Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Honesty...” Homura says to herself, pacing around in the hospital room she was doomed to eternally respawn in.

“Honesty...” she repeats, the words of her dearest Madoka echoing through her head.

“I know you said it didn’t work before, but maybe things will be different next time! You’re stronger, now! Just be confident and honest, right from the start! I know it’ll be hard, especially with...the situation you’re in, but...I’ll believe you! No matter what! I promise!”

She wants to believe that. She really, really, really wants to, but she has to be honest with herself first and foremost: Madoka is not the brightest light bulb in the box. She once took Mami’s cake wish seriously for god’s sake. Worst. Timeline. Ever. She’s gullible. Clueless. Easily manipulated. Too trusting. Soft. Softer than the softest sofa from the soft sofa store. Squishier than those weird water-filled plastic tube things that don’t have a clear use. An adorable little fragile cinnamon roll of a human being.

“No. Wait.” she stops herself. “I’m getting off-track here... Maybe... Maybe she isn’t wrong about this. Maybe she was onto something. At least if I take her word, she alone will trust me. And that... That might be good enough. Yeah. That’s good enough.” She finally manages to convince herself to attempt this hairbrained scheme, and commits by spending the next entire day pre-planning all of her responses to every single possible question she could be asked.

Unfortunately, she spent so much time doing this that she forgot to save Amy, causing Madoka to contract to revive her.

Homura Akemi exits the timeline.

The school bell rings. The routine COMMENCES. First day, same thing as usual. Ignore the insane hag at the front of the room ranting about her relationship problems, and just enter the room as if nothing is wrong in the slightest.

Their teacher introduces her, “This is Homura Akemi, our new transfer student! Akemi-san, why don’t you tell us something about yourself?”

She nods. This is it. From practice to action. Theory to praxis. Her hours of preparation would culminate in their finality here, and determine the ultimate trajectory of this timeline.

“My name is Homura Akemi, and I’m a magical girl.” she says to everyone, deadpan as the day she was born.

Gasps are heard around the room, mixed with confused clamoring. People give her odd looks, as opposed to their intrigued ones from earlier.

She adds to her honesty, “I’m also a time traveler. This is my 37th— No, 38th time greeting you all. I screwed up the previous time and didn’t even get here before restarting.”

Even more odd looks as people begin to stop paying attention to her. Madoka, however, is intrigued, and Sayaka is giving her a perplexed glare. Slam dunk.

“I’m also a lesbian.” she continues to add, with absolutely no concept of what counts as too much information in this context.

The class goes from not wanting to be interested in her to being surprised someone would actually admit that, especially with it being so mundane after the two batshit insane things she just said. A few girls even take a keen interest in this statement.

And yet, she has more to say, “I have a university-level understanding of physics and machinery, and possess enough chemical firepower to level a city—”

Their teacher cuffs her hand around Homura’s mouth to silence her in a panic, “Ahahahaaaaaa, that’s enough of that! We have to get on with class! Go take that seat in the front, Akemi-san!”

Her classmates can’t help but stare in disbelief at her as she sits in her seat, totally unfazed. Classes proceed as normal, with the collective class being unable to totally concentrate on their teachers, what with the sheer anomaly of a person who just appeared in their presence. Rumors of her being a hardcore chuuni almost immediately permeate the entire school, and by break time everyone is too scared to even approach her. Especially after she told one of the only girls brave enough to talk to her that she preferred making pipe bombs over sipping coffee in a cafe.

Sayaka, who has had her eye on Homura the entire time, leans over to Madoka and whisper-yells to her, “What is with her!? Is she some kind of psychopath!? Who just casually mentions they make bombs!?”

Madoka tries to give her the benefit of a doubt, bless her heart, “You don’t know what she’s really like! Maybe she’s really a nice girl who’s just a bit weird.”

“A bit!?” Sayka asks incredulously “A BIT!?”

“Okay, maybe a little more than a bit weird...” Madoka admits.

“A whole lot more! Not weird, she’s insane! ”

Madoka pouts at her, “Sayaka! You can’t just say that about people!”

Sayaka slams her shoulders on her desk, “Uuuugh! You don’t get it, she’s— Coming right this way! ” She ducks for cover as if she’s about to be gunned down.

