As they looked at the sky, it didn't seem that much time had passed. Perhaps time moved, or at least felt slower inside of a Soul Gem. Ryoko had eventually come out of her office. She'd been inside for a good long time, but eventually it seemed had gotten control of herself. She hadn't made some pretense that she was perfectly fine, not by a longshot. But she had acknowledged that they had a job that needed doing.

"The world doesn't wait for me to feel sorry for myself. I mourned Yui long enough before to tide me over. I'll . . . I'll think about her more when we get back. For now, let's make sure the world she gave so much to protect stays intact."

Homura, unseen to the others, had looked at Ryoko as though she was somewhat mad, but had composed herself to her usual blank expression before anyone could notice.

That was how they had found themselves now in front of a house that Ryoko had said was Fuminori Sakiska's house, as well as Saya's currently. Ryoko had sniffed a lot on the way over but by the time they had arrived, she seemed to have been able to sufficiently focus on the task at hand. They had dropped off Madoka, Sayaka, and Nagisa a block back to wait, leaving only Dr Tanbo, Homura, Mami, and Key in their group.

The house's front lawn was overgrown and untended. The grass was long and sickly and waved in the breeze. This along with the peeling paint and cracked pavement gave the house a feeling of decay, of things long dead but left out in the sun.

The group glanced between each other in nervousness. Now that it came to it, they felt distinctly unnerved.

"Can you sense anything?" Ryoko asked to Key. The small alien narrowed his eyes.

"Not . . . no I don't think so. Which is weird."

Some more glances were exchanged, but then, as there was nothing more to do or say, they turned to Homura. She nodded, then twisted her buckler. She touched Mami, who quickly connected them with her ribbons, then they moved forward. As they did, they felt Key's presence in the Telepathic bond, as he got ready to act as a buffer for their sanity. Ryoko (who had been informed of Homura's abilities but had never experienced them) shook her head and looked around.

"How, odd" she mused as she noted a bird frozen in place overhead, "yet, useful."

She took the lead and, after glancing around to make sure no one was watching, pulled out her shotgun (out from under her coat, and not her sleeve as Key noted, was it still enchanted now that Yui was well and truly gone?) and nudged it against the door.

Soundtrack: Saya no Uta OST – Spooky Scape

The door opened and they peered inside. The landing seemed empty so they walked quietly inside. They turned to go into the living room and kitchen and stopped short. The light of the sun outside shone upon a room that was a riotous mass of color. Every kind of color you could think of was splashed across the floor, walls, and ceiling. Even faded in the timestop, it was garish and more than a little nauseating.

"Seems they've been redecorating" Ryoko remarked, "probably trying to find a color configuration that didn't seem weird from his perspective."

The others nodded, then turned to move further into the house. But then they stopped short again.

Fuminori was caught mid-pace, one foot raised and about to come back down. From what they could tell, It seemed that he had been walking in a pattern. His hands were raised close to his body and his face was intense, almost on the verge of panic it seemed. Saya was nowhere in sight.

All of the group stared at the man, none of them quite sure what to do. Then Ryoko cleared her throat.
"We should try and find Saya before dealing with him. Hopefully we can deal with her without him distracting us."

The rest of the group nodded and they moved past the man, carefully avoiding touching him. They checked the house room-by-room. Each time they turned a corner or opened a door, they bunched up, preparing to respond if Saya was near. But to their frustration, they came up empty. The rest of the house was just as insane looking as the living room (all in all, it felt more like a carnival funhouse mixed with a slaughterhouse) but there was no eldritch monster to be seen.

After making sure Saya was not hiding in a closet or in some corner or cranny, or even behind a wall or under a floor, they all moved back to the living room.

"This is . . . unfortunate" Dr Ryoko said with narrowed eyes. Key snorted in a frustrated tone.

"Where could she have gotten to?" Mami wondered aloud, she was trying to focus on her friends and not the nauseating mass of colors that painted the walls.

"That's the thing" Ryoko said, "all that we know of her does not lead us to believe that she would leave him-" she gestured at Fuminori, "-at all. If she's left, then we don't have much to go on as to where she would go."

"Perhaps the same creature that drove her from Dr. Ogai drove her from here as well" Homura noted. Ryoko had summarized Dr. Ogai's diary to them.

There was a sudden silence, and everyone glanced nervously at the doors and windows of the room. Nothing out of the ordinary (aside from the house itself and the faded colors) presented itself to them.

"Let's look again" Ryoko said, "maybe we missed something the first time."

They once again combed the house. They found nothing however, aside from yellowed sheets and detritus that made it plain that Fuminori had not been doing any sort of upkeep on the building. If it had been like this more than a few months, the building might've had to have been gutted. Though oddly enough, they did find a decent amount of normal food in the fridge (perhaps a bit more meat than normal) and even signs that someone had been making food as normally as anyone else. After finding all of this, they regrouped in the living room to talk. Everyone tried to focus on each other and less on the room around them.

"Aggh!" Key exclaimed, anger and annoyance clear his tone. Everyone looked at him as he scuffed at the floor with his paw.

"This feels like a repeat of the hospital!" he explained. "I went back to try and cure Sakiska-San and he'd been discharged that day. Now we come here, only to find Saya's gone!"

Ryoko snorted, "it does seem like that, doesn't it? If this happens again, I may start to suspect something of working against us."

Homura had a pensive look on her face, but at Ryoko's words, she glanced at Key.

"Would Kyubey warn Saya or anything like that?"

Key thought about it for a moment, "not . . . not without a reason to. I can't think of any at the moment, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have one."

Homura's face had turned rather unreadable, not an uncommon occurrence with her, "he gave us information about Saya. Perhaps he would be trying to put us in an active fight with her."

Key looked slightly skeptical, "I mean, that might work if he was trying to get us to do 'cleanup duty' or something like that. Scratch that, no it wouldn't because he'd want the job done quick and quiet. Warning her does nothing for that. Kyubey doesn't care about much besides making Contracts and storing up energy. I . . . I don't think we have enough info."

Homura stared at Key, who squirmed a little. She seemed a bit unsatisfied with Key's answer and the new questions it presented. A piece of the dream she'd had the night before came back to her.

"it is responsible for all your suffering!"

Homura felt her gaze harden, and Key squirmed even worse than before, looking a bit confused and even maybe a little intimidated. But then it passed and Homura shook her head slightly.

