STOP! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE SERIES, TURN BACK NOW. THIS FANFIC ASSUMES THAT YOU HAVE AND WILL SPOIL MANY OF THE PLOT POINTS OF THE SERIES.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
The Unlikely Ally
Chapter 1: The Strange Kyubey
(Soundtrack: Titan AE Limited Edition Soundtrack: Prologue/Drej Attack)
This story happened a long while ago. It's over, nothing can be done to change that. It was a story of friendship, hope, love and caring for others. It was a story of shattered dreams, selfish wishes and despairing souls. It was a story of how our most selfless desires can be warped into the most selfish actions.
It was the story of the end of one age and the beginning of a new one.
But the strangest thing about this story was this, that it repeated over and over again, due to one girl's wish. And so, even as this story has already been told many times before, with all those choices being written into the tapestry of time, it's happening right here and right now.
It's happening as you read these words.
This is the story of how the system of Magical Girl's comes to a close. Despair has eaten away at them for decades and centuries and they cry out for someone, anyone to free them from this torture.
And someone perks up, and listens.
Notice the waves, each moving in it's own order. Predictable. Unchanging. But drop in a single stone, and see how the pattern changes. Everything around it is altered.
-Delenn, Babylon 5, The Gathering.
Reality existed. That's what it does. This particular reality was home to many various creatures and people. Some beings might be right at home here, while others would find it hard to adapt to it if they somehow found themselves there and still others would be enormously confused by this place's very laws and state of being.
But for the purposes of our story, we'll start on a planet with a long history. One being currently used as a an energy harvest point by the Incubator. This situation had occurred for a long time, little occurring on the surface to change it. However, something strange had been happening with time in the last month. Some with a bit more sensitivity to magic and the like felt it more strongly, even if only subconsciously. Specifically, to some, it felt as though it was never going to end. Still, most dismissed it as the side effect of long days at work or just as part of the normal stresses of life.
(Soundtrack: Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST - Magia)
But to one girl, the feel of a never-ending month was more literal than you could think. Homura Akemi strode forward across a blasted wasteland that was once a thriving city. Above her a creature hovered, raining death and destruction down on the land below. The creature was shaped in the form of an upside down woman in a jester costume. Her body ended at the waist, where cloth gave way to what seem like enormous grinding gears, moving in endless circles with a kind of sad inevitability to it. From the creature's unmoving mouth, twisted into an almost painful looking frozen smile, a terrible sound emitted. A cry rent the air once more, so loud and yet it was hard to tell if the creature was laughing at the futility of the resistance against it, or crying at some unknown loss.
Homura's face was stoic as she stared up. She touched her shield and within a moment, she had vanished and reappeared in a nearby skyscraper that had had its top half sheared off. Beside her had appeared dozens of missiles that all ignited in an instant and sped towards the floating creature. They impacted, their explosions knocking the monster back. But the smoke cleared and an answering blast of energy flew at Homura, faster than she could react. The attack slammed into both the tower and herself and she felt a shock of pain as she was flung back through wall after wall of ruined buildings. She finally stopped moving as she slammed into a wall of sheer concrete.
Homura grimaced, but let no cry of pain slip, she was too used to pain and injury to let something like this break her stoic mask. She'd had far more hurtful things happen to her in this past month. Still, as she took stock of her injures she could feel that her body was broken in at least 6 different places. Not as bad as that one time that Walpurgisnacht had eaten her. She struggled to sit up against the piece of debris that she had been flung against. Most of Mitikahara was in ruins, and if the evacuation centers weren't destroyed yet, then they certainly would be in a few minutes. Homura forced her back straight. If she could lure Walpurgisnacht over to the ruins of the shopping mall, she might be able to at least wing her with the gas bombs. She'd literally emptied every single gas station in the city to get all those tankers full, then had to drive them to the place.
A flash of pink caught her eye and . . . of course, she always showed up here at the end, didn't she. Homura supposed she wouldn't be Madoka without her suicidal wish to help others. Well, at least the giant Witch didn't seem to be aware of Madoka yet. Maybe if she just sat there she could, no wait, Kyubey was there too!
Her mask slipped, lost and forgotten as her worst nightmare came true again.
"Madoka!" Homura screamed, her voice shrill and scared, "it's a trick, don't do it!"
Too late. A bright flash occurred as Kyubey reached into Madoka's chest, pulling her soul away from its rightful container. Homura turned away, tears falling down her face, not wanting to see Madoka become like her . . . again. She clutched at her buckler in a movement that was almost as familiar as breathing now. The world dissolved into a mass of colors and noise, which she floated in calmly. For a few moments, Homura let her tears fall, but then she dried them and set her face, reminding herself of the promise she'd made that Madoka didn't remember, in the ruins of the city. She clamped down on her sorrow and fear and shoved it into the back of her mind. She had a job to do, and no matter what it cost, Madoka would survive, and she would have the most wonderful life possible.
