Authors Note: Well, time to reveal what the fuck just happened in the last chapter, no? Surprisingly, I'm on a roll this month of November as again I have the next chapter pretty much done. Though at this present moment, I've little ideas for chapter 19.

As usual special thanks to Evertide for proofreading this chapter and the changes made here and there throughout that helped improve this chapter.

Sayaka's heart, meanwhile, was a drum within her chest, blood pulsing, and cold sweat was forming on her skin as fear washed over her. Homura was limp in her arms, a dead weight against her that could easily be mistaken as a dead body if it was not for the soft pained whimpers and gasps. The struggle to breathe.

She had no idea what happened, what was wrong with Homura, and her mind flashed to that moment on the sidewalk before Homura had been taken off to the hospital-

No, it wasn't that. It couldn't be that!

"Hey, what's...her deal?" Kyouko asked. Was that a tint of fear in her voice? No, Sayaka was just hearing things. Why should Kyouko care?

Her question was ignored as Sayaka scooped Homura up in her arms - she had forgotten just how light she was - and began walking fast away from her. She had to get Homura somewhere safe, somewhere she could figure out what was wrong and help her. Out here, where she was vulnerable, was not good, she had to- God damn it why was Kyouko following her?

"Go away," Sayaka hissed, speeding up her pace to a run, but Kyouko did the same, following a few steps behind her.

"I'm coming with," she stated, leaving no room to argue.

Sayaka wasn't going to bother with saying anything else at this point to her.

Instead, she turned the corner hoping that she would just stop, but it didn't happen. Kyouko remained right on her tail, following a few steps behind no matter how much faster Sayaka ran. "If it's a fight you want, we can do it another time!" Sayaka hissed, still walking forward, but holding Homura closer. Her breathing was getting fainter, but the pain she was in was written clearly on that sickly pale face. Kyouko was the least of her problems right now.

All that mattered was making sure Homura was okay.

"I'm not wanting a fight...now. I'm wanting to know what the Hell is wrong with Akemi," Kyouko said still following after, though Sayaka could hear her temper rising.

Why did she care what was wrong with Homura? It wasn't like she was her friend or anything...though, Homura had said her name, or last name, so maybe they did know each other- no, whether they knew each other or not was not important. This girl was not important. The only thing important here was Homura.

Not wanting to waste time arguing with her, or lose focus for that matter, Sayaka chose not to speak anymore and quickened her pace once more. Her end point was coming near, and she could see the building up ahead. Somewhere safe, somewhere Homura would be comfortable at.

"It's okay Homura, I'm taking you home," Sayaka said, hugging her tighter for a second before loosening it up before it could hurt her.

Just a few more steps and she was at the front door and, damn it, how was she supposed to open the door when trying to hold Homura? She didn't want to risk dropping her, but she didn't have a spare arm...great.

Sayaka didn't even turn her head to look at Kyouko. "I need you to do something for me, can you see if the door is unlocked?" she asked, stepping to the side so Kyouko could get to the doorknob. Hopefully Homura didn't lock it behind her when she ran out to find her.

Blinking in surprise at the request, Kyouko shrugged and sauntered up, trying the doorknob though only to shake her head. Damn, now she was going to have to... Sorry, Homura, it's this or I kick the door open.

"Her key, she keeps it in the left pocket of the skirt," Sayaka said, moving so Kyouko could reach it, and then shot her a glare, "you grab only the key, nothing else." Would Kyouko take this as an opportunity to do something to Homura? Take something from her? Sayaka didn't know, but she didn't want to take the chance.

At least Kyouko looked insulted at the implication, but she obediently stuck her hand inside of Homura's skirt pocket. "Damn you are bossy. I hope you're glad your girlfriend is dying so I'll cut you some slack." She was trying to use humor to lighten the situation, but that humor was not appreciated. Sayaka didn't even have it in her to tell her that Homura was not her girlfriend or to never joke about Homura dying. It wasn't important...now, anyway.

With the door unlocked and opened, Sayaka shouldered past Kyouko and hurried into the room. Ganko was soon on her heels with Kyouko following after shutting the door as Sayaka made her way to Homura's bedroom. Blankets and sheets were pulled back as Homura was placed on the bed, then pulled back over her.

