A/N: Thanks for your continued support~

Regarding the number of timelines yet to come: I won't be depicting every single one. Hopefully, this chapter and the next will give you an idea of how I plan to gloss over some repetitive stuff to avoid boredom. But there are Plot Reasons for the high number. Not entirely Bad Reasons. Just... Reasons. *shifty eyes*

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SIEBENUNDDREIßIG

TIMELINE X + N + 1

Isshin was up long before the girls. He hadn't exactly slept much, mind whirling as he forcibly restrained his instinct to call Kisuke immediately. Part of him wondered if the scientist actually had noticed something off and just not told him. Kisuke played his cards close to the vest so it was a distinct possibility. He didn't know how he felt about that, so he tried to ignore it. Instead, he raked through his memories of the past year for signs of strangeness in his girls. It frightened him that he couldn't think of anything beyond what he had assumed was maturation of their powers and increased speed of defeating Hollows.

Isshin was haggardly staring into a mug of cold coffee when his son barreled into the house as though expecting a battle. His friends were more subdued as they followed him.

Ichigo met his father's eyes and demanded, "Where are they?"

Isshin blinked slowly. "Up in their room." When his son moved to charge up the stairs, he firmly ordered him to stop. "Sit down. We need to plan how to handle getting them to tell us as much as possible. If you let them see how angry you are, they'll think you're angry at them and clam up."

"I am angry at them," Ichigo snarled. "They should've known better!"

"Like you knew better than to agree to let the first shinigami you met stab you in the heart in hope of getting the power to save your family?" Isshin said lowly.

Ichigo flinched, taken off guard. "Th-that was different!"

Isshin rubbed his eyes. "It may not be, from what little they told me." He gestured for everyone to sit.

Ichigo's face fell into confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just... please sit down, son," his father said tiredly.

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Homura bolted upright in her futon and looked around wildly.

The sun was dawning, the birds were chirping, Madoka was alive again, and somewhere nearby, Ichigo Kurosaki was furious.

Karin and Yuzu exchanged panicked glances, instantly awake. "We're so dead," Karin said dully.

Yuzu wrung her blankets in her fists. "W-what do we do?"

Homura just looked at Karin with wide eyes. While the darkness and violence she had sensed in Ichigo during the final battle was absent and his magic wasn't as heavy, the anger in the burning moonlight was more intimidating than a lot of Witches she had faced. Conscious rage almost always wielded a sharper blade than the mindless lashing-out of Witches.

Karin grimaced. "I guess we get dressed and go meet the firing squad," she said reluctantly. "If we avoid him, he'll only get angrier."

Ichigo's magic began to decline into horror as they heard the distant murmur of their father's voice. Karin and Yuzu winced. "I wonder what Daddy is telling him," Yuzu said nervously.

§ x § x §

Within Ichigo's Inner World, Zangetsu and the Hollow stood stark black and white against the gray of the stormy sky and its reflection on the solid part of the sideways building that represented Ichigo's memories of the time when the spirits had been sleeping. The Hollow sprawled down on the surface and carefully slid over to peek within the cracking glass of the sixteenth story, the only place in their shinigami's soul the spirits had been unable to access. The Hollow went still, then sat up and looked at Zangetsu, enraged.

"I'm gonna fuck someone up over this," he snarled.

Zangetsu hummed agreement, their intertwined nature allowing him to see what was within as well. "Revenge later. Ichigo comes first," he said coldly.

"Tch. You think I'm stupid or somethin'?" the Hollow growled resentfully as he stood and slung rain-soaked hair from his brow. He whipped his copy of Ichigo's blade off his back and released its bandages with a whirl of cloth. "The things I do for King," he sneered halfheartedly as the cloth extended at his will and sped off to wrap around the compromised level of the building. When the building was bandaged, the Hollow heaved the blade over his shoulder. "Hmph. Knew there couldn't be anythin' good in there."

Both spirits looked up as the rain poured even harder. Zangetsu sighed.

