Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. This is purely fan work.

Chapter 2.5: Alliances

Jeremy had spent many days after the incident with Tomoe Mami locked up in his room, tapping away on the keyboard of a laptop he had bought recently, trying to organize his thoughts.

He wasn't needed out there, anyway. Tomoe Mami and Akemi Homura were quite strong. It was high time he stopped neglecting his own goals.

Although Jeremy didn't know it yet, in hindsight this would probably be a pretty bad choice to make right now. But it couldn't be helped; he wasn't omniscient, as varied as his abilities was.

His thought turned towards Tomoe Mami.

Unlike the last timeline, Tomoe Mami survived. Jeremy felt small satisfaction at the thought. He hadn't saved Mami for any other reason then for himself; doing what he wanted to do was always nice, even if someone else disagreed with what he did.

Even if that someone else was himself.

Jeremy smiled wryly for a small moment, before coming to the more important topic:

Why hadn't 'HE' shown up? 'HE' was certainly there in the last timeloop. Was 'HE' still in the alternate reality that made up the previous timeloop? That was certainly possible; the only reason Jeremy was in this new loop was thanks to being dragged back in time by Homura's sand timer, into a new alternate reality.

But that didn't seem likely, given 'HIS' past actions.

Jeremy sighed. Messing around with time travel and alternate realities was such a pain, but at the same time gaining access to them was the only means for him to finally reach his goal.

Thus, he had spent that last couple of days cooped up in his room, organizing and analyzing his current knowledge, again and again.

Again, he could come up with nothing.

Really, it was quite a shame, but it couldn't be helped.

Jeremy stretched as he stood up. He'd been in his apartment for too long, and thus was running out of food.

It'd be best to take a break now, and go buy some groceries.

Opening the door to his apartment, Jeremy stepped out.

Ten steps later, he had already found himself facing Akemi Homura.

Akemi Homura didn't know what she was doing.

While keeping an eye on Madoka for the past few days, she constantly caught herself looking for a specific young man.

Why was she wasting time looking for the young man who had assisted Mami the other day?

True, there were a number of things she wanted to clear up, and with Mami alive and well to watch over Madoka she could afford to be more lax in her protection, sure, but that didn't change things.

Ironically, despite all her efforts, when she had actually found him it had been by sheer coincidence, when she hadn't been looking for him.

She had simply being walking down the street, and just as she turned the corner they nearly walked into each other.

They both recognized each other at the same time, but he reacted first.

"Excuse me," the young man said, turning away.

"Wait!" Homura grabbed his hand before he could leave.

The young man sighed. "Did you need something, Akemi Homura?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?" The young man asked. "I thought we weren't going to interfere with each other."

"Not here. I'm sure you'll prefer it if we spoke in private, too."

The young man paused for a moment, before sighing.

"If you want, you can come over to my place. It's right over there."

Once inside his apartment, the young man got straight to the point.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

Homura took a moment to admire the room's furnishings.

Or rather, the extreme lack of it.

There was literally nothing in living room except for a single low table at the center, at which they sat at.

Then Homura remembered why she was here.

"Just who are you?" Homura asked.

"Didn't I tell you in the labyrinth? I'm just a passerby."

A useless answer that told her nothing. Frustrated, Homura tried again.

"What kind of ordinary passerby like you would get involved in the battles between Magical Girls and Witches?"

"An unordinary passerby?"

Another completely useless answer that told her nothing. This really wasn't getting anywhere at all.

"Look, I think I have an idea what you're trying to ask," the young man continued, "But I'm pretty sure there are things neither of us are willing to diverge, considering our relationship at the moment. Isn't that right, Akemi Homura?"

Homura noticed that he addressed her by her full name, something she herself did a lot with the intention of distancing herself from the other girls.

She wondered if he was trying to do the same thing too.

"I just don't understand you," Homura finally said after a moment. "At the time where we ran into each other in the labyrinth, you said you were only there for your enemy. 'You can go protect Madoka and keep her safe for all I care', you said. Then you go off and help Mami-san, before disappearing off somewhere. Isn't that a bit contradictory to what you were saying?"

That's right. Claiming he didn't care at all, then going in to help Mami, it didn't make any sense.

"This and that are two different things," the young man replied. "But it seems you have come to a misunderstanding. I said that I didn't care whether or not you wanted to protect Madoka, not whether or not the girls died. What you want to do isn't of much concern to me, since it doesn't interfere with my goals. As for helping Mami, it was just something I felt like doing at the time."