Ryoko had turned to look at Fuminori.

"Well . . . there's one obvious way to get more information."

Everyone turned to look at the man too. They had hoped that this would be in and out without anyone being the wiser. But with other leads turning up empty, it appeared that another person would have to be brought into the know.

"Tie him up with ribbons" Homura said in a businesslike manner. "that way he can't run off."

Mami nodded. She let a long length of ribbons spool out from her sleeve. She glanced around at everyone else and, seeing no dissent, she began twirling them through the air for a second before letting them loose in Fuminori's direction.

The ribbons moved like snakes and wrapped around Fuminori in an instant. He yelled as he went (in his perspective) from an empty room to one populated by several more humans dressed strangely as well as golden ribbons that tied him up and hoisted him a foot into the air. He struggled but could not do anything to break free.

After a few seconds of struggling and grunting, he gave up and surveyed his situation. His confusion was palpable as he stared at them. He opened his mouth, and closed it again. Then, his eyes fell on Key and he gave a small shout.

"You!" he stared at Key, his eyes wide. "You're that thing that talked to me! After you talked to me, Koji, Omi, and Yoh looked right again!"

A rapturous smile broke onto his face for a moment.

"Thank you! Have you come to help me find Saya? I've been so worried since she vanished earlier today!"
Key was staring, caught slightly flatfooted by this outpouring of gratitude and the way the man seemed to be asking for help to find Saya as though she was a lost child.

"So . . . it worked?" he asked, seemingly unable to think of anything else to say.

Fuminori nodded, "yes . . . well I mean, everything else still looked horrible but my best friends looked normal after you did . . . whatever it was you did."

Key nodded, "good, that we what I was going for. I . . . didn't have the time to fix it all, that would've taken time and delicacy. So I just went with fixing the most important things to you, which seemed to be your friends from what I could tell. If I had simply brute-forced it like I used . . ." he stopped and looked to the side, his expression falling.

"You're taking us well" Mami noted, staring at the man. "I mean, I'm sure we look horrible to you."

Fuminori shook his head, his eyes darting over all of them.

"How did you- . . . N-no, I mean. Not anymore. Everything's back to normal now."

The four of them stared at him for a few moments. He stared back and Homura noted that as his eyes slid over her, he didn't flinch at all, like he had back in the hospital when he had first caught sight of her.

Dr. Tanbo snapped her fingers to get Fuminori's attention.

"Assuming that is true, I must ask, do you recognize me?"

Fuminori stared at her, then shook his head.
"No, have we met before?"

Ryoko studied his face for a few seconds. Fuminori blinked and looked confused as Ryoko stared at him intently and moved up close. Before too long, however, she sighed and withdrew, "I thought so, you are quite the liar Sakiska-san. Though I must compliment your acting ability since you were able to fool my superiors into forcing me to let you go."

Comprehension dawned on Fuminori's face.

"You were my Doctor?"

"Indeed" there was a small waspish undertone to Ryoko's voice. "And now, as a medical professional, I find myself being forced to clean up your mess because you didn't give an accurate report."

Fuminori just looked confused, so Ryoko sighed again.
"Put more bluntly, where is the creature?"

Fuminori's expression immediately became withdrawn and suspicious. He noted the multitude of weapons that the group had brought and seemed to mull things over.

" . . . why?" he finally said, slowly and cautiously as he eyed the shotgun that Ryoko had in her hands.

Homura spoke in response, "our purpose is not something you need worry about, you have your life back with little to no harm done to yourself. Simply give us her location and you will never see us again."

Fuminori did not look convinced, "you're going to kill her, aren't you?! You can't, she's innocent. She kept me from going insane! She's one of the only bright spots in my life!"

Ryoko was staring at Fuminori with a hard look, but one that wasn't completely devoid of pity.

"Fuminori" she said slowly, deliberately using the man's first name, "look, you aren't an idiot. I know that much. So think it through. If everyone and everything looked like a horrendous monster or abberation, and Saya looked normal, what do you think she truly looked like?"

Fuminori's face contorted a bit as he seemed to think. They couldn't tell if he'd never really considered this line of thought, or if he had, but then shoved it to the back of his mind for fear of going truly insane.

After some time, he spoke again.
"I don't care. I would've killed myself a long time ago if Saya hadn't been there! Why should I say anything to you?!"

Mami stepped forward and tried her hand at convincing him.

"Sakiska-San, we aren't necessarily looking for Saya to kill her. We are simply concerned. You see, if she is truly as we think she is, then she may end up causing harm to others. We do have a plan in case she is not actively trying to harm people. If this is true then we wouldn't kill her." She quickly sent a question to the others, who reluctantly agreed. "In the event that we captured her, then we believe we could arrange visitation rights for yourself."

Fuminori looked unsure. Ryoko sighed.
"I don't wish anyone or anything to be hurt Sakisaka-San. I did take an oath after all as a Doctor to do all I could to help and heal. But . . ." Ryoko stopped and looked down, appearing to consider her words carefully before she continued, "I cannot simply sit by while a creature that may bring about the end of Humanity runs wild. If she is not a monster, so much the better. But I cannot ignore that she is dangerous and may cause others to suffer as you have."

She looked up and straight into Fuminori's eyes.

"Would you be willing and happy to let someone, anyone, experience even a taste of the Hell you have lived these past few months."

Fuminori's expression, with had been mostly stoic up until this point, twitched. Some doubt entered it and he looked away, seeming to try and gather his thoughts. There was a drawn out silence as he seemed to think.
"This is wasting time." Homura commented after a bit, "perhaps we should-"

"Promise me one thing," Fuminori said suddenly as he looked back up. "Take me with you."

The group stared at him in confusion and, after a moment, he continued, "when you go to find her, now or later or whenever, take me with you. I need to find her, to make sure she's safe."
Key shook his head slightly, "Sakiska-San, I don't think that's a good idea. You're normal again and if you saw her now . . . I don't know how well you'd handle it."

Fuminori shook his head, "I don't care. That's my price for my help."

Ryoko narrowed her eyes, "you're strangely obsessive about Saya. Did you . . ." her voice trailed off as she looked at the others a bit sheepishly. They got the gist however, as disgusting as it seemed to them.

Fuminori ducked his head, "I . . . for awhile . . . no, we never went beyond friends. A few times . . . but no, this isn't about anything like that. Saya helped me, she's one of the most important things in my life. For months she was the only normal thing I could see. So if she's in trouble, or if she needs to be talked down, then I want to be there to help her. If it costs my sanity . . . then so be it, it's not like I'm not used to living in madness."

