With a mixture of annoyance and confusion, Homura looked at what Lilly had done now.

A week passed since she was released from the hospital and starting next Monday, she would attend Mitakihara Middle School.

However, this first week of preparation had been far more exhausting than ever before. Partly because there was a human-shaped Witch clinging to her all the time, refusing to separate from her. Even when Lilly always denied that she liked Homura more than was normal, her actions said something different. The time traveler barely managed to convince her new protege that there was no need to bath together, but this was about the borderline of what the Witch accepted. She would refuse to sleep somewhere else, so Homura had to share her bed. Even when this was not exactly unpleasant, it did feel strange to have yourself snuggled up to you every night. Had this person been Madoka, she would not have minded one bit, but in this case...

"Are you spacing out?"

Lilly's voice pulled her back into reality, where her eyes were fixed on the papers she held. However she did it -she suspected Witch-powers -, Akemi Yuri would enroll at Mitakihara Middle School at the very same day and in the very same class as Akemi Homura would. So she would be a classmate of, a sister even to this creature that sat in front of her and nibbled on a pound of raw meat, sometimes biting larger chunks out of it.

Homulilly's eating habits were another mystery; she could eat about everything, but had to eat lots of it. When Homura asked her why she did not just prey on humans -partly due to her being suspicious about that fact-, she would not answer altogether. Instead, she continued to eat everything as it came, gulping down instant soup without water and the like. Somehow, it reminded her of Sakura Kyoko, yet this was even more extreme. And unhealthy, even when the Witch assured her of this practice being perfectly safe for her. Neither did it change the fact that seeing her doing it still made the Magical Girl feel uncomfortable.

When Homura asked why Lilly was eating this much, she was told that as her Witch, the other girl was stronger than the time traveler herself. On the other hand however, she needed far more energy to sustain herself. Seeing that this food held almost none, she needed much more of it than the average human.

However, Homura reasoned, this could be a sign of Lilly really being opposed to the idea of attacking humans. Which would affect how interaction with Tomoe Mami turned out to some extent. At least she hoped it to.

With a sigh, the papers were put down and the Witch got a nod. "I don't know how you did it and I'm sure I don't even want to know. Just be careful about Kyubey once they start to bring it there."

She got a smirk in return. "You don't need to worry. It didn't even notice our presence so far."

"Yes, because you ate it every time it came close to discovering us."

Apparently, the Incubator had given up on trying to contract Madoka at home after it lost its... maybe fifteenth body without any traces of it. Whenever it appeared, Homura shot it and Lilly ate it. Before the next body was there, the former vanished completely.

Even when seeing the Witch eating the little rat did creep Homura out, she could not deny that it had a tremendous effect; apparently, Kyubey gained information about its previous death by consuming the corpse of its former body. Disposing of it like this made the Incubator unable to retrieve this information. Especially when it could not gain any further intelligence due to both girls having time magic. They were identical to the last hair, which troubled Homura as well. She was both unused and opposed to the idea of being mistaken for someone else because of her looks. Of course she did not say that, but her "sister" seemed to have noticed and decided to make herself distinguishable from the time traveler by wearing her hair in a ponytail.

"So what? Kyubey has more energy than this stinking meat, so why would I not?"

"I didn't mean to criticize you. I was just stating a fact."

At that, Lilly cocked an eyebrow. It was the truth, though.

"I see. What are we doing today? More raiding the JDF? Hunting Witches?"

She was eager to do something, which was another contradiction: the Witch was as lively as always, yet insisted on gathering as much energy as possible, not caring for the fact that her enthusiasm consumed more of this energy than a more reserved behaviour would.

However, Homura shook her head at every suggestion and Lilly tilted her head slightly, showing signs of annoyance after a while. "What else are we going to do, then?"

"Shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yes. You have been running around in my spare clothing for this last week, but I might need those myself. Therefore, you need your own clothes."

It was only a part of the truth; in fact, Homura preferred to have her clothes for herself, even when she would wear her school uniform most of the time. So she rather had the Witch have her own wardrobe.

"Hm..."

Lilly put a hand on her chin, thought about the statement and nodded a few moments later.

"If you say so, I don't mind. But wouldn't Kyubey have the opportunity to approach Madoka while we are out?"

Another shake of her head.

"I doubt that. It still doesn't know who is behind the attacks and thus, doesn't know we aren't watching. Besides, Madoka will be in the mall as well in the afternoon, so we won't be far away. Also, it doesn't try to approach her when so many people are around."

