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Chapter Text

I looked down at the city of Mitakihara from high above atop the cliff, lounging in my chair. It was something I did most every night, waiting for the morning to begin, waiting to spend another day with Madoka. I would also spend time with Sayaka, Kyouko and Mami, of course. But it was for Madoka, sleeping peacefully in the city below, that I truly waited.

That wasn't something I needed to do anymore, sleeping. I didn't need much of anything, now. My body ran itself perfectly without rest or sustenance, and I did not want to indulge in unnecessary things. It was a waste of time.

And, though I did not like to admit it, a small part of me feared that if I did indulge in the luxury of sleep I would lapse in my duties. That Madoka would awaken to her greater self, and I would lose her again. And that was something I could not allow. Because then Madoka would no longer be happy, she would no longer be safe.

So I sat high above, admiring Mitakihara. Although, in truth, I only half paid attention to it. There was only so much someone could stay distracted by city lights. But it was a way to pass the time, so I did. And in its own way, it was peaceful and relaxing.

It was a shame that other things decided to intrude on my meditations.

"You can still end this, Homura Akemi," came the voice of the small, broken thing at my feet. I looked down at it and sneered. "You can cease your influence on reality and-"

It stopped talking when I slammed my foot down on its back, eliciting a squeal of pain from the creature.

"I did not give you permission to speak, Incubator," I said coldly. I had no sympathy for the monster's ragged appearance. This was everything it deserved. Less, even. "You will be silent unless given permission otherwise."

I didn't need to be more explicit in my threat. The hateful little thing knew what I would do to it. I had made the specifics of our relationship perfectly clear after assuming this latest aspect of my duty. I was the master now, and it was nothing but the lowest of servants.

I briefly wondered how long ago it had been since I had taken hold of the universe and finally made it fair. Had it been yesterday, or perhaps the day before? Had it been a year or a decade, or maybe centuries since I had taken Madoka's power and directed it toward her own protection? I could no longer tell.

But that didn't really matter.

I stood up, hit by a sudden whimsy, and began to dance. I twirled around both my chair and the Incubator, who shivered whenever I came close. I grinned at that, though it was a hollow thing. I didn't derive much pleasure from the creature's torment, not anymore. Rarely were my nights filled with joy as I waited. Only the day brought me comfort, for it was then I could be with Madoka again.

Madoka, her gentle heart shone so brightly. She was so beautiful and so strong, even despite all her insecurities and her shyness. No, it was because she was shy and insecure that her kindness was all the more meaningful.

It was no surprise that she had done what she had, becoming the Law of Cycles. And though I had worked against it, prevented her even now from returning to that position as a universal constant, I could not help but admire the strength it must have taken to step forth into that decision. She had made the choice out of a sense of duty, but it had still been sincere.

But I knew she'd done it only because she'd felt she had to, not because she desired it. And that made all the difference. That justified everything.

"Sayaka Miki called me a demon, once," I said out loud as I danced. "I suppose it fits. After all, who but the Devil would oppose the majesty of God?

I stopped my twirling and set my arms on the back of my chair, resting my head as I turned back toward the city.

"But I'm fine with being Satan, if it means she will be happy."

Laughter boomed from behind me, a deep guffaw that resonated with the steady sound of clapping. I turned around, eyes narrowed and my hand raised to fight. Nothing should have been up here aside from myself and the rodent. I certainly hadn't let any of the people who inhabited my world approach my resting place this night.

The man was tall, and obviously a foreigner. He looked British, or perhaps American, with swept back reddish blonde hair. He was wearing black pants and a coat of the same color. His shirt, however, was white. All of it looked like it was made from fine material, though it was frayed near the edges.

His most prominent feature was the scar across his face, however. It went from his left cheek all the way across his nose and up toward his forehead. It was the only thing that marred otherwise handsome features, though if the man cared about the disfigurement he didn't show it. He exuded confidence and control, of both himself and his surroundings. No, more than confidence. Arrogance. His posture was rife with it as his mirth died down.

"You know," he said in a deep voice that just oozed self-assurance as he ended his applause. "Satan was just a name that got added on later. It means 'adversary.' Fitting, I suppose. Not that I ever really appreciated it. I don't require the whims of others to give meaning to my actions."

"Who are you?" I demanded, drawing my power close and readying it. "How have you come here?"

"This is certainly an interesting universe," the man said, not answering my question. I ground my teeth, but he just went on as if nothing was wrong. He walked toward the cliff, staring down at the city before peering up at the sky. "I wonder. Did Yahweh create it, or did something like him have a hand in this? Or did it come about naturally? I can feel the touch of the Endless here, although that doesn't mean much of anything in and of itself. After all, the Endless are everywhere."

"Are you just going to ignore me?"

"Though something seems to have played merry havoc with Destruction's jurisdiction," he continued, doing just that. "Despair's too. Not that Destruction cares much for his function any more, and from what little I can tell I doubt Despair disapproves of how her purview has been utilized."

"Enough," I said, letting my power leak out into the world around me. It warped and shifted, taking on the manic twinge of a Witch's barrier. The man turned around and cocked an eyebrow at me, not concerned in the least. "You will tell me who you are and how you managed to reach me here. None of my world should have been able to come close to me this night."

"Who I am," the man said. "Is just a wanderer from the void who heard a little girl call herself the Devil, and thus caught my interest. So I thought I might see what this place was all about, and perhaps gain some small measure of entertainment."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"No," he responded. "I suppose it doesn't."

He gave a mocking little bow, kneeling down to look me in the eye. There was amusement in his gaze, though for the most part his eyes were simply keen and hard. Like frozen stars burning with cold light.

"I have had many names," he said. "It would take hours to list them all, and honestly they're not all that important. But you may call me Lucifer."

Chapter Text

"Lucifer?" I asked skeptically. "The Devil himself? The Lord of Hell?"

"Not anymore," Lucifer said. He stood up and brushed off his pants. What little mirth he'd shown as he'd introduced himself was gone now, and all that was left was the scowl that seemed a permanent feature on his face. "I wrote off Hell a while back. Gave the key to Dream to do with as he would and left."

I blinked, and the distortions in the air around us died away in my surprise. "Wait… You're Lucifer, and you just left Hell?"

"Of course," he said matter-of-factly. "There was nothing keeping me there, after all. And I grew tired of the farce."

I moved my chair to better face him and sat down, bewildered by this strange man who had approached me this night when none should have been able to. This man who called himself Lucifer, and spoke of strange things I did not understand.

"I don't believe you," I said at last. "I don't know what you are, but I doubt it is the Devil. You're just some anomaly in my world, and I will remove you."

I focused my power on him, to work apart his essence so that he would no longer exist. His presence was a mistake, a snag in my perfect world. I could not allow that. If he continued, he might bring down all I had worked toward. He would be a threat to Madoka's happiness. And that was not something I would ever tolerate.

I pushed my will on to him, and was surprised when it stopped short. It was not as if strength was deflecting me, for there wasn't any. When I pushed my power on to the man who called himself Lucifer, it affected him easily enough. He had dropped to one knee, releasing a snarl of pain as I worked against him. But that was as far as I seemed to be able to go.

I could feel inside him as I pushed. He felt empty… like a vast container that used to be filled to the brim with fire and light. That was gone now, save for a few embers within the enormity that made up his being. But within those last glittering flames was something more, something small and yet at the same time endless. My will met it and was halted, my power rebuffed.

I frowned and pushed harder, and Lucifer's snarl grew fiercer. His feet shaking only the barest fraction, he stood up and walked closer to where I sat. He towered above me, looming like a giant. The lights of Mitakihara created a halo behind him, but rested his face in shadow. All save for his eyes, which shined brighter than the stars in the sky.

"You may destroy me," he said through clenched teeth. "But do not think for an instant you can break me. I will not submit to you."

I stared up at him with wide eyes. How could he stand? I was attempting to unravel everything that made him who he was, to shatter his influence on my world. The pain must have been monstrous, as if every atom was lighting on fire. But still he stood over me, defying my power. How could he do that?

What kind of will is required to hold on like this? I wondered idly as I threw my power in vain against the rock this man had set himself as. What kind of resolve?

The answer came just as whimsically. Infinite will. It would require infinite will to hold himself together when every piece of him was being pulled apart.

I halted my attack and stood up, though he was still so much taller than me, before stepping back. Lucifer, for his part, merely straightened his coat and gave a small snort of derision.

"You are a very rude little girl," he said. "I'll forgive you this just once. Don't make the mistake of testing my patience any further."

"What are you?" I asked. I looked down at the Incubator, who had been silent this whole time because of my instruction. It took my glance as affirmation to speak.

"You are intriguing," the Incubator said. It was only now that I properly understood how much more its kind could perceive. I could do the same, but I lacked understanding for much of it. The monster's knowledge made it useful, though I hated to admit it. "Are you some kind of terraforming system, but on a universal scale? The power requirements for such a thing would be astronomical. But that power source appears to be missing. And why would a terraforming system be made in the shape of a human being?"

"So you can talk," Lucifer said. "I'd prefer if you didn't. Your voice grates on my ears, and I'm having a discussion with the girl who fancies herself emulating me."

He was standing easier now, as if I hadn't just tried to unmake him a few seconds ago. He should have been furious at my assault, but aside from a warning he took the attack as if it was nothing of consequence. I couldn't get a clear bead on this man. What kind of self-assurance was needed to treat the possibility of your end like it was nothing?

I thought again of strength of will without limit and shuddered. Such a creature would be completely inhuman in how it thought, and I was glad that this man did not seem to have his full power at his disposal, that the vast emptiness of his being was not full of fire and light.

"What exactly do you want?" I asked.

Lucifer turned his attention back to me. "Just a little distraction, like I said. I've been wandering the void for a long time and thought your universe might make for a good diversion."

"So you're here to, what, sight-see?"

"Perhaps," Lucifer said. "It all hinges on what I find. I might leave as soon as tomorrow, or as late as next year, depending on how long this place continues to be entertaining."

I mulled over that for a few moments. I could still destroy him, if I had to. But it would take everything I had to tear his form apart while his resolve held him together. In that time would I still be able to keep Madoka from merging back with her greater self, to keep her from becoming the Law of Cycles once again?

It was too much of a risk.

"Fine," I said. "I'll not interfere with that. But I will have conditions."

Lucifer gave a grin that did not reach his eyes. "If they're not too ridiculous I might just agree to them."

His tone made me bristle, but I did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing my anger. "You will not willfully pursue interaction with Madoka Kaname, Sayaka Miki, Kyouko Sakura, Mami Tomoe or Nagisa Momoe. You will not cause disturbances to the status quo. Lastly, you will you draw the public's attention to the supernatural."

"So you don't want me stomping around and wrecking your little playground," Lucifer said. "Fine. I'll go along for now, but if people seek me out it's up to my own discretion whether or not I answer any questions."

I tensed. That was dangerously close to being in direct conflict with all my condi
tions. His grin turned into a smirk at my obvious discomfort, and I was tempted to
lash out at him again. But I stayed my hand. I couldn't risk that the distraction would endanger Madoka's happiness. And for her I would suffer any indignity, would make a deal with the Devil himself to ensure her pleasant life was not interrupted.

"That is acceptable," I said.

"Good," Lucifer responded. He turned and stood on the edge of the cliff face, staring at the city. "It'll be dawn soon, I think. I'll enjoy a nice sunrise before heading off. Those are almost as good as sunsets, in their own way. Nice to look at."

Lucifer chuckled at his remark, and I got the feeling I was missing some kind of inside joke. But I ignored it and sat back down, looking at the horizon as the sun slowly began to rise. It marked the beginning of a new day. And, grudgingly, I had to admit Lucifer was right.

The sunrise was nice to look at.

Chapter Text

"And that's why a man shouldn't get all wrapped up in how you make breakfast!" Saotome-sensei cried, looking equal parts despondent and fierce. It seems her latest date had, just like all the others, ended terribly. "So girls, don't get involved with men who judge your merit on your cooking!" She looked over at one boy in class and leveled her pointer at him. "Don't you think so, Nakazawa-kun?"

I sighed and looked out the window as Nakazawa nervously stuttered out his agreement. It was just another day at school, which was thankfully approaching its end. I could have sped it up, but I was reluctant to abuse my control over reality too much. Too many discrepancies with the world meant a greater chance for issues to pile up, issues that Madoka might notice before I fixed them. What was important was the illusion of normality. I could settle any problems, of course, but it was easier to let things mostly handle themselves.

The world wanted to run a certain way. I'd found that out soon after I'd taken control. For the most part that was fine with me. I only required a few changes to ensure my universe ran smoothly, and so long as it did I was happy to let everything else sort itself out properly.

Soon enough school ended for the day. I couldn't help but smile as Madoka and I walked outside, Sayaka and Hitomi chattering away. We didn't have any club activities, so we had the afternoon all to ourselves. Mami and Kyouko would not be joining us any time soon, however. While we were free this afternoon, those two did have extracurriculars that required their attention.

"So, what should we do today?" Madoka asked as we made our way from the school.

"I don't have any plans," I said. "Whatever you want is fine with me."

"The arcade!" Sayaka all but shouted. "School took forever to finish! Let's play around for a while! Get something to eat, too. I'm starving!"

"Not too long, though," Hitomi said softly, holding herself in that refined way that came to her so naturally. "There's a report due Friday. You should probably get started today."

Sayaka grimaced. "Ughh. I don't want to think about that right now. History is so boring!"

Madoka and Hitomi laughed at Sayaka's antics, and I allowed myself a small smile a
s well. It was mostly for appearances sake, of course. I couldn't say I really car
ed much for Sayaka, not after all the times I'd seen her crash and burn. Her attit
ude during my capture by the Incubators also didn't help my perception of her. But she was important to Madoka, so I would at least treat her courteously.

Something caught my eye as we made our way through the park near the school. There, sitting down on one of the benches, was Lucifer. The man had a loaf of bread in his hands, and he was tearing off portions to feed to the birds. There were a surprising number of pigeons surrounding him. It was almost a peaceful sight, if it wasn't for the man's rather stony expression. Normally someone would smile while feeding birds, but Lucifer's face was the epitome of neutrality. It was almost as if he were deep in thought on some other matter and simply wanted something to do with his hands.

"Excuse me for a moment," I said. "I'll meet up with you all at the arcade."

"Are you okay, Homura-chan?" Madoka asked. I smiled back at her.

"Yes. There's just something I need to look into right quick."

"Don't take too long!" Sayaka called. "Or we'll eat without you!"

"We'll do no such thing," Hitomi said, playfully shoving Sayaka.

"All right," Madoka said, looking between her friends and me with a nervous expression. "See you soon. Be careful, okay?"

"Of course," I said. "You don't ever need to worry about me, Madoka. I'll be fine."

Madoka nodded and went off with the others, though she glanced over her shoulder back at me. I just smiled and waved. Eventually she nodded and went off with Sayaka pulling on her arm.

My smile faded to a frown, and I turned to Lucifer. He had ceased staring blankly into space and turned to me, one eyebrow arched as if to question what I was doing. In response, I kept my expression stoic as I approached him.

"Feeding birds?" I asked as I came close, startling said birds and scattering them. "You don't seem the type."

"Just something to do while I focus on other things," Lucifer responded, tearing up another chunk and tossing the pieces on the ground.

"What are you even doing here?" I asked.

"Observing the fundamental fabric that makes up your universe," he said. He threw the last of the bread on the ground and wiped his hands together to disperse the crumbs. "I'd gotten a brief glance last night, but I felt it warranted a closer inspection. Frankly, it's a mess."

I couldn't help the twitch of my eye at the criticism, and was surprised at the stab of annoyance I felt. "In what way?"

He gave me a wry look that told me he understood exactly what his words had done. "The basic framework is the same as what I'm used to, with effect following cause being a cornerstone that everything else is set upon. I've issues with that on a personal standpoint, but I'll admit that's not relevant to our conversation." He frowned and looked up at the sky. "What's more important is that several structures in the metaphysical schema of reality seem either greatly altered from what I recognize or almost gutted entirely."

"You're not really answering my question."

"I can't make the explanation much simpler," Lucifer said, looking me in the eye. Even sitting down he was just about equal height to me standing. "It's not my fault if you don't understand the greater workings of the cosmos you appear to be in charge of."

"And you've experience being master of a universe, then?" I asked, not able to keep a bit of heat from entering my voice. This strange man, this person who called himself the Devil… By what right did he have to criticize the perfect world I had created? This world I had made to ensure Madoka's happiness… By what standard did this anomaly judge what I had wrought?

"Yes, actually," he said before standing up. He looked down at me, and I was forced to crane my neck in order to keep eye contact. I was fairly certain he'd done that intentionally just to make things more awkward for me. "So I can speak with some understanding."

He waved a hand through the air, which shimmered as if in a heat haze. Then, with an almost wrenching pull, he brought something down and put it before my eyes.

It was a swirling mass of black fog, oily in its consistency. Flashes of red and violet emerged every few moments, but for the most part it was simply a dark cloud twirling above Lucifer's palm.

It looked very familiar. More to the point, it felt familiar. It took me only a second to match the feeling.

It felt like the Wraiths. And, though perhaps to a lesser extent, Witches.

"A mixture of emotional energy," he said. "Though rather base, overall. There's a lot of despair, a good deal of fear and anger. Desire, too. It's all leaking out from the people of this world and not going anywhere, just congealing into a thick mass."

Lucifer pulled his hand away and released the energy back into the atmosphere.

"It makes me wonder just how much the Endless touch this universe," he continued. "Despair and Desire might play their little games, but I wouldn't say they're so irresponsible to just let something like this leak out everywhere. Not without their knowledge, anyway, and I'm almost certain they would be aware of something like this."

I narrowed my eyes. Lucifer was talking about concepts as if they were actual people. He'd done similarly last night, though I had been distracted by his introduction to make much of it.

"Despair?" I asked. "Desire? Are these the 'Endless' you spoke of?"

Lucifer gave me an odd look. "So you don't know about them?"

"No."

"I suppose that figures," he said in a despairing tone, and I had to hold down another flash of irritation. "Well, I've neither the time nor the inclination to tutor you on the movers and shakers of wider reality. But suffice it to say they're seven of the most fundamental aspects of all sentients everywhere."

"Perhaps the Incubators are the cause for the disturbances you've found?" I asked,
moving the conversation along. Lucifer hadn't been quite this forthcoming about h
is knowledge yesterday, and if he was feeling talkative I might be able to get mor
e information out of this odd creature who had invaded my world. "Before I took ch
arge they had set up a complex arrangement to harness the emotional energy of youn
g girls."

Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he mulled that over. "Perhaps that's the case, or partially the case, in any event. But there's more to it. It's almost as if there was something set in this universe's framework, some embodiment of a law that's just not there any more and its making the entire system not function properly."

I tensed up. Had Lucifer figured out what I had done to free Madoka from her duty as the Law of Cycles? I had originally placed the man as an annoying but mostly harmless anomaly, but if he was able to deduce all this despite the work I had done to hide that I'd separated Madoka from her greater self, then he was more dangerous than I had first thought.

I forced myself to relax, to cover up my lapse of composure. It was a wasted effort, over all. Lucifer had seen my reaction, the recognition in his eyes made that obvious. I was beginning to realize that there likely wasn't much Lucifer didn't see if he focused.

"Ah," Lucifer said, understanding dawning on his features. "So you're already aware of that."

"This is not a line of thought you want to continue pursuing," I said with ice in my voice. "You will regret it if you do."

Lucifer's perpetual scowl deepened, and the atmosphere around us seemed to tense as our wills clashed and began to interact with the world around us. If one paid attention you could almost see landscape ripple as if it wasn't quite solid. The threat I was making was obvious to anyone with more than human senses, but Lucifer didn't seem to care. He looked more annoyed by my hostility than intimidated.

I pulled some of my power to myself. Would I need to finish what I had begun last night? Would I have to take the risk and unmake Lucifer, despite that it would require everything I had in the face of his infinite will? There was a chance Madoka could become the Law of Cycles again if I was distracted in the confrontation, but allowing Lucifer to continue investigating might have been just as bad. That was a possible liability, and not one I was sure I could accept.

"Homura-chan?" Madoka called from near by.

Immediately I released what power I had gathered and turned to her. I kept my expression neutral, purging my face of the feelings that had been etched on it for the last several minutes.

Madoka wrung her hands a little before approaching us. "You were taking a while," she said timidly. "I was getting worried."

