When Homura went home, night had already fallen. She kept Mami company for about three hours, then went to leave. They had school the next day, after all.

There was not much talking, seeing that the time traveler was still unwilling to tell her new ally much about her reasons. Though she did mention the coming of Walpurgis and the blonde displayed a lot of interest in this, promising her assistance once the Queen of Witches appeared.

If she lives long enough to even lay eyes on her.

Those timelines where Tomoe Mami did not die before the last day of April were rare. She got herself killed through a vast variety of circumstances, though the most common was getting her head bitten off by the Caterpillar-Witch for a while now.

It was somewhat macabre for her to think about another person dying in a statistical way, yet this was the only thing Homura was capable of after everything she had been through. However, she was still amazed at how well the procedure Lilly suggested went. They did not plan for her to meet Mami this early, though. Therefore, this was a rather pleasant surprise. Kyubey might have planned to play the blonde as a card, but underestimated her desire not to be alone anymore.

While those thoughts crossed her mind, Homura kept walking through the night, not caring for the few stray cats that crossed her path on the way. There were some people out, too, but at this time of the day, no one minded the others much. She got one or two stares, but that was it.

I just hope that Lilly didn't do anything stupid.

This thought had her stop for a moment to ponder where it came from. Either did she want to keep a powerful ally, or she actually started to feel attached to the Witch and did not want to lose her.

If it was the former, that was alright. Should it be the latter though, she might have a problem. A serious problem.

After all, she could not rely on something as abnormal as a human-shaped Witch not to be noticed and hunted. She did not have that much luck. However, she remembered, Lilly was a powerful being that could kill her own kin without even breaking a sweat.

She survived up until now without getting noticed, even when Kyubey is suspecting something. The least I can do to honour this is to trust her a bit more.

That sounded fine to her, so she decided to do it.

Walking home at night felt somewhat refreshing; it was quiet and the cool night's air sent a chill through her spine. She always liked this time of the day because it felt somewhat comforting. Or because it did not remind her former self of not having any friends that much. Maybe both.

However, this peaceful time of just walking and breathing had to end eventually. She reached her home and could already feel that something bad happened deep down in her guts.

Quickly, Homura unlocked the door and went inside, kicking away her shoes in the process. Though she stopped dead in her tracks when she could smell that something burned inside.

What...

She closed the door and brought the chain in place, then went towards the kitchen, her bad feeling increasing alongside the stench.

Within the room in question, her assumption was proven when she saw what happened: the area around the stove was mostly blackened and a frying pan just as dark sat in the sink. Lilly was on her knees on the floor around the stove, apparently scrubbing it clean with what looked like ferocity. Though the most alienating about this scene was that the Witch only wore underwear and constantly muttered under her breath.

Due to being busy, she did not even notice Homura appearing behind her back, which was why she jumped and whirled around when she was spoken to. "You tried to cook?"

There was no anger in her voice, just curiousity seeing that she never used the kitchen anyway. But even then, her "sister" turned a deep scarlet and averted her gaze, the small nod almost escaping time traveler's attention. She sighed and took a closer look at the damage.

Just superficial. Though the frying pan could be tossed out, seeing that some egg had molten into the material.

As she turned around again, Lilly still stood in the midst of the room like a statue, her hands slightly shaking. However, her expression was still unreadable apart from her blush. Again, Homura regarded the lack of clothing and sent the other girl a quizzical stare. "What exactly happened?"

A heavy sigh escaped the Witch before she regained some of her composure and motioned for the stove. "I am able to live off of raw food, but I don't like it. So I tried to make some with recipes I found on the Internet... at least I learned about what not to do, so something like this will never happen again."

Though Homura doubted it, she just nodded, then she went for her next question: "Why are you in your underwear, then?"

She got a shrug and the Witch started to gather her cleaning materials. "I already lost one of my school uniforms to the smoke, I don't want to get another one dirty."
"I see."

That made sense, at least. But there was one more thing she wondered about, because she had checked the wastebin as well.

"And where is whatever you wanted to cook?"

In response, the other girl patted her tummy thrice with a void expression. "Since that was my fault, I faced the consequences and ate all of it. And now I have a tummy ache."

Especially because of her deadpan manner of speaking right now, Homura shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Even when you made the mistake, having to clean it up should be punishment enough, don't you think?"

"Um... it is?"

Lilly blinked a few times, then looked down and sighed. "Whatever, I'm getting this finished before bed, don't mind me."

Even when she said that, cleaning this up completely would take at least two more hours. So Homura just shook her head and went into her bedroom.

