seeing them for the first time had been been hard to take in as well.

One never gets used to the interior of a labyrinth, and it makes a person wonder what kind of mind is needed to create such a place.

"Were you ever intending to tell me? About all this?" Homura didn't look at Sayaka as she said that, and her grip on the teacup tightened.

A wave of guilt rushed through the other girl's body as she looked away. "Yeah...I was planning on it, eventually," she mumbled, still unable to look at her friend. It was true, she had no intention of hiding this from Homura, at least, not at first. But when she saw the labyrinths and the witches and their familiars...these weren't like the monsters from TV shows. They really killed people, and Sayaka hadn't always arrived just in the nick of time to stop them. Could she really bring Homura into that world and still be able to keep her safe? Would Homura have been able to handle the terror that this could instill in someone?

Ignorance is bliss, after all, and she would much rather Homura be in bliss than any other alternative.

"I just...I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't know if, for your sake, I should," she said, looking down at her lap, her own voice growing softer. "I wanted you to know, but at the same time, I didn't want to pull you into this world where you could get hurt. The idea of losing you, and losing you because I couldn't protect you...I can't handle that."

If something were to happen to Homura, if Sayaka were to lose her...she didn't know what she would do. Somewhere in her mind though, she knew what would happen. If Homura died, Sayaka would well and truly go over the brink that she had teetered on so much.

Homura remained silent after that, contemplating what Sayaka had said. Seconds ticked by and after what felt longer than it had been, she spoke. "Well...I'm glad that you weren't planning on keeping me out of this life of yours forever," she said, giving Sayaka a strained smile before looking away once more. She was still shaken by all that had happened, but the shock was wearing off. "I don't want to be kept in the dark, especially when it's something big, something like this."

"I'm sorry, for not telling you sooner."

The room was filled with silence once again after that. Neither Homura nor Sayaka said anything as they looked anywhere but at each other, Sayaka out of guilt for keeping this life hidden and Homura from the shock that still clung feebly to her. Each lost in their own thoughts as this strange curtain of tension descended upon them. Kyubey, due to his silence since they came into the apartment, had been all but forgotten by the two girls as he sat contently on the floor watching them.

But soon enough, a mental click went off in Sayaka's mind as she thought back to what she had said earlier, and her attention was locked on Homura as she stared at her with wide, alarmed eyes.

"Wait, how did you get brought to the labyrinth? Homura, did something happen?"

If Homura had been targeted by a witch, then, what had happened to make her distressed enough to fall prey to the empty words of those monsters? If someone hurt her and that was why...Sayaka could feel her fists clenching with anger coursing through her now.

Homura gave a jump of surprise at that, looking at Sayaka with wide eyes before looking away just as fast, unable to meet her friend's eyes. Though she wasn't as quick to hide the emotions her eyes showed, the hurt and the pain. "It was...nothing...I just got upset over something stupid..." she explained quickly. Though it wasn't a lie, it wasn't the complete truth, and Sayaka could tell that much.

Homura could feel everything bubbling up within her. The terror, the stress and the same despair that led her to this in the first place.

"Homura..." Sayaka said, reaching out to her. "Please, what happened?" she repeated, this time more gentle, more coaxing. She didn't want to scare the other into keeping what happened hidden. Something drove Homura to the clutches of the witch and she wanted to know what. Part of keeping Homura safe from witches was making her less appealing to them in the first place.

The ravenette was silent for a short while before answering, "Remember...r-remember before the trip to Kazamino? When you asked why my parents would be out of the country while I was in the hospital?"

Sayaka blinked, thinking back to that day, and gave a slow nod. "Yeah, though I get why they would now. Your parents are assholes, Homura." At first she had been shocked when she had only heard of them, but meeting them had shown her how vile they really were. They didn't deserve someone like Homura, the girl deserved so much better. Then another mental click happened. "Wait...do they have something to do with this?"

Another pause, and Sayaka wondered if she'd said something wrong. She glanced at Kyubey who sat in silence watching, and when she looked back at Homura her eyes shot open in surprise.

She was crying.

"Y-Yeah," Homura said, rubbing at one of her eyes to try and get the tears to stop, but her voice started to break soon after. "I talked t-to my mother today...and...I don't know why I b-bother anymore," she said, barely able to keep from sobbing. "They hate me, why d-don't they just stop p-paying for my meds and operations and let me die?"

Sayaka was not used to this situation. Had she ever seen Homura this upset? She couldn't say, but it was a jarring scene.

"No, look, I'm sure they don't hate you." Though, really, Sayaka couldn't say she believed her own words after her first meeting with them. What had they done to Homura this time? Oh, how she wished she could wring their damned necks right now.

Homura didn't say anything, wiping away more of her tears.

Then, after another uncomfortably long pause, Homura finally set her teacup aside and spoke, "Yes, t-they do. My father's said as much plenty of t-times, and my m-mother...she doesn't say it b-but, you just know w-when she looks at you. T-That hidden disgust b-because of how weak I am, h-how pathetic," she spat out the words, glowering at the floor.

Unsure what to do, unsure what she could say to make her think otherwise, Sayaka just wrapped her arms around her.

"Just forget about them, okay?" she asked, pressing her face into Homura's hair, holding her tightly. "They don't matter." I'll kill them if I see them. "What they said doesn't matter." They don't deserve Homura. "You have me, okay? I'm here, and no matter what anyone says, you're not weak, and you're not pathetic. You're stronger than you know, Homura." Stronger than me.

Homura didn't say anything, just wrapped her arms around Sayaka in return and stopped holding back tears as Sayaka held her, whispering words of comfort to her, assuring her of her own worth.

Never once did Kyubey say anything to interrupt them. Even he knew that now was not the right moment to offer Homura a miracle. So the alien stood up while Sayaka continued to hold Homura, and turned around to leave. Tomorrow, when Homura was calmed down, he could set to work trying to contract her. It would be wiser to check on Kyouko and see how she was doing.