"Fuckin' rain," the Hollow grumbled. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted skyward, "Calm the fuck down, King! Sad's not gonna do nothin' but piss me off! Get angry again! Angry's great! I can work with angry!"

Shut up, Ichigo's morose voice echoed around them.

"I'm tryin' to help, dumbass!"

Just... just shut up.

"Fuck you!" the Hollow sneered as he made rude gestures at the sky.

Zangetsu closed his eyes and prayed for patience.

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Karin, Yuzu, and Homura trod down the stairs with leaden steps. They cautiously rounded the wall into the kitchen. Everyone looked up at them. Ichigo's friends were pale. Ichigo himself looked devastated. They all stared at each other for a long minute.

Ichigo's mouth opened and closed a few times before he was able to speak, voice choked. "This... you did this because of me?"

Karin's face went troubled. "Ichi-nii, it's not—"

"It's not your fault, Onii-chan," Yuzu finished in distress.

"I... I remember a little bit, now," he said haltingly. "A fence... my jacket..." He swallowed hard and roughly continued, "Punching you in the face, Karin— I'm so sorry—"

Karin scowled. "You weren't yourself, Ichi-nii."

"The Witch told you to do that," Yuzu added.

Ichigo made a sound of frustration. "I should've been able to fight off... whatever it was—"

"You couldn't without your powers, Ichi-nii," Karin said matter-of-factly. "And it's not your fault you lost your powers. You thought we were worth risking yourself when we were attacked. We thought you were worth risking ourselves when you were attacked. Yeah, we screwed up by not going straight to Urahara. But you pretty much did the same damn thing."

"I'm the one who's supposed to protect you," their brother protested.

"But is that a realistic thing to expect of yourself?" Homura asked hesitantly, drawing everyone's attention as she spoke for the first time. She looked a bit surprised at her own words.

Ichigo blinked and startled. "What?"

"Is it realistic to expect yourself to always be able to protect your sisters from everything?" she repeated slowly, as though considering the words herself. Ichigo's mouth turned down into a troubled frown. Homura tilted her head and stared at him with piercing eyes in an expressionless face. "If I understand correctly, it was necessary for you to sacrifice your powers. It is only logical that others should want to protect you when you gave so much to protect them."

Ichigo's face looked uncertain. "But—"

Uryū pushed his glasses up his nose. "Kurosaki, you ran off and took on an entire military organization to protect Kuchiki because she gave you the means to protect your family. You have no room to complain. Let it go and deal with the now."

Ichigo's mouth clicked shut. He blinked several times, then covered his face and heaved a deep sigh. "Right. Right."

Yuzu shifted worriedly. "Are... are you still mad, Onii-chan?"

Ichigo looked up. "No," he said, subdued. He sat straight and stared at them seriously. "Thank... thank you for saving me."

Yuzu's lip trembled. She hurried to her brother and hugged him. He hugged her fiercely in return. Karin followed after a moment, more timid than usual.

Isshin watched his children cling to each other. It tugged at his heart. His eyes wandered over to Homura, who was watching them with a blank face. She noticed his gaze and solemnly stared back, eyes distant. When he frowned worriedly, she looked away.

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Homura regally avoided looking at anybody during their awkward breakfast of simple oatmeal and raisins. The Kurosaki girls tried to delay the inevitable by moving to clear the table, but Sado headed them off and stared at them until they sat down, then collected the dishes himself. The sisters sat on either side of Homura, their fidgeting contrasting sharply with her prim aloofness.

"All right," Isshin began after a tense silence. "I didn't tell your brother much. And you didn't tell me much. Start at the beginning."

Ishida opened the voice recorder on his phone and slid it across the table. Yuzu took a deep breath. "It started on the field trip to the botanical gardens last year. Karin's friend was acting strange, so we followed him. He hit Karin when she tried to stop him. We noticed there was a funny symbol on his neck. When Karin touched it, he hit her again."

