Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Homura Akemi would admit, only to herself, because she had long ago stopped admitting her time travel to anyone else, that she blocked out a lot of thoughts she had about how time travel worked. She needed to. She was under so much stress, she had suffered so much, that if she did think about much more than the end goal of saving Madoka from Kyubey, Walpurgisnacht, and at times Madoka Kaname herself, she would lose herself to despair or go completely insane. It was the fact that not every timeline was the same that she really felt like she was spared the worst of madness, though it was those very changes, necessary for her sanity’s sake, that she ignored beyond a very narrow scope nor pondered why the changes happened or what they could be in the future. Just enough to keep sane, not enough to lose her mind.

The witches were not the same, so she didn’t do the same fights or see the same demises every time. Some did appear more often than not, sure, but they were not fixed. What caused her homeroom’s teacher’s boyfriend to break up with her changed from eggs to pancakes to folded napkins to other forms of nonsense. Sometimes that boy Sayaka Miki liked and always seemed to get turned into a Witch over because he honestly was less socially alert than Homura was at this point, played guitar instead of violin. Once she had procured a rare type of tea to share with Mami to try and have a more stable relationship with her, only to find that Mami this time was a coffee aficionado. There were other things that she thought changed, but she didn’t pay them any mind. In the end, were they really that important to risk her mind to think on? 

After all, those were small things, it wasn’t like big things changed in between timelines that would affect her and Madoka. The one time Mami needed her juniors to make coffee runs for her to function was the biggest change that Homura could recall. At least, until a timeline did change in a big way that affected her and Madoka. And she didn’t realize how much a timeline could change until she woke up in one. 

…

Homura Akemi knew pain. She was quite familiar with it before she made a deal with Kyubey. She was an orphan, she had a serious heart condition that had caused her tremendous suffering for years, and she fell over a lot. 

Since then she had seen her best friend die. She had seen her best friend turn into a monster. She’d seen their friends turn into monsters, die, or go nuts and then die. She had felt betrayal, shame, sorrow, and loss. 

At various points she had been shot, stabbed, blown up, set on fire, punched, kicked, had her limbs distorted, been struck by lightning, experienced frostbite, and she once had to spend an entire loop with only one arm after Charlotte the Sweets Witch bit it off the first time she encountered that menace. If her body wasn’t a puppet her soul controlled from a gem on her finger, she would have lost her mind to such pain already. It was safe to say that she had experienced practically every physical and mental pain she could logically experience fighting Witches short of outright turning into a Witch, and she had gotten close once. That….terrible…terrible…. terrible loop. 

She would not get any closer to being a Witch and live to save Madoka another day.

There were logically things she could experience that were new forms of pain. But she didn’t have any reason to ever experience deep sea compression, for example. She only had reasons to fight Witches, so every possible pain that they could inflict, or life around them inflict, she had endured. 

Then she woke up, staring at that familiar ceiling with eyes she hadn’t fixed yet, feeling the beat of a heart that still needed some magical enhancement to safely engage in combat (...Mami teaching her how to do that in her first redo was invaluable…), when something hit her, and for the first time in many loops, Homura didn’t know what it was. How to…put it into words?

The first feeling was like her soul was warm and heating up as she noticed the feeling, which as her soul was held in a deceptively fragile faberge egg that could hatch an uncanny abomination if she ever got too overcome with grief, was something that made her immediately panic. Her right arm then suddenly seized up, spasming as if it was completely out of her control and someone else was puppeting it, an unexpected and violent reaction that sent Homura careening off her bed, and that was before her entire body…started to feel cold. Not dead cold, but the warmth that had overflown her Soul Gem was long gone, and she just wanted something warm over her. 

Homura Akemi, having not reinforced her heart yet, found herself both cold and on the floor. It was actually quite painful. She slowly got back up, pushing herself on shaking arms, slowly pushing herself back up on unsteady legs. She…she hadn’t felt that weak in…she didn’t even want to think about it. Eventually, still unsteady, she pushed herself upright with the aid of her hospital bed, her left arm shaking as she held herself upright as her right cast magic on her eyes. Once she could see she used a similar process on her heart. She had no idea what had hit her, it wasn’t a Witch she could tell that much, but it was insidious nethertheless. She shivered, damn she was cold, she hadn’t ever felt this cold. She was literally a faberge egg piloting a lifeless body, yet this was the first time she actually felt as cold as the dead. She idly placed her right palm on her shoulder, and only there, on said shoulder, did she feel any sort of warmth. She didn’t feel anything like it when she shifted a heel to rest against an ankle, and with a twist the back of her right hand didn’t do it either. Her eyes narrowed as she moved her right palm into sight. Did her palm rest in something warm or something and now her shoulder was covered in something. With her luck it was blasting jelly or…

Homura Akemi’s eyes shot open faster than any of her bullets as she saw her palm, or more specifically, what was…well not written, and not even tattooed. But something was now part of her palm, entire sections of her skin recolored into strange patterns. It was something in the vague shape of a pentagram, with a bright purple diamond in the center, bordered by a pink one. It, and a yellow diamond a fair distance from hers on the other side of the purple diamond from the pink one, were all vividly colored. Two other farther out diamonds like the yellow one, a red and blue one, were faded out. The red one was marginally but noticeably closer to the central purple diamond than the other two. She just…she just stared at it. What. The. Actual….

Able to stand on her two feet unaided now, she moved her other hand to have a finger lightly touch the two center diamonds, and from the point of contact shot warmth , for lack of a better description. The only warmth in her entire body, and it was only because she was experienced in dealing with her own misery that she could bear to lift her fingers off the mark and look at the strange thing on her palm. 

“What….what are you?” She asked it. As expected, there was no answer from the odd colored marks on her palm. Whatever this was….it was truly peculiar. She quickly changed into her Magical Girl form and froze time, looking around for a bit and feeling things out. She didn’t feel like anything here changed, and her Soul Gem seemed normal. So…what was going on? 

…

Madoka Kaname was only faintly aware about the dishware she had knocked to the ground when she lost control of her body, or on the fact that she was now on the ground. Her parents were hovering over her, clearly worried about her, while Tatsuya was poking between their legs, sounding as worried about her as any three-year-old would be but not knowing what to do about it beyond sounding worried and, fortunately, to not cry about it. 

“Madoka, honey, are you hurt?” her dad asked worriedly as he felt her forehead. She blinked, slowly, before shivering a bit. Why did she feel so cold? Her dad felt around her cheeks more, looking rather concerned. 

“Why are you so cold?” he worryingly asked her, seemingly aware that she couldn’t answer him.

“She was fine this morning.” Her mom recalled, her focus completely on her daughter and nothing else as her dad slowly moved to her right hand, opening it up to see if anything had happened to it when she…spasmed was the right word, right? The gasp of her dad, followed quickly by her mother when she saw it, implied there was something there. 

“What…what is it dad?” Madoka asked, shivering at the start of the sentence. She…she really did feel cold. 

“It can’t be….” He said in disbelief. 

“But it is…it can’t be anything else, but one, two..four?” Her mom sounded like she had seen it again to be sure as her two parents looked at each other, and the two then did something that was quite unusual for her composed mom or her rather chill dad. They immediately started jumping up and down in joy, sounding both happy and proud at the same time. Tatsuya’s confused cooing was just how she felt about it. What was going on? She quickly looked at her own hand, wondering what had gotten her parents so excited, when she saw it and gasped, before shivering again. On her palm were diamonds, with the center being a pink one. A purple one was nearly on top of it, with a faded blue one just a bit further from the center than the purple one. Farther out was a bright yellow diamond and a faded red diamond farthest still. They were all roughly contained in the shape of a five-sided pentagram. She gasped again. 

“A Soulbond mark?!” Madoka said before shivering again as her parents jumped in joy. 

“Oh this is wonderful! Our little girl’s a heartstealer! Four of them dear, four of them!” Her mother was making her blush. Heart… heartstealer?!

“I know, though we are going to need to talk to a specialist to be sure. I’ll call Madoka’s school and…” 

“Oh, this is too big, I’ll drive! Work can wait.” 

Well…something like this was that serious, Madoka guessed, but she shivered again before looking at her palm once more. A Soulbond mark on her…but those appeared for only special people and she wasn’t special. She was just Madoka Kaname. 

…

It was just as they were about to get in the call that time froze. 

Her dad had just opened the car door when everything turned gray. Her mother was frozen mid-step, pulling up Tatsuya so he was frozen mid-air, the faintest of unmoving arms holding him up. Madoka however, could still move, and had actually gotten into the car when she realized just what had happened. She immediately started to panic. 

“What’s…what’s going on?!” She asked no one in particular, frantically looking around for anything that was causing this. “Dad, Mom, Tatsuya, why aren’t you moving? Please, please answer me!” 

…

Homura had frozen time to slip out of the hospital quickly…and was immediately stricken with a feeling of panic that made her stop in her tracks. Her heart was beating harder and harder, her fight and flight response going haywire as she instinctively wanted to look for whoever was doing this. Which didn’t make sense, because the one doing it was her, and she knew that. 

She quickly ducked into a quiet alcove and restarted time, feeling the panic that was coming from her heart, but not from her mind, to slowly fade away. 

“...What the hell?” She asked no one in particular. There was something else too. Whatever was making her feel that sense of panic, also seemed to make her want to immediately make the problem go away the same way she felt when something was threatening Madoka, but Madoka wasn’t here. So…why did she feel that way? 

She shook her head again, something was really wrong with her in this timeline for some reason. 

…

Time eventually did start again, though Madoka was still quite spooked by the fact that it had actually stopped at all. 

“Madoka, are you okay?” Her mom asked Madoka from the driver’s seat as Madoka…wasn’t sure herself. 

“Um…did anything weird happen just now to…anyone else?” 

The two adults in the car exchanged looks. 

“No…but don’t worry if you are feeling strange. I’m sure it is completely natural.” Her dad assured her. “I know it’s an old belief that Soulmates share emotions, though I don’t know enough to say for sure. So maybe you were just feeling something.” 

Madoka blinked. She’d heard that too but, how would that relate to time freezing like that? But..maybe it had something to do with it. She poked her mark with her finger, slowly, not sure exactly what she was doing. But she thought she read about it somewhere. She still felt…unsure, almost silly doing this. Soulbonds are real, sure, but they were so rare that even trying this was… she…

“Hello!” Her little brother said to the mark, not feeling embarrassed about talking to it. Her parents chuckled to themselves, followed a little later by herself. 

…

Homura was just about out of the hospital when she was sure she…felt like someone was talking to her. Not yelling about the girl trying to get out of the hospital after extensive heart surgery, at this point she knew how to do that without her powers, they just made it easier. But talking, and it made that mark on her hand tingle. 

Whatever this loop was doing to her, it should really just stop already. 

…

It was unseen in class, but that simple greeting resonated with one particularly lonely young lady. She had already cried tears of joy this morning when she realized what had happened, laying on the floor and staring at her hand, and the happiness nearly returned now. It was a further reminder to find the attendance rolls and figure out who was missing today. Though it had the side effect of making every class seem to drag on longer than usual. Not helped by that time freeze, though while she had felt worry from her mark too, it actually had the opposite effect with her. 

One of her Soulmates was a Magical Girl, just like her. 

…

Madoka and her family eventually arrived at the hospital, and Madoka felt a little embarrassed. She…she wasn’t sick or anything. Her mother laughed when she admitted her unease. 

“Oh Madoka, don’t think like that. This is where the Soulbond specialists are. With how often that Soulmates meet in hospitals, it’s completely logical to have them here. Saves a lot of time.” Her mother laughed, and while she felt really embarrassed to be taken into the hospital, her mother was not wrong. It was a pretty quick and painless shift to an office that was a bit out of the way of the main hospital complex but still really nice. The room was littered with posters describing various configurations of marks, historical anecdotes about them, and books about them from across the centuries. A few books had drawings and sketches of Wagtails on them. There wasn’t a line at all, so she was quickly seen by the doctor in charge. The doctor, a plump and smiling woman older than her mother, was quickly looking at her hand, and didn't lose the smile at all even as she seemed to be checking her palm for any sort of trickery. When she was sure it wasn’t a tattoo or something, which she seemed to check just out of professional responsibility and not because she believed her to be lying, she looked up and smiled. 

“You’re a very lucky young woman, Miss Kaname.” Doctor Aiuchi smiled as Madoka blushed heavily. May..maybe, but why her though? 

“Oh she’s a heart stealer all right!” she blushed even more as her mother boasted about her. Doctor Aiuchi chuckled. 

“Oh, I hope she isn’t stealing anyone. Religion has tried to understand the whims of soul bonds for ages, and more than a few stories tell of the tragedy of a couple broken apart by them. Being fourteen you should avoid that.” The doctor had Madoka, who was sitting on the exam table, to hold her palm back out so she could look it over. 

“The two being faded isn’t a problem, is it?” Her dad asked as the doctor shook her head. 

“Oh no, that’s actually quite common. When you get into larger groups of bounded, it often breaks them up into groups. They will get their full color in time, though only when one or both of these two happen to suffer or experience a great event in their life. No matter when or where you are in this world or throughout history, Soulbonds tend to form when someone goes through a great and terrible event in life. Battle, overcoming a medical hurdle, loss. It’s why people like me work at hospitals, you often see someone get one here. It makes it easier if I’m on site.” 

That did make sense, though it also made Madoka pale. Someone…someone who she was bonded to for the rest of her life was here? In this hospital? Possibly around the corner?!

“Does the fact the symbol resembles diamonds mean anything?” Her mom asked, seemingly aware of her growing panic and wanting to calm her down. 

“Soul marks take on many forms, though they typically are something linked to whomever was the one who ignited the Soulbond in the first place. To be a bit poetic, it represents whoever overcomes a great hurdle and is rewarded by the gods, or if you want to get medieval about it involving great magics. It doesn’t really matter what shape it is, though it does make identification easier. Soulbonds aren’t everywhere, but when they do appear they do help sort things out.” 

A message was paged in, and Doctor Aiuchi quickly excused herself to take it, saying it was probably the nurses having gotten back and checking the patients.

“Doctor Aiuchi, how did the search go? You took a bit longer than I thought you would. We’re normally pretty on top of spotting….oh you were checking the camera feed…a ha….oh really….wait, how did you….someone’s getting a rough review….I’ll tell them ....” 

Madoka felt her heart go cold as the doctor hung up the phone. She didn’t look like she was going to break any terrible news, but she did look flummoxed. 

“Doctor, is something wrong?” Her dad asked worriedly. Doctor Aiuchi nervously chuckled. 

“Well…it’s not dire, but it is a complication.”

…

Homura Akemi's performance was subpar all morning, and now she felt like she was…worrying Madoka? 