Homura pays her no mind, however, as Madoka turns her gaze to meet the less than mysterious girl. “Come.” Homura says abruptly, “We must talk in private, Madoka Kaname.”

“Uhhh...” Madoka hesitates for a moment, looking around at her friends who frantically signal her to not do it.

Homura takes note of this, “I see Sayaka and Hitomi are objecting. No doubt they believe I’m a crazy person. I assure you I am telling the truth about everything I said. This private conversation is of the utmost importance for your safety.”

Madoka continues to merely consider it, “Uhhh...”

But Homura just...stands there. Menacingly.

At some point, her natural dominant aura forces Madoka to accept, “O-Okay.”

“Good.” Homura says. “Follow me.” And so she does, out into the hallway.

Of course, Madoka can’t stand to just walk aimlessly around the school in total silence until they reach a sufficiently private location. So she tries to make small talk: “So, um... You said you were a time trav—”

“Yes.” Homura interrupts her.

Madoka is caught off guard by that, but keeps trying anyways, “So how many times have we—”

Homura interrupts her again, “38— No, 37 times. No. 38. Yes. Wait, did I count the first time twice?”

“So a lot?” Madoka summarizes.

“Yes. You believe me?” Homura asks.

Madoka has to actually think about that one, but decides just as she always does to give her that chance, “Y-Yeah! Sure! Whatever you say!”

“You don’t sound convinced.” Homura points out, mainly at her hesitation.

“Well, it’s just a bit hard to...” Madoka trails off at the end.

Homura bluntly admits to her, “I understand. Perhaps in my past attempts, I did not make myself clear enough. Perhaps I left out too much information. Or maybe I just didn’t come off as friendly enough.”

“I don’t think that’s the—” Madoka tries to tell her but can’t cut through the exposition.

“And so, I will make myself even clearer, Madoka Kaname. I will not leave out a hint of information. And we will be friends.” However, with the emphasis she put on “will”, her tone comes off as a threat.

Madoka tries again, “That’s not—” but is too weak.

Homura whips herself around as the two find themselves in a familiar connecting hallway. She does a twirl, transforming herself before reaching out to Madoka. She has to actively suppress her instinctive lesbian hall sphinx urge to give ominous, cryptic warnings in vaguely non-euclidean locations.

With a moment’s hesitation, she declares confidently, “I am a magical girl. I am a time traveler. I’ve met you at least 37 times. I’ve repeated this month just as many times in an attempt to save you from your fate.”

Madoka freezes in place from the declaration, unsure of how to respond, nor if she can continue to stretch her belief.

“You frequently take care of a stray cat named Amy.” Homura begins to list off personal facts about her life. “You have a mother and father named Junko and Tomohisa Kaname. Your father stays at home and your mother works at an office where she aims to become CEO. She has a drinking problem and frequently comes home late due to obligate social drinking. You have a little brother barely old enough to speak named Tatsuya. Your favorite food is your father’s cream stew. Your birthday is October 3rd, your blood type is A. Your hobbies are gardening and art. You’re easily scared by childish things like ghosts, monsters, and thunder, but can fearlessly run headlong into danger when it’s to help someone you care about.”

At first, her list of facts came off as slightly creepy, perhaps even raising her stalker alarms, but at that last item, she begins to reconsider her negative assumption.

 Homura’s voice begins to waver a bit, going from its confident declarations to a softer, more reminiscent tone, “You don’t have many serious friends, but you treasure all of the ones you do have, and couldn’t imagine living without them. You’re not picky about anything, whether it’s food or things to do, or places to be, people, or music. You’re clumsy, constantly getting hurt and fumbling into danger where you shouldn’t be. You always put yourself down. You say you aren’t good at anything, even when you clearly are. You aren’t satisfied with your purpose in life, and can’t find anything you want to do with it. The people who love you most hate it when you talk badly about yourself, but can’t bring themselves to say anything.”

By now, all of the ridiculous nonsense she was spewing earlier has faded into the background. What was previously an unbelievable escapade has turned into some kind of bizarre intervention of sorts from someone she by all rights doesn’t even know except from a dream. And yet, Madoka can’t quite help but feel a certain resonation among those words. Like it simultaneously dampened her spirit, shook her awake, and lit her on fire all at once.