Still, as she traveled back in time, Homura got the oddest sensation that this time might be different. She had no basis for this feeling, but it wouldn't go away. Just as she was certain that she must be coming up on her drop-off point soon, she could've sworn she saw a strange shape flicker in her field of view, far too fast to really register what it was, but there nonetheless.
Then she felt the lumpy mattress and sheets of a hospital bed. The same scratchy feeling of the hospital sheets assaulted her, and she pushed the covers back. Once more unto the breach. Maybe this time, things would be different.
Back in the roiling mass of color, reality and time that Homura had just exited out of, a dark humanoid figure sat watching. It was dark like the the void of space and its posture radiated pain and sorrow as it saw the time loop begin again. It sighed deeply as it saw Homura start her next attempt at saving Madoka. As Homura left her Hospital Room, she would swear that she heard an almost familiar voice speaking in her ear.
"Good luck . . . Homura."
She shook her head and continued on, putting the strange feeling out of her mind.
Several days later, after Homura had (once again) been discharged from the hospital, she had resettled the building she'd claimed as her "base." It was a convenient location as it was at about the center of most major locations that she'd become familiar with in her experiences in the time loops, and she had taken some liberty with Magic to spice it up to her liking, one of the only indulgences she allowed herself (and she privately admitted that the giant shadow clock pendulum did well to keep visitors off balance).
As Homura set up in her old haunt, she contemplated what to do. Obviously, she had to keep Kyubey as far away from Madoka as possible, preferably they would never meet at all, but that might be a bit of longshot. If her memory served correctly, Mami would meet up with the girls tomorrow, or at least did in most of the loops and Kyubey would be with her. Killing Mami would probably be more trouble than it was worth. Besides, if she didn't do anything stupid this time around, Mami could be helpful fighting Walpurgisnacht.
A soft noise behind her made her look up and around. There was definitely something standing there, about the size of a cat and white all over. This hadn't happened in any other loop, Kyubey meeting her so quickly. Still probably best to play dumb and not give the creature any idea that she knew exactly what he was.
"Come on out, I can see you, you know."
(Soundrack: Sword Art Online – Quiet Strain)
Kyubey flinched, then slowly, ever so slowly, strode forward into the light. Homura blinked. The creature that was standing in front of her definitely looked like Kyubey, but at the same time, not. Kyubey was obviously made to be cute to young girls, looking like a cat (though Homura found his perpetual smile and staring eyes rather creepy). This thing's face had far different features, his eyes were not simply pupil and were far bigger, they darted to and fro. His mouth also was far wider and moved organically.
The strange Kyubey blinked (Homura noted that she had a hard time remembering Kyubey ever blinking) and she felt the familiar feel of the telepathy that Kyubey loved to use (she supposed that it was too resource intensive for him to actually speak or something stupid like that.)
"You're an anomaly." His voice was clearly male, unlike the normal high androgynous voice that Homura was used to hearing out of Kyubey.
Homura decided to be as vague in her answer as possible, "what?"
The creature tilted its head, and it looked curious. With a small shock, Homura realized that this was the first time that a Kyubey had really had much of any expression on its face. Kyubey would sometimes fake an expression, but she could recall that he'd had trouble getting the small mechanics of it down. This unsettled her more than if Kyubey had simply come in and said that it knew what she was planning. Her hand clenched, almost involuntarily and she prepared to summon her ability to stop time.
The Kyubey, perhaps realizing that she wasn't taking well to him, ducked his head.
"S-sorry, I . . . well I . . . what I mean to say is . . . I need your help."
Homura arched an eyebrow, "for?."
The strange Kyubey licked his lips nervously, yet another thing that Homura found rather uncharacteristic for him, "I, uh, I want to help you fight Witches."
Homura's eyebrow remained arched, nothing in any iteration before now had been like this. Maybe she should just shoot him and hope that it would distract him from Madoka. The Kyubey was staring at her, tilting his head to the side as though her was studying her. Then he shook himself and said "I was wondering, how much do you know about the contracts that Kyubey makes?"
Homura's brow furrowed slightly, what was he playing at, "why would you need me to tell you about yourself?"
The Kyubey's eyes grew angry, then he took a deep breath, "my name isn't Kyubey, not anymore. And I just wanted to know how much you know about the contracts that Kyubey makes with Magical Girls. I don't recall ever giving you a contract, and I've good reason to think that you're a lot more than you seem."
Homura stared at the Kyubey in confusion. She decided to lay a bit of bait down "Are you talking about . . . Witches?"
An expression of relief came over The Kyubey or whatever it's name was face. "Oh good, I thought that I'd have to explain the whole thing, but you already know about how Magical Girls turn into Witches."
"What?" said Homura.
"I mean, I was a bit nervous when I saw you and couldn't remember giving you a contract. Of course I probably wasn't the one you gave you a contract but still, I think not even Kyubey knew where you came from. If we work together, I think we really ca-" the Kyubey said in a continuous telepathic babble.
