She took Yuri's words by heart and thought. Pondered just what the other girl meant until dawn, oblivious to her surroundings. When the first rays of the sun hit her eyes, shielding them with a cold hand of hers was the first time that she actually moved since she started. Her body was stiff from sitting on this bench for hours on end and she was cold all over, but knowing that her magic would sustain her, Mami was alright.

I guess she went home...

At least that was what she thought until she turned her head around and found the younger Akemi-twin still sitting next to her, eyeing the blonde with sharp yet sleepy eyes... however one could have both of those at the same time. Going by how she sat, the cold bothered her a lot more than Mami... though she relaxed her posture and tried to look as if it did not once the Magical Girl was staring back.

Her mere presence was a huge surprise, though. Mami did not expect her to stay for the entirety of the night and knowing that there was someone by her side all the time had a grateful smile find its way onto her lips as she bowed slightly to the younger girl. "Thank you for staying with me. I really appreciate that."

Her voice was raspy from not being used for a while, so she cleared her throat while Yuri just waved it off. "Don't mention it. Did you come to a conclusion?"

That she did indeed. However, she felt the tiredness creep up on her when the rapid processing her mind made before had held it away.

. . .

Lilly's eyes had been drawn by a few birds that flew past, mostly because of the rapid movement. There had not been much to do these last few hours and she did not allow herself to sleep. Except for that one time when someone tried to get to them with... explicit intentions, going by that man's smell. Well... too bad that her stare was colder than the night and the dress even increased the effect. Although the maniacal grin and her inviting gesture might have helped to scare off that person. That had been the only actual enjoyable event of the night. The rest... had been cold. And in difference to Mami and Homura, she could not just surround her body with magic to keep herself warm to some extent. Her cover was blown if she did, so the Witch had to endure the temperature.

But still, Mami should have answered by now.

As she turned her head back to where the Magical Girl sat, she felt something fall against her and froze in place. Slowly, Lilly's gaze went downwards and she came face to face with the Magical Girl that was resting on her shoulder, eyes closed. That was too close for her liking, way too close. The Soul Gem on Mami's head was glowing, but that did not seem to wake the sleeping girl. At least one thing that was positive. A few more seconds and the blonde transformed back... now leaning onto her in but rather short, yellow pyjamas.

There were a few things that made this experience uncomfortable for the Witch right now:

First, this was not Madoka.

Second, if they were seen like that, she had a serious problem with whoever saw them.

Third, this was not Madoka.

Fourth, Mami actually might catch a cold like this and she would be blamed.

Fifth, this was not Madoka.

Sixth, if Kyubey or another Magical Girl saw the shining Soul Gem that she carefully placed back on Mami's hand, she was in even more trouble. She was fortunate enough that no one had been around to see her transform back.

Seventh, this was not Madoka.

Slowly, Lilly rose to her feet and balanced the sleeping girl with her hand. She could not really let her here lest something bad might happen... not because she was worried but because she knew that she would be blamed if it did. She did not even have to lie to herself this time... not that she had to the other times, though.

With a careful look around, Lilly took in the scent of her surroundings and confirmed that there was no human in close proximity. Following that, she made use of her extraordinary strength and lifted Mami as if she had no weight at all. Actually, she would have preferred to carry the blonde on her back, but she could not really shift her around, so bridal style had to do.

With a deep breath, her heart started to beat properly and she stopped time.

It was a risk like none she ever took before. If Mami woke up for the smallest amount of time and noticed what happened, it was over. However, the alternative was worse; carrying her through a good part of the city while in this state of dress would not go unnoticed. The authorities might smell something fishy and keep her occupied for too long. Also, Kyubey had a good chance to see them, notice Mami's glowing Soul Gem... truthfully, she preferred the blonde finding out about her Witchhood under her conditions, not the Incubator'. If she ever found out, that was.