And then Homura hits her with her coldest statement yet: “But above all, you’re a fool.”

And that catches Madoka off-guard. She darts her gaze back up from the floor as if to confirm that she just heard her correctly.

“You’re a gullible idiot. Too innocent to live. So soft and naive that you could be seduced by the serpent without him needing to try. The fact that you’ve gone this long without being scammed or kidnapped is a miracle. You’ve never once understood just how dangerous the world around you truly is.”

Madoka furrows her brow a bit as she wonders, “Did...Did she just insult me out of nowhere?”

Not helped by Homura ending her spiel with, “And I love everything about you.”

And that’s when it hits her, “Oh. Oh no.”

“Do you believe me now, Madoka?” Curiously, she’s dropped the last name...with no honorifics.

Madoka, meanwhile, is still stunned into silence. But above all, she still has one last question, “...Why did you bring me here?”

Homura sighs at the non-answer. But, it’s Madoka, so she answers, “Aliens are real.”

Aaaand back to insanity it is. Of course, with everything she’s seen so far, Madoka is inclined to listen and believe her this time.

“They are responsible for creating magical girls.”

And it just keeps getting worse.

“One of them has its sights set on you and Sayaka. You need to be careful. They lack empathy and emotions, and will attempt to manipulate you into becoming one of us with the promise of making your wildest dreams come true. Don’t listen to him. Not even for a second. If you do, your death will be etched in stone. A girl named Mami will tempt you into joining her and becoming one of us. She’s not evil, but she’s lonely. Misguided. She doesn’t understand what she’s doing. It’s pointless for me to tell you not to befriend her, but you absolutely cannot follow her or do anything she suggests. She is likely to die within the next two weeks, especially if she becomes hostile towards me.”

There’s a long pause before Madoka asks, “Are...you done?”

“Yes. So do you believe me yet?”

Of course this Madoka, devoid of the context, would find it hard to believe. Of course she would stand there like a deer caught in headlights. Homura sighs.

“I didn’t want to tell you this,” she says “but in the previous timeline, you promised me that if I were completely honest and told the truth this time around from the start, you would believe me.”

Madoka protests, “That’s not it! I mean, I can’t think of any other way you would know all of that about me, but... It’s just too much! I mean, it’s one thing for any of those to be real, but all of them!? At once!? I just...”

Homura backs up a couple paces, “I understand. I’m sorry, this was a stupid idea.”

Madoka shakes her head, “That’s not it either! Just...give me a day or two and...”

Homura outright refuses, “We don’t have a day or two, Madoka. He’s coming for you today. You and Sayaka are going to a music store after school, Sayaka will ask you to during lunch."

“How do you...?” Madoka is about to ask before realizing the answer has been basically shouted at her.

“Time travel.” Homura confirms.

“Right...” Madoka also sighs.

Homura continues, “He’ll be there today, attempting to lure you into a witch’s labyrinth so you can be saved by Mami.”

“Wait, witches? Witches are real?” For some reason, this shocks her.

“Not the witches from fairy tales.” Homura clarifies. “Something far worse. They transcend space itself and hunt humans for food.”

“Is...” Madoka begins to guess “...Is this a magical girl thing, an alien thing, or a time travel thing?”

“Yes.”

They stand in silence. “That...didn’t clarify anything.” Madoka thinks to herself. “I don’t...get it.” she says aloud.

Homura pops her soul gem out and shows it to her, “This is my soul.”

Madoka throws her hands up, “Too much!”

But Homura insists, “This is important! You need to know this! This gem here is my soul. When I’m not in uniform, it looks like a ring on my left hand, or an egg when it’s standing up. If I’m more than 100 meters away from it, I won’t be able to control my body anymore. It will look like I died. If this gem ever breaks, I will die. As long as it stays intact, I can survive anything, even being blown up. If it becomes completely black, I will also die. That is why it is VERY important for you to know to not touch it, under any circumstance, unless you’re returning it to me. Understand?”

At this point, Madoka is more distracted from the information overload by the shiny gem than anything. She tries to reach out and touch it.