"And I doubt that she would believe anything it said when it waited in the girls' restroom or something like that", the Witch added with a snicker.

Homura still failed to understand how a being that should consist of despair and curses could be this cheerful and lively. At least she accepted not to continue wearing Homura's clothes.

.

. . .

.

At first, she had been opposed to the idea. Not because she did not like shopping, but because of all the humans that would be around.

And now, she was still against it. All those beings around her emanated such a disgusting scent, full of falseness, greed, lust and the like. Humans stank and so did human emotions, however a Magical Girl or a Witch could smell and taste this different while having the very same feelings.

At this point however, Homulilly could not ponder any philosophical questions... or any questions at all. Almost every bit of her willpower was focussed on not letting on about her sickness influenced by those minor creatures around her.

She was a Witch and a strong one at that. But even then, her hand was clamped around Homura's who led her through the crowd and towards the right stores. Lilly was embarassed about how childish and vulnerable she was right now, but even then she could not snap out of it, no matter how much willpower she mustered up. The smell was just too much for her to take and even the large amount of parfume in the air could not overshadow it, it just added in to the disgusting experience the Witch had right now.

At least the first store was rather empty so that the Witch could breath more freely. It still stunk, but this was at least bearable and she could start to get this over with. Looking around, she took in the various styles of clothing that were displayed. Homura brought her here, so the least she could do was to keep her eyes open as well.

While scanning row after row of clothes, her most beloved abilities went to work: uUnderstanding and evolving.

With but a simple look, she could understand more than any human could. Seeing people interact sharpened her knowledge of Japanese customs, looking at how some older folks examined the cloth gave her an idea on how to distinguish between quality. And she put all this new knowledge to use at once.

Her feet carried her to an aisle that looked promising. She walked with her head held high and her arms crossed behind her back. That was, until she noticed a stare she was getting from one of the employees. Additional knowledge filled her mind and was categorized, then she relaxed her arms and had them hanging loosely by her side. Following her, Homura surely did notice, but refrained from saying anything. She disguised her curiousity well.

Maybe I should tell her about this ability... no, not yet. Wisdom is power after all.

Such was Homulilly's creed.

Also, she was still unsure on how the other girl would react if she was told about her fast learning or other capabilities for that matter. But she would tell her other half soon enough, maybe in a few more days. Maybe she would even get over her pride and tell the Magical Girl that she would never eat something as disgusting as a human... but then, could she show this kind of weakness?

The thought was discarded to be examined later on. For now, clothes were important and she stood right in front of something that catched her interest: a display of dresses in various colours and styles.

As she remained where she was, looking for something that fit her taste, Homura strolled around her and took a look at the prices. Again, information filled Lilly's mind. She completely forgot that they were moving on a rather small budget, so she could not just buy anything. She had to be moderate.

"It's affordable."

Being told that she could have one of those dresses had her sigh in relief, though. And that it was, at least for her who knew Homura. Most others would have taken this as an appeal to reconsider due to their limited amount of money.

But then, the sigh itself had her clamp up. She could not allow herself to be this loose with expressing herself. To cover it up, she started browsing through the aisle, taking in dress after dress.

Soon after, she found something appropriate and pulled it out to show it to her "twin": a rather plain, black dress.

Yes, of course it was black. Somehow, the colour reminded her of the shadowy places she loved and merely touching the fabric made her relax already.

"What do you think?"

The cloth was given a lookover and then nodded at. "If it suits you, I don't mind at all."

Dismissive answer, as expected. Though Lilly could not tell for sure whether Homura was okay with it or just did not care. Even when it was the latter though, it was to be expected, seeing in what kind of relationship they were right now.

Instead of thinking about it, the Witch turned around towards where she already spotted the changing cubicles before and started moving, Homura following suit. On the way there, they passed a few other sections where Lilly could take something else while still walking; she decided on a purple sweater and a pair of dark blue jeans. Also, Homura picked up a set of underwear, socks and thights. The Witch kept quiet about that. After all, their bodies were the same, so they did not need to take measurements for her first. Yet she found it to be a good sign that the Magical Girl was ready to help her.

However, there was a surprise waiting at the cubicles: a group of three girls stood at the first one. With a blunette actively complimenting a green-haired girl who wore an elaborate, red dress. The smaller pinkette next to them nodded enthusiastically while holding a paperbag in between her arms.

