A/N: Totally making up where Mitakihara is located for plot convenience, but referring to canon maps for where Karakura and Naruki are.

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DREI

TIMELINE X + N

For once, Homura passively allowed herself to be led. Yuzu sniffled and hooked her arm in Homura's to guide her along behind Karin as they left the train station. Homura was too tired to pay much attention to landmarks or where they were going; somehow, they ended up at a park bench under a street lamp near some vending machines. Yuzu sat on the bench with Homura and fussed over her while Karin fetched drinks for them. When Homura had calmed enough to hold her drink, the three sat in silence and watched the fluttering shadows of moths as they drank.

At length, Karin stood up and focused on Homura, face hard and angry, eyes betraying her more tender emotions as she brandished a fist. "Do you need any backup to nail that Witch?"

Homura looked up in surprise. Both girls were staring at her with fire in their eyes, angry on her behalf as though the death of any magical girl was a grave offense even if they had not known the deceased. It was heartwarming and disgustingly naïve at the same time.

Homura sat straighter and absently brushed the tears from her cheeks, regaining her composure. When she felt she could speak in an even voice, she coolly replied, "That will not be necessary."

Both girls frowned hard.

"Hey," Karin snapped, "if it got your friends when they were working together, how do you think you're going to handle it by yourself?"

Yuzu looked like she wanted to scold Karin but couldn't really disagree with her. She fisted her hands in her uniform skirt. Worried, she implored Homura, "Please let us help you. It must be a dangerous Witch if it defeated your friends. If we work together, we can make sure it doesn't k-kill any more magical girls who try to fight it."

Homura tossed her hair over her shoulder and smoothed her skirt. "No, really, that will not be necessary." As the girls began to object again, she curled her free hand into a fist then opened it to reveal the Mermaid Witch's Grief Seed. The two girls snapped their mouths shut.

"You got it?" whispered Karin.

"No," Homura said dully. "When I got there, my... my best friend was dead, and... my other... friend hit the Witch with a suicide attack. The labyrinth was gone before I could do anything." Instead of looking at the girls, she stared at the Grief Seed. The silver musical staff against its onyx center had a simple elegance. Homura vaguely noted that she had never heard the music made by the boy Sayaka had traded her soul for. She wondered if hearing him play would make her want to break his hands. He complicated the timelines so much sometimes.

The gravitas of the moment was interrupted by the most annoying ringtone Homura had ever heard. She looked up as Karin rummaged about and pulled out her phone. "Ah, we're late, Goat-Face is probably looking for us." She fiddled with the device and read the text message. Her eye twitched in irritation. "God, why so many emojis? And... fifteen question marks? Ugh." She lowered her voice and muttered to herself, "Achievement unlocked. I need to find a more annoying ringtone to match." The device trilled again. Karin bared her teeth. "Oh my God, yes, I'm replying, shut up!" Her fingers danced over the touch screen as she growled.

Homura stared at Karin strangely. "Goat... Face...?"

Yuzu laughed awkwardly. "That's what Karin calls our dad. He's... kind of eccentric."

"Pshh. Understatement of the century," grumbled Karin.

Homura raised her eyebrows. "You are sisters?"

Yuzu grinned. "Yep! Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki, Twin Champions of Love and Justice!" She struck a pose, holding a V-for-victory sign over an adorable wink.

Karin rolled her eyes powerfully. "We aren't characters on Sailor Moon, Yuzu."

Yuzu pouted. "But you're the Mars to my Venus! We even have the right colors!" She glanced aside and mumbled, "Close enough."

Karin scoffed. "If I was Sailor Mars I'd go all Medieval and burn the Witches with a snap so I could have more time for important things. Like playing video games and siccing my magic space-crows on Goat-Face."

Yuzu's pout turned childishly grumpy. "You're no fun, Karin."

"Whatever." Karin smirked slightly as she slid her phone back into her pocket. "We'd better get going before Goat-Face comes looking for us in ridiculous pajamas or something."

The playful banter was a bit distant for Homura. All she could think was how cruel the Incubator was to rob a family of not one daughter, but two. As if she needed any more reasons to hate that monster.

Yuzu sighed affectionately and stood up. She bit her lip and turned to Homura. "Do you have someplace to stay— uhhh—" Her eyes went wide and she held a hand in front of her face and gasped. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't ask your name!"

Still half wondering which tragic fate would befall the twins and what manner of hole they would leave in their family, Homura distractedly answered, "Homura Akemi."

Yuzu smiled and bowed cheerfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Homura!" Her face dimmed. "I wish it was under better circumstances."

Karin inclined her chin. "Likewise."

Homura sighed softly. "It can not be helped," she said as she stood and straightened her uniform.

"So, do you?" Yuzu anxiously fidgeted with the cuff of her sleeve. "Have somewhere to stay tonight, I mean?"

"No. Where am I?"

"You're in Karakura. Little place west of Tokyo. We were at Old Karakura Train Station, not far from Naruki City." Karin scratched her head. "Where are you from, O Rider of Rails?"

Homura frowned. She really was quite far from home. That had been the slap-dash plan, though, she supposed. Really should have thought it through more. She huffed in frustration and absently answered, "Mitakihara," as she considered her options. She had lived in Tokyo once upon a time. Maybe she could double back and find something to do.

The twins' eyes went round. "That really nice city with all the pretty buildings?!" gushed Yuzu.

"The fancy city way up by Sendai?!" Karin screeched.

Homura glanced at Karin. "Closer to Soma, really."

"Because that's so much closer." Karin pressed a palm to her face. "There won't be any more trains up that way until morning."