"It's fine," I said before walking over to her, pointedly ignoring Lucifer. "I was just discussing some things with an acquaintance of mine."

"Oh!" Madoka said, looking to Lucifer. She gave him a short bow. "Hello! I'm Kaname Madoka. It's a pleasure to meet you…"

"You may call me Morgenstern," Lucifer said. "I've been addressed that way before, and it's as good as any other name."

"I'm happy to meet you, Morgenstern-san!" Madoka said with a smile and bowed again, though it was obvious she was still shy around this person she'd never met before.

Lucifer, for his part, gave a slight bow back. "And to you, young lady. It's nice to see someone with some manners. I've been lacking in good social graces amongst the company I've been keeping."

… Was that an insult? More to the point, he was certainly one to talk about manners.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Madoka said. She turned to me and smiled. "But I'm sure Homura-chan has been nicer to you. She's a good girl."

Lucifer no doubt had something he considered clever to say in response to that, but I didn't give him the chance. I grabbed Madoka's hand and walked away, all but dragging her after me. She protested the impoliteness of the action, but I didn't let up. I kept walking till I could no longer feel Lucifer's eyes on my back, and it was only once we were several blocks away that I lessened the pace.

"Homura-chan!" Madoka said as she took back her hand. "It's rude to just leave a conversation without saying goodbye."

"Morgenstern doesn't care much about that," I responded. "You should stay away from him, Madoka. He's not a pleasant person."

"He didn't seem that bad," Madoka said softly.

"Trust me," I said. "It's best to avoid him. The more you get to know him the more he grates on you."

"If you say so," Madoka responded. She looked like she was going to say more, but the arcade came into view and in just a few minutes we had enough distractions around us that, hopefully, Lucifer left her mind. Sayaka was already in the midst of one of the dancing games, with Hitomi watching on. Both greeted us as we approached. In no time Madoka was distracted by the games and food that often made up a normal middle school girl's after class activities.

I only hoped that things stayed that way. I hoped they stayed that way forever.

Chapter Text

Lucifer looked upon at the city from atop the roof of the building he'd made his perch, peering down into the lights as night came in. He did not show any pleasure with the million points of luminescence, but neither did he show any displeasure. His face was neutral, kept in a slight frown as if he was in deep thought.

Truthfully, however, this was how his expression always was, save during the few instances the angel had allowed himself to give in to rage. Lucifer was not one to reveal his deeper intentions so plainly on his face. His thoughts, as with everything else about him, were his and his alone. He would not surrender them so easily.

A noise on the roof drew his attention. With an annoyed sigh Lucifer glanced to the side. There, amongst the darkness, was a crude, animated figure of a woman that looked as if it was made out of paper. It chittered something illegibly and danced around, pointing at Lucifer and laughing.

More joined it, dancing and twirling around the rooftop. Their eyes, far too large even for their comically monstrous faces, flashed with green and crimson light. The figures laughed as they danced, filling what had once been a quiet evening with the sounds of their madness. The air warped as they moved about, reality fraying at the edges in response to chaos that was going on atop the building.

Lucifer gave a little snort at their presence and turned back to the city below. "I suggest you leave. I've no inclination to humor you all this night." He waved a hand lazily over his shoulder. "Go bother your mistress. I'm sure she'll be more amenable to your foolishness."

One of the figures, a woman in a black dress with blonde hair, pulled a tomato from somewhere and threw it at Lucifer. The vegetable combusted in midair before it came within even one foot of the angel. Lucifer turned to the figure, his frown deepening to a scowl. The blonde woman immediately burst into flame. She shrieked as the fire consumed her, an awful, discordant sound that overtook the laughter of her compatriots. And then she was gone, leaving nothing but a pile of dust.

The laughter ceased, and all the figures stopped dancing. They looked down at the ashes of where their comrade used to be with even wider eyes. Then they turned to Lucifer, who was still scowling.

"No second warnings," Lucifer said. "Leave."

he figures disappeared as one. With their departure the warped space also vanished, leaving the night as it had been before. Lucifer's scowl faded back to his regular neutrality, but he didn't turn back to the city. Instead he looked off into one of the shadows of the roof's corners.

"I'm unsure why you believe my words did not also apply to you," Lucifer said. "I have no desire for company."

The ragged form of the Incubator walked out of its hiding place and approached Lucifer. Its beady red eyes shined a little in the darkness, but it was from the reflected glow of the lights below rather than any kind of inner power.

"My apologies if I have caused you any disturbance," the Incubator said. "I merely wished to discuss some matters with you. I have arranged a brief moment where our conversation will go undetected by Homura Akemi. If you would prefer my departure, I will acquiesce. However, it might be some time before I could once again arrange for privacy."

Lucifer sighed. "Fine. If you've bothered to go through all he effort then I'll give you a few minutes."

"My thanks," the Incubator said. It plodded over closer to Lucifer before sitting down on its haunches. "I and the rest of my kind have been observing you for the last twenty-two hours. You are intriguing to us."

"And your point is?"

The Incubator waved its tail lazily as it continued to speak. "You appear to be in complete control of everything around you on a subatomic level, if only in short range. This leads credence to our running hypothesis that you are some sort of universal terraforming system. Your capabilities are something we Incubators would find very useful with our current problems."

"You mean how the rude little girl has you under her thumb," Lucifer said, getting straight to the point. "I take it you would like my aid in rectifying that issue?"

"We would," the Incubator said. "Homura Akemi's actions have caused dramatic harm to the universe. The systems that we have set in place are not functioning appropriately, and beyond that she has interfered with several natural laws. While things appear to operating stably for the moment, this will not continue to be the case."

"I've noticed that," Lucifer said. "It's what I've been looking into for most of the day, actually. Things here are much different from what I'm used to. All the other issues aside, there appears to be something intrinsic missing that's causing a good deal of everything else to run improperly."

"That would be the Law of Cycles," the Incubator said. "Otherwise known as Madoka Kaname."

"That timid little pink haired girl?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow in question. "She's the representation of a universal concept?"

"Indeed," the Incubator responded. "Namely the concept of the change of Despair to Hope and vice-versa, which means she also touches on the subjects of entropy and the transferal of energy from one form to another."

"And Homura has removed her from that position," Lucifer whispered. He cupped his chin in thought. "That would explain a few things."

"You see now our dilemma," the Incubator said. "Homura Akemi does not care about the bigger picture. She only cares that Madoka Kaname does not return to being the Law of Cycles. Homura Akemi believes herself able to control the issues that have arisen, but these are stopgap measures at best. The harm that has already been done to reality is tremendous, but is as of yet repairable. She must be stopped, and the Law of Cycles placed under the purview of the Incubators, so that we can reverse the damage that has been caused."

"And you think I could make this happen?" Lucifer asked. "In case you hadn't noticed, Homura nearly killed me when we first met. I imagine she only relented because she was afraid of losing her grasp on Madoka."

"You only lack a proper source of power to expand the full range of your abilities," the Incubator said. "While we are uncertain if it would return you to maximum output, we believe if you took in the stagnating grief of this world as fuel you might be able to confront Homura Akemi on a equal footing."

If the Incubator had planned to say anything else, it never got the chance. Lucifer threw his head back and laughed, a deep sound that boomed across the roof. It was a full body laugh, a cackle both amused and mocking in its tone. The angel trembled a little in his mirth, putting his hands on his legs to steady himself.

And then, suddenly, he stopped. Lucifer stood up straight and stared at the Incubator right in the eye. He crossed his arms, all levity drained away from his expression as his typical frown took its place.

"No."

The Incubator waved its tail again, more frantically this time. "Please reconsider. The damage being done to the universe is-"

"Why exactly do you believe I care?" Lucifer said. "This isn't my universe, and I left that one behind in any case. I certainly don't hold enough affection for this one to draw into myself the combined weight of human neuroses."

"Your involvement is the only chance we have seen so far that holds any realistic proposition of success," the Incubator said. "Without it we can do nothing, and the universe will continue to spiral out of control as paradoxes emerge. Those paradoxes will give rise to yet more paradoxes. Eventually everything will collapse in on itself."

"That is not my problem," Lucifer said. "I'm only here for my own entertainment."

"But you will die along with everything else."

"I can leave whenever I wish," Lucifer responded. "Don't presume you have leverage over me. You don't, and any continued attempts to force my hand will end very badly for you."

The Incubator did not respond. Its tail ceased waving, resting lifelessly on the roof behind the creature's body. There was no emotion on its plush face, its eyes wide and unblinking. But even stoic as it was, it seemed as if what little energy remained to the creature was gone now.

Lucifer nodded. "But as thanks for this information, I'll not tell your mistress about your attempted coup. Be grateful for that."

He stepped to the edge of the roof and walked off, disappearing before gravity would have taken hold. All that remained on the roof was the Incubator, staring at where Lucifer had been.

The Incubator stayed there for several minutes, and then it walked away into the shadows to disappear into the night.

Chapter Text

"That was a good movie!" Madoka said as we walked out of the theater together. I could not contain the beating of my heart as she held my hand, but aside from a faint smile I did not make a scene. The last thing I wanted was to ruin this perfect moment with Madoka with an overt display of emotion.

I nodded my head in agreement. "I agree. The music was fantastic, and I love how all the singing blended in with the story."

"I can't say I saw that part with Hanz coming, though," Madoka said. "That was really surprising!"

"There were some hints here and there, now that I think back on it," I responded. "But the writers did a good job hiding his intentions to make the reveal more surprising."

We stopped by an ice cream parlor and picked up some treats before making our way to the park. The evening was cool, and a light breeze swept through the trees to keep it that way. A few stars twinkled in the night's sky despite all the lights of the city, and they were pleasant to look at as we sat down on the park bench to enjoy our ice cream cones.

The evening had gone perfectly. It was Friday, so Madoka could afford to stay out later than usual. Even better, we'd had the entire time to ourselves. Sayaka was busy with Kyouko, and Mami had taken Nagisa to go visit Hitomi. So I could fully enjoy my time with Madoka.

The last three days had gone by rather smoothly. It was a pleasant experience considering how strangely the week had begun. But I'd seen no sign of Lucifer since our discussion on Tuesday. Perhaps he had gotten bored and left? It would only be a good thing if he had gotten his fill of amusement at my expense and moved on from my perfect world. I somehow doubted I would be that lucky where he was concerned. His absence was appreciated none-the-less, however.

I smiled at Madoka as we ate our ice cream. She smiled back, and my heart sped up again. She was so beautiful, her smile so bright. Seeing her happy like this made everything worthwhile. All the pain I'd suffered, the memories and history I'd had to alter… It was all fine so long as she was happy. No indignity was too much so long as Madoka could live her life smiling.

I would do anything for that smile.

"What are you thinking about?" Madoka asked before chomping down the last bit of her ice cream.

"Just about how cute you look in the lamplight," I said, smiling at her.

Madoka blushed, and I could feel some heat in my own cheeks. I was being rather forward here, but we had spent the last several months feeling out this relationship. Or, at least, I was fairly certain it had been months. My sense of time was not the same since I had taken my position as when I'd been mortal.

"Homura-chan!" Madoka cried before covering her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment. "Don't tease me like that."

"I'm not teasing you," I said. I poked her hands and prompted her to look at me. "You're very cute."

"Well," Madoka said, breathing deep and gathering herself. "I think you're really cute too! So there."

My heart was already beating fast, but now it thudded like machinegun fire. Was she… Was this a true return of my feelings, or did Madoka honestly think I was teasing her and was merely teasing me back? I hoped and feared for the first even while I dreaded the latter.

I would never use my influence to make Madoka love me. That was one line I would never cross. Everything else that I'd held as sacrosanct I had tossed aside in the name of ensuring Madoka's happiness, my friend's lives and the world itself taken under my control. But even still the very thought of forcing Madoka's love by using my power upon her made me want to vomit.

So I had to know. Was this the moment? I had to be sure.

"Madoka…" I said slowly, seeking the proper words. "Do you…"

"Has anyone seen my dog?"

I blinked in shock at the sudden interruption, my thoughts going wildly off kilter before I could compose myself. Madoka was looking over my shoulder with wide eyes, so I turned around to see what had startled her.

My mouth fell open at the sight of the young woman who had somehow snuck behind me. She was incredibly pale, which only emphasized her wild hair color of green, red and purple. She was dressed in fishnets, with only a pair of ridiculously small shorts and a jacket truly hiding her modesty. All this, along with her combat boots, made her a truly odd sight to behold.

"I think I lost him somewhere," the girl continued. "Or maybe he turned into a fish… No, no, he was still a dog."

"Who are you?" I demanded, standing and gathering my power in a way Madoka would not notice. Whoever this was had intruded upon me without my knowledge, and that shouldn't have been possible.

But then again, it's not like Lucifer didn't do the same thing all the time. Hopefully I wasn't dealing with anything like him. One such person was bad enough.

"Do you know the name of that thing in plants that makes their leaves green?" the girl asked as she peered into one of the nearby bushes. "I think I knew it once, but it's flown right out of my nose and dug its way into the earth." She blinked and frowned. "Or is it just hiding somewhere in my head? I don't like it when my thoughts hide from me."

"You haven't answered my question," I said, unable to keep the chill from my voice.

"You didn't answer mine!" the pale girl shouted back. "Have you seen my dog? I know he came with me. My big little brother let me take him along, but Dream couldn't get in all the way so I had to go alone!"

Tears formed in the girl's eyes, and she shuddered a little. The bush she stood by started vibrating, and at the edge of hearing I could detect a faint, high-pitched wail. A closer inspection revealed that every one of the leaves on the bush had grown faces, and they were all screaming.

"I didn't want to go alone," the girl whispered as the concrete behind her started to take on the consistency of pudding. "I've been alone for a long time before. It's not fun."

How was she doing this? How could she influence my world in this way? I should have had complete control, but it was as if this girl introduced pure chaos into everything she touched! I narrowed my eyes and forced my will upon the bush and the concrete, forcing them to return to their proper shapes. They did so reluctantly, as if they had wills of their own and resisted my control. But that was impossible, surely.

"And this place is so scary," the girl went on. "It's like me, but not me. It's all sorts of things all broken and mixed together!" She looked at me with mismatched eyes, and I noticed that her long hair had become a buzz cut somehow. "Just like you're one of mine, but not. Are you mad, but pretending not to be? Or are you sane, but pretending to be mad?"

"Be quiet," I growled, my anger making itself plain upon my face. More of the world was trying to shift around this girl, to become something insane, and it was taking more and more effort to restrain her influence.

"But I can still tell," the girl said, looking at me straight in the eyes. "I know what happened to you. How your happiness was broken. How all those wishes became madness." She scrunched up her face. "It… It reminds me of bad things."

"Shut up!" I screamed, trying to block out all her nonsense words. The things she was implying… Could she know my past? But how could she? That was impossible!

The world rippled a little, and I gasped. Was this girl some kind of Witch? That shouldn't have been possible. No Witches could form in my world. Even Wraiths hardly ever took shape any more save when I allowed them to.

"I'm sorry!" the girl cried. She slid down to her knees and covered her face as she wept. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's just… I'm here without my brother and I've lost my dog and everything reminds me of all the bad times and I can't think of good things anymore because they all come back as nasty little worms that dig through my skull and eat all my joy and I'm sorry!"

The pressure increased, and I almost stumbled where I stood trying to contain the girl's growing effect on her surroundings. There was nothing for it. I was going to have to attack. I'd have to destroy her, or at least drive her off. She was far too dangerous for anything less.

But I never got the chance. Madoka ran straight past me and hugged the crying girl close. The girl, whose hair was now a wavy crimson, hugged Madoka back and wept onto her shoulder. Her tears took the shape of ballerinas that danced their way across Madoka's shoulders before jumping off and falling to their deaths on the concrete below.

"It's okay," Madoka whispered, patting the girl on the back of the head. She made soothing sounds as the girl hiccupped and cried. "It's okay. You don't need to be scared anymore. Whatever you're frightened of, we can help you. So don't cry, all right?"

The girl sniffled a little before visibly relaxing in Madoka's arms. "This is the second time you've hugged me like this," she said softly before resting her chin on Madoka's shoulder, more coherent than she'd been so far the whole evening. "It's nice. It feels so fluffy, even when you're not wearing that pretty dress full of stars."

My eyes shot wide open. She knew! Somehow, someway, this girl knew about Madoka's history as the Law of Cycles. She was going to ruin everything!

I drew as much power as I dared that wouldn't be noticeable and prepared to strike. I would eliminate this anomaly; purge her from my world before she could threaten Madoka's happiness. There could be no mercy, no recourse, for anything that might break the perfect world I had fashioned for her.

A hand fell on my shoulder, stopping me short of attacking. I looked up and saw Lucifer there. He shook his head at me, an obvious warning, before turning to the girl.

He wasn't scowling. In fact, if I hadn't known better I would have said his expression was pitying. That was new. I'd not seen anything but either annoyance or amusement at the expense of others on his face. But right now he looked almost soft, if perhaps fire could ever be considered gentle. What had sparked this dramatic change in character?

He walked over to the girl and knelt down. Madoka looked at him, recognition dawning, before turning her head back to the girl.

"Do you know her, Morgenstern-san?" she asked, rocking gently to keep the bizarre stranger calm.

"I do," he said. He took the odd girl gently from Madoka's arms, helping her to her feet. "Leave her with me. I'll make sure she's taken care of."

"Oh, Mr. Morning Star!" the girl said, suddenly much peppier than she'd been just a few seconds ago. "There you are! I'd wondered where you'd gone."

"I've just been wandering about," he replied. "And found something that looked interesting over this way."

"It's not all that interesting," the girl said. "It's dark and the air tastes like rotten colors."

"Yes," Lucifer said. "I imagine it does." He turned the pale girl around and began walking, gently coaxing her along. "Come, child. Let's find your dog and send you on your way. I doubt you'll find anything here but bad memories."

"Those always taste yucky," the girl said. And then they turned a corner and vanished from sight.

"That was peculiar," Madoka said, standing up. But before she could say anything else I clapped my hands. Madoka's expression grew lax for a moment, and then she perked up again. "Ah, Homura-chan! I'm sorry, I think I spaced out for a bit there."

"It's all right," I replied, ensuring the last few minutes were completely gone from her recollection. The strange girl had revealed too many hints in her blathering. I could not allow the chance that anything she'd said might awaken Madoka back to her place as the Law of Cycles. So, even though it pained me to do it, I pulled those memories from her and sealed them away. "So, we've a few hours before your parents are expecting you home. What do you want to do now?"

"I think I'd like to just sit with you a while, if that's all right," Madoka said. "I'm feeling a little tired."

"That's fine with me," I said as we sat back down on the bench. Madoka leaned on me a little, and I felt all my confusion and anger melt away in the face of her smile. "I'm happy just so long as you're happy, Madoka."

Chapter Text

*Mami*

I smiled as I placed the covers firmly over Nagisa’s tiny form. She shrugged a little in her sleep before gripping her teddy bear tightly. She was chewing on one of the doll’s ears, too. It was honestly one of the most adorable things I’d ever seen.

I gave her a quick peck on the forehead before heading out. Nagisa mumbled a little around her doll, but quickly settled deeper into her bed. She was so wrapped up in her covers that she almost seemed like a little caterpillar. I had to keep myself from squealing at how cute she looked! If I did I would probably have woken her, and I didn’t want that.

I was still smiling even as I headed to the roof of my apartment complex. I really couldn't help but be happy wherever Nagisa was involved. It was the best decision of my life to take her in after I found her on the streets, gazing forlornly at the inside of a grocery store’s cheese display. We’d been together ever since then, and I’d made sure her life was a comfortable one. It was like having a sibling to look after.

That was the crux of it, I supposed. Family… It was nice to have a family again, even if it wasn’t the one I had grown up with. Nothing would ever bring them back, not after I had failed to include them in my wish, but this, at least, brought me some comfort. I would always remember my parents, and grieve for the loss of them, but I couldn’t let that define everything that I was. Especially not when I had people to look after.

I opened the door to the roof and took in the night’s sky with a deep breath. It was a little chilly this evening, but not uncomfortably so. It was actually quite pleasant, and I took a few moments to enjoy the wind on my face.

“Yo,” came a voice to my side. I looked over to see the grinning form of Kyouko Sakura, my friend. “Been waiting on you for a while. You take the time to tuck the little squirt in, or something?”

“Yes,” I responded, putting a hand to my cheek and sighing wistfully. “Nagisa-chan is such a little darling when she’s sleeping. I have to keep myself from just hugging her and never letting go.”