"Stop" said Homura in a firm voice. The Kyubey spoke for a few more words before he seemed to comprehend what Homura had said. Then he stopped mid-sentence, and his mouth opened as Homura stood up and pulled a pistol out of her buckler. The small white creature started as the girl leveled the gun at him.
"Uh, wh-what are you do-doing? I just s-said we could work together an-"
"Stop" said Homura again, her voice harder than before. Her hand shook slightly before she steadied it.
"Whatever your trying to accomplish with this Kyubey, you won't get anything out of me. So you may as well leave."
"I'M NOT KYUBEY!" the creature shouted mentally while taking a step forward. Homura flicked the safety off of the gun, her finger just a twitch away from putting a bullet into the creature's head. He took a step backwards his eyes wide as he stared at the barrel of the gun being leveled at him. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead and ran down his face. "I want to help!"
"I think our definitions of 'help' differ drastically. Get out."
"But you know about how Magical Girl's turn into Witches, and I want to help you. I can help you, you just need to trust me! How can I get you to trust me!?"
The Pistol clicked slightly as Homura pulled the trigger softly, only a few more centimeters and the gun would fire.
"Get. Out."
The Kyubey stared for a second longer, then he turned around and sprinted out of the building. Homura waited for a full 30 seconds before allowing herself to click the safety back into place and put the pistol into her Buckler. She sighed deeply, that had definitely been strange, but it was 100 to 1 that that had just been some sort of elaborate trick by Kyubey to get-. No, wait, that didn't really fit in with Kyubey's usual tactics. He usually stretched the truth, or just omitted it, but outright lying wasn't really his forte, or at least something he tried to avoid. Also, that thing had been way too emotional to be Kyubey, and in her experience, Kyubey didn't really change, he never needed to. She'd never recalled him showing emotions like relief or fear, or even really anger.
She picked up her school bag. Whatever it had been, it was gone now, probably never to return. She had much more important things to worry about. How would she keep Madoka from contracting this time?
The morning wore on, but in other parts of town something interesting occurred. On the surface the day was normal, but each action has a consequence. As we've seen before, one girl's actions had lead to time getting stuck into a loop of around a month for time out of mind, with only herself being any the wiser. However, eventually there was bound to be some side effects. Humans as a whole are privy to several senses that they don't consciously understand, employ or even acknowledge (most often called the "sixth sense"). Thus, especially for the one for whose sake this time loop was occurring, something was bound to slip through the cracks eventually.
And the current situation was only making those cracks widen. Who knows what might come through next?
Madoka Kaname's eyes popped open. She was clutching one of her stuffed animals so close to her face that he had become slightly hard to breath. She sat up, yawning slightly as the morning light filtering through her curtains turned her room grey. She clutched her stuffed animal close to her, shivering slightly at the images of Mitikahara as a smashed wasteland, that creature hovering overhead raining death down, and the one girl who stood against it.
"Boy, what a crazy dream."
Sayaka Miki snapped awake and nearly threw herself off of her bed. She was sweating profusely and she grasped her forehead as she recalled the dream she'd just had. Even as the details started to slip away, she felt sweat trickle down her body as she shivered.
"What the heck was that."
Mami Tomoe wasn't unused to nightmares, with what she did in her spare time (fighting nightmarish creatures born from curses) it was honestly a bit surprising she didn't have more nightmares. However, her nightmares normally involved her parents in some capacity, not some girls she'd never seen before, though she did recognize the school uniform. As she got ready for school, Mami shrugged the dream off easily, she had a potential Witch on her radar and she intended to track it down after classes ended. She'd forgotten about the dream by the time she had set off.
Kyoko Sakura felt she must've eaten some really weird food to get dreams like that. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised considering the combination of stuff that she ate. She put the dream out of her mind quickly as she got up from bed. There were witches that needed hunting.
"Well that went horribly" he thought as he ran away from Homura's home. "Still, she definitely knows more than she should, which probably makes her my best chance for help."
After running for a few blocks, he stopped in an alleyway beside a dumpster, breathing heavily. After a few seconds, he glanced back at the entrance of the alleyway. He wasn't sure now how he'd be able to gain her trust, or at the very least, her help, but he needed to think rationally about the situation.
A few seconds into his contemplation, he let out a frustrated groan and began banging his head against the brick wall behind him.
"Stupid, why did I think she'd just trust me? I just show up out of the blue and start babbling about soul gems and I just expected her to accept it! She probably hates Kyubey! I'm just lucky she didn't assume I was trying to contract her friends and blow me awa-"
He stopped mid-sentence as an idea occurred to him. Homura had been in a schoolgirl's uniform and he knew that Kyubey was active in this area. He was probably scouting around the school, looking for new girls with exceptional Magical talent. He knew from experience that Kyubey never stopped once he had a new subject in his sights that he wanted to add to the system. Unless . . . unless he had something to distract him, perhaps a rogue drone.
