Over The Hills and Far Away

Summary: Over the hills and far away, she swears she will return one day. Over the mountains, and the seas, in his arms is where she'll be. Over the hills and far away as sure as the rivers reach the seas, in his arms is where she'll be. And their journey continues; over the hills—and far away.

Kouen x Madokami (whoops I ship it now)

The orange sky above him was blurred and swirling with colors as he sat in his makeshift chair of bamboo and soft cloth.

Ren Kouen, whose once-vivid red hair has now faded to bone white, chuckled hoarsely. He was old and tired, and he could feel his bones creak if he even lifted a finger. At least his very name still garnered respect from the younger generations in the Kou Empire. As far as he knew, he had aged so far from the dashing, red-haired tyrant that he once was.

The ocean was calming, in a way. As he closed his eyes and the wind whipped his ashen hair around gently, he heard crunching footfalls approach him. Blearily, Kouen turned his red eyes to the side, ready to tell Koumei or Kougyoku to leave him here for a while.

And his heart nearly stopped.

Her stupidly long, rose-colored hair was the same as it was years ago, the ocean breeze causing it to sway around her face. The same white and rose-colored clothes that she wore every day back then; the light material dragging around her small frame.

"Hello, Kouen-san." Kaname Madoka smiled as her golden eyes looked at him in her usual way; as if she was just gone for a few minutes, not for decades from his life. "You've aged well."

The old emperor let a wry smile cross his face. "And you still look as you did years ago." His eyes flickered over the smiling visage that he so dearly missed. "You're still young and beautiful."

Madoka laughed gently and scratched the back of her head at the blunt compliment. "Thank you for the compliment, Kouen-san." Turning towards the setting sun and the ocean, the pink-haired girl gently took Kouen's gnarled and wrinkled hand in hers. "Shall we take a walk, Kouen-san? I've missed walking around with you."

Kouen snorted. "If I take one more step from this spot, I'd crumble to ashes, Madoka." The old emperor rumbled, and took note of how her eyes softened and her grip on his hand gently tightened; as if she was holding the hand of a tiny child.

"You won't, Kouen-san…now, get up from that chair and walk! It could do wonders for your health!" Madoka gently pulled up the white-haired, elderly man, who rolled his eyes at her antics. It was sadly ruined by the fond smile he donned as he limped along with Kaname Madoka, his cane acting as his support.

As they walked along the shore, comfortable silence lapsed between the two, their uneven footprints marked in the sands.

"…Where have you been all this time?"Kouen asked the pink-haired girl who looked up at him with her perpetual smile, his hand in her smaller one. "You disappeared so suddenly…did you—did you really…"

"...No. I didn't…die, per see…" Madoka continued sheepishly. "I-I was just called back into myself." Madoka seemed to strain to keep her face smiling as she exhaled shakily. "I had…something to take care of…something that concerned a huge problem…but it was nothing." She smiled again. "I finished it and came here to see you, Kouen-san."

Kouen's eyes narrowed. He did not notice how the strands of his hair were slowly but surely turning red again, and how his steps began to get more even, the pain in his knees and joints ebbing away slowly. "You're lying. It wasn't nothing at all, Kaname Madoka. "

The rosette-haired girl sighed as Kouen curled his hand around her smaller one. She knew from experience that Ren Kouen calling your full name meant trouble. "Not really, it wasn't a big deal, Kouen-san!"

"Bullshit." Kouen retorted blankly. "That's horse crap."

Madoka blinked at the atrocities that the taller male spouted. A grin spread across her face as her hand flew up to suppress her laughter. "This is just like old times, no?"

Kouen rolled his eyes so hard, he thought that he might have broken something. "I do not jest, Madoka. I cannot let whatever took you away be classified as 'nothing'. " Kouen noticed that he wasn't feeling any pain from his joints anymore, and his vision had become better than ever.

(Like he had returned to his hayday, with red hair and concubines, and pushing around his brothers and sisters to take care of themselves. Of running into the heat of war and winning battles.)

Madoka looked up at the man who regained his youth again. His white hair had almost returned to its former red—with the eerie resemblance to freshly drawn blood, his eyes becoming more focused on her. His wrinkled, feeble hands had returned back to their old, strong-gripped, selves. He is handsome, she noted, even when old and wrinkled. Kaname Madoka, The Law of Cycles, always looked into a person's soul, after all.

