Homura caught a glimpse of what is to come...
Timeline 101. Friday, 25 March 2011, High Noon.
To summarize, things (as in, her first day at school) pretty much went the same way as with most other timelines for Homura. She enters, she introduces herself, she excels at math, she goes to the nurse office with Madoka, she warns Madoka, and school is over.
Wait, that doesn't seem right…
Homura vividly remembered that there was supposed to be a sports lesson right after the part where she warns Madoka. A time when she gets to flaunt her superhuman strength for Madoka and others to see, and no one finding it odd that a girl that supposedly just recovered from a heart disease could manage to do all these awesome physical feats.
She soon found out that school ends earlier on Friday, for some reason.
Huh.
Timeline 101. Friday, 25 March 2011, 20 minutes later.
Already, she was nearing the mall of Mitakihara. A place where Madoka and her friends usually hang out after school.
Normally, this is the part where she would start chasing Kyubey – who intends to trick Madoka into making a contract – away. But when Homura did arrive at the mall, she didn't see any sign of the Incubator anywhere. With no immediate threat present, Homura decided that it would probably be for the best to kill the nearest witch that haunts an unfinished part of the mall before anyone else – for example, Mami – could interfere.
Her next prey would be…Gertrud, The Rose Garden Witch.
The trek towards where Gertrud's labyrinth was supposed to be took a few minutes. The cold wind from outside howls within the building, making all sorts of eerie sounds that Homura hasn't been accustomed to before. On her way there, she heard a little commotion from behind.
Pulling a gun out at the unseen stalker, Homura exclaimed. "Show yourself. I know you're following me."
"You are…Akemi Homura, right? Please put the gun down, I mean you no harm."
Pulling itself out of a collapsed pile of bricks reveals Kyubey, also known as the Incubator.
"Kyubey…Why are you following me?"
Not seeing Homura as a threat, Kyubey strode over with no caution whatsoever. "I'm here to investigate an anomaly that was detected around this area."
"!" Homura flinched at just how fast Kyubey intended to confront her regarding herself as an anomaly.
"Calm down. You may be an anomaly yourself, but you're not what I intend to investigate right now." said Kyubey as he jumped towards Homura's head and sat there.
"Tch!" Homura made her displeasure towards Kyubey's action known. Homura wasn't sure if she should just shoot Kyubey, shoot herself, or to just let this go on. This certainly never happened before.
Getting himself comfortable on (read: ruining) the top of Homura's hair, he continued. "Besides, I'll probably need your help for this one."
"Why would I help you?" Homura retorted.
"Why the hostilities? I know you're an anomaly, but I don't even recall seeing you before." Kyubey shot back, before pointing towards the general direction of where the witch currently was. "Now take us to the nearest witch labyrinth! Chop chop!"
Homura stood there, comprehending the situation that she had just gotten herself into. Ultimately, she complied and started walking. "Is there something in this labyrinth that I don't know about?"
"Mmm…" Kyubey hummed, thinking on what to tell to Homura. "For the past few days, I've been detecting something or someone – an anomaly – that has been accelerating entropy at a dangerous and unnatural level."
Homura rolled her eyes. "As if your own goal isn't also dangerous and unnatural…"
"I have yet to find out who or what is causing this. Coincidentally, a witch just so happens to be at the same spot as this anomaly, so that's where we're going!"
But seriously though, something that catches even Kyubey's attention ought to be something that Homura should keep a lookout for. So Homura decided to play along with this unspoken truce.
"Very well."
The walk was a quiet one. Kyubey didn't even bother probing Homura for information, it seems like he was more concerned with this other anomaly.
Soon, they came across the entrance into Gertrud's witch labyrinth. So far it looks the same as usual. Without any further prompting, Homura entered the labyrinth.
So far it looks the same as usual.
She went further, and the familiars are still the scissor-wielding moustached cotton balls that Homura was familiar with.
So far it looks the same as usual. Well, maybe the moustaches look a bit more manlier than usual somehow…
She went further, killing familiars that stood directly in her way and ignoring those that didn't. Whether they stood in her way or not, none stood a chance against John Browning's beautiful inventions, especially in the hands of someone like Homura.