"We cannot guarantee anything," Homura spoke bluntly, "and should you attempt to stop us or impede us, we will not hesitate to disable you."

Fuminori gulped. He took another look around at the group, seeming to weigh his options. Then he sighed, "I . . . I can agree to that."

The group looked at each other. Truth be told, none of them particularly wanted this unstable man to join them for anything. But . . . he was their only lead.

"Very well," Key said. "We agree to bring you along as we look for Saya in the hopes that you can help resolve things peacefully. Now, about that information."

"Look" Fuminori swallowed thickly, "she was acting weird today. Kept saying that 'he was going to come for her.' I asked her who she was talking about but she wouldn't say. She acted like if she did then I'd become a target. I just remember sitting down to rest my feet, then her coming in and putting a hand on my forehead. She was-" he paused as thought to consider his words carefully, "-distraught. She acted like she was steeling herself for something she really didn't want to do. She started talking about how she needed to keep me safe and how I needed to live my life apart from her. Before I could figure out what was going on, it felt like something knocked me out. I just remember her saying goodbye and then when I woke up everything . . . everything seemed normal again but she was gone! The only thing left behind was a note! A goodbye note!"

"May we see this note?" Ryoko asked. Fuminori nodded and motioned over to a drawer. Mami, using some ribbons, opened it and pulled out a sheet of paper. The handwriting on it was a bit weird looking, as though whatever wrote it wasn't using fingers, though it was well well written in other aspects (which fit in with Dr Ogai's observation of Saya's capacity to learn).

Beloved Fuminori, stay safe.

Some bad people from my home are looking for me.
I can't let them find you.

Don't look for me, I'm going home.

Forget about me, I'm giving you your life back.
I'm sorry I didn't do it before I was just . . .

I guess I was just afraid that you would leave me.

I love you. So much. They won't have you.

I hope you can forgive me.

Sincerely, Saya

PS. Sorry I wasn't ever able to cook anything you liked!

They reached the end of the note and then stood in silence for a moment.

"What did she mean by, 'home?'" Mami asked after a second.

Everyone looked at Fuminori, who shook his head.

"She never told me outright where she came from. Never wanted to discuss it or something and I . . . I was too afraid to lose her to push."

A few moments later of everyone thinking, Homura spoke up.

"The journal did mention where she came from, or at least the direction, did it not?" Homura observed blandly.

Ryoko blinked, then reached into her backpack and pulled out a copy of the notes she'd transcribed. She leafed through until she got to the section where Dr. Ogai had first described encountering Saya.

"Yes, he described her as coming out of a neighboring property. She was described as being in great distress and was likely running from something. Based on these descriptions . . ." she tapped the page and seemed to be doing some mental calculations.

" . . . yes, I do believe I could find a way to the property it describes. That would be the best place to start looking for some clue of either where she's gone or where she came from."

She looked up, seeming to do some mental calculations in her head.

"I believe, if we leave within an hour, we can be out there and back before it gets too late."

"I believe Sayaka and Madoka informed their parents that they might be staying overnight at my or Homura's apartments" Mami said telepathically, apparently not wanted Fuminori to know about the two at the moment.

Homura's brows had contracted, "it would be wiser for them to stay back."

Ryoko nodded, "perhaps, but that is something that would have to be taken up with them. I doubt they'll wish to be." A soft smile came onto her face, "I certainly didn't when I was their age and not a Magical Girl."

Homura took a deep breath, closing her eyes. They got the impression that she was rather annoyed that this wasn't going to be a simple 'in and out' job and that once again it had spun off into another thing that they needed to do. However, she didn't protest, and they also figured that, with how they'd accepted that Saya was something that needed to be dealt with, that she was simply going to bear with it, no matter how annoying things got.

Fuminori was looking between them, seemingly confused by the sudden bout of silence and looks between them. He cleared his throat.

"Um, I don't know if it helps, but she also talked about a Dr. Ogai. She called him 'dad,' so maybe-"

"I have already researched him" Ryoko said curtly. "How do you think I found out about Saya?"

Fuminori blinked, "oh . . . then-"

"He's dead," Ryoko said shortly, "and if we want to avoid more people suffering the same fate, or worse, I suggest we start moving out."

She looked around at the room, then back at Fuminori.

"Do you have a vehicle?"

Fuminori seemed to vaguely flinch, "ummmm, no. Ever since I got into a c- . . . c-car crash and lo- . . . I haven't bothered with driving since then and my car was totaled anyway."

Ryoko nodded, "well, I do have a car myself, American made so it's a bit bigger than a normal vehicle. If we squeeze, we should be able to fit all of us in, although you-" she pointed emphatically at Fuminori with such an intense expression that he shrunk back a bit, "-will be sitting up front and will have your arms restrained so I can keep an eye on you."

Fuminori looked unhappy with this arrangement, "I'm not a criminal, and I'm not insane!"

Ryoko was not convinced (nor was anyone else for that matter).

"We've nominally agreed to you coming Sakiska-san. But I haven't forgotten the fact that you let an eldritch monster live in with you for some time, plus that you are literally less than a day out of a mental disorder that scarred you horribly. I think I am not the only one who is still rather suspicious of you."

Fuminori opened his mouth and looked to be about to argue again before Homura drew his attention onto her.

"You will either agree to restraint or we will leave you here" Homura said bluntly her eyes boring into the older man, who swallowed. After a moment, and after seeing that nobody else was leaping to his defense, he sighed and nodded.

Mami nodded in response before turning to the others.
"I think we should discuss things outside. We will be back soon with the car Sakiska-san."

They caught the undertone of her statement, 'discuss it outside, with the others.'

They all exited the building, with Fuminori calling a warning over their shoulders that if they had thoughts about leaving him behind on the sly, that he would just follow them . . . somehow. After they closed the door to his house (Mami remembering to let him go from the ribbons he'd been caught in), they stowed their weapons away and transformed back into normal clothes. Homura then twisted her buckler and the time-stop ended (a few of them wondered if Fuminori, still inside the house, had started at the sudden restart of colors and sound).

"Nagisa, Madoka, Sayaka" Key called out, "are you alright/'i

Madoka's voice answered, "we're fine, nothing happened-"

Sayaka's voice cut in, "-but what happened to you guys, did you beat the monster already?!"