Maybe, if he could show Homura that he didn't have anything to do with Kyubey anymore, maybe she would be more open to an alliance. Even if she wasn't, he could probably follow Kyubey to find some of the local Magical Girls and maybe they'd be more willing to listen.
He shook his head. What was he thinking? Why would Kyubey be more invested in what he saw as just a rogue drone than the very reason he was on Earth in the first place. And how exactly was he going to prove to Homura that he wasn't in league with Kyubey? It wasn't as though she'd be stalking him too! He was just one bad idea after another today, wasn't he. Unfortunately, as he thought for a few more minutes, no better idea seemed to materialize.
Well, a bad idea was better than no idea. Was it? This whole state of being was still new to him so he couldn't really tell if a bad idea was better than no idea. But anyway, may as well give this bad idea a shot instead of sitting here in the trash.
With a clear purpose, he picked himself up and strode off towards the school.
(Soundtrack: Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Desiderium)
Both Madoka and Sayaka were yawning slightly as they made their way towards school. Upon noticing this, Sayaka asked the obvious question.
"You didn't get much sleep either, did you?"
Madoka shook her head, "no, I woke up really early because I had the weirdest dream. I couldn't get back to bed after that, so I just laid down until I had to get ready for school."
"Huh, the same thing happened to me. I had a really freaky dream, it creeped me out so much that I couldn't get back to sleep. Don't remember much of it now, though."
"Wow, my dream was really scary too. "
Their friend Hitomi joined them, walking side-by-side and the three compared notes on their current school assignments, who had done what, and who still had work to do. As they walked along, Madoka couldn't help but let her mind drift back to the little she remembered of that dream, the ruined city, and . . . that girl. For whatever reason, that girl stood out to her, long raven hair, a fantastical outfit, fighting a hopeless fight. Somehow the girl seemed so familiar to her, even though she was certain that she'd never seen the girl before.
Perhaps that should've prepared her for the extremely weird day she was going to have as she sat down for class. The teacher announced that they had a new transfer student and, to her utter shock, it was the same girl that she'd seen in the dream.
The girl, Homura Akemi was her name, seemed rather standoffish and quiet. In spite of being surrounded by other girls during the lunch period, she quickly made an excuse and, to Madoka's great surprise asked her to escort Homura to the nurse's office. While it had made sense for Madoka to do so, she was the nurse's assistant, what didn't make sense was how Homura seemed to know the exact path to the Nurses Office when she supposedly was new to the school.
She thought that her asking those questions on the bridge like 'do you value your life?' had been very strange, and Sayaka had agreed when they met after school in their favorite cafe with Hitomi. While Madoka had been rather intimidated by Homura, she had gotten the feeling that Homura didn't actually mean her any harm.
As her friends discussed Homura's weird behavior, she decided to confess the strange feeling of familiarity she'd gotten.
"Somehow, I feel like I know her from somewhere."
Sayaka glanced sharply at Madoka, "okay, what do you mean by that!"
Madoka was surprised by Sayaka's reaction, but she continued, "last night, I had a dream and she was in it."
Hitomi looked intrigued by this bit of info, but Sayaka put a hand against her forehead while closing her eyes with an incredulous expression.
"Seriously, you too?! I had a dream last night and I could've sworn I saw that Homura chick in it."
Hitomi looked between the two of them, "well, what were your dreams about?"
Madoka sighed, "that's the funny thing, like I said this morning, I don't remember much of it, but I just remember that she was there."
Both girls looked at Sayaka who just said, "ditto. Gah, are we turning into Anime characters or something? If I start getting visions from another life, I don't think I can take it."
The three girls giggled and Sayaka continued the idea, "what if she just suddenly started spouting off corny one-liners like, 'I knew you in a past life,' and 'change your ways or the world will be destroyed,' or even 'you used to be a god!'
The three girls dissolved into fits of giggles and the rest of the conversation was considerably lighter. Hitomi theorized that they actually had seen Homura somewhere before, and that their minds had simply used her face for whatever dream they'd both had (even if the concept of them both having the same dream was still mildly disturbing). Soon though, Hitomi had to leave for one of her many things she had to practice for, and Madoka and Sayaka decided to go shopping at the mall. Little did they know that they were being followed.
He strode out from behind the air vent, and spotted the Kyubey drone. It was leaning off of the building and staring down at the two girls who were striding into a Mall. He stopped, questioning if it was really wise for him to out himself, what if Kyubey caught him? He shook his head, even if he had emotions now, he couldn't allow them to control him or stop him from fixing things. Besides, wasn't that kinda the point of this whole thing, give Kyubey a bigger target so he'd be distracted from his current prey? It was more logical for him to be the target than anyone else. Those girls had many people who would miss them, and he . . . he was the better target. Well, time to see if this terrible idea actually worked.
