Location - ƒψ§@#Δ
The world trembled like it was trying to breathe.
Black fog swirled through the air, curling at the edges like ink in water. Space didn't sit right. In this world of voids, where time doesn't fit, and space doesn't form straight. The Enviest one stands at the centre of it.
"I've found you again," she whispered, her voice soft and full of longing. "My beloved..."
"You're here. Finally, you're here again. I won't let you go this time. I can't. Never again."
She spoke to no one and yet entirely to him. Her words floated, echoing in the void like a lullaby made of madness.
Her hands hovered in front of her chest, cradling invisible warmth.
"The path is so fragile... so thin. If I don't act, it might break. So I will. I must."
A pause. Her tone shifted, morphing to a softer note, touched by something like sorrow.
"...Even you might need someone. An ally. Someone beside you when I can't be. Someone who can speak to you. Hold you. Fight for you."
"Someone clever... someone wounded... someone like her."
She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.
"She will be helpful to you, my beloved. So very helpful."
"But the other one…?" Her voice caught, briefly distorted. "No... It's fine. She won't interfere. I'll make sure of it. I have to make sure. All for you."
She twirled, slowly, arms outstretched like a dancer in a dream.
"Yes... Yes, that's what I'll do. She's from a world not unlike yours, after all. So close. So familiar. She'll understand you. Stay near you. Help you."
"And for that..."
A breath. A quiet, poisoned smile.
"...I will be most envious of her."
---
Homura had finished another school day in silence. She left campus as soon as it let out, not bothering to wait for anyone. Tracked and dispatched a nearby wraith with clinical efficiency and began her walk "home". but because of where she ended up after removing the wraith from the world. she had crossed paths with her past, as it caught her eye.
It was the kind of place that mixed themes without shame, cat café and maid café mixed in one, with pastel walls and soft lighting. A place where people sat down to relax after a long day at work, to find joy in the laughs of others.
She hadn't stepped inside in what felt like a lifetime.
The last time she came here… she still wore glasses. Still kept her hair in awkward braids. Still flinched when people spoke too loudly. Back when she was that quiet, nervous girl who couldn't even speak properly to Madoka, let alone protect her.
Madoka had brought her here.
Confident, radiant and fearless, with the drive to show her what she missed while in hospital care. Madoka had dragged her from one shop to another like a force of nature, always smiling, always looking back to make sure Homura was keeping up. She would point to the cat-themed parfaits, laugh at the ridiculous menu names, and try on the maid accessories with zero shame. Homura never knew how to respond. She'd just sit there, red-faced and overwhelmed… and happy.
That was before.
Before she had to take more drastic action.
Before she had to smother that soft, naive part of herself, and burn it to ash.
The version of her that Madoka liked most. the version she had to kill, to save them... her.
Once she did, there was no place left for things like this to occur, as it no longer furthered her goals. And so she never came back.
But now, with the battle over and no more timelines to reset, she found herself here again. Just standing outside the door.
No reason to avoid it anymore.No reason to pretend it didn't hurt.No reason not to see if the past still had something left for her.
She stepped inside.
The air was warm, heavy with the scent of coffee and cream. A bell chimed overhead. The sound was familiar - because it was - And for a moment, just a moment, she almost expected Madoka to grab her hand and drag her along inside with a smile.
The thought hit her hard enough to make her stop in her tracks.
She moved carefully. Like someone walking through a museum of their own memories.
The tables were the same. The uniforms hadn't changed. Even the staff looked like mirrors of girls she remembered. It was all just as it had been, except for the aching silence in her chest.
She picked a table near the window. One she remembered sitting at before, back when she was still learning how to talk without a stutter.
Maybe if she ordered the same parfait. Maybe if she looked out the window the same way.
Maybe if she retraced the steps of that old memory…
She'd feel something again.
Not hope. She wasn't that foolish anymore.
Just something.
Anything.
"Meow..." The sound was soft. Almost too soft to notice, yet her ears still picked it up.
A moment later, a small weight pressed against her legs as a short-furred white cat leapt up onto her lap. Its fur was as pristine as fresh snow, eyes a gentle, knowing gold. It didn't hesitate, didn't ask permission. It simply curled itself against her, purring faintly, as if it had been waiting all this time.
Homura stared.
She remembered this cat.
Not just a cat, this one. The same one that had jumped into Madoka's lap the first time they came here. Madoka had laughed, surprised but delighted, and named it yu, reminding her of snow.
Homura hadn't known what to do back then, awkwardly patting its back like a child learning how to hold a baby. She reached out now, running her fingers through its fur.
It leaned into her hand.
Still warm. Still alive. Still here.
Not leaving. Not dying. Not falling.
"Do you remember her..." she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
The cat blinked up at her slowly, like it understood. Maybe it did. Homura had stopped assuming the line between normal and not existed a long time ago. A small smile graced her lips. "Of course you don't," she said softly, brushing her fingers through the cat's fur. "That would be too much to ask."
Her words were bitter, her laugh even more so. But the cat didn't flinch. It simply purred, calm and undisturbed, leaning into her touch.