"No Sayaka" Key said. He then proceeded to explain what had happened.

"Huh, so we get a field trip too," Sayaka said after the explanation was over with.

They had joined groups as they walked with them taking the quickest path back to Ryoko's apartment garage in order to get her car. Homura cleared her throat at Sayaka's word, as though she was about to give another argument that the two normal girls and Nagisa should stay behind, but Sayaka spoke before her.

"And don't start talking about how we need to stay safe. I'm not sticking out of this."

Nagisa nodded, "I'm going to help Mami-San."

Madoka nodded as well, though a bit slower than the others, "I . . . I'll just be worried to death for you if I don't come along. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Homura shifted, perhaps a bit uncomfortably while Mami sighed.

"Are you three absolutely-"

All three gave an affirmative response before she had even finished the question. There was silence for a bit as they walked. After a bit however, Sayaka turned to Homura.

"Say traaaaa-" she cut herself off at a sharp look from Madoka before restarting her sentence.

"Ahem . . . Homura, can't you just stop time right now so that we can get the jump on that Saya thing? I mean it might take us a bit inside that time-stop thing, but it would help us find her?"

Homura seemed to consider Sayaka for a bit before responding.

"I would rather not pollute my soul gem too much, even with a free refill. Maintaining a time-stop can be stressful for long periods, especially with other people involved" it sounded logical, but Sayaka couldn't help a slight sneaking suspicion that that wasn't the main reason Homura wasn't using her time-stop. Or maybe it was just the strange feeling she'd got that Homura was always up to something (probably a consequence of the strange dreams she'd had.)

"I mean, I just thought that since Key could give a free refill to your Soul Gem that it'd be less of a problem. Key?"

Key hadn't responded. He was staring off into space even as he walked and didn't notice Sayaka until she prodded him with her foot. He started a bit before looking up at her.

"You okay Key, you've been awfully quiet?"

Mami and the others looked at him as well, seeming to realize that, yes, Key had been rather quiet that day.

"I'm fine" Key said softly, "just . . . thinking."

"What about?" Mami asked.

Key's eyes seemed to flick to Homura for an instant, then around them in general before he sighed.

"Well, I was just thinking that . . . well, maybe after we finish with all this I could-"

"We're here" Ryoko's voice came back to them and the looked. Ryoko was opening up a garage door to an apartment complex and motioning them in.

"Nevermind, I'll tell you later" Key said quickly as he padded inside.


A block away from Fuminori's house, Oriko and her group (sans Komaki) were sitting on a roof in varying states of boredom. The group they had been 'watching' (Ke'y group, naturally) had shifted like they did when Akemi used her time-stop ability. In total, that made the stakeout one of the shortest ones they'd ever experienced as they didn't even witness the group enter the worn down house. Still, Oriko had waited, pulling out some schoolwork to do in the meantime, though she still made periodic glances to give the impression that she was on the lookout for Homura's group in case they came back. She had to get instructions from Homura before she moved the "spying" group. Kyoko had seemed rather underwhelmed with the whole thing and had taken to swinging her spear around in practice forms (much to Yuma's delight). After a bit of this, Kirika had challenged Kyoko to a spar. Kyoko had accepted because, in her words "rich girl's gonna be a while. Too much of a goody-good to get anything less than an S+ rank on her homework."

Oriko hadn't gotten the joke, but Kirika had. Apparently it had something to do with video games. Anyway, she'd been in the middle of a math problem she was sure was causing much pulled hair for her classmates when Homura's voice came into her mind.

"Are you secure?"

"Yes," she said back.

"Good. The creature was not there and we are pursuing another lead in the countryside." Homura gave a brief description of their destination, probably to save time on explanation later in case she needed to call Oriko in quickly. "You are to wait here for an hour before I call you with more instructions. Are we clear?"

"We are," Oriko said in response.

"Do not move from that spot Mikuni-San. I will be in touch," Homura's voice warned before it cut off. Oriko resisted the urge to sigh as she jotted down the answer to the problem on her sheet.

"So . . . we just gonna let them do . . . whatever it is they're doing?" Kyoko asked as she leaned on her spear. She and Kirika appeared to be between matches.

Oriko considered the words before deciding to give an answer with partial truth.

"I suspect I know where they are going. I intend to wait for a little while before I follow, just to make sure they don't come back here."

Kyoko rolled her eyes, then got into a fighting stance again and went after Kirika, who responded in kind with a grin. Oriko finished off her math problems and then pulled out her English homework as she began counting down the minutes.


They had arrived back at Fuminori's house and all gotten out. Finding a parking spot, especially for such a comparatively large car had been a pain, with them being forced to park several blocks away. Despite this though, they had collected Fuminori and were about to walk back out his front door when-

"Wait!"

They all froze. A voice had rung out in their minds. It hadn't been Key, nor any others of the group. Key's eyes were wide, and Nagisa and Mami were staring at each other. That voice had been familiar.

A soft golden light suffused with blue tints suddenly flared a few feet from the group and it took the rough form of a Human. And still, he was Eldritch, not normal looking. It wasn't painful, nothing about the being seemed to be trying to harm them even indirectly. But still, just as before, there was no doubt that this was a higher being of some sort.

"Marethil-San!" Nagisa said excitedly. She ran forward before anyone could stop her and bowed formally to the being.

Marethil seemed to smile slightly and bowed back. Then he stooped to Nagisa's level.

"It's . . . good to see you again Nagisa. I hope you've been doing well."

Nagisa nodded, her face a bit reserved, "I miss mommy but . . . I've made lots of new friends." She gestured back at the group.

Marethil nodded as he looked back at the others. He stood and bowed respectfully to them as well.

Key found his voice, "you . . . are you?"

Marethil nodded, "yes, I am the same person as the one who met you when you first came alive, and I am the same person who met Mami and Nagisa inside a Soul Gem."

"You look . . . different."

Marethil smiled, "yes I . . . well, I didn't want to alarm you when we first spoke so . . . I decided something a bit more innocuous might be called for. There were more important things to do then."

Mami felt some curiosity at this news, "then why did you look so different when you appeared in my Soul Gem?"

Marethil once again displayed the ability to give expression (in this case, a sardonic one) in spite of his eldritch appearance.
"Which would feel more out of place inside a Soul Gem, a strange eldritch creature, or a regular human? It was a way for me to start easing you all into how I might look, just in case we met again, which we are as you can well see."