So that's how it is. But wasn't his goal something to do with his enemy...?

As if he knew what she was thinking about, he continued. "As for the one I was looking for, he didn't show up for a reason I've been trying to figure out for days with no success. Why he showed up in the last time line but not this one is still an unknown matter to me."

"I see," Homura replied. "Then why don't you tell me exactly why you wanted to help Mami?"

"Do I need a reason? It was simply something I wanted to do. If I really had to come up with a reason, then... I guess it would be because under normal circumstances, Mami really shouldn't have lost in the first place? It just felt like a shame to see her lose to a Witch that she normally shouldn't have lost to."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to just save her, though?" Homura asked. "You're not that weak yourself either."

"Actually, no, it wouldn't. I had my own enemy to think about at the time, so I couldn't just waste all my energy killing the Witch. I'm no hero of justice, and I never will be. And secondly, this way Mami's less likely to make the same mistake again, so for both parties there were more benefits this way."

For moment, Homura thought about what he said. After all that, suddenly he didn't seem so confusing anymore. A pragmatic man who didn't mind doing whatever he wanted... In fact, maybe Homura could use this to her advantage.

"Does that answer all your questions?" the young man asked.

"Actually... I have a proposal to ask of you." Homura said slowly. "Have you ever heard of Walpurgisnacht?

Walpurgisnacht.

Night of Walpurgis.

A festival named after Saint Walpurga, celebrated in many parts of Europe.

In Germany, Walpurgisnacht is the night when witches meet in celebration, awaiting the arrival of spring.

The monsters Magical Girls fought were called 'Witches'.

"...Are you saying, that on some night in the future, there will be a lot of Witches showing up? Or perhaps maybe even a very powerful Witch?" asked Jeremy.

"The latter. There's a legend among Magical Girls of a colossal, powerful witch; probably among the strongest Witch in existence if not the strongest, called Walpurgisnacht."

The strongest Witch, huh. Witches were beings of negative emotions—of despair, grief, regret, hate, sorrow, revenge, etc.

Suddenly, Jeremy realized that if what he thought was true, future events could turn out quite badly.

Seriously, was his luck so bad?

"Are you implying that this Witch you call Walpurgisnacht will show up here at some point in the future?"

"Yes," the girl replied curtly. "And I would ask you to help us defeat it."

Jeremy thought about it. Akemi Homura had her sand timer, which allowed her to control time. It was entirely possible that she had experienced meeting this Walpurgisnacht herself.

"Am I correct in assuming that you've fought Walpurgisnacht in a different time line?" he asked cautiously.

"Many times, actually. But it always ended with a Pyrrhic victory."

"Meaning Kaname Madoka's death?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes, but—wait, how did you know?"

Jeremy wondered why she was surprised by something like this.

"It was just an educated guess, considering your obvious devotion to Madoka's well being. She clearly means a lot to you, for reasons I wouldn't know. More importantly, though: Just how powerful is this Walpurgisnacht?"

Walpurgisnacht. Probably the most powerful Witch in existence thus far, its appearance was already enough to cause hundreds to die. A witch that without a doubt represented hopelessness.

Defeating this Witch was never without cost.

No matter how many times Homura tried to defeat Walpurgisnacht without losing Madoka, she was always met with failure.

Sometimes, she was tempted to just run away with Madoka, to let Walpurgisnacht run her course.

But she knew Madoka wouldn't like that. She as too kind, too naïve, to allow that to happen. Madoka might even hate her if she did that.

So she had no choice but to defeat Walpurgisnacht without allowing Madoka to make a contract, and she was willing to do just about anything to make that happen.

Which included facing this... this anomaly and getting him to help defeat Walpurgisnacht.

It was actually harder than she thought to convince him to help, she found out as she began explaining things to him. He brought about a lot of counterarguments to her points that she never knew.

"Why are you even seeking my help for this?" the young man asked. "What about the other Magical Girls?"

Homura sighed. "It's hard to get Magical Girls to work together. But I'll talk to them eventually too."

"I see," the young man said. "But do you really think that I will make much of a difference? I'm not all that strong, you know. We're talking about a Witch that can cause quite a lot of destruction."

"And we're also talking about someone who can defeat Magical Girls, Witches, and mess around with my abilities."

"That was only because of my suitable skill and experience. In terms of sheer ability and power, I know you will without a doubt defeat me. I don't think I'll be able to make more than a scratch on Walpurgisnacht if I was there. And then there's also my enemy that I have to watch out for as well."