Once she emerged again, Lilly -who had started scrubbing after changing the water in her bucket- looked at her warily. Then, her eyes became wider upon seeing the time traveler in her gym clothes, taking another sponge from the sink and crouching down next to her. "Homura?"

"You would be up half the night if you wanted to get this done by yourself. And as your older sister, I can't allow this."

It was a poor excuse, really. However, the choice of words apparently touched the Witch more than Homura expected. She did not say anything to that, but instead doubled her speed.

"Also, I wanted to exchange information with you anyway."

By now, the Magical Girl had started scrubbing as well, no longer looking at Lilly. The human-shaped Witch kept quiet for a few more seconds, then gave her a short report: "I got Madoka and Miki out of the mall without seeing the rat, but I had to tell them about what's going on. Luckily, a Familiar came our way once I started telling them. They should believe how dangerous this is now, even when I roasted it."

She had been listening nonchalantly, but the last statement gave Homura pause. "You used your power in front of them?"

The first reply she got was a laugh. "Of course not, I'm not stupid. I used a good moment to stop time and spat out some fire. Oh and besides, you should know about what exactly I told them."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Now it became interesting. How well had the Witch done? Going by the smirk she heard from her voice -after all, she was concentrated on scrubbing-, it had been a masterpiece.

"First, I told them that an irregular Witch appeared that kills other Witches, thus the fire. Nothing specific of course. Additionally, I told them about this system's greatest rule without actually revealing it, saying that for every Magical Girl that is born, a Witch just as powerful will come into existence."

Homura pondered that once Lilly finished. After a while, she voiced her thoughts: "This sounds well enough. Believable even to Tomoe Mami, but not shocking, should she ever learn about your words."

"I know. I think I made them as opposed to becoming Magical Girls as was possible today."

That was good to hear. Not only did her "sister" not mess up, but did a far better job at this certain day than Homura ever had. Maybe her Witch really was more mature than her, both in knowledge and intelligence. Though... going by what came next, she was more mature in terms of humour...

"So, how did the tea party go?"

Of course she would ask like this. The time traveler sighed. "She is now my ally, though I have to tolerate Kyubey."

"Poor you..."
Homura ignored that for obvious reasons.

"Also, the Incubator is suspicious about you because you have no magical potential at all."

This time, Lilly's scrubbing stopped momentarily. As it resumed, the Witch answered: "Makes sense. I'm suppressing all of my magic after all."

There had been nothing else she could tell her "sister", so Homura kept quiet and so did the other girl. They got the floor done in a good time, then went in for the stove. This was a bit more tricky, seeing that there were many edges and holes the soot had fallen onto and into.

But even then, it was better than crouching, as her aching knees told her.

"You know, some people would kill to see this, even when it's ridiculous."

Her questioning stare remained unseen, but not unanswered. Apparently, Lilly knew that she would ask. "Think about it: two girls with exactly the same outwards appearance, one of them in underwear and the other in gym clothes... of course, the only one that might ever see us like this is Madoka."

Homura's cheeks heated up ever so slightly over this remark, but she could stop herself from blushing and remained scrubbing. "I certainly doubt that."

"But you wouldn't mind, either."

This time however, she did blush. Furiously. And not even her hair could conceal it from the attentive eyes of the Witch. Lilly did not say anything about it, though. Just when did she start to tease people?

Also, they shared those feelings, so why was Homura so embarassed about admitting them? Maybe it was because she was so used to concealing everything about herself... or because somewhere deep down, a bit of her long gone shyness remained. She had no experience in love and did never expect to get any before she became a Magical Girl. And after that...

"You know... there are a few things I wanted to tell you, actually."

Instead of replying, she sent another look at her "sister", who did not return or even acknowledge it. She was focussed on scrubbing, but her face was concealed by her own hair.

"Since we get along so well, I figured it is about time I tell you about what my magic can do."

Now it became interesting again. Homura had already wondered why she was not told anything useful up until now, after all.

"Sorry for not telling you before, but I'm as suspicious as you are, even about myself."
That was about what the time traveler had expected to begin with, so she did not really mind. "It's fine."

There was no need to say any more, they both knew that. So instead of wasting time with monologueing, she motioned for Lilly to continue. The Witch took a deep breath and started talking: "You already know about my fire and my own time magic. However, the latter is different from yours in two ways I assessed by now; firstly, I can synchronize with you. So as long as we are synchronized, I stop time by instinct whenever you do. Unfortunately, it seems to only work this way and not the other way around."

This first thing sounded interesting. It also explained why Lilly could easily follow into Homura's time stops in this past week. Though she was not really sure on its safety.

"Are there any downsides?"

"Um..."