Homura stopped momentarily upon seeing the group, but continued walking as if nothing happened. The only one that might even have noticed was Lilly, though she did not expect them here, either.

Kaname Madoka, Miki Sayaka and Shizuki Hitomi. Two of the main actors on the stage that Mitakihara was to become as well as an important asset to the events that were to unfold.

When the two girls passed them, the group went silent and looked after them for a moment. Lilly could see it in one of the mirrors, so she turned around and bowed at them with a smile before hurrying after her "sister". The three bowed as well and continued talking about whatever, she did not really care, even when this was Madoka. Right now, she was focussed on clothes and her feelings were suppressed, though they raged on against her calm mind.

Homura, on the other hand, did care. Lilly could see her concentrate on listening in. Since her eyes had been this bad for so long, her hearing was naturally enhanced anyway. Also, due to her being a Magical Girl, she could enhance it even further. Therefore, it should not be a problem to eavesdrop on them. And while she thought about it, the only thing that might have interested the Witch was the content of this bag in Madoka's arms. However, prior knowledge told her that those were the red ribbons the pinkette wore later on. Today, the ribbons holding her pigtails were yellow as if to further prove her assessment. It was really nice to have a mind that worked this fast. And it was nice to steal glances at Madoka's beautiful pink hair.

Wait. Clothes.

While the other Akemi was busy, Lilly quickly went into the cubicle and undressed. After a moment of silent pondering, she decided to go with the regular clothes first. While she got changed, she took a few deep breaths, taking in the surprisingly sweet scent Madoka emanated. Kindness, mostly. Right now though, it was like heaven. Overshadowing even the disgusting scent of the other people around.

Actually, the pinkette was not the only one that had this kind of positive mixture; most small children did have it, too. However, almost all of them lost it during their adolescence.

The Witch found it a waste that human society made all of its inhabitants so disgusting. But maybe it had an upside as well: this way, she would not get tempted to actually start preying on humans.

As her mind reached that point and decided that questioning society was useless, she was done putting on the clothes she was interested in. Fortunately, there was a small mirror inside as well, so Lilly could take a look at herself. She did not even need Homura to confirm that those clothes fit perfectly, so she stripped down again and turned towards the dark fabric with a lot of anticipation.

When she put on the dress, the Witch relaxed at once. It felt so natural to wear it as if it had been made for her. Soft, black cloth gently caressed her arms and body, the grey hem slightly swishing around her calfs. It felt wonderful, like a second skin.

However, now Lilly had the urge to put on a hat to complete her look. Her actual body had a hat, she remembered. She liked hats. But she also liked Madoka and had managed to push that back. Wearing a hat would raise suspicion, so she suppressed the idea.

What she did not suppress was the urge to show off a bit. Especially with Madoka around, she wanted to try to gain her attention at least a little.

Therefore, she pulled back the curtains and stepped outside of the cubicle to look herself over in one of the larger mirrors, turning around to look at her back as well. Her pale skin was almost shining next to the black of the dress and the raven hair of hers complimented its dark colours even more.

While she stood there and turned around several times, her senses told her that people were watching. Just as she hoped, the three girls were the ones looking in their direction. They whispered amongst each other, it was almost cute how they tried not to be obvious about it and failed miserably. Especially Madoka's gaze sent a satisfying shiver over her skin, though she did her best to not let on about it. After a while however, it was time to get the judgement she wanted right now.

So Lilly's gaze went towards Homura, who nodded solemnly after giving her a lookover. "It suits you more than I expected at first."

While hearing this, her senses started tingling and Homura noticed it as well. They exchanged a glance and the Witch went back into the cubicle to change back into the clothes she borrowed from her "twin". When she reemerged, she handed over everything she had held before. "Would you mind going for the registers? I want to grab something to eat."

Of course no one would understand what she actually meant. Also, Lilly spotted Kyubey a few moments ago, the creature watching from one of the higher shelves. Apparently it was observing Madoka, but that was alright today. The Witch was not after the Incubator, but the Familiar that passed by not far away.

Once she left the store, another problem revealed itself, though: the air was full of this smell that had her almost buckle down in disgust. She completely forgot about it.

Crap...

Quickly, Lilly went towards one of the walls to steady herself without raising too much attention. It said a lot about her situation that she fell back to regular curses.