However, Lilly was too much of a realist to believe that she could keep it a secret for much longer. Events were progressing in a manner she did not like at all and her secrecy would be for naught soon. However, the Witch wanted to try to stall as much time as possible. Maybe she was capable to go unnoticed until Walpurgis. If she did, that would already be a huge success.

She got moving and went upwards with long leaps, passing a few birds that were frozen in mid-air. Her legs were definitely not as strong as Homura's or any other Magical Girl's, but she could make do with the strength she had. Once she reached the roof of the building she was closest to, Mortal World's Witch started her journey towards the Tomoe-residence by jumping from roof to roof, not minding the people below or anything else. Time was stopped so it was not worth paying attention to anyway.

As she held on to Mami tightly, the sleeping girl squirmed and snuggled up to her shoulder... much to Lilly's embarassment. She was not a cushion!

Besides, she completely forgot how quickly this girl could become attracted to those around her if given the slightest bits of affection... or kindness... or attention... oh...

Oh no, you will not fall for me. Don't you dare!

For a moment, the human-shaped Witch pondered whether it would be alright to drop the older girl mid-jump. But that would only lead to unwanted questions. Sighing, she continued to jump from roof to roof, steadying herself with telekinesis whenever there was the need to.

But still...

It was of no use and she knew that. Why was she trying to deny the inevitable? Although... she could get around it if she revealed herself to Mami. That would definitely cancel the attraction... but no, that was still preferred to getting killed.

Her sighs became heavier the closer she came to Mami's home. Thankfully, even the quick movements of her jumps were not enough to wake the girl. Pulling that kind of all-nighter was a bit too much, after all. Even for Magical Girls.

However, the constant use of magic and the depressive thoughts Mami had that night might have darkened her Soul Gem quite a bit again. Actually, Lilly found, this was a perfect opportunity. Like this she could finally start experimenting with other peoples' Soul Gems.

Therefore, a feline smile crept on her face as she finally landed on the balcony leading to the older girl's home. She undid the door with her mind, opened and walked through. After that, she closed the door and made it the way it was before, then turned around and walked out the front door where she swallowed down her remaining energy and let time resume. After all, she would have had a problem if someone saw her walking in from the balcony. Instead, Lilly quickly took the key to the apartement out of Mami's pocket and opened up, closing the door with her foot as she entered the flat... again. It was almost as silent as when time was stopped, the whole building engulfed by the quiet of the morning, this shaking feeling from shortly before actually waking up. It smelled awfully as usual, but the scent was a bit less extreme, seeing that most of the people were in their flats.

As she was inside, the Witch carefully slid down the snuggly blonde on the couch and gave her one last lookover before moving to inspect the remainder of the rooms. Now that time was running normally, she could smell Sayaka nearby. The blunette had been staying here, apparently.

Looking into Mami's bedroom, Lilly found the girl in question and it took but a single look at her to know that her Soul Gem was already closing in on its limits. That was bad.

Actually..., she noticed after a moment, ...this is perfect!

With a quick glance around, she made sure that there was no Kyubey in sight. Then the Witch moved over to where the newest Magical Girl was sprawled over the futon and crouched next to her. She was still out like a light, but one could never know. At least she placed her Soul Gem on the nightstand as they did most of the time.

Slowly, Lilly reached out for the trinket while at the same time keeping a close eye on the sleeping blunette. No reaction, just a slight frowning when a slender finger touched the dark blue crystal. Tensing up, the Witch focussed her mind on the soul right at her hands. She could not just hold her Grief Seed against it since it was in her body so the taint had to be extracted manually.

Honestly... you should be grateful that I'm willing to give you another day or two. As you are now, you would be dead within hours.

She was as careful as possible, not because she did not want to hurt Sayaka but because she wanted to avoid trouble.

It took a while but slowly, a black strand was floating out of the gem that became a bit brighter again. It was not even half of the total amount of taint, but this was to be expected; Lilly could not just pull out everything like she did with Homura. Right now, this was equivalent to treating a porcelain doll.