He coughed lightly, and Kyubey looked around, his eyes locking onto him. His expression didn't alter, not that he expected it to, it was still a bit of a novel experience to him when he moved his muscles in time with the emotions he was feeling. He felt Kyubey attempt to form a connection with him mentally, attempting to download his memories like normal. He frowned and blocked him, causing Kyubey to tilt his head.
"Oh, there you are. Are you here for repair?" Kyubey asked mildly. He could sense that, failing at directly accessing his mind, Kyubey was broadcasting the message to the general area of the roof. He blinked, staring at Kyubey in confusion.
"What you talking about?"
Kyubey glanced back at the Mall for a moment, then he looked back at him.
"Well, whenever a part of a whole breaks, then it needs repairing. You are a part of the whole, and like any drone that loses it's connection, you need repair. Though I admit, you have taken longer than was necessary. What have you been doing all this time?"
His eyes narrowed, "that's none of your business."
Kyubey tilted his head, staring at him. A good solid 30 seconds of silence fell between them. It stretched on and he began feeling distinctly unnerved. The experience of looking at, well, him and seeing what he'd been like was very disorienting. Still, focus on the priorities, distraction of Kyubey.
Homura sat on the Chimney and watched as the strange Kyubey she'd met earlier that day walk out and begin speaking with another Kyubey. If this was some sort of elaborate trap, it was a pretty good one. Though she wasn't sure why she could hear the conversation, but perhaps it was just that she was in close enough proximity to pick it up (Magical Girls in general usually had the ability to psychically connect to Kyubey for convenience sake.) But her doubts that she'd had that morning were growing, as she was certain that Kyubey didn't know she was here and watching him, and it didn't seem as though the abnormal Kyubey had been lying earlier. She leaned in, listening in on their conversation.
"I'll be ready to take you back to our home base in a little bit. I can get another drone to escort you, but right now I have pressing business to attend to."
The abnormal Kyubey, that, if she heard correctly, just seemed to be one of Kyubey's bodies that was having technical issues (or at least, that was how Kyubey saw it), tensed. When he spoke, his voice was sharp.
"That's a problem. Why are you interested in those two girls?"
The normal Kyubey stepped up onto the building edge while still glancing back the the abnormal Kyubey.
"You must have really been damaged if you've forgotten our core directive. These two girls have potential to be Magical Girls. One of them might have more potential than anyone I've ever seen. If you could just wait here for a little while, I'll be able to get another drone here to lead you back to base."
The malfunctioning Kyubey took a very aggressive step towards the normal one.
"No thanks. Actually, I was hoping that I could convince you to stop trying to get contracts."
Homura casually noticed that the normal Kyubey had frozen, as she digested this piece of dialogue.
"You know our mission, to save the universe from heat death. To do this, we need to gather energy, and to gather energy we-"
"I know how we gather energy Kyubey. Though I will confess, I don't really know why you are."
"Why 'we' are.'
The abnormal Kyubey scowled angrily, "nooooo, why 'you' are. I'm sure you know that I'm not a part of the Hive anymore, thus I can't really be lumped into a 'we' statement can I? But anyway, let me ask you this. When is the universe going to end Kyubey? If we stopped right now, when would it end."
The normal Kyubey stared for about 5 seconds, and then answered, "we would exhaust our energy reserves within roughly-"
"Not what I asked," the abnormal said abruptly, he continued before the normal Kyubey could speak, "you don't know, do you. Are you even sure that the Universe is going to end?"
"We must prepare ourselves for the eventuality. This exchange is pointless. Remain here and wait for pickup."
With that, the normal Kyubey made to leap off the building to the street below. But before he could, the abnormal one grabbed his tail in its mouth and pulled him back and away from the building's edge. With a tug, the abnormal threw the normal against a vent that was sticking up and out of building's roof. Kyubey stood up, staring impassively (like always) at the abnormal, who was glaring at him.
"Get out of here, I'm not letting you talk to those girls. I won't let them down the way I did the others."
Both Kyubey's were still for a few seconds. Then the normal one hopped through the vent he'd been thrown against, and Homura heard him scurrying away. The abnormal got a look of shock on his face for half a second, then he was running into the vent himself, fast as a bolt of lightning.
Homura stood up, mulling over what she'd just heard. She turned and began making her way towards the music shop as she knew that was where Madoka would be. Kyubey was sure to go towards where Madoka was, and perhaps she could intercept him. That and perhaps she'd get another chance to talk to the abnormal Kyubey again. Maybe, if she was in luck, she could get some help this time around. It wasn't particularly the sort of help she'd wanted, but, if she were being honest with herself, she'd run out of any truly new ideas long ago on how to try and save Madoka. If this thing wanted to help her and it was useful . . . she could handle it. She wouldn't like it, but she could handle it.
Madoka and Sayaka wandered into a music shop, casually listening to some of the displays. Madoka put on some headphones, bobbing her head to one of the latest albums to be released.
