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.

Quick A/N: I made some major edits to the Sayaka section in the previous chapter, so if you haven't yet, maybe you should go back and read it again?

Chapter 6:

After leaving Jeremy behind, Sayaka had thought about the words Jeremy had spoken to her all day.

She had long known the truth behind her actions for the past while, even if she couldn't admit them to herself. But it was precisely because of that that she was unable to truly move forward.

It was something she had to face herself eventually, she realized, even if she didn't want to.

She was scared, afraid of the reactions. But she had to do it anyway.

After all, she didn't want to live with regrets anymore.

Sayaka found herself standing outside Kyousuke's house. He had long ago been released from the hospital after having been cured, but having to visit her childhood friend after she had gone missing for so long was a bit nerve-wracking.

Already, she was having second thoughts about visiting him. She milled about in uncertainty for a quite a while, and would always find herself hiding from view when someone came walking down the street.

Eventually, however, she slapped her own cheeks to psyche herself up. She couldn't put this off forever. And the sooner she did this, the better. She had already been putting this off for weeks, to the point where it was too late.

"Alright, time to do this," she whispered to herself.

Then she completely ignored the front door and knocked on the window to Kyousuke's room.

"Sayaka?" Kyousuke looked shocked to see her upon opening his window and letting her in. "You're okay?"

"Huh?" Sayaka said, feeling a bit confused. How did he know about all the trouble she had been in lately?

"I mean, you've gone missing for weeks! Everyone's been worried, you know?" Kyousuke said. "C'mon, we've got to tell everyone you're okay!"

"O-Oh, no, I can't," Sayaka quickly cut in, finally realizing the situation. "I can't do that yet. There's still things I have to do before I return. I'm a little glad that you've been worried about me, though."

"Of course I was worried. You're my childhood friend, you know?" he protested.

Sayaka laughed weakly. "Just your childhood friend, huh… Well, I guess I should have expected that."

Kyousuke frowned. "What are you talking about? Anyway, let's go tell everyone that you're okay." He said, grabbing her hand with the intention of bringing her out of his room.

"Like I said," Sayaka protested. "I can't. Not right now."

Kyousuke blinked for a moment in confusion, before some sort of understanding seemed to set in. Sayaka had no idea what it was that he was thinking, however, but as long as he didn't ask too many questions it would be okay.

"I guess that's why you're knocking on my window instead, huh," he said, nodding to himself.

"Y-yeah," Sayaka stuttered, having no idea what reason Kyousuke was thinking of. "More importantly, there's something I had to tell you."

Kyousuke blinked yet again. "…Alright, go on," he finally said.

"The truth is…" Sayaka started. She could feel her face turning red with embarrassment. However, she knew. This is something she absolutely had to do, even if she didn't want to. 'The truth is…!"

Sayaka bowed low, closing her eyes as she finally brought up the courage to say it. "The truth is, I liked you!"

Although Sayaka couldn't see it facing the floor with her eyes closed as she waited, afraid for the response, Kyousuke could only make a complicated, confused expression. "I.. You… you do know that I have a girlfri… Wait. 'Liked'?"

The room fell into silence as Kyousuke stood there, speechless with confusion and Sayaka still bowing with her eyes tightly shut.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Kyousuke finally asked, still very much clearly confused.

"Because I didn't want to have any regrets," Sayaka responded, looking up.

"But if you're saying all this, it sounds like you're going off to die or something," Kyousuke said seriously. "Sayaka, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"The truth is," Sayaka repeated the phrase lamely. "I'm going to be a hero now."

Kyousuke blinked yet again. "Sayaka. I know you've always liked superhero figures since forever, but don't be crazy! What can a normal girl like you do!?"

"But I'm not a normal girl anymore!" Sayaka protested.

"You're being delusion...huh?" Kyousuke paused in his argument as right before his eyes, Sayaka transformed right there in his room.

There was no other way to convince him of the truth, Sayaka thought. So this was the best way, even if it meant showing what shouldn't have been shown to someone else.

"As you can see," Sayaka said as Kyousuke fell into slack-jawed silence at the sight. "I'm a magical girl now. And I have plenty of friends and senpais to help me."