“What are— I told you not to touch it!” Homura yanks it away and puts it back in its usual slot.

Madoka snaps out of it, “Oh, sorry, it was just... Are you sure I can’t just rub it a little?”

“You want to rub my soul ?” Homura clarifies.

Madoka can’t bring herself to answer that one, “...Well, when you say it like that...”

Homura can’t express her disappointment. Both for lack of motivation and lack of sufficient facial muscles. Instead, she just gives up, “Okay, fine, you can touch it a little.”

Madoka lights up and grabs her arm, gently rubbing the gem up and down. Despite not feeling anything from it, it’s still somehow embarrassing to be on the receiving end of. In a matter of seconds, she changes her mind, “That’s enough. let’s go back to class. I’ve told you everything I needed to.”

Madoka is slightly crestfallen, but agrees and goes along with her. The rest of the day is uneventful, although Sayaka can’t help but notice that Madoka is repeatedly stealing some very candid glimpses of the weird transfer student with an intrigued blush on her cheeks.

But when Madoka recounts the conversation they had over a meal, Sayaka goes from happily munching away and teasing her about a possible crush to blankly staring at the table in disbelief in a matter of seconds. Hitomi is the first to tell her that those are all major red flags, but Madoka dismisses that as undue skepticism of a girl who is “probably just misunderstood”.

Chapter Text

Of course she would go anyway. Of COURSE she would go anyways! Why wouldn’t she completely ignore every warning and go to the damn music store anyway? It only TRACKS with every single thing that’s ever happened! It’s not like this was the specific course of action that Homura was trying to avoid, no! And yet, here she is, led on by a cow to visit Zenkou Temple and wandering around in a dark, dilapidated building because a random stranger with telepathy told her to! Completely reasonable reaction!

Homura holds her head in her hands, pinching her temples in a vain attempt to make her headache subside. Once again, that lying rat had duped her and ran away, and is now resting in the hands of HER legendary bestie. She swears to make him suffer for this later, but has to think of a solution to this quickly...

Madoka knew that Sayaka wouldn’t listen to the warning Homura gave. Well, most people wouldn’t, but especially not her. But what’s a girl to do but back up a friend? If what Homura said was true, and it seemed like it was since she was right about the music store, then that “alien” might skip her and go straight for Sayka...just like she said. Better for her to do it since Homura already warned her.

So she goes with her and waits. Standing there, looking around, nervously listening to music until she finally hears that voice in her head, “Help me!”

“Just like she said.” she thinks to herself. As if already primed to, she takes off, leaving Sayaka staring at her as she runs.

“What is she...?” Sayaka ponders, but quickly comes to the conclusion that this must be the work of the transfer student . She sighs and runs after her, just a minute behind.

As she runs, Madoka starts to plan, “When I find it, what do I do? It’s asking for help...she just said I had to not listen to what it says, never said I couldn’t help it. And she said that a girl named Mami would come. And a witch... Will she get mad if I do it? I guess she’ll be mad that I’m here anyways...” But she thinks too hard and eventually just gives up entirely. “I’ll just do something!”

And as she reaches where the voice was calling her to, she can’t help but feel a bit uneasy. Anyone would, given it looks like the type of place you’d find a dead body. And that she knows there’s a trap there.

Something on the ceiling clatters, falling to the ground. There it is. Presumably.

“...Why is it so cute?”

Swallowing her anxiety, Homura strides forward, pounding her foot onto the fallen debris as she stands before Madoka, holding the wretched fiend . “Madoka.” her voice commands sternly, albeit quietly.

Madoka immediately stands to attention, “A-Ah! Homura! I didn’t expect to see you here!”

Homura sighs, “What are you doing? I told you not to come here, and yet here you are.” She looks down at the thing , “And why are you holding him!?”

Good question. Fantastic, even. Why was she holding him? Was he just that fluffy? She answers, “Uh... Instinct?”

Homura sighs, taking her foot off of the debris as she approaches, “I should have known better. Just put the incubator down and—” She is suddenly blasted in the face by a fire extinguisher. “EVERY SINGLE TIME!” she screams internally.

Madoka swings her vision to the side, spying Sayaka just going absolutely wild with the thing, “Sayaka, what are you doing!?”

