Four Hundred, Seventy-Nine years, 9 months and 21 days.

Four Hundred, Seventy-Nine years, 9 months and 21 days.

Do you have any idea what torture that does to the human mind? To a 14-year old girl's mind?

To reliving the same month, month after month AFTER MONTH AFTER MONTH? To watching your whole reason for being die again and again and again and again?

To see her turn into a monster?

It does things. Things to your mind.

So, I began to change. My power, as it were, evolved. I went back further. And further. And I could go forward.

I met races that make the Incubators look pathetic: the Organians, the Metrons...The Iconians. And I learned my power could bring things with me as I changed.

Walpurgisnacht WILL die. I vow this upon my damned soul.

Stardate 49827.5 - Sol System, Earth - San Francisco Orbital Shipyards

Fanfare was something the launch of any ship deserved, but Homura had no idea WHY the people of the 'United Federation of Planets' gave so much honor to this ship. She'd seen the USS Defiant and the USS Yeager, but this ship was… different. Her name, yes, but more so to the registry.

NCC-1701-E.

What gave the Enterprise the right to hold such power over the hearts and minds of these people when it was just a lump of metal?

...Ok, MAYBE that was a little cruel, considering she would kill universes for Madoka. But she had been travelling through time for centuries: that was literally the ONLY thing that mattered to her.

That was another thing Homura discovered. She had lost her mind.

Then again, 480 years of constantly reliving the same month again and again and again AND AGAIN ad infinitum would break any adult.

What in god's name did anyone think that would do to a 14-year old girl?

'Sanity, as it were, is incredibly overrated,' she thought to herself. The Magical Girl walked through the yards where the Enterprise-E was being held before stumbling upon a computer terminal.

Her time-travelling sprees had given her a LOT of experience with advanced computers. The Iconians had been kind enough to give her aid in trying to destroy the Incubators before they reached Earth and began screwing with humanity. Unfortunately, some jackass decided to kill off the Iconians with an orbital bombardment.

Homura left none of the attackers alive. And by attackers, I mean their species.

'Anyone who wishes to give me aid against the Incubator is my ally. Whoever is stupid enough to attack them… they will die.'

The Metrons and Organians gave her a gift: the ability to cleanse her Soul Gem, so magic wouldn't be a problem anymore.

But against that goddamn superwitch, it was all useless! Missiles, explosives, she even stole a freaking NUKE from the Russians on FOUR DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.

But it DIDN'T WORK. Thankfully, Homura's sense of self-worth went out the window along with her sanity. She could loop time: who cares if the nuke blew up the city and didn't kill the witch?

Not her, that was for sure.

She began tapping the interface, pausing at the specifications of a 'Sovereign-Class Explorer Starship'. A quick look confirmed that the Enterprise-E was the same class. "8 Type-X phaser arrays, power output 135 cubed gigawatts, 3 torpedo launchers, maximum yield 30 isotons, which equals 3000 times the force of the Tsar Bomba… And can fly through the atmosphere?"

Homura felt a twitch on her lip. A twitch that turned to a smile that did NOT belong on her face.

Or anyone that wasn't named 'Palpatine' or lived in Hinamizawa. Same with the laughter.

She had not laughed in centuries. She'd lost count after Loop 2894, so she didn't know HOW long she'd lived.

"I have been using pop guns for the past five centuries. And all I had to do was WAIT for this?!"

Homura's face twisted to a smile worthy of the most evil of villains. "Enterprise. I think I understand why now. Always there at the right place..." Her shield clicked into action. "At the right time!" She disappeared before an engineer entered the observation booth.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E

Jean-Luc Picard sat on the bridge of the Enterprise, thankful that he hadn't had to suffer a repeat of the Stargazer court martial. Matters would've been worse, as the ship he lost was the Enterprise-D.

Command didn't look terribly kindly on the loss of the flagship of the fleet.

Worf had transferred to Deep Space Nine, much to Picard's dislike, but he still had the rest of his staff.

"Captain, I am detecting a disturbance within the ship."

'Oh, sweet