“Yeesh, way too cutesy for me,” Kyouko said, making a pretend gagging motion. But she’s grinning, so I know she didn't mean it.

Not that I was going to let her off easily, of course.

“And you don’t get up to cute things with Sayaka-chan, hmm?” I asked. Kyouko promptly stopped her faux choking, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I’m sure you two have had all sorts of opportunities to be adorable together ever since you moved into her house.”

Kyouko’s blush deepened. “That’s… We’re not… I mean... Shut up!”

I laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, Kyouko-chan. I just felt like teasing you a little bit. Please forgive me.”

“Your teasing is really rough sometimes, Mami,” Kyouko said, a faint tinge of red still on her cheeks. That faded as she looked out over the city. My apartment complex wasn’t especially tall, but it did have an impressive view none-the-less. “So, we doing this tonight?"

“Yes,” I responded. “I can feel them forming even now.”

“About time, really,” Kyouko said, transforming into her battle garb with a flash of red light. “Been weeks since they last showed up.”

“Perhaps we’re making a real difference?” I asked before transforming as well. “The number of Wraiths has gone down quite a lot over the last few years.”

Kyouko shrugged. “Might be. In any case, I’m glad at least a few show up now and then. I’ve been running low on cubes.”

I had been as well, though I didn’t mention it to Kyouko. Wraith attacks had dropped a fair bit. While it was good that civilians were no longer in such danger, it did put us Magical Girls in a tight spot. We still needed the cubes the monsters left behind to cleanse our Soul Gems. But Wraiths did continue to form, if only perhaps once every few weeks, and for now that was enough to get by.

We jumped off my apartment and onto the roof of the adjacent building, easily withstanding the thirty-foot drop between them. After that we ran and just kept running. We made our way toward the center of the city, taking a mostly straight route as we jumped over and around any obstacles in our way as we went from rooftop to rooftop.

We stopped atop a convenience store overlooking a park. It was not yet late in the evening, so there were still some people milling about and enjoying the night’s coolness. Sadly, they were not alone. Already I noticed the distortions in the air that signified the formation of Wraiths.

I looked at Kyouko, who nodded back to me. With a push of our legs we flew off the store’s roof and down into the park below. We timed it just right. As soon we touched the ground the world went grey and everyone walking around froze in place. All save for us, of course.

The Wraiths formed slowly out of the earth, tall and gangly and pale. They moved oddly, shifting this way and that with no real discernable pattern. The motion was barely physical, however. Instead their outlines flickered like television static, the monsters fading in and out in new positions every time their forms became clear.

With one smooth motion I pulled a rifle from my dress. Kyouko’s spear was already out, and we prepared to charge the Wraiths. Left alone they would prey on the people of this park and drain them of their lives, and then eventually their physical forms. The victims would disappear entirely and no one would ever be able to find them. Even the memories of these people would become indistinct, and eventually they would be forgotten altogether. It was an awful fate.

And then something very odd happened.

A tall man in a dark coat walked in front of the Wraiths, observing them. His hair was red and gold, like fire, but neither that nor the scar across his handsome face was what was most striking about him. It was the fact that he could move inside this frozen space. That shouldn’t have been possible for anyone but Magical Girls and Kyubey.

“Manifestations born from all this psychic sludge?” he muttered, utterly uncaring of the horrors that stood in front of him. “But if that’s the case, a great deal more should be forming. Is she holding it back?”

“What are you doing, moron!” Kyouko cried out, getting over her shock before I did. “Get out of the way! You’re helpless against them!”

The man glanced over his shoulder to look at us, and that’s when everything went w
rong. One of the Wraiths thrust forth its hand, unleashing a beam of light that to
re a hole straight through his chest. He stumbled and fell to one knee, about to f
all over completely. Kyouko cursed and I screamed as we both ran forward, ready to
kill these monsters and give this poor man what aid we could before he bled out.

And then the man got back up.

With a snarl, he thrust one hand into the Wraith that had injured him, going almost elbow deep. The thing screeched, a discordant sound, and then the man thrust his other hand inside of it. With a wrenching pull he forced his hands apart, ripping the Wraith in two. Its shriek died as the two halves fell to the ground, the edges of its form beginning to burn.

He looked at us, unmindful of the hole in his chest and the blood pooling from it onto the ground, and said, “Helpless is a relative term.”

I didn’t have any more time to acknowledge him, however, before all the Wraiths turned their attention upon us. I dodged around their beams and summoned more weapons, firing them off in quick succession. The rounds tore great chunks out of the Wraith’s bodies, staggering them and leaving them open for Kyouko to get in close with her spears. She sliced and stabbed, sending pieces of their alien flesh flying as she danced around their faltering attacks.

Soon enough it was over. The Wraiths were finished, breaking apart where they lay and their bodies converting into black cubes. The distortion in space remained, however. It would stay this way for several minutes as reality began to reassert itself.

Something that gave me time to render aid. I ran over to the man, holding out my Soul Gem.

“Please,” I said, not able to keep some of my urgency from my voice. “Let me see your wound! I should be able to close it enough to get you to a hospital…”

My voice trailed off as he quirked an eyebrow at me. His shirt was still ripped, but the hole in his chest was gone. My jaw dropped at the sight of it.

“How?” I asked, my words faltering.

“Mami,” Kyouko said from behind me, her spear still at the ready. “I think you should back away from him.”

“But he could still be hurt!”

“He tore through that Wraith like tissue paper,” Kyouko all but growled. “Whoever he is, he’s not normal.”

“Neither are the both of you,” the man said, looking down at us, or, rather, at our Soul Gems. He was frowning, and I got the impression it wasn’t often his expression changed. “Most people don’t go about with their souls locked into jewelry. Or, at least, I’d hope they didn’t. They're a lot easier to lose that way.”

I blinked at him, not sure what to say in response to that. Kyouko however, scowled and opened her mouth. But before she could say a word a familiar white form padded up to us. Kyubey sat down on its haunches, his tail swaying gently. He looked a little frazzled at the edges, and I wondered if he’d gotten himself into some sort of trouble recently.

“Greetings, Lucifer,” he said. “I am pleased to see you are unharmed.”

Kyouko's mouth clicked shut, and she paled noticeably. She took a step back, hefting her spear up higher.

“Kyouko-chan?” I asked, confused at her behavior. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s a joke, right?” Kyouko asked, glancing toward Kyubey. “Hey, fuzzball! Why’d you call him that?”

“Because that is his name,” Kyubey responded.

The man, Lucifer, looked down at Kyubey and his frown deepened. “You’re certainly a spiteful little thing, aren’t you?”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Kyubey said back.

“Of course you don’t,” Lucifer said in a tone simply dripping in sarcasm.

“Why aren’t you denying it?” Kyouko asked. She grabbed me and took another step back, forcing me along with her. “Come on! He just called you freaking Satan! Shouldn’t that make you upset?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “If I cared about what people called me I’d never have time to do anything else. It’s honestly not important.”

“That’s not a real answer,” Kyouko snarled.

“Kyouko-chan,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Stop this. We need to collect the cubes before this space returns to normal.”

“I would have to concur,” Kyubey said. “And, of course, if you have any expended cubes I would be very grateful.”

I nodded and handed Kyubey the cubes I'd used up. Kyouko, however, never took her eyes from Lucifer. His response was to turn his lips up in a smirk toward her. That made Kyouko bristle, and I couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten her so upset.

Then Lucifer turned and began walking toward the edge of the barrier. Kyouko looked like she was going to try and force the issue further, but turned away from the strange man with a shudder. She pulled out some cubes from her pocket and tossed them to Kyubey before joining me in collecting the fresh ones upon the ground.

“You better have been kidding or something, fuzzball,” Kyouko said to Kyubey as he consumed the cubes we’d given him. “Seriously. Guy rips a Wraith apart with his bare hands, and then you go and call him Lucifer? That’s a mean joke.”

“I assure you, that was no joke,” Kyubey said as he finished up with his cubes. “That is the name he gave to identify himself by.”

Kyouko scowled, but her expression did not hide the shudder that went through her. She moved mechanically as she picked up the cubes, like she was in a daze. I placed a hand on her arm.

“Kyouko-chan,” I said softly. “What’s wrong? Why did that man’s name disturb you so much?”

Kyouko shook her head, snapping out of whatever fugue had overtaken her. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered. “In the morning. Maybe. I’m too freaked out to talk about it right now.”

I frowned, but didn’t press the issue. She was really bothered by this, whatever it was. I just hoped she recovered soon. I didn’t like it when she was upset. And she very much was, even if she was trying to downplay it now. But at least she’d promised to talk with me later.

I looked up at the stars and sighed. And it had been such a nice night, too.

Chapter Text

*Nagisa*

I first noticed the strange man when I was walking to school one day. He was feeding birds in the park near by, but he didn’t seem to be paying any attention to them at all. He just stared out at nothing, his hands breaking the bread apart slowly and scattering the crumbs about.

He was still there when I got out of school, breaking bread and throwing pieces to the birds. Which seemed odd, and not just because he looked like he hadn’t moved the entire time. But I didn’t see any bags where he could have kept more bread to feed the birds, so he must have gotten up at some point.

I couldn’t imagine sitting in one spot for hours on end if I didn’t have to. School was bad enough! But this man was an adult, so that meant he could go wherever he wanted, right? Why sit down when you could go out and play?

One of Mami’s friends, the broody one with the long hair, went over and talked with him. Did she know him? That might have been something interesting to find out, but by that point I was already going off with Masaki-chan to go play in the park.

I saw him again a few days later, standing atop the roof of a bookstore in one of the market districts. He kept his eyes on the crowds. I’m not sure what he was looking at, exactly. It wasn’t me. At least, I was pretty sure it wasn’t. It was almost like he was trying to take in everything at once.

He was searching for something. I wasn’t sure what, but I was pretty sure about that at least. But what was he looking for? It was hard to tell anything about him, especially since his expression always seemed to be so stony and cold, but I almost had the feeling he was really focusing on what he was doing.

Honestly, it was a little weird. But then again, adults were always weird. This was a whole different kind of strange, though. What was it he wanted?

I didn’t see him again for a while after that, but I heard about him. Kyouko and Mami were talking about him one morning. I knew it was him, since the described his hair and the scar on his face. They thought I was still asleep, so I had a chance to listen in.

*******

I was looking out from my room early morning, the door open a little bit. I was really careful not to touch it or make any noise, so that meant no one could tell I was awake. Mami and Kyouko were sitting down at the living room table drinking tea. Well, Mami was, anyway. Kyouko was way too busy just fidgeting and getting all upset.

“The whole thing just bugs me!” Kyouko said. “Seriously, the guy up and tears a Wraith in half, then Kyubey goes and calls him Lucifer? I just… It’s…”

“That’s an important figure in your religion, right?” Mami asked. “Now that I have time to think about it, I’ve heard that name before too.”

Kyouko snorted. “Yeah, in anime or some shit like that. The name’s got a whole different meaning if you actually know where it comes from.”

“Kyouko,” Mami said, making that voice she did when she caught you doing something naughty. “Language! Nagisa-chan is still asleep, but I don’t want you getting into bad habits around here.”

“All right, all right,” Kyouko said, falling back in the face of Mami’s glare. I didn’t blame her. Mami could be scary when she wanted to be. “It’s gotta be a bad joke, anyway. I mean, there’s no way that guy was the Devil, right? That’s just impossible.”

“I’m sure that’s the case,” Mami said gently. “It seems a little too outlandish even for us.”

“Yeah,” Kyouko said, sitting down on the floor and rubbing the back of her head. “Yeah, I guess it is. Well, whatever. I’m gonna try and just forget about that guy. Thinking on it is too troublesome.”

I wondered why the man’s name upset Kyouko so much. I’d never seen her so antsy before. Mami didn’t seem too bothered by it. Mami was really nice and kind, so if she wasn’t worried then I didn’t have to be either. After all, Kyouko got loud over a lot of things, usually saying a bunch of naughty words when she thought I couldn’t hear.

Some day I’d have to ask Mami what all those words actually meant. Maybe when Kyouko wasn’t around, though. I didn’t want to get her in trouble.

I would have thought about that a little more, but by then I’d gotten tired again. I placed a hand to my mouth to keep from yawning and went back to bed.

*******

On Sunday I was walking through one of the parks near Mami’s apartment. Mami was sleeping in, she could be awfully lazy sometimes, but the day was so pretty I wanted to get as much of it as I could. I kept thinking about the conversation between her and Kyouko.

I was still curious why Kyouko was so concerned about this Lucifer person. He didn’t seem all that threatening from all the times I’d seen him. He looked really serious, sure, but that didn’t make him mean or anything like that. I briefly thought about telling Mami I’d seen the man they were talking about, but giggled and shook my head. It could be my little secret.

I passed some trees that separated the park from a small string of restaurants nearby, and almost like my thoughts had called him I saw Lucifer again.

He was sitting by himself at a café, drinking something from a small cup. I didn’t know what it was, but I bet it was coffee. Adults always seemed to like coffee for some reason. I didn’t understand that, myself. Coffee was way too bitter. Why drink something like that when you could have something tasty and sweet instead?

His eyes were narrowed in that way adults sometimes got when they were thinking really hard on something. It was different from before, where he’d been staring out at the world. Now it wasn’t staring at anything, just sitting and frowning. I got the feeling he did that a lot. It made the scar on his face crinkle up a little.

I pulled out the chair on the opposite side and sat down, resting my chin on the table and looking at him. He didn’t stand up or get angry like some adults might have. He just looked back at me, one eyebrow raised.

“Is there something I can help you with, child?”

“Just wondering what you were doing,” I said. “I’ve seen you around everywhere.”

Lucifer took another sip of his coffee. “So you’ve noticed me, then?”

“Oh yeah. I saw you on the bench when I got out of school feeding the birds, and then you were on the roof of a building! How did you get up there, anyway? Did the store owner let you?”

“Interesting,” Lucifer said. “I’m intrigued you could actually pay attention to me. That shouldn’t have been possible for most people.”

“Why’s that?” I asked. “We don’t see too many foreigners around here, so you kinda stand out.”

“It’s not important,” he said, waving his hand.

“What are you looking for, anyway?” I asked, getting right to the point. I was curious, and maybe Lucifer would talk with me a bit. I didn’t have much else to do today other than enjoy the weather or play in the park.

“What makes you think I’m looking for anything?” Lucifer responded, setting his cup down.

“Don’t really know,” I said back, kicking my feet a little. “Just thought you were looking for something. You seemed really into it, too.”

Lucifer cupped his hands and rested his chin on them. He scowled a little more and closed his eyes, like he was thinking really hard. He looked even more broody than Homura, something I hadn’t thought possible! Maybe that’s why they were doing earlier in the week? Just hanging out and being all gloomy?

“I guess I am searching,” he said after about a minute. He opened his eyes. “Although I’ll admit I’m not entirely sure for what anymore. I wanted something a long time ago, but I couldn’t grasp it. Ever since I’ve been wandering about with no real purpose. Not the most pleasant experience, all told.”

“Sorry you couldn’t get what you wanted,” I said, sitting up a little straighter.

Lucifer didn’t say anything in response, and for a moment I got the feeling he was sad. He didn’t look it, but there was just something in the way he sat. I wasn’t entirely sure how I knew, though.

I frowned. That wasn’t good. I hadn’t meant to make him feel all mopey.

I didn’t like it when people were sad. When people weren’t happy it just made the whole world a little less fun. But adults always seemed to be so sad, or in a hurry to get somewhere, or looking for something they’d lost. They never seemed to just enjoy things. Maybe it was just the nature of being grown up?

Even still, it seemed like not getting what he wanted really bothered Lucifer. I supposed I could understand that. But sometimes you just couldn’t get everything. I’d learned that before I met Mami.

“Maybe you can find something new!” I said, trying to cheer him up. “That’s what I always do! Sometimes looking for something to do is just as fun as actually finding it.”

“I suppose there’s some real truth to that,” Lucifer said, leaning back in his chair. “Looking for a purpose can be rewarding in and of itself. It’s certainly something to consider.”

“Not sure what all that means, but I’m glad I could help a little bit!”

Lucifer nodded, and his frown softened a little bit. He drank what was left of his coffee and called over one of the waiters. A teenager came by and refilled Lucifer’s cup and then turned to me.

“Would you like anything?”

“Cheese, please!” I cried out. But then I remembered I didn’t have anything more than pocket change on me. Mami was the one who kept charge of the money. “Oh… Heh heh. I guess not. I don’t have a lot of money.”

“A cheese and cracker platter for the young lady,” Lucifer said. “On my bill.”

“Really?” I asked, sitting up completely straight.

“Consider it my thanks for the diversion, and for what I’d like to do next.”

“What’s that?” I asked as the waiter set a plate of cheese and crackers in front of me. There were ten different types of cheese! This was the best day ever! I put some Camembert on a cracker and dug in, enjoying the soft taste. There really wasn’t any better food in the whole world.

“Nothing too bothersome. I just want to check something.”

He leaned forward and placed a hand on my head, almost like I was a puppy. I looked at him, but Lucifer had closed his eyes. Looks like he was thinking really hard again. Ah, well. If he wanted to do that then I didn’t mind. Just so long as I could keep eating all this delicious cheese! I put some Stilton on a cracker and munched on it.

“I see,” he said softly. “You were holding on to a portion of her memories. They’re gone now, but the imprint remains. I’m surprised that’s the case, but it seems that rude little girl wasn’t entirely certain what to do with you.”

“Hmm?” I said around a mouthful of Brie.

“You were too important to not give personal attention, but she wasn’t familiar enough with you to completely seal away everything.” Lucifer took his hand away and leaned back. He downed all his coffee in one go, no matter that it looked really hot, and smiled a little.

He stood up and left some bills on the table. He nodded to me again, and I just smiled back. I really didn’t know what was going on, but Lucifer didn’t seem so down any more and I still had cheese to eat! That meant today was going great.

“Good luck finding something new to do!” I called out as he walked away.

“I’ve never been one to rely much on luck,” he said back over his shoulder. “But I’m sure I’ll manage.”

“Okay!” I said, putting another piece of Camembert on a cracker. “Hope you have a good day!”

“And to you,” he said before walking away. He vanished into the crowd, and when the people passed Lucifer had completely disappeared.

That was a little weird, but I just shrugged my shoulders and went back to my snack. I didn’t have a clue about even half of what Lucifer had been talking about, but I guess that didn’t matter. I’d cheered him up a little bit, and he'd given me cheese! Everybody got to be happy!

I hoped I’d get to meet him again sometime. He was a really nice man.

Chapter Text

*Sayaka*

I could not help but smile as I looked in the mirror and did my hair up. Nothing too fancy, just making sure it was brushed properly and that the hairclip was set in. I wasn’t one for getting really elaborate with makeup or anything like that, but clean and orderly hair made a big difference in appearance.

I’d be the first to admit I normally didn’t care much about how I looked. It wasn’t that I wasn’t presentable on any given day of course; it’s just that my appearance was never really important to me. But today was different. Today I wanted to look good.

And that was because today I, Sayaka Miki, was going on a date.

I was honestly a little nervous. I mean, I had gone out on dates before, but that was mostly just little kid stuff. Right now I was going to be going out on a real, romantic kind of date. I’d only gone on a few before, and I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Which was probably why I had taken almost thirty minutes to brush my hair… I grimaced. Kyouko had to have been getting sick of waiting by this point. I needed to hurry up.

I finished getting ready and rushed down the stairs. Kyouko was lounging by the wall, looking bored. Her expression perked up at the sight of me, though. I came over and gave her a quick hug, and she gave out a cute little yelp when I squeezed. I chuckled a little at that.

Not that I was the only one amused. Mom was sitting on the couch watching T.V., but she was looking at Kyouko and me with a grin.

“Have fun, you two!” she said. “Just be sure you’re back before 10:00, all right? You both have school in the morning.”

“Yes, Mom,” I said. I grabbed Kyouko’s hand, which made her blush adorably, and we headed out the door.

We made our way to the light of the setting sun. It was late afternoon by this point, almost early evening. The air was cool and most of the traffic from the rush hour had died away. That made walking down the sidewalk a much more enjoyable experience. No loud, stinky cars to get in the way of my date with Kyouko.

She was still blushing a little as we held hands. I had to keep myself from giggling at that. It always amazed me how someone as strong as Kyouko could get so flustered just from just a little physical contact. It just made her look so damned cute!