There was a sudden movement and everyone turned to see that Ryoko and Homura had drawn weapons. Ryoko had her shotgun out, though it was not pointed at Marethil yet, but Homura had a pistol at the ready.

Marethil held up his hands, seeming to indicate that he wasn't there to fight as Sayaka and Mami voiced protests to Ryoko and Homura's actions. Off on the side, Fuminori just looked confused

"I don't mean any harm," Marethil said softly.

"I'll be the judge of that," Ryoko said sharply. "May I assume that you've encountered this being before?" She directed this question to the rest of the group, who recalled that Ryoko hadn't been informed of Marethil, as he hadn't seemed to pertain to their business with Saya.

They gave a basic explanation and Ryoko nodded. Fuminori simply looked confused as he stared at Marethil.

"So," Ryoko's voice was suspicious, "given that you haven't actively tried to harm any of my colleagues, I am willing to allow an explanation as to why you've interfered in their lives, as well as why you have chosen now of all times to appear before us."

Marethil looked them over, seeming to try and figure out what to say. After a few moments, he seemed to give up some sort of long winded explanation and spoke simply and quietly.

"I'm here to warn you,"

They all glanced back and forth at each other. After a moments silence, Key spoke up.
"What . . . what about this situation warrants you giving us a warning?"

Marethil once again seemed to consider carefully for a moment what to say. Then he suddenly spoke in a hurried voice, as though he wanted to tell them as much as possible in a short amount of time.

"I've seen things like Saya before," Marethil said urgently. "She's a low level creature, but her masters are worse, far worse." Marethil seemed to narrow his eyes, "from what I can gather, she might not be acting under their direction anymore. Normally a creature like her is meant to begin a process of harvesting a local population and turning them into more of itself. Depending on the circumstances it'll either be subtle and slow, or swift and out in the open. Though in the latter cases it just tends to be a mass invasion of creatures like her. At worst, she'll be developed enough to 'bloom,' as in, she releases spores that will spread and start automatically converting anyone or anything that breaths it in into creatures like her. In time, the infected persons will do the same and so on and it will spread until the whole planet is infected if it isn't snuffed out soon."

There was a silence as everyone present had their own internal vision of what this might look like, with those who had seen Saya firsthand perhaps having the worst of it.

"You speak as one familiar with this process," Homura said after a moment, a faint hint of accusation in her voice.

Marethil either did not notice or ignored it, "I am, but not due to me giving it any help. I've battled this infection before. Eons ago, it was, and I suppose "is," a tactic that Saya's masters have used to bolster their forces, turning whole populations into broken slaves."

Ryoko blinked, "so, this is a setup for an invasion. Whoever is behind this wishes to take over Earth."

Marethil shook his head.

"No, I highly doubt they even care much about Earth, if at all. They may not even be aware of it. To them, assuming they're in any way behind this, they probably view it like Kyubey does. A useful source of fuel, but their attention is directly tied to their interests. Unless things have changed, usually the population would be converted as much as possible and then . . ." Marethil grimaced and looked to the side, a very troubled expression on his face, " . . . and then they would be compelled back to whatever dark hole the monsters had originally crawled out of. They're patient and willing to play the long game, infiltrating and building up forces. They'll only move openly if they think they can get away with it."

"For what" Key asked, his eyes wide, "to 'save' the universe like Kyubey? Do they think that they can stop the Heat-Death of the Universe or something?"

"Oh no, they're much worse." He noted their shocked faces and snorted, "yes, I said that they are worse than Kyubey. Kyubey is a monster, amoral and insane, but he is at least attempting to do something that would benefit others in a very broad sense. Plus, he doesn't actively try and make things hard for anyone not involved. He's not . . . 'malicious' I suppose would be the word. The people who made Saya . . . well they made "Saya" as a useful tool for when they rise once more."

"So she is a Monster," Fuminori's head was drooping. He had been staring at Marethil with some great fascination till now. It seemed that, after so long of seeing the world as a meat covered hellscape, and then being cured, that the sight of an eldritch creature that wasn't threatening to drive him insane was a novelty to him. However, as Saya was elaborated on, his expression had fallen and he had looked away as he spoke.

Marethil sighed, "she's twisted and broken. I don't envy her, nor will I downplay what she's capable of or likely to do without outside influence. But still, it's entirely possible that Saya herself is some poor unfortunate taken from somewhere far away and subjected to some of the worst cruelties imaginable."

He eyed the others, "rather like a Magical Girl becoming a Witch. Imagine that sort of horror and you'll gain some appreciation for Saya. Your sense of self stripped away, to know nothing but darkness and horror and an overriding will compelling you to inflict the same upon others. No memory or knowledge left of what the outside might be like."

Marethil once again looked the side with a hard look on his face. Like before, he had spoken as one who had seen such things firsthand. Mami, out of the corner of her eye, saw Nagisa shiver and looked down at her. The girl was staring at Marethil intently with a slightly disturbed look on her face as he made the comparison to Saya and Witches. Then Marethil shook himself and continued speaking.

"From what I can gather, she has managed a bit of recovery based on how she interacted with Sakiska-San, but be wary. She likely still has trouble understanding basic morality common to most sane and sapient creatures."

Everyone contemplated what Marethil had said. But after a long moment, Homura spoke up, her voice curt.
"Most of this is irrelevant" she said bluntly, "whatever Saya is or where she came from is immaterial. If she is such a threat as you say, then I fail to see how learning her history will matter to what we must do."

She either missed, or ignored the narrow-eyed look Fuminori threw in her direction.

Marethil shook his head, "it matters in case the situation changes, or is not as you think. But I suppose I have not warned you beyond anything you knew, or at least could suspect on your own. So here it is."

He took a deep breath.

"I'll be honest, due to my somewhat limited view of things, I can only give some speculation on the situation. I'm sure your aware of the tears in reality that have been opening up occasionally."

Nagisa nodded, and sniffed a little bit. "Yeah. Key and me made a new friend with one of those things. Then Kyubey closed it!"

Marethil looked sympathetic, "I'm sorry to hear that Nagisa. I hope you see them again someday."