It was a strange feeling, one of many she was having, and one she shouldn’t be feeling near the center of a Labyrinth. She hadn’t even seen the most important person in her life yet, let alone even started shooting Kyubey yet (or stabbing him, or crushing him, or otherwise driving the monster away), so how would be worrying her yet?  Still…

“Madoka…don’t worry. I’m not stopping anytime soon.” She told herself, promising Madoka she would keep her safe, no matter how long it took. It was the only thing she could do, because how else could be worrying Madoka if she wasn’t fulfilling her promise properly? 

…

She tapped her fingers against her desk. She wanted to go out and find her Soulmates now, she could feel worry and dread from them. But school was taking way too long today. 

She discreetly touched her palm, trying to soothe the distress she was feeling, from both herself and her bonded. 

…

Madoka felt a little better, and like she wanted to run right out of school despite not being there, as a set of records were pulled up for them to see. On them featured a dark-haired girl, nervous and wearing red-rimmed glasses. Her long hair was done up in braids with purple ribbons at the ends. She was cute, but she looked really nervous. Even for being on a hospital file. 

“This is Homura Akemi. Security cameras saw her undergo a Soulbond formation this morning, though since then she’s vanished and we haven’t been able to find her.” Doctor Aiuchi  explained, sounding like she wished the both of them the best of luck and wanted to slap someone for missing her.  

“Vanished?” Her mom asked. The doctor just looked in disbelief at the fact even as she explained more of it to them

“Honestly, Homura Akemi just…disappeared somewhere. We’re trying to find the poor girl: post Soulmate Mark euphoria can sometimes be a heck of a jolt to the system, and it isn’t unheard of, but not universal, for someone to be filled with energy and start running around on pure adrenaline trying to find their Soulmate, but from what I’ve been told about her, Homura’s a delicate girl whose only just recovered from heart surgery. We can only hope she’s not doing anything strenuous.” Doctor Aiuchi said, sounding rather worried for the girl. 

…

Meanwhile in a dimension just adjacent to reality, Homura Akemi was blasting as much lead as possible into a Witch. The heat of the gun was the only warmth she felt, and whatever was wrong with her was getting really annoying. Though at least the Witch was dying like it should, so whatever was wrong with her hadn't impacted her in that way yet.

…

“Well, she shouldn’t have gotten far, and when we do find her…well you said she was an orphan right?” Her mom caught as the nurse nodded. “Well, we’ll take care of her. Our home is her home.” 

“Well legally they do become your wards if their parents are absent or grant you custody, but it is good that you are willing to do so. Especially in a situation as rare, but unusual, as a large soul bond.” 

“It helps that Homura’s a girl, if she was a boy I’d have much more concern. Hope none of the rest of them are boys.”

“Mom!” Madoka yelled while blushing. She was 14! The Doctor chuckled. 

“I can’t promise you any of that, all I can do for you right now is help you fill out of all the paperwork that this sort of thing requires, share what information the hospital is legally able to about Homura with you, and assure you of your daughter’s safety and well being as well as answer any other questions you might have.”

“Um…I do have a question. If Homura…if Homura recovering from heart surgery is why a Soulbond formed…” 

“That’s just a theory that isn’t proven, though that is more or less just no one being able to figure out how it happens or why it doesn’t happen with everything,” The Doctor idly noted, but letting her continue. 

“Why…why would it be with me? I’m not that special.” Madoka had to ask that. What made her so special? Doctor Aiuchi smiled and pointed at her heart. 

“Oh, that’s something you are going to have to find out for yourselves. And whatever answer you all find, I’m sure it will explain everything. It always does in these cases.” 

Explain everything…did…was there something about her….she didn’t know how to think about it. She just stared at the marks on her palm again. 

…

Homura idly noted, as she sat overlooking a city street, that she still felt off. She felt cold, she kept feeling random emotions that didn’t feel like hers, and whatever had happened to her at the hospital still hadn’t worn off. If this continued, she would have to drastically change her approach. She might have to bribe Mami to leave Madoka alone to try and free herself up from some potential problems while she tried to get things under control while not at her best, but that wasn’t like bribing Kyoko with Grief Seeds or Gift Cards to do things that Homura wanted her to do. Mami’s vices were born of loneliness, and it was basically impossible to get her to willingly be alone when Kyubey was ‘showing’ her that a girl with incredible potential was around. Mami wasn’t unaware of (many of) the dangers and sincerely believed, alongside her desire to no longer be alone, that being a Magical Girl was the best protection from Witch-based dangers, but would allow Madoka to walk away if she so decided. But Kyubey, and all things related, always made that harder than it needed to be, so by default Mami would try to genuinely help Madoka, and Sayaka, but play into Kyubey’s hands the entire time.

The idea of trying to bribe Mami with her own companionship to leave Madoka, and Sayaka, out of it…was not going to work. Homura Akemi was not someone anyone wanted to be around anymore. 

It wasn’t long after she thought about how no one wanted her around, that she felt those…odd emotions again. Like someone was telling her ‘no, we do want you around’, and it wasn’t herself saying that. And it came in two distinct…flavors, for lack of a better term. One was more faint, and it had the air of understanding, or perhaps better to be put as ‘understanding’. Empathy without knowing why she felt that way, but guessing something that was in the right direction but not it exactly in actuality. It was like what would happen when Mami or Kyoko tried to guess her motives as a Magical Girl trying to prevent other contracts when they didn’t think she was just scared of being outcompeted. The other wasn’t as directed but a lot stronger and clearer, a general wave of kindness and assurance that almost felt like…Madoka? 

She looked at the cars, and she could see the Kaname family vehicle in the streets right now. She wasn’t actually…Madoka was surely in school right now, yet it felt like she just knew that Madoka was there. Like she could pinpoint that strange emotional rush as coming from Madoka in that vehicle. Which…which didn’t make any sense. She didn’t have the power to track Madoka wherever she went, no matter how many times Sayaka ‘joked’ she must have wished to be able to stalk Madoka. 

(And Sayaka really shouldn’t make those jokes. She’d seen what she did with Hitomi’s underwear in some timelines. The blue-haired girl had no place acting like she had deviant desires on Madoka, or critiquing any she may or may not have.)

It also wasn’t a power she could just ‘develop’, that was not how Magical Girls worked. They could only expand on the powers they had, or lose them if they suffered a severe enough mental trauma (Kyoko). Her wish would affect time travel, not tracking people. And while there were certainly things Homura could attempt with time travel she had yet to try, half of them were ideas she considered too morally abhorrent to attempt. 

The idea of taking Soul Gems back with her through time, for example, was something she had genuinely wondered about a few times, but she could think of no way that wouldn’t end horrifically. The best case scenario she could imagine was having two Mamis or Kyokos inhabit the same body, and that would do little good for anyone and have entire lists of possible things to go wrong. Meanwhile lottery tickets, while far less morally bankrupt, had proven…inefficient. The slight alterations to the timeline everytime meant she couldn’t accumulate funds reliably by cheating the game.

Mad science and abusing gambling was one thing, but her powers did not, and would not, give her the power to track Madoka wherever she went. Yet she could just follow Madoka’s car instinctively as it moved down, and her gaze always seemed to aim at the car seat that Madoka would naturally be in. This was…different. 

A thought came over Homura, one that made her panic. Had Madoka already contracted with Kyubey, and that was what was going on? Had Madoka wished for something that had….caused her arm to spasm, get strange marks, make her entire body feel cold, and feel emotions from other people? The more she thought of it, the less that made sense. Madoka would sell her soul for everything from her friends' wellbeing to saving a cat’s life, but she didn’t wish for things that hurt people. That was not who Madoka was. People didn’t change like that, even when Mami drank coffee instead of tea she was still Mami in every facet of her personality. Plus if Madoka had contracted, then why was Kyubey a few buildings over, also watching Madoka’s car. Kyubey…

Homura froze time. Whatever was making her feel panic everytime she did this was going to be ignored. Kyubey was here. Kyubey was near Madoka. Kyubey would be destroyed. The emotions that burned in her were clearly her own. The emotion of utter hatred. 

…

Madoka felt like she had to look around the windows as traffic passed all around. It felt like…she was near someone. Someone she had to find? Was…was Homura nearby? Or maybe the other person…she felt like she was close, so close, but just out of reach. Like she was nearly at a store she knew the location of by heart but her mind just couldn’t connect those last few blocks. She had to see someone…she couldn’t just ask her mom to stop the car. That would be dangerous…

The car stopped, along with the rest of time, and Madoka once more looked around frantically. Not this again. Why did it keep happening !? Time…time shouldn’t do this, and she asked about it at the hospital. She had framed it as ‘what if it was like time slowed down’, because this was too freaky to say out loud to anyone, but that wasn’t anything that was a part of a Soulbond. This was…. what was this? 

She felt a faint, calming feeling wash over her, like someone was trying to get her to relax…which was faint because she felt a different emotion wash over her entire body, engulfing it like a burning, choking wildlife. She could barely breath as she bent over in the car, wheezing as it felt like her heart and lungs were on fire. This…this emotion….it felt like hate. So much hatred, and Madoka had never felt anything like it. 

Madoka knew what anger felt like, she got angry. But this….this amount of hate burned. 

…

She seized up in class, only years of self control keeping it from being noticeable…well that and time freezing again leaving only her moving and aware out of the entire school building’s occupants. Where…where was this level of anger coming from? She could feel a third of their bond freaking out in panic at the sheer emotion, she felt her terror more acutely than this burning anger. 

This terror…it was the person in her bond who wasn’t a magical girl, while the fury came from the one who was one like her, as well as freezing time. And the fury was terrifying…no…it felt like it was hurting their third. 

She closed her eyes, trying to send calming, reassuring thoughts to the one who she could feel more strongly, but the sheer panic…it was like she felt like she was literally choking on that anger. It was a level of anger that even gave her chills. Did..she didn’t even think Kyoko had this level of anger. Time was still frozen, so no one else would hear her…

“That’s enough.” She told her marks bluntly, looking right at the purple diamond in particular. She was sure that it was the source of this fathomless anger. Whatever could make someone that angry….

…

A sense of…being told to stop came over her after the thirty-fourth swing of the mallet. Perhaps it was about time, the Incubator was paste at this point. She’d been having a very, very bad day, and she needed some sort of release. And Kyoko wasn’t here to screw with, and Kyubey decided to be in the same solar system of Madoka. So maybe she was done venting and…

The sheer sense of panic that she suddenly got hit with made Homura drop the mallet. Where, where was all of this panic and…horror coming from?! She was far too numb for the latter at this point! She stumbled…and fell off the bridge edge she had been wailing on Kyubey on. 

Hitting a car’s roof was not a new experience for her. At least this one didn’t have racks on it. Ow…..

Time was still frozen as she unsteadily got back up, her entire body trembling from the pain and confusion as she just…half sat and half lay on the now damaged vehicle. 

“What’s wrong with me?” Homura asked no one in particular, idly looking at her Soul Gem to make sure that nothing was wrong with it. She was cold, she kept feeling strange emotions, she couldn’t freeze time without feeling like part of her was panicking, and now she couldn’t even kill Kyubey anymore…

She briefly let time slip back, idly noting a white shape dart onto the bridge near her, before pulling out a gun and shooting it in the head. Kyubey fell over dead and she re-froze time again. Nothing…so was it the fact she was venting on the thing that made it a problem? She just had to kill the thing without feeling anything.

…

Time briefly started again, her parents not immediately noticing something was wrong because she had regained some steadiness of breath. Madoka wasn’t sure what had happened…but that anger was gone. It was replaced with…confusion? Fear? Self-loathing? Pain that shot through her back like she had just fallen to the ground and hit something. Then a gunshot went off and time froze again. 

Tatsuya, sitting next to her, had his face frozen in the verge of a panic at the unusual sound, guns were not commonplace in Mitakihara, let alone them going off. Her little brother had never heard one go off before. Guns were…scary things. But they were also loud, and it sounded close. So she just had to look around….

Madoka felt her body suddenly flash with warmth it hadn’t felt the entire day as she saw something that was just out of place on top of the cars. A dangling black heel and long black hair that was the only thing moving. It couldn’t be….but there was only one thing that could make her feel warm anymore. 

“Homura?” 

…

Her Soul Gem was cleaning itself, and her body suddenly felt warm again. It wasn’t a proper warm, just not cold, but she hadn’t felt like this for practically the entire time loop when she wasn’t touching that bizarre mark on her arm. More bizarrely, and both something that was good and concerning at the same time, was her Soul Gem brightening on its own. Even with the Grief Seed she had gotten earlier today, her Soul Gem had been murky this entire time loop, and falling off a bridge had not helped it. But she wasn’t seeing things, she could feel the specks of dullness and grief vanish even as she saw it happen with her own two eyes. This shouldn’t be happening…what was this time loop…

She didn’t quite ‘hear’ it, but she knew someone just said her name, and not just any voice. 

“Madoka?” Homura said aloud as she just knew where to look, and in fact she did see it. The Kaname family car, frozen in time, and she could just faintly make out pink hair in the back seat. Homura just stared at the car, not sure what she was feeling. Confusion about why it was out here, or why Madoka would be in it. Uncertainty about why everything was happening. Happiness…because it was Madoka. 

On impulse Homura took her Soul Gem and held it between the two of them, and the murkiness was fading even faster now. Her body was still colder than it should be, but it was now even warmer. 

…

Whatever her Soulmate’s name was who kept freezing time…please stop it. School was long enough today without time routinely turning it off, and she wanted to find you both already. She felt like the two were about to meet each other, she could feel it…and she felt so envious….

Her Soul Gem suddenly sparked like it detected a Labyrinth, but strangely. It felt more like an echo, like it could feel another….and with that she winced. That was not what she meant when she said she felt envious. 

…

Homura’s eyes sparked bitterly when her Soul Gem lit up with a warning of a nearby Witch. Now?! She looked at the Kaname family car, and where Madoka was surely frozen and safe. She just knew she was going to be cold again, but a Witch that close to Madoka wasn’t safe. It wasn’t safe for any of them, and she had to keep Madoka safe. She closed her eyes and sighed. 

“Madoka…I’ll see you shortly. Maybe…maybe then I’ll know what’s going on.” 

She could only hope. She started looking around with her Soul Gem, feeling her body cool again as she no longer looked right at Madoka with bitter resignation, before spying a bit of distortion two overhead bridges down the street. She jumped from car roof to car roof over to it and jumped up to said distortion, opening up the way into the pocket dimension even as she unfroze time. To protect Madoka…even whatever this loop was doing to her was worth the pain. It was worth every pain possible. 

…

Madoka had no idea what was going on. She could feel…resignation, and determination, and then she saw Homura jump from car to car like she was some sort of superhero. She didn’t have her braids, and this…what she was seeing couldn’t be just adrenaline? People couldn’t jump from car to car like it was a game of hop-scotch with superpowers. And then she jumped all of the way up to a bridge where a whole bunch of colors flashed and she vanished before time started again. 