Homura pursed her lips. "I will be fine. I did not intend to return immediately anyway."

Yuzu was the picture of innocent concern as she asked, "Homura, won't your parents be worried?"

Violet eyes glanced away from the twins. "I live by myself. No one will miss me."

"But your friends—!"

"My friends are dead."

"Your other friends—"

"I have no other friends."

There was a long silence, finally broken by a sniffle. Homura glanced back at the twins and found Yuzu tearing up again and Karin looking... defiant?

Yuzu scrubbed an arm across her eyes, swept forward, grabbed Homura's hands in her own, and stared her down with a determined face. "You have us."

Homura blinked in surprise. "What?"

"She said you have us." Karin put her hands on her hips and glared at Homura. "We may have only met tonight, but we're in this together."

Homura stared at them in bafflement. "But—"

Karin nonchalantly waved off Homura's objections. "You're a fellow magical girl. And you're not attacking us, plus you seem to have been close enough to a team of magical girls to care about them dying. You're not one of those cold magical girls. You're one of us, and we take care of our own."

Guilt flooded Homura. She hadn't been part of a team. Not in this timeline. She had been cold to everyone. Distant and not particularly helpful. Homura shook her head slowly in disbelief. "You do not know that. What kind of person I am. You do not know me—"

Yuzu squeezed Homura's hands again and looked her in the eye. "You care enough about other magical girls to cry for them. You were polite about coming into our territory. You didn't attack us while our backs were to you. You could have stayed in Mitakihara and taken control of the territory your friends held, but you didn't. You could have killed us before we even knew you were there, but you didn't. That's enough for us."

Homura just stared.

Yuzu released Homura's hands, stepped back, and struck a thoughtful pose. Then she nodded decisively. "You're coming home with us tonight," she declared.

"What?"

Karin snorted. "As if we'd let you sleep under a bridge after the day you've had."

"I couldn't— You're kind, but really—"

Yuzu's cheerful face went serious again. "Homura, there's a tricky Witch on the loose. It's dangerous to wander around when you're tired and lost."

Karin regarded the new girl from heavy-lidded eyes and darkly added, "Besides, Witches aren't the only danger in Karakura." She bit her lip and looked speculative. "We have Hollows here."

Homura stared at Karin intensely, confused and wary. "What is a Hollow?"

Karin's face shifted. It was an odd expression that Homura didn't like one bit. It said that Karin had half expected her answer but that she wasn't particularly happy with it. Karin sighed and ran a hand through her bangs. "It's late. I'll explain tomorrow." She eyed Homura's disapproving scowl and relented. "The short explanation is they're kinda like Witches that don't hide in labyrinths."

Homura stared. That... would be terrifying. The only Witch that Homura knew didn't bother with a labyrinth was Walpurgisnacht. Questions swarmed her mind. She startled slightly as Karin flicked a finger against her shoulder.

"Tomorrow. Promise. Right now we need to get home before the old man comes looking for us."

Homura frowned and allowed the change of subject. "How are you going to convince your father to let a stranger stay in your house?"

Yuzu smiled conspiratorially and winked. "Let us handle Daddy. He doesn't need to know you're a stranger and he let my brother have a girl stay with us a couple years ago. It shouldn't be too hard," she chirped.

"You won't even need to make up a sob story like Rukia did." Karin pulled her phone out again and pulled up a web browser. "Just tweak the truth a bit. Dad's a goofball so even if he does think to look up the news in Mitakihara you should be good as long as your story is vague enough to not contradict anything he finds." Nimble fingers tapped out mitakihara news in the search bar. A few taps later, Karin's eyebrows jumped up. "It looks like some girl named Madoka Kaname didn't show up for school and has been reported missing? And a friend of hers who was missing was found dead... in a hotel room? Um, Sayaka Miki? And there's another girl who's been missing longer than either of them? Mami Tomoe." She looked up. "Are any of those your friends?"

"All of them." Homura's voice was heavy. "Mami was eaten by a Witch almost three weeks ago. They will not find a body. Sayaka contracted after Mami died. She... did not handle it well."

Karin frowned. "How did her body end up in a hotel?"

Homura closed her eyes. "That was probably Kyōko's doing. She did not want to believe we had lost Sayaka and..." she trailed off with a shrug, emotionally exhausted. "It's complicated."

"Hmmmm? I don't see anything about a Kyōko in the news."

Homura sighed. "You wouldn't. Her family is dead and she did not attend school like Mami. There is no one to report her missing. She died in a labyrinth so no one will find her body, either. Madoka has a family, so she will actually be missed." She couldn't help thinking of a handful of timelines in which she had gone to Madoka's house and met her loving family. Her parents would move heaven and earth to find her and never be successful. "She also died in the labyrinth, so she will never be found." It will be different next time, she told herself.

Yuzu looked horrified. "You... you lost four friends in three weeks?!"

Homura hummed quietly in confirmation.

Yuzu's face crumpled as she teared up again. "That's too cruel. That's— that's—" She stepped forward and hugged Homura again. Homura passively accepted the hug, but didn't return it.

Karin cleared her throat, eyes glassy with unshed tears, face grim. "Well, we'd better get going. We'll work on the cover story on the way and talk more tomorrow. Come on." She turned away and glanced over her shoulder. Yuzu looped her arm through Homura's again and gently guided her forward. Homura followed with hesitant steps.

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A/N: Homura, get used to being railroaded by Kurosakis. It doesn't matter which of the four is with you— any of them can railroad you. Especially the one who seems most innocent.

This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.