"Help . . . me. . ."
She looked around, confused as what sounded like a voice in her head appeared. She took off the headphones, staring around the shop, wondering if she'd just imagined it.
"Madoka, help me . . ."
The voice was heard again, high and slightly androgynous, it sounded in pain and though it sounded like it was coming from within Madoka's own head, she could instinctively tell that it was coming from above her.
Almost without thinking, she began walking out of the shop, heading for some stairs to the upper levels of the mall. The voice repeated a plaintive cry for help again and again, and Madoka quickened her pace, soon passing into an area of the building off limits to normal customers due to construction.
"HELP ME!"
Madoka broke into a run, desperate to find whatever was crying for help.
(Soundtrack: Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gradus Prohibitus)
Kyubey tried to make another break for it. Darting forward, he halted Kyubey's progress by clamping down onto his neck. With a heave, he flung the drone across the room, tearing out some of the skin. He was seriously starting to question the viability off his plan. No matter what he did, Kyubey seemed determined to talk to those two girls from before. It might just be better if he were to-
A flash of energy flew across the room and Kyubey only barely avoided being blown to pieces. Homura was standing on one side of the room, in Magical Girl dress and with her hand outstretched, still glowing. She glanced over at the abnormal Kyubey and their eyes met. For an endless moment, they stared at each other, and then she nodded, her lips tight and looked back at Kyubey.
He understood, talk later, fight now. Kyubey was getting back up, his soulless eyes staring at them both. Homura's hand flashed again and another energy bolt leapt forward. This time, it connected, and the drone vanished, leaving only a smoking crater. An instant later, the soft sound of pattering feet came from behind Homura. She whipped around and, sure enough, another Kyubey drone was running off. She shot several bolts of energy after it, and while they singed it's fur, none of them connected. A second later, the abnormal Kyubey darted past her, chasing after the drone.
Homura followed up a second later, shooting more bolts of energy after the escaping white creature. Then, both she and the abnormal saw Kyubey jump and then fall through a weakened section of the floor to the room below. The abnormal Kyubey followed behind him while Homura opted to hop through a closer grate. As she landed, she looked up, and froze. Madoka was sitting 20 feet away, and she was cradling Kyubey, who was acting hurt. Her heart clenched as she realized what this must look like, how tenderhearted Madoka would see only a mysterious and intimidating girl beating up a supposedly harmless cute creature.
Then she calmed herself and stood up. No matter what, no matter who stood in her way, and no matter what she had to do, she would save Madoka. She began to walk out of the darkness of the room and into the light.
Madoka couldn't really tell what sort of creature she had in her arms, it looked like a cross between a cat and a weasel, with white fur and tentacles coming out of its ears. What was more concerning to her was the multitude of scratches and burns that covered its body as it breathed shallowly. A soft sound made her head whip up and she witnessed a creature identical to the one in her hands hop down from the same grate that the first one had fallen from a few seconds before.
But no, it wasn't exactly identical, its face was more . . . more . . . there was no other way to describe it . . . human. While the creature in her hands face seemed to mostly static, in spite of it's clearly in pain breathing sound, the new arrival's face seemed to be expressing a multitude of emotions. Case and point, it was now wearing a face of horror as it stared at Madoka and the creature she was holding.
Footsteps were heard and Madoka looked into the darker portions of the large room she was in. Someone was striding out of the darkness, and with a flash of recognition, she saw that it was Homura. But she looked different. She was dressed in a costume that looked more at place in a fantasy anime than regular dress. On her left arm was some sort of shield, very small. Her face was one of the utmost seriousness as she walked forward, staring at Madoka all the while.
"Get away from that creature" Homura said simply, staring at the being in Madoka's arms, who gave a slight pathetic twitch. Madoka flinched, instinctively shielding the small thing with her body.
"But, he's really hurt." For some reason, the other white creature gave a slight derisive cough. "Leave him alone, why are you trying to hurt him!?"
Homura walked forward, getting within 5 feet of Madoka, her stoic, almost dead eyes not changing, "this doesn't concern you."
"But he was calling me, I could hear him calling my name, he was asking me to help him!"
"Really . . ." Homura said slowly. The other white creature scuffed the ground in either an angry or an annoyed fashion. It glared at the creature in her arms with an alarming amount of hatred, its eyes narrowed.
Madoka and Homura stared each other down for several extremely long seconds. In the darkness somewhere in the room, a soft wind made some chains left over from the construction rustle and clink.
Then, an explosion of white foam seemed to rush towards Homura and the white creature, blanketing them and blocking their vision.
"Madoka! Over here!" Madoka was delighted to hear her friend Sayaka's voice. She turned to see that the foam was in face the result of Sayaka utilizing a fire suppression device, of the kind that's available in most public places. She got to her feet and ran over to her friend who, after expending all the foam inside of the device, threw it in the general direction that Homura had been. Both off them took off, leaving behind the threatening girl and the strange white creature.
