"I love those kids but they can really be a handful."
Madoka Kaname said these words to herself as she locked up the ballet studio she had opened a few months ago. As a child, Madoka loved the art of ballet; from the age of six, her parents would drive her to practice after school, and her middle and high school years found her love for ballet turning into a deep passion. In her last year of high school, she decided to spread her love for ballet to the next generation, and a few months ago, her dream came true with the opening of Kaname Studios.
Due to her ballet studio only recently opening, she still only had a small class of 8 students to teach so far. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as even a small class of children turned out to be far more difficult to manage than she expected. Her students would run around the studio or talk loudly with each other before class started, causing Madoka to have to take what seemed like ten whole minutes to calm her students down and begin her teachings. Still, Madoka knew that she wouldn't give this job up for anything in the world.
After locking up, Madoka began to walk to her apartment where she lived alone. She was lucky and managed to get an apartment within walking distance to her studio, allowing a short walk from home to work and vice-versa. On the weekends, she would visit her friends from middle and high school, each of which had begun their own successful lives after high school. Madoka also regularly kept in contact with her parents and brother, the latter of which was currently studying at a university not far from home. Madoka reached her apartment's front door and turned the handle. As she did, she suddenly felt a sharp headache form.
"Not again! Where did I put the aspirin after last time?"
Not that it would do her much good. Over the past several weeks, she had been experiencing headaches off and on throughout the day that would last from a few minutes to several hours, headaches that wouldn't become less painful until they went away no matter how much aspirin she took. A few days, the headaches had been so bad that she had to spend an entire evening resting in her bed after work. Needless to say, getting an immense amount of pain after a long day of work was not ideal.
Lurching into her apartment, Madoka sat down on the couch her parents bought her when she moved out of the house she grew up in. Placing her head in her hands, Madoka prepared to wait out the pain in her head when she noticed something that was different from all the other times this happened to her; not only was she suffering from a severe headache, but her entire body had also begun to feel much heavier than normal. It had begun to feel as if a large force was pressing down on her body, so much so that the simple act of getting up off the couch was now seemingly impossible for her.
Only minutes later, Madoka felt what she could only best describe as her soul cracking, followed by a flood of power, warmth, and a forgotten set of memories entering through the new small gap in her soul. Madoka's body began shining outwardly, while also reeling from the immense amount of pressure these events were placing upon her. While immobilized from the pain, Madoka also experienced a flood of memories, memories detailing a fantastical version of her life where she was a magical girl who used super powers to fight horrific beings called witches. She received memories of her friends dying in battle or turning into the monsters they were facing, memories of the psychological pain her and her friends endured, the cat-like incubators who tricked her and countless others into becoming magical girls, and of her decision to rise up above these troubles to become a goddess that helped usher magical girls from the cruel fate of becoming a witch.
Finally, she received memories of a girl with long, black hair, a girl who traveled through time to save her from a dark fate, and by the end, was the very person who usurped her position as a goddess after a fierce battle in a cage built by the incubators.
Learning of one's previous life as a goddess and of the girl who took that godhood away left Madoka with many questions and mixed feelings. After a few hours, the Law of Cycles had fully integrated with her soul, finally bestowing Madoka the godhood she had lost at the age of 14. The memories of the events in Homura's soul gem that led to her godhood being stolen played out over and over again, and Madoka didn't know what to make of it. Looking back, Homura seemed to have figured out that she wasn't as happy being the Law of Cycles as she had tried to make Homura believe, and Homura, knowing how much Madoka missed her friends and family, had taken Madoka's powers and given her a new life with new memories. There was just one thing that puzzled Madoka.
"Why?"
Madoka knew that Homura considered her her greatest friend, but to decide to rebel against a goddess felt like an extreme decision to make, even if it was to save a friend. What's more, Homura had decided she shouldn't be around her anymore, making Madoka unsure of Homura's feelings towards her. Without knowledge of Homura's true feelings and motives, Madoka had no idea on how to respond to the memories she had gained.
Madoka rose from her couch and walked over to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water when arrived next to the sink. While she slowly drank the water, Madoka decided to try and take a deep look at her memories to try and deduce what really happened and what Homura was trying to accomplish. She decided to look back on the interactions that the two had in the past; Madoka saving Homura from a witch's labyrinth in the first timeline, Homura's repeated introductions to Madoka, Madoka asking Homura to save her from making a bad decision, their time together in Homura's soul gem and Homura's rewrite of the universe. When looking back on the events leading up to Homura stealing Madoka's power, two things stood out to her. One was their conversation in the field of flowers, where she had told Homura that she would never have chosen to leave her. The second was Homura's explanation as to what had really clouded her soul gem.
It's Love
Once Madoka remembered Homura saying that, the scene of Homura seemingly confessing her love played out over and over in her head. Against a backdrop of Homura's repeated attempts to save her, Homura's despair over losing Madoka to the Law of Cycles, and her use of her powers to force Madoka into a normal, happy life, Homura's confession began to make sense. After all, after twelve years of meeting the same person over and over again, seeing every side of their personality, and fighting so hard to save them from a life of misery, of course Homura would have fallen in love with her.
"How could I… how could I have not seen that sooner?"
The weight of Homura's actions and the realization that they were all done out of love for her had caused Madoka to sink to the floor and begin crying. She had spent most of her life secretly believing that because there was nothing special about her, that no one would care so much about her. Sure, the former goddess had friends whom she loved, but the possibility of someone genuinely loving her from the bottom of their hearts had never crossed her mind. It almost began to feel more crushing than the weight of the Law of Cycles reentering her soul, and it made Madoka question what to do about this new revelation.
Taking a moment to collect herself and practice deep, slow breaths to calm herself, Madoka chose to sort out what to do next. The first and most obvious option was to now challenge Homura for reign over the universe; after all, Madoka knew that Homura had been tampering with her and her friends' memories, an act that surely should not be considered acceptable. Fighting to return their lives to the way they were seemed on the surface to be what Madoka ought to do, but she couldn't see herself doing something like that. Madoka was a passive and cowardly person by nature, and in reality could never do battle with a deity. More importantly, however, Madoka couldn't fathom hurting someone she considered a good friend, causing Madoka to resolve to approach the situation in a different way. She focused her thoughts on Homura as a way to see if she could figure out a way to convince Homura to give control of the universe back to her peacefully. To this end, she examined every facet of Homura's personality; her previous lives as a timid, quiet girl, her new life as a cool, silent beauty, the determination Homura had to achieve her mission, and the love Homura had been carrying for Madoka throughout all the pain, grief, and countless time loops she had gone through.
Looking back on everything Homura had done for her, Madoka felt her heart begin beating much faster than it had been. Surprised, Madoka clasps her hands near her heart to feel its heartbeat, confirming that it had begun racing. Suddenly, images of the time-traveler's beautiful, sleek black hair flashed in Madoka's mind, as well as the cool, determined look Homura always had on her face. Whether it was during a boring class in school or fighting Walpurgisnacht, Homura had looked the same; a focused, steeled aura around her as she did everything she could to save the girl she loved. The more Homura and her actions had played in her head, the more Madoka wanted nothing more than to be near the girl, causing Madoka to finally realize something.
She was in love with Homura.