*Evening, Wednesday, 16th of March 2011, Residential District, Mitakihara, Japan.*

“...and then, I became a Magical Girl, to fight Witches.” A little girl ended her explanation with a cheerful tone of voice.

Homura remained stoic, with a blank expression on her face. She looked almost like she wasn't paying any attention to the younger Magical Girl, gazing into the darkened horizon instead. But the opposite was true: Homura paid keen attention, albeit subtly, and what she found worried her, as this timeline was an anomaly of its own, and somehow was heavily divergent regardless of her intervention. Why it was so, she couldn’t figure out - but the sense of wrongness coming from clouds looming above only made it worse.

Most worrying was the fact that Oriko already made her contract in her timeline, and was somewhere out there, at large, while a series of mysterious murders haunting the local Magica Girl community suggested that she did indeed plan to kill Madoka. Homura had been searching for her. She found her current companion instead.

The roof they stood on providing them with a good view of the city. Roughly an hour ago, there was a fire, and power outage, plunging the two or three blocks into darkness, which was suspicious, to say the least, and while Magical Girl was less restricted than humans would be, it didn’t suit her and wasn’t conductive for any search. Especially on the moonless, starless skies, with no moonshine to provide even the minuscule illumination.

Yuma Chitose, a young girl originally from Kazamino City tricked into being the Magical Girl by both Incubator and Oriko’s machinations, was someone Homura had encountered in previous loops, but this version of her was different, and even the little she knew about her had changed. Alive, and she didn’t know who Kyouko was, for example, compared to the previous timeline when she had been essentially adopted by the fiery, self-centered redhead.

The mere fact that events were starting to diverge from one’s Homura remembered even before the fixed point in time determined by her waking up in the hospital created a series of very distressing implications for the Time Traveller - a real possibility that she may eventually venture to the point of no return, a dead-end where the subsequent loop wasn’t able to influence the only event she cared about. A thought about Madoka contracting with Incubator before Homura can do anything gnawed on her mind. She pushed the notion away.

“It is the weather, right?” Yuma asked when Homura didn’t react for a while and continued ranting in quite a cheerful manner: “It feels. Wrong. I don’t know. It’s like...I sense...I don’t know...great evil. Do you think it is a Witch? Like, invisible one! I was looking for the Witch, but I couldn’t find her. And I am very weak, and probably won’t be good in the fight. That’s how I found you.”

Homura once again didn’t react - she didn’t think this was doing of a Witch but at the same time she couldn’t name the cause of this disturbance, a strange stillness in the air that lasted for hours and never left, almost like they were permanently stuck at the edge of the terrible storm, mixed with electrifying tension and the weak stench of sulfur, with all having this unexplainable, supernatural tint to it.

“What are you going to do?” Yuma asked carefully, then continued in her usual tone: “I would like to make friends. Perhaps as a Magical Girl, I would have more friends than I would have otherwise!”

She obviously didn’t know anything about the life of the Magical Girl, Homura noted but didn’t bother to correct the misconception.

“I don’t know. I have a friend I want to see.” Time-traveller finally answered, and she was being honest. The time-traveling Magical Girl was unsure about the course of action. Her search for Oriko was fruitless, she couldn’t predict the sequence of events as this loop was so divergent from the previous one she couldn’t reliably apply her pre-knowledge, and she couldn’t risk running around while she had to prevent Madoka from making the contract with the Incubator or being killed.

“A friend?” Yuma asked, almost hopeful in her voice.

“Where is Incubator? Kyubey? The little, white critter you made the contract with?” She asked, using too many words as she was unsure if her associate she didn’t ask forever understands the situation.

“Is he your friend?” The little girl said, anticipation in her voice growing.

“No.” Time traveler replied, with strict dismissal.

“Well, I didn’t see him. Since yesterday? Or the day before?” Yuma was visibly disappointed.

“Do you know Mami?” Homura queried, still hoping to find the anchor point to her knowledge from the previous timeline, however minuscule that chance was.

“No, I don’t think so.” Younger Magical girl was visibly confused with the stream of questions.

“Sayaka? Madoka?” Homura pressed.

“N-no. I am sorry.” Yuma almost stuttered.

“Hmmm.” Homura hummed, thinking about her options, possibilities, and plans. Meanwhile, it was apparent that Yuma only desired friendly conversation, and was disappointed by the lack of one. But the senior Magical Girl had no desire to teach and train the junior one. It was too much of a hassle that didn’t contribute to her overall goal of saving Madoka.