Though she’d been a bit more open to it recently, almost clingy, actually. It was a surprising shift compared to before. It wasn’t that Kyouko didn’t like cuddling or anything like that, because she did. It’s just it always took her more time to really get comfortable with it. Which wasn’t surprising, considering some of what she’d told me about her past.

I couldn’t help but wonder what had sparked this change. It was kind of like she was afraid to let go of me, but I dismissed that. The idea of Kyouko, so brash and headstrong, being afraid of anything was laughable.

“So…” Kyouko asked. “We still going to that music place?”

I nodded. “Yep! I think it’ll be fun!”

“Ahh… What’s so fun about sitting down and listening to people fiddle with instruments?” Kyouko asked. “Can’t you get music from a CD?”

“I go to the arcade with you all the time,” I said, putting on a stern expression. It was all fake, of course, and Kyouko knew it. Still, she smiled gingerly and rubbed the back of her head as I continued. “Not that it isn’t fun, but a change of scenery keeps things interesting.”

“All right, all right,” Kyouko said. “I’m cool with it. Whatever makes you happy.”

I leaned in close and rested my head on her shoulder. “You make me happy. I just want to share something that makes me happy with you.”

Her blush came back in full force, and I couldn’t help but giggle. She muttered something about being happy around me too and tried to do hide her head in her jacket like a turtle. Kyouko was just so easy to tease!

The place I wanted to go wasn’t too far away. We didn’t even need to take the train. That meant I could spend even more time with Kyouko before we reached the curfew, which was the best part of the whole evening in my book. We came up on it after only twenty minutes walking.

Amaterasu’s Cave was a bit of an odd place. It was a good sized building set in a strip center, with a stylized sign at the front of musicians playing in front of a cave with sunlight coming out of it. Which told me the owner, Hoshi Yakamo, was a big mythology nerd, but I wasn’t going to hold that against him.

The Cave was a place for musicians of all kinds to come and play in front of an audience. It served food, and even beer if you were old enough, but it wasn’t a bar. It wasn’t even really a restaurant, either. It was kind of a mix. But the main appeal was that anyone could come up and play if they passed an audition with the owner, whether it be a band or just a single individual. That meant there was a real variety of talent coming in and out every evening.

The place was bustling when we came inside, and someone was already on the stage set at the far wall. It was some college student playing a cello. She had her head bowed and her eyes closed, and the tune she played a somber one. It went back and forth, rising and lowering, but always there was a sense of deepness to it, of something more hiding behind the surface that had been long forgotten in the passage of time.

“Bit of a downer performance,” Kyouko said as we sat down at a table.

“I kind of like it, actually,” I said. “It reminds me of the ocean. You know, of waves coming and going. The song she’s playing has a good, deep rhythm to it.”

“If you say so,” Kyouko said. She grinned at me. “Did you know you look kind of cool when you’re talking about music? You get really in to it.”

I leaned back and grinned. “So I don’t look cool all the time, eh?”

“Nope,” Kyouko said, looking cheerily at a menu. “Mostly you’re pretty goofy. But that’s fine. I like you no matter how you are, Sayaka.”

Now it was my turn to blush. I tried to hide it, by looking away, but I heard Kyouko giggle.

And I was keeping the upper hand all night so far! I thought. Ah, well. It’s not like I really mind.

The cellist finished her piece with a slow, drawn out finish. She stood up and bowed, receiving the audience’s applause with a small smile. I couldn’t help but smile too, and so did Kyouko. I wasn’t sure if she was smiling because I was, or if she’d really liked the music, but she applauded with me all the same.

There was a brief lull as the cellist packed up her instrument, making way for the next performer. We took our orders in that time. I just wanted some lo mein, but Kyouko was feeling hungry today. Which was like most days, now that I thought about it. She got lo mein, pot stickers and tempura.

“You’re really going all out tonight,” I said as the waiter left. “You’re going to get fat if you eat all that!”

“Nah, I just appreciate good food is all, ” Kyouko said with a wave of her hand. “Besides, I’m gonna be skinny as a rail till the day I die. You just watch.”

“If you say so.”

The owner of the Cave, Hoshi, came out as the cellist left. He raised his hands, requesting everyone quiet down from their conversations, and spoke into a microphone.

“If I might have your attention please,” Hoshi said as two people wheeled in a piano from the backstage. “It is my pleasure to introduce a newcomer to Amaterasu’s Cave. I can honestly say in my forty-five years of appreciating music in all its forms, I’ve never heard anything quite like how he plays. I think you’re in for a real treat tonight, ladies and gentlemen.” He turned, his hand flourishing out behind him. “For your evening’s pleasure, please let me introduce the esteemed Morgenstern-san!”

A well-dressed man in an honest to God tuxedo walked out from backstage and approached the microphone. He was a noticeable figure, tall and lanky. But the most striking features about him were his hair, which was like fire, and the large scar that crossed his face. That didn’t really detract much from his looks, though. If anything it made him look kind of cool.

Not that I had too much interest in guys anymore. I had Kyouko, and the shade of her red hair was way better looking than this guy’s anyway. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate a good scar.

I wonder where he got it? I thought as he approached the microphone.

“Oh God,” Kyouko whispered through clenched teeth. I turned to her, and was shocked to see she’d had gone pale. “Why the hell is he here?”

“Kyouko? What’s wrong?”

Kyouko opened her mouth, but she shut it closed when Morgenstern spoke into the mike.

“Good evening,” he said, though his face was rather stoic and cheerless. He didn’t look like he smiled much. “I will be playing two songs for you tonight. The first is an old one, which I believe some of you may recognize. La Campanella.”

Then Morgenstern sat down at the piano and put his fingers to the keys.

It started out light and airy, as if Morgenstern’s fingers were barely touching the instrument at all. The music wafted through the room like wind, trailing off with a whimsical tinkle. And then it sped up, a deeper sound. There were still touches of that earlier lightness, though.

The music was slowly getting deeper and more complex as Morgenstern went along, though still keeping remnants of the earlier segments. It created a slowly changing, but still ultimately familiar song that continued on and on toward its completion. It was… captivating. That really was the best word for it. The whole room seemed focused on him. Even Kyouko, who had looked so frightened before, seemed taken in by the music.

His hands were almost a blur as he approached the finale. There was power here, raw and blatant and beautiful. I’d heard La Campanella before, but not like this. Whoever Morgenstern was, he was clearly a master at the piano.

The song came to a close, and the room exploded in applause. Morgenstern stood up for a moment and gave a shallow bow before speaking into the microphone again.

“This next piece is my own rendition of something more recently created. Throwing Fire.”

“What, seriously?” Kyouko whispered with something resembling the bravado I was used to from her.

I gave her a close look as Morgenstern sat back down. She’d recovered both from her initial shock and the bewitchment of Morgenstern’s playing. She was scowling now, her eyes narrowed as she glared at the man. I was about to ask again what was wrong, but at that moment Morgenstern began to play.

This song began heavier than the previous one, and quickly became even heavier. There was almost a mocking feeling to the song, as if it was laughing at us as it was played. But then the music swiftly changed to something uplifting, like the earlier mockery had never existed at all! The sudden shift almost sent my head spinning.

This was very clearly a modern piece, though it had been translated very well to a classical style and instrument. The tone shift wasn’t exactly subtle, but I couldn’t help but enjoy it all the same. It did not have the grace of La Campanella, but it had its own kind of charm. It caught the ear and wouldn't let go, boisterous and strong.

Yes, that was perfectly clear. The song had strength that did not care what people thought, a song that soldiered on. And as it did, it mocked and uplifted those that listened. Those two sensations blurred together as the music sped up, and I could hardly tell where one ended and the other began anymore. They had become unrecognizable from the other, and this only came to a crescendo as the song ended.

The audience applauded again, and Morgenstern bowed once more. He stood there for a moment, letting the audience go on for a bit, before he made his way to the backstage. As he did, the same two men who had wheeled the piano out came to take it back.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kyouko said, her lips drawn into a tight line.

I huffed. “Okay, seriously. What’s the matter?”

“I don’t like that guy, is all,” Kyouko said. “I don’t need a reason.”

I opened my mouth to say something snappy, but closed it when I realized just how nervous Kyouko looked. She had gone pale again, and she fidgeted in her seat like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

I scowled and stood up. But instead of going to the exit, I headed for the door leading backstage. Kyouko yelped and moved to follow me, but I kept a quick pace so she couldn’t grab hold and keep me back. The door wasn’t locked, and I made my way inside with no trouble.

Morgenstern was there, unraveling his red bowtie. I came up to him and stood there with my hands on my hips, and he looked down at me with one eyebrow arched.

“Yes?”

“Why are you scaring my girlfriend?” I asked, my tone cold. At least, I hoped so. I hadn’t realized just how tall Morgenstern was. He practically loomed over me. “She’s been freaking out ever since she saw you.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sayaka!” Kyouko cried as she came through the door. She put herself between Morgenstern and me. She glared at him and growled, “Don’t you come near her.”

“Ah,” Morgenstern said. “This explains a little bit.”

“Why are you even here?” Kyouko asked, shifting her feet. “Are you stalking me? Trying to figure out who I’m close to?”

“Child, you honestly aren’t that important.” He looked at me. “And neither is she. There’s nothing she holds that has my interest.”

“You really like not giving answers, don’t you,” Kyouko snarled. “Why are you here?”

“Nostalgia, believe it or not,” Morgenstern replied. “I played the piano for the crowds, once upon a time. I felt like doing so again while I had the opportunity.”

Kyouko gave a grin that I could tell was just false bravado. She was really scared. “Wouldn’t violins be more your thing? And ‘Throwing Fire?’ Honestly?”

Morgenstern rolled his eyes. “And you’d have me play ‘The Devil’s Trill,’ I suppose? Please. I’m not that gauche.”

“Whatever,” Kyouko said. “I just don’t want you coming near me or my friends again. You hear me? I don’t care who you are, I’ll end you.”

“I don’t respond very kindly to threats, child,” Morgenstern said in a voice like ice. “So I recommend you watch yourself. But I can assure you I’ll be giving no trouble to you and your lady friend. Now why don’t you go enjoy your dinner? That will certainly be better worth your time than futile attempts at intimidation.”

Kyouko bristled at that, and took a step forward. But I placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, and I shook my head. Kyouko stepped back, but she didn’t look happy about it.

I looked at Morgenstern, whose expression had hardly changed at all during this whole confusing exchange. Who was he? Why did he have Kyouko so on edge? All sorts of questions, but I didn’t think I’d be getting any answers tonight. And really, they were unimportant compared to the larger issue.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I said. “But I don’t like it. I’m going to hold you to your promise, Morgenstern-san. I don’t want you scaring Kyouko again.”

“I can hardly help how she responds to my presence,” Morgenstern said. “But if it will set your mind at ease, I don’t expect we’ll be meeting again. My interest in this place has waned considerably.”

“Good,” I said. I turned to Kyouko. “Our food should be ready now. Come on, let’s eat!”

It wasn’t hard to drag Kyouko away from there. She almost ran out of the room, though she kept her eyes on Morgenstern till we were out the door. Our food was indeed resting at our table, and a duet of violinists was playing on the stage now. They were playing something slow and somber, likely trying to ease the temperament of the room after Morgenstern’s rousing performance.

Kyouko’s mood rose quickly with the presence of food, and tore into her fare. I dove in to mine as well, though I wasn’t as messy about it as Kyouko. We kept silent for a time, both to enjoy the music and to move ourselves away from that odd experience backstage.

I could have asked Kyouko about it, but I knew her well enough by now that she wasn’t going to be so open about this. She could clam up tight when she wanted to, and when she got well and truly bothered she’d be quiet on a subject for weeks. I’d learned the hard way it was best to just let her open up at her own pace, and trying to force the issue would only cause an argument. Neither she nor I needed that, and I didn’t want to cause her any more stress.

She would probably be fine now that the object of her distress was gone, and Morgenstern had promised we wouldn’t see him again. I got the impression he took that kind of thing seriously. Well, I got the impression he took pretty much everything seriously, but that meant he’d stick to his promise as well. So I figured we were set.

Out of sight, out of mind. That was the way to go. I’m sure we wouldn’t have any more trouble coming our way.

Chapter Text

*Madoka*

I walked through a craggy land full of sparse trees and gray skies, and I knew I was dreaming. I was not sure how I knew, but I did. It was a certainty that I felt in my bones. There was no sun behind the clouds that I could see, but enough light all the same. The chilly air smelled stretched and new, but not fresh. Fresh implied something pleasant, and the air here did nothing but make me feel uneasy.

I supposed it made sense I would feel uneasy in my dreams. After all, it wasn’t as if I felt any different when I was awake. No matter how happy I was, or how content I felt, there was always a sensation in the back of my mind that said I should be doing something. But for the life of me I could not remember what it was. I had that feeling even now, asleep. If anything, it was even worse.

I wandered across the rocks, making my way further into this odd land of dreams. I stumbled once or twice, and had to grip nearby boulders for support. Their rocky surfaces were smooth, as if they were made of glass. The wind picked up briefly, bombarding my face with more of that strained new air, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. It really was the strangest sensation.

I walked for what felt like hours, though it could have been just minutes. My sense of time felt off, here, as if it was fluid. But however long it had been my legs burned and my breath came out in pants that misted in front of me. I stopped by a shallow stream, leaning my back against a tree to rest for a little while.

The river was clear, and I could see the bottom easily. Actually, it seemed almost too clear. Like the wind, I got the impression this stream was new, stretched off from something else and still not completely settled into place.

“Where am I?” I said aloud. “Is this really a dream?”

“Oh yes!” a voice cried from the other side of the tree. “This is the place all dreams come from!”

I jumped up and turned around, startled from this sudden newcomer. The creature that stepped into view was female, or at least her face looked such. The rest of her body was remarkably peculiar. Her body was like a lion’s, and she had great wings on her back that twitched every now and then. Or, at least, they might have been great once. They were ragged, broken things, now, and her fur looked dirty and coarse. Whatever she was, she had clearly seen better days. But worst of all were her eyes, which seemed to be open as wide as they could go. It made her look unhinged.

“Who are you?” I asked, backing away a step.

“He grew this place out from the rest,” she continued, ignoring me and coming close. “Expanded the Dreaming for the first time since the earliest of days. But it’s just a skerry, just a little offshoot barely touching that strange, new place you come from.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

The creature didn’t answer my question. Instead she cocked her head and began to pace around me. I turned as she circled me, making sure my back was never to her. It was then I noticed that she never seemed to blink; her brown eyes always wide open. I couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of them.

“Your heart,” she said suddenly. “Your shining, golden heart. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before… It’s so beautiful.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to something like that, but I figured silence would probably be rude. So I responded with a simple “Thank you.”

“Won’t you give it to me?” the lion woman asked. “That gleaming heart of yours? There’s so much power there. You’re not even using it properly!”

She stopped pacing and began walking toward me. I backed away in response, looking for anything I could use to keep this woman away from me. Sadly, there was nothing save for a few rocks and trees that she could easily get around.

“Please stay back,” I said, though it came out like a whimper.

“Please,” she said again, and even through my fear I couldn’t help but notice just how desperate she sounded. Her expression became pleading. “Please give it to me. I hurt so much. Age and faded memory have destroyed me. But with your gleaming heart I could become whole again.”

She tensed, preparing to leap at me, and I opened my mouth to scream. But the screech of a bird tore through the land before I had the chance. It was so loud I clapped my hands over my ears, and I saw that the lion woman was doing the same with her paws.

When the sound finally ended, I looked back up at the tree. There, perched in its branches, was a large, white raven. It looked down at the woman, and somehow in its beady eyes I could see disapproval.

“Cease this at once, Bektenhak! Have you no shame, assaulting children lost on their way? What happened to the noble defender of the tombs of kings?”

“Time happened,” Bektenhak snarled, barring her teeth at the bird. “And the weak memories of humankind. But with the purity inside this girl I could restore myself to my former glory!”

“You will not touch her!” the raven shrieked. “She has been given guest right by Dream of the Endless, whose realm you scavenge at the edges of. Assault her and he will bring the full measure of his wrath upon you!”

Bektenhak glared at the raven before looking back at me. Her eyes were full of longing, and for a moment I thought she was going to attack me no matter what the raven said. But then she turned aside and walked away, vanishing among the rocks and mist of this gray world.

The raven flew down from the tree and perched atop a nearby boulder. It cocked its head, looking at me with a single eye.

“Thank you for saving me,” I said, bowing. “My name is Madoka Kaname.”

“And I am called Tethys,” the raven replied. “And it was no trouble, Kaname-san. I have been instructed by my lord to guide you. He wishes to speak with you as soon as possible.”

Tethys took to the air, and I followed her. Somehow she managed to fly slow enough to keep within a few meters of me but somehow stay airborne. That didn’t seem possible, but if this really was a dream then I guess it only made sense that not everything would act like it did in the real world.

I saw other things in the mist, creatures large and small wandering about. Monsters made of eyes, beasts formed from the parts of different animals, people with unnatural proportions… They were of so many different shapes and sizes it was impossible to see any pattern among them. Several noticed me as I followed Tethys, and some made as if to approach. But Tethys would always give out a discordant shriek, and that sent all of them back to their own business.

I followed the raven over a bridge that crossed the river, going further into this craggy land. But as we walked, I began to see little offshoots of green. Real grass grew, and bushes too, not just the stunted trees I had seen before. We were coming into a place where there was life, and the air did not feel quite so taut.

It was strange grass, though. The blades were shaped oddly, and amongst the green I also saw purples and blues and gold. The bushes, too, were not normal. They sang a soft tune, as if trying to comfort me, and despite how surreal everything was I could not help but relax a little at the music. It really was quite lovely.

Then I saw him, and I knew he could only be the lord Tethys had spoken of.

The man was tall and pale, with stark white hair and a face as beautiful as a statue crafted from marble. His flowing robes were fine enough for an emperor, and around his neck was a large emerald that blended in so well with the floral patterns of his clothes it seemed almost part of them. He turned his head took look at me with black eyes filled with twinkling stars, and gave me a small smile before bowing deeply. The motion snapped me out of my fugue, and I bowed back.

“Greetings, Madoka Kaname,” he said in a deep, resonate voice. “I am Dream, and I bid you welcome to my realm.”

“Th-Thank you,” I stuttered out before standing straight again. “I’m not entirely certain why I’m here, though. It all feels like a dream, but it feels so real.”

“Dreams are real, Kaname-san,” he said as he stood up to his full height. “Especially in this place. As for why you are here, it is because I desire to help you.”

I blinked. “Help me with what?”

He gave me a pitying look. “You will know soon. Come, my sisters are but a short way ahead. I would like you to meet them before we proceed.”

Tethys, who had been resting on one of the singing bushes, flapped her wings twice and landed upon Dream’s shoulder. The pale man turned and motioned me to follow him. After a short walk we came across a small meadow, inside which was a small house of a style not seen in the last two hundred years. The roof was curved and tiled, and the front door was a sliding paper screen. Set a few meters away from it was a large red torii gate, where two women stood.

One was short and fat, as well as nude. Her eyes were sunken, almost like caves with dim light shining from the inside. She had large, sharp looking teeth that pointed up out of her mouth, and her black hair was tied in a messy bun. Her arms were crossed, but on her hand I saw a ring with a wicked looking hook, and I couldn’t stop a feeling of dread as I looked at it.

The other girl seemed almost the exact opposite. She wore a brightly colored sweater with designs that shifted across its surface like gelatin, along with a black skirt that went down to her knees. It clashed horribly with her sweater, and even worse with her neon blue hair. A dog rested by her feet, looking about with a gaze that seemed far more intelligent than it should have been.

“You’re here!” the brightly dressed girl cried before running forward and sweeping me up into a hug. “You’re here, you’re here, you’re here! Oh, I knew you’d make it! I could feel it in my toes! I’m so happy you’re here!”

She twirled me around with surprising strength, and I had to hug her back in order to avoid getting tossed about. That didn’t stop me from smiling, though. The girl’s happiness was just so infectious I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in it.

“I’m glad I’ve made you happy,” I said as she set me down. I paused a moment to steady myself as my vision danced about. “But I’m afraid I don’t know what I’ve done. Who are you? Are you Dream-san’s sister?”

The girl’s expression deflated, and she looked at me with tears in her mismatched eyes. “You… You don’t remember me?”

My heart clenched at her words, but I didn’t want to lie. “I’m sorry, but no.”