"I…what?" Kyousuke could barely get any coherent thoughts out.

"Don't worry," Sayaka said, smiling as she looked off into the distance. Kyousuke realized that she wasn't looking at him or anything in this room now. "I definitely won't die. There's a really powerful hero that's been helping us all. I'm sure that we'll be able to make it through"

"I…I see?" Kyousuke said, hesitating, still in awe.

"But there's a lot more to it," Sayaka said, still hesitating. To be honest, the worst of it was already over, but she still had a lot to confess.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kyousuke said, waving his hands. "Just how much are you going to spring on me all at once? I get that this is actually really cool and all, but there's only so much I can take in."

Sayaka paused. "Everything I've said and is about to say are all connected to each other," She said after some thought. "Maybe I should try explaining everything at once."

Kyousuke nodded, and then Sayaka began to tell her story. It was a story of how she had become a magical girl, and how a wish was required to become one. She slowly explained how, having liked Kyousuke all this time, she made a wish to heal his fingers to let him play again. As she kept talking, she found it getting easier and easier as it all spilled out of her, as if the dam that had held back her feelings for the longest time had finally broken.

After it was all over, Kyousuke took a deep breath, trying to take in everything she had said.

"I…" Kyousuke finally said after putting his thoughts together. "To be honest, I think that the fact that you became a magical girl really cool. You're finally on your way to becoming like the superheroes you've always admired, huh?"

Sayaka nodded in response, gesturing for Kyousuke to continue.

"But… I kind of feel guilty. That to become a magical girl, you made a wish for me."

"No, it's fine," Sayaka said, smiling. "I don't regret it. I've always loved your violin playing. That's why, I'd love to hear it again when I return."

"I…of course," Kyousuke said, nodding. "But still... there's one thing I have to ask… you liked me?"

"Yeah," Sayaka said, looking aside in embarrassment. "I did."

"But it's past tense," Kyousuke said slowly. "So now you don't anymore…?"

"Not as a boy, no," Sayaka clarified. "I still like you as my friend. Well, I guess I still like you a bit, but not as much anymore. There are bigger things out there for me, more important things. I guess you could say my viewpoint has changed and my world has gotten much larger? It can't be helped that you already have Hitomi-san now too. So, I liked you. Past tense."

"I… I see." Kyousuke said. "It's a bit of a surprise. That you liked me for so long, I mean. I never even noticed all this time."

Sayaka laughed weakly. "Yeah," She agreed. "But now I'll be glad if we can just stay as friends. That, and as long as you pick up the violin again, I'll be happy enough with our relationship."

Kyousuke nodded. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll always be childhood friends. And I'll definitely keep practicing."

"Mm." Sayaka said, nodding with a smile.

Silence settled into the room for a moment before Sayaka spoke up again.

"About me being a magical girl…" She started.

"I know," Kyousuke interrupted. "I won't tell anyone. This is supposed to be some big super duper secret that normal people like me aren't supposed to know, right? So I'll keep it a secret, even from Hitomi. But even so; I'll definitely keep supporting your dream to become a hero. If you need any help, just let me know."

Sayaka smiled. "Thanks," she said. "It makes me really happy that you support my dream. You supporting me and my duties as a magical girl, and me supporting you and your violin playing—it really works out."

Kyousuke also smiled. "Yeah. Now then, I believe you have something to do? Don't let me keep you; go and save the world!"

"Yeah!"

When Jeremy had decided that he would get to Tomoe Mami's apartment early the next day, he meant early.

It was so early that the sun hadn't even risen yet when he had arrived at her front door. He had brought his favorite wooden walking stick too, as if it wasn't obvious enough to others that he was blind thanks to the cloth band still wrapped around his eyes.

Jeremy hesitated to knock for a moment, wondering if she was even awake yet at this time; but in the end, he did so anyway. There was a moment of silence following his knock, before he could hear shuffling going around inside.

Jeremy hoped he hadn't woken her up with his knocking and that she had already been awake.

Eventually, the door opened by a tiny crack. Jeremy could tell she was peaking outside, even if he couldn't see. Then again, a normal person probably wouldn't have been able to see through the crack from where he stood anyway.

