Time Again

This was, admittedly, one of the better timelines. In fact, Homura might even call it one of the BEST timelines. She wasn't even quite sure what she did to cause it this time, what words she said to have Mami go from addressing her coldly as a rival magical girl who had fucked up to a…well, like how it had been before.



Mami was alive, Sayaka hadn't turned into a mermaid over the guilt of losing her senpai and her own inner turmoil, Kyoko had even come back and after talking with Mami behind closed doors managed to make some kind of uneasy peace with her old teacher. She did note the fact that they glanced at each other when they thought no one was watching, but Homura was.



She always was.



They had planned it out near perfectly. Homura would use her time stop ability when it was confirmed the witch had touched down on the ground and let them get into position. Mami would bind it with ribbons, allowing them all to, as Sayaka had so colorfully said, "wail on that thing until it went crying back to mama!"



Homura wondered, with a bit of self-admitted dark amusement, if she would say the same thing if she knew the truth of witches. Not that she would allow her to know. As long as she guided the "Knight of Justice!" to worthy targets, she was for the most part tolerable. Still annoying, still in a love triangle with Hitomi and the violin boy, but tolerable.




And of course, speaking of the green haired girl, Hitomi had the most important task of all. Keeping Madoka away from the action. It had taken…so much work. To make sure that Madoka Kanime, her first friend and lover didn't make a contract. Homura was fairly certain that Mami and Sayaka disagreed with her actions judging by the looks they gave her, turning bright red and looking away. Maybe shame? Or some repressed anger that they couldn't convince her. Kyoko gave her a smug grin whenever it happened… Homura made a mental note to have a talk with them about it again after the Witch was dead. It would be best to start their friendship without any potential murder routes.



The day came and the foul witch of witches touched down. It was going fairly smoothly, enough so to let a pang of hope bloom in her weak, magic assisted heart.



Then it all went wrong. Just as she was about to preform a time stop so that Mami could position her Trio finale right in the witches face Homura heard an all too familiar anguished cry, and turning her face to the pillar of light near blinded her.



She saw what had been Hitomi crushed underneath some rubble, though now she was moving and looking at her hands with wide eyes. Madoka clutching at her chest with a gasp of pain. A soul gem darkening at dizzying speed.



Homura Akemi was distracted. And that cost her all over again.



A lash from Walpergishnacht sent her crashing down to the ground, both arms fracturing and several fingers now flopping uselessly, her leg rebelling against her at the worst moment as one cracked backwards at the knee, the other having her ankle twist in a way that it was not meant to for any sane human being. Not the best state she could be in, but most certainly not the worst. But it was enough for the others to see and try and help, the plan losing cohesion under the weight of her friends fellows worry. They were slapped away by tendrils or swarmed with familairs, the witches mocking, sobbing laugh ringing through the air.



Wire swam through the sky and wrapped around one of Walpergishnacht's arms, pulling it off with a wet cracking sound. The laughing turned to cries of pain and Homura did her best to get up into a position where she could see what was going on, heart plummeting.



Madoka had contracted. Again. Probably to bring back Hitomi. Homura sighed and flopped her least broken arm over the edge of her shield, face twisting in a frustrated frown as the edges of her fingers landed over the edge of the shield. Not quite, however, the right angle to wind her shield back.



Laughter like jagged glass caught her attention as Homura twisted her neck just enough to see yet another sight that twisted her already ragged gay heart. Mami had collapsed to her knees with her hands against digging into her hair and was letting out laughs that reminded Homura uncomfortably of a horror movie they had all gone to see during one of the earlier timelines when she still had her pigtails, the memory of Madoka clutching against her doing nothing to help her here and now.



"So that's it, we're all just," Mami's eyes were wide and unfocused, her soul gem rapidly growing dark, "doomed to become that which we hunt? It, it can't be. Can it?" Mami finally looked at her gem and let out a soft "Oh." Then she turned and looked at Homura with a look of…pity? "Oh Homura."



Then Mami died and Candeloro was born, and it all went even further down hill from there.



Oktavia and Opehlia were born near exactly at the same time in the midst of Candeloro wrapping ribbons around the throat of Walpergishnacht and the lower parts of Gretchens wires,runes spinning around in a dizzying flurry. The mermaid started a discordant orchestra which had, surprisingly, no violin boy this time, but every single one of them instead. Pink Madoka silhouettes pirrouted on the ground while blood red Kyoko's danced like feral monsters, limbs twirling and flailing all about, the two of them coming close but never touching. Mami's forms could be seen all around playing different pianos, keeping the music in time to the sound of destruction. And the strangest part? Homura could even see herself, not dancing or playing or even singing, but carefully managing things in the back ground. Whenever a piece of rubble threatened to crush one of the mermaids familiars a oh too familiar violet girl would do something to pull them out of the way, making sure things kept running smoothly.