"Dream!” she cried, turning to her brother. “What’s wrong with her? Why doesn’t she remember me?”

Dream came close, and knelt down to look at me on an even level. I could see a thousand twinkling stars within the blackness that made up his eyes. It was beautiful, and distracting. I almost didn’t notice when he’d stood up again.

“The one who holds her realm has buried her memories deeply, so deep they cannot be pried free save in short bursts.” He pulled some sand out of nowhere and blew it into my face. I coughed and rubbed at my eyes as he continued. “But in dreams one can remember what was forgotten, if only for a brief while.”

I was about to ask him what he meant when memory exploded within my mind. I gasped and fell to my knees as images assaulted me. They came rapid fire, one after another, but I could see them in exquisite detail all the same. No matter their scope, I could not help but take in everything as the past came into focus.

I saw magic and power, both great and terrible as they altered the world. I saw girls fight monsters, and then in the moment of their deepest despair become those same monsters. I saw my friends dying, Homura fighting… Homura failing…

I remembered making a wish with the very creatures who had started all this in order to end this broken cycle with my own hands, and to place something new in its stead. I saw all the timelines where I had died, where Homura had tried so desperately to rescue me from my fate. I remembered finally coming for her, my dearest friend…

And then I remembered what Homura had done.

“Oh God,” I moaned, clutching my head. It was too much! It was all too much! I could barely speak, could barely breathe from the force of my recollection. “Oh God, Homura. Why?”

“She tried to save you, child,” the fat woman spoke up, the first time since we’d arrived. “Despite that you needed no saving.”

“Are you okay?” the wildly dressed girl asked me. I looked up at her.

“You’re… Delirium-chan, right?” I said slowly, trying to manage all the memories I was holding. There were still so many flashing behind my eyes. It seemed as if there was no end to them. But my voice steadied a bit now that I had something other than my thoughts to focus on. “I think I saw you, once. Yes, at the edge of the universe, crying all alone after you’d gotten lost.”

“You remember!”

She turned to Dream and leaped, hugging him around the neck. Dream, for his part, only stumbled a little bit under her weight, and Tethys gave a squawk before flying up to perch on the torii gates. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“It was no trouble, dear sister,” he said, though he seemed somewhat embarrassed by all the attention. “She will need her memories to better understand everything that has happened.”

Delirium kissed Dream on the cheek before letting go. “Still, thanks.”

Dream nodded to her, giving his sister a brief smile, before turning to the fat woman. “How is she doing?”

“She is resting for now,” the woman said. “We have stabilized her. Your realm is helping her keep her strength, but it won’t stop the changes entirely. It only noticeably decreased once Delirium and I got involved.”

Dream nodded. “I was afraid of this.”

“Um…” I cut in, and they all turned to me. I stood up on shaking feet, searching for the right words. “I still don’t think I know entirely what’s going on here.” I turned to the fat woman. “Please forgive my rudeness, but who are you? I’ve met Delirium-chan before, and Dream-san just now, but I’m not sure who you are.”

“I am Despair,” the fat woman said. “Their sister.”

I flinched at the name. Despair… But if she was like Dream and Delirium, then that meant her name was more than just a description. It was what she was. And everything I had done as the Law of Cycles was combat despair. I had made it my goal to come at that moment of ultimate sorrow and relieve magical girls of their descent into suffering.

Does she hate me? I wondered. The thought raced around my brain and mixed with the immensity of my memories. Is she here to fight me, now that I’m so weak?

“You are afraid,” Despair said, coming close to me. “You do not need to be. Of all who exist, you will never have anything to fear from me.”

“But why?” I asked softly, shifting away from the squat woman. “I am… I was, so different from you.”

“And that is why.” She closed the distance between us and laid a hand gently on my cheek. Her expression softened. “You are Hope, dear child. You define me by being my opposite, and in many ways you are closer to me than even my twin. How could I not love you?”

I felt a blossom of shame erupt hearing those words, and I hugged Despair close. The woman froze for few seconds at the embrace, but after a moment returned it. We stayed that way for a while, just two people holding each other close.

When we released, I almost thought I saw a smile on Despair’s perpetually gloomy face.

“There are things you will need to know,” Dream said after the moment had pd. “About your universe an where you stand now. It will help put things in perspective.”

He looked at Despair, who nodded her agreement. Dream clapped his hands together, and when he parted them an image of a grand throne room appeared there. It was stylized, with the characters shown as opaque shadows without real detail. They almost looked like puppets, or perhaps paper cutouts. On it was a figure that resembled Despair, though she was taller and had red tattoos dotting her form. Coming up to her was a man with a sword, which gleamed malevolently in the imaginary light.

“Billions of years ago,” Dream said. “Long before humanity ever came to be, the first Despair of the Endless was murdered by one who mistakenly believed he was performing a great good.”

The man stabbed Despair, who fell to the ground screaming. She reached out with one hand toward her murderer as her blood pooled on the ground, and then her arm fell.

“That was the first time one of the Endless died,” Dream continued, his head bowed low and his eyes closed. “Such an action has repercussions. The universe trembled, and the barrier separating it from the void beyond cracked.”

The image shifted, and I saw a black space filled with millions upon millions of little lights. That space was surrounded by a pure white nothingness, but there was a translucent barrier between the two. That barrier shook, small fractures lining its surface, and those vibrations echoed out into the emptiness beyond.

“The death scream of the first Despair resounded into the void,” Dream said. “And carried with it an echo of Creation’s substance. These echoes grew and took form, becoming new universes that hurled out into the nothingness. Your own realm is one such place.”

The image faded, and Dream dropped his hands.

“It took us a good deal of time to determine this,” he said, lifting his face to look at me. “Our connection to these other places is very tenuous. If we did not already know they existed, they likely would have escaped our notice forever.” He motioned to Delirium. “My sister has said before that she knows paths no one else does, and she has proven it here. By some whimsy of fate she wandered into your universe, where you found and comforted her until she could discover her way home again.”

“It was really scary,” Delirium cut in, wringing her hands. “I didn’t rightly know how I’d gotten there, since I’d been too busy thinking about how lizards don’t dance very well. I called out to my brothers and sisters, but they couldn’t hear me from so far away.” She clapped her hands together under her chin and gave me a smile that could light up the world. “But you did! You came and hugged me and wiped away my tears and told me everything was going to be all right again! And then you helped me find the way out and it was!”

“Delirium noticed when Homura Akemi took control of your reality and enclosed it within her power,” Despair said, crossing her arms. The hook on her finger danced lightly across her skin, drawing a thin line of blood. “She came to us for help, but we did not know how to reach this place. The connection was too thin.”

“Which is why she had to go ahead of us,” Dream said. “And help solidify that connection so that I could expand the Dreaming into your world.”

“So here we are!” Delirium said. “We’re gonna help you and make that meanie Homura stop dancing around in the moonlight and doing all this nasty stuff to you!”

I blinked, and then I blinked again. How was I supposed to respond to this? It was all so much to take in, and the weight of my recovered memories wasn’t helping matters.

My world had been born from the death of an abstract being? And there might be others out there; all careening through that white emptiness Dream had shown me. It was all so fantastical, like a fairy tale.

But then again, it wasn’t as if my life had been very normal for a long time anyway. Not with magical girls and Incubators and Witches. With magic it truly seemed anything could be possible. Recent events had made that abundantly clear.

“I’m sorry,” I said, placing a hand to my temple to hopefully relieve the throbbing ache that was developing there. I placed another on the torii gate to steady myself. “This is all quite a lot to take in.”

“I understand,” Dream said. “I wish there was more time to do this gently, but such options are closed to us as of now.”

“Why are you helping me, if you don’t mind my asking” I said back, putting my back to the gate and leaning against it. “Not that I’m ungrateful, but I’m a little curious.”

“Because you are a being that is like us, and who came to be so through her own will,” Despair said with a nod. “Though you are different in several aspects, your abilities resemble those of the Endless. In many ways that makes you like kin to us, a cousin if not a sibling.”

“And you were kind to our sister,” Dream said, putting a hand on Delirium’s shoulder. “She has suffered much, and we cannot always be there for her. You were gentle with her and helped her find the way home again.”

“So we want to help you out,” Delirium said. “Cause you’re in trouble and that’s not fun, unless that trouble is ice cream clouds.” She licked her lips. “I like the chocolate ones.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing need be said,” Dream responded. He motioned to the house. “Go. She is waiting for you.”

“Who?”

“Yourself.”

That was singularly confusing, but it seemed the time for asking questions was finished. I moved away from the gate and made my way down the path to the house. There was a garden set there, and a small pond that was filled with brightly colored koi. Birds chittered in the trees, and as I walked I felt a growing sense of contentment.

The door opened as I came close, and in that moment I understood was Dream had meant.

I stood there at the doorway, looking back at myself. She was a little older than me, what I would look like at eighteen most likely. Not much taller, but a bit more fleshed out. Her knees were shaking, as if she was too weak to stand, and she held on to the doorway to keep upright. She was wearing a white and pink dress that held a multitude of stars within the fabric as it flared out behind her. It was a magnificent garment, but also frayed and worn at the edges. More importantly, there was a gaping hole where her heart should be that led down into blackness that had no ending.

But worst of all was her, my, face. The left side was cloaked in shadow that undulated in squiggly lines. It was almost like a living mask, but I could tell that it was fused with her flesh. The other side of her face was gaunt and malnourished, with sunken flesh showing her cheekbone. Her eye was the earth, and when she opened her mouth to smile at me, I saw the moon.

*My Witch*, I thought with a growing sense of horror. *She’s turning in to my Witch.* Without me, the original piece that had sparked the creation of the Law of Cycles, the entire entity was falling apart. *Oh Homura. You don’t realize what you’ve done.*

My greater self stretched out her arms and walked forward, pleading with me. I opened my arms wide, ready to embrace her and join together into one being. Once that was done, we’d be able to fix everything. We could repair the damage done to myself, could repair the universe and finally bring Homura peace. I could make it all right again.

That thought died as darkness surrounded me, and I screamed. Through the gloom I saw that my greater self was also screaming, reaching out for me even as she recoiled from the shadows that surrounded me. I thrashed at the darkness, trying to break free, but nothing I did made any difference. Dream, Despair and Delirium appeared in front of me, arms outstretched, but I could tell it was too late. I was fading, my consciousness spiraling off in a way that told me I was waking up…

o\O/o

I opened my eyes groggily, and in the darkness I saw all my chairs and stuffed animals laying about. I was in my bed, back in my room. The window blinds were dark, which told me dawn was a ways off yet.

Was all that just a dream?

No… It was more than that. It had been a dream, but it had also been true. Everything I’d seen was real. But the memories… The memories were slipping through my grasp like sand. It was so hard to keep them in focus, to hold on to all I had seen and experienced.

I felt a hand caress my cheek, and I slowly turned my head to the side. Homura was there, looking down at me with love and concern in her eyes. I could see the edges of my room warping a little as she worked her power, taking on the insane likeness of a Witch’s barrier. I opened my mouth, but she placed a finger before any words could come out.

“Don’t you worry, Madoka,” she said softly. “It’s all better now. You just get some sleep, and we’ll see each other again in the morning.”

I tried again to speak, tried to tell her she didn’t need to do this. I wanted to tell her if she let me go we could always be together. That I would forgive her, wouldn’t hate her for what she had done. All she had to do was free me and everything that was broken could be made whole again.

But I couldn’t. My eyes grew heavy, and the final pieces of my memories faded away like mist in the sun. I yawned and snuggled in to the blankets, and the last thing I saw before dreamless sleep took me was Homura’s smiling face.

Chapter Text

I scowled as I overlooked Mitakihara from high above, standing on nothing but the air of the night’s sky. I needed no solid ground to support myself, and I wasn’t in the mood to go about my business subtly. Not when I was this angry.

No, anger did not do my mood justice. I was *furious*. Madoka had gotten so close to becoming the Law of Cycles again. I had almost failed in my duty before I’d even realized it, distracted as I was following up on Lucifer’s activities. If I had been just a second slower… I shook my head to throw off those thoughts. They did not bear thinking about. She was safe for now, and that meant I could focus my attention onto other matters to better ensure she stayed that way.

“Where are you?” I growled, seeking the object of my ire. Somehow Lucifer could hide himself from me, though I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or if he was just naturally hard to detect. And, frankly, I didn’t care. The end result was the same, and annoying either way.

I’d been doing this for over half an hour now, looking down on the city and extending my awareness within. I would have done it sooner, but I hadn’t risked leaving Madoka’s side until I was sure I could afford to do so. I touched every single person, felt out their lives and memories as I sought out the being who claimed to be the Devil. I could see glimpses of him from time to time, but nothing concrete. It was as if all the people below simply ignored him, their eyes passing him by.

That, at least, I was fairly certain he was doing on purpose. How could a tall, fiery haired foreigner wander around Japan and not draw notice? He should have stood out clearly, left an impression. But there was hardly anything, and that made him almost impossible to find even by indirect measures.

The longer my search took, the greater my rage grew. Lucifer was once again wasting my time, time I could have been spending putting my full focus on Madoka. I still kept a great deal of my awareness on her, of course, but diverting even a portion of my attention now could spell disaster. Madoka had been just half a step from drifting away again! I could not help but mull over that as I looked through the sight of millions of people, looking for just one man.

*There!* I thought in triumph. I’d finally spotted him. He was at a restaurant, sitting down at a table with as glass of wine in hand.

Space warped, contorting to my will, and I was in the seat opposite him. He quirked an eyebrow at my sudden appearance, but that was all the reaction I got from anyone in the room. I did not want any interference, which meant the inhabitants of my world would not realize anything was happening unless I wanted them to.

“A little dramatic, don’t you think?” Lucifer said, reclining slightly in his seat. “I suppose appearing out of thin air is a good way to shock and awe people who don’t know what’s going on, but when you understand the trick it’s really quite a tasteless gesture.”

“Shut up,” I said, unable to keep my anger from bleeding through. “I’m not here to listen to you prattle.”

“And we’re back to the rudeness,” Lucifer said before taking a sip of his wine. “I was hoping you might have matured a little bit in the time we haven’t seen each other.”

I narrowed my eyes, and the wine glass exploded in his hand. The shards of the glass, and what was left of the drink, immolated into nothingness before they even came close to touching him. But I’d not done that in order to cause injury. I’d done it to make a point.

All Lucifer did in response was sigh.

“Fine,” he said, steepling his hands together. “I’d have offered you a cup, but as you are now I figure you’d just waste it on cheap dramatics. So I suppose we should just get to the business of why you’ve visited me tonight.”

“This is not a social call,” I growled. “I am here to discuss your blatant disregard for my conditions, and the effect you are having on my world.”

“Oh?” Lucifer responded. “Do tell.”

My eyes flared open at his impudence, and I couldn’t hide my anger from my expression. “You have met with every single one of the girls I told you to stay away from.”

“I didn’t meet with any of them,” Lucifer said back. “They met with me. I did tell you it was up to my discretion as to whether or not I answered questions, did I not?”

“Don’t mince words with me,” I growled. “You know damn well what I intended, and you manipulated events so that each of those girls would come across you. You broke our agreement!”

“I broke nothing,” Lucifer said, the calm expression he’d kept darkening into something vaguely offended. “Are you so blind that you can’t even tell whose hand is at work here?”

I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“None of those girls crossed paths with me by happenstance,” Lucifer said before leaning forward. “No. Madoka, or rather the part of her that exists on a higher level, is the one who directed all those girls to me.”

“How do you know about her?” I hissed, slamming my hands on the table so hard the whole thing collapsed on itself. “How do you know what she is?”

“The signs are all there,” Lucifer said, completely unfazed by the table’s destruction. “You didn’t exactly hide them well. You split the universal concept that is Madoka Kaname in two when you took control, and that same concept has subtly shifted events so that each of those girls would meet with me as I explored this place.” He leaned back again. “She desires to become whole again, and all this was to distract you so that she might have the chance to do so. It almost worked, too, from what I felt last night.”

“It won’t happen,” I whispered. “I won’t let her. She’ll have a normal life with her family, her friends. She won’t be separated from them ever again.”

“So this was all for her benefit, then?” Lucifer asked. “Everything you’ve done here? The mess you’ve made of your reality?”

“Everything I’ve ever done has been for her!” I said back. “Everything! All I’ve accomplished, all I’ve suffered, has been in her name! It’s for her own good!”

“Now that,” Lucifer said. “Is a lie.”

I gritted my teeth as my fury rose to new heights. This man… No, he was not a man. Never a man. I couldn’t afford to forget that. This creature dared to cast doubt on my devotion? It was a blasphemy, a sin that could not be forgiven.

Space began to warp around me, but the inhabitants of the restaurant paid it as little heed as they’d done the rest of the spectacle going on in our little corner. My clothing changed, burning away to reveal my black dress and wings. I stood before him in my true form, all pretense burned away. I was the undisputed master of this universe.

“How dare you?” I asked in a low voice. “How *dare* you question what I’ve done to ensure Madoka’s happiness?”

“I’m not questioning what you’ve done,” Lucifer said. “I’m saying your motivations are false. You haven’t done these things for Madoka’s happiness. You did it for your own.”

He stood up and crossed his arms, looking down at me. Those eyes seemed to bore past my flesh to see the spirit beneath. They were cold, piercing. There was no pity in those eyes, no compassion. All that they held was judgement and contempt.

I hated those eyes. I hated him. I hated all that he was and what he’d done to my perfect world. Everything had been fine before he had arrived. Everything had been wonderful. And then this aberration showed up and put a snarl in all that I had wrought.

“You removed Madoka from her position because you could not bear to be away from her,” Lucifer said. “You wished to be close to her, to live with her in a life you’ve never had the chance to experience. You wanted a life with the girl you love, free from pain. You saw what you desired, and you made it happen on your own terms. I’ll not begrudge you that.”

Lucifer’s face was in front of mine before I’d even recognized he’d moved. I stumbled back, but he grabbed the front of my blouse before I could go too far. He drew me close, such that our faces were but a few inches apart, and my vision was filled with those awful eyes of his. I could not escape them.

“But then you have the utter gall to compare yourself to me when you feel guilty for what you’ve done? It would be laughable if it wasn’t so insulting.”

“What are you talking about?” I hissed through clenched teeth. I drew power to me, and the already warped space became even more distorted. Had things always been coming to this point? Would I pit my power against his infinite will? Would we battle now? “I don’t feel guilty. Everything I’ve done is to make her life better!”

“You wear your regret on your sleeve,” Lucifer spat. “The very creatures you’ve spawned from your soul reek of it, and your every action underscores how much you loathe yourself. You did all that you did for your own desire, and you hate that you feel that way. You hate that you feel good denying Madoka her wishes, because doing so allows you to live with her.”

He let me go and stood up straight. The sudden shift in my balance almost made me stumble, but even more I was reeling from Lucifer’s words. Hateful, terrible words that brought form and substance to all those lingering fears that rested in the back of my mind and dragged them to the forefront. I could bring no more words of denial to my lips, not when he had spelled my despair out so clearly. Now, more than ever, I hated him. I hated him because what he said was true.

Lucifer sneered at me, his arms crossed. My hands clenched into fists, and I had to keep myself from lashing out at him. I wanted to, so very badly. I wanted to destroy him utterly for his words, for shining light on all the feelings I wanted to keep hidden away. I had buried those emotions deeply, but he unearthed them and shoved everything in my face. I could not escape them now.

“I will be leaving soon,” he said. “There’s nothing left in this universe that interests me. I’ve no desire to wander about in some little girl’s delusional fantasy.”

His words sent my thoughts crashing to a halt. He was leaving? That was good, right? It was what I wanted. But to do so after he’d said all these horrible things, stripped away all my justifications… It made me angry, as well. I clenched my teeth so hard I could almost feel them cracking. For him to leave now, after all he’d said and done, was like walking away unpunished after spitting in a queen’s face.

Even still, I reined back my temper. I couldn’t fight him, no matter how much I wanted to. The risk was too great. In the conflict Madoka might wander astray. The catharsis would be short lived and meaningless if in destroying this monster I lost the only person I truly cared about.

I acknowledged all that, but it was cold comfort to the fire that burned in my heart. I wanted to break this bastard. I wanted to crush him utterly beneath my heel, even though I knew such a course was unwise.

“Go, then,” I whispered. “And never come back. I don’t ever want to see your face again.”

“You won’t,” Lucifer said.