As she reached out to the slowly despairing soul however, the emotions that girl felt became a bit clearer even when she was dreaming right now. Carefully as to not disturb her slumber, Lilly's mind worked around the concious parts and pulled again.

After a few more attempts, the Witch sighed and stopped with a small, black orb attached to her finger. As she put that in her mouth and started to chew, a curious purple was cast at the still murky Soul Gem... not really clean, but at least nowhere near as tainted as before.

Additionally, the rare treat had been worth the work, although she did not really savor it. Not yet, that was. Instead, Lilly kept chewing as she left the bedroom with the uncomfortably shifting blunette, returning to Mami's side and starting to work on her Soul Gem as well. The blonde was still in a deep sleep, so she would not need to be as careful as with Sayaka... however, she was nonetheless. Every mistake could cost her head right now and she needed this Magical Girl for Walpurgis.

Like this, the shining yellow Soul Gem became more clear bit by bit as well. At one point, she accidentally touched the conciousness within the trinket but it only had Mami sigh in her sleep and turn around. Fortunately for the Witch.

Once she was done here as well, Lilly continued to chew on Sayaka's grief and put the second orb she acquired into her mouth as well. Despair mixed with jealousy and anger were combined with disbelief, general hurt and more despair. Different people tasted different to some extent, so the combination became an interesting experience. She walked a few steps away from the sleeping blonde and put her hands on her reddening cheeks, trying desperately not to squeal at this wonderful taste. Homura's darkness was always delicious, but she never had the chance to put something else onto it. Well, she tried to eat it with regular spices... once. Those completely spoiled this wonderful meal.

However, Homulilly was happy right now. She might have used up quite some energy with her little episode, but at least she got some of that back right now. And the possible gain outweighed the loss by far anyway.

Sighing, the Witch turned to look at the girl she brought back home, then decided to leave her a short message in a place where Sayaka could not find it. She would not be the one to give false impressions as she held no interest in Mami beyond her capabilities... She did not, right?

Shaking her head, Lilly decided to review that later, once she got some more sleep than one or two hours. It was enough for her to keep going throughout the day, but still not enough to be alright. Her head was fuzzy and she had a headache from being awake so early.

The human-shaped Witch quickly pulled Mami's cellphone out of the blonde's pocket, cheered that it was unlocked and wrote a short message that she left opened as the device returned to standby. Once the older girl woke up and checked, she would see.

After that was done, Lilly took another look around, noted the absence of Kyubey and decided that it was better not to push her luck, so she turned around and left by foot. Thankfully, the landlord was not yet awake so there was no problem with leaving the building undetected.

Now Lilly went for her own home. She needed something to drink.

.

. . .

.

With a displeased noise, Homura sat up and looked around. No Lilly.

When she jumped out of bed and went to check the other rooms, the Witch was not there, either. All she found was a soundly sleeping Kyoko who did not seem to wake up anytime soon.

Where was she?

There was something in the back of her mind, but she could not really remember; her memories were fuzzy. The only thing she knew was that it had happened the previous night. Did her 'sister' tell her where she wanted to go? Maybe so, the time traveler could not tell.

She should be fine...

There was no point in looking around. Maybe she wanted to take a sneak peak at Madoka? If so, Homura would not hold it against her seeing that she had done so on several occassions as well. So instead of worrying, the raven-haired girl decided to prepare breakfast both because she herself was a bit hungry and because a certain Witch would complain all day if she got nothing to eat. Besides, her guest needed food as well.

On her way into the kitchen, the Magical Girl's eyes fell onto the table in the living room. She very well remembered Lilly's breakdown, her turning from a confident and proud being to a wimperig mess in such a short time. This was something they had in common, then. Though Homura never displayed pride. She threw that away with everything else.

Sighing, she pondered what to make for those two gluttons, then went with toast anyway. A lot of toast...