With her no longer in Sayaka's arms, the blue-haired magical girl dropped to her knees beside the bed. "Come on, Homura. You're home now, you'll be okay." Was she saying that to Homura, or to assure herself? Sayaka didn't know, and as she pushed back bangs, damp with sweat, from Homura's face, Sayaka couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach. This was far too much like before, when she'd nearly lost Homura the last time...and there shouldn't even be a "this time."

Why was this happening?

"Any idea what's wrong with her?" Kyouko asked, taking a seat at the chair by Homura's desk, watching the two as she produced a box of Pocky from her pocket and took a stick between her teeth.

There was no sound between them after her question as she watched Sayaka stroke Homura's head and hair. Yes, she had an idea of what was wrong, but it didn't make any sense.

"I...Homura had a heart condition," Sayaka said. Why was she telling Kyouko this? Kyouko didn't matter, she didn't need to know this. But nonetheless, Sayaka found herself explaining it all as she took one of Homura's hands in her free one, maybe in some vague hope that somehow Kyouko knew anything useful. God, she could barely feel a pulse as she ran her thumb over the wrist. "A pretty bad one...she was in the hospital for a long time before coming to my school, and had been in it again for almost a month not too long ago because of a relapse."

There was a hum from the other side of the room as Kyouko took this in. "So she's having another relapse?" she asked, then narrowed her eyes in...accusation? Confusion? "Shouldn't you have called an ambulance then? I mean, it sounds like something she can't sleep off, why take her here?"

"Because she isn't supposed to have that condition anymore!"

When Sayaka yelled, Kyouko flinched, nearly dropping her box of Pocky before catching herself. "Whatcha mean? She got cured?"

"I..." Something was caught in Sayaka's throat and her hand tightened its grip on Homura's. But she quickly loosened it upon realizing, no, she had to be gentle with Homura, especially now. "My wish...Homura was going to die...she would have died. I wished for her to be cured."

Yes, when she'd met Kyubey in that hospital, she'd wished for Homura to be okay. She had used her wish with the intention of letting Homura survive, so why was this happening? Why was Homura relapsing? This shouldn't be happening!

"Actually, that is not entirely true."

Sayaka felt her blood turn to both fire and ice as she heard that voice. Ganko was hissing now, perched protectively over Homura as Sayaka slowly turned her head to look at Kyubey perched in the window. If looks could kill, there would have been a massacre from the one Sayaka had pointed at the damn rat.

"You..."

She had let go of Homura, and with a flash of blue light, she had grabbed Kyubey by his ears and thrown him to the floor so hard he bounced a little before being trapped under the tip of her sword, trickles of red appearing in that white fur. She wanted so badly to impale him, to see him bleed more.

"This is all your fault! What did you do to Homura? You promised she would be cured, but she's not!"

"Whoaaa," Kyouko mumbled, whether in excitement or worry, standing up and taking a step to Sayaka. What did she want, was she afraid Sayaka would kill the bastard? It was all his fault Homura was like this!

Sayaka's head snapped to Kyouko, and the look she had must have been frightful if it had the rambunctious redhead backing away. "Stay out of this! This is between me and him!" she growled, her sword pressed down a little harder, drawing more blood.

But, that bastard didn't even feel the pain did he? His expression never changed, he never writhed in agony, he showed no signs that it hurt at all!

"I never lied, I granted you exactly what you wished for," he explained, and from the tone he used, he could have still been on the windowsill talking and not pinned down with the tip of a cutlass digging into him, and no one would know the difference.

Sayaka pushed down harder at hearing that. "Liar! No you didn't! I wished for Homura to be cured, damn it!" She was crying now, wasn't she...she wanted to look strong and scary, but this was overloading her.

"That may have been your intention, but that was not what you wished for."

Her grip on the blade began to loosen as he said that, what...what did that rat mean?

As he was no longer as tightly pinned down, Kyubey wiggled out from under the cutlass and sat up a foot away, ignoring the dark red spot on his chest as he licked his paw. "You wished to be able to make Akemi Homura better. You never said cure, you never said fix, you never said anything about permanence. You simply wished that Homura would be fine," he explained calmly, taking a pause to let that sink in. "I am not responsible for the outcome of a wish you worded wrong."

Sayaka could only stare at him when he had finished explaining. He was lying...right? He had to be, right? This was because he'd lied, he didn't keep up his end of the bargain, this couldn't be...it...couldn't...

"It's my fault...?"

There was no anger, no sorrow. Sayaka felt...empty.

This was because of her...Homura was in this pain, in this relapse because she hadn't specified her wish?