He turned to leave, his coat flaring out slightly behind him, and I could not help but sigh in relief. He was leaving. I still didn’t properly understand why he’d even bothered to wander about like he had, but at least I would no longer have to deal with him. I could go back to ensuring Madoka’s happiness, and I could find my own joy in being near her.

“Now, Lucifer!” came the voice of the Incubator as it emerged from the shadows. “Strike while she’s distracted, like we discussed! You can defeat her now!”

I turned to the Incubator, my eyes going wide with shock. The Incubators, for all their evil, did not lie. They misled with selective truths, and kept their silence, but they did not lie. Even now, with the entire species under my heel, they did not lie. I wasn’t sure they were even capable of doing such. But the alien’s words… Could they truly be real? Had all this just been some trick?

I looked back to Lucifer. Had everything he’d said, all those hurtful words, been to get me off my guard so he and the Incubator could strike? It would make sense, more sense than Lucifer just wandering for a time and leaving. To just explore my world for less than two weeks before going away didn’t add up, even for someone as odd as him. There had to be an ulterior motive, some goal he’d been working toward, and now I saw it. The Incubator must have co-opted him into giving aid, to keep me off balance!

My fury, already boiling to my utmost limit, rose to a fever pitch. This aberration in my perfect world had already caused me so much grief. His words cut to my core, forced me to acknowledge my deepest fears. He had flagrantly stepped around my rules, acted with impunity, and now he was helping the Incubators to take Madoka away from me? It was too much! I would never let that happen!

Lucifer turned back around and scowled at the Incubator. He opened his mouth, but I did not give him the chance to speak. With a scream I lashed out with my power, releasing a bolt of kaleidoscopic force that struck Lucifer dead in his chest. The impact sent him off his feet and into the air, crashing through the roof of the restaurant and flying through the sky.

I took a step, warping space, and appeared right when Lucifer hit the ground. The street cratered as he crashed, sending asphalt and concrete into the air to fall like rain. Cars flipped over, and the people traveling on the sidewalks screamed and ran. But I ignored them. They were an issue I could deal with later. Right now I had a problem to correct.

Inside the hole I could already see Lucifer trying to rise, but I did not let him. I raised my hand, and two spikes made of shadow coalesced and pierced straight through Lucifer’s palms. He hissed with pain, and I could not help but smile. It was good to get a reaction out of the smug bastard other than contempt and indifference.

The rock lifted up, taking Lucifer with it. He hung there by the nails, his palms dripping blood. There was a perverse sort of sense in this, for the Devil to be crucified before his end. It spoke to a kind of poetic justice. I moved closer, cloaking myself in my power. If I did this quickly enough, I could limit the risk to Madoka. Then he would be gone, and I could…

My thoughts spiraled as Lucifer wrenched his hand up the spike, spurting blood all the while, and grabbed me by the throat. The spike holding his other hand shattered, and he pulled me close. His eyes shone with inner light, and his teeth were bared like some kind of wild animal. Nothing else existed save his face as he snarled out a single word.

“Burn.”

My blood flash boiled in my veins, and fire erupted from within my flesh. I screamed, and a gout of flame exploded from my mouth. But the release of that scorching streamer brought no relief, not when the fire continued to grow from inside of me. My eyes melted away, nothing but glowing embers as the conflagration tore through me and consumed my form.

I was dying, I was sure of it. Heat and pain had taken over my whole world. Lucifer was killing me, bringing the power of the sun right into my body. My skin turned to ash and floated away, and my bones blackened under the flame. There was so little left of me, now. All that I was, all that I ever could be, was being washed away in the inferno Lucifer had wrought.

I… I can’t…

Thought became difficult to hold on to. How could I function like this? All Lucifer was holding was my burning skeleton by this point, and even that was beginning to fall apart. I could see him even now, though my fading senses. He was standing aloft, great wings having emerged from his back that ripped his shirt and jacket to shreds. He was both beautiful and terrible, like the dawn. And I had wanted to fight this? How could I have been so foolish?

But if I died here, then what would happen to Madoka?

*No*, I thought. The feeling was weak, at first, but it quickly gained strength. With one skeletal hand I gripped at the arm holding me up. *No! I won’t let it end like this!*

I pulled my power close, settling it over my charred and broken body. Flesh came into being even as Lucifer continued to burn it away. With a roar I slammed my fist into Lucifer’s stomach. The angel, if that was what he truly was, crashed shoulder first into the ground and tore a giant, flaming groove through the street.

The fire must have hit a gas line, because the entire street exploded into a gigantic inferno that shattered windows and toppled buildings. The flames washed over me, but I was not burned. This heat was nothing compared to what I had just lived through. I would not be vanquished through something as minor as this.

Lucifer moved to stand, but I did not give him any time. With a scream I attacked, releasing my power in one giant burst centered on his position. Shadows engulfed him, lashing at his body with great, thorny whips. His blood flowed freely as the scourges cut into him, and his lips were drawn back in a rictus of pain.

Any normal person would have collapsed by this point, curling up to try and hold back the assault. Even magical girls would have fallen to their knees, unable to cope with the sheer agony brought on by my onslaught. A person could only endure so much before breaking.

And yet, he did not fall. Instead, Lucifer raised his hand up high. All the fire on the street flew into my shadows and centered on his palm, forming a sphere. The orb glowed like a star, burning away my shadows. I covered my eyes to block out the light, it was so blinding. It was just like what Lucifer had used to attack me, a fire that went beyond anything mundane. This was the power that brought suns into being, the flame that all others were compared to.

Eventually, blessedly, the light faded. Lucifer stood, battered and bleeding, but he stood. He looked up at me, his perpetual scowl deepening into true anger as his lips drew back into a snarl. My own expression was similar. We were two wrathful angels, one of darkness and the other of light, standing in the charred wreckage that had been the world. It might have been poetic, in its own way. But I did not have the time or interest to care.

I sneered down at him, preparing to continue our fight. Space shifted around me, altering to reflect my will and taking on the mania of a Witch’s barrier. Fire leapt into Lucifer’s hands, and despite his injuries he also looked ready to keep going. It was an arrogant gesture. I knew his measure, now. There was nothing he could do to stop his destruction.

“Ho-Homura-chan?” a small, timid voice called out.

I froze, hearing that voice. The whole world seemed to freeze. Even Lucifer paused, his fires dimming. The words had been spoken quietly, but even still they seemed to fill the whole of existence. We both turned to look at the newcomer who had intruded upon our conflict.

Madoka was there, huddled behind the rubble of what had once been a building. She seemed out of breath, like she had run the whole way here. She must have heard the explosions, likely wondering if someone had been hurt and needed help. It would be so like her, to be that kind. Her clothes were burnt and scuffed, but she looked otherwise all right. But my relief at her safety was torn away at the wide-eyed fear she had when she looked at me.

I took a step back from her, recoiling as if struck. She was frightened. She was frightened of me!

*No*, I thought. *No, no, no, no, no! She can’t be here! She can’t see me like this!*

I reached out a hand toward her. I had to erase her memories. I had to fix this! My perfect world… The world I had made for Madoka… It was all falling apart! All that I loved was falling to ruin around my ears. But I could still stop it; I could still repair the damage! I had that power!

But was I really doing this for her?

The question stopped me cold. Lucifer’s words, uttered so recently though it felt like a lifetime ago, resounded in my mind. Was I doing all this for Madoka, or was it for myself? Did I… Did I truly have Madoka’s interests at heart? Had everything I had done been for her protection, or was I merely indulging in my own desires? Could I truly just keep burying her memories over and over again? Did I have that right?

Those thoughts swirled in my head, confusing me. Conflicting urges warred in my mind. I had to keep Madoka happy, but was Madoka truly happy if she hadn’t chosen this world of her own will? No, she’d never want to leave her family. She told me that herself! But she also wanted to help everyone. It’s why she had made her decision in the first place! But where did that leave me, in a world without her? My sanity had strained to breaking without Madoka’s presence. I couldn’t go through that again!

“Homura-chan?” Madoka asked, stepping out from her hiding spot. She approached me slowly, like a deer ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”

My heart clenched. Even now, terrified out of her mind, Madoka was worried for me. She wanted to help me, the one who had taken her away from the duty she’d grasped with her own two hands. I wasn’t worthy of such kindness. I wasn’t worthy of the attention from this wonderful, beautiful person.

“Madoka…” I whispered, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I… Everything is…”

I shuddered, choking back a sob. I couldn’t deal with this. Everything was wrong, all wrong!

With a scream I warped space, disappearing in a flash of whirling black energy. Madoka cried out my name, but I couldn’t stay. The longer I was there the more my inner turmoil would grow, and I couldn’t guarantee Madoka’s well being if that happened. No matter what happened, I had to make sure she was safe!

I emerged deep within my Labyrinth, the true expression of my Barrier, and fell to the floor. The place looked like some slapdash bedroom, though I had not slept in a great while. My Familiars were moving about at the edges, but none of them came close to me. Their usual good mood was gone, replaced with mutterings of concern and fear. A reflection of my own confused feelings.

I curled up on myself, trying to become as small as possible. But even then I could not escape my feelings, escape the turmoil of my thoughts. Was I working for Madoka’s happiness, or my own? Only one answer was the correct path, the other a blasphemy. But how could I tell which was which? They both mixed together so deeply I couldn’t see the difference between them any more!

A dark orb set in an ornate casing, the container of my soul, emerged in my hands as I cried. It pulsed with dark light, beating like my heart. I held it close, clutching it tightly to my chest as I rocked back and forth. I held it for comfort, even though I knew it was a futile gesture.

Everything was ruined. Nothing would ever be right again.

Chapter Text

*Kyouko*

“You have any idea what the hell is going on?” I asked Mami as we jumped from rooftop to rooftop. We’d been running full tilt for almost ten minutes now, which meant we were covering a lot of ground. Magical Girls could go about as fast as cars in a dead run, and we didn’t have nearly as many obstacles just leaping across buildings.

“I’ve no idea, Kyouko-chan,” Mami said back, keeping her expression professional. But I’d known her long enough to see she was worried. Still, she kept her eyes ahead even as she spoke to me, trying to stay on the task at hand. “But whatever it is, I doubt it’s good.”

“Understatement of the year, that,” I responded.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was worried too. Something really weird had just rocked the city, and it was something that pinged off on our supernatural senses. Seriously, like a freaking gong right next to our ears. No way we could ignore it, so we headed out. I hated leaving Sayaka in the dark, but if I didn’t look into this then who knew what would happen? Mami surely felt the same way. We were the only ones who could do something.

Then there had been the explosion in the distance, like an entire street had just lit up in a fireball. People were running away from the area, screaming and flailing like chickens with their heads cut off. The police had their hands full just trying to maintain order, much less investigate. This whole situation stank to high heaven, and it was making me grit my teeth so hard it hurt. Something bad was going on here, and I didn’t know what. And if there was one thing I hated, it was being left in the dark.

That being the case, I’d say what happened next was one of the little ironies God likes to drop on people. If, you know, it hadn’t been so freaking painful.

We were almost to our destination when it happened. An explosion of darkness erupted just outside the city, so large it seemed to eat up the skyline. I screamed and covered my ears, though in truth the blast wasn’t creating any noise at all, but rather a silence so deep that it echoed right back around to become deafeningly loud. I shook under the force of it, and as I stared at the ground I saw the world was shaking as well.

But that wasn’t everything. Lights began dancing in the air as the atmosphere twisted, flashing from one color to the next so quickly I couldn’t keep track of them beyond a kaleidoscopic mix. The night’s sky took on a rainbow hue that undulated like a living thing, and a dark fog began to rise everywhere as the stars began to vanish one by one.

And then there were the shadows. Things were creeping about in the gloom, keeping just out of sight. They appeared vaguely humanoid, but they moved oddly. And in the few glimpses I could see them, the figures almost looked like they were made of paper. I couldn’t be sure, though, because whenever I tried to get a better look they would dash out of my vision.

I glanced where the explosion had occurred, and I immediately regretted it. Pain shot up behind my eyes, and I couldn’t help the cry that came out of my mouth. There was a constant, throbbing darkness just beyond the city now. The sky around it was even worse off than everywhere else, a great gaping blackness that seemed to go on forever. It was not a place, but rather a hole in the world. I couldn’t process it, couldn’t conceive of such a thing, and I had to look away or I would be overcome by the sheer wrongness I witnessed.

“The fuck is that?” I yelled, trying to speak over the ringing in my ears. Mami and I landed atop a partially collapsed building at the edge of a scorched and broken world. The entire street, as well as every structure, was nothing but charred rubble. Cars had melted into slag, and all around me there was hardly any stone left on top another. The smell of burning things filled the air, and I had to breathe shallowly to keep myself from gagging. It was as if a bomb had gone off and rent a wound in the city.

But if Mami said something, I didn’t hear it. My eyes were locked on the person standing in that blasted landscape.

It was the man Kyubey had called Lucifer. He was bleeding, though that really didn't do it justice. His entire torso looked like it had gone through a meat grinder. There were bits of him just hanging off, and I thought I could actually see his bones. In all honesty, he looked more like a mutilated corpse than a person, and there was something odd with his back that I couldn’t quite make out. But even then, I couldn’t help but recognize him.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered as my hearing fully returned. “That just freaking figures, doesn’t it?”

“Are you all right?” Madoka, who for some inexplicable reason was here as well, asked Lucifer. She approached him cautiously, but with all the concern I knew her for. “I know a little first aid, but I’m not sure…”

Her voice trailed off as, before all our eyes, Lucifer’s wounds disappeared. It was not as if his injuries had closed up, or regenerated like something out of a manga. One second he was bleeding, and the next his body was whole again. His skin was without flaw or blemish, all save for that scar across his face. Only that disfigurement remained.

“I am fine,” he said. “For a certain measure of the word. The last few minutes have been distinctly unpleasant, though your intervention has thankfully cut short a rather pointless exercise.”

“You mean with Homura-chan?” Madoka asked. “Were you… You were fighting her, right?”

I blinked at that, and Mami frowned. The hell was Madoka talking about? Why would Homura be fighting anyone? The girl was a gloomy introvert. Cute around Madoka, sure, but otherwise she didn’t interact much with anyone. Not even the rest of us. The idea of her fighting anybody was too odd to really contemplate.

“I was,” Lucifer said.

“Why?” Madoka asked, brining voice to my own question. “And why did she run away from me? She looked like she was about to cry!”

“Because a great fool thought it could force my hand,” Lucifer growled. “I’ll have to teach it the reality of its error later.”

“I do apologize for creating this confrontation,” Kyubey said as he appeared from behind what used to be a car. “But it was the only way we could determine that would get you to help us, Lucifer.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “You were very stupid to appear before me after what you did.”

“I felt it necessary in order to better stress the situation at hand,” Kyubey said. “These distortions are only going to grow, and eventually the universe will break underneath the pressure they are causing.”

“Wait,” Madoka interrupted, drawing the attention of both of them. “What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

I figured that was my cue to step in. I jumped off the building and landed by Madoka’s side, which made the kid squeak rather adorably. I hefted my spear over my shoulder, just to top off my arrival. Because hey, why would you not try go for a badass entrance?

“I’d like to know that too,” I said, trying to look cool. The effect was utterly ruined when I noticed something I hadn’t been able to see so well in the distance. Something that made the blood drain out of my face.

Great white wings, large and avian, sprouted from Lucifer’s back. They were magnificent, majestic even. But I did not appreciate their beauty, not when I knew what they represented. I recoiled at the sight of them, and brought up my spear to put a barrier between him and myself.

I hadn’t believed this man was actually who Kyubey said he was, not really. The red haired bastard was powerful, certainly, but that didn’t mean he was necessarily the Devil. Even for my fucked up life, that was just too strange. I’d just never liked him because he never denied the label and because he came off as a complete asshole. But now, seeing this, I couldn’t doubt it any further. The truth had slapped me in the face, and it couldn’t be ignored.

“Wings,” I whispered. I almost cursed at the faint tremor in my voice, and even more when I could not stop my body shaking. “Oh God, you really are him. Oh God.”

“I don’t think you’ll have much luck calling on my father, child,” Lucifer said. “He never answered all that often even in the best of times, and I don’t think you’d care much for his attention in any case.”

My eyes widened at Lucifer’s words, and a fire erupted in my heart as I leveled my spear at him. I wasn’t the best Christian, and frankly I didn’t care to be. There’d been too much pain in my life to be able to go back into the fold. I had cursed God, and begged to know why my family had died the way they had. But no matter how I pleaded, He’d never answered. So He and I weren’t exactly close. But to hear these words, from someone like this man… I couldn’t stand it. Somewhere you just had to draw the line.

“Shut up!” I growled. “I don’t want to hear a single word more out of you.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes, and suddenly a shirt and coat appeared out of nowhere to cover his upper body. “Well, we don’t always get what we want.”

“What’s happening?” Madoka moaned, raising her hands to her head as if trying to massage away a headache. I certainly didn’t blame her. This night had gone to hell in a hand basket faster than I could spit. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“The rude little girl has lost what little control she had,” Lucifer said with a scowl as he stared right at that pulsing black light. He didn’t appear to be bothered by it, or if he was then he never let it show on his face. “Or near enough. I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“That doesn’t answer a goddamn thing,” I growled. “And I am getting real tired of this cryptic bullshit. Start talking.”

“Kyouko!” Mami cried, landing next to me. She put a hand on my arm before I could go any further, which I was ashamed to admit I was kind of thankful to her for reining me in. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how the man in front of me responded to threats. “We don’t have time for this! Something is very wrong here!”

“The universe is coming apart,” Kyubey said. “In her distress Homura Akemi’s hold on reality has loosened, enough that the paradoxes she was keeping at bay have begun to spiral out of control. But she has kept enough grasp on everything that we Incubators cannot fix the underlying issues. I fear if she is not stopped soon, all of reality will collapse in on itself.”

“You’ve only yourself to blame,” Lucifer said. “What did you think was going to happen, misleading her into attacking me?”

“An event like this was always going to happen eventually,” Kyubey responded. “As I said before, with your aid we hoped to overcome Homura Akemi. I merely went about the only way left to us in acquiring it.”

“What?” Mami asked, her eyes narrowing. “What are you talking about? Why would you be fighting Homura-chan? If you two know what’s going on, then please speak clearly.”

“Seriously,” I said. “The way you two are yakking, it’s like the whole damn world’s ending.”

“It should have fallen already,” Sayaka said from beside me. I jumped in surprise, and I wasn’t the only one. Mami and Madoka were startled as well. Sayaka… She hadn’t been there a moment ago. How had she gotten here, and why was she looking up at the sky? “But those three… They’re holding the universe on their backs. Incredible.”

“The older brother is doing most of the work,” Nagisa said, stepping into view from Sayaka’s side. She was wearing an odd outfit with poofy pants and a small poncho. “But the sisters are there too.” She paused, fidgeting uncomfortably. “It looks like it’s hurting a lot.”

“So the Endless have truly gotten involved,” Lucifer said, cupping a hand under his chin in thought. “Interesting.”

I turned to Sayaka, who kept gazing up at the sky in awe. What was she talking about? What was she seeing? Things were happening one after another and I couldn’t keep up. I just didn’t understand.

“Nagisa-chan?” Mami asked, approaching her ward. She knelt down in front of her and placed her hands on the little girl’s shoulders “Nagisa-chan, how did you get here?”

“I walked,” Nagisa said. “But it wasn’t really walking… It’s hard to explain, but I’ve just remembered how!” She lit up with a smile so big it practically split her face in two. “I remember everything, Mami!”

“So do I,” Sayaka said. She turned to Madoka. “Those three, they’re doing this for you. I can see that now… I can see so much. But you can’t, not yet. Even now she hasn’t let go of you.”

I blinked. All right, things were getting just too damn weird. Everyone speaking in riddles wasn’t helping matters any. Between the sky and my girlfriend appearing out of nowhere, along with the freaking Devil standing right there looking bored, I was officially done with all this.

“The hell?” I asked. “Sayaka, what are you talking about?”

“We have to hurry,” Sayaka said, still looking at Madoka and ignoring my question entirely. “You have to get to Homura. If you don’t, then everything is going to come crashing down.”

“You know where Homura-chan is?” Madoka asked, her eyes lighting up. That wasn’t too surprising, considering how close those two were. And I imagine she was feeling even more lost than I was, what with her being just a normal human and all. “Where?”

Sayaka pointed toward the pulsing darkness on the horizon. “There.”