As a side effect of choosing this, she did not need to pay too much attention and could continue to think, although most of the time she got with that was spent trying to remember what they talked about in the middle of the night. Something had woken her up for a short while, she was sure of that. Just... what was it? Her cellphone, maybe?

A cautious look was sent towards the bread, but it seemed as if she could leave it alone for a moment. Therefore, Homura strode back to her bedroom, retrieved the device and put it in one of her apron's pockets before returning to the kitchen. Back there, the bread was scrutinized again and exchanged for another few pieces. Homura took the first two and prepared a meal for herself, eating quickly just out of habit. Once she was done with that, she drank a glass of juice in just the same manner. Controlled haste, a necessity for her.

Afterwards, the time traveler decided not to prepare more toast for now but to wait until Lilly returned or Kyoko woke up.

To pass the time, the raven-haired girl flipped open her phone and took a closer look. There were no new messages, neither from today nor yesterday. Although... the only one that even sent her any messages was Madoka, after all. However... there was a call that came in around two in the morning. From Mami, no less.

Slowly, she started to get an idea of what exactly happened. The other Magical Girl had something to discuss, most likely because of her Soul Gem. But why Lilly took it upon herself to answer to the blonde, she could not tell.

However, as she was staring down at the display, a sound played and a messagebox popped up, informing her that she had received a new text.

Looking at the ID had her heart jump: Madoka.

She could not stop herself from reacting so strongly whenever the gentle pinkette was around or contacted her. It was a disappointment at most times, but she actually preferred it that way... not bonding more with her meant that it would not hurt as much when she failed. She could bond with her afterwards, after all... that was, if she wanted to. Homura was well aware that she had no future, so why drag this nice girl down with her?

Blinking, the time traveler resurfaced from her thoughts and started to read. Then stopped for a moment and read it again, blushing as she realised that she understood it correctly... but this could not be.

Madoka was asking her to do something together today... just the two of them.

Her heart was already beating faster and before she even knew she did, her fingers were typing a reply and accepting the invitation... but she stopped them and thought.

What am I doing? This is... becoming more and more like the last timeline. I have to prevent this.

But as she went to delete the half-done reply and wanted to start anew, her fingers stopped again. Not because of a concious thought but because something deep within her psyche would not let her turn down the pinkette.

There she stood, looking down at her phone. She did not want to accept but she could not decline. Not answering at all was too rude to be an option... so...

Maybe she just wants to talk about something.

Yes, this should be it. Madoka had those episodes where she wanted to talk to her about one thing or another in most timelines, sometimes asking her like this. The wording was different this time around, but that would not mean much.

...

Yes, it was a shallow justification to accept. Homura knew. But the thought of spending time with the girl she loved was filling her with so much warmth that she chose to just accept her selfishness. As things went, this timeline might be the last one she had to endure... so maybe it was alright to bond some more with her.

The time traveler sighed as her fingers went to work, picking out the Kanjis she needed and organising them into the form they should have, then pressed the send-button and put the phone onto the counter.

"Just what took you so long to reply? Message from your girlfriend?"

The sudden voice had her flinch and turn around to face Kyoko, who stood right in the doorframe that connected the kitchen and the living room. The redhead smirked just as usual even though she still looked a bit drowsy. "'Morning, by the way."

At the mention of girlfriends in combination with Madoka, the raven-haired girl found herself blushing ever so slightly. However, she managed to ban the redness from her cheeks a few moments later and went to reply: "Good morning to you too, Sakura Kyoko. And no, I was just thinking about what to write."

"Yeah, sure", her excuse was waved off. "And blushing like that. You're really into that pinky, aren't you?"

Homura agreed silently. More than this girl in front of her might ever understand. However, she decided not to answer her, seeing that this was the only way the time traveler determined that would not result in the teasing to continue. Instead, she gave the other girl a questioning look. "Have you seen Yu... Lilly walking around earlier?"