Ryoko had opened up her mouth and Fuminori looked puzzled, but Marethil held up a hand, "ask the rest about them after I'm done talking. Suffice to say, I'm fairly certain that one of these tears somehow opened up from the pocket dimension that Saya's masters like to sleep in in between their activities. I'm not sure how stable it would be or even if it would be still there. But if it is stable, or even just able to stay open for brief periods of time, then that's bad because other creatures worse than Saya might use it as a gateway."

Dr. Tanbo had pulled a notepad from somewhere and was writing things down. She didn't look enthused at what was being said, but wrote regardless.

"On the other hand," Marethil continued, the fact that you aren't being swamped by meat monster intent on converting the human race, plus Saya's amount of autonomy without punishment, may mean that either the portal closed quickly behind her, or that the portal opened up in an area in the sub-dimension that not a lot of the 'higher ups' go to. Sort of the 'slums' area of it, which might explain why a low-level creature like Saya found it and made it out. So on these theories, nothing else may have gotten through yet, though her fear puts some doubt on that."

His gaze became more intense somehow as he stared at them, "I'd advise if you encounter anything of a . . . 'eldritch' nature, to treat it with extreme caution. You are perhaps the most qualified people on Earth at the moment, what with you being Magical Girls, of a sort, and a Rogue Incubator. But make no mistake, these are creatures that will want to cause madness and insanity. Stay together if possible, be clever and do not, I repeat do not stop trying. The more powerful ones love to play games and break your will to fight. You have the power to fight back, which is more than most who wind in their crosshairs can say."

There was a slightly cold feeling in everyone's guts as Marethil talked. Ryoko intently scribbled notes down while the others stared with varying expressions. Fuminori, Mami, Nagisa, and Madoka simply looked uneasy. Key simply looked a bit worried, but Sayaka and Homura had slightly more suspicious looks on their faces.

"Why don't you go and do something about it if your so worried?" Sayaka asked shrewdly.

Marethil looked to the side. He scuffed one of his feet on the ground before responding.

"I . . . my options are very limited for help at the moment and I know that it probably seems like I'm simply leaving you to do all the difficult things . . . but-" he broke off, looking rather uncomfortable.

There was a moment's silence.

"Why can't you do more?" Madoka asked. Her voice wasn't accusatory, just curious and laced with some concern as she looked at the strange being in front of her. Marethil looked back at her, and Madoka got the strangest feeling that he was looking at her with an something of a knowing expression.

Homura apparently noticed this too, for she spoke up, apparently trying to pull Marethil's attention off of Madoka.

"Do you have anything useful for us?" she asked pointedly. "You have given information, yes, but no strengths and weaknesses nor what types of creatures we might face if what you say is true."

Marethil shrugged, "I as said to Mami the last time we spoke, there are things that I might not be able to tell you. Not because I distrust you or anything, but because of how complicated the situation is." He looked to the side for a moment, then back at them, "But in this case, there would be too much to talk about. However, as far as Saya goes, she is vulnerable to attacks that cut off her ability to regenerate. Acid, fire, or simply cutting her into pieces is advised if you need to do something like that. Though I would advise you to burn the pieces afterwards."

Fuminori looked slightly sick and angry at this direction the conversation had taken. Noticing this, Marethil stopped talking.

"Anything else?" Homura said in a businesslike manner. It seemed that if she was being forced to come along on the trip to destroy Saya, then she was going to get as much info as possible to make it as quick as possible.

Soundtrack: Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST – Fateful #3 [Pitched + 1]

Set to Loop

Marethil seemed to swallow and his posture went nervous. He seemed to be debating on whether or not to say something.

He was silent for a long while until Madoka spoke, sounding a bit concerned, "what's wrong?"

"It's just that . . well . . . there is something else I . . . I could do" Marethil sounded extremely reluctant.

"What is it? Key asked, sounding curious, "I'm sure any help would be welcome."

"I'm . . . not sure I should bring it up" Marethil said, sounding a bit nervous.

Sayaka rolled her eyes, "well now that you've talked about it, there really isn't much point to leaving us in the dark, now is there?"

Ryoko nodded in agreement, "if there is something you can do to render assistance, I would like to hear of it."

After a few moments, Marethil opened his mouth.

"I . . . I could form a bond with you" Marethil's voice was extremely hesitant.

There was another silence, longer than before. Everyone stared at the being.

"Explain" Homura said sharply. Marethil flinched and wrung his hands.

"I, can form bonds with people and give them part of my power. It allows me a more active link to help people and allow them to help others."

"So . . . a contract in other words" Ryoko said her eyes sharp and penetrating.

Marethil wave his arms in denial.

"Not like that! I mean, not exactly. I won't leave anything out that could hurt you! I didn't want to mention this specifically because I knew you'd think of Kyubey. But my . . . bonds, aren't like that."

Another short silence before Mami spoke, her voice carrying a tremulous undercurrent, "I . . . did you bond with me when we talked before?"

Marethil shook his head, "no no, that was just us talking. The only thing I did was make it so you and Nagisa could speak face to face."

"But you want us to make a contract with you right now," Mami's voice was a bit more uneasy as she spoke. Nagisa took her hand and squeezed it. Mami squeezed it back and felt a bit better.

Marethil sighed with a pained look, "I knew you would jump to thinking about Kyubey if I mentioned this."

He muttered something that they only caught part of. It sounded something like ". . . makes sense . . ."

Then he cleared his throat and continued to speak, "I didn't want to talk about it, but you asked if I could do anything else, and this is it, at least most directly. But it's dangerous and might make you more of a target if Kyubey finds out about it."

"Why don't you come and fight yourself?" Key asked, repeating the question Sayaka had posed before. He was looking at Marethil with confused eyes, not seeming to know what to think of him.

Marethil avoided their eyes seeming to find the pavement much more interesting. Finally, after scuffing his foot against the ground again, his shoulders slumped and he spoke.

"I . . . can't."

Everyone contemplated this answer.

"Can't as in won't?" Ryoko questioned, "or can't as in-"

"Can't as in, it has literally not been within my power to do anything physically meaningful for a long time."

The words were bitter and sad and Marethil stared steadily at the ground as he spoke.
"My ability to affect the outside world is limited, and it's a minor miracle that I can talk to any of you at all. All this is only enabled through Key really and the most I could do was some limited movement of an object when I cleaned him off with a hose. But unless I'm given more space to work with through a bond of some sort, then the only meaningful help I can give is advice."

"Why through me?" Key asked confusedly.