Suddenly the door swung wide open and the figure of Tomoe Mami threw herself out the door and wrapped her arms around Jeremy, who was left completely stunned by the act.

A millisecond later, Jeremy realized that she was also sobbing. Jeremy tilted his head back and forth, before he quickly brought her inside and closed the door behind him. This was not a scene that others should be seeing, for the girl's sake.

"Tomoe Mami, what's wrong?" He asked once they were inside. "Weren't you perfectly fine yesterday?"

Mami clung onto his clothes, pulling him closer as she leaned her forehead on his chest. He could feel her shaking, her whole body wracked by sobs.

"I…" Mami stuttered hoarsely through her tears, "I had a nightmare where I turned into a Witch, and no one was there to save me."

Jeremy finally realized what was wrong. The truth behind magical girls and Witches had finally sunk in for real, and in her solitude the girl had begun panicking about the worst-case scenario. It was likely that she hadn't properly considered it until she had been left alone, where her thoughts led to such a dark direction.

At this point, Jeremy wondered if the girl had even gotten any proper sleep over night.

"You…you won't ever leave us, right?" the girl asked. "You will save me if I ever turn into a Witch, right?"

And there was the crux of the problem.

Jeremy knew he couldn't stay forever. Yet, he was also the only one these girls knew who was able to turn a Witch (namely, Sayaka), back into her human form. And thus, he was the only one they could truly rely on in the end.

Promising to stay would be nothing more than an empty promise. Yet, when he finally leaves, what would happen to the girls? Would they fall into despair and turn into Witches? Jeremy didn't want that to happen.

He had to get them to become self-reliant, and he probably had only a week to do so.

Internally, Jeremy groaned. There was so little time, yet so much to do.

"I'm right here," Jeremy finally said, gently patting her head as she continued to cling onto him.

Jeremy thought she just needed to lean on someone for support. Her current state was probably made even worse with how Tomoe Mami considered herself to be all the other girls' senpai. She was older, more experienced, someone that they could all rely on and respect.

But with everyone (besides Akemi Homura) relying on her, who could Tomoe Mami rely on herself?

And so, although his presence was only going to be temporary, he allowed her to lean on him for support.

It was only when her lips met his neck and started moving further up that he realized that she wanted even more from him. Did she actually like him? Or did she perhaps think that this was the best way for her to keep him here?

Despite not being able to see, his eyes instantly narrowed. Either way, this could not do.

His hands immediately moved to her shoulders as he held her back from kissing him anymore. She was only going to regret it in the end.

He knew that she was only doing this by impulse. She was lonely. She was scared. She wanted him to comfort her, to make her forget. But he couldn't do this. It was not something he could allow, nor did he want to take advantage of her moment of weakness.

"Why?" she weakly protested. "Do you not like me? Am I not good enough?"

"I can't let you do something that you'd only regret later," Jeremy merely said. "I don't mind if you want to rely on me while I'm here. But, we're not so close that we can do that much."

Mami made a face, but she didn't protest further as she hung her head. Jeremy sighed, and brought her in closer again, once again letting her forehead rest on his chest as he patted her head.

It wasn't long before the girl eventually cried herself to sleep.

"I apologize for earlier," Mami said, calmly sipping from a cup of tea.

"So how are you doing?" Jeremy asked.

Despite all that had happened, it was still morning. After she had fallen asleep in his arms, he had placed her on her bed, where she had slept calmly for only a few hours. Upon waking up, her embarrassed form upon noticing Jeremy's presence was amusing, to which she fled to the bathroom to make herself presentable.

To be honest, Jeremy thought there probably was no point since he couldn't see, but he guessed it was fine either way. Girls would be girls, after all. And she had to do it at some point anyway, with everyone else coming over at some point as well today.

"I…" She trailed off for a moment, making a complicated expression which ended in strange smile. "I feel better. I'm a bit curious, however. How did you know that I would be in such a state and arrive just in time?" She asked.