But she couldn’t drive the young one away either. After all, the timelines where she fought alone weren’t any more successful where she enlisted the help of others. And as much as Homura felt she didn't need allies, unforeseen complications threatened to force the change in the way she operated.

“There should be a Magical Girl in this city, named Mami Tomoe. She might be able to help you and....” Homura said, with a short pause where she considered her words as it was something she was unused to suggesting on her long journey and continued: “...I would like to speak with her as well, about other matters. What about we try to give her a visit?”

“Yay!” Yuma agreed, with her usual, albeit for Homura irritating, cheerfulness. The senior Magical Girl didn’t wait for an answer and jumped from the roof they were standing on to the opposite building, and then on another.

Homura’s plan was simple: to get atop her current situation with escalating events and changing timelines, she had to interrogate Mami for information regarding the strange weather and other unusual occurrences happening recently, allowing her to regain her footing and form a better plan. She dreaded leaving Madoka without oversight - the time spent looking for Oriko was already a possible mistake - but she dreaded not knowing what was going to happen even more.

Homura landed on the balcony of Mami’s apartment. Finding didn’t pose a problem, as she knew where the blonde lived. Lights were on, so finding her in the house was a certainty as well, and accessing the uppermost floor in the apartment block was a trifling matter for any Magical Girl. Convincing Mami to trust Homura would be significantly harder.

The latter problem evaporated quickly once she arrived. Someone (or something, her mind immediately suspected) strong enough to bend even the metal had visibly forced the door open.

Initially, Magical Girl opted to not pull out any weapon to prevent a flat owner from making a wrong conclusion and made a few cautious steps inside the flat. Immediately, her senses were assaulted by the stench of the sulfur, mixed with other smells that reminded her of burned meat, a familiar and disgusting reminder of the previous time loop and the fire-spewing monsters that became immune to Homura’s power. It made her immediately reconsider her previous intentions and reach for one of her guns inside the magical shield’s storage.

Flat, however, was empty. A shopping bag with food with its content scattered over on the table.

There were signs of combat, cracked concrete walls from the heavy impacts, with plyboard covering ruined, bullet holes here and there suggesting at least two or three shots were fired. Further on, a carpet ruined by claw marks, or stomped with something without the human feet, with more part burned, giving out said sickening smell,

And still-smoldering remains of the small creature on the floor, torn, broken, scorched - an Incubator, Homura noticed.

Mami, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Certainly not alive, but not even a dead body.

Kyubey wasn’t really dead, he will be back, Homura knew that much, she shot him multiple times herself in the past after all, but attacking him was no way a common course of action.

This wasn’t done by a Magical Girl. It didn’t even fit into serial murders of Magical Girl orchestrated by Oriko as she wasn’t specifically after the Incubator. And certainly not by a Witch or a Familiar. It didn’t make sense.

But then, there was the stench, and it was the point where realization truly hit Homura: the monsters from the previous timeline followed her here.

The sound of sirens came from the outside. As much as unused as she was to suffer from any kind of consequence from authorities, let alone reaction from them, it didn’t take long for Magical Girl to realize she had to go.

She had to get to Madoka as soon as she could. Magical Girl rushed out, through the balcony door and down the building over the police car parked outside. No one noticed her, but the presence of law enforcement was a bad sign in itself.

She heard Yuma’s voice calling for her, as an inexperienced Magical Girl probably lost her way considering that she didn’t arrive with Homura at Mami’s apartment, but the lone Time Traveller was unused to having any company pay it no mind. She didn’t want to be a babysitter; she thought to herself.

Her journey across the rooftops of the residential district became more frantic. She couldn’t know if Madoka was at home at this moment, or was already caught in the Magical Girl business already and was wandering the city at night. It was both a possibility, and Homura cursed silently for even opting for the investigation route instead of tailing her unwitting protege.

Luck smiled at her, though.

Soon, she noticed the three girls walking on the empty street on the residential block under the flickering streetlamps, all dressed in school uniforms, all seemingly unaware of any danger and, more importantly, not followed around by Kyubey either. Homura watched them, all facing away from her, silently from the rooftop.

One of them was Madoka; with her distinctive pink hair and petite frame, Homura could recognize her anywhere. Sayaka was another, and while Homura disliked the girl, her presence wasn’t strange, as she was Madoka's classmate and, likely, a friend. The third girl was out of the ordinary, though, with blue hair more vibrant, yet somehow more sickly, while strangely gleaming, and reminding Homura of the disgusting blue fire spewed by the flying monsters.

Then the third girl turned, and Homura froze. There was a second Sayaka, the perfect twin if it wasn’t for the hair, and for the yellow eyes that glow softly in the dim light.