Sometimes, the little goddess wondered whether in some world, in some other universe…she could have-they could have-

'No,' she concluded. 'No other Madoka Kaname in the worlds except me.' The back of her mind whispered. She sighed inwardly in disappointment. Recently, everything concerning her existences was a disappointment. A sad smile glossed itself over her face, and the words tumbled out before she could stop herself: "I was betrayed by a precious friend back then."

As soon as she said those words, the odd gravity of everything hit her. She started sniffling, as embarrassing as that might have seemed (a deity, crying?). Homura Akemi's betrayal, the overthrowing of the Law of Cycles-everything that had transpired from her war and how she'd—

How she'd—

Torn her best friends wings off and crushed her Soul Gem, cast her into Oblivion as the Puellae Magi cheered at her return, but all she heard was Homura's deafening scream—pleading, pleading, pleading-

A strong arm pushed her smaller frame into a broad chest, her sniffling muffled by white cloth that draped around Ren Kouen's taller frame. His red eyes watched the perpetually-cheerful girl crying soundlessly into his clothes.

It was a disturbing sight.

His arms wrapped around her of their own accord. He did not notice how his hair had completely turned back to red, the same as his ridiculous goatee, his strength returning into his rejuvenated limbs, which were back to how they were when he needed Kaname Madoka's guidance the most.

(When there was turmoil, Al Thamen, and war. He was used to seeing the rose-haired girl the one to comfort people, not the other way around.)

Kouen, for a reason, was not good at being gentle most of the time. As a feared warlord back then, he cut his enemies in half, and shouted commands at an intimidating pitch, fueling his loyal soldiers with determination. He was used to being rough with his concubines as he slept with them, and was used to pushing around his siblings in a supportive manner and encouraging them subtly.

So now, he was at a loss at what to do.

Kaname Madoka was a woman who deserved to be treated with the gentlest affection in the world. She would have made a great mother—and if she had stuck around long enough to see Koumei take the throne after Kouen gave it to him, he would have gladly married her in a heartbeat. But he was also afraid he would break the gentle woman and she would shy away from him. Contrary to his appearance and status, he would never force someone to lay by him—he'd hated his father (who did force women to sleep with him on a daily basis, Kouha's mother the grim example of the outcome) too much for him to ever do that to a woman; especially not Kaname Madoka.

She was simply too precious.

"Tell me what happened." Kouen murmured as he ran his hands through her rose-colored hair.

"I—I had to k-kill my best, best friend—I -" Madoka wailed softly. "I-I tried to—There must have been another way—b-but I-" Madoka sniffled as she burrowed deeper into Kouen's robes, sending a shiver up his spine. "—I couldn't even—not e-even a p-parting word-" another sniffle. "A-and I even—her wings-

Kouen sighed. She was too damn kind for her own good. "Madoka, have you ever heard the saying 'a little evil for a greater good'?"

Madoka tearfully looked up at the taller man. "Y-yes—It –I've heard…a friend say that…"

Kouen gently brushed away a few strands from her lonely-looking face. "It's like that."

Madoka's eyes widened. "Ah, she's going to protest…again." Kouen thought to himself, amusement dancing in his thoughts. Before the pink-haired girl could open her mouth, Kouen pushed her along and they began to walk along the shoreline side by side. "Tell me about that friend of yours. What's her name?"

"H-Homura-chan…Akemi Homura-chan." Madoka sniffled as she brushed away her tears with a free hand, the other holding on to Kouen's larger one tightly, as if it was the last lifeline she had. "S-she is—was my best, best, friend…" another sniffle. "A-and she was a good, good friend…s-she tried to s-save me so many times from—from a creature known as the I-Incubator…"

Kouen turned to Madoka, his hand firmly holding hers. "And…did she succeed?"

"I-I made a c-choice…she forbade me to m-make; and I became w-what I am now-a conceptualized…existence." Madoka whimpered like a hurt child. "I-I thought t-that was for the b-best, but Homura-chan-she was so lonely. I made her so lonely when I left-!"