Then, the world started to go mad.
A second before it happened, he sensed the despair of the Witch. The world began to distort and remold as the Witch's Labyrinth surrounded them.
"Why is this happening now?" he heard Homura say, her voice terse with frustration.
"My thoughts exactly" he said telepathically. Homura glanced at him, her gaze guarded, and he was reminded how, only a few hours ago, she was leveling a gun at his forehead. He wondered if she would do the same now. However, she simply sighed and moved forward, following after the two girls who'd just run off with Kyubey and were both now undoubtedly lost up ahead in the Labyrinth.
As he followed, he reflected that as far as the execution of his idea had gone, this had to be his worst failure. Not only had Kyubey completely disregarded him in favor of trying to get to his two new targets, but he had likely just made it easier for him to get them to commit to a contract. Kyubey had made himself look like a helpless and completely innocent creature, and made Homura and himself look like monsters for wanting to hurt him at all. Honestly, a short while ago he would've been impressed. Then again, it likely would've been him who was doing something like that, but that was unimportant.
As Homura and he continued to run, they heard what sounded like a cacophony of gun blasts, and he distinctly heard Homura mutter something that sounded like "Mami," He almost stumbled flat on his face upon hearing that. The Labyrinth began to dissipate as the two of them finally reached the girl and found, to his great surprise, another arrival, this one obviously another Magical Girl. Her outfit was mostly golden and white in coloration and she appeared to be a bit older than the other girls present (the more logical part of his brain idly noted that, especially for her age, she was extremely well endowed in certain parts of her body.)
Homura and the new girl stared each other down, Homura frowning, and the girl smiling slightly.
"The Witch got away, if you hurry, you can still catch it. I don't mind, I'm giving it to you this time."
Her voice was light, as though she was simply giving some friendly advice. Homura's face darkened as she glanced quickly at Kyubey, still nestled in Madoka's arms and still putting up the act of being extremely hurt.
"But I have unfinished business here" she said.
The new girl shook her head, and though she was still smiling, her voice gaining a hint of steel and finality, "I don't think you understand. I'm saying that I'm willing to overlook what you did this time."
The girl glanced to the side, and her gaze landed on the abnormal Kyubey. Her brow furrowed and she looked confused. Her mouth opened and she started to ask, "who-." But at that moment, Homura turned with a flourish and began to walk away. As she walked past the Kyubey that she'd threatened that morning, she looked at him. He was staring at Mami, his eyes so wide she thought that they might pop out of his head and his mouth was hanging open in what looked like shocked disbelief. She prodded him sharply with her foot and he shook his head before looking at her. Her gaze hard as she, with a swift jerk of her head, she indicated that she wanted him to follow.
He started, "but shouldn't we stay here and tell them-"
Homura silenced him with a look, "you want to talk with me, you follow me now. Otherwise I will leave and never listen to you again." After speaking softly, she moved on, walking out of sight of the girls. The abnormal Kyubey turned, looking at the girls with a conflicted expression. It became apologetic as he looked at all of the girls in turn, his gaze seemed to linger on Mami for a second. Then he turned and hurried off after Homura. He just hoped that this was the right decision.
Homura's place of residence was quiet as the girl and the alien sat down across from each other, both staring at the other. Silence reigned as both sized each other up. Finally, the strange Kyubey spoke.
"What do you want to know?"
Homura considered the question, pondering just what she wanted to ask first.
"Why did you attack Kyubey?"
The abnormal glanced at the ground, avoiding Homura's eyes, "I thought I might be able to get you to trust me if I showed that I didn't like Kyubey at all. Oh, and Kyubey said that he was hoping to get those two girls to make a contract with him and I was hoping to stop him."
Homura was silent as the abnormal Kyubey continued to speak.
"I thought that he might be a bit more interested in catching me, than picking up new contracts. Well, I suppose I should've realized he wasn't after he kept trying to go for the girls, but I was kinda panicking."
"I see," said Homura in a quiet voice. She decided to ask the question that was truly eating at her.
"Why are you different from Kyubey?"
The abnormal glanced at her, his eyes so different and so much more alive than Kyubey's, "it's a bit of a complicated story. I'm not even sure you'd believe me, though given how you seem to know more than you should, you might."
Homura simply arched an eyebrow. The abnormal simply sighed, then took a long and fortifying breath.
"Oookay. Well to start with, I have emotions. Unlike the rest of my kind, I can actually feel and act on that."
Homura nodded, she'd had her suspicions ever since their first meeting.
"The big thing that this changes, is that I can empathize, and so, I can feel and understand the pain of humans, Magical Girls, and most importantly, Witches."
Homura crossed her arms, her gaze never flickering from the abnormal. He looked at her questioningly.