At the sudden change of topic, the other Magical Girl cocked an eyebrow and smirked while shaking her head. "Nope, was out like a light."

However, the question answered itself right the next moment when a familiar voice called out from the direction of the entrance: "I'm home!"

As usual, she replied with a "Welcome back!" before turning to prepare more toast. Which did not mean that she had not seen Kyoko's new smirk. The lancer leaned at the wall right next to the door. "Playing house? A Witch and a Magical Girl... that sounds so ridiculous if you think about it."

"So what?", Lilly replied while walking right past the redhead and towards where Homura stood. The time traveler looked at her 'sister' for a moment and noticed that she wore her dress. "When did you go out?"

Being out at night in clothing like this... the Witch was fortunate if she managed to get around getting a cold or worse. However, she just nodded tiredly and rummaged through the fridge. "I took a few pieces of her mind and gave her a few of my own... you could also say that I listened to her babbling."

"Who?"

That was Kyoko, the question prompting both Akemis to turn her way in synch and answering the same way: ""Tomoe Mami.""

Despite her question being answered, the redhead blinked at them a few times in wonder. "Do you do that on purpose?"

Now she exchanged a glance with Lilly and simply ignored the question while her 'sister' smirked. "We do so at times, but not often."

Even when she found it quite funny to irritate people like that, Homura did not. Besides, there were things she should take care of beforehand.

"Go and wash your hands and face, Lilly. And while you're at it, change your clothes."

The time traveler did not even face her when she voiced the orders, but the Witch complied anyway. There was not a real chance to argue when she knew her 'sister´s' stomach demanded food and she was in charge of that. If the Witch wanted any, she had to do what she was told.

"On my way..."

However, this did not stop her from having this annoyed tone.

Once she left the room, Kyoko spoke up again. "Mind telling me what she meant earlier?"

"Hm?"

Again, the raven-haired girl turned her head and measured the other Magical Girl for a moment. She did not understand what Lilly meant, after all? In that case, she should elaborate at least a bit. There was no harm done with that.

However, the time traveler turned back to watching the toast as she spoke: "As it stands, I assume that Tomoe Mami wanted to talk to someone and Lilly volunteered as a means to manipulate her a bit more."

"And you think that works?", Kyoko shot back with a cocked eyebrow. "I mean, if she finds out then you're dead."

She had a point with that, but she seemed to forgot a certain fact Homura was still aware of: "Once our cover is blown, she will come after us anyway. Gambling like this does not increase the risk, just the reward."

There was silence as she took care of the breakfast and the other veteran was thinking about her words. When the raven-haired girl turned around with two plates filled with bread, Kyoko shrugged. "Well, I don't actually care. It's not as if this has anything to do with me."

"In fact", Lilly chimed in from the doorframe, now clad in a school uniform, "it does. You are now part of my test."

The Witch let Homura pass and settled next to them at the table, taking one of the plates and starting to eat. Kyoko did the same and asked in between bites: "What d'you mean with that? I'm definitely not helping you with your stupid tests again."

In response, her 'sister' simply smirked and the Magical Girl sighed inwardly. Here she went again...

"Unfortunately, you have no choice in the matter. On the other hand, you don't need to do anything, either."

The confusing wording had the redhead raise her eyebrow again, although she did not say anything yet. Lilly's smirk widened as she leaned back. "As I said, I gave her a few pieces of my mind. If I succeeded, then she might try to be friends with you again. Should that happen, just tell me."

This...even surprised Homura. When her 'sister' really managed to manipulate Mami this much, then there was a very real chance she could bring the blonde into a condition where she might surive.

Kyoko on her part choked on the toast she was swallowing at this moment, coughed a few times and looked at the Witch with bewildernment. "You're kidding me!"

"Nope", Lilly replied with finality. "I'm not."

So... their chances of defeating Walpurgis grew even more.

This was good.