“Saving you from this lunatic!” Sayaka claims, still blasting.

Madoka’s jaw drops, “I told you she’s not crazy! Probably!”

Sayaka runs out of extinguisher to fire, then chucks the thing at Homura through the cloud and grabs Madoka’s hand, “Come on, we’re leaving!”

Madoka tries to stop her, but she’s not strong enough to put up any kind of a fight, so she just scolds her, “And don’t throw things at her!”

Homura, meanwhile, feels the fire extinguisher roll up against her foot and sighs again, “Just my luck. Why did I think I could dissuade Sayaka of all people?” She blasts the smoke away with a burst of magic, only to immediately find herself getting thrown into Gertrud’s labyrinth, which sets her off immediately, “Son of a grief-stricken funko pop witch! Why the Famas does all this freaky sassafras happen to me!? Restart my life! Always surrounded by miserable, useless lesbians! Like this whole world just wants me to BEND OVER and FIND MY WIFE ON THE MOON! Like I’m some sort of despair receptacle! Well as far as I care, these miserable witches can have an intimate sleepover WITH A GODDAMN GRENADE!” She spins around and unleashes a hail of grenades on the labyrinth, causing a small army of familiars to explode into a fine, black mist. She flips her hair, having blown off all of her steam, “Okay, time to figure out what I’m saying to Mami...”

In the distance, Sayaka and Madoka find themselves trapped in a circle of familiars as the labyrinth violently shakes from the explosions. Sayaka tries her best to cover Madoka, who is surprisingly calm, “Wait, are these those witch things that she was talking about? Was she right!?”

Madoka doesn’t really react all that much, knowing that if she was right about everything so far, this Mami girl must also be coming soon. So she responds flatly, “Sayaka, when this is over, we need to have a serious talk about your white knight complex.”

“...What?” Sayaka asks incredulously.

“I didn’t want to say anything, but you’ve always been really overprotective of me. I thought it was cute at first, but I think it’s going to be a problem going forward...”

Sayaka stares blankly at her for a moment, “...Madoka, this isn’t the time, they’re trying to kill us!”

And as if on cue, a mysterious force dispels all of the familiars surrounding them. Mami descends the steps leading to them, introduces herself, and blows away the rest of them in a dazzling display of yadda yadda you know the drill at this point.

Sayaka is entranced by it the entire time. Madoka a bit less so, given she expected it, but it’s still cool to watch either way. Once they’re all defeated, Mami watches the labyrinth fade away and says to herself, “That’s strange...there weren’t as many as I expected.”

From above them, Homura watches, contemplating her words. She descends, landing on top of some kind of tarp. “You’re welcome.” she says.

Mami stares at her for a moment. She had planned on smiling, but she can’t help but grimace at the snide remark. She shakes her head and regains her composure, “The wi—” but Homura interrupts her by saying exactly what she was going to: “The witch fled. If you want to catch it, you better hurry.”

Mami pauses, as does Homura. She tries to speak again, but Homura once again copies her, “I’ll let you go this time.”

They both stand there in an awkward, tense silence until Madoka breaks it by stepping forward and putting a hand on Mami’s shoulder, whispering to her, “It’s okay, she’s a friend.” This claim visibly shocks Mami, who has to do a double take between the two as if to confirm that’s who she was talking about.

Homura asks Madoka directly, “Madoka, let me ask you one more time. Can I be completely honest?”

Madoka has to stop and think about that for a second. She ends up asking in response, “Can you please not antagonize her? I don’t want you two to fight.”

“I’m not trying to antagonize her.” Homura claims.

Mami goes on the offensive, “You were parroting me! ”

Homura explains, “I thought that if I showed you I knew what you were going to say before you said it, it would prove I was telling the truth.”

“Telling the truth about what!? ” Mami practically yells at her.

“Oh no...” Madoka says to herself.

Homura shifts her gaze to Kyubey, “I’ll tell you, but first, hand me the incubator.”

Mami jumps in front of him and Madoka by proxy, “You aren’t laying a hand on him! He’s already hurt because of you!”

“You’d throw your life away in a battle you can’t possibly win for the sake of a creature that doesn’t die?” Homura questions her.

