Here's Chapter 2 of Marker Magica. Enjoy.

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Oriko Mikuni drank her tea, deep in thought. It had been rough yesterday, after she saw the future change. And it all centered around an innocent, pink-haired girl by the name of Madoka Kaname; destined to be the most powerful magical girl in history, and in turn become a witch that would wipe humanity off the face of its own planet. Unless Oriko…Unless she…

Orika set down her teacup. She…She needed to see it one more time. She had to be…If Oriko was truly going to go through with this, to orchestrate the death of a girl who had done no wrong, whose only sin was that she would fall for a deception...She needed to be sure, even if just to ease her own conscience.

And so, she manifested her Soul Gem, focused her magic, and peered into the certain future once mor-What the hell?

The future was changing. Again. That much Oriko could tell for certain. But this was different than yesterday. The changes were no longer centered around Madoka Kaname, or any living being for that matter. Instead, they were focused around some sort of red spire. And with the red spire came…came…impossible…there had to be some way…there HAD to be something she could…there WASN'T.

When she saw what the future held, Oriko could only scream.

Mami had gotten up early today. She had to, if she wanted to arrive and still be able to make it to school on time. Kyubey had told her that there were some girls who had incredible magical potential that he wanted to look into. That sat fine with Mami, as she got off the bus for a meeting that was well enough overdue.

It had been…too long, since she last came to speak with her parents.

The entrance was decorated with stone angels, who held their heads in their hands as they wept, as if they too were leaving the graveyard in mourning. And like them, Mami felt tears begin to fill her eyes. By the time she reached their headstones, the tears were gently flowing, and she was sniffling softly.

"Hello Mom. Hello Dad. Kyubey isn't here today. You know how awkward he is with…" Mami tried to find a tasteful way to describe it. "…things he can't see with his own eyes. But he said that there may be some more Magical Girl candidates that he was going to look into. So…there's a chance I may not be alone anymore. I know you both wanted me to make friends, but being a Magical Girl's basically a full time job. But, if there were more, maybe we could all be friends." She didn't bring up Kyoko. She'd already told them that story, and had personally resolved to not discuss the matter with them again until it was resolved. But there was one thing that she had finally worked up the nerve to say to her parents.

"I…" Mami choked on her words. She always did at this part, as it never got easier to say. With tears starting to pour from her eyes, she continued. "I'm sorry I didn't save you. I-I'm sorry I didn't bring you back."

Mami sniffled, and pulled out her Soul Gem. The yellow stone was clouded in more black wisps than she recalled. She did have a spare Grief Seed or two back in her apartment, so she wasn't overly concerned. Still, best not delay with this sort of issue; the last thing she needed was to risk familiars and witches only for her magic to be running on empty in the middle of the fight.

"But I'm trying to make up for that. Not…Not just for the two of you, but because it's the right thing to do. I…I hope you're proud of me. I love you." Mami returned her Soul Gem to its ring state. "I have to go now. Still have that perfect attendance to maintain." She said the laugh part with a laugh, a small one, but every part of it was sincere. Though, Mami's smile faded as she walked away, as if she didn't want her parents to see. She exited the graveyard the way she came, the angelic statues facing inwards, as if to weep over the graves in her stead.

Homura kept her eye on the students that were heading to school. She still had another two days before she was to join them, but today's attendance was important for her. After so many loops, she'd managed to deduce a pattern. If Kirka Kure showed up to class today, that meant that Oriko hadn't had visions of Madoka becoming a witch, and that the two wouldn't attempt to…become an issue during this loop. If Kirka didn't attend class…

Then Homura would know what she'd be preparing to deal with for the rest of the day, as well as what she would be doing tonight.

There was some irony in how she'd even found this out in the first place; After, what was it, ten or so loops? Somewhere between ten and twelve of them, she'd started it just around the first "Year" of looping. But it used to be one of the closest things to a hobby she'd had. Just…watching people. Watching kids her age act like, well, like kids her age should. And though now it was yet another thing swallowed up by her mission, she still couldn't help some of her thoughts, thoughts that occurred as she watched these children so, so unaware of the dangers they didn't even know they couldn't hide from.

How many years had it been, since she was like them? Just…only having to worry about fitting in, doing well in school, worried about whatever the future may hold? …These parts of a loop were always awkward for Homura. When she was just left waiting, alone with her thoughts, before any wheels were set in motion, one way or the other. When she had nothing to do but think. She often wondered what her old hobbies used to be, before the surgery. What her interests once were. What her dreams for the future may have been.

Future. Homura scoffed at the notion. I already don't have a future, sold it with my soul. Besides, no one has a future until I get this right, or I end up dead. It was true in the most literal sense of the words; May 2nd would never come to pass until one of those two outcomes was reached. Another case of irony: In some ways she had all the time in the world, and in others, she was chained to the clock as it kept counting down towards doomsday on a loop.

It didn't matter much though. Because Kure didn't go through the doors to the school today, as the first bell rang. And thus Homura had her schedule for the rest of the afternoon determined: Raid the nearest Yakuza compound for weapons, ammunition, and supplies. And then, in the worst case, be forced to use anywhere between one-third and one-half of it putting down another threat to Madoka's life tonight.

Yamada Hanako's hair was a dark purple, bordering on black. Just below the corner of her lip was a cute little mole…Well, at least she thought it was cute. Her husband did too. And her eyes, a light brown, were staring at the clock. It was starting to get late, so Momoi Hayashi should be arriving home soon. And she would be free to head home herself.