Then Tatsuya let out his long-delayed fearful whimper as her parents looked at each other in concern. 

“Honey, was that a gunshot or a car backfiring?” 

…

It was officially after school, and shopping was a numb experience as Madoka tried to figure out what…what was even going on? Her parents had let her walk around the store on her own, clearly aware she had a lot on her mind and giving her some space to process it but….one of her Soulmates was some sort of superhero with anger issues. Or…something. What else could she have seen and felt?

Madoka was quite sure that…that unfathomable anger was not directed at her. But it was aimed at something by her Soulmate, who could jump from car roof to car roof and stop time and vanish into strange lights. What was even going on? Sure, Soulmates were not something that happened to everyone, but most of those people did not have superpowers.

Time froze again, and Madoka…no longer panicked. It was still very, very, very weird and disconcerting being around people frozen in place. They were stuck mid-step, mid-sneeze, mid laugh, and the free samples had a bad habit of just being there when time froze. The tempting, unguarded, all-you-can-eat free samples that were just there and no one could tell you to stop eating them …Madoka guiltily rubbed away a few more crumbs that still lingered from the last time this happened. She hoped the supermarket wasn’t going to think it had a ghost problem now.

Were ghosts also a thing alongside superheroes? Superpowers? Magic? And what was Homura even doing that required her to, reluctantly, delay meeting her? Whatever Homura was doing, the emotions were…all business, determination, and a bit of frustration at constant annoyances. It might just be Madoka’s very limited exposure to others, but it kind of reminded her of when her mom talked about some of her co-workers. Yet somehow Madoka really doubted there was office politics and social drinking involved in what her Soulmate was doing. 

She wasn’t just feeling that emotion through her Soulbond, but also anticipation and excitement. It wasn’t from Homura, but the other person, the one who was more routinely…Madoka wasn’t sure she’d say assuring, Homura did that too. But the other person seemed more…aware of it, despite the fainter connection. The assurances were more intentional, more direct. Were they just as confused about the constant time stops as she was? 

She felt an answer waft over her, to the negative, and that just made Madoka more confused. How could you not freak out about that? You’d either have to be so relaxed and composed as to be like a monk or something, or the same as Homura. But that couldn’t be the case….could it? 

Time still frozen, and Madoka ignoring her instinctual desire to go to the aisle over where she knew they had free samples the ‘ghost’ had yet to devour, Madoka felt her body start to warm back up. She started looking around frantically. This…did that mean Homura was nearby? No, this felt different…was it….

And then she saw movement as someone else walked in frozen time, peering around the store for anyone else who was moving as she started to pass in front of the aisle that Madoka was in, and Madoka’s heart pounded. She, for she was another girl, with blond hair done in impressive curls that Madoka couldn’t even begin to figure out how they were done. She wasn’t that much taller than Madoka, but she looked older in…a few ways. Her eyes were yellow, and the moment they saw Madoka they widened, their slightly-lidded gaze snapping wide open as she stared at her. The girl seemed almost too stunned to move, and Madoka slowly raised her hand and waved. 

“Um…hi?” Madoka said nervously, not sure what to say. 

The girl suddenly rushed her, and before Madoka could make a sound she was suddenly engulfed in a tight, joyous hug, and her body suddenly felt warm again. In fact….her body seemed to feel better than it had ever felt before, and it felt like her entire body was singing in joy. 

Homura….if you can’t be here to be hugged too…can you keep time frozen like this? She was going to…enjoy this for a while. 

…

Homura stared at her Soul Gem, which was glowing and seemingly vaporizing any bit of dullness even as she felt like Madoka wanted her to keep time frozen. Another strange feeling she didn’t know where it came from, that didn’t make any sense, and her Soul Gem was still behaving bizarrely…but she’d do anything for Madoka, even if she didn’t actually ask her to, and if her Soul Gem was somehow purifying itself it was no bother. Plus the embodiment of some poor Magical Girl’s madness was a lot less unhinged when it was frozen. A lot less creepy noises and visuals that way. 

Now where was that Witch…she felt envious and needed to shoot something, repeatedly, especially before she started crying. Urgh, where was that coming from? 

…

The older girl was crying, and Madoka could just feel why. Loneliness. This girl felt so lonely, and just being hugged by someone else…Madoka couldn’t even begin to describe how happy this girl felt, even as she also let out a lot of pain. An angry superhero and a lonely upperclassman…what a day she was having. She had only noticed it now, but the girl was also wearing her school uniform, so they did go to the same school. This girl was just older than her. Instinctively Madoka moved her hands to hug the girl back, and she just felt the girl be unfathomably happy at the embrace. 

“....This is the best day of my life.” Her senior admitted after a while. “...Though what an impression to make. The first thing you see of a Soulmate is her crying…” 

“Actually, the first thing I saw was your curls. I…I actually have no idea how you get them like that.” Madoka admitted, knowing how silly it was as a first thought about someone you would be with together forever. The older girl chuckled, cheering up a little. 

“Oh, that’s what you noticed?” 

Madoka blushed as her senior chuckled. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I know you are being truthful. I can tell those things about you, you know. Oh, silly me….silly sad me, I never did give you my name. I just….ran into your arms didn’t I? My name’s Mami Tomoe.” 

If Madoka ever felt that lonely, she would do the same thing. 

“My name…is Madoka Kaname.” 

“Madoka.” Mami said, slipping her hands to hold Madoka’s own. “It’s.. beyond wonderful to meet you.” 

“Oh…me beyond wonderful?” Madoka said, sounding like she couldn’t believe it. “No, you must be talking about Homura, not me.” At Mami’s confused look, though it didn’t feel as confused as it could be, Madoka continued. “The other girl who's active in the Soul Bond, at least I’m pretty sure she is. They saw her get one in the hospital, but she escaped and I think I briefly saw her earlier. She’s…it’s hard to explain….you probably think I’m crazy…” 

“Oh, that’s her name. I was wondering who kept freezing time like this. It made school take even longer than it should have.” Mami didn’t sound surprised at all. Madoka blinked, not sure why Mami was so calm about this. 

“Wait, I didn’t say anything about time, but I think she’s the one doing it.” Madoka clarified, before looking at her older Soulmate like she was sure the girl was going to think she was crazy. “I know it is hard to believe, but when my family was out driving I saw her. She was jumping from car to car and vanished in this strange light and when she was gone time started again, and I also think she might have fallen on top of a car and walked it off. It’s crazy, like something out of a superhero movie or an anime…” 

“Or a Magical Girl show?” Mami suggested. 

“I mean maybe, but it sounds so silly to say…” Madoka babbled, hoping she wasn’t coming off as some sort of silly person, like a chunni or something. Mami smiled before she glowed, illuminating the grayed-out world with yellow light. When the glow faded, Mami was now in a different outfit that, while nothing like Homura’s, still made Madoka gasp in recognition. Mami smiled. 

“Oh, that your two soulmates are Magical Girls? I don’t think it’s silly at all.” 

Ma…ma…. magical girls ?!

…

Homura got that feeling in the gut where Mami was making her job more difficult again, but that was impossible. Time was frozen and not even Mami’s desire to have friends could move against time itself. 

She’d keep time frozen just to be safe though. While Mami’s desire to not be alone was something Homura understood, and she could let herself empathize with if she wished to, it was still dangerous to Madoka, and Sayaka, just unintentionally. If her Soul Gem was going to purify itself today, what was stopping her from keeping time paused? Also this Witch was buried deep and the distorted screams would have started to aggravate her if she started time again…she was already in a bad enough mood as is.

…

“So the reason Homura vanished was because a Witch was on the highway.” Madoka surmised what Mami had explained as her Soulmate nodded, still in her Magical Girl form and with cups of tea in each of their hands. Time was still frozen. 

“That is correct. A Witch on a highway bridge like that…I can’t imagine that it was something she wanted to do instead of meeting you, but I can’t disagree with focusing on dealing with a danger like that first.”

It was a lot to take in. Magical Girls, Witches, contracts with Kyubey, a wish for anything you could think of…it would be hard to believe if time wasn’t frozen. Which was apparently something that Homura specifically could do. Mami couldn’t control time, which she admitted with a bit of an embarrassed smile. 

“My actual power is creating ribbons, though with a bit of imagination ribbons can be a lot of things.” Mami explained, before using ribbons to create a massive gun, bigger than Mami herself, which she disassembled just as easily into hundreds of ribbons. 

“ I like ribbons a lot. ” Madoka assured her, absently fidgeting with the ribbons in her own hair. Mami chuckled. 

“Well, that’s good then. You won’t need to buy any more of them with me around.” 

“Is there any specific reason someone is chosen to be a Magical Girl?” Madoka asked after a minute. Why did Kyubey choose Mami and Homura? Mami put a finger to her lips in thought. 

“Kyubey looks for people with enough potential. Being a Magical Girl can be dangerous, so you can’t just give powers to anyone. And I can tell Madoka, that you have incredible potential.” Mami clarified, sounding like she could see something Madoka couldn’t see. Did Magical Girls have the ability to see power levels? 

“Really?” Madoka said in amazement. As Mami had explained what she and Homura were, Madoka thought she was just going to be dead weight to her two magical Soulmates. But if she could be one too, and she could literally feel Mami’s excitement and joy at the idea. She could also feel Homura’s thoughts as she imagined herself as a magical…

And then she involuntarily shuddered, like she just got hit by sheer fear. 

…

“Madoka cannot contract. Time is frozen…and that cat doesn’t nearly get bit by the car until at least two days from now….” Homura said to herself. She wasn’t actually hearing…feeling(?) Madoka’s reaction to a contract out of naive joy, she had no reason to be worried for Madoka’s safety right now. Madoka can’t make contracts when time was stopped…stop losing it Homura. You were behind on the things you needed to kill for Madoka’s safety as is. You can’t lose it Homura…who else can protect Madoka if you do?

…

At Mami’s worry she shook her head. 

“I…I think Homura didn’t like the idea. I…I think, at least? I’m really not sure…but Homura’s where the negative emotions keep coming from.” Madoka explained, confused about it. Why wouldn’t Homura want another Magical Girl around, especially if they were going to be together? Wasn’t that better than just having her be…well Madoka Kaname? 

“I felt that too, but nowhere near as bad.” Mami said curiously as she opened her own palm curiously. She showed it to Madoka, revealing her own pattern of diamonds. The yellow diamond, Mami’s, was in the center, and in order was the faded red diamond, Madoka’s own pink diamond, the faded blue diamond, and farthest out Homura’s purple. Her diamond on Mami’s hand was about at the same positions that Mami’s yellow diamond was on her own hand, which Madoka assumed was the point, though the red diamond was a bit farther from the center than the blue one on Madoka’s. “That hit you really strongly….

Understanding what Mami was asking Madoka showed her older Soulmate her own pattern, which made Mami quite surprised. 

“...How is…are you sure you don’t know Homura?” Mami didn’t sound, or feel, jealous. They had just met, and in time both of their diamonds would shift position as they got closer. That was what the doctor said. But to have Homura’s diamond so close…

“I’m sure.” Madoka said, her tone unsure about why Homura’s connection to her was so intense. “I mean…either Homura. I don’t know anyone with glasses and braids, or long black hair like that. Let alone a cool name.” Mami looked puzzled. 

“Curious…maybe there is something we’re missing, or maybe there’s something that just naturally clicks with you two. Maybe she just likes cute things and can’t get enough of them.” 

Madoka blushed as Mami idly tweaked the accessory on her head. The Soul Gem, she had called it. 

“It’s possible that she associates other Magical Girls with competition. Magical Girls do often fight over Grief Seeds…I try to avoid it where I can but I have been attacked after defeating a Witch before. Homura might have a history with that…though a Soulbond should reassure her.” Mami transformed back into her school uniform and held out a jewel that looked a bit like an egg, but was glowing bright yellow. Her Soul Gem’s other form. “It’s something I noticed as I was looking for you. Just being around you makes my Soul Gem brighter, and if Homura has an even stronger connection to you, it must be obvious to her. Though if she seems to be surprised about the emotional connections,” Mami’s face was that of disapproval for having Homura’s negative emotions blast Madoka inadvertently, “so maybe she hasn’t put it together yet. We won’t know until we find her, or she finds us.”

“I saw the video from this morning…she couldn’t have missed that something happened. Though the Homura who I saw looked really different than she did in the pictures…” That was another odd thing. The Homura she had seen jumping from cars didn’t really act like she was the nervous girl in the photos. Did she wish to be braver or something? 

“...It’s a mystery until then.” Mami mused, sounding like she wanted to know what was up with Homura before passing judgment. Madoka had a few other things she wanted to ask, like if Mami had any ideas about their other two Soulmates or about what Mami herself had wished for. But she felt like any second now, time would start up again and there was something that they needed to do. 

“Mami, my parents are a few aisles over. Do you…” 

“Yes.” Mami said very quickly, though even without the shared feelings Madoka could feel sadness and…yearning, from Mami. 

When time unfroze and Madoka introduced Mami to her family, it wasn’t long until she found out why. 

…

“Another orphan, Madoka? I didn’t think you had a type.” 

Madoka sputtered so much she nearly hit her head against the sink. Her mom shook her head. 

“Dear, I’m only teasing you. Though it is kind of odd that it happened twice.” 

The two were washing up ahead of dinner, which was going to be different. Mami had been very quick to volunteer to help cook, and what had followed was a duel of politeness between her dad as the host and Mami as the new arrival/guest/family member that was…awkward to witness. They had eventually agreed to split the work, contributing based on their specialities and they had quickly gotten into sync, though it was still…a bit worrying how quick Mami was to want to do things for her parents. 

“...She’s going to be a bit clingy.” Her mom advised. Cl… clingy!? “She won’t mean anything bad by it, and if she’s been alone for a while I get it. People aren’t meant to be alone, it does bad things to them.” 

Her mom briefly looked at her reflection, as if wondering if she needed to apply anything, but decided against it after a moment. 

“I can tell she is also going to try to make herself ‘worth it’. She’s going to offer to do a lot for us, but especially you, to ‘earn’ her keep and place. She’s going to want to cover your expenses, cook sweets for us, and help out with everything.” Her mom noted again as Madoka blinked. 

“Is that a bad thing?” Should she tell Mami to not do that? Her mother shook her head. 

“No, not in moderation. But Madoka, I cannot stress this enough, you are going to have to be the one to judge when something starts to verge on Mami letting you take advantage of her, because she isn’t going to see it until you really go over the line, which I know you won’t ever go that far. So Mami is not going to see it, but you will, we will, everyone else will. That girl…she’s been wearing a mask. I know the type.” 

Probably not. She knew her mom was thinking of work, and was not thinking of a Magical Girl fighting evil in secret. Though maybe the basic idea still applied. 