Then, she got moving towards the second floor of the mall, circling around the Familiar's path. Gertrud would be around this place soon, but there was no trace of the Rose Garden Witch now. Just one of her former minions.

As the thought found its way into her conciousness, she stopped momentarily in wonder.

Wait... how do I even know her name already?

She understood it a moment later: Familiars carried the individual scent of their Witch, conveying her name and title as well. However, only Lilly's senses could distinguish this. Other Witches were capable of that as well, but they did not care enough to do it. Also, none of the Magical Girls could, their senses were far too weak to do more than tell apart "Witch" and "no Witch".

Unfortunately, she could not just do as she pleased. As she had a human body, even when it was stronger than that of a regular human, she was weaker than she would be in her own, eldritch body. Additionally, she could not move in the open lest someone or something realised she was there, which would be a small catastrophe.

No, Homulilly had to hide within the shadows, waiting for prey she actually wanted to eat. Simply put, Witches. She had to wait for Homura to kill a Witch or hunt one herself, the former taking longer than she liked and the latter being a risk every time she did it. Once Lilly was on the hunt, everyone around could identify her as a Witch.

As was to happen in a few seconds, seeing that the Familiar was coming her way; there was no way way it could suspect the fate it was to face. Apparently, it found her a worthy meal, seeing that reality became distorted around her.

How ironic. We both thought the same.

Before the small barrier had even opened completely, she used a small amount of her energy to kickstart the whole process that would let the former minion see its end, freezing time for but a second. It was enough to get started without being noticed.

A single heartbeat resounded in the void, filling her with her eldritch powers. The flow of now released energy easily sustained the time stop for more than the initial second and the Witch started walking towards the cotton ball with the mustache, sitting there with its clippers like a statue. Her appearance did not change. And why would it? She was the Witch, no matter how she looked like.

Lilly got a firm grip on its arm and thus, pulled it into motion again. However, upon feeling her aura emanating freely, the Familiar tried to get away from her the moment it could move. It itself had been radiating anxiety towards its first meal up until right now. That instant, it changed into fear.

"My, aren't you a bit pushy?"

She yanked back her arm and had the cotton ball fly back towards her, even when it tried to escape with all its might.

Lilly had merely taken the power of a single heartbeat, yet this was more than enough for a being as simple as this. It was far too terrified of this malicious aura of hers to even think about attacking, apparently. It used every bit of power to break free from her iron grip.

Unfortunately for it, Mortal World's Witch did not like to play with her meals.

"Thanks for the food..."

And the Familiar started to scream the moment she sunk her teeth into its cotton body.

.

. . .

.

When Homura left the store, Lilly was nowhere in sight. However, she felt the Familiar vanishing in this exact moment. So it could not take her much longer to come back.

With an inaudible sigh, the Magical Girl sat down on one of the benches while keeping the bag with the clothes close to her. Somehow, this had been an adventure in itself when it would have been a regular Saturday for every other being. Except for the Familiar, maybe.

Homura discarded the thought and kept observing her surroundings. That was why she noticed Madoka's group leaving the store a while after her. And in difference to them before, she was not obvious about watching them, though it took some willpower to not just keep her eyes on Madoka's back and dream of the past. Once the girls were out of sight, the Magical Girl returned to her impassive demeanor.

By now however, she started to wonder where Lilly was. Tomoe Mami was not around, that was for sure, so no one should have intercepted her.

This was a good time, Homura realised, to review everything she knew and to sort out what to do from now on.

After all, Lilly had not given her much information about herself. She ate and ate and ate to keep a level of energy that did not leave her defenseless upon being attacked. What she ate did not matter at all, she could just swallow it. The only things Homura saw her Witch chew was one of the Grief Seeds she obtained by hunting. Even when she no longer needed them, the time traveler could not completely rely on her "sister". Additionally, the less Witches crept around the city, the less Madoka might stumble over them and get involved.

However, Lilly killed one of those Witches herself and thus earned the reward. How she did it made Homura think, though; she did not transform in any way but from one second to the next, the time traveler could actually feel her being the eldritch creature she was. And so did the being Lilly was after, an art-Witch that went by the name of Izabel. At least that was what the Magical Girl was told later on.