The two had been friends since college, with the mother of two going into real estate, while Yamada was content with her office job. Though, being an agent, Momoi could end up with strange hours as she showed property to her clients, resulting in some times where her children would have been left alone after school. So her friend had asked her to babysit her kids until she got home. It was fine by Yamada; she tended to start and end her work day early, and she frankly had nothing better to do with her husband out of town on business, and not being much of a social butterfly herself. Besides, looking after these kids was…it was satisfying, in a way she couldn't quite describe. She'd always had mixed feelings about children, but…the way these kids would look at their parents when they would arrive home…Yamada was going to have to have a serious talk with her husband about the possibility of kids in their family's future. At the very least get that conversation started.

She was currently in the room of the older brother, Senri Hayashi, who assured her that he hadn't called out to her, offering an apology, and saying he would switch on his headphones. Yamada could have sworn she had heard his voice asking her to help him with an assignment when she had been in the hallway. Something about making something whole, so she assumed it had to do with fractions. Though, when she stepped into his room, she was not expecting so see him playing on his computer, shooting the flailing arms off a headless corpse.

Apparently, Senri had recently gotten a rather…violent video game, that had become his latest passion. (Whatever she thought she heard was probably just some of the game's ambient noise. Apparently it had whispers, and as he said, he wasn't using his headset.) And his sister had gotten him some merchandise from said game. It was a neat little thing. Two red spires, wrapped up in a double-helix, and covered in glyphs; remarkable detail for apparent video game memorabilia.

Senri told her that he actually had mixed feelings about getting the little Marker from his sister. On one hand, he loved the darn thing, had an ideal spot or two on his desk for it, thought it looked cool, that sort of thing. On the other hand, he was mortified about the idea of his innocent little sister having looked up anything from the game to get him this gift.

Yeah…a game about shooting limbs off space zombies, while dealing with a Lovecraftian monument that drove people to homicide, suicide, and general insanity was probably a bit too much for the young girl. Lovecraftian…one of these days Yamada was going to have to actually read one of these Lovecraft stories; she kept hearing the term "Lovecraftian" and "Cosmic Horror", but she had no idea what that meant. She knew horror, and zombie horror, but the gameplay wasn't anything like her husband's Resident Evil games…at least in terms of where to aim when shooting. She was going to have to test if that tactic worked in the R.E. games too. (And she would continue to deny to her husband that she played his video games, in that way that made it clear they both knew she was lying through her teeth.)

Speaking of the girl, Haru had come back quite a bit later than she usually did, apparently having joined some sort of new club. Given how exhausted the girl was when she'd gotten back home, Yamada guessed it was track or something. She'd gone straight to bed after she got back. Haru was a sweet child, and between the two, she was the one Yamada was the least worried about. After all, how much trouble could a little girl get into?

Kyubey was analyzing data on his most recent client's payment. There was some downtime in the Kaname case, current operational plan being to nudge client Tomoe towards the girl and associate Sayaka Miki, as positive reinforcement towards contracting. That would take some time though, so many terminals were shifted to other tasks, with this particular body assigned to determine the nature of the anomaly detected while contracting.

It seemed that this "Marker" requested by Haru refused categorization. No wonder the process resulted in a strange feeling; whatever this "Marker" was, it was the first item of its kind that an Incubator had ever produced. Elements of its construction…no, that term was not quite right either. Even with his expanded vocabulary, at least compared to humanity, he still couldn't quite find the right words to describe this rock and how he'd made it. And yet, humans had somehow found a way to conceptualize it, and put it in their interactive entertainment media, of all things.

Regardless, the object was unique, with its…creation having traits similar to mundane construction, but also carrying properties of…an almost organic growth, despite being made of purely inorganic material.

Kyubey went through the analysis again…and again the object refused to fall into any sort of classification, Refused. To Make. Sense. This was getting frustrating and he was…frustrating?

Oh dear. It ceased the analysis. Not only was this proving to be a fruitless exercise in futility, but if it kept pressing the matter, it was going to damage the neural framework of the terminal assigned to the task. Rendering the drone defective would be a waste of resources, especially after it had repaired the damage inflicted by Akemi. Though the damaged sections could be cause for some of the anomalous readings during creation, that was unconfirmed and did match the current records made from the contract.

It would assign four other drones to investigate the issue in parallel, try and come up with either a way to fit this Marker into existing classification systems, or propose a new category and how to best integrate the concept into the existing mental database. In the meantime, this drone would be shifted towards the Kaname case, albeit in standby until contact was made with the girl.

Once the anomaly had been properly identified and described, if it was deemed either nonthreatening or unusable, the issue would be laid to rest and this waste of energy would cease. If deemed useful, other units would find a way to salvage any useable information from the Marker. But if deemed a threat…well, if the Kaname case proved successful, then the witch that would be born from Madoka Kaname would resolve the issue of the Marker, as well as any other issue on this planet.

The Mikuni mansion was burning. It was a sight that Homura had grown familiar with. Usually, whenever her preemptive strikes on Oriko hit a snag, the resulting battle would result in something catching fire, and burning the once prestigious home to the ground, always with two soulless corpses being charred to the bones. She never took joy in killing them, nor in watching their home burn to the ground.

Especially now. Right now, the orange flames that illuminated the surrounding area gave her nothing except a very uncomfortable feeling in her gut.

Because this inferno had already been blazing by the time Homura arrived.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed this second chapter of Marker Magica! I'm hoping to switch to more of the primary cast POVs in the coming chapters. But I hope that this was enjoyable all the same. (I needed to do a bit of setup with these characters, and I'd say most of that is done. And, let's just say, Oriko saw what I have planned, and she wanted no part in it.) Also, I feel I should mention that I've started cross posting this on AO3, for any who may be interested. Bonus: I did add a Doctor Who easter egg in here; not a crossover element, just a fun little extra.

Well, thank you for reading, and please fav, follow, or leave a review for this chapter to let me know what you thought. If you already have: Thanks! I appreciate it.