The Witch pondered this for a few seconds while continuing to scrub, then shrugged. "None I am aware of. To keep the synchronization alive, I have to use a bit of my power, but that's nothing at all. I can't do it when we're far away from each other... well, I could, but my Witch-aura could be sensed then. When you're close by, your magical footprint overshadows mine. Also, there might be a way to use this synchro... let's stop with that word and call it a bond. That's far shorter."

Lilly was not looking, but the last part had Homura flash a smile. Even when she should fight against it, she accepted that the Witch was growing on her somewhere on the way.

"However, as I was saying: with a bit more experimenting, I think I can evolve this bond into a means of communication. Since we are connected at those times, it should be able to transport messages as well..."

A convenient alternative to Kyubey relaying messages per telepathy, but from the sound of it...

"That will take some experimenting and practice, though."

Of course there had to be a downside. Nonetheless, Homura found this an interesting concept. It would solve at least the problem of staying in contact, seeing that Lilly did not have her own cellphone. Also she declined when they talked about this in particular, insisting that it was more than enough if the Magical Girl had one. Additionally, this decision increased the budget they had to spend on something else that might be more important, though weapons and anything on those lines was out of the question anyway, considering the weapon laws in Japan.

"Hm..."

The thoughtful noise had her look up, thus meeting Lilly's gaze. The Witch pondered something, that was for sure. Homura returned to her work and waited for whatever she thought about. So for a while, the kitchen was solely inhabited by scrubbing noises again. After a while, her 'twin' spoke up: "Theoretically, we could start practicing right now."

"Um... Indeed we could."

That was not a bad idea, though she was slightly worried about how much energy this bond would consume exactly. "As long as it doesn't weaken you too much."

There was a cheerful undertone in Lilly's voice now: "Don't worry, with the amount of energy I consumed in these days, I could do it all day. Though... I never did it so that you knew I was linked to you. Wait a second."

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, a sharp pain in her temples had Homura come to a complete halt. However, she stopped herself from rubbing the aching places, letting the Witch continue but also sending her an annoyed stare. Which was ignored.

The pain lingered a few moments, then started to subside until it was just a small pulsing somewhere in the background. Since the nuisance was now gone, the time traveler continued to clean the stove. However, a sudden statement had her stop once more.

"There, all set. Can you feel it?"

It took her a moment to understand; this pulse she could feel vibrating, it was not a remainder of the headache but something else. As she concentrated on it, it became clearer. Something strange, alienating. Something Homura had never felt before; deep down towards her subconciousness, she could feel it pulsing, emanating something. But even when she did not know anything about it, it did not scare or upset her. Instead, she became curious about what it was.

She wanted to ask for what exactly she was feeling right now, but something like a jolt of electricity stopped her for a moment, so Lilly could beat her to it: "Ah, I can feel it, too! That was curiousity from you right now, was it not? Hm..."

While she continued to scrub, the Witch frowned. "I think we're limited to basic emotions for the time being. Not even something like hope or sadness, but the primal ones like hunger, content, curiousity and so on."

Now Homura finally got to say something: "Then... what exactly was that just now?"

"Hm? Oh, that. I took a hold of that feeling of yours for a moment as to distinguish what it was. Its a bit like with ones voice on that matter: By looking at it from the outside, we can't really understand it as long as we never heard it before. So we have to hold on to each others feelings in order to categorize them. Come on, try to grab for me... wait, I shouldn't just believe you to be capable of this..."

With a sigh, the Witch let go of her sponge and put it in the bucket, then she turned to Homura and opened her hands. The sudden action did not actually startle her, she was used to them by now. However, the interested and curious look in her 'sister´s' eyes was one she had rarely seen before. "Come on, hand me your Soul Gem. I will guide you."

For a moment, she thought about resisting, but then shrugged internally. It had been proven multiple times that the other girl could not inflict harm on her directly and she never displayed any desire to do so in the first place. It was just the caution she earned by so many years of fighting dubious creatures speaking, an antic Akemi Homura would never get away from. And she did not want to get away from it, either.

This time however, it was completely unnecessary, so she handed over the gem after transforming it. Once Lilly had taken the trinket, she stared at the slightly tainted crystal for a few seconds, then sighed while the strange feeling Homura felt from her appeared to come closer until it 'touched' her. When it became a part of the time traveler, she opened her eyes in surprise about how easy it had been to understand: curiousity, plain and simple.

"This would go so much easier and faster if you could learn and evolve like I do..."

Now this statement distracted her from experimenting with this new feeling. However, since they were connected, Lilly felt her curiousity rise in an instant, placing a finger on her cheek with a smirk. "See, that's useful already."

"Yes, it is... I can feel your... discontent."