"You're a . . . 'transceiver' of sorts" Marethil said hesitantly. "Because of some unique circumstances I'm not willing to go into at the moment, you allow me to talk to people in your general area."

Silence once again fell between them as they all glanced at each other. While it was true that Marethil didn't seem particularly threatening or malevolent . . . that was how Kyubey had seemed at first as well.

"Why won't you tell us the circumstances?" Mami asked, looking confused, "and what did you mean when you said "physically meaningful?"

Marethil pursed his lips, "in answer to the second question. There are some . . . workarounds and some things I could do. But those would be desperation moves and would potentially invite even worse circumstances than what we're already facing."

"And yet you won't tell us in full the circumstances we seem to be currently facing" Homura's voice was cutting. The others, while they might not have used the tone Homura was, couldn't help but agree that it was a bit frustrating to be apparently kept in the dark.

Marethil seemed to be trying to gather himself to answer that line of thought.

"I can't do that because . . . because the more I tell you is more information that could be picked up by Kyubey, and by others too. I am in a difficult position and am trying to juggle several things while helping you. Even just talking to you at all is a risk, far more than you might realize."

"Then why interfere at all?" Homura's question, her voice sharp. It seemed as though she wasn't too happy with Marethil's refusal to give all the facts and information he allegedly knew."

Marethil looked down at the pavement again for a long moment, his eyes almost seeming cast in shadow, in spite of how his body glowed.

"Because I saw people who were so much more important than they thought. I saw people who might tear each other apart before learning how much they needed each other."

He looked up, and they could see something of a self-deprecating smile on his face, "I saw . . . I saw people who needed my help." He glanced at Homura in particular, "who've needed help for a long time. And I've never been very good about refusing to help people."

They stared at each other neither side making a sound.

The silence was broken by Homura, whose eyes had narrowed.

"I've had others give me honeyed words and sell me a bond to fight monsters," Homura was staring at Marethil intensely, "and they never lied, but they omitted. I see no reason to believe that you are not doing the same."

Her stare was sharp and would've caused almost anyone to back away instinctively. But Marethil looked at her with a sad and almost . . . pitying expression.

"If that is your decision, then-" Marethil's voice was quiet and understanding, "-I understand and accept."

He sighed, then looked up at them, "well, in that case if you are going to go through with this-, are you going to go through with following Saya?"

There was some scattered murmuring as no one seemed to want to commit to anything before Ryoko nodded, "yes, we are committed to tying off this loose end."

Marethil nodded, "well, you'd best get to it. Just bear in mind what I said. I sincerely hope that you don't encounter any of what I've warned you against."

There was a brief feeling of shock as their conversation seemed to come to a sudden end. They all glanced at each other. After an awkward bit of silence, Ryoko cleared her throat.

"W-well . . . if that's all then we should get going then. I'll go start pulling the car around."

She turned and began walking towards her car. Fuminori followed after her, still looking a combination of intrigued and confused by all that had happened. Sayaka moved to follow them as well. The next moment, Mami took Nagisa's hand and made to lead her away. Nagisa followed, but not before waving her hand to Marethil, who waved back with a small smile.

Homura had expected Madoka to move, but she stared at Marethil with an expression halfway between caution and pity.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" she asked quietly.

Marethil looked at her and there was a soft smile on his face.

"I wondered if you would ask me something like that. I suppose I shouldn't have. I mean, for all you know I could be lying to you or have some sort of ulterior motive, and you still try and see the good in me. Heh, typical Madoka."

Homura, unseen to Madoka, seemed to clench up.

Madoka blushed a bit and looked a little confused, but forged onwards.

"You talked like you were imprisoned, maybe we could help you or-"

Marethil held up a hand.

"Don't worry about it Madoka. I've been this way for a long time. Just focus on the matter at hand."

He seemed to contemplate something before speaking again.

"And keep supporting your friends and keep those ears open. Trust me, they need you. Don't make a wish or do anything like that without all the facts."

Madoka looked a bit surprised.

"But, what if I made a wish to free-"

Marethil once again held up a hand, "stop with that line of thought Madoka. I don't want you to use your wish to free me. Keep it back unless you all absolutely" his voice turned intense for a moment, "and I do mean absolutely, need it."

Madoka looked like she wanted to ask more questions but Sayaka poked her head around the door.
"Hey! Both you come on, we need to get going!"

Marethil made a gesture for them to get going and Madoka reluctantly obeyed. Homura did as well, though she walked behind Sayaka and Madoka. Her mind was whirling.

Homura waited until a truck passed by to twist her buckler. Time froze and she promptly turned and walked back. Marethil was still there in the house, though oddly the strange glow of his body did not seem to have dimmed by the greyscale tone of the time-stop. Ignoring this, Homura stared at it. She had suspected that it knew about her turning back time and the way it looked at her and talked about 'needing help for a long time' had only made her more suspicious. She was sorely tempted to simply shoot it now and be done with it. She looked down at her pistol and then at Marethil's head, or at least the part of him that looked like a head. It was a liability, and Homura hated liabilities. Too many times had loops that had seemed to be going perfectly fine been crashed and burned because of an unaccounted for element. Granted this loop seemed to be going for broke as far as strange elements were concerned, but still.

Homura shook herself, her face clenching. She already had enough problems to do with keeping Oriko and Kirika under wraps. Key also required her to be on her guard, he was still an Incubator after all. And the others needed constant direction, she knew better than to trust that any sort of competence or friendship on their part would last. They were always fickle things. Aside from Madoka of course. Still, did that justify trying to eliminate this being out of the equation? She once more hefted her pistol, wondering if it could do damage to the being in front of-

"You really do rely on that trick too much" Marethil's voice caused Homura to suck in her breath and freeze, her eyes going wide.

Marethil hadn't moved up until that point. But then he did. He turned and looked at her, as easily as though he weren't supposed to be trapped like everything else inside the time-stop.

"I wouldn't shoot," Marethil said calmly. "I assume you're still trying to keep up appearances with the others, and they might not react well to you out of nowhere trying to blow my head off, as futile as that might be."

"How would they even know?" Homura asked, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice.

Marethil shrugged, "we're a fair distance from them, but they still might hear the shot. Besides, this is just an avatar, or a projection if you will. Even if you could harm it, it wouldn't amount to hurting me very much."

Homura stared in bewilderment at the Eldritch creature that had so casually thwarted her trump card. Marethil for his part, sighed and made a dismissive motion.