“She can finally drop the mask, and it can do things to you even without booze. In fact, dropping a mask is even more of a cleanser than a drinking session. She will never mean harm by it, but I need you to remember this Madoka, at some point you are going to need to establish limits early on. After a while, Mami will feel comfortable, she will feel like she doesn’t have to go the extra mile…but until then, you will need to be the one to make the lines Mami can’t cross trying to earn her place, and earn her love. I don’t know Soulbonds, but that’s not how love and relationships work. Just ask your teacher….actually don’t ask her. You’ll lose an entire school week that way.” 

It was a…lot to think about, even without magic. Though now she did have a question. 

“Mom….do you and Dad have boundaries?” 

Her mother laughed, and suddenly Madoka felt like she had just asked a bad question. No, a dangerous question.  

“Oh, of course we do dear, but that’s a bit mature for you right now. Maybe on your birthday I’ll tell you. Better that than me telling you next time I come back from a drinking party after work. Apologies if that happens next but…eh education is traumatic sometimes.” 

….waaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

…

Homura, about to eat a warm soup to try and maybe feel warm again, felt like Madoka was in distress. She looked at the time….wasn’t this around the time her mom often came home drunk? 

...Probably just another one of those drunken stories. She did know Madoka’s schedule well enough to know when her screams were not because of Witches, but because of her mother being drunk and saying too much. Though she usually didn’t feel like she knew when it was happening…

What was with this loop? And could it please stop. Her body was cold, her mind was confused, and it felt like her emotions weren’t her own sometimes. It was very distressing. 

…

Dinner was good, and you know…having your Soulmate in your room was just like a sleepover where Sayaka slept in the same bed, and hugged you as you slept. Just…different. It was really nice…except for the one thing.

Madoka dreamed…but it was not a happy dream. She had those on occasion, but this one…this one was different. It felt real, real in a way that dreams, no matter how many of them involved your clothes turning into inflatable blimps and her dad killing the Prime Minister with a shoehorn, didn’t. Everything looked and felt real. 

The destroyed buildings, the water lapping at her feet, the smell of….copper? No… blood. She smelled blood! She smelled a lot of blood!

Madoka tried to look around, but her neck…her neck wasn’t responding. It was…it felt weird. She was looking to the side, but she couldn’t move her gaze. She…she couldn’t move her hands. She couldn’t move anything. She was…she was stuck, she couldn’t move ….

“I hate endings like this.” A voice said, a voice that was familiar, but not. Madoka felt like she should have noticed her earlier, but…Homura was here. The girl still didn’t have the hair style, glasses, or expression of her photo, but Madoka knew this was the girl she had seen jumping from car to car and entering the Labyrinth. This was her Soulmate. And she looked horrible. Not like she was ugly or anything, no Homura looked physically torn up. 

The girl…what happened to her?! Half of her hair was torn out, while part of her left ear was torn up like a stray cat’s. Two of her right fingers were at unsettling angles, and her Magical Girl outfit was torn up and covered in blood. A half-stopped wound left her right eye partially closed with blood and when her mouth opened several of her teeth were missing and her mouth was bloody. Madoka tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out. She couldn’t say anything. Homura, with the hand that wasn’t with broken fingers, held up a black bauble that Madoka recognized from Mami’s explanation. It was a Grief Seed with a massive gear pattern in the center. Homura’s expression…didn’t change, but Madoka could feel so many emotions out of her. Pain, regret, frustration, a feeling of failure, sadness, mourning. Why…why was Homura looking mourningly at her while she couldn’t move!? 

“I used to throw these away…that was wasteful of me. When things get so close like this…it’s worse than when it just goes completely to shit. We…we almost had a happy ending, or as happy as the two of us could get.” Homura admitted, sounding like she thought Madoka couldn’t hear her. “I don’t know what I did differently this time but….it was all going so well. We can…we can have a happy ending one day, a perfect ending….I just need to get right.” Homura spoke to her, a tone that was clear in that she thought Madoka couldn’t hear her. “I’ll do it better next time…there is always a next time for me.” 

Homura put the Grief Seed up to her Soul Gem, idly watching it suck away….oh god that was a lot of dullness. Mami had made it clear that a Soul Gem that looked like that was dangerous. What…what was happening!? This couldn’t be…right now, could it?

Homura stood up, and reached for the shield on her arm, before stopping herself. 

“It's....this is pointless of me. It’s not going to make a difference…but I have to do it. You all…you all cared about me this time.” Homura walked out of sight, and Madoka strained her neck to try and see what Homura was doing… but her eyeballs wouldn’t even move! 

“...Did I say something different in class?” She could hear Homura kneel down as she asked the first question. It seemed to take forever as Homura walked…no, it sounded like she hobbled with some sort of leg injury, to something else. “Was it because I saved the two of them as your first impression of me and you saw me as better intentioned? Is it really that simple?” Homura hobbled somewhere out of sight again before kneeling again. “And with you…two rogue proteges clicked I guess, I wonder how you knew? Did you ever know we had the same teacher?” 

And then came the last hobble, as Homura slowly approached her. Madoka wanted to catch her breath, to tremble in dread… but her body wouldn’t do those either! She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe! Homura kneeled down in front of her, and Madoka could see the pain in Homura’s eyes. 

“...I’ll save us all one day. Then…then we’ll have a happy ending. Goodbye….you’ll see the other side of Walpurgisnacht someday….I swear it.” 

Homura knelt down and kissed her forehead, Madoka feeling a bit of Homura’s blood sticking to her forehead as Homura withdrew her lips, before her Soulmate’s fingers moved towards her eyes to gently tap her eyelids, and slowly closed them. And the world was completely black. There was a clicking sound, and everything wasn’t just black anymore. It was….it was nothing. 

And then she woke up, her entire body shuddering. The only reason she wasn’t screaming was because of the soft pair of arms around her, which would have made her freakout if she didn’t know why they were there, or feel the comforting presence of her other Soulmate. 

“....You were trembling.” Mami said from behind her, Madoka turning her head around so quickly she nearly bonked Mami’s. Fortunately Mami had good reflexes. “...Were you having a nightmare?” 

Madoka nodded frantically. 

“It…it was so real. And Homura…Homura was in it.” Did….did Soulmates share dreams? Madoka hoped she didn’t, because she didn’t want Homura to have a nightmare like that. Or worse…if it wasn’t a nightmare. Mami’s eyes, faintly visible in the darkness, were comforting, and Madoka could feel her presence over her like a blanket, both physically and emotionally. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

Madoka didn’t know. Mami stared at her patiently, waiting for an answer, and Madoka wondered if she should bother Mami with it, but she could feel Mami’s distress. She could feel Homura’s distress too, though it was different from Mami’s. 

…

“Madoka.” Homura said to the ceiling. She had not been sleeping well tonight. She…she remembered one of the worst types of timelines. The ones that she was so close…so close…. so close ….

She was cold, she was miserable, the bad memories were coming back…and she felt like was somehow giving Madoka nothing but trouble this time. Was it guilt because she hadn’t gotten a chance to kill the serial killers yet? At this rate…she was just letting Madoka down. She was putting her in danger…all because of whatever was wrong with her this loop. 

…

She wasn’t sleeping well either. Maybe…maybe if she could get this off her chest, and she slept well, maybe that would help Homura too. So she explained everything to Mami. Mami, occasionally tightening her hug as she talked about the worst of it, seemed alarmed when one word came up. 

“Walpurgisnacht. Are you sure that was the word she said?” 

Madoka nodded. “Just…don’t ask me to spell it.” 

Mami didn’t, though her expression was someone who knew of that name, and knew to dread it. 

“Madoka….Walpurgisnacht is a legend, a nightmare, told among Magical Girls for centuries. The most powerful Witches are called Walpurgisnacht. They say they are created when multiple Witches merge together, though no one knows for sure. Witches are not well understood, and I’ve never tried studying them. That would endanger people’s lives. But wherever a Walpurgisnacht does appear, massive amounts of death always follows.” Mami explained, sounding like it was the apocalypse in living form. Were Witches ‘living’? “…It’s also a name that you shouldn’t know…I hate to assume this, but you know how you said that Homura didn’t look or act like her picture at the hospital?” 

Madoka nodded. Mami’s face was grim. 

“...I don’t think that was just a dream, I think it was a memory, and one from Homura at that.” 

Oh no….it couldn’t be….

“I don’t know for sure, and we won’t know unless Homura tells us, but I fear it is the most reasonable explanation. It’s terrible…but I can’t think of anything that can change a person worse than loss.” 

And the Homura in the photos was very different from the Homura she saw on the street or in her dream…

“...I guess, I hope I never found out. But Mami…Homura looked really injured. Can Magical Girls regrow teeth and restore torn-up ears?” 

“I’ve never had to. I’ve repaired injured fingers and ankles, but that’s about it.” Mami admitted, not sounding sure herself. Her tone was still solemn, her expression one of great dread. “Though there’s also the words….though I hope I’m overthinking them. Because…what sort of person would encounter more than one Walpurgisnacht?”

Mami held Madoka tighter. Mami didn’t say anything yet, and hadn’t elaborated on a lot of her past beyond her being an orphan and a magical girl yet. Madoka had a feeling the two were connected, but…did Mami lose someone else? Was she wondering about Homura having suffered a terrible loss twice over? 

“Tomorrow after school…let’s find her.” Madoka suggested to Mami, who nodded. No matter how confused Homura was, or how lost she was, they were going to find her. There was no reason to leave Homura alone for any longer.

Mami responded by holding her tighter. 

“We’ll find her together, Sweetie.” 

Despite the lingering fear, Madoka blushed.  

…

“Morning.” 

“Morning Madoka, what happened yesterday? You weren’t at school at all. Were you sick or…” Sayaka Miki, her best friend, immediately lost her words as she and Hitomi stared at Madoka. Or more accurately, who had come along with her. 

“Oh, good morning. My name is Mami Tomoe, and it’s nice to meet you both.” Mami greeted, her hand never leaving Madoka’s. 

“Um…hello?” Hitomi seemed quite confused about who Mami was and why she was here, and why she had Madoka’s hand firmly in her own. 

“Oh um…yeah you see…it’s very hard to explain actually….” Madoka had no idea how to explain everything. It was so much, even without the part about Magical Girls.

“Oh, don’t be shy Madoka. They’re your friends, you should tell them the good news!” Mami insisted, giving her a bit of encouragement in both words and in feelings. 

“Well um….we’re kind of Soulmates.” Madoka sputtered out as Hitomi made a noise that was something like that of a really embarrassed and surprised tea kettle. Sayaka’s mouth just hung open in shock. 

“No fuc…” 

“Language.” Mami gently scolded before showing her palm to Sayaka. Sayaka stared in shock at the diamonds present as Mami smiled with overflowing joy. “But it’s true, Madoka’s very fortunate, as am I.” 

“Five….” 

“Five!?” Hitomi said in disbelief, sounding like her head was about to start spinning. “ Five? !”

“Madoka….oh god I don’t know if I should be terrified for you or jealous.” Sayaka said, sounding like she was also happy for Madoka, but also very much worried for her, and that she might not be seeing her much anymore. 

“Don’t worry about a thing, Sayaka, I won’t steal your friend away.” Mami assured her junior, completely honest. 

“But…but…you're a senior. Won’t you want to introduce her to all of your cool senior friends…” 

“Oh don’t worry about that, I don’t have any friends to show Madoka off to.” 

Madoka could just feel the loneliness that wafted off Mami when she said that, and while Mami’s tone didn’t really betray just how lonely Mami was, it did give Sayaka and Hitomi pause, and not just at the honesty of it. 

“Um… do you want to eat lunch with us…” Sayaka offered awkwardly. 

“Oh very much.” Mami said very quickly. 

…

“So Madoka…you are now married to a lonely upperclassman with huge…” 

“....ringlets.” Hitomi interrupted Sayaka, not looking the blue-haired girl in the eye as Sayaka huffed. 

“Well I can’t be the only one who noticed….Madoka must have at some point. I mean she’s not blind, are you Madoka?” 

“....” Madoka blushed as Sayaka’s expression became that of a rather smug cat. 

“See?” Sayaka said in a teasing tone during a short break period where Sayaka pulled Madoka closer towards her, a teasing cat-like grin still on her face. “Madoka knows who she woke up married to yesterday.” 

“Sayaka!” 

“...You know they aren’t officially married yet, right? They just have some of the benefits, not all of them.” Hitomi reminded Sayaka, who blinked. 

“Oh, so you know a thing or two, do you? Interested?” 

“In…interested? Interested in what!?” Hitomi babbled. 

“There’s more to Mami than just her…um…..you know…” Madoka quickly cut this one off. Sayaka, while looking surprised by the cut off, respected it and looked curious to hear more. “She’s a really good cook, and she likes making ribbons.” 

“Oh…is that where the golden ribbon in your hair came from?” Hitomi caught as Madoka nodded. Mami had lied to her parents and said she already had it, and since she knew Mami had made it with magic it wasn’t what her mom would consider Mami being too eager to please, especially if Madoka just being around Mami replenished her magic… 

“Yeah, she made it for me. It was like ma…um…she likes Magical Girls. Magical Girl shows, yeah!” Drat, she needed to be careful about thinking about magic when talking about Mami or she might say something!

“Of course she does.” Sayaka declared as Madoka briefly panicked. Did she say too much!? Did she change the subject wrong?! “I mean, whenever do you see a straight Magical Girl?” 

Madoka started sputtering, not sure what she was even denying, as Sayaka started laughing and Hitomi started waving her arms around, loudly discussing the tropes of the Magical Girl genre passionately and how straight Magical Girls were totally a thing. Sayaka, having a ball, then promptly counter-debating and it…it…oh what did she start?! 

She could feel Mami having a mirthful chuckle at the entire thing from her own class. Oh, at least Homura wasn’t laughing at her. 

…

Why did she feel like Madoka was distressed…oh wait, it was schooltime. Either the teacher got dumped again and was ranting earlier than usual or Sayaka was being annoying. That was harmless enough. If she wasn’t going completely insane, that is, though at least whatever that was didn’t feel like her ‘serial killer Magical Girl’ senses were tingling. 

There were too many of those…and she was behind in killing them first. She hoped she didn’t run into the sword using one, or the crazy one and her master, she was not in a state for them. That one with the control power…she could probably still take her. Though if they all could just….serial kill somewhere else, at least until she felt better and could kill them properly, that would be nice. Was that too much to ask in this timeloop? No, of course not. This loop was hell, and with her luck all four were going to show up soon….

…

Eventually the topic came up to the other Soulmate whose bond was active. 

“An escaped hospital patient?” Sayaka asked about Homura, sounding like she was asking another question entirely. 

“She had heart surgery.” Madoka clarified. Homura was not some escaped mental patient. She was a Magical Girl with a scary backstory that literally was giving her nightmares, completely different. 

“How do you escape a hospital?” Hitomi questioned as Sayaka….well explained how. At their disturbed looks, she blushed. 