Anger came back at full force after she had finished processing it, and she didn't seethe and boil over; she just exploded. Her body acted on instinct, her sword lashed out in a smooth stroke, and Kyubey's head hit the wall as his body fell limp where it had sat along with the bottoms of his ears.

"Holy shit..." Kyouko hissed, which Sayaka ignored in her anger.

Almost without her noticing, hands grabbed onto her shoulders, trying to hold her back as Sayaka drove the cutlass into the motionless corpse. Should she have felt guilty for having just killed him? Perhaps, but she didn't feel an ounce of remorse. "This is your fault! You knew what I meant! You knew what I meant when I made my wish! You twisted it! You twisted it so that Homura would get hurt by it! You bastard! You bastard!" Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Hot tears ran down her face, and she didn't care about the bloody mess she was making of Homura's bedroom as she stamped his corpse into an indistinct lump of meat. She would clean it up, she would not let Homura see a trace of it when she woke up. She was going to wake up. She had to wake up. She couldn't just leave Sayaka like that!

"I did nothing but grant your wish," Kyubey said. A second Kyubey, or perhaps a clone? Sayaka didn't know how he was standing there as she kept pounding his corpse. She didn't care either. She would have driven her cutlass into the second one if Kyouko hadn't been holding her back. She was so fixed on Kyubey she hadn't even noticed when Kyouko's hands stopped holding her back and were replaced by her chained spear encircling her. "As humans are fond of saying, be careful what you wish for. This is all on you."

His remark was answered with an angry scream as Sayaka struggled against Kyouko's hold, dragged back by the other girl. "I hate you!"

How was he so calm? How dare he be so calm!

Jumping from his perch, he walked over to the remains of his previous body, calmly eating them while Sayaka screamed at him. She should best quiet down, or else she may disturb the neighbors and draw attention to this apartment, it would not be wise to have police come. Not because of what they would do, but because with how Sayaka was right now, if they did show up, this could escalate from a noise complaint to a murder.

"Okay, I get it, but shit, calm down!" Kyouko yelled, holding tighter on her spear as she tried to keep her from getting loose. "That was a, rrgh, good show there but this isn't helping now!"

"Shut up! Stay out of this!" She was on the verge of impaling Kyouko with her blade too at this rate. Damn it, let her go so she can kill that heartless thing!

"There is a way to save her."

Seven words, those seven words had silenced everything.

Sayaka's struggling and screaming came to a halt, all attention snapped from Kyouko back onto Kyubey, who had finished devouring his former body and had merrily trotted over to eat his old head. Only taking a few moments to finish, he sat there by the blood stain, looking up at them with those unblinking red eyes.

"H-How..." Sayaka's voice had gone weak. There was a way to save Homura...was it going to make everything worse? Was it to contract with him again? How? She promised him her life in combat; now what did he want, her eternal soul?

Kyubey had begun licking his paw, possibly to get rid of some of the blood on it. "Your wish had been to make her better, so your magic is in tune with healing. So, isn't it obvious? Heal her with your magic," he observed, and when there was no response he let out sigh. "I honestly don't understand why you had to make everything so difficult. Wouldn't it have been obvious from the very start? Instead of lashing out at everything in a rage, you could have just used your magic to heal her. You are so illogical."

"How," Sayaka asked again, attempting to take a step forward before remembering Kyouko's hold on her, "how do I do that?" She'd never used her magic to heal anyone other than herself, and even that was something that happened without having to think about it much, how was she supposed to use it to heal Homura?

Kyubey shook his head. "It's not my magic, I don't know, you'll have to figure it out," he said, and with all he needed to say done and out there, he turned and left before Sayaka could attack or yell at him any more.

After a minute or two of staring at the spot he once sat and trying to puzzle out his advice, Sayaka snapped back to her senses began jerking against Kyouko.

"Let me go, damn it! Let me go!" was the snarled yell as she finally broke out of Kyouko's hold and rushed back to Homura's side, essentially collapsing at the bedside. She quickly checked her breathing and pulse. God, it was getting weaker, and there was a blue tint to her skin now.

Kyubey had said she could heal him, her magic allowed her to do that but...how? If her magic was stored in her soul gem...that was the best place she could think to start.

Changing back to school clothes, soul gem in hand, she held it out, hovering it over Homura's frail form and concentrating. Nothing. No blue light, no transparent magical runes over the body. Nothing at all. Damn it, it wasn't working.