She stayed like that for a while.
Petting the creature's soft, warm coat, letting the quiet murmur of the cafe fade into background noise. The sunlight filtering through the window warmed her skin.
She let her eyes drift closed.
Just a minute. She would allow herself that.
Just one quiet moment of peace, alone.
But before sleep could fully take her, something whispered at the edge of her hearing, not spoken aloud, but threaded into her thoughts.
feminine, and desperate. with an eeriness of calm.
Please... assist my beloved.
The words were so gentle, they might have been a dream.
But the weight they carried was heavy.
Perhaps if Homura had been more alert, she would have been alarmed.But sleep was far too comfortable to leave.
So her consciousness slipped away, without an ounce of resistance.
.
.
.
---
Homura blinked awake.
And almost immediately realised she wasn't in the warm, sunlit comfort of the café anymore.
The ground beneath her was hard stone - Cold and slightly uneven. Her back leaned against a coarse wall that scraped lightly through her clothes. The air smelled different. Dusty, unclean, with the faint scent of old earth and city grime.
She sat on a short set of steps, tucked into a narrow alleyway between tall, unfamiliar buildings. The stonework was older, much older. Her gaze drifted upward, scanning the rooftops and sky. The architecture was old. European, maybe. But definitely not modern. Not quite medieval either. Somewhere in between.
Homura rose and brushed herself off. No pain. No injuries. Her body felt untouched. She stared back into the sky. Morning. Early morning, she deduced through the angle of the light. "Unless I slept through the entire day..." she murmured, narrowing her eyes. "That shouldn't be possible. Unless-"
In a blink, light flashed across her body. A soft shimmer, almost invisible. When it faded, her clothes had changed, no longer her Mitikahara middle school uniform. Now she wore her familiar magical girl attire
Strapped to her left arm now was a silver buckler, compact, elegant, and unmistakably unique. At its centre, a sand timer slowly drained fine, pale grains from the top chamber to the bottom.
She stared at it for a long moment. Then sighed.
"This is strange. I must've travelled back… but why?"
Click.
The sound was quiet, but was immediately followed by stillness. The world drained of colour. Everything around her froze, as if time itself had taken a breath and held it. The sand in her buckler halted mid-fall.
Homura's expression didn't change. "This isn't the hospital room. or anywhere i recognise..." She frowned, glancing around the alley. "Did Madoka's wish interfere with it?" It was the only thing that made sense. Compared to every other timeline she'd travelled through… this was the only one she let Madoka's wish stay.
She turned and, with a practised motion, kicked off the wall. Her heel struck cleanly, launching her upward. A second step off the opposite wall carried her to the rooftops in seconds. From there, she moved swiftly to the edge and looked down upon the city below.
And what she saw made her pause.
"This..."
The streets beneath her were frozen in time, mid-action. People stood mid-step, some human, some... not. Beasts walked upright, casually carrying bags of groceries. Others had animal-like features, tails, ears, and claws. Stalls lined the streets, brimming with produce, bread, and food. A carriage was locked mid-motion, pulled by a creature that looked uncannily like a raptor from prehistoric times.
"I'm not in Japan anymore," she muttered. Her gaze drifted further, to the grand castle at the city's centre, its spires towering above the buildings like a crown. Her eyes narrowed.
"...Maybe not even Earth."
She stared a few moments longer. Then dropped back down into the alleyway with barely a sound.
Her feet touched stone. Another click. The world rippled.
Colour bled back into existence. Time resumed its flow.
And with a quiet flash, her magical girl attire faded, replaced once more by her school uniform.
Homura stood still, her breath slow and quiet. Her violet eyes scanned her surroundings, but they weren't focused on the present.
They were combing the past.
She ran back through every event following Madoka's wish. Step by step. Everything had calmed after that. Or it should have.
But then there was today.
Her brow furrowed slightly. The sunlight. The soft warmth of the café seat. The white cat was purring against her hand. That fleeting moment of peace right before falling asleep. it was then she remembered.
Please... assist my beloved.
The words echoed again in her mind. Not imagined. Not a dream. There had been intent in that voice. A plea, a gentle plea to assist someone.
And the way it reached her was through telepathy.
That phrase was the only anomaly. The only deviation from what should have been a perfectly ordinary, quiet day in the aftermath.
"Please assist my beloved." Not help me. Not save the world. But a plea to assist someone else's beloved.
So she hadn't returned by accident.
Someone had summoned her.
She didn't recognise the voice. Didn't know their beloved. Yet despite all that, it had reached across worlds to find her.
The way the woman did it was probably done through means that she hadn't come across, A world governed by rules she had never encountered.
But even without understanding it fully, she understood enough.
She was here for a reason.
To help someone. To assist.
Whether that help came through observation, protection, or bloodshed. She would figure that out soon enough.
.
.
.
She lifted her head and glanced at the sky "What would Madoka do?" Homura whispered. before quickly shaking her head and walking out of the alleyway. planning to gather as much information about this new world as she could.
Hopefully, finding them wouldn't be too difficult.
But Homura had learned long ago not to hope.
Only to act.