Mami is about to retaliate, but then realizes what she said, “...What do you mean he doesn’t die? He’s on the verge of death right now!”

Again, Homura tells her, “Give him to me and I’ll show you.” Mami isn’t convinced. She doesn’t move from her spot, but also doesn’t summon any weapons. Hence, Homura calls out, “Madoka, set the incubator down and step away.”

Madoka sighs, “Homura, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill it.” Homura admits surprisingly easily.

Madoka stares at her, “...This isn’t going to go well, Homura.”

“I can’t say anything else while he’s still around, he needs to go.” Homura insists.

Mami goes over to Kyubey and waves her hands over him, making eye contact with Homura the entire time, “I’m going to heal him and ask him nicely to leave.”

“That won’t work.” Homura bluntly states.

“Well it’s going to have to!” Mami argues as she begins to heal him.

Homura sighs and rolls her eyes at the action, stepping down from her high ground as Mami does her deed. When she finishes, Kyubey agrees to leave and seems to do so while Mami moves to speak, “Alright, now—” but Homura suddenly appears in front of her and puts a finger to her lips.

“Shhhh...” she shushes, then steps back a few paces. A few moments later, she rapidly whips her hand up and shoots a laser from her soul gem into the darkness, which hits something that splatters audibly. “You were told to leave, incubator.” she reminds Kyubey. Mami’s eyes go wide when she realizes what Homura just then...but then shifts to confusion when she shoots a second time, with the same effect, in a different location.

“You have one more chance before I start hunting you again.” Homura threatens him. After that, she waits a bit longer until she’s satisfied with the silence. She opens before anyone else can speak, “Your precious little ‘Kyubey’ is an alien species known as the incubators. They were sent here from an unknown region of space to find young girls like ourselves to participate in their ‘magical girl’ program. You’ve probably never considered it before, but his species is some kind of hive mind that shares memories between its clones. Kyubey has a nearly infinite number of spare bodies at his disposal, so he can never die. In other words, you just wasted your magic healing a creature that doesn’t need to be healed.”

Mami lags for a moment in trying to parse what she just said, “I... Wha... ALIENS ARE REAL!?”

Sayaka joins her, “Oh my god, aliens are real...”

Madoka raises a brow at her, “Sayaka, I told you at lunch.”

“But I didn’t believe it until now!” Sayaka says.

Homura accidentally quips, “It would be beneficial for your survival to believe everything I tell you from now on.”

Mami is so shocked by this that she even forgets what she previously asked about. Homura helpfully reminds her and answers the question, “As for how I knew what you would say ahead of time... I’m a time traveller.”

Mami stands up after a moment of silence, “...Time travel?”

“You have magic that turns ribbons into guns...” Homura starts up “...and time travel is where you lose the plot?”

“How many more twists are there going to be?” Mami asks upfront.

“Several.” Homura answers, also upfront “One of them usually makes you kill yourself if you learn about it, so I won’t be telling you that one.”

Madoka runs up Homura and shakes her, “Homura! Why would you say that!?”

Homura explains calmly, “If I don’t tell her about it and why I’m not telling her, she will grow distrustful.”

Mami stops them before they can argue about the matter, “Wait, wait... You’re a time traveler... Why?”

Homura clears her throat and snaps her attention to Mami before making her speech, “At the end of this month, on Walpurgisnacht, a witch of cataclysmic size and capability will materialize without a barrier, destroying this city and killing everyone in it. Unless we can stop it. I have re-lived this month approximately 37 times attempting to achieve this without Madoka becoming a magical girl.”

Sayaka asks, “What about me?”

Homura turns to her and gives her a several second long silent death stare before telling her, “You always die.”

Sayaka looks flabbergasted. “Always!?” she asks, as if for clarification.

“That was an absolute statement. You. Always. Die. Every time. Without fail. Either I kill you, or you...well, I can’t tell you or Mami will kill herself.”

Mami yells out, “WHY!?”

“I can’t tell you” Homura says yet again “or you’ll kill yourself.”

On the verge of either crying or groaning, Madoka begs her, “Please stop...”

Mami holds her hand up in agreement, “I...need to go home and think.”

Homura interjects, “Good idea, we should have a strategy meeting to discuss our battle plan.”