According to Mami, it turned out that there was probably a high risk of her turning into a Witch that night, and if Jeremy had arrived any later… Well, it was hard to tell since it was only a "what-if", after all. Mami had said that the main reason that she hadn't turned into a Witch was because she believed in Jeremy's existence and how he could help them all, just like he had always done before.

Jeremy had frowned at that. The reliance on him was already far more than he would have liked. He also wasn't sure if he had really arrived on time, because he believed there was always a chance that she could've pulled herself together anyway, although he supposed it was good that he had arrived when he did.

"To be honest," Jeremy said. "It was merely a coincidence. I forgot to set a time for us all to meet, so I just decided to come early so that I wouldn't be the last person to arrive."

Mami giggled at that. "I didn't expect for someone like you to be this absentminded."

"Yes, laugh it up," Jeremy deadpanned. "I make mistakes too, just like anyone else."

"I'm really glad, though," Mami said, smiling. "I get to have you all to myself this morning because this happened."

"Very funny," Jeremy groaned halfheartedly. He didn't mind the teasing, since it meant keeping Mami in a much better mood compared to before.

The small talk continued for a bit until a silence eventually settled into the room.

"I…about earlier," Mami eventually said with uncertainty, fidgeting about restlessly as she tried to finally address the elephant in the room.

"You don't need to mention it," Jeremy said, cutting her off with a wave. "It's just a moment of weakness that could happen to anyone."

"But…" Mami started again. Jeremy said nothing, nodding for her to continue. She thought about it a little more before continuing again. "I'm still serious about what I said. About wanting you to stay, I mean, not the other things that happened." Mami flushed in embarrassment upon recalling just exactly what other things she meant.

"I'll be here for a bit, but it's not like I can stay here forever," Jeremy said, frowning.

Mami hung her head upon hearing that. "I guess I can't keep you here with m—us forever, huh."

"Don't be ridiculous," Jeremy snorted. "Nothing lasts forever."

"If I can't stop you from leaving," Mami said, raising her head again, her voice surprisingly strong and steady considering how she was just earlier. "Will you at least come visit from time to time?"

"That…" Jeremy started, before pausing for a moment in thought. "If I can visit, I'll make sure to be able to do so. I can say that much. And besides, I don't have to be here forever for us to be friends, either."

Mami blinked, then smiled. "Yes, I'd very much like that."

For the rest of the time until the others arrived, the two of them sat together, drinking tea, eating snacks, and simply enjoying each other's presence.

When everyone finally arrived, Mami sat out tea and cakes for everyone as per usual. Some of the girls expressed concern upon seeing the cloth wrapped around his eyes, but he waved it off and said that it was just to make it obvious that he couldn't see.

Sayaka herself seemed to have changed overnight. She was much brighter than they had ever seen since she became a magical girl, much more composed. When Kyoko asked why, Sayaka merely smiled and said that she was finally accepting who she was.

Eventually, Jeremy got the meeting started.

"Honestly speaking," Jeremy said. "The fastest way for us to see what we can do and figure out how to work together would probably be for me to fight you all. But of course, that's not an option since I'm still recovering. And Homura has told me that we only have about a week before Walpurgisnacht shows up. My enemy will probably show up on the same day too."

"Yes," Homura agreed. "So what do you suppose we do, then?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Jeremy said. "I was considering that since you all could probably take on a Witch by yourselves individually, it might've better to make you all survive against a Witch instead of killing it for an extended period of time, but I feel that that also wouldn't be very effective—since you all would be focusing on survival rather than fighting."

"Wouldn't that still work anyway?" Kyoko asked. "If Walpurgisnacht is supposed to be this colossal, super-dreadful Witch, we might need to spend some time focusing on survival while figuring out a way to beat it."

"I suppose that is true," Jeremy admitted. "While it's not enough, I guess it's true that it's a start."

"That, and you never know how strong enemy Witches could be," Mami said elegantly. "Maybe we'll find one that will meet your expectations, Jeremy."

"More importantly," Homura said. "If we all fight a single Witch for an extended period of time, wouldn't that just taint our soul gems? We'll end up turning into Witches before Walpurgisnacht even appears."

All the girls quieted down from their initial excitement as they all looked towards Jeremy for a solution.