It had taken a moment for her to understand what she sensed coming from Lilly, but once she put it, it almost felt natural. The Witch bit her lip, returned the Soul Gem and continued scrubbing. The stove was almost done.

"I don't like giving away information I actually did not want to spill. At least... not like this. Since it's you, I don't have to be on guard, but still... whatever."

Their connection was still active and the time traveler could feel the discontent vanish, being replaced by a light feeling of pain, probably from the tummy ache. At first, it had really felt strange, but she already got used to it. Maybe because they were the same person, so their feelings were similar and... somehow even felt the same, if that made any sense. She had no idea how to describe it otherwise, though. Therefore, she returned to work.

As Homura took on another of the few remaining stains of soot, her 'sister' continued: "Wisdom is power, that is my belief. Others might be convinced of this as well, but it's still different. My ability of learning is far better than that of a human, so I can learn more in less time. Let's see..."

A few seconds of silence where Homura thought about what she just heard. Up until now, she thought Lilly's lack of combat abilities to be a side-effect of her human body. However, with her notion that she preferred to hide, to ambush and to gather information, it made sense for her to have an ability like this instead of raw power.

"For exampleee... remember the labyrinths Witches hide in? They have lots of stuff in them that most Magical Girls don't care about. It's obvious in most cases anyway, but if you actually looked at what it is, you could get an idea of what the Witch is or wants. Knowing that, fighting it might become easier. However, Magical Girls might need... a while to figure that out when I need about a minute, if not less."

She had a point there, Homura realised. She never paid this much attention to the barriers, but most of them did resemble either the appearance or the behaviour of the respective Witch when she thought about it in retrospect. That Lilly could distinguish it this fast was... a useful asset.

Though I wonder why she didn't tell me before...

As she thought of that question, something her 'sister' had said half an hour ago came back to mind: ' "I'm as suspicious as you are, even about myself." '

So maybe she was not sure on how Homura would react? Most likely, the time traveler found. Had Lilly told her about all of this and whatever she still kept to herself on the day she was born, she really might have decided to inform Tomoe Mami at once, deeming her 'twin' as too dangerous to be left alive.

"What I mean is that in these ten days, I learned as much as other people learn in two or three months. Combined with the knowledge I inherited from you, that makes for a powerful combination, especially with my own magic... magic... ah, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you about."

"Hm?"

It was after ten by now, the Magical Girl realised. The time had really been flying over their conversation. The stove was clean and what remained was the totally unusable frying pan.

With a sigh, Homura pulled it out of the sink and threw it in the wastebin, waiting for the Witch to continue.

"I extended my magic from time to space."

Now the time traveler was surprised. Her mask fell so Lilly could both feel and see her surprise.

"Come again."

At that, her 'twin' cocked an eyebrow and shook her head. "You heard me."

So that really had been what she was saying. For a moment, the time traveler really thought that the other girl was joking, but it seemed as if she was serious. But then, how did she do it? No Magical Girl could manipulate two different things, so Witches should not be able to do it, either.

As Homura's thoughts remained racing and she did not give an answer altogether, Lilly sighed and emptied the bucket into the sink. "It's not that unexpected. I read in an article that time and space are the same on an energetic manner, so I just tried it. And it worked, though I need to practice a lot more to make this usable. Also, it takes a lot of power as of now, so I can't just train whenever I want to."

The additional information and her 'sister´s' calm voice had the Magical Girls' thoughts slow down again while she eyed the other girl with a wide variety of emotions. She had never expected there to be anything else but stopping time.

Wait.

A sudden realisation had her look at her own Soul Gem. When she saw that, Lilly voiced what Homura thought: "Yes, this seemingly unlimited capacity in your shield is also a result of bending space, so you actually have been doing it all the time without realising. Though I doubt that you could utilize it properly."

That might be true, especially when even the more powerful eldritch being had trouble with that. The time traveler sighed and looked at the Witch again. There was one last thing she wanted to know. "What exactly can you do with this extension?"

Lilly simply showed her a cheerful smirk. "Telekinesis."

Homura had heard of it. The power to move objects with one's mind alone. That did sound promising, just as what she had been told before did. However, she would not place her hopes on an unstable ability. As her 'sister' just stated herself, she needed to train it properly.

On the other hand and with everything that happened this day, she did not feel like thinking about it for much longer, so she sent the Witch a tired look. "We can discuss this some other time. I will go to bed now."

To that, she got something like a forgiving smile and a nod. "Yes, I'll be there in a second."

.

This was the first night where Lilly did not almost press herself at Homura. Instead, she peacefully slept next to her with their shoulders barely touching. The time traveler did not really know what to think of that, but it felt nice.