Lucifer snorted. “It’s certainly dramatic enough.”

“If all we’ve got to do is get to Homura, then let’s get over there!” I said. I’ll admit I was a little annoyed at being ignored, I could at least appreciate we were actually making some progress. Any direction was better than just floundering about uselessly.

Nagisa shook her head. “That darkness isn’t gonna let anyone in. Not even Madoka. And all the Familiars are gonna try and stop us too.”

“Familiars?” Mami asked. “You mean all these strange figures running around?”

“Betcha we can handle them,” I said. “Ain’t anything that can stand up after you stab it enough.”

“But that still leaves the shadows,” Sayaka said. She turned to Lucifer. “Would you help us, Morning Star? Would you burn away the darkness so Madoka can go where she needs to?”

“I’m not in the habit of doing things out of altruism, child,” Lucifer said. “And there’s nothing I especially want from any of you.” He paused for a moment, giving the question some more thought. “But that rude little girl did attack me, and I suppose when everything is said and done I could be owed a favor.”

“Then you’ll help us?” Nagisa asked, bouncing up and down, her eyes hopeful.

“I can light the way,” Lucifer said. “What’s done after that will be up to you lot.”

Sayaka nodded. “Thank you.”

There was a shimmering azure light, and then Sayaka was wearing a Magical Girl outfit just like me and Mami. My jaw dropped to the floor. Sayaka was a Magical Girl? Since when? How could I have not noticed this? Her uniform was blue and white, with a cape like some kind of knight, and she held a cutlass in hand. When the lightshow was finished she gave a cocky grin, idly twirling her sword.

“Well, let’s go then. We’ll keep the small fry away so you can advance.”

Sayaka bent her knees, tensing to jump, but before she could do anything I placed a hand on her arm. Sayaka paused, looking back at me. In all honesty, I couldn’t help fidgeting as she stared. I really didn’t know how to proceed here. I’m usually pretty confidentn the last week and what was going on right now, I was out of my depth.

But I had some things to say and dammit, I was going to say them.

“Hey. I don’t really get what’s happening here, and I definitely don’t like working with that guy.” I pointed a thumb at Lucifer over my shoulder. “I know this is something we gotta do, but what happens to you and me when this is finished?”

“I’m concerned as well,” Mami said. She pulled Nagisa up into a hug, and the little kid squeaked in surprise. Mami held the little girl close, burying her face in Nagisa’s hair. “You’ve brought so much joy into my life, and I don’t want to think about what might happen if you’re not there once all this is over.”

I nodded. Mami had hit my worries right on the head. “I can’t shake this feeling that if we do this, you’re going to go away. I don’t… I really don’t want to lose you.”

Sayaka cut me off with a quick peck on the cheek, and my face flushed red. She laughed at me as I tried to hide behind my hair, but then she embraced me tightly. Somehow she managed to avoid cutting me with her sword or impaling herself on my spear, resting her chin on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” Sayaka said. “Even if we’re separated, we’re destined to meet again. Remember that.”

“I…” I started, before I just shut up and returned the hug. “Okay. That’s fine. Just so long as we see each other again.”

“Yeah, Mami!” Nagisa said, hugging Mami back before jumping out of the blonde girl’s hold. “No matter where we go, we’ll always end up in the same place. So don’t worry too much, okay?”

Sayaka nodded, and then turned to Lucifer. “Please take Madoka to Homura. That’s the only way this will be resolved. The rest of us will keep the Familiars occupied.”

“I suppose that’s true enough,” Lucifer said. “Fine. I’ll walk with her.”

Sayaka flashed him a grateful smile, and then she jumped. It was a good leap, easily taking her to a rooftop away from the broken street. One of the figures I’d been seeing out of the corner of my eye came into clear view, a paper soldier wielding a spear. The soldier stabbed at Sayaka, but she twirled around the strike and cut the paper figure in half. It screamed out a high-pitched sound and faded away, its parts falling into darkness.

I was right behind her, my spear haft segmenting so it could loop around Sayaka and stab another paper soldier before it could get close. It slammed into another three, sending them tumbling off the roof. Sayaka smiled at me before leaping into the next fight, charging into a group of five of those soldiers, which Nagisa had called Familiars. She sent them flying with one stroke, and they screamed out something unintelligible as they careened through the air.

Then the screams ended as Mami fired off five shots, each bullet taking a Familiar in the head. She made musket after musket, firing with pinpoint accuracy that killed or crippled with every blow. Nagisa followed up on those that survived, blowing into a horn and releasing a stream of bubbles that exploded on contact. In the end, there was nothing left save wisps of shadow that disappeared into the ether.

But that wasn’t nearly enough. Not by a long shot. We’d easily killed about thirty Familiars just in the opening assault, but more and more rose to take their places. They charged in from all the corners, like they were taking shape where all the shadows touched. And since the stars were going out and this weird fog looked like it was actually eating the ambient city light, there were shadows everywhere. So more and more Familiars rose even as we knocked them down, charging in and ready to fight.

Even still, I couldn’t help laughing as we tore into the Familiars, dodging and stabbing all over the place to keep up with the ever-increasing amount of enemies. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but there was just something so fun about facing down impossible odds. It made my blood run hot, and I couldn’t help but grin savagely as my spears danced among those darkly dressed paper soldiers.

All four of us were tremendous and terrible, like a force of nature as we tore ahead into the ever-growing mass of crazy monsters. We let loose with everything we had, rocking the streets and buildings as we brought all our strength to bear. I was in the thick of it, my friends at my side as we totally wrecked these fools and sent them screaming back to whatever pit they crawled out of. Honestly, what more could a girl ask for?

So I fought, and I bled and I screamed my defiance. And through all the carnage and mayhem I could honestly say I was having the time of my life.

Chapter Text

*Madoka*

I stared in amazement as all my friends burst into motion, making great jumps that far exceeded what any normal person was capable of. They reached the rooftops in no time at all, and as soon as they touched down they were confronted by paper soldiers Nagisa had called Familiars.

Kyouko’s spear darted out faster than I could see, taking her foes apart quickly as the weapon darted about like a snake. Mami pulled a musket from her dress, somehow, and blew great holes in her enemies even as she sent them flying. Nagisa, meanwhile, held a horn in her hand. When she blew into it, bubbles emerged that hit the paper soldiers and exploded in great flashes of light. And Sayaka… Sayaka was practically dancing through the mob, her swords flashing and tearing through bodies like they were nothing. The four of them cleaved their way through the mass, taking their enemies apart in groups.

They weren’t doing too bad a job, from the look of it. While my friends had made a good deal of progress in the initial push, their pace had slowed to a crawl, now. There were just too many soldiers to move forward quickly, not and keep from being overwhelmed. And again, no matter how many were defeated more would just come up. I grimaced as Sayaka’s cape got torn from a near dodge when five of those paper figures tried to box her in. How could my friends possibly keep this up before they were worn down?

“I suppose we should get going,” Morgenstern said, drawing my attention away from the fight and back to him. “But first…”

Morgenstern’s hand shot out, quicker than I could see, and snatched the creature that had called itself Incubator by the throat. The little animal pawed at Morgenstern’s arm, struggling weakly, but nothing it did seemed to make any difference. Morgenstern, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes like he was focusing on something beyond what was immediately apparent.

“Lucifer,” the Incubator said, its voice somehow not impeded by Morgenstern’s grip around its throat. “We do not have the time for this.”

“Wait!” I cried. I grabbed Morgenstern’s arm, but it didn’t budge. “What are you doing? You’re hurting him!”

“That’s the general idea, yes,” Morgenstern said before turning his full attention on the Incubator. “I told you before you would regret any attempts to bring me into your conflict.”

“I do not feel regret,” the Incubator said, ceasing its struggling and just staring back at Morgenstern. “My kind does not have emotional responses. This body is merely a vehicle I control from a distance. I am too far away for you to affect me as of now, Lucifer. You should move on to more pressing matters.”

Morgenstern snorted in amusement. “And you think that makes any difference when you’ve given me such a strong connection back to your true self?”

Morgenstern’s eyes flashed, and the Incubator screamed. It was an odd sound, two different tones on top of each other. One was the high-pitched, cutesy voice it spoke in. The other… The other was a deep, crystalline ringing. It was almost like a church bell, but more of a constant vibration than a gong. The Incubator clawed at Morgenstern’s arm again, and this time long gashes were cut into his skin. But if Morgenstern felt anything, his face never showed it.

“Stop it!” I cried over the Incubator’s wails. I tugged again at Morgenstern’s arm, but it was like steel. “Please! Don’t hurt him!”

“Your compassion is misplaced, child,” Morgenstern said. “In many ways this creature is responsible for everything that has occurred. He's earned this fate.”

Morgenstern let the Incubator drop. It twitched feebly on the ground, convulsing. It would thrash intermittently, then lie still before it began thrashing again. I moved to comfort it, but Morgenstern placed a hand on my shoulder. His grip was not painful, but I could not break free.

“What… What have you done to me?” the Incubator asked as it slowly rose to its feet, its voice still a mix of high pitch and deep crystal. “I… I feel…”

“Yes,” Morgenstern said. “You feel. All those emotions you lacked, I’ve given to you. Must be a painfully new experience.”

“Why?” the Incubator asked, fear and anger clearly evident in its tone. “Why would you do this?”

“Because I gave you fair warning,” Morgenstern said. “And you decided to ignore it. I don’t make idle threats.”

“Lucifer… You…”

“You should probably isolate yourself, wherever you are,” Morgenstern continued. “Nasty thing about emotions. They have all sorts of ways they can spread. Almost like a virus, really.”

The Incubator recoiled. “You… What?”

“You heard me.”

The Incubator growled, an odd sound with its two toned voice, and then stopped in surprise. It looked down at itself, horror somehow apparent even on its unchanging face, before it turned and ran out of sight. I tried to run after it, but Morgenstern’s grip was still too strong. Gently, but firmly, he turned me around toward the black pulsing light outside the city.

“Come along, child. We’ve work to get done.”

Morgenstern began to walk toward where Homura was supposed to be. I looked back once at where the Incubator had run off. It was long gone by now and there was but rubble and the ever-increasing shadows at the edges of things. Nervously, I looked back to Morgenstern and walked after him.

He kept an even pace, one I could easily match. I stayed a little bit behind him, though. After everything I’d seen I wasn’t sure if I wanted to walk right next to him. Despite that feeling, I stayed close. The growing shadows frightened me, and I didn’t want to think about what might happen if they touched me.

Even though we walked slowly, we seemed to be covering a great more distance. Every time I glanced to the side, we were in an entirely different place than we’d been before. Places I’d seen in the distance were suddenly right next to us, and it was obvious we were moving much faster than our pace would seem. It was disorientating, and I kept my eyes focused on Morgenstern’s back to offset the feeling.

His posture was almost ramrod straight, and his wings still poked out from his around his shoulder blades. They seemed to meld with his shirt and coat somehow, because his clothes didn’t have any holes in them. I marveled at that. It was such a little thing, compared to everything else, but it was still so strange.

“You didn’t need to do that,” I whispered as we walked. He glanced over his shoulder at me. “To the Incubator, I mean.”

“Promises mean nothing if you do not keep them,” Morgenstern said back. “The rodent was given the same warning I’d have given anyone else. The consequences of its actions are on its own head.”

I had some words to say in response to that, but a crash to my left distracted me. Despite the nausea brought on by the motion, I looked over. There, on the rooftops, Mami was firing shot after shot into a crowd of those things Nagisa had called Familiars. She was holding them off, but there were more climbing up the building behind her. I opened my mouth to scream out a warning.

I needn’t have bothered. A swarm of white cottonballs came out of nowhere and dog piled the Familiars. Then, even more strangely, a polka dotted worm with a clown’s face flew down and ate the whole lot of them in its jaws, taking a big chunk of the roof with it. Nagisa was riding on top of it, and she blew into her horn to release a stream of explosive bubbles into the crowd of Familiars Mami had been fighting.

“You gotta be careful, Mami!” Nagisa cried. She held out a hand. “There’s a lot of these guys everywhere!”

“Thanks, Nagisa-chan!” Mami said back, taking Nagisa’s hand and jumping atop the Worm. They barreled into a group of raven Familiars, scattering them before they could converge on Kyouko, who was holding off a number of teeth shaped monsters. Spears twirled around the redhead like a tornado, sending the Familiars flying as their enamel broke off in great chunks.

Scenes like this happened again and again as we walked. My friends kept fighting, kept pushing forward to keep up with us as Morgenstern and I walked our deceptively quick pace. They jumped to and from many conflicts, fighting Familiars in large groups. They were horribly outnumbered, but they fought anyway. And it was all to keep them from interfering as I made my way to Homura. They were fighting for me, and I couldn’t do anything to help them. Just the thought of that made my heart clench.

There were more than just Familiars, though. Hundreds of pale white figures rose from the ground, their edges blurry like static. They moved oddly, like stop motion animation. One second they were in one position, and another second in an entirely different one. Just trying to follow their movements made my eyes hurt. In fact, it was hard to focus on them at all. They had an ethereal quality to them that almost made it seem like they weren’t quite real.

With strange, metallic cries the creatures crashed into the Familiars. With long white arms, and hands with worm like fingers, they tore into the paper soldiers. They ripped them apart with unearthly strength and ferocity even as the Familiars turned upon them, stabbing them with their spears and breaking these new monsters apart. Beams of light flashed, and explosions erupted all over the city as the two different types of monster clashed with both each other and my friends.

“Wraiths too?” Kyouko cried out, her spears moving lightning swift to pierce a pale form before it could snipe Nagisa. “Looks like every damn freak of nature is just coming out of the woodwork today!”

“More proof everything’s falling apart!” Sayaka cried, twirling with a sword in both hands like a buzz saw. She slashed through one Wraith, then some Familiars who had snuck up behind it before she finally stabbed one of those tooth creatures. “Just hit everything that isn’t us!”

Despite my friends’ best efforts, a few of these strange creatures, both Familiars and Wraiths, managed to make their way close to us. There were just too many for Sayaka and the others to keep all of them distracted. The Familiars, at least slowed down their charges to a walk when they saw me. The Wraiths didn’t seem to care, however, and kept barreling forward. But whenever either monster approached they would be swept aside in flame at a glance from Morgenstern. They burned to ash, which blew away before his feet even touched where they had fallen. Nothing could stand before him, and he barely even seemed to acknowledge their approach before they were engulfed in fire.

Then something new happened. From behind black light arose a towering figure. It was skeletal, with red flowers growing from a skull that had been cut in half. Long black hair fell down past its shoulders, and it was wearing a black skirt and mantle. Its hands were bound in wooden stocks, like a prisoner being brought to execution. It was hunched over, like it was in pain, and when it walked it was as with a limp.

It looks like Homura, I thought with growing horror as it took a lumbering step toward us. It was then I properly realized that this creature, that these Familiars, had come from her. It was insane, but everything I had seen told me it was the truth. How is any of this possible?

With a warbling cry, the behemoth pulled its hands apart and tore free from its bindings. The stocks fell apart, collapsing into shadow stuff before they even hit the ground. With a bony hand it reached toward me, its palm as big as a house. I screamed as it came close, but Morgenstern only frowned. He raised his own hand toward the giant.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sayaka cried, riding atop a colossal armored mermaid of all things! The mermaid punched the skeletal figure in the jaw, sending it reeling. The two giants wrestled with each other, tumbling away and into the city. Buildings collapsed under their weight, and I could hear the black haired giant scream in anguish the further away it got from me.

“Just a little further now,” Morgenstern said, drawing my eyes away from the conflict. “We’re almost there.”

He was right. The darkness I’d seen in the distance, a blackness that had looked as solid as a wall, was right in front of me now. It pulsed, shifting from black to purple so quickly I could hardly tell the difference between them. It was almost like I was looking at a hole in the world, leading down to a gaping pit that had no ending. And, at the corner of my perception, I could hear something. It was soft, barely there, but if I focused I could understand it.

It sounded like weeping.

I looked back at the city, and felt my own weeping would soon join that coming from the shadow wall. Buildings were falling in the chaos, and I could hear the screams of the people as the world fell down around them. Darkness was swallowing everything, all the lights going out one by one. My heart clenched at the sight. All this destruction… It all seemed so meaningless. What was the point?

I gasped as, for a brief moment I saw through and beneath the city. No, even more than that. Beneath the world and everything else. Standing in a blank void were three giant figures, each holding a portion of a great expanse of blackness and lights upon their backs.

One was tall, with white skin and white hair. His shoulders held up the majority of the mass. Two others, both girls, were doing what they could on their ends. The squat one was holding up well enough, but she was down to one knee to support herself. The other one, though… The other one was crying big multicolored tears, and her legs were shaking as if she might fall any second.

I wanted to call out to her, to do anything I could to make the pain stop. I didn’t want to see anyone suffering, especially on my behalf. And somehow I knew that they were doing this for me. I remembered Sayaka’s words, about how “those three” were holding the universe on their backs. But even with all that, I was at a loss to comprehend these events. I didn’t understand.

But it felt like I should. I should know what was going on. Everything happening right now was related to me in some way. That ever-present feeling in the back of my mind told me that. That feeling had only grown stronger, but even still I could not grasp what it meant. Every time I reached for it, clarity would fall through my fingers like sand. It was maddening, and I knew if I could just grab hold of this truth I could do something to fix all this.

I was drawn from my frustrated musings by Morgenstern’s grunt of exertion as he put forth both his hands, reaching toward that gaping darkness. Flame erupted in front of him, a half circled wall of fire that struck the shadows and pushed them back. But the gloom did not go easily. It fought against Morgenstern’s fire, struck with tendrils of blackness that lashed at the inferno. The shadows sought out every weakness, pried apart at the edges to bring the whole thing down even as they withered under the intensity of Morgenstern’s fire.

Morgenstern growled, and slowly took a step forward. The flame moved forward with him, leaving behind burnt rocke took another step, and then another, blazing a path into the darkness.

I followed close behind, having to stay close to Morgenstern now to avoid the shadows. They closed in behind us as we walked, which meant I had nowhere else to go but forward. I could still hear the weeping in the darkness, but there were whispers now. These I did not even have to strain to hear. They rang clearly in the gloom.

It was Homura’s voice.

*‘Don’t leave me, Madoka.’* They said in pleading tones that made my heart ache from the loneliness they held. *‘Stay with me. You don’t have fight any more. You don’t have to be a slave to duty. Please… Please don’t leave me alone.’*

“Don’t listen to it,” Morgenstern said through clenched teeth, taking another step forward. “Stay on the path.”

I looked back at him. He was shaking, as if he was actually pushing against the darkness with his fire. A shadowy lash tore through the wall of flame and raked his face, whipped it to the side. But even then, he did not flinch. He merely set his shoulders and kept walking, uncaring of the blood that dripped down his cheeks.

I could not help but wonder at this man… No, more than a man. I was not sure what Morgenstern was. He had wings like an angel, but was that what he truly was? For what reason did he do this? For what reason did he do anything?

*‘Don’t listen to him, Madoka!’* the whispers cried out. *‘He’s trying to take you away from me! He’ll ruin you! He’ll ruin everything!’*

Another lash broke through the ring of fire, tearing Morgenstern’s shirt. But that wasn’t the last. Another broke through, and then another and another. I gasped as each struck. They cut deeply into his flesh, set his blood flowing, and soon enough he was wearing nothing but rags that did nothing to cover his form. I would have turned away at sight in a less hectic time, embarrassed at seeing his nakedness, but I was too focused on his horrible wounds to be concerned over such things.

But despite it all, Morgenstern did not fall. He snarled at the darkness, barred his teeth at it like a wild animal. He was enraged, his normal stoicism taken away so that his face reflected the same intensity as the fire he projected.

Besides, when I finally did see beneath the tatters of his clothes, I saw that there wasn’t anything there at all anyway. It was all smooth skin. That, even more than the wings, solidified that he was not human in my mind. He was something else, something beyond base mortality.

*He was made for this*, I realized as Morgenstern took another step, staunchly pushing through the pain of his wounds as if they did not matter. *He was made to bring light to all the dark places.*

I was not sure how I had come to that conclusion, but I knew that it was true. He was like a star, illuminating an infinite black expanse. And with that light, he brought substance and shape to formless chaos. That was his role in things, to shape that which had none.