"About that," Jeremy said. "There's been something I've been meaning to try out. Does someone have a tainted soul gem I could see?"

"I guess I do," Mami said, bringing hers out and gently placing it into Jeremy's hand. What was left unsaid was that both Mami and Jeremy had agreed to this well before anyone else had arrived. The way her hands lingered longer necessary on his hand made him frown, however, but there was nothing he could do about that.

Jeremy carefully held both hands out, with Mami's soul gem in his left and nothing in his right, and then he focused.

They both knew that Mami's soul gem would be darker today due to the events that had transpired last night. Jeremy didn't know about the condition of the other girl's soul gems, but at least with Mami's he had her permission to experiment with it now. The only other option Jeremy could think of was Sayaka, but it was precisely because he already knew Sayaka's soul gem so well that it was meaningless if he did anything with it.

A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as he focused. This probably wouldn't have been as hard as it was if he wasn't as drained as he was now, but there was no use crying over spilled milk. He searched, identified, isolated; each step more draining and more difficult than the last. He couldn't afford to alter Mami's soul, but based on all of his previous observations this wasn't a normal purification, either.

The eyes of the girls widened as they watched the taint from Mami's soul gem remove itself and flow into Jeremy's empty right hand, which closed over it and grabbed it out of the air.

"What… What the hell was that?" Kyoko asked, eyes wide open as she asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Success," Jeremy breathed it. "As you can see, I removed the taint from Mami's soul gem, without the use of a grief seed."

"We can all see that,' Homura snapped. "But I believe we require an explanation."

"Yes," Madoka said, nodding. "If this is possible, then maybe we could teach to everyone and prevent everyone from turning into Witches!"

"If only it was that simple," Jeremy said, sighing. "This is a temporary measure at best. But let me explain first," Jeremy said quickly to prevent others from interrupting. "Just keep in mind that everything I'm about to say is only a theory at best, based upon all my observations."

"While it's a lot more complicated than I'm making it out, I'll keep it as simple as possible. To begin with, while it's true that your soul gems are essentially your soul, you can also think of them as an engine that produces energy and stores it," Jeremy continued. "This applies to normal people too. We all take in food and such to produce energy over time. However, the energy produced will be a mix of everything: some will be a 'positive' energy, while some will be 'negative', just like the taint."

"Wait," Sayaka said, frowning. "You're saying we're the ones producing the taint in our soul gems ourselves?"

"Yes," Jeremy agreed. "But while I call it 'positive' and 'negative', these names are not entirely correct. You need both forms of energies, but you also need them to be in balance. I'll just call them 'positive' and 'negative' to keep it simple. When you turn into magical girls and fight witches, you end up using the 'positive' energy that is stored within you, but that leaves you out of balance. That's why you girls need to remove the 'negative' energy by using the grief seeds to rebalance yourselves or risk turning into a witch yourself."

"If you put it that way," Homura said, narrowing her eyes. "Then you're saying that witches are beings composed entirely of this 'negative' energy? If your explanation is right, wouldn't it be dangerous for us to use the grief seeds to remove our taint?"

"How is it dangerous?" Sayaka asked, tilting her head.

"Let me continue," Jeremy said, nodding. "Homura is indeed right. Witches are indeed beings created from this imbalance of 'positive' and 'negative' energy. When a magical girl has too much 'negative' energy, they fall into despair and turn into a Witch complete with their labyrinth. It's a being that thrives off entirely of 'negative' energy. By defeating it with your 'positive' energy, you force it all into a container, the grief seed. You're basically creating a giant battery full of 'negative' energy, and you all use it to fill it up even more. It's dangerous because if it takes in too much, it can just become a Witch all over again. But this is what Kyuubey wants; batteries full of energy for whatever purpose it needs them for."

"So if we never fight," Madoka said thoughtfully. "Then there wouldn't be any grief seeds for Kyuubey to collect, and our soul gems wouldn't go out of imbalance."

"Careful," Jeremy cautioned. "It's still not as simple as that. Your soul gems are a reflection of your current state; when something causes you to feel down, you will create more 'negative' energy as a result. Then there's the already existing Witches that need to be dealt with. They're unable to naturally maintain their labyrinths, so they need to create familiars and mark ordinary people to get enough 'negative' energy. Witches still need to be dealt with, yet fighting them will eventually turn magical girls into Witches; it's an endless cycle."