So far it looks the same as usual.
Things started to look different when she was nearing the spot where Gertrud herself supposedly resides. The deeper she went, the more Homura started seeing claw marks, larger than even her arms combined. Neither Homura nor Kyubey made a comment about it as they delved deeper inside the labyrinth.
By the time they arrived, it was already too late. Too late to kill Gertrud, and too late to run away. As soon as the unlikely duo walked in, they bore witness to another witch easily tearing apart Gertrud, seemingly with glee. With the death of Gertrud, the surrounding environment shifted into a new labyrinth, one that Homura had never seen before.
Maybe if Homura backed away quietly, then perhaps…
"Oh, another lamb to the slaughter."
…Nevermind.
As if sensing her intention, the other witch turned itself towards Homura, and…
It was the bird that Homura saw before she left the previous timeline! And it truly was the third-biggest witch she has ever seen, right behind Walpurgisnacht and Kriemhild Gretchen.
The bird gazed intently at Homura's eyes. Judging her. "Hmm…Perhaps you'll be a bit more of a challenging morsel than this pathetic excuse of a witch." The bird spoke- No, was it telepathy? Both? Homura couldn't tell, and it was making her head hurt just thinking about it.
"Wait, you're…Yatagarasu!" exclaimed Kyubey, who recognized this ancient witch.
"Kyubey…You have the nerve to show yourself within my presence…!"
Somehow, Kyubey's unnatural smile – just this once – felt natural. "I don't have a nerve."
"You will once I'm done with you, but first…" Yatagarasu seemingly did the impossible and shifted its gaze towards Homura, and Homura only. "...You."
Homura froze, utterly unsure of what she was dealing with.
"You have the look of someone who went through no small amount of strife."Yatagarasu then probably grinned. "Perhaps it has something to do with that time-traveling power of yours…?"
"!" Now Homura was truly feeling afraid. There was no doubt that the witch in front of her was the exact same one that she saw from last time.
Kyubey, on the other hand, perked up when someone else just solved another mysterious anomaly for her. "Ahh, so that explains why I don't recall ever contracting Homura before!"
Yatagarasu was not amused. "Who gave YOU permission to speak?!"
Yatagarasu then near-instantaneously swiped a talon towards Homura and Kyubey, intending to end the magical girl and the incubator in one fell swoop. Mainly towards Kyubey, Homura was just a collateral…
…Only to hit neither of them as Homura ducked even faster and left Kyubey in the air. The talon went through between Homura and Kyubey harmlessly.
"I have GOT to get out of here…!" Homura's panicked mind screamed,
"You are fast, I'll give you that. So what brings you two here exactly? I am not sorry to say that you are too late to call dibs on this witch." Yatagarasu asked as she gently inspected the newly-acquired grief seed of Gertrud. The grief seed, with the power of magic, gently floats in front of the bird's beak, and yet Homura was reluctant to simply swipe it and run away.
Kyubey, however, was unfazed by the previous murder attempt. "We were investigating an anomaly. Something or someone has been devouring the energy of the universe and accelerating entropy, and my intel points in this direction."
Yatagarasu wanted to clap mockingly, but settled with something more verbal. "Is that so? Then congratulations, you've found your culprit!"
Homura could feel Kyubey's tail faltering behind her head. "...What do you mean?"
Yatagarasu answered by snapping its beak shut at the recently-dropped grief seed of Gertrud.
"What the-?! Homura stuttered, and trembled, now no longer bothering to mask how she truly felt about this situation.
What was even stranger was that Homura could feel that Kyubey was also trembling. "Y-y-you're the one-! You're the one who is actively accelerating entropy! Homura! You have to defeat her right now!"
The super witch howled in laughter. "You're truly asking this failure to help you? The one magical girl who couldn't achieve her goal how many times now. You may be one of the most persistent things I have ever met, but persistence alone will not help you!"
This bird is a never-seen-before threat and is powerful enough to toy around with another witch. Homura was completely justified to run away at that moment, ignoring the super witch's hurtful jeer at her time-traveling attempts to save Madoka.