"Hey- your soul gem," Kyouko began, the alarm in her voice crystal clear, but was silenced by a sharp "shut up" before she could finish.

Sayaka didn't need distractions, she needed to focus, she needed to save Homura. Fix her, fix her!

Maybe...maybe focus on the heart! Yes, focus on one spot instead of all over, that had to work, right? It was the heart that was the problem, the heart that was killing her. If Sayaka healed that, then she should be okay. For how long though? No, don't think about that. If this worked, Homura would be okay for now, and she could do it again when it wore off and Homura's condition came back.

Deep breath.

Breath in, breath out, focus.

Her blood was racing. She needed to calm down. Shut out the hurricane of thoughts in her mind. Concentrate.

The blue gem came to hover over Homura's chest, over her heart. The glow gave off a warm heat in Sayaka's hand as she closed her eyes. Focus.

What if this doesn't work, and it only makes it worse? No, it's going to work, Homura will get better, I'll make Homura better.

Stave off the doubts, focus. Ignore Kyouko who was hovering over her like a hawk, ignore everything but her magic and Homura. Deep breath, in, out. Focus on her magic, focus on the healing that she used so many times on herself. Focus on helping Homura, focus on Homura.

A brighter blue glow, and Sayaka opened her eyes to see the pale blue runes hovering in the space between her hand and Homura. It was working, it was working! Stay calm, keep focus. Heal the holes, heal the heart. Focus.

After perhaps a few seconds, or a few minutes, the runes dissipated and Sayaka nearly collapsed.

She hadn't realized how low on magic she had become after fighting a witch, then Kyouko, and now this. She was exhausted, as tired as can be, but still, she pushed herself up to press an ear against Homura's chest, feeling the heart.

Ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum...

Normal, rhythmic beats, no skips, no pauses, no quick bursts.

It had worked.

Heaving a sigh, Sayaka let her head stay there on Homura's chest, content to just lie there and listen to her heartbeat. Though Homura would likely remain asleep for a while longer, the relief Sayaka feltknowing she would wake up was immeasurable.

"Well...good work," Kyouko said, watching Sayaka lie across Homura's sleeping form. It sounded as awkward as it felt.

With a tired groan, Sayaka pushed herself up enough off of Homura to look and glare at Kyouko. "What are you still doing here?" she asked curtly. The girl had no reason to still be here, she could go on her merry little way now, leave Sayaka and Homura alone.

Instead, Kyouko just dug into her pockets, searching for something. "You were friends with Mami and that Madoka kid, right?" she asked.

How did she know Madoka and Mami? At hearing their names, Sayaka narrowed her eyes, what did they even have to do with this? Why was she bringing them up? "I was Madoka's friend, not so much Mami's. Why?"

Having found what she was looking for, Kyouko pulled out a crumpled envelope from one of her pockets and held it out to Sayaka. "I know now ain't the best time, but I ran into Madoka back when you all came to Kazamino. She gave this to me, asked me to 'give this to Miki Sayaka if things went sour.'"

If what went sour? Sayaka's glare didn't lessen, but at least she took the envelope. "What? Were you planning on killing me and giving the letter to my corpse?" she spat, still rather salty about how badly their fight had been going. But she did raise a good question: if Kyouko had intended to give her this letter, why did she attack? Or was she still itching to finish their fight like Sayaka was? If so, it wouldn't be here or now.

Kyouko shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "Didn't actually know it was you I was supposed to give it to. Didn't even know your name 'til she called it out, thought you looked familiar, and then I was kinda wound up." When Sayaka looked unconvinced, Kyouko frowned a little. "Relax, I'd've remembered before I killed ya. Kinda been waiting to come here longer'n I've been waiting to be someone's delivery girl, but doesn't take a genius to put two and two together to realize you're who that was meant to go to."

Sayaka's hand tightened on the envelope and she glanced down at it, then back up at Kyouko. There was a mixture of emotions now flowing through her. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"'Cause she asked me to," Kyouko explained as though it was all that needed to be said, "I mean, it's the least I can do, right? As a bonus, I'll even give you another chance to think over what you wanna do now." After a flash of light, she was back in street clothes. She turned on her heels and followed it with an over-the-shoulder, "Be seein' ya."

She was gone after that, out the door before Sayaka could say anything else, though it would have likely only been a minute more before she was kicked out anyways.