"There must be a way to end this cycle," Sayaka said, frowning.

"There might be a way," Jeremy admitted. "But I haven't thought of one yet. We have Walpurgisnacht and my own enemy to deal with first. I'll be honest, though: the solution to ending the cycle will probably be something you girls will have to come up with."

"Why is that?" Madoka asked.

"Because after we defeat Walpurgisnacht and my enemy," Jeremy said. "I'll probably be needed elsewhere. I won't be able to stay."

Silence fell into the room.

"""What!?"""

Jeremy frowned. Well, this was the expected reaction, he supposed.

"Getting us back on track," Homura cut in, before anyone could say anything else. "You still need to explain to us about your purification of our soul gems."

"Well," Jeremy said, "What I basically did was remove the 'negative' energy from Mami's soul gem and take it into myself."

"Hold on a moment." Mami interrupted. "Is that even safe for you? If you kept doing that for everyone, then wouldn't you go out of balance?"

"For most people, and especially for magical girls like you all," Jeremy said, nodding. "Yes, that would be very dangerous. I just happen to have a lot of experience in controlling energy. I don't know if I've said this to any of you before, but each and every one of you magical girls have significantly more power than I do. If anything, I've always been severely lacking in energy needed for magic. That's why I've spent a lot of time figuring out alternatives. I suppose you can say I specialize in controlling energy flow, absorption, conversion, and more, even if that's not entirely accurate."

"Does that mean you can convert 'negative' energy into 'positive' energy?" Madoka asked, still looking hopeful at the prospect of solving all their problems.

"Energy is still energy, 'positive' or 'negative'," Jeremy said. "So it's possible. Doesn't mean it's easy, however. Sometimes it takes even more energy to do conversion, which makes it counterproductive."

"I see," Homura suddenly spoke up. "Now I understand more on why when we first met and your enemy attacked us, you redirected that dark energy away from me and into yourself. You really are used to doing this sort of thing, aren't you? Taking yourself out of balance, that is"

"Yeah," Jeremy said. "I am. I kind of have to be, with the enemy I have to fight."

"Can we stop calling this guy your enemy and have a name to put to this guy?" Kyoko complained. "Your enemy, your enemy, your enemy, it's such a pain to keep saying that you have this secret enemy that we don't even know the name of."

Jeremy blinked. "You're right. It was obvious to me who it was, but not to you girls, huh? I guess you girls can just call him Adonis."

"Absentminded as always, are we?" Mami said, giggling as Jeremy merely sighed in response. None of the other girls followed suit as they stared at the two in slight confusion.

"Adonis?" Kyoko asked. "That his name?"

"Yup, it's a name he goes by," Jeremy said, nodding. "Now, to get back on topic. While maybe one, or all, of you could eventually learn how to remove the taint from your soul gems without the use of a grief seed, the crux of the problem is dealing with the removed taint. We can't just release it into the air or you girls would be no different from Witches that create familiars and mark innocent bystanders; sharing the taint between yourselves wouldn't get us anywhere; and using grief seeds just brings us back to where we start. Of course, I am an option, but only a temporary one at best. But it should be enough for us to get the most out of the week we have before Walpurgisnacht and Adonis arrive."

"To reiterate, there are a few problems that will need to be solved eventually," Jeremy continued. "We need to be able to work together and defeat Walpurgisnacht and Adonis, possibly find a permanent method of removing taint from your soul gems, and ultimately finding a way to end the cycle which continuously turns girls into magical girls, and magical girls into Witches. Does that sound about right?"

The girls all glanced at each other before they all nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go find us a Witch to test our teamwork against."

A/N: Wew I'm tired. Too tired to even come up with a chapter title. Off to sleep I go.

But before that, apparently I built up steam from posting the last chapter, so here's another one. No proper proofreading on this chapter again. Maybe I'll get to it later.

Not sure about pacing either. What a terrible excuse of a writer I am.

Happy new year, all.