"You do know, right? About how magical girls turn-"
"Yes," Homura interrupted. "After they have fallen to despair, or their Soul Gem turns completely black, a Magical Girl turns into a Witch. The Incubators harvest the energy gained from the extreme emotions released by the Witch in order to stave off Entropy."
The Abnormal nodded, "right, well Kyubey sees this as the only system and way to save the universe. I however, am a bit more skeptical and understanding of the pain that this causes Humanity. My species operates as a Hive Mind, but I'm not a part of it anymore. I refuse to take part in this systematic trickery and torture of human souls. That's why I tried to talk to you earlier, I want to help you fight Witches."
Homura considered this, she was willing to accept this creature's help, if not his words. He'd need to prove himself before she could truly gain any trust for him. Still, Kyubey was rather easy to "kill" or at least destroy his body, so there was the question of whether nor not this creature even could help her.
"What skills do you have that can help me fight Witches?" she asked mildly.
The abnormal smirked, "I assume your talking about how Kyubey doesn't fight at all?"
Homura nodded, and the abnormal continued, "well, I modified my body to be far tougher when I realized that I wasn't a part of my species Hive Mind anymore. You could probably run me over with a Semi and I'd just get some bruises. I also have access to about the same magical power as your average Magical Girl, maybe a bit stronger. But I have one trick that is a real game-changer, it's how I plan to fight Kyubey."
The abnormal looked around, Homura got the feeling that he was scanning the area for Kyubey, making sure that they were completely alone. Then he turned and spoke his ability. Homura blinked, taken aback, then new possibilities bloomed in her mind. If what he said was true, she could protect Madoka more thoroughly than ever before. If what he said was true, then the whole system would change. The tiny bit of hope that she carried inside herself (no matter how much she denied its existence) pulsed slightly.
They talked for a long time after that, going over his abilities and how they could work together. In the end, Homura nodded. She disliked having to work with any version of Kyubey, even this one. But if it was for Madoka's sake, then she could stomach it.
"If what you say is true. Then I am willing to agree to an . . . alliance of convenience. I'll protect you and help you get rid of the Witches and in return, you can help me protect Madoka."
The abnormal looked elated, he leapt to his feet and nodded so hard that his face almost impacted his seat.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much it means to me! I promise I won't let you down!"
Homura stood up.
"Well . . . Kyubey . . . I know where a Witch's lair is. I'd appreciate being shown these "skills" you say you have, tomorrow morning before school."
He smiled, then he registered what she'd called him.
"Key."
Homura, who had been walking away, stopped and glanced back, her gaze questioning.
"My name, it's not Kyubey. It's Key."
". . . alright. . . . Why?
Key's face grew grim, "my name is one of the only things I can call my own. I'm not Kyubey, not anymore. I refuse to be Kyubey anymore. I am Key, and I'm going to stay that way!"
Homura shrugged, and then began to walk off. After a few moments, Key followed behind. She turned around and glanced back at him.
"Where are you going?"
Key started, "uh, I was just following you?"
Homura sighed, "I'm going to bed. You can sleep on one of the couches out here."
"Oh . . . okay" Key said uncertainly.
Homura continued towards her room and shut the door behind her. A few sounds seemed to indicate that she'd locked it as well. Key sighed slightly and turned back. He hopped back onto one of the couches and sat down. After a few minutes his eyelids started to droop and eventually he sunk into the couch and was sound asleep.
Author's Note:
Sooooo, yeah been awhile. Sorry that it took so long (roughly about 5 years) for me to finally step back into the ring here. But after putting a lot of effort into this story, as well as adopting the concept from another author, I really wanted to publish it. I think and hope that my writing has improved since those early days.
Now before anyone who's read from be before panics, let it be known that I have several chapters already written and will try to adhere to a rule of finishing more before i publish what I have. This way, I'll have a backlog of chapters to fall back on.
Now anyone whose read from be before will know be as LordGodsServant. I retitled myself, mostly because I wanted to and gave myself a new profile pic. For more information, look on my profile (if it's updated by this point, which it should be.)
So, as far as the story goes, the soundtrack idea is a bit experimental. It's something I've seen done in other stories and I felt like I'd give it a shot here. I hope I did a good job. Originally, I was just going to have one opening quote, but I wound up liking two out of the three that I had (one based on one of the opening narrations of the "Revenge of the Sith" Novelization and the other cribbed directly from Babylon 5) and just used those.
I really like Madoka Magica, in spite or perhaps because of it's dark feel. Though I have mixed opinions on it's current ending in the Rebellion Movie. I hope that they'll make more soon, and also hope that if they do that they don't make the characters suffer even more than they have already (faint hope I know, but I can dream right?)
I hope that you enjoyed this story, and that I'll finally manage to bring the story through to its end.
Also, shoutout to "InGodzHandz" who kindly allowed me to take the concept and give my spin to it. Her original version, entitled "Madoka Magica: the Unlikely Ally(On Hiatus Until Rebooted) is available for viewing.