As if wanting to prove a point, the bird didn't move an inch, even as Homura was reaching the exit of this strange, dark, and new labyrinth. The labyrinth itself was a quasi-claustrophobic mess that consisted of dark spikes, punji stakes, small but numerous dried rivers of blood, and the iron-scented miasma that comes with it. Oddly, not a single familiars in sight.
While his initial distress recedes, Kyubey vehemently disagrees with Homura's course of action. "H-Homura? What are you doing? We need to defeat that witch right here, right now!"
"And risk getting myself killed for something that doesn't concern me? No thank you."
"But it does concern you! The universe will die if that witch is left to its own device!"
Before Homura could utter her rebuttal, the unlikely duo could already see the exit of this labyrinth. For a moment, a shred of hope sparked within Homura that she would get out of this encounter alive.
That meager hope was dashed, shredded, stomped, shat, and spat on when the witch flew at a frightening speed that betrays its size. Blocking the exit.
"I have always fancied myself some entertainment alongside my meal, so thank you." Yatagarasu thanked genuinely.
Homura begged to differ.
She pulled out an FN P90 submachine gun and sprayed an entire magazine at the witch in front of her.
The witch, utterly unfazed and unimpressed, merely lifted a wing to block all the small bullets that peppered it. It barely even felt the shots.
She shot an old and rugged RPG-7 at the crow, and the crow merely swatted it away.
She may just be imagining it, but Homura thought she saw disappointment in the super witch's face.
Before the witch could utter any more degrading words, a magical beam of light came directly from above, and the unprepared witch could do nothing but howl in pain as the light pinned it down.
Homura looked above and, lo and behold, Tomoe Mami hung at the perceived ceiling of this labyrinth.
"Mami!" Kyubey exclaimed.
"Hey! You! Grab onto my ribbon! There's one on your feet! I'll get you two out of here!" Mami shouted. She was glad that her ambush worked on this strange witch that could talk.
Homura then looked down, and there! She quickly clung onto hope, and onto Mami's ribbon. She and Kyubey – who Homura briefly forgot were still on her head – were lifted above the witch and into the relative safety that distance offered.
The whole way up, Homura feared that the witch would recover quickly and turning this into a fucked up sort of fishing between Mami and Yatagarasu, with Homura and Kyubey serving as bait.
Homura was for once glad she managed to stand face to face with Mami, especially on this occasion.
"Are you two alright?" the blonde asked.
"Mami, you're here! Now we can take down that witch below!" said Kyubey, who still wanted Yatagarasu dealt with.
"No! Don't! That witch is much more dangerous than you think!" Homura interjected, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
To Homura's surprise, Mami agreed with her assessment. "Don't worry. I saw what it's capable of."
Kyubey did not. "But- But-!"
"Kyubey, I don't know about our new friend here, but I'm running low on grief seed myself. There's no guarantee that we could take that witch on, even if we outnumber it."
Homura chose to not mention that she had plenty of grief seeds on her.
"Besides…look!" Mami pointed below.
Homura looked down, and Yatagarasu had already recovered from one of Mami's strongest attacks.
And it just…stood there, looking at the three of them.
Homura shivered. She then looked at Mami. "Do you know our way out?"
Mami nodded, and surprised Homura when the blonde kicked the ceiling, which opens a way out.
"This exit leads to the rooftop. Let's go!"
Akemi Homura nodded, and alongside Mami, left the labyrinth…
"NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo.."
…with a crestfallen Kyubey in tow.
Timeline 101. Friday, 25 March 2011, 01:00 PM.
Yatagarasu watched from below as the pair of magical girls and Kyubey left her labyrinth. The bird could have easily swooped up and ended them all, but she was forced to spare them. Her current master, The Morningstar, spoke directly to her mind to spare the girls for now, especially Homura.
Yatagarasu hated it.
Yatagarasu was secretly infuriated, letting them leave unscathed. But she could do nothing about it.
Not yet, at least.
It's amazing how Kyubey managed to get away with everything despite how he acts (at least in fanon), so I decided to write his character like someone who puts more effort in his deception than just "looking cute". Let's see how it'll work out.