Kouen stared on indifferently at Madoka as they paused, the waves lapping up to the shore. "It wasn't your fault. You were probably lonely too, being a solitary being all the time…"

"I-I was…b-but Homura-chan-!"

Kouen bent down to Madoka's level and cupped her tiny face and stared into her teary eyes. "Listen to me, Kaname Madoka; Homura Akemi wasn't the only person you left behind." Kouen paused when Madoka looked at him inquisitively. "Your father, your mother, your friends, they all must have been as lonely as she was; even me."

Madoka sniffed tearfully. "I'm sorry, Kouen-san…"

Kouen smiled back. "No need to be; you're back here and that's all-that's all that matters."

Madoka's cheeks pinked as she looked down bashfully and sniffled. Releasing her face, Kouen gently took her hands (the very same ones he was used to admiring) in his and walked on along with her in warm, golden silence.

He wished this moment could last forever; the scarlet sunset and Kaname Madoka beside him. He knew that this moment would not last. Kaname Madoka was probably long gone from this world. He knew that he had only reverted to his younger physique because of some magic that might have happened.

(This was all a dream; a wonderful, bittersweet dream, a dream he never wanted to end. Maybe death was in the form of Kaname Madoka walking him over the bridge. If so, he hopes that the bridge stretched on and on until infinity.)

But he felt her warmth beside him as she held his hand tightly, and he could hear the coldness of the night start to seep in. Kouen could hear her singing that unusual song, and he could feel wisps of her hair ghosting over his arms and the sand, their footprints side-by-side.

"…Madoka?"

"Yes?"

"I still love you; today too."

Ren Kouen was found seated before the dark yawning ocean, the waves lapping against the shore, in an eternal bid to try and reach further into the land. Drained of his life and yet calmly seated like the emperor that he was, his empire, family, and friends wept at the loss of a good man.

But the strange yet eerily heartwarming thing was the soft smile and the peaceful look he had on his aged face, as if he had just reunited with a very important person. Even though cold and dead, Ren Kouen would remain a legend in their world. The reason for his strange smile ranged in outrageous to acceptable theories.

Defeating a god, maybe, or meeting Death himself with open arms.

But four Magi could only smile; and smirk, in the case of one, to the testimonies stated by the maids and commoners.

After all, they had seen the faint wisps and shadows of a well built, red-haired emperor dressed in armor with the moonlight and cloud puffs figure of a dainty, pink-haired girl dressed in white, gliding hand in hand away from the cage of flesh and bone that he escaped from, out to the moon and the skies, the rukh twittering joyfully at their long-awaited reunion, over the hills and far away, they danced on.

And they would never let go, no matter what.

.

.

.

.

"Hey, Kouen-san…?"

"Yes?"

"Where do you suppose we should go next?"

"…I don't know."

"Should we explore the universe?"

"…yes. That would be a great adventure."

"Together?"

"Always together, Madoka… for all eternity."

~End~

A/N: wHOOPS MY HAND SLIPPED

Okay, but seriously I got a lot of MadoKou or KouMado feels I need to let the fuck out.

They're perfect angst/fluff material, I tell you.

Fun Facts: I changed the title like 3 times. Over the Hills and Far Away was inspired by Nightwish's song of the same title. lolll

This was originally supposed to be really short but brain decided to make it longer. Thanks brain.

And yes, this is can be treated as a standalone or as a sequel to A Glimpse of Heaven. Also for those who know Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea or Mogeko, I have an Uomihime/Sinbad fanfic floating around my head for some reason…idk how it happened it just did lol.

As for why Enbaby is a grandpa here, I blame recent Magi updates. Don't worry, Kouen, ur still bae, mmkhay? Magi is gonna end soon and after that I don't know what to do anymore. But I just want to say a huge thank you to Shinobu Ohtaka for creating the legendary masterpiece known as MAGI: The Labyrinth of Magic. She has been a huge inspiration, along with J.K. Rowling along with other mangaka and authors, to my current writing style and art style.

MAGI characters and Puella Magi Madoka Magica belong to their respective owners guysss. If I wrote that story, it would be so bland that I wouldn't even bother to sketch characters at allll. Thanks for reading!