Mami continues as if she had said nothing, “I was hoping I could invite you two over to talk about becoming magical girls...”

“Don’t.” Homura reminds them.

“...but I see that she’s already gotten to you.” Mami continues again. “And I need to have a private talk with Kyubey.”

This, however, somehow surprises Homura, who reaches out to her, “Wait. Don’t. He isn’t your friend.”

Mami sighs, “What, will that make me kill myself, too?”

“Yes.” Homura unironically confirms. Everyone just stares in horror at her. “What?” she asks. “She asked, so I told her.”

Mami just turns to leave again, obviously agitated. But Homura suddenly appears in front of her, prompting her to yelp, “DON’T! Do that!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that, Mami Tomoe.” Homura verbally stops her.

It takes Mami a moment to formulate a response, “Why do you care so much? I barely even know you.”

“I told you,” Homura restates “I’m a time traveler. I’ve repeated this month 37 times. That means I’ve seen you, and both of those two, die 37 times. Every time I’ve tried to tell you all the truth before, you’ve ridiculed and attacked me. The only reason I’m trying it again is because Madoka believed in us and told me to. I know you don’t know her, or me, but I do. Let’s go.”

Madoka looks almost shocked that she took it in that direction. Once she and Sayaka — who is also too shocked to be judgemental — catch up, she grabs Homura’s hand and dotes on her just a little, “That was a lot better!”

For once, this manages to make Homura smile. With her demeanor, it looks almost unnatural, but Madoka can’t help but smile back. “Thank you.” Homura says, faintly blushing. Madoka notices, but doesn’t say anything about it.

Once they get back to Mami’s apartment, Madoka and Sayaka spend the rest of the day just making casual conversation with her over tea and cake, asking her and Homura what being a magical girl is like. Of course, Mami sugarcoats it, and Homura doesn’t, reminding them several times that it is “Horrible and traumatic” and that they shouldn’t do it. The entire time, Homura looks out for Kyubey to prevent him from getting near Mami.

At some point, however, the question had to be asked by Mami, “Why do I need to stay away from him? He’s always been so helpful...”

To which Homura replies, “His help is nothing but a convenient disguise intended to lull you into a false sense of security. He feels no emotions, does not understand human ethics or values, and freely manipulates people in whatever way he sees fit to accomplish his goal of creating more magical girls. He won’t directly lie to you, but he will omit information unless you explicitly ask for it. Information that is crucial to your decision making. Tell me, Mami Tomoe, did he tell you about how difficult it was to be a magical girl? About what you would have to face? If I recall correctly, he only gave you the offer as you were dying in a car wreck, then used that as an excuse to explain why he didn’t tell you before you made your wish.”

Mami looks shocked at first, then remembers she’s a time traveler, “...That’s right. I thought it was reasonable. I was dying. I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“And yet your old friend Kyouko had one.” Homura mentions. It elicits the same reaction from Mami: Surprised, then not. “She was never told the price of her wish before she made it. Nor was I. But we were both in such desperate situations that we didn’t have much choice or time to be asking questions. Are you sensing a pattern?”

It’s only then that she realizes it, “...He...chose us because...?”

“We were vulnerable. Desperate. Blind. His manipulation is not upfront and aggressive. It’s subtle. Almost invisible if you don’t know what to look for, or what his game is. But if you ask, he’ll usually show his true colors. The trick is knowing that you have to.”

A solemn silence befalls them after that exchange. Internally, Homura begins to curse her incompetence, “So much for not befriending her. I should’ve known better than to think Madoka wouldn’t reach out to others. I wish I knew what she was thinking.”

Eventually, it’s time for everyone to go home. Madoka and Sayaka thank her for the snacks and a decently nice evening, minus the drama and tension, but Homura lingers for a little while after they leave. They don’t exchange words for another few minutes, when Homura tells her, “As I said, don’t talk to...Kyubey...anymore. If he tells you something you shouldn’t know...”

Mami takes a wild guess, “I’ll kill myself?”

Homura pauses briefly, “...Don’t.”

She leaves, her words left on just as ambiguous a note as her motivations. Mami stays seated at the table, still trying to figure out why she cares.