Realization flashed from Homura's mind. Those humanoid monsters, like the one that nearly killed her in the previous timeline, are made from Magical Girls like Witches. Her personal drive to protect Madoka at any cost got the better of her. She pulled the assault rifle from her storage and started shooting without resorting to using her power to stop time. A perceived offense of someone getting so close to the girl she swore to protect was much greater than anything else the Magical Girl could think at that moment, including the off-chance that a stray bullet may hit Madoka.

A spray of bullets rang on the asphalt around the three girls below. Sayaka, the human one, collapsed on the ground screaming with pain from a shot to the thigh, while her altered twin was hit in the belly and shoulder. Homura’s gun clicked, its magazine emptied, but she didn’t hesitate and discarded the weapon in favor of the new one from her storage.

However, Sayaka's altered version wasn't impaired as Homura thought, despite two bleeding wounds, and before Magical Girl could continue a burst of energy erupted from the blue-haired girl’s hand pulling the assailant towards her, slamming Homura against the road in front of the snake-eyed girl. A dagger materialized in the blue-haired girl’s hand. Another blast of magic swept over Homura, and she was overwhelmed with the sensation of weakness like never before, depriving her again of another gun she tried to pull from the magical armory behind the shield. Homura fired blindly, but then Sayaka’s twin was on her.

A curved dagger pierced Homura’s shoulder, and the agony unlike anything overwhelmed her. She could feel her life fleeing into the malignant edge and into the evil-eyed Sayaka twin, closing the bullet wounds Magical Girl had inflicted. Time magic flared, to no effect due to the contact with the enemy, but Homura was not undone just yet. Gathering her last remaining strength, fueled by the determination that carried her through the countless loops, she slammed her shield into the face of the attacker, allowing Homura to reach for the pistol she dropped.

Homura fired from the point-blank range, fresh blood sprayed over her, and Sayaka’s twin body collapsed, dead. Magical Girl pushed the body away and shot it a few more times, ignoring the panicking Madoka and cries of the wounded human Sayaka.

Time Traveller’s mind was racing. All those threats, past, future, or present, were suddenly too much. She pulled out another firearm and aimed it at human Sayaka.

But before she could pull the trigger, another blast of sickly blue energy crashed into her with the force of the speeding train, throwing her across the street and into the wall of the building. Then another impact. Her vision went briefly back as the pain she wasn’t supposed to feel assaulted her senses. It wasn’t like fighting Witches.

“Puppies! Get the bitch!” She heard the voice, female, she couldn’t identify in the heat of the moment.

“Ka-ka-ka!” Monsters barked, answering the order. Then came the blue fire smelling of death and brimstone, and more pain than she could even imagine. She tried to fight, to stop the time, pain the world in grey where she ruled, but once the accursed flames were on her, there was no hope.

More orders were shouted, but Homura couldn’t recognize the words anymore.

She has dragged out the debris, like the ragdoll, to be torn by monstrosities from nightmares. They were few, only two, but this time, they were even more cruel and brutal, almost like they wanted to avenge their dead kin. As they tossed Homura’s body around, she briefly saw the enemy. It was Hitomi, Madoka's classmate, except, she wasn't really her but a monster, with horns and wings completed by cloven feet.

Everything was dull on that point, even pain, even impacts, and burns, when all of her worlds fused into the never-ending agony individual hit became meaningless as her mind started giving in to the shock experienced.

She could notice Madoka trying to drag away Sayaka, a wounded human one. Hitomi did something to the blue-haired girl. She could see the glow suggesting some power being used.

Homura wanted to shoot the demonic Hitomi, but she realized she had no arm. No arm to hold the gun, no arm to spin her bucker to turn back time in her favor. The end was close.

And then Yuma fell from the sky, shouting Homura’s name. Her huge mace crushed the foxlike monster's head to the ground, with a geyser of blood and dust, and with a sweep slammed the other one. But for Homura, the world went to blur.

But then, she was whole again, her vision restored, her body whole.

Devilish-looking Hitomi blew through the ring she held between her fingers and a whirlwind of eldritch energies dragged her, and the body of Sayaka’s twin, into the nothingness. Monsters were gone, or dead. Homura’s first instinct was to go for her weapon with a freshly restored arm, but her unexpected savior didn’t let her do anything with her sudden, cheerful attention.

"I am so glad my wish worked!" Yuma cried. Even in a situation like this, Homura’s eyes were looking for Madoka, but the overexcited, young girl obscured her vision as she hugged the freshly healed Magical Girl.

No one noticed Madoka picking the ring from the ground.