"The thing felt like a Hollow version of this binding kidō Tōshirō once used on me," Karin explained.

"Why the hell did he bind you?" Ichigo asked with a scowl.

Karin rolled her eyes. "Because he's a stick in the mud who didn't want to play soccer anymore because of a little lightning." Her brother slowly palmed his face. Karin shrugged. "Anyway, I broke the binding and then we got sucked into this other dimension where everything was crazy. I mean green sky, flowers the size of trees, fairies with frog heads, walking telescopes, whatever. There was a voice in our heads that said it wouldn't let us leave, so we went looking for it. That's when we got attacked by the fire-breathing hummingbirds with snapdragon heads."

Everyone stared. Ishida frowned skeptically. "Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?"

Karin rolled her eyes again. "Yes. God, just listen to the story."

"We were starting to lose when an older girl showed up," Yuzu continued. "She was wearing a cute dress and saved us from the... creatures."

"Totally demolished them," Karin added.

"There was a little white animal with her. He... it... explained that Yuki was a magical girl and we could be magical girls too, if we wanted."

Eyebrows went up around the table. Ishida's doubt intensified. "Magical girls?"

Homura narrowed her eyes at him. He had seemed so... not this annoying last time.

"Yes. Magical girls. Let us finish," Karin grumbled.

Yuzu glanced at her sister, then around the table. "It said that it could grant wishes, and that in exchange we had to use our powers to fight these... Hollow-like creatures called Witches it said shinigami couldn't sense."

"Wishes and witches, now," Ishida said drily. Ichigo glared at him and Homura felt her mouth turning down into a scowl despite her effort to remain neutral.

"We said we wanted to think about it," Karin said. "So we met with him— it— a couple weeks later to ask questions. It said that magical girls use weapons that are copies of zanpakutō, and that shinigami didn't like that and killed them. So it said to never let a shinigami know about magical girls. It made its point by saying it saw the Quincy genocide firsthand because it contracted some Quincy girls."

"Quincy magical girls. Right," Ishida said sarcastically.

Ichigo turned on him. "Are you calling my sisters liars, Ishida?!"

Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose and narrowed his eyes at Ichigo. "The Quincy would have noticed."

"You and your goddamn all-knowing Quincies," Ichigo snarled.

"You're part-Quincy, too," Ishida snapped.

"I don't claim to know everything spiritual, you ass! And I wasn't raised Quincy!"

"Maybe you'd think more critically about your sisters claiming to be anime magical girls if your mother had taught you—"

Rage flooded Ichigo's reiatsu. "Are you really bringing my mother into this, Ishida?!"

Everyone jumped at the sound of hands slamming onto the table as a chair screeched on the tile. They looked at its source: Homura, standing with indignant fury. "Stop being so childish! You're wasting time!" she shouted. Her face twisted in distressed disappointment in the moment before she declared, "Magical girls are real!"

Violet light flashed over her body, materializing her costume with a high flare of magic. She realized her mistake when Ishida drew his glowing bow on her by reflex, perceiving her action as an attack. Homura froze time, huffed at the inconvenience— and her own impulsive loss of temper— and strode around the table. After examining his magic bow and considering things previous Madokas had gushed to her about angles and aim and reaction time she had figured out while practicing with her rose branch bow, Homura stepped into Ishida's blind spot and dropped the stop.

"Put that down," she scolded from behind him.

Ishida reeled and loosed his arrow before he had finished turning—

Homura stopped time again. She eyed the arrow; it was similar to one of Madoka's, yet very different. She was tempted to snatch it out of the air to examine it with her own magic. It probably wouldn't be wise to display that she could do that, though. At least with what she was doing, it would seem like teleportation to everyone. For now.

Also, the arrow was on a trajectory closer to hitting her than she had expected. Did he have more experience with a bow than Madoka? Hmmm. Probably. Something to think about.