And as for Ophelia, she joined in the madness. Whenever it seemed like Candeloro was going to be overwhelmed she rode to her defense, valiantly dodging the dress up witches attempt to bind her in ribbons with a horses snort. Whenever Gretchen was having trouble with the Witch of all Witches might she would smack the dressed up thing with the flat side of her weapon, sending it away and giving Gretchen a moment to recuperate or get targeted by Candeloro. And when Walpergishnacht was her target? She charged at the witch viciously.



Homura watched this all play out while trying to get her useless fingers to hook on the edge of her buckler, dumb, useless fingers refusing to catch on the part of the shield she needed to travel back. She tried even harder when she noticed that ribbon and wire wrapped around her leg and waist, scooping her up off the ground. 'Oh shit oh shit oh shit.'



Candeloro let out a cry of victory as she finally managed to get her ribbons around them all, bright yellow ribbons tying themselves into a multitude of knots and dragging them closer. Ophelia let out wickers of distress as her legs were bound and dragged into the open sky, The mermaid letting out bubbles, Gretchen just laughing and wrapping her wires around Candeloro and the others in kind, with Homura being dragged into the center.



It was dangerous. Too dangerous. They drew closer, unnaturally shaped bodies crashing against one another.



Then, her fingers finally caught. And time reversed, sending a screaming Homura back to her bed.



She laid there for… a quick look at the clock revealed an hour.



It took her but a moment to pump magic back into her heart, unbroken arms that led to freshly rested hands which curled into fists. Fists that picked up one of the pillows she rested on (she had long learned punching the mirror meant having to pick out the fragments and healing those wounds, a waste of Madokas time and magic) and sent it flying against the furthest wall as she let out a scream of agony and heartbreak.



She nearly had it. It would have been perfect. And because she was too weak, she fucked it all up. Her friends, dead. Madoka, dead. For in truth, to her? Witching out was no different than death. Worse even, because their corpses were still running around making problems for her.



So Homura allowed herself time to grieve what could have been, and what would be oh so difficult to recreate.

==========================



Candeloro blinked as she stared up at the darkness of the room, unsure what to do.



One moment she had everyone wrapped in her ribbons, delighted to have her closest friends close and ready for the tea party, then the small human she know knew of as Gretchens girlfriend and her own crush clicked her shield and everything went blurry, and now…



She raised an all too human arm and let it flop down, a frown unwittingly carving itself on her face. This form felt, strange. One, two, three, four, five digits.



Candeloro sighed and banged her too human head against the beds headboard, marinating in the knowledge that had unwititngly been dumped into her head. Of Kyubey, of her friends. Visions of her pigtailed junor with a soft, fragile smile on her face slowly turning into the stone faced beauty. Of Mami Tomoe killing her friends with tears streaming down her face, Kyoko laying on her back with her shattered soul gem laying on the ground around her



She made a huffing noise and removed the blankets from her new form, plans already forming. A quick force of her will proved that indeed she could still reach for her labyrinth, though it felt a tad sluggish. Quickly restructuring the apartment to her liking and adding many, many doors as to keep out that lying white rat that Mami called friend she perused through the fridge to see what ingredients she had, ribbons and familiars already rifling through other nearby apartments steathily to add to her stock. She could make 100 cheese cakes, 18 smoked chickens, a gallon of green tea… she needed more.



After all, how could she host a party for her most beloved of friends if she didn't have proper refreshments?



Ophelia Kyoko , her student and then later equal, her first of friends, and if the world had been kind, maybe more.



Ocktavia Sayaka , the justice seeking kohai who would see the world broken on her knee if it meant a chance to set it right.



Gretchen Madoka , bright, determined, unfaathomably gay for her girlfriend maybe she would share .



And then Gretchens girlfriend Homura , the girl who suffered a thousand times over just to help and who had yet to even sprout properly like the rest of them had.



Candeloro giggles turned into full on deranged laughter. She would have them all, as witch or magical girl, and nothing would rip them away from her again.

=====================



Ocktavia was too busy prepping her bags to give a single iota of thought to her currently beeping phone, for she was on a mission!



Yes, she no longer had a mermaid tail which SUCKED, and yes she didn't have easy access to her orchestra right now since she needed to be on the move soon, but that didn't matter.



The things that did matter were such:



1: Gretchens girlfriend Homura was a time traveler and gods did that girl have a tough time.