‘*No*!’ the whispers cried as I followed Morgenstern, and I did my best to ignore them. It was hard, though, when they spoke with Homura’s anguished voice. ‘*No! You can’t do this to me! Not again! I can’t lose you again! Please don’t leave me, Madoka! Don’t leave me all alone!*’

I was not sure how long we went on like this, with Morgenstern pushing forward and me following close behind as the whispers cried out their despair. Many times he was whipped, or stabbed, or clubbed by the shadows. But through it all he did not falter, did not bend his knees. I wanted to comfort him during those times, to do something to take away the pain he felt. But every time I got close he would just take another step, brushing me aside. I don’t think he wanted any care, and would not accept it if given. What kind of ego did that take, to refuse a gesture of concern just so he could stand alone? I could not understand it.

And then, suddenly, there were no more shadows. The fire punched through, revealing a strange bedroom. The walls rippled with multicolored lights, and the bed itself was a massive thing that tilted at an odd angle, each of its four legs of a different length. The floor was tiled in purple and black, and my footsteps resounded oddly as they hit.

But all that was secondary to what I saw there on the floor. Homura, dressed like some dark angel, curled up on the floor. She was crying, deep, shuddering sobs that wracked her body as she clutched some dark orb to her chest like it was a lifeline.

I rushed forward, but was stopped short when a series of paper children appeared in shadows bursts and began to dance around me. Their motions were jerky and rough, utterly broken of any grace of cohesion. They giggled and laughed, smiling cruel smiles, and I could barely hear anything over the noise.

“Homura-chan!” I called out, but my shout was drowned out from the laughter. “Homura-chan, please talk to me! I came to help you!”

I tried to move forward, but the dancers would always get in my way. While they never hurt me, they still pushed and nudged, keeping me from getting close to Homura. I tried to shove them aside, but their strength was greater than mine. I could not break through.

“I’ve had quite enough of this,” Morgenstern muttered, stepping forward. But as he did, spikes shot out from the ceiling and the floor to pierce his flesh. Arms and legs were locked tight as those cruel barbs hit into him. His chest was impaled as well, and he looked more like a pincushion than a human being. He hissed in pain, and his wings extended. But those, too, were pierced with spikes of blackness.

“Morgenstern-san!” I cried. I made to move back to him, but he shook his head.

“You need to keep going,” he said clearly, as if the pain he felt was of no consequence. “Get that rude little girl to focus. Elsewise this whole exercise was rather pointless.”

I hesitated a moment, but nodded in acceptance. He was right, though I did not like that he was suffering so. But even still, how could I get past the dancers? There were too many, and no matter how I moved they followed and barred my path.

My shoulders slumped, and I was about to fall to my hands and knees when someone else came up softly behind me. It was another paper figure, but this one looked like me. She laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, and her painted lips were upturned in a quiet smile.

Then she leaped into that dancing crowd, pulling them close and harmonizing their movements. All the paper dancers seemed enraptured by her, and their smiles became ones of genuine enjoyment. Every one of those strange Familiars was completely taken by this new arrival, like she was a family member they had been waiting on for some time.

Soon enough the laughter subsided, and the pink haired paper dancer had the mob moving to her tune. What had once been a discordant mess had become a true dance, with the pink haired figure moving between all the paper dancers one after another to keep them occupied.

She glanced over her shoulder at me and motioned to Homura, still dancing as nowhere near as packed together, and they all seemed fully taken in by this new arrival. Nodding my thanks, I ran through the throng and embraced Homura.

“Homura-chan!” I cried. “I’m here! Please, open your eyes!”

Softly, almost so much that I did not notice, Homura stirred. She looked up, tears in her eyes, and looked at me. She looked like she’d been crying for quite a while, even though it must have been less than half an hour for me to reach this place.

“Madoka?” she said, confusion evident. Then her eyes widened, scattering her tears. “Madoka, what are you doing here? I…”

I pulled her even closer into the hug, putting a hand behind her head. I could feel Homura’s face scrunch up, and she held me tightly before bawling into my shirt. Her grip was almost painful, as if she was afraid I’d slip away if she let go. But I didn’t mind. I was finally here, with her again. That was all that mattered.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she cried into my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I…”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Everything will be all right?”

Homura tensed up at my words, and slowly pushed away from me. Her head hung low, and I could see her shoulders shaking. Her hands clenched up, straining the fabric of her gloves. I reached out a hand for her, but stopped when she shook her head.

“You are always so kind,” she whispered, and I couldn’t help but shudder at the similarity to the whispers I’d heard going through the darkness. “You don’t even know what I’ve done to you… But that wouldn’t matter, would it? Not to you.” She turned her head to the side, as if she couldn’t bear to look at me. “I don’t deserve your kindness. Not after all this.”

“Don’t say that!” I all but shouted, putting my hands on Homura’s face to pull her gaze back to me. I brought my face close to hers, making sure our eyes were locked. I didn’t want Homura to focus on anything but me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever you think you did wrong we can make right again! You don’t need to be all alone, Homura-chan!”

“But…” she whispered, fear evident in her tone. “But if I do that, everything will change. This happy life of yours… It will vanish. You’ll be separated from your family, be forced to take up an eternal duty. I can’t let that happen.”

“Considering current events,” Morgenstern called out. “I’m not certain you’ve much room to quibble. Your universe is dying, Homura. I suggest you do something about it.”

Homura blinked in surprise before she looked away and glared at Morgenstern. “Lucifer? How… No, I don’t care how you got here. What are you talking about?”

“Everything is going crazy outside, Homura-chan,” I said, drawing her attention back to me. “The stars are disappearing. Darkness is everywhere. It’s like the world has gone mad.”

Homura recoiled, alarm evident in her expression. “What? But that’s impossible. I have everything under…” She paused, and her eyes lost focus for a moment. I put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t respond. After about a minute, she shook her head and clenched her teeth before holding her head in her hands. “I can’t fix it. It’s all… I can’t put it back together again! I left it alone for too long! Everything is falling apart!”

“There must be something we can do,” I said. “Please, Homura-chan. Help me find a solution.”

Homura looked at me, then down at the dark orb she had been cradling. It was set within an ornate metal case, and it was so black it was reflective. It seemed to drink in light, and despite the sense of foreboding I got when I looked at it I could not help but admit it was beautiful.

Homura stared into that orb for a long while. She rubbed it tenderly, like it was something precious. I was not sure what she saw in the depths of that opaque jewel, but Homura seemed both sorrowful and resolute when she looked back up at me. I frowned a little at her expression, nervous at what it implied.

“I can’t let you die,” she said. “Not for me. Not because of something I did.” She smiled at me, a sad little thing. “I want you to know that I love you, Madoka. I always have. Everything good in this world, I found from you.”

“Homura-chan?” I asked, my nervousness growing. “What are you saying? You’re scaring me.”

Homura’s smile grew wider, and fresh tears flowed from her eyes as she held the orb up. Cracks ran down its form, and the metal casing wrenched like it was being crushed under a great weight. Bits of it were falling off, and the pieces vanished before they even hit the floor.

“Goodbye.”

The orb shattered, and Homura gave out a strangled cry before falling to the ground. I screamed and grabbed her shoulders, trying to wake her up. But it was no use. She just lay there, unmoving no matter what I did. Her eyes were wide and empty, bereft of all life. Nausea coursed through my gut, and an icy blade tore through my heart.

This couldn’t be happening. I refused to accept it. I wouldn’t accept it. I screamed my rejection of this horror as my tears flowed, but it did no good. I couldn’t escape the reality of what happened. No matter how much I tried to deny it, I knew it was too late. I could not reverse what had happened.

“Homura-chan!” I yelled, tears flying from my cheeks as I shook my head. “Homura-chan! Please, wake up! You can’t die! Please, don’t die!”

And then, even as my heart was breaking, I felt something gentle but massive wrap itself around me, and I became something more.

Chapter Text

“Hello, Homura,” a soft, cheery voice said. “It’s time to get up.”

I opened my eyes to a foggy, featureless land set in a perpetual twilight. There was no sun, though there was just enough illumination to see. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. It just seemed that there was ambient light everywhere with no source to be found. It was as if I’d fallen into sunless lands. I sat up and looked around, but there wasn’t anything noteworthy save the fog and the flat plane I had been laying on.

Well, besides the woman, of course.

She was very pretty. Her skin was pale as marble, which contrasted rather pleasantly with her messy, pitch-black hair. She was dressed in dark jeans and a black, sleeveless shirt. The only ornamentation she wore was a silver necklace, which I dimly recognized as an ankh. She smiled at me, which made the small tattoo around her right eye crinkle a little.

I blinked at her, and then looked down at myself. I was in my Magical Girl outfit, and I was without injury or pain. In fact, I didn’t feel much of anything at all. I wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly. I hadn’t expected to wake up, not after breaking the orb. That should have been the end of everything. So how exactly could I be moving around like this?

“Confused?” the woman asked. Her smile became sympathetic as I nodded. “Well, that’s only natural, really. Things got pretty crazy at the end there.”

“I don’t know what happened,” I said as I stood up. I took another glance down at my body, trying to find anything out of the ordinary beyond just the situation itself. “I broke my soul gem… That’s not something you get back up from. I should be dead right now. I don’t understand how I’m still alive.”

“Weeeelll,” the woman said, locking her fingers behind her back and kicking one foot forward to take a step. “About that…”

Realization dawned. “Oh. Oh. I see. So that means you are…”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “I am.”

“Ah.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“I’ll admit,” Death said before the silence could drag on. “I don’t really do things in your little neck of the woods. It’s just not my usual stomping grounds, you know? But so much of the family has already gotten involved, I decided I should probably help out a little bit.”

“Help?”

“Yes indeedy!” Death said, still smiling.

Her peppiness took me a little off guard, and I almost took a step away from her. She really wasn’t what I was expecting from Death itself. Death was supposed to be somber, right? That’s what I’d always figured, if Death were a person. It was the end of all things, the cessation of life. Surely anything that represented such a morbid subject would be equally grim, but that apparently wasn’t the case. The idea certainly didn’t mix well with what I was experiencing now.

“But how would you be helping?” I asked, pushing through my unease. There wasn’t much use dwelling on it. Not at this point. “Everything is over and done with, I think. I hope so, anyway. There shouldn’t be anything left to do.”

She gave me a little look. “How do you think, Homura?”

“You would…” I paused, gathering my thoughts to better take in the magnitude of what was in front of me. I was only marginally successful. “You’d take me to what comes after this?”

“That’s the plan,” Death said. “All you need to do is take my hand and I’ll walk you to where you’re supposed to go.”

She held out a hand to me, pale and without blemish, but I did not immediately accept it. I just stared at it for a while, wondering at the implications the limb represented. I was dead. There was no getting around that fact. All I had to do was take her hand and I would move on in truth. I could leave all the pain behind, all the constant suffering. There could be peace, then. I wouldn’t have to fight any more. I could finally rest.

But I’d also be leaving Madoka behind as well.

“I just wanted her to be happy,” I whispered, tears falling down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them, not after everything that had happened. Not after everything I had done. “I never meant for all of this. I… I didn’t mean for everything to go so wrong. I just wanted Madoka to be safe. I just wanted her to be happy.”

“I know,” Death said. I looked away from her hand and toward her face. She gave me a sad smile, her expression holding nothing but patience and understanding. “I’m not here to judge you, Homura. I won’t say you were a sinner, nor will I say you were a saint. You were just you, nothing more and nothing less. And that’s okay. Nobody ever has to be anything more than who they are.”

“Re-Really?” I asked, unable to keep a stutter from my voice. I scrubbed my eyes with my hands, but the tears just kept coming. They came no matter how I tried to hold them back, releasing years of grief from where I’d bottled it up inside. “It’s really all okay?”

“Yes,” Death said, still smiling. She motioned with her hand again. “So, are you ready?”

I nodded. If this was the end, truly the end, then I was glad of it. I had suffered during my unnaturally long life, and I had made mistakes. I had lived through more agony and failure than any sane person had a right to, always onward to a goal that I had fallen short of again and again. But that was over now. There were no more battles to fight, no more enemies to defeat. I had nothing left to do. I had even gotten to say goodbye to Madoka before everything was said and done.

I reached out and grabbed her hand.

And she immediately placed it into another one. A hand gloved in frilly white, radiating familiar warmth as it gently gripped my fingers. I blinked, startled by this sudden change, and looked up.

Madoka was there, smiling at me in her white and pink dress inlaid with shimmering stars. Her hair tumbled down her back like a waterfall, and in her shining eyes there was all the kindness and affection that I had so loved about her. For a moment I forgot how to breathe, she was so beautiful. I hardly even noticed Death moving away, grinning like she’d just been part of something incredibly clever. But I didn’t care. All that was secondary to the fact that Madoka was here, right now.

“Hello, Homura-chan,” she said, placing her other hand atop mine. I was almost painfully aware of her presence, of how close she was to me. “Are you ready to go? We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

New tears formed atop the old ones in my eyes, and I smiled weakly. All of this was just one emotional hit after another. Lucifer’s words, talking with Madoka, my death… It was all too much. I could barely wrap my head around it all, and my thoughts spun wildly as I tried to find my balance. But what I did know was that Madoka was here, and she was here for me. Even after all I had put her through, all the damage I had wrought, she was here for me. She did not hate me for what I’d done, and had come to take me with her.

Nothing else mattered.

“Yes,” I said, somehow keeping my voice from hitching. “I am.”

And then we left that grey place, and ascended into the light.

Chapter Text

The sun rose to present a new day upon the city of Mitakihara, banishing the night back to the other side of the world, if only for a little while, at least. All across the city people rose and began their little rituals to come to full waking, preparing for all the hustle and bustle to come. Adults got ready to go to work, and children set out for another day at school.

Two children in particular, one Kyouko Sakura and Mami Tomoe, smiled and laughed as they walked together, reminiscing on times gone by. But their cheer was only a cover for their sorrow, and their happiness was tinged by memories of loss. For out of everyone who existed, only they knew just how close the world had come to ruination, and just how much had been sacrificed for its survival.

But despite it all, they kept their heads held high. To do otherwise would be to disgrace the memories of those they cherished. Despair might not have been an enemy to combat as they had so many other things in their lives, but neither was it something to wallow in. They knew their friends would not want that.

And besides, they knew that someday they would see those friends again. Absence made the heart grow fonder, and they wanted the day of that reunion to be as joyous as possible. So until that point they’d continue with their lives as best they could. One day at a time.

From atop a high cliff outside the city Lucifer perceived it all, sitting down in a simple chair at a simple table. Nothing in the city escaped his notice, though it was not certain anything truly maintained his interest. He took a sip of coffee from a fine cup, his expression neutral as he took everything in. If he felt anything from his observations, he did not show it. His face was closed off. No one would pierce his thoughts and divine his intent, not with his permission.

He glanced to the side as a flash of pink light rippled through the fabric of reality, coming into the form of a young woman. She floated just a few inches off the ground, supported by wings that looked far too thing and fragile to support any true weight. Her flowing dress rippled out behind her, and within was a vast expanse of shining stars. It was a dress to put the clothes of rulers to shame.

But despite how impressive and regal the garment was, the woman did not hold herself like a queen. All she had was a gentle smile before she gave Lucifer a small bow in respect. Not too deep as to show submission, but enough for politeness’ sake.

“May I sit at your table, Morgenstern-san?” Madoka asked as she straightened.

Lucifer’s lips came up at the edges, almost resembling a smile as he responded. “I think we’re past the pseudonyms by this point, Kaname Madoka. But in any event, I’ve no trouble with you joining me this morning.”

Madoka nodded, a simple chair forming opposite Lucifer at the table. She straightened her dress a little before sitting down, and a cup of tea appeared before her. She took a sip of it, sighing with contentment.

“You appear to have recovered nicely,” Lucifer said, setting his cup down. “As has everything else, from what I can perceive.”

“Everything is back in order, more or less,” Madoka responded. Her expression grew melancholy as she set her cup down. “All save for the Incubators, who are still attempting to contain the emergence of a sudden and inexplicable emotion plague.”

Lucifer nodded. “I imagine that will keep them busy for some time.”

“I still think you didn’t need to do that,” Madoka said softly. “I could have handled the Incubators after resuming my position.”

“I didn’t do it for you, girl,” Lucifer cut in, his tone growing ever so slightly colder. “I did it for me. You don’t owe me any favors for that.”

“But I do owe you a favor,” Madoka said, moving the subject along. “For what you’ve done. Dream-san informed me of the importance of that, though I’d feel obligated to repay you anyway for your help in resolving the recent crisis. He and his sisters thank you for your efforts, by the way. They’d have done so in person, but they’ve their own duties that they needed to return to.”

“I imagine so,” Lucifer said. “As for the favor… You’ve nothing I want, as of now. I might call on it one day, but very likely I’ll never return to this place again. While significantly different in some regards, this universe still spawned from my Father’s work. I’ve no desire to linger in it.”

Madoka gave him a sad smile. “I’m not sure you’ll ever find what you seek, Lucifer-san. It might be too grand a goal for anyone to grasp, even for someone as determined as you.”

Lucifer quirked an eyebrow in question, and steepled his fingers. “And what is it you believe I’m looking for?”

“Freedom,” Madoka said. “Absolute and total, beholden to no one and nothing. To never be bound or influenced by anything save yourself.”

“Ah,” Lucifer responded before leaning back in his chair. “I see.”

They sat there in silence for a time. No words passed between them, and Lucifer’s normally stoic expression became even more closed off as he sank deeply into his thoughts. Madoka left him to them. It would have been dangerous to pry, but even more it would have been rude.

Still, she couldn’t help but observe Lucifer over the edge of her drink as she took another sip of her tea. He seemed so collected, so barred off from everything and everyone. While she’d been able to deduce Lucifer’s desires, she really couldn’t wrap her mind around why exactly he wanted something so impossible to grasp.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She did know the reason. She simply had a difficult time believing it. It was his pride that drove him toward that impossible goal, pride so all-encompassing that Lucifer could not accept anything less than success. Not even if it hurt him to do so. For him pain was merely something to be endured, an obstacle to be overcome and ultimately discarded as not important.

Madoka found it sad, in a way. She never liked seeing other people be unhappy, and wanted to relieve misery where she could. But she did not speak her thoughts. She knew Lucifer would not appreciate her concern, and would not accept any help offered. That, too, was a matter of his pride.

“That may or may not be true,” Lucifer said at last. His normal scowl was not present, replaced instead by stoicism. “Even still, the journey itself might be of some value. Certainly more than just bemoaning the situation, at any rate.”

“You’re welcome to stay,” Madoka said. “Now that things have settled down I’m sure you can find something to occupy your time.”

“The offer is appreciated,” Lucifer responded before he stood up. “But no. I think it’s well past time for me to move on.”

He turned around, one finger extended, and traced the air. A shimmering line stayed behind as he moved, creating a rectangle that remained even as he straightened. Inside of that door was nothing, just a vast blank expanse that had no horizon and looked like it just went on and on without ever ending. The edges of the door crackled with an energy that looked like lightning, but in reality was simply what happened when something collided with nothing. The two never mixed easily, even in a controlled setting such as this.

Lucifer stared at the door for a moment, gazing out into the vast expanse of the void beyond this universe. His wings emerged, the white-feathered limbs extending behind him for several feet. He looked regal, imposing even. With his wings out there was no doubt as to what he was.

“Despite all the unpleasantness I had to deal with during my time here,” Lucifer said without turning around, keeping his expression hidden. “I will admit I find it good a place like this exists. That here there was someone who saw a system they could not abide, and even if they could not break the rules at least bent them to something they found more palatable via their own choice. That is worth something, at the very least.”

Madoka’s eyes widened a fraction at Lucifer’s words, but she didn’t allow herself any further reaction aside from that. Anything further would mar this moment, this rare time that someone like Lucifer would give anything resembling a true look into his innermost thoughts. She stood up and gave the man another bow, though he was not facing her.

“I wish you well on your travels, Lightbringer. Fly far and fly fast, and may nothing impede you on your way.” She paused for a moment, weighing her next words. “I hope you can find what you’re looking for some day.”

Lucifer did not respond. He instead drew his wings close and walked through the door. Madoka could see briefly his wings unfolding again and the man taking flight in the nothingness before the opening closed, leaving no trace of its presence.

Madoka stayed there for a moment, just looking at where Lucifer had stood. He had come in the darkness, and left with the dawn. There was something poetic about that, she supposed. She smiled a sad smile for the departed visitor to her realm, and then vanished in a flash of pink light.

All that remained as the wind blew across the cliff was a small table, and two empty cups to mark that anyone had ever been there at all.