Homura went back to her original spot at the table. She was probably being petty, but she wanted Ishida to take her seriously. If it took a display of power making him twist around like a fool, so be it.

Time resumed.

"Ishida!" Ichigo shouted.

"Stop that," Homura snapped condescendingly as Karin and Yuzu flashed with red and yellow magic in front of her.

"Stop this!" Yuzu cried tearfully.

Karin, her clothes replaced by her red and cream costume, scaled the table and tackled a stunned Ishida from the front as her brother slammed into him from the side. Yuzu, wearing her frilly yellow and white costume, threw her hands forward as she backed toward Homura and cast a shield of three interlocked yellow circles. Ishida struggled, tangled in the limbs of the other two siblings.

Homura stared in surprise. She hadn't expected those three to jump to her defense like that. They had just met.

"STAND DOWN!" Isshin roared as he stood so forcefully his chair clattered away behind him. Everyone froze and looked at him with wide eyes. No one moved. Isshin glared authoritatively at them all. "Everyone, back in your seats," he ordered. They just stared. He narrowed his eyes and leaned on the table menacingly. "Now."

Karin had said he used to be a captain in the shinigami military; this was the first Homura could really see it being true. Everyone scrambled back to their seats like scolded puppies. They silently fidgeted under Isshin's heavy gaze, the three magical girls watching his reaction to their transformation warily. Homura, mouth set in a stubborn line, suspiciously slid her eyes Ishida's way every few seconds.

"Now," Isshin said more calmly, though still standing above them. He waved at the costumed girls. "Are we all satisfied that, at the very least, magical girls are real?" His eyes bored into Ishida's. The older teens all nodded hurriedly. Isshin crossed his arms and scanned the faces at the table. He righted his chair then sat with a nod and gestured at the magical girls. "Please continue, girls. There won't be any more... problems."

Karin and Yuzu hesitantly resumed their tale, relating the basics of the magical girl system and the honeyed words the Incubator had said to convince them to contract. It took some prodding to get them to describe the incident with the Witch that had ensnared their brother. The people hearing the full story for the first time sat through it in rigid, horrified silence. Sado lay a hand on Ichigo's shoulder to ground him when his breaths got shallow and he looked like he would be ill.

"That was awfully convenient," Ishida said quietly when the girls stopped talking.

"The hell you talking about, Ishida?" Ichigo asked sickly.

Ishida glanced at him. "I mean your sisters were undecided and it just so happened that their brother was the first Karakura attack they were aware of. It got very personal very quickly. Conveniently quickly for this... Incubator."

Orihime bit a nail. "You think Ichigo was targeted on purpose?"

"It would not surprise me," Homura answered, speaking for the first time since her outburst.

Karin frowned. "I don't think we told it anything about Ichi-nii."

Homura hummed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "The specific target may be a coincidence if it really does avoid Karakura, but herding a very strong Witch to the area is something I can see it do. It is extremely manipulative, especially when it comes to convincing powerful girls to contract."

Isshin rested his elbows on the table and knit his fingers together. "Tell me more about this contract."

So Homura coolly laid out the overt terms, unsaid terms, and unexplained implications of every facet of the contract as her audience listened with growing dread. "Of course, the vast majority of contractees either never learn any of this or learn of it too late to be useful. These secrets are closely guarded for all the Incubator claims to have no concept of deceit."

"How did you find out, then?" Orihime asked innocently.

Homura pursed her lips. "It is complicated."

"How do you even figure into all of this in the first place?" Ishida asked. "How did you three meet?"

"That is also complicated."

"You're not very helpful."

Homura scowled at the Quincy. "I'm a veteran. I've learned from experience. I've met other magical girls. I've seen them die. Seen them turn. Karin and Yuzu must be very good or very lucky to have survived a year without doing either. They—"

"Please don't redirect attention away from you, Homura," Isshin said mildly. Homura twitched and darted her gaze his way. He watched her closely. "They're very relevant questions." She blinked and just kept staring at him with slight surprise. Isshin tilted his head, considering. Karin and Yuzu fidgeted.

"She's right," Karin blurted. When everyone looked at her, she stubbornly continued, "It's complicated. She's convinced us of the problems and how she knows them. But she knows some other stuff that might make the shinigami flip out even more than the contract. We only know a bit of it, but..." She shrugged uncomfortably.

"We all thought you should know before the shinigami do," Yuzu added quietly. "So that if they... um..."

"Go full Spanish Inquisition on us," Karin supplied in an edgy tone.

"R-right," Yuzu stammered. "So you can keep them from doing... that. We want to help. We'll answer questions about the stuff and help without any of... that."

"What kind of stuff?" Isshin asked, brows knit in concern.

Homura stared at him coldly for a minute, glanced around the table, then focused on Isshin again since he had taken the lead. "Regarding the possible goals the Incubator has for collecting our souls this way in the first place." A silent moment passed as she waited for them to react, but they all just watched her expectantly. "My information regarding the intersection of the magical girl system and the shinigami system is... fragmented," she conceded. "I only recently learned of the shinigami myself. I need to relay vital information to Kisuke Urahara so he can investigate further. Just the vague outline I know is frightening enough."

"And that is?" prompted Isshin.

"The Incubator claims to be harnessing the spiritual energy generated by our souls in defiance of the law of conservation of energy to delay the heat death of the universe by countering entropy on a cosmic scale."

Everyone stared blankly.

"However, I now have my doubts about that. I have acquired information that it is actually preparing some kind of... tools or weapons. I'm unclear exactly what their purpose is." Homura steeled herself. "I was told to mention the words... ah, Hogoku? ...and King's Key."

Sharp inhalations sounded out around the table from everyone who had been involved in that shinigami war.

"Hōgyoku?" Orihime whispered for confirmation. Homura nodded at her.

"Who said that? Who told you to say that?" Isshin asked in a hoarse whisper.

Homura looked down. "It is... complicated."

"Is there anything about this that isn't?" Ishida said in a weakly sarcastic undertone.

"No," Homura answered bluntly, taking his words at face value. She tilted her head down and surveyed their faces from behind the curtain of her bangs. She didn't like to admit not knowing something, but better to ask them than someone as tricky with words as Urahara. "What is a Hōgyoku?"

Isshin massaged his brow. "As Kisuke explains it, it's an item made by collecting pieces of many souls and fusing them together. It looks like a round jewel. It has the power to realize the deepest desires in people's hearts and grant extraordinary power to those who master it."

Homura frowned deeply and thought of the realization on Urahara's face as he murmured wishes when she had said the process looked like Soul Gem creation at the end of the timeline.

Disturbing.

That was something to dwell on later, though. "So, you see why we came to you first?"

"Yes," Isshin sighed. "Second and Twelfth would be... Getting us to understand first then take it to Kisuke was smart." He looked at her sharply. "How did you know what order to do this in to get the best outcome? This implies you know a lot about our relationships."

Homura frowned mulishly. "It is—"

"Complicated?" Isshin said drily.

Homura nodded once. "I will explain, but I think it would be most efficient to do so in the presence of Kisuke Urahara."

"And his crew," added Karin. "And we need to get Tōshirō and Yoruichi to come."

Ichigo frowned. "Okay, Yoruichi I kinda get, but why Tōshirō?"

Karin looked shifty. "Because. Reasons."

Yuzu tried to laugh and weakly said, "It's complicated."

Isshin rubbed his eyes and sighed again. "Okay. I'll call Kisuke." He looked up at Homura. "You realize you're asking for a decent chunk of trust while stonewalling us, don't you?"

"I am aware," Homura replied with a dignified lift of her chin. "I very much appreciate it."

"Right," Isshin said wryly. "Well, I'll call Kisuke. You kids do whatever. Stay home from school, girls. I'll call you when he gives me word that he's managed to round everyone up."

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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.