Sayaka continued to stare down at the envelope in her hand. Her mind was whirling, and it was as though pieces of a puzzle were finally being put into place. Madoka had written this to Sayaka back when they were in Kazamino, and had given it to Kyouko, as though she knew that Kyouko would come to Mitakihara...it couldn't just be a coincidence that Kyouko also happened to be a magical girl, could it? That would have made it that Madoka wrote this a few days, maybe a week before she died, and Kyouko said she wrote it if things went bad for her.

As though she knew she was going to die...

But, that sounded like something Madoka would have done too, Sayaka reasoned. If she knew she wasn't going to make it through...whatever it was, she wouldn't want her friends or family to worry, and it wouldn't be odd that she wrote them a letter to try and ease their pain.

Even so, that wasn't comforting Sayaka right now.

"Madoka...just what were you doing?" Sayaka whispered, shaky hand opening the envelope and pulling out a paper. Pale pink, from Madoka's favorite notebook. There was even the tiny bunny head in the bottom left corner. The handwriting was accurate too. There was no mistaking it: Madoka had written this letter, Kyouko wasn't lying about that.

It was time to read what it said now. Sayaka had a feeling she was going to learn something, something she might not want to.

Hey, Sayaka,

"Hey, Madoka," Sayaka answered back to paper, the words coming out before she could stop them.

If you're reading this, then I can't be with you anymore. I'm sorry, I didn't want that. As I write this, I'm praying that I will still be able to come to school, to just say 'good morning' to you. I want to be able to say 'I'm sorry' to you, too. I know I haven't been a great friend to you this past month. I knew how you felt and I know I was hurting you with my secrets, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Sayaka had come to hold onto the letter with one hand, the other finding Homura's, fingers clasping around hers for support as she continued to read. The next few lines were simply apologizing for how she had behaved, explaining how she wished she could take it back.

"I wish you could have taken it all back too," Sayaka whispered, hand tightening around Homura's as she read onto the next bit.

Sayaka, if you could ever make a wish and know it would be granted, what would you wish for?

What would she wish for if she could make a wish? That question was...she'd already made hers and right now it left an awful taste in Sayaka's mouth as she thought of how Kyubey twisted it.

I would wish to help people, and you already knew that didn't you? I've always been predictable like that, haven't I? Wanting to make as many people happy as I could.

A small chuckle tried to rise up before quickly being smothered. She wasn't wrong, Madoka's desire to make everyone happy, it was such a strong trait any who knew her knew that she would wish for something like that.

So that's what I do now, I help people. They don't know it and it's dangerous, but I'm happy to do what I do if it makes others safe.

Sayaka's mind flashed to what Kyubey had said. Two previous magical girls. Madoka was talking about having a wish granted and she said she was doing something dangerous. Madoka, please just say you're doing volunteer work, please.

There's a lot of bad things in this world, Mami and I have been fighting to get rid of all those bad things.

Madoka, please...

There's this really bad one coming soon. Mami and I've been preparing for it, but, there's a chance we won't make it.

Madoka...

I just want that, if I don't survive, I can save as many people as I can. I want you to live on, too. Be happy and keep going on with your life. You have Homura now, Hitomi too! You won't be alone, remember that.

I'll miss being able to spend time with you and Hitomi. But when I'm fighting Walpurgisnacht, whether I survive or not, I'll just be happy that I'm helping to keep you safe!

Sayaka lowered the letter still in her hands but no longer reading it. The rest was essentially just goodbyes, pointless, meaningless goodbyes she forgot as soon as she glanced at them.

God damn it, Madoka all this time had been fighting witches? That was why she'd spent so much time with Mami? Why did she never bother to tell her? Had Madoka just not trusted her with that knowledge? Think she would only get hurt?

Sayaka was a magical girl now too, same as Madoka had been, and she got here even without anyone telling her about it! She could have helped her! Madoka could have trusted her with that!

She could have survived if she had!

The emotions brewing inside Sayaka were blurring together into a storm. Hurt, confusion, anger were the most prominent as the letter shook in her hands. There were wet spots dotting the page now as the tears rolled down her face. She dared not sob, not break down. But with each question, each demand running through her head, it grew more difficult not to.

Throwing the paper down, she quickly twisted her body and collapsed against the bed, her head atop of Homura's chest as she clung to her sleeping friend. Her sobs muffled as her face was pressed into Homura.

Somehow, knowing how Madoka died made it hurt so much more than not knowing why.