“Kyosuke might want to get out at some point….he seems miserable and I thought about it a bit.” 

“I’m pretty sure that doing that would be illegal.” Hitomi noted in a strange tone. 

“Nah…..probably. Misdemeanor at most.” 

“That’s still a crime, Sayaka. That just means you won’t get in as much trouble as if you were committing murder.” 

“But it’s fine when Madoka’s other wife does it herself without any help?” 

“.....Maybe?” 

“She’s supposed to transfer into our grade in a week, but I want to meet her before then.” Madoka clarified before this conversation got any weirder. “I mean…it was terrible until I ran into Mami, I can’t imagine an entire day and a half like it. Homura must be miserable.” 

Both Sayaka and Hitomi looked at each other, clearly aware of that part of Soulbonds.  

“Do you need any help?” Sayaka asked sincerely. Hitomi looked guilty, she probably had lessons after school and couldn’t help despite her desire to. Madoka shook her head. 

“No, I think it is best if me and Mami look.” 

Fortunately the break was over, so she didn’t have to try and avoid explaining how both of her Soulmates were Magical Girls. Hopefully they wouldn’t get any theories that were weird or anything. 

…

As the Labyrinth vanished a few hours later with another Witch dead, Homura felt a massive rush of embarrassment and mortification, oddly mixed with the faintest taste of Mami’s cooking on her tongue. She was confused, and now rather hungry, and craving food she couldn’t have anymore. 

Urgghhhhh…..this loop. Now she had to go do a Kyoko and get some food without paying for it, but not the actual food she was phantom craving. She’d go rob the Yakuza for actual money later. She also needed more bullets. Until then…this loop continued to torment her.

…

Mami laughed as Madoka continued to apologize even half an hour after school ended. It wasn’t necessary. 

“Oh Sweetie, don’t worry about it. It was actually pretty funny. And it was nice to have lunch with your friends.” Mami assured her Soulmate. She wasn’t embarrassed at all about either of their ‘interesting’ ideas for luring out Homura. Honestly in a few ways they were probably more ethical than taking Madoka with her to check likely Witch sites. And she could probably make a flattering maid outfit out of her ribbons if she really had to…

Though on the topic of Witches, she hadn’t seen Kyubey since yesterday. While she did not want Madoka to rush into a wish, those always hurt you in the long run, she would prefer that Madoka had powers. She was confident that she could protect Madoka from most Witches, but she’d rather be safe than sorry. Especially with the nature of Soulmates. But the Witches were the only place they knew Homura would be around. Homura wasn’t likely to go back to the hospital and it was unlikely she knew where either of them lived, not that Mami had been back home since yesterday. 

Home…would she keep calling that empty place that? It was…it was one of the last links she had to her parents, other than the money their pensions gave her. Money she barely touched beyond just the necessities. But being there…it also hurt. It had taken months before she fully processed that she'd never see anyone else open the door, not until Kyoko. And when she and Kyoko had split up….the times Kyubey showed up were the only time she ever had company. 

It was someplace that she both wanted to keep, and brought her pain to be around. The pensions would keep the lease on the apartment ongoing no matter what she did, but would she only return there to clean it? Maybe until Madoka graduated but…that was a bit presumptive of what Madoka wanted, Mami had to admit. Madoka was fourteen, she had time to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Mami was fifteen, and she wasn’t sure she had any ideas either. Being a hero who fought Witches wasn’t really a future either…and while Mami could live on just the pensions that would just leave her even more alone without school to let her see people. Did Homura have any ideas about what to do in the future? 

Following her Soul Gem, Mami was happy when it led them somewhere so she didn’t have to think about the future. Until yesterday, she didn’t have any ideas for the future, though in truth having two people, eventually four, who would be part of that future made the uncertainty more apparent. It was as daunting as loneliness, it just went away if the future was put off to the side and ignored. 

Ignored so she could pick up a few spent firearm cartridges, surprised she could feel faint magic on them. They weren’t made of magic like her own firearms, but magic residue from enchantments was on them just the same.  And it wasn’t the only magic she could detect.

“A Witch and a Familiar were here.” Mami deduced as she looked around a bit. She could feel Madoka feel a bit confused at her thought process, so she clarified. “It’s not easy to spot, but with experience, and magic of your own, you can learn to pick things up. The Familiar was outside of the Labyrinth and killed there, while the Witch never left it. And the weapon was used by a Magical Girl.” 

“I heard a gunshot before I saw Homura.” Madoka put it together from there, and Mami nodded. Two gun-using Magical Girls with the same Soulmate, how interesting. Though it seemed like Homura used regular firearms instead of magical ones. Mami wondered where she got them from. 

“If Homura’s power is to stop time,” which kept happening today and yesterday, “I wonder if she needed to adapt. Ribbons are good for restraining targets, but to actually damage them effectively I needed to find a way to use my powers differently. I create, but perhaps that isn’t something Homura could do.” 

She could feel Madoka’s curiosity at a few thoughts she idly had as she held the bullet up, which Mami elaborated on. 

“Oh, I’m thinking about how rare it is to see a Magical Girl kill a Familiar out and about like that. More Magical Girls than I care to admit would leave them be and let them mature into Witches to farm for Soul Gems. Killing it instead of leaving it be…I can certainly respect that.” More so for the fact that Homura didn’t seem to know them, so she wasn’t trying to butter Mami up. She did this on her own. Mami could think of two motives that weren’t a respect for human life that could have motivated that action. One was self-preservation, which seemed unlikely with Homura’s ability to freeze time whenever she wanted. The other….was Madoka. Homura was a lot more bonded to Madoka than her, and was a lot more tuned into her emotions. With Homura out to go after as many Witches as possible, if she could tell that Madoka wasn’t a Magical Girl, it was clearly protective in nature. Though Homura didn’t seem to be as aware of her own negative emotions impacting Madoka, it was hard to tell the exact reasons for them. A dream was not Homura’s fault, though she didn’t know about that burning level of anger yesterday. 

Regardless of Homura’s exact reasons, the Familiar had been slain hours ago, and Homura was long gone. Those negative emotions, plus being so far away from them, did make Mami worry that Homura was burning through Grief Seeds. Why wouldn’t Homura be trying to find them too? Was she just that lost? No, she knew what Madoka’s car looked like, she had a trail, and Madoka didn’t really mention that she was feeling Homura felt lost. So was she willingly staying away until…she was sure Madoka was safe? Was she just going to wait until she transferred into Madoka’s class? Mami really hoped for Homura’s sake she didn’t do that.

“Mami, you said that Magical Girls can communicate telepathically? Could you try that?” Madoka spoke up, having been mulling over an idea. Mami had explained Magical Girls in detail, but she hadn’t explained everything. “Try to contact Homura and find out where she is?”

“I could…but I’m hesitant to try. Magical Girls often fight, and unfamiliar communications by telepathy are an easy way to put a girl on edge.” Mami had learned that from personal experience. Those fights she had with Magical Girls had not always been the first time she had known they were there. “Homura likely has had time to learn to be wary of them. It’s a last resort.” 

They needed to either get lucky and get ahead of Homura on her Witch hunt, or find a new way of tracking her down. Or maybe getting her to come to them, but Mami didn’t want to stake out around a Witch. That was too dangerous. Homura Akemi….what else did they have on her? The address Mami had managed to find on her listed the hospital and Homura hadn’t returned yet, the hospital would have called the Kanames if she had. Unless Homura knew Mitakihara, which seemed improbable, she wasn’t going to necessarily follow a logical patrol route like what Mami had established, though she did seem to be good at finding Witches without having a territory here. How aware was Homura that her other Soulmate was a Magical Girl, was she trying to avoid Mami unaware that they were Soulmates? 

“Could Kyubey tell us something if we find him?” Madoka suggested, and that was logical. Homura was a Magical Girl, and a Soulbond was important enough that her friend should be willing to disclose things. Madoka got a weird look in her eye after saying his name, which she shook off, just as she felt an emotion from Homura. The name Kyubey…made Homura angry. 

Wait….did Homura hate Kyubey for some reason? Madoka seemed to get the idea soon, and her younger Soulmate looked at her palm with eyes that suggested she wanted to try something. . 

“Homura, what do you think of Kyubey?” Madoka asked the diamond on her palm that represented Homura. Seconds later Mami was holding Madoka as she struggled to breathe through a miasma of sheer, unfathomable hatred. 

…

The Kyubey fell over dead into a dumpster, the thrown metal pipe impaling it. Good riddance, thoughts of why she hated the monster surging through her as it seemed part of her wondered what she felt of the wicked, manipulative, life-destroying little alien. And then came that same feeling of not being able to breathe, panic, and distress that Homura couldn’t trace to herself, but was clearly coming from somewhere, and it made her feel guilty.

This loop was really being….what was it doing to her?! And why did it feel she was hurting someone…

…

When Madoka could breathe again, and Mami felt ready to release her from a comforting hug, Madoka had come to a clear conclusion, her eyes confused and worried. 

“Mami, does Homura hate Kyubey?”

Madoka then blinked. 

“....Yeah…yeah I think she does, Sweetie.” 

At least Homura didn’t accidentally start choking Madoka on her hate this time. The only thing she could say in Homura’s defense for it is that she clearly didn’t intend to scare Madoka with that vitriol of hers, though it was a mark against her in Mami’s book. Homura needed to control her negative emotions when she had a bond as strong as she did with Madoka. 

Though for Homura to hate Kyubey that much…she suddenly worried for her friend. Was he alright? 

‘Oh, I’m fine. Though I’ve not had the best two days, I’ll admit that.’ 

Madoka jumped at the voice in her head as Kyubey appeared on the other end of the alleyway they were at, wagging his tail idly. When Madoka was done being surprised at his sudden arrival, she immediately started cooing at his cuteness. 

Mami started deliberately thinking of cake, not because she didn’t care for Kyubey being fine, but with the intent someone else was thinking of cake and not Kyubey for Madoka’s sake. 

…

Homura suddenly froze mid-step as she passed a bakery, a craving for Mami’s baking suddenly overcoming her. Again?! This time loop was just out to get her…

Though this cake she’d actually pay for. That drug money was stolen for a reason, though not usually cake.  

…

Mami felt the tactic was a bit uncouth…but it had to be done. She hated seeing Madoka choking on Homura’s rage, and she knew that Homura wasn’t trying to do it to Madoka on purpose either, but it kept happening and the cake was distracting. So, while she kept part of her mind on distracting Homura, she made sure this conversation got rolling before Homura had her fill. 

“It’s good to see you Kyubey, though I’m sorry you’ve been having trouble. Is it with Homura?” 

Kyubey looked at her with a curious expression. 

‘If Homura is a girl with long dark hair, purple eyes, and various guns and other weapons, then yes. She’s been quite persistent.’

“You don’t know?” Mami quickly caught, making sure to double her thoughts to keep Homura occupied as she freed up time for that curveball. 

‘It is rather unprecedented. I know the wishes of every Magical Girl, but I don’t recognize Homura’s. She is clearly a Magical Girl, it’s actually quite strange. Though I’m curious why you know her, or why you know Madoka Kaname?’ 

“He knows my name?” Madoka asked as Mami reflexively upped her distracting thoughts in Homura's direction. 

‘Of course I do. I’ve been sensing you for a while now. Of course, Mami Tomoe has a good eye too, so no wonder she found you. Did you find a new protege?’ 

… 

She was eating like Kyoko, Homura thought as she got another helping of cake. No…actually this was still pretty light for the delinquent who tried too hard to be edgy sometimes, but why was Kyoko now on her mind? She couldn’t be considering getting Kyoko to show up earlier when she was in bad shape, that was just asking for trouble…

…

Mami wished Kyubey hadn’t said that, her concentration slipped. She hoped that Homura didn’t get confused about Kyoko and get suspicious. 

“Um, I’m actually not sure what I’d want to wish for yet, Mr. Kyubey….” 

‘Just call me Kyubey.’ 

“And I’m not really sure I’m a protege…am I? I mean I’m sure Mami would be a great teacher, and I’m apparently supposed to be some super good student, but I don’t know how or why….actually I’m Mami’s Soulmate, and Homura’s.” 

Madoka didn’t notice it, but she was sure that the information surprised Kyubey, who looked at her with the same expression as ever, but there were slight tells. Tells Madoka didn’t notice. 

‘Really?’ 

Mami, smiling, showed Kyubey her palm. 

“I know, it’s wonderful! It happened yesterday morning. Though I am surprised that Homura is going after you, and I wish I could tell her to stop. I’m sure she’d listen once we meet, but we can’t seem to find her.” Mami beamed the first part, she was still happy about it even if Homura was going after her friend. 

Kyubey stared at her palm for a minute before saying anything more. 

‘Soulbonds do often form after contracting, but I didn’t contract Homura Akemi then, or anytime as far as I can remember, and I don’t forget things. It’s strange, though Homura’s behavior isn’t as unusual. Many Magical Girls do prefer I not stick around after they establish territories for anything more than eating used Grief Seeds to prevent competition or potential threats to themselves and their loved ones.’ Kyubey admitted, sounding like he was thinking about more things than just Homura. What he was thinking of Mami wasn’t sure, but she was devoting part of her mind to cake to distract Homura, so she couldn’t criticize Kyubey for having private thoughts that were potentially off topic. 

“That’s horrible.” Madoka worried for Kyubey. Kyubey did his best impression of a shrug. 

‘It’s logical. There are only so many Witches, which means there is only so much magic to go around. For many Magical Girls the goal is conservation. My goal is preservation.’ 

“Aren’t those the same thing? If you want to preserve rare animals like pandas and tigers, conservation is preservation in the wild and in zoos, right?” Madoka asked as Kyubey shook his head. 

‘Oh, no, those are actually two different things, but that’s not really relevant right now. You want to find Homura Akemi, and I’d like her to stop shooting at me.’ 

Kyubey was being less pushy about contracts, Mami noticed. Normally he’d have mentioned making a wish to Madoka again by now. The Homura issue must be serious. She wouldn’t mind the easing of the prodding about wishes while it lasted though, Kyubey was a dear friend but he could be pushy sometimes. 

“Well, we do need her to find us, so do you know what she’s after?” 

‘Besides myself, seemingly resources. Grief Seeds, obtaining weapons and money from organized crime by robbing them, purchasing materials that criminal elements don’t stock up on, it’s actually a pretty meticulous process. She’s done this before’ 

Madoka looked uneasy at the idea of Homura going up against the Yakuza. Mami could see why Homura might default to that: it was a guiltless theft compared to stealing weapons from the police, and if she needed to arm herself versus creating her own weapons, it was a strategy to go with. Stopping time also was a good way to avoid retribution. Though Mami was not comfortable looking for Homura around Yakuza dens, especially with Madoka in tow. 