"I'm not your enemy Homura. For that matter, neither are the others. No matter how inconvenient they may seem to you."

Homura blinked, then narrowed her eyes.

"How much . . ." she started to ask but couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

Marethil looked her square in the face.

"Do you really want to know how much I know Homura?"

Homura's throat was a bit dry, but she managed to nod.

Marethil made a sound like breath being blown out through a person's nose.
"I do know about your time-loop Homura. Why do you think I recommended Key go help you?"

"How?" the question slipped out before Homura could stop it."

"Let's just say that I'm very in tune with the universe, and am sensitive to things acting weirdly, time included. You haven't seen me before because circumstances didn't allow contact before."

Homura managed to get some control back into her face before asking another question, "and now? Why is now different?"

Marethil seemed to study her intently.

"If only I could tell you. Well, I suppose I could, but that would likely push things too far. Let me ask you something though Homura. Have you been having dreams? Dreams with strange dark figures that tried to convince you of something or to do something?"

Something icy seemed to drop into Homura's stomach as she stared.

Marethil seemed to know that her stiffening up meant he was correct and nodded, "I thought so, and it confirms that I can't tell you more right now."

He closed his eyes and looked up in a pained expression. Neither one spoke for a few moments before Marethil opened his mouth.

"Would you . . . like to talk about things?"

Homura's brows contracted, "what?"

Marethil shrugged, "would you like to talk? I'm aware you haven't been able to talk for awhile now without holding things back. So if you would like to talk about something, anything? Unload something off your chest or something like that, I'm all ears."

He gestured around at the time-stopped room, "we have more than enough time, so if you wanted to talk, go ahead. I'll answer as I can and give some advice."

Homura blinked, a bit confused. And yet a part of her wanted to say something, to talk about how difficult her life had gotten, to just . . . no, she couldn't trust him. This thing said a lot, but she knew better than to trust people, especially people offering her help with no strings attached.

A small part of her did note that Marethil had been up front where he could and cleanly admitted to keeping secrets, but she roughly shoved those thoughts down. Her life had been a case study in how badly people, even seemingly nice people, could and would let you down and turn on you, so she wasn't going to make the same mistakes she'd made in her earlier loops.

"I have nothing to say to you."

Marethil looked very crestfallen at that answer.

"A-are you sure?" he stuttered on the first word and almost looked a bit desperate.

"Really Homura, if you would just like to . . . to confide in someone for a change, I-"

"No" Homura said flatly.

Marethil stopped himself talking, though he looked like he wanted to go on. He gave a sigh.

"Well, then you should go join your friends Homura."

He looked to the side for a moment before turning back to her.

"If you're having trouble trusting me, do note that I kept your secrets when I could've told the others. Though if you want my recommendation, you should tell them."

"I did tell them-" the words were out of Homura's mouth before she could stop them. She felt a burning feeling in her gut as she stared at the high-and-mighty being in front her. What gave him the right to tell her what to do?! To interfere in her time loop?!

"-and it lead to disaster."

Marethil shook his head, "is this loop the same as that one? Are the same factors in play that broke your group?"

Homura didn't answer, the burning in her stomach was still there. She turned and began to walk away. Marethil let her almost get to the door before he called after her.

"Oh, and Homura," Marethil seemed to catch himself as he gave her a very odd look.

"Just . . . try and do better this time . . ." he looked oddly pained. "I really hate seeing you like . . . well, just please try and think things through a bit before you do something you might regret."

And with that, he vanished. Homura stared at the spot he'd been. Several feelings at a time roiled in her gut and she felt her lips thin. Then she shook her head, and marched out the door.


Oriko did more homework . . . and more . . . and more until she realized that she'd run out of homework to do. This in itself wasn't especially odd, she was a good student after all and usually got everything done rather quickly. However, when she looked at the time, she realized with a thrill of shock that more an hour had passed by. In fact it was an hour and ten minutes later from when Homura had last contacted her.

Homura was late.

Oriko stared ahead blankly. Homura had never been late in anything before. She had always been ironclad in her punctuality and in her statements. That she had missed her own deadline . . .

"Homura?" Oriko tried cautiously.

No answer.

Oriko tried again and received no response. A flash of something went through her gut. She couldn't quite tell if it was fear or elation.

Was it a trick? A test of loyalty? But if it wasn't . . . she didn't know how to feel. Relieved that the danger she and Kirika were in might be over? Afraid because of whatever might've managed to get rid of Homura, as strong as she was?

"Oh, there you are" a familiar voice came.

Kyubey had appeared on the roof. None of them had seen where he came from and Kyoko blanched slightly. She moved in front of Yuma, as though she could block the smaller girl from sight.

"Hello Kyubey" Oriko said cautiously. "What brings you here?"

"A very disturbing matter" Kyubey said calmly. "Kyoko, have you informed Oriko of Mami Tomoe and her group?"

They glanced at each other, not sure what to say. Was he truly unaware of how they had been tailing the others, or was he playing a role?

"Yeah, I mentioned them to her," Kyoko took the lead, "what about it?"

"I come to you because something has happened that hasn't happened in a long time."

Kyubey seemed to pause, as though for dramatic effect. But only for a moment.

"I've lost contact with Mami's group entirely" Kyubey said simply.

Everyone stared at him.

"Sooooo," Kirika drew out the word before she continued, "what does that mean? Are they dead?"

Kyoko flinched, just a tiny bit.

Kyubey shook his head. "No, at least they were still alive last time I was aware of them. This though-"

He turned and seemed to be gazing out towards the country, as though he was trying to look through a curtain.

"It's as though something is actively blocking me out."

He continued to stare as Oriko realized with something that was half panic, half excitement that now, for the first time in a long time, she needed to make a choice that was truly her own.

She hoped she chose well.


Author's Note: Like I said in the last chapter, I acknowledge that I may be moving the characters from point A to point B a bit too forcefully. If it seems that way, I once again apologize.

As always, Marethil is a tricky character to use. I hope I managed to keep him engaging and continue to pique your interest about him.

Also, for those of you worried about the size of the Cast, don't worry, I don't intend for Fuminori to be a permanent fixture, nor possibly even Ryoko. Their 'arcs' in the story are (relatively speaking) close to being over as far as I have planned.

But hope I left you wanting more with that mild cliffhanger. Let's see what's next! I've been waiting a LONG time to get to what's coming in the next chapter.