"Your enemy? Surely your enemy can't be as bad as Walpurgisnacht."

"Let me put it this way. You've fought against me once before, so you know how difficult of an opponent I can be, right? With me using the utmost of my knowledge, skill, experience, and abilities to the fullest, against him, victory still isn't all that likely."

Homura was quite sure that the man in front of her was far stronger than he claimed to be. She felt that defeating Walpurgisnacht without Madoka making her contract might actually be possible if he helped.

But now, he had just revealed that there was an enemy of his also here in the town of Mitakihara, powerful enough that even if the young man in front of her fought to the best of his abilities victory wasn't even certain.

Homura sighed. Why does everything always have to so difficult?

Jeremy didn't know just how powerful Walpurgisnacht was, having incomplete information from Homura and having never seen the Witch himself, but he was pretty sure that with both 'HIM' and Walpurgisnacht around, if he attempted to defeat one he would be helpless before the other.

Jeremy vs. 'HIM', Magical Girls vs Walpurgisnacht.

Both generally ended in Pyrrhic victories, even more so in the girl's case.

On the other hand...

It might be possible, if he made an alliance with the Magical Girls, and fought Walpurgisnacht and his enemy separately.

But without a doubt, 'HE' would understand that intellectually as well. Thus, 'HE" would most likely show up the day Walpurgisnacht will.

How troublesome.

At least, though, he knew when 'HE' would most likely show up without fail.

But while that didn't mean 'HE' wouldn't show up before then, Jeremy could tell that the day Walpurgisnacht appeared, would probably also be the final battle against 'HIM' in this reality.

As Homura sighed in front of him, he decided that making some sort of an alliance would probably be beneficial to them.

And besides, he really didn't mind helping the Magical Girls.

"How about this: I'll help you defeat Walpurgisnacht, under the condition that you assist me when I fight my enemy. I'll even make sure Madoka doesn't die IF I happen to be around."

"I can agree to that."

That was rather fast. Homura must really be desperate for help.

Of course, throwing in Madoka as someone he would protect from now on probably helped a lot.

"Shall we get down to the specifics, then?" Jeremy asked.

"That's something we can discuss another time," Homura replied. "I'm afraid I've spent far more time here than I would have liked."

"I see. Then, before you go... If you see white-haired man, be careful." Jeremy said as he stood up, leading Homura to the exit.

"...Your enemy?" she asks after a slight pause. A simple question, but it meant she grabbed on to his meaning quickly, which was good.

"Yes. I'd prefer it if you didn't initiate a fight with him if you run into him. I have to confirm a few things first before I kill him. But if worse comes to worse and a fight is inevitable, try to stall him until I get there. Can you do that?"

"Of course."

"That's good. Then, it's been a pleasure working with you."

"If we're to be working together, at least tell me your name."

"My name is... Jeremy."

Jeremy.

She hadn't even realized it until she was already almost out the door, but she hadn't even known the young man's name until now.

It certainly wasn't a Japanese name, she knew that.

But did that matter? She had gotten a powerful ally, someone who's presence might be enough to finally tip the scales. Not only that, his only request, to her understanding, was to leave his enemy alone unless Jeremy was there, something she could easily do.

All she had to do now was to prevent Madoka from making that dreaded contract.

Perhaps finally, she could overcome Madoka's fate.

A/N: Thanks for making it this far.

Sorry, in the last A/N I said that the next chapter would be Sayaka's chapter, but instead I throw in this... half chapter, and not a hint of Sayaka at all.

Too bad for you, I guess.

Wait, wait, wait I'm sorry please come back let me explain

Originally, this was actually part chapter 3. (This is chapter 2.5 if you haven't noticed.) However, this section got so long that it broke the flow of chapter 3, so I ended up pulling it out and making it a separate half chapter.
The content in this chapter is still important for chapter 3, though, so keep that in mind.

Also, Chapter 3 should be up quite soon, so if it's not, please wait a few minutes.

Some things you may want to know:

Homura is still tricky to write. OTL Around anyone else, it's not so hard, but the thing is when she interacts with Jeremy he just always ends up throwing her flow out of whack.

Still, I tried my best to keep both sides of Homura together. Hope I did a good job.

Anyway, thanks for reading through all of this. If you've enjoyed this story so far, look forward to chapter 3.
And comments would be appreciated.