“Homura seems to be a veteran who is after exactly what she wants,” Mami mused aloud, her thoughts going to the dream that Homura had that Madoka also shared. If their fellow Soulmate had somehow experienced two Walpurgisnachts and emerged victorious, but lost everyone she cared for both times, part of Mami wondered if Homura might be redirecting her grief at Kyubey. In her despair, maybe Homura blamed him for her friends being there to die on two different occasions, and that in turn was why she reacted badly if Madoka wondered about contracting. Mami had once been told that her own grief about not saving her parents was misguided, and while the person who had said to her that a parent would always rather sacrifice themselves for their child than see their child die instead then killed his entire family making it hard to dwell on for many reasons, she could see that logic applied here. “I’ve thought about watching for her around a Witch, but I don’t want to put people in danger needlessly.” 

“Mami doesn’t need to go after Witches anymore, but she still wants to keep people safe.” Madoka clarified to Kyubey, who tilted his head to look at her. 

‘I am aware of that part of Soulbonds, I just was worried that Mami might neglect her duties if she didn’t have to, so I didn’t mention it. It happens sometimes.’ 

“I’m not most Magical Girls.” Mami assured Kyubey. 

‘That’s always been apparent. You’ve always been a rare sort, just as rare as Madoka’s potential and Homura’s mysterious origins. I’m curious if your other two bonded members will be just as intriguing. Though if you do want to find Homura Akemi, there is a bait that she will certainly look for, especially if her pursuit of me is rooted in protective territorialism.’ 

“Oh, what’s that?” Madoka asked, curious about what Kyubey was suggesting. 

…

“We think we managed to find a way to contact Homura and tell her where to find us, though it might take a bit.” Mami explained to Madoka’s father, who nodded. 

“Well, better late than never, and no matter how late our door will always be open for her. I know it must be hard to have to wait for her instead of actively searching her out, but sometimes that is all you can reasonably do. Oh, Madoka, are you alright?” 

Madoka, whose expression was nervous, nodded rapidly, Kyubey not leaving his perch on Madoka’s shoulder the entire time, invisible to her dad. 

“Oh, I’m a little nervous…my second Soulmate might show up at any minute and I have no idea what to expect.” 

‘Don’t worry Madoka, it is very unlikely she’ll use munitions.’  

…

Homura was now wondering if she had enough bombs for some reason, seemingly for no reason. She knew very well she had plenty, and she could make crude ones in her sleep at this point. She literally had once: magic could animate her body while her mind slept, though she preferred military grade versus homemade bombs when she could allow so. Also sometimes when she made bombs in her sleep, they were duds and she didn’t realize it until later. In her defense, Sayaka had regrown that arm pretty quickly afterwards so it wasn’t the worst error she’d ever made. 

More importantly, when would these random thoughts and emotions stop ? She needed something to keep her head on straight, she was losing it…and she only just realized she hadn’t been to Madoka’s home yet to make sure Kyubey wasn’t lurking there yet. 

Crap. It should be fine, he was still lurking around Madoka’s favored haunts so she clearly hadn’t contracted yet, if she had he would be with her, watching, waiting, like the vulture he was. But she would check. Though she’d leave the bombs in her shield for this one, she had yet to blow up Madoka’s yard to get rid of the Incubator and this was not the timeline to be chucking bombs near Madoka’s bedroom. With how off she’d been….no, she didn’t want to go there. 

…

“And now, we wait.” Mami nodded as her gaze went towards the kitchen. Madoka, remembering her mom’s talk from yesterday, decided to try something. 

“Hey Mami, can I have some help with my homework?” 

“Sure.” Mami immediately switched tracks, happy to help with something lighter than another cake. She briefly noticed her dad send her a look of thanks for the distraction. She knew that her dad had no problem with Mami or her trying to be helpful, but two cooks in a kitchen was a bit much and he liked cooking. They were all adjusting after all. 

…

“....Mami, why do I feel like I know the answers to this math homework, but it's not from me?” Madoka asked worryingly as she just…flew through it like she was on auto-pilot. It was…kind of unsettling, as she knew how to do the answers despite knowing very well she should be struggling with them. 

Mami hummed thoughtfully as she mulled the question. 

“Maybe you are remembering something from me last year…faintly, maybe instinctually. Though I couldn’t do this on autopilot.” 

‘Perhaps Homura Akemi is gifted at math. ’ Kyubey offered from her shelf as Madoka poked her pencil to the paper. 

“Maybe…though does that mean I’m cheating on my homework?” Was…was she being a bad student and breaking rules now?!

‘Soulbonds are part of human nature and have always been. It’s not like you are using the internet to look up your answers.’ 

“Or asking for someone else to do them for you. It’s instinctual, not intentional, which I think is what makes cheating cheating.” Mami assured her that she was not in fact being the worst kind of student. 

“Still….” 

‘The only other option is to intentionally do the math wrong, which is not what you are supposed to do. ’ Kyubey was a bit blunt about that, which made Madoka wince. Oh…oh…what happened if this happened during the next test?! 

“Do they have a policy for this sort of thing?” Mami wondered aloud. “You know, I’ll ask around about that tomorrow, and see if I find anything.” 

“Oh thank you Mami.” 

More homework followed, and the feeling of Homura’s knowledge just bleeding into her continued, and while Madoka still felt like she was cheating a bit it did make it go faster. Meaning that when it was about that time…

“Madoka!” 

For her little brother to come in to ask her if she wanted to watch T.V with him, she could say yes. 

“Sure!” 

….The yay didn’t come, and it was only then that she and Mami realized that time had frozen again. It had somehow happened without them noticing. 

“I’m getting too used to this.” Madoka admitted to Mami, who nodded. 

“It’s a useful ability, but we really should ask her to warn us first. After all, she can do it quickly.” 

Madoka blinked as Mami’s voice rang out in her head, the telepathy of the Magical Girls. She briefly looked over at Kyubey, who was not moving. Mami smiled. 

“Oh good, that works for you without Kyubey. Okay, I want to see how Homura behaves first, just so we know what we’re dealing with. Are you able to stay completely still?” 

Madoka nodded, and they soon shifted around. Mami slipped into a closet while Madoka, her ears tuned for any sound, hovered over her completed homework. It was after five minutes of her doing that, trying to keep her body as still as possible, that she realized she could relax a bit. She’d surely feel when Homura approached, and she didn’t have to be so stiff as a board…and then her body suddenly felt a new surge of warmth, like the sense of warmth and joy she had been experiencing with Mami was retroactively incomplete. In the closet she heard a hand press against the door, as if Mami also had to catch herself. Homura was here! Homura had arrived! Homura just opened the door! Oh yeah, they didn’t lock it…

Tumble 

…

Houmra fell to the ground the moment she stepped into the Kaname household. She could see, faintly, Madoka’s father in the kitchen, and she knew her mother would be at work, but she could barely concentrate. She had fallen over the moment she entered the house, and her body…her body…no….this was more than that. It felt like her body was…when had it ever felt like this?! Never….it was like being blasted with nothing but joy. Like the worst Witch attacks, but with positive feelings. It was…this wasn’t normal. This wasn’t…

She struggled to get back onto her two legs, the feeling was hard to describe. No…no….she couldn’t be this weak. She wasn’t this weak anymore. She hadn’t been….for ages. 

When she eventually stood up, she closed her eyes, trying to sense…anything. A Witch of Joy…no, that didn’t make any sense. And she couldn’t sense anything like that. She could sense Kyubey, she could sense…what?! She stared at Madoka, over the top of her little brother’s head, and…she felt alive again. No longer cold, no longer miserable. Her entire body felt…felt like it had to get to Madoka now. Was it…no…it wasn’t just because Kyubey was surely in her room, feeding her poisoned honey words and promises loaded with lies. This loop…why did these things keep happening? She was so confused….

…

Watching Homura was…distressing, in a way that Madoka couldn’t quite describe. Her other Soulmate was struggling to stand up, her face displaying the mixture of emotions that Madoka could feel hitting her right in the heart. There was happiness, but what really dominated was confusion and distress. Like the happy feelings were so alien to her that Homura was having trouble processing it. There was also determination, she seemed to be trying to reach her room for something, faintly feelable, that she wanted to remove. Homura was still after Kyubey, but even that was being overwhelmed by Homura’s sheer levels of confusion, like she didn’t even know what was going on…

Madoka thought about that, in relation to Homura’s emotions, and just like she had felt unfathomable rage from Homura before, she felt like she was drowning in confusion coming from Homura. That something was happening to her that she didn’t understand, that was completely alien to her, that everything was wrong and…and Madoka had a terrible thought. It seemed implausible, Soulbonds were something that came up everywhere and it should be impossible for anyone, if they were ever told stories by a village elder or watched any movies or television or read books, to not know about them. But the sheer level of confusion and stress that was coming off of Homura…did she…not know what was going on? It was a crazy thought, it seemed impossible, but the more she felt Homura’s confusion and distress, the more that Homura was just acting so weird near a Soulmate…the harder it was to dismiss as an idea. 

Madoka tried to also ignore how it seemed like Homura was actively resisting going near her, especially as she could feel why. It wasn’t that Homura didn’t want to, but for some reason she felt like she…shouldn’t? It was a terrible comparison, but the best comparison that Madoka could come up with was someone resisting something like cookies or ice cream because they knew they shouldn’t. Shouldn’t? That….that didn’t make any sense. And her confusion…it was bleeding into Homura, who was now looking more distressed, and looking at her. Homura briefly held a hand out, but retracted it quickly, looking like she thought she mustn't do that, ever. This was just….no. 

No. 

She could feel Mami’s worry that if she did what was she was about to do that Homura might run off. But she couldn’t leave Homura like this either. If this went wrong…well Mami could tell her so after the fact once Madoka had screwed up. But this needed to be done, either here or after a chase through Mitakihara. Mami…be ready to run after Homura if this goes badly. 

“Homura.” Madoka said aloud, getting Homura’s attention in the frozen time that Homura created. 

…

“Homura.” 

Homura flinched. That….that didn’t just happen. Madoka didn’t just say her name. Madoka couldn’t say her name. Madoka was frozen in time, just like everything else. That was not how that worked. Everyone else wasn’t moving. Madoka’s father wasn’t moving. Madoka’s brother wasn’t moving. Madoka wasn’t standing up from her math homework…no…. Madoka was standing up . 

It was a slow stand up, it was clear visual body language for Homura to not freak out, she could somehow tell Madoka didn’t want her to freak out beyond that, like she could actually feel Madoka trying to be calm and reassuring…but this…this wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening….

“Homura, please….don’t freak out.” Madoka requested, clearly looking right at her. Madoka’s eyes were calming, inviting, she…she wanted to help her. Homura knew that but…no…this wasn’t….this couldn’t….this wasn’t happening…..

Madoka slowly slipped around her paused brother, careful to not bump into the toddler as she squeezed through the door, and Homura… her heart was racing faster and faster. This was….bad…good….confusing….run away…don’t run away…..yes….no….warm….warm….warm….not cold…..Homura could barely think between the mess that was this loop and Madoka breaking every rule of her powers and….

Madoka was right in front of her. Homura felt like she was staring at Madoka like one of Charlotte’s victims did before the teeth came down, though Madoka didn’t open her mouth wide. No, Madoka hugged her, and Homura immediately lost her balance and fell over, taking Madoka with her as she spilled on the floor. Despite the fall, and the weight of Madoka on her, Homura….well when it came to feeling not miserable this loop, everything she’d felt just now, every feeling of being warm and actually alive for once was blown out the window. She felt…alive. There was no better way of putting it, her mind was still buzzing with confusion even as this….this felt right. Even more so than it usually did when Madoka didn’t see her as some mysterious, aloof, scary figure. 

This timeline was confusing, it was unsettling, it was honestly at times outright disturbing, but for just this moment…it felt right. 

“...Homura, do you know what’s going on?” Madoka asked, sounding like she didn’t know why Homura wouldn’t know it, but was happy to explain anything Homura was confused about. Homura put aside the fact that Madoka should not know her name…because that was the least of her thoughts at the moment. 

“....No.” Homura admitted, staring right up at Madoka’s pink eyes. “All I know is that ever since yesterday my arm spasmed out of control, my body’s been cold, I have some strange mark on my hand, I keep feeling things that aren’t coming from me, but somewhere else…and the only time I’ve not been cold…” 

“...Is when you’re near me?” Madoka finished. Homura nodded. 

“Also…you shouldn’t be able to move right now.” Homura pointed out. Madoka nodded, like she knew that she was the one who froze time. However Madoka was going to explain this….Homura was all ears. Though Madoka, she noticed, didn’t have a ring. So she didn’t have a Soul Gem, and wasn’t a Magical Girl….then how on earth was she moving right now?

Hopefully Madoka’s explanation should clear things up. 

…

Madoka got the impression that the only reason that Homura believed her was because she had been living it for the last two days, and that it was her saying it. 

“Soulmates?” Homura repeated, with the tone that most people would reserve for talking about unicorns. Had Homura really not heard of the term before? How was that even possible? Still, Madoka nodded and showed her the mark on her hand again. 

“Yes. They usually form after something big happens to someone. It often happens in hospitals, so it must be because of your surgery being successful.” 

Madoka caught that Homura seemed to put details together with that information, but somehow Madoka got the impression that Homura didn’t connect it to the work on her heart. Did something else happen to Homura in the meantime that Homura thought was more life-changing? 

“Did something else happen?” She asked as Homura, very clearly, looked away. 

“Yes.” 

Madoka waited for a bit for Homura to elaborate, but Homura didn’t offer anything. Okay….so it was a private thing. If it was important, Homura could talk about it later. Madoka couldn’t imagine having something as special and big as Soulbonds dropped on you at once all of a sudden, she had to be overwhelmed. 

“So you and I are connected.” Homura seemed to be summarizing everything as Madoka nodded. “We’re essentially married, but not fully officially, and as a result I am expected to stay here with your family…” 

“Only if you want to.” Madoka assured, and she got the impression that Homura wanted to. 

“We can feel each other’s emotions…and when I get angry….” Homura looked away when Madoka flinched. “I’m sorry.” 

“You didn’t know, and it’s…not wrong to feel things. Just…there’s probably a way to feel things like that and not wash me over with it.” 

She kept the part about choking on Homura’s anger to herself, for Homura’s sake. 

“And my life…and your life….” Homura asked after a bit of time to sit on the emotional link part. 

Madoka nodded, though less happily. It was a bit dark, but Soulmates lived exactly as long as the other did. A Soulmate could not outlive a Soulmate. It was a topic that didn’t seem to enthuse Homura either, but it seemed to make her more resolved than anything. 

“And we’re also connected in the same way to three others, but only one right now. The other two will end up in this state at some later point.” 

Madoka smiled. That was correct.