2: Gretchen was in danger of being found by Kyubey, little devil that he was, and she had to go make sure she was ok! And not get found out by Gretchens totally not a girlfriend too. Fucking hot got girl stalker…



3: Once everyone was assembled and on the same page they needed to…well her thoughts on what they needed to do weren't quite safe to say outloud, but probably Gretchen or Candeloro probably had an idea of what to do. She would want to say Gretchens girlfriend Homura (and damn was she shy if even ocktavia didn't know her name) would have a clue but there was an equally high chance she would be too gay to think of a single thought in Gretchens presence.



4: Figure out how to get her gods damn mermaid tail back!



She closed her suitcase with a snap and made her way downstairs, ignoring Sayaka Miki's parents stares. When they finally worked up the gumption (someone would else would have noted the bemused smile on their face) to ask where she was going, Ocktavia responded "On an adventure! The world needs JUSTICE!"



She then tried and failed to kick open the door. Damn these weak, spindly, HUMAN legs!



The mission and poly negotiations awaited!

===============




Ophelia moved from rooftop to rooftop, not caring one whiff for anyone below who might see. Her friends needed her.



It was weird, to learn just exactly what she had. That Kyubey was a monster all along, even if she suspected it, that Candeloro loved her in near every timeline, that Gretchens girlfriend Homura was a tougher bitch than she had expected.



But now she was back, her city undestroyed. Her. City. Because nay place that had Candeloro and the others? That was her place to be.




Opehlia transformed and slinked her way to the bench of the bus station, using a subtle application of her labyrinth to make her human form undesirable to look at. Now it was time to think of important things, like cuddling positions.



Oh yes, she remembered how Candeloro had looked at Gretchins Girlfriend Homura , the blushes on her face even as she grazed fingers with Ophelia. Honestly? She didn't mind, not when she herself looked at Ocktavia the same way.



And Homura too. Ophelia winced as she thought of the HUMAN name of Gretchens girlfriend. Not that she had anything else to work with really, Homura had never become a witch like they had and thus they had yet to meet the cutie. But knowing Candeloro's tastes she would be adorable like the rest of them.



As the bus pulled up the scent of smoke and flame followed Ophelia, a smile settling on her too human face as she sat down in the back.



She's coming.

=================



Gretchen hummed a happy tune as she had Hitomi helping her in the kitchen, the symbol of a pink flower sprouting on her neck. Sayaka wasn't the type to leave her phone unchecked, so she would be over soon and get the same treatment.



Already mother and father and her adorable baby brother had been kissed and were watching something in the living room while she got breakfast ready.



It was so hard to resist the urge to go out and conquer save her friends, especially her darling songbird. But she had to wait. Mami was strong and would need time to be worked on, to be properly pushed and prodded until she cracked and her dearest Candeloro could emerge, healthy and happy.



Ocktavia would also need time, though maybe she could use Hitomi? After all, Gretchen had always suspected that Sayaka was bisexual and with the memories, perhaps unwillingly but oh so helpfully supplied by her songbird, she now knew it as a certainty. Introduce her to Mami, play up her own wow factor and the "Oh my heavens magical girls are so cool!" and get her to contract.



Then Kyoko would need to be brought back. Maybe using Mami's transformation into Candeloro as an excuse? Even more so if Sayaka transformed into Ocktavia, then she could use the "I'm just a poor little magical girl who just watched her senpai get eaten by a big monster and need help angle."



Gretchen paused, the room flickering as she became lost in thought. Was she being perhaps, a tad too sadistic? Then she shook her head, hair more like flickering static than shaken hair. No, no she was being just the right amount of mean to get her friends out of their human meat bodies.



Oh, and Kyubey… Well, he could be Homura's wedding gift, right? She was always shooting and stabbing and killing him, so if she gathered all his bodies in one spot she could enjoy that right?



A sigh like a maiden in love slipped out past her lips and she held her hands against her cheeks, giggling and ignoring the way the knife poked against and through her waxy skin, or how blood didn't flow like liquid. Oh she was a bad girlfriend, not even knowing her beloveds true name, but that was her songbirds and her own fault. She held on for so long, working so hard to try and give her a happy ending. Well she needed to be rewarded in kind!



And she wasn't greedy either. She had seen how the others had looked at her darling songbird. Candeloro was not as subtle as she thought she was, neither was Ocktavia. And while she wasn't sure about Ophelia, well, were the yellow witch went, so did the red. That fit her just fine though.



She wanted all her friends in one spot for her to dote and love and consume and if they were all too busy snuggling in bed to worry about anything, ever again?



That fit the witch of salvation just fine.

================



Homura wept and witches schemed. And as for Kyubey?



==========



The white haired rat sat in confusion as several powerful witch forms sprung into existence, their runes promising him death. Not the world at large, but Kyubey in particular.



And that was if he saw them between the declarations of possessive love.



All in all, he had this to say.



"What the fuck is going on over there?"