Seeing that the Witch the experienced Magical Girl knew so well could not move, she tried to send her minions after the two, only for Lilly to spit purple fire at them. And that was all she needed: the flames spread incredibly fast and engulfed the whole barrier in about twenty minutes, burning everything from the distorted pieces of art that the ground consisted of to the arc that was Izabel. Everything burned to ashes except for Homura and Homulilly. Another prove of them being immune to each other, though the other girl seemed to be immune to her own magic as well.

As the Witch told her later, this fire reacted violently to anything magic-related, but did not harm anything else. So she could spit it on a regular human all day without any effect at all. When asked about her additional abilities, she would shut up and start eating the grief seed. Peeling the outer layer of metal off bit by bit, eating it with an enraptured expression that became more dreamlike when she munched on the Seed's core. And after her feast, she fell asleep.

This sudden changes in her character confused Homura. Sometimes, Lilly reacted just like the time traveler did, but followed this kind of reaction with an utterly childish or outright arrogant one. However, the childishness had withered away over the past week while the arrogance increased. Still, the Witch acted like any normal fourteen-year-old girl once in a while, like cracking jokes or worrying over her looks. Yet she only did it in Homura's presence and when nobody else was around.

The Magical Girl had her own theory by now: due to this completely unusual situation, Homulilly had not developed as she should have and thus, was still in the process of building her personality. So if she was right, what she was left off with right now was a pubescent Witch with a colossal appetite and mostly unknown abilities.

Madoka did make better wishes in the past for sure.

Regarding the unknown abilities, Homura reasoned, time stop and this flames might be everything at Lilly's disposal like she herself only had her small beam attack. It did sound like the kind of empowerment the ability would get after her transformation.

But since all of this was just speculation, the Magical Girl leaned back and discarded the thoughts for now. She did not like what her Witch said the previous week; that she had to ensure all of the other Magical Girls' safety in order to save Madoka. She could not even save Madoka alone, so how should she watch over the others?

But then again, another of Lilly's statements resonated in her mind: "Don't worry too much. I'm here to help you this time around. Just give me some time to adapt and then I will come up with something."

Of all things, this being had to be an optimist. And on Homura's neglection that she would work alone, the Witch merely smirked. "I am you, so basically you are only working with yourself. Argument invalid."

Thinking back, she grudgingly had to agree with her. There was no way to get away from her anyway. If she could kill Lilly, the situation might be different. But like this, all she could do was to accept her as an ally and keep her away from trouble. Up until now, it had worked well. But going by her knowledge of this city, it would not stay this good.

Homura flinched ever so slightly when cold metal was held to her cheek. Her eyes focussed and she saw that her "sister" had finally returned, holding a can of tea out to her. She wore a satisfied expression and sat down next to her once she had taken the drink. "Spacing out like this is unusual for you."

"Indeed it is. What took you so long?"

"Coming back." The other girl grimaced and shook her head while saying it. "There are too many people around."

So this had been it. For whatever reason, the Witch reacted badly to large crowds. She should ask for it someday since mere shyness was definitely not the problem.

While the time traveler took a sip from the tea, she kept her gaze fixed on the being sitting next to her. As long as she did not use her magic, there was absolutely nothing that indicated her as anything but a human being. No Grief Seed in her hand, nothing. While she thought about it...

"Say, Yuri..."

"Hm?"

When she looked up from her own drink, she noticed Homura carefully scanning the crowd before continuing. "I wondered where your Grief Seed is. Surely you would have one?"

The question had Lilly cock an eyebrow, but she answered: "It's a part of my heart. But even if one could actually hit its exact position, it would not be damaged. I share the regenerative abilities of your kin, but my Grief Seed is far more durable than a Soul Gem."

"I see."

She did not want to think about how the Witch tested her regenerative abilities as to make this statement. But knowing that she could not be killed that easily was somewhat of a relief. On the other hand... why did she feel that way?

They sat there in silence for a while, taking sips from their drinks. Once Homura was finished, she tossed the can into a nearby trashcan with Lilly doing the same soon after. Right now, she was satisfied with having gotten something out of her usually unresponsive partner.

"Shall we get going?"

A simple nod from the Witch had the two girls head home. And Homura was still wondering why it felt so natural to be with her. Maybe it really was because they were the same. Lilly understood what nobody else could. The pain of time travel, meeting her beloved friend time and time again without being recognized. Knowing events that were yet to unfold.

While walking, she stole a single glance at her newfound sister. Even when she was a Witch, they would get along. They shared the same goal. So maybe, maybe there was hope.

This time, she... no, they would succeed.