“And she’s here?” Homura asked warily. “This other person…”

“That’s right. It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

Madoka didn’t like how Homura flinched when Mami, who had struggled a bit to squeeze around the still frozen Tatsuya, made herself known, or how Homura stared at her like she was looking at a threat to her life. Mami gave as disarming a smile as she could. 

“My name is Mami Tomoe, and you don’t have to worry about anything, Homura. We have no reason to fight over territory or Witches, my territory is your territory. Even just being in a Soulbond means our Soul Gems can clean themselves just from its power. Grief Seeds aren’t going to be a problem.” 

Homura’s look of…was it dread, didn’t go away. Madoka wasn’t entirely sure that Homura really heard what Mami said, with all of that dread. 

“Mami’s really awesome, she can do a lot with her powers just like you. I know I’m not a Magical Girl, so maybe I can’t tell, but I’m sure that neither of you has to worry about anything.” Madoka tried to assure Homura that there was nothing to worry about. Mami looked a bit bothered at this point at Homura staring at her like Homura expected her to die at any moment. 

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I assure you there is nothing you need to worry about.” Mami once more assured Homura. Madoka felt like Mami was wondering if it would be best to show Homura that she wasn’t a greenhorn, and was going over possible scenarios. Madoka wasn’t an expert, not like Homura or Mami, but maybe they could go after a Witch together, or would that be a bad thing? Stepping on each other's toes like Mami and her dad in the kitchen and stuff like that. 

Homura’s connection with Mami was much weaker than Madoka’s, so she wasn’t sure what Homura was aware of when it came to Mami’s thoughts, but she avoided eye contact. 

“...Experience doesn’t make yourself untouchable.” 

“You should be fine. Mitakihara’s just a place, it’s not going to get any really scary things in it. I mean Witches are apparently really scary, I haven’t seen any yet so I don’t know, but nothing like you’ve seen before.” 

It was only as Madoka said that, speaking with the thoughts of Homura’s nightmare, that she realized she hadn’t mentioned that part about Soulbonds yet, and Homura’s expression was that of confusion with a sense of ‘I’m going to hear or see something bad soon.’ Er…oops. 

“Um…Homura….you had a nightmare last night, right?”

“...You experienced it too, didn’t you?” Homura asked, sounding like she just wanted to go in a corner and stay there. 

“Yeah….” Madoka wanted to say she was sorry Homura had to go through that…but did sorry even cut it? Plus Homura could surely feel her feelings about it, so words weren’t necessary. 

“We…won’t pry if you don’t want to tell, but if you’ve suffered losses….it’s hard to come back from that.” Mami began, and once again the exact topic of what had happened to Mami’s family…was just on the edge, but hadn’t quite come out yet. They had died, but Mami had yet to talk about how. “But…I like to think of all of this as a new start, a chance to regain something like what I lost.” 

“I’ve done that before.” Homura again didn’t elaborate, but it would seem to confirm the unthinkable idea that Mami had suggested, that the dream with her dead friends had not been Homura’s first time experiencing that. “....at some point, it's not worth trying anymore. It’s just more pain to lose people, it's just….better to be alone.” 

“Then why were you going after Familiars?” Mami asked, and Homura had no response to give at first. What she did say…was clearly a deflection though. 

“I’m not that kind of Magical Girl.” 

That response made Mami frown, and…oddly, it felt like Homura knew that response would happen. Madoka didn’t really get why it made Mami frown, she was missing something here. Something that Homura knew somehow. Did Magical Girls know about veterans and talked about them, and there was gossip she was missing. Madoka felt like that made sense, but if so why hadn’t Kyubey or Mami heard of a Magical Girl like Homura who defeated two apocalyptic Witches and lived to tell about it? That felt like it should be the biggest gossip among Magical Girls. Madoka wasn’t sure what was being said without saying it, but it was probably best to deflect onto another topic. Though it might also start an argument. 

“So Homura, you know how you reacted to my thoughts about making a contract with Kyubey negatively….why is that?” 

Homura looked away again, not looking either of them in the eye. 

“Contracts….don’t bring anything good. You have a good life and a loving family. You do not need to make a deal with Kyubey.” 

“But what about the fact that my life is tied to…” Madoka flinched as Homura gave her a look that felt eerily like her parents giving her a scolding. She could feel Mami bristle at the look Homura was giving her. 

“That won’t be necessary.” 

“But you were worried about Mami’s life being tied to yours…” 

“ That won’t be necessary.” 

“It’s not your decision if Madoka does or does not contract.” Mami told Homura coolly. “You can’t force her to not contract.” 

“You have surely given her advice on contracting. I’m giving her the same advice.” Homura replied back, her tone steely. Madoka could feel Homura’s seriousness on the topic, it was solid. It was a view so ironclad that Madoka didn’t think she had that strong of an opinion about anything in her life, not even that food tasted good and that kittens were adorable. There were fundamental aspects of life that were inarguably true, and then there was how serious Homura was about Madoka not becoming a Magical Girl, ever.

“ I talked about the idea, you outright told her what to do.” 

“Madoka is free to ignore my advice. She shouldn’t, but she can if she wishes.” 

“That’s not how you are coming off.” Mami sounded just shy of expecting Homura to physically stop Madoka if she so much as started saying the words ‘I wish’. “You’ve already been attacking Kyubey when you just thought you were making a territory for yourself, and if you didn’t come here for Madoka. Now that you have someone you want to ‘protect’ from contracting, I can’t imagine that you’d be any less vigilant about it.” 

Visually Madoka couldn’t notice any tells from Homura, but she could just feel Homura trying to find a response, and the only reassuring thought was that Madoka didn’t get the impression that the idea of actually stopping her was part of it. Though please can you two stop fighting…changing the topic was a bad idea…

“You and I are both veterans. That’s noteworthy because of how rarely that happens. Most Magical Girls die as rookies, you and I both know that. To contract is to put Madoka in the most dangerous position she could possibly be in.” 

That wasn’t a lie, but it was clearly not the first response Homura thought of. What Homura was thinking of she couldn’t tell, and part of Madoka was scared to ask. Another part was scared of Homura not sharing it…

“Most of those Magical Girls are also on their own. That wouldn’t be the problem with Madoka. If she wants to make a wish or not, that is her choice, not ours.” Mami countered, and she could feel Mami feeling like she had an answer for everything Homura could say. 

“And having Kyubey in her house is going to continuously pressure her to make a wish.” Homura also gave that feeling off. Which would be kind of neat if they were playing a card game and not…arguing Soulmates with their third staring at the both of them worryingly. 

“Kyubey actually was pretty light on it.” Mami admitted, sounding willing to admit it despite the fact that doing so did admit that Homura had a point aloud. Homura’s eyebrow rose a bit at that. 

“Oh really?” She looked at Madoka and then at Mami’s ring, particularly at the colorful part. “And that came up after you introduced her as your Soulmate? The same bond that, according to Madoka, is why our Soul Gems are cleaning themselves?” 

Mami raised her own eyebrow, unsure about what Homura was going for with this. 

“That’s correct.” 

Homura was thinking about something. Her mysterious Soulmate had pieces she was putting together, things that she and Mami knew and things that she and Mami clearly didn’t know, and it was kept close to her chest. All Madoka could feel was that whatever Homura came to conclude…was something that intrigued her. An intrigue that had Homura looking her over, as if those details plus Madoka herself meant something, and Mami was trying to figure out what Homura was thinking and what that meant and how to respond to it if Homura got too close to scolding her against contracting again. The two of them felt like coiling springs, and Madoka didn’t want them to go off again. 

“I really, really don’t know what to wish for. I mean, what would I ever want?” Madoka pulled the two back to the earlier point as they both looked at her like they were ready to go another round. “But what about we just agree to…not talk about that for now. If anything happens, it happens….but only because I really need it to happen.” 

The two Magicai Girls looked warily at each other: Mami’s an expression of ‘that was my point, how are you going to argue it Homura?’ Homura’s was...wary, but it didn’t seem to be about her sincerity or Mami. 

“Needs to happen is subjective. It should only be for something important.” Homura slowly stated, sounding like she knew this was going to be a point of difference between them. 

“A wish for anything should be important.” Madoka sincerely explained back. 

“...I’ve seen Magical Girls make contracts over food bills, injured cats, and being late for school. Those aren’t important enough to make a contract over.” Homura explained, truly sounding like she’d seen girls just like Madoka Kaname make those wishes. Mami, despite her dislike of Homura’s tone, couldn’t seem to bring herself to argue with the point. 

“I have good enough attendance I can make a mistake or two, and Sayaka always tries to pay for her meals.” Madoka….well she liked cats. She didn’t want to think about ignoring a kitty in trouble, but definitely not those two other things. Honestly she didn’t want to think about that sort of question, like she didn’t want to think about what an ‘important’ wish would be. Homura clearly caught the absence and looked at her, and seemingly despite herself, she eventually sighed. 

“I believe you.” That was true, but there was a wariness to it. Like Homura expected that something would come up to make Madoka go back on what she said without being a liar or insincere about it. “If we are…permitted to go to another topic, you said that being Soulmates makes us essentially married.” 

“That’s correct.” 

“And that means that we can live together.” 

“Yes.” 

“And because I am an orphan, I can live with your family.” 

“It should help with your nightmares. I can tell you from first hand experience I slept well last night…bar waking up.” Mami, for all of her questions about Homura's actions, was not going to tell her to stay out. Madoka briefly felt jealousy from Homura on the topic of Mami sleeping in Madoka’s bed last night, but she didn’t outwardly express it. 

“...Then I will move in.” 

She and Mami didn’t look at each other, but this wasn’t just Homura being lonely and wanting companionship, or that she didn’t want to experience a Soulbond problem again. Homura clearly thought that living here would be the best way to keep Madoka safe, either from contracting or Witches. Two were better than one after all. And Mami seemed to have picked up that point. 

“It’s your right to, and Madoka’s parents will love to meet you when time isn’t frozen.” Mami said slowly, trying to not take offense from the idea that she wasn’t enough to keep Madoka safe. “I’m also here.” 

Homura nodded, clearly not thrilled with the idea, but not bothered by it either. Madoka made a mental note to try and think of a way to get the two to get along better, or this was going to be a problem. Not every Soulmate hit it off immediately, sure, she knew that, but it would be better for Mami and Homura to bond sooner rather than later. Not even for any potential problems, just because she didn’t want them to fight. 

“I’m also keeping up patrols. Mitakihara doesn’t deserve to be consumed by Witches just because neither of us need a Grief Seed anymore.” Mami threw the point out there to test the waters. Homura nodded. 

“That is acceptable. Would you like assistance or do you prefer to keep to yourself unless requested otherwise?” 

Homura passed the test Mami threw out. 

“We should do so at least once to see for ourselves. I’ll answer the question after that.” 

“So Homura…what does your magic do other than stop time and let yourself steal guns from the Yakuza? Kyubey mentioned it.” Madoka asked, wanting to keep this productive train going. Mami joined it. 

“My power is creation, mostly in relation to ribbons.” She offered. Homura nodded, accepting the request to explain her abiities as she showed them her shield. 

“My powers are connected to my shield. With it I can stop and start time. It also has storage capacity that I have yet to find a limit on.” 

That was neat. 

“Are you limited to just what you can fit in there?” Madoka asked as Homura shook her head. So could it hold any size item. So could she fit a couch in there? A car? A tank?! Should she ask? Mami’s expression was sympathetic. 

“That must have taken work to figure out. I know it did with my powers.” 

“It did.” Homura didn’t elaborate, and this avenue seemed to be closed. Madoka made a note to be wary about anything about Homura’s past. That seemed to make Homura close up or evade the topic. Though there was something Madoka did have to address. 

“Um…my parents have photos of you from the hospital and you…kind of look different from them, and act differently. That…could be a problem.” 

Homura’s expression was ponderous, as if she was trying to figure out how to solve that problem. Mami however, had an idea. 

…

Homura didn’t like it, but neither of them had a better idea than Mami’s idea. So a half an hour later, time restarted and the two of them stepped out to ‘meet’ Homura and bring her home through the front door like she’d just been down the street, Homura went through with Mami’s plan. 

“I’m honored to meet you. I’m Homura Akemi, your daughter’s other Soulmate. I’m sorry if I caused you or your wife any trouble.” Homura bowed, authentic in her politeness but Madoka could feel her irritation at the solution that Mami had come up with. 

“It’s no trouble at all. I’m just glad you’re here, safe and sound.” Her dad happily greeted back, having seen the mark on her hand to know for sure. The reason why was noted next. “But I must admit, you changed your hairstyle and you do feel like someone completely different from what the hospital showed us.” 

Homura’s embarrassment wasn’t false, but it wasn’t from where her dad thought it came from. 

“I…I had a lot of time to think about who I wanted to be after I got through the last of my surgeries. I wanted to be a new me, a new heart, a new person. And with a new school…” 

Her dad laughed, understanding layering his chuckles alongside his mirthy. 

“Oh, the old High School Debut. Oh I remember that from my youth. I could tell you stories about Madoka’s mother…but you should meet her first. But I get it, a new start and a new you. Just don’t be afraid to let your guard down with us. You don’t need to be someone else, you can be yourself. If you want to be your old self again, we’ll understand.” 

That statement, unknown to her dad, bothered Homura greatly, even if she knew that he didn’t mean anything by it beyond genuine assurances. Homura’s annoyance with her dad was briefer than her annoyance at Mami for the plan, which lasted until her mom got home after dinner, drunk after a long day where the company celebrated her daughter’s good fortune and her mom’s new daughter-in-law. Her mom drunkenly didn’t notice Homura, but with how chatty she was with Mami, Homura didn’t mind at all. 

When Homura got her…hopefully not vengeance but a different word that meant the same thing but less mean…on Mami, she did help her disengage Mami and get the three of them to bed with the power of her ‘new heart’. 

“Wait, was that Homura….or am I seeing things?” Her mom asked as her father took her to bed, genuinely confused in her drunken haze and not sure if she had two new housemates or just the one. 

Morning would have Homura need to ‘explain’ things again, and probably find out more about her mom’s own youthful antics. But before that, sleep. 

…

When Homura was sleeping, she seemed a lot smaller than she did when she was awake. Madoka was holding her from behind, not…not wanting to use the terms her mom gave for what she was doing just, and Homura just seemed to shrink in her arms, but not in a bad way. She seemed to just…relax, like she was finally at some sort of peace. Homura’s hands had found her own that wrapped around the dark-haired girl’s waist to settle on, and while those warm hands only rested on them lightly, Madoka felt they’d resist letting her own hands go with all they had if she moved them. Another word for how Homura looked was…maybe vulnerable? As if Homura’s guard was down when she was like this, and she was no longer acting as tough as she usually was, and that guard had been up for far too long to be healthy. 

“...She seems so different when she’s sleeping.” Madoka quietly whispered behind her to where Mami was slipping into bed, her older Soulmate moving close to her to also hold her. She wouldn’t be able to move much when she slept tonight, something that she didn’t mind at all.  

