Note: This was going to be a prequel to The Persistence of Memory, covering one of Homura's more memorable - and more traumatic - loops. Among other things, it would have revealed the backstory of Murata Erika and Lili Marlene, and Homura's connection with Bertha von Grauberg. Not happening now, obviously.

A Witch's Courtship

"Sayaka-chan!"

Sayaka lifted her head, just for a moment, as Madoka's frantic running dwindled to a breathless jog. The girl slouched on the park bench looked like something had sucked all the life out of her: the righteous fire that once drove her to battle was already long gone, but now even the ashes of despair were cold. Only an awful numbness remained.

"I'm glad you're all right," Madoka panted, coming to a stop in front of the bench. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Why?" Sayaka stared at the soul gem in her hand, its darkened core shining feebly under the glare of the park's night lights. "The transfer student was right... They were both right. I'm worthless as a magical girl." She spoke with the dull certainty of one who'd abandoned all hope. "I wanted to help people, but in the end all I do is burden them."

"That's not true," her pink-haired friend protested. "You healed Kamijou-kun and gave Kyouko-chan a reason to—"

"SAYAKAAAAAAA!"

Madoka's head snapped to the left. Kyouko came flying out of the dark as if summoned by the mention of her name, a scarlet thunderbolt barreling towards the benches. One hand whipped out, snatching the tainted soul gem as she passed Sayaka, and then the rushing body twisted into a power slide across the flagstones.

"Jeez," the redhead gasped, sounding even more winded than Madoka. "You told me to fight for the sake of others and now you come out here to die alone? What the heck is wrong with you?"

Sayaka was utterly indifferent to the gem's theft. "You shouldn't care. I don't have any more grief seeds to give you."

"Dumbass!" Kyouko passed the jewel to her right hand, conjuring her own in the left. Turning the pair face to face, she held them together. "I don't want your stupid grief seeds, I want y—"

Madoka saw the fractures shoot through Sayaka's gem, but there wasn't time even to cry out. Blue light flared, a shockwave pushing her back. Every element of the ghastly scene locked in place as the world around her lost color and focus. At the same instant, she felt herself being picked up in a bridal carry. "Wha... Homura-chan?"

"Don't let go." The aloof girl started to run. Madoka put her arms around Homura's neck and held on for dear life as the frozen figures of Kyouko and Sayaka shrank behind them. Homura took a left at the park gates and turboed up the adjacent street, face set in a familiar mask of intense determination. The buckler on her arm clicked and whirred, and time resumed for everyone else. Looking over Homura's shoulder, Madoka glimpsed a flash of ultramarine above the trees and an equally intense burst of ruby.

Homura didn't stop for another two blocks. When she did, Madoka slid out of her arms and onto legs that trembled so much she could hardly walk. "What was that?" she pleaded. "What happened to Sayaka-chan?"

"Miki Sayaka failed to purge her soul gem and was consumed by the curse she carried. As expected, she has become a witch."

What Homura was saying didn't make sense. It couldn't possibly be true. "A witch... How can Sayaka-chan be a witch?"

"Once a soul gem reaches saturation, it changes into a grief seed. The witch is the final form of the magical girl." Homura finally met Madoka's desperate gaze directly. "Do you understand now why I told you to give up on her?"

Madoka's stomach heaved. "That's not fair... It's not fair! She didn't deserve that!"

"It was inevitable." Homura turned her back and began to walk away. "This is the fate which awaits all of us."

Madoka couldn't bring herself to follow suit. "If you knew it would happen, why didn't you tell anyone?"

Homura halted. "I've tried," she admitted flatly. "No one ever believes me. When I tell the truth, they become hostile, even violent."

Madoka hadn't thought there could be anything worse than finding out her friends were meat puppets controlled by souls in bottles. How naive of her. "What about Kyouko-chan? Did she know?"

"I wonder." Homura fixed her eyes on something off to the side. "What did you tell her before I arrived?"

Kyuubey emerged from the shadow of an unlit doorway and sat on the top step. "She asked if it was possible to clean one soul gem with another, in place of a grief seed. I said I'd never heard of it being done."

As much as Madoka wanted not to deal with him right now, there was no one else who could answer her questions. "Is it true? Witches are born from magical girls?"

"I won't deny it." Kyuubey's white face pivoted towards Homura. "Though I'm curious to know how you—"

Pschht!

Even with a silencer, the pistol's report was loud enough to make Madoka jump. Kyuubey slumped forward, sliding down onto the second step. Homura moved closer, her expression unchanging, and fired two more rounds into the creature's head.

The shorter girl stared in horror. "You... You just..!"

"He'll be back." Homura tucked the gun into her buckler as she approached Madoka. "I'll walk you home."

"You can't! I mean, we can't go yet! We have to look for Kyouko-chan!"

"Her soul gem was in direct contact with Miki Sayaka's grief seed when it hatched. There is no chance Sakura Kyouko survived."

Something about the way she said it broke down Madoka's last defenses. Her best friend had become a witch, and her newest friend died trying to prevent it. All she'd done was dumbly stand by and watch their ends play out, just like when Mami was killed. Kyuubey, always so eager to recruit her as well, had deceived them all along.

Tears began to spill down her cheeks as Homura took her by the wrist and led her away.

Madoka slept badly that night, and went through the next morning's classes in a daze from which not even Saotome Kazuko's ranting could rouse her. "Kyuubey came again after you left," she confided to Homura when they met on the roof at noon. "He... he compared us to cattle..."

Homura stood by the ornate safety grille, surveying the city beyond. "That sounds like something he would say," she replied coolly. "I suppose he told you it's for a noble purpose."

"He did say that, but..." Madoka looked down at her unopened lunch, unable to muster any appetite. "Even if he really does grant wishes, he still tricked all those girls. It's horrible."

"He doesn't see it that way. To him it's a fair price for an arrangement that benefits both sides." The standing girl tipped her head, watching an airliner cross beneath a line of cirrus clouds. "In any case, he's not as innocent as he likes to appear."

Madoka couldn't dispute that. "He still wants me to make a contract," she disclosed. "He says my potential is high enough to bring them back if I wish for it... Sayaka-chan, Kyouko-chan, even Mami-san."

Homura turned suddenly. "Is that so? Did he also tell you your potential will create a witch of enormous destructive power?"

"...No."

"No." Homura swept a hand through her hair. "Of course he didn't."

Some part of Madoka still didn't want to believe what her gut already knew was true. "Kyuubey wouldn't really let that happen, would he?"

"That result would serve his purpose just as well."

Madoka was too queasy to think about her food now. She put the box aside. "What are we going to do?"

"There were no signs of a witch's presence in the park or the surrounding area. I will keep searching." Homura pointed at the abandoned lunch. "You need to eat, even if you don't feel like it. Focus on your own health and leave the rest to me."

Madoka nodded meekly. Homura started to leave, evidently considering their conference over, but the entry to the stairs opened before she reached it. Kamijou Kyousuke came out, limping along on his crutches as Shizuki Hitomi held the door. The black-haired girl marched past them and disappeared inside without a word.

"Oh my," said Hitomi. "Madoka-san, was she bothering you?"

"Eh?" Madoka hastily pushed the glum look off her face. "Oh no, we were just talking." Affecting a smile took more effort than it should. "What's up?"

"Kamijou-kun and I were wondering if you knew why Sayaka-san hasn't been coming to school."

"No, I don't." The lie made her sick, but there was no way she could tell the truth. "I'm sorry."

She couldn't get the faces out of her mind.

Mami's terror just before the lobster witch ripped her in half. Kyouko's dismay when Homura told her why Sayaka dropped dead, after she stole the latter's soul gem for a prank. Sayaka's anguish as she announced Kyousuke was going out with Hitomi... They kept flashing before Madoka's eyes one by one as she wandered through the city. She didn't want to go home in this state, and yet she couldn't think of anything better to do with herself.

She wished Homura was here, but Homura had gone off to hunt witches when school let out for the day. As the last magical girl in Mitakihara, she alone could perform that task. Madoka briefly wondered if Homura would let her tag along the way the others used to. Then she wondered if she really wanted to do that, now that she knew what witches really were. Was there no way to save them? No way to bring back those girls whose innocent hopes and dreams had been corrupted into nightmares?

Madoka was pondering this when she noticed a boy in her school's uniform walking ahead of her. A boy she knew, in fact. "Nakazawa-kun..?"

He turned to look at her. "Oh, Kaname-san. Hi."

There was a black mark on the side of his neck, about the size of a postage stamp. This was bad. Very bad. "Nakazawa-kun, where are you going?"

"To the concert, of course. You haven't heard?"

"No..." Madoka looked around, hoping Homura might be nearby. She wasn't.

Nakazawa continued his walk. "We should hurry or the best seats will be taken. Come on."

What to do? Follow him and see what happened, or try to find Homura?