“It’s hard to wear a mask when sleeping, sweetie.” Mami mused quietly as she got in close, her arms going around Madoka. Madoka smiled, the warmth of one Soulmate was something that made her feel more alive and warm than she had even before she got the marks yesterday, but two…was this what heaven felt like? No…maybe not. Because one of them felt really sad. 

“....Mami, this might be a little personal…'' She felt a sense of assurance from Mami that any question was okay, assuring her she could ask anything. “But, you and Homura are both…really lonely, right? Or at least, you used to be.” 

“Correct.” Mami admitted, sounding like she was happy to have that idea in the past. 

“You are both magical girls and have been for a while, and you both er…use guns? I kind of was stretching a bit there, but you get what I mean. You're both a lot alike. So why are you so different?” 

Mam sighed, sounding like she had thought about this herself earlier. 

“Sweetie, sometimes…for some people, being alone is like a prison. It’s cold, you are miserable, and you want to be anywhere else. But no matter what you do, you are always stuck there. But for others, there is a certain…comfort in that darkness. Sometimes if you are lonely for long enough, you can convince yourself you are used to it and that it doesn’t make you miserable. I could never be like that, but Homura…I guess Homura became so lonely she adapted to the idea of always being alone to a point that the opposite might scare her more.”

Or maybe…maybe loss had convinced her it was better to be alone.  

“Do you think she’ll ever tell us what happened to her?” Madoka wondered if their fellow Soulmate would ever tell them about her past, instead of them seeing fractions of it in dreams. 

“..I don’t know. She’ll tell you before me that’s for sure, and I don’t need to see our marks to know that.” 

It was weird. Homura seemed to have gone through her entire life without knowing what a Soulmate was, and she acted like it was something terrifying. Yet she was already so attached to her, and while Madoka knew intellectually that Homura’s reaction to the idea of having her soul linked with others and how Homura acted with her were contradictory, it somehow…made sense emotionally? In the heart? It was hard to explain really, even to herself. It was different than with Mami. 

“You two are going to be okay, right?” Madoka asked after a moment, looking at the back of Mami’s hand where her marks were. “You and Homura are so far apart.” 

Mami let out a long sigh. 

“It’s not ideal, I’ll admit. The space between us is vast, and I can’t imagine how it would be resolved. But we have time, we have all the time in the world. It might just be as simple as the distance between Magical Girls, we are prone to competing with each other after all. Once she fully grasps how our bond, with just you at the moment, can bring light to our Soul Gems, maybe she doesn’t need to think of me as a rival for Grief Seeds….she knows that intellectually, but maybe it still has to settle in her instincts. Perhaps the problem is a wound in her heart,” Mami caught herself as she said that, and Madoka could feel her older Soulmate realize she misspoke, “er, metaphorical wound, I mean, that needs to heal first. Two complete losses….That loneliness we both feel, maybe it’s more alike than we know. Especially if that dream means what we think it does” 

Madoka wondered if Mami would elaborate about topics beyond speculation on Homura’s nightmare, but Mami just snuggled in closer. She didn’t want to dwell on that thought it seemed, or Homura’s nightmare.

“...Would it help if I switched…” Homura’s resting hands on her own seemed to intensify, not holding them down but making it clear she wasn’t going to move. She could feel Mami smile. 

“No, sweetie, somehow I don’t think Homura would rather be held by me instead of you. Not now certainly. You're just going to have to stay between us.” 

Between Homura and Mami…when they were awake, that felt dangerous. The two had argued intensely about her contracting with Kyubey, both of them earnest in their opinions on the matter even as there was clearly something more motivating both of them then just their opinions on being a Magical Girl. With Mami it was loneliness that she feared falling into again, with Homura it was fear of further loss. Both of those underlying emotions ran deep, and Madoka hoped there was more than just her keeping that argument from turning violent. But here, in bed, being between them felt safe. Like nothing could get her. What were the old stories of boogiemen when two Magical Girls were motivated to keep you as safe as possible? 

…

Kyubey ensured that the body currently present near the uncompleted Soulbonded quintet was well hidden, even though all three of them were currently asleep, as the unknown Magical Girl was proving far too fond of destroying them. Fond and quick to do so, with Mami Tomoe and Madoka Kaname’s ability to prevent her from doing so again currently at an unknown level to risk needless loss of bodies. That sort of behavior wasn't unheard of, as it was a fairly consistent pattern of behavior among Magical Girls who were in the stage between discovering the truth of their existence, and fulfilling their role by maturing into the Witch state. However the girl was not acting in a way that suggested her obtaining that information was recent. She may in fact be among the higher percentiles of Magical Girls who could endure that knowledge without a change to their existence in either completed metamorphosis or self-termination. The lack of information on her was the only reason this was not a certainty. 

 Was it because of the Soul Bond? Was that keeping her in a premature form? That would seem to be incompatible with her reactions to the concept of a Soul Bond itself, as Homura Akemi seemed to find the concept as alien and confusing as the Incubators were even after thousands of years observing humanity. The Soul Bond was a bizarre facet of humanity they couldn’t figure out, they could only adapt to what had been determined by observations of the odd quirk of the species. 

One adaptation was avoiding contracting among those with existing bonds. They tended to resist maturation better than those without them, and it was a waste of effort to have most Magical Girls exist for longer than a few earth years. Very few were worth not giving a bit of a push towards their final forms if they were lingering too long in their juvenile state. Mami Tomoe, also part of this soul bond, was one such exception. It would be quite easy to induce the girl towards her Witch state, humans would use the term ‘casually’ to describe the ease of doing so. Should it be deemed warranted to induce the process on Mami Tomoe immediately, it could be accomplished in approximately twenty-two earth minutes and seven seconds. However Mami Tomoe’s coping mechanisms that allowed her to endure the condition of loneliness were so convincing to other humans that she was quite a boon towards getting other magical girls to contract, and to hasten themselves to their final state when they couldn’t live up to the example that Mami Tomoe set for herself, and inadvertently all those around her. Humans had a similar concept for their own agricultural practices called a Judas Goat. A livestock animal whose job it was, unaware the entire time of their purpose, to lead other livestock towards processing and liquidation. It was also quite beneficial to them that Mami Tomoe’s lonely nature meant that it was quite easy to have an Incubator be around her and give the occasional nudge to keep her productive nature ongoing. Such Magical Girls were quite rare, and when Mami Tomoe was to eventually germinate or die it would be difficult to replace her. 

Their own efforts were no longer needed to ensure Mami Tomoe’s stability, as Madoka Kaname had quickly fulfilled the role much better than they could, mostly as a result of actually having a desire to keep Mami Tomoe happy and stable that was not tied to her usefulness, and with the three parts of the bond currently active all together it would be hard to induce maturation. Madoka Kaname would protect Mami Tomoe because of human cultural norms and instincts that would soon take on the form of the state of human existence known as ‘love’ if it hadn’t already, while Homura Akemi would act to resist the growth process out of both love for Madoka, already in an highly advance state from what could be determined, the cause of which was unfathomable with the limited interactions the two had, and a much more comprehensible pragmatism. Homura Akemi had likely already guessed that while Soul Bonds could help resist growth by despair, if one of them in a soul bond fell to it, so did all others. Their Soul Gems, after all, were now linked. Linked Magical Girls who did fall as one created vast amounts of energy, though it was also a difficult endeavor to induce the required scenario that rarely made the process worth active pursuit. Despite the cripping vulnerabilities in Mami Tomoe they were quite aware of, it would be a harder scenario now to induce Mami’s maturation into a Witch between Homura Akemi’s wariness and Madoka Kaname’s balming influence, it would be an even harder scenario than attempting to put the uncultivated Madoka Kaname in a lethal scenario to induce either her own contract or to work towards the others maturations. Both Mami Tomoe and Homura Akemi would immediately put their differences aside in that moment, and between Mami Tomoe’s prodigious magical ability and firepower and Homura Akemi’s ability to manipulate time such a scenario would be hard to achieve realistically. Making Madoka Kaname experience terror and desperation was not an optimal use of their time without a guaranteed contracting outcome. 

SoulBonds had a clear trend, though for no discernable reason, to occur when humans contracted. It wasn’t frequent enough to happen to warrant the entire species a poorer quality source of energy, but it happened enough to be an outcome that always needed to be considered. The problem was that there was no clear trend in their creation. There was no clear reason to believe that Mami Tome would gain a Soulbond with an uncontracted girl and a Magical Girl with no clear origin, just as it was unexpected when that contracted girl in Kamihama who regretted her suicide attempt mid-attempt to get a Soulbond immediately upon contracting with a second Magical Girl. While a Mami Tomoe who remained in her juvenile state could be useful, that suicidal Magical Girl was a prime source of effective maturation due to her lingering traumas and naive belief in a solution to her social distress, and now had not only become very unlikely to fall into the same despair again, but had also bonded with another Magical Girl whose wish to alter her crush’s sexual orientation should have also made her a quick harvest when she realized the implications and started to go after Witches in order venting her anger and self-hatred about what she had done, but now the two would be unlikely to mature into Witches at all. Such outcomes, in duos or quintets or any other combination, were always baffling and a waste of effort in hindsight. 

It was a curious trio that would become a quintet in time: one was a Magical Girl whose usefulness to them had lengthened her current existence beyond the norm. One was a Magical Girl whose origins were unknown to them, but who knew both enough to dread them and to not say anything to the others. One was a human who had such potential as a contract that, if she was to mature into a Witch, could fulfill an entire planet quota for the estimated lifespan of humanity entirely on her own. Pursuit of such a contract, a point of disagreement between the two Magical Girls about the status of their shared Soulmate, was worth extensive consideration if the possible production of energy was worth the potential of no tangible benefits to the stability of the universe. And the other two parts of the mark were also of mild curiosity, mostly in the question of if it would impact other investments or would be among those yet untapped like Madoka Kaname. 

Adjustments to the scenario would be required. The exact parameters were as of yet inconclusive.  

END

So, this was a fun experiment with a lot of potential. However, I doubt I can bring it to full fruition on my own, hence why adoption, by co-writer or entirely, is encouraged. Should be fun to see what can be done with this idea. As said before, the main idea that needs to be kept is that Homura enters a Soulbond timeline with no idea how it works and having fun from there. 

That being said, in this idea I do have some ideas. Not everyone of them matches up one to one, but for the curious some of the ideas I do have include

Roughly seven chapters that are set in the part of the timeloop before school. Or otherwise to use the seven days before Homura goes to school for the first time for stuff instead of skipping over them to expand on a setting that often suffers from early Stations of Canon. Mostly to explore Homura’s evolving dynamic and perspective, and I like the idea of her saving Amy at one point and Tatsuya cheerfully telling Madoka that Homura ‘saved a kitty!’
At one point, probably in the above, Mami and Homura team up to deal with a enemy Magical Girl, either O.C or a canon character (I’m thinking either Sasa Yuuki or Suzune, as I’d imagine that Oriko won’t have the same visions she does normally), who is a danger to Madoka. 
Kyoko would come to Mitakihara earlier, and Mami would lend her the Tomoe apartment. While crass about it, Kyoko would keep it decently clean while Mami works through the complicated feelings about it. 
Sayaka would probably have different views on Madoka’s ‘Chunni Soulmate’ than in canon, though not sure on exactly what they’d be. I’d imagine that when she and Kyoko get part of the bond it comes from her contracting. 
While I’d imagine that Sayaka’s arc would probably involve dealing with the confusion of her feelings for Kyosuke and her bond, I’d imagine Kyoko would probably be the more angsty of the two about it. If the story needed more angst, if Homura isn’t sufficient to provide it, that Kyoko’s parents would have been Soulbonded, and as a result being in a bond herself brings back bad memories. That being said, if the story doesn’t need more angst, Kyoko can play a different role. 

As to other overall plots, I’d imagine Homura’s would be about dealing with her apprehensions about the timeline’s rules and growing to appreciate them, as well as working with her relationship with Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka. Mami’s would be about going through the high of having a family again and finding a more permanent place of mind about it, and Madoka’s would be about adapting to her role as the Heart of the Soulbonded Quintet and become more confident speaking her mind and actively acting on her own initiative, the latter of which will be important to her and Homura’s relationship in particular. 
I imagine the story would end with a version of the ‘Magia Record’ storyline, mostly for stepping around Stations of Canon that would be hard to do without railroading with the changes. If done so, I’d imagine Kyoko’s arrival would be the first step to the plotline, as she arrives in Mitakihara pursued by Magius members over a mercenary job gone wrong (she did it, but she was supposed to return those Grief Seeds not keep them). While Mami would resolve the issue with some Grief Seeds in interest, it would put the five on the Magius’s radar. I’d imagine the two White Feathers as O.C’s, one who can summon hard-light Dinosaurs and one who wished to become a Shonen Protagonist, who’d be recurring antagonists. 
The nature of the Soulbond A.U would likely affect the Magius plotline in ways beyond ‘Ren and Rika forever’. This is a bit more in the air, but it would create butterflies that could be as minor as ‘changing Madoka’s eventual wish’ to as large as ‘Touka, Nemu, and Ui had a Soulbond before they contracted and the way it mixes with Ui’s canon fate has drastic consequences’. This would require a lot more familiarity with the plot than I currently have, however, and I’m liable to shift stuff around in general. 

I have an idea for a Darkest Hour moment in a Magia Record plotline where, if permitted, Mami would be trapped as Holy Mami and a Uwasa with the theme of ‘High School Debut’ had reverted Kyoko and Homura to their original personalities, if with their combat instincts at modern levels, leaving Sayaka as the only intact combatant in a city out to get them. This would be around the time Madoka would seriously consider a Wish…which is enough to get Homura’s memories back as Madoka, Kyoko, and Sayaka are treated to a simultaneous replay of the end of Timeline 3 while Moemura is screaming and tearing apart Kyubey with her bare hands. This would be followed by Madoka, while very empathetic to the reasons, reminding Homura that this is their last chance. Homura’s soul won’t survive going back without the others, it will tear itself apart, and if any of them go Witch, Madoka’s already screwed. This would be the final hurdle of their relationship mark wise, and we’d get a different Madoka wish than in canon. 

That being said, if adopted or a Co-writer comes on for it, I am not bound to these ideas. I like them, but if someone has others that are interesting to do on their own or to set up the above, I’d be as interested as I would be someone who knows Magia Record well coming in to make the ideas above work organically and naturally. Plenty of other ways to do it: maybe add Hitomi or other Magical Girls into the mix (congrats Homura, you are married to Oriko….now put that knife away!) as one of my idea bouncers suggested, or other ideas based on Soulbond tropes, or some third thing. And if not…well I like to think this is an interesting enough idea to be worth a read in general. 

Until next time….I really need to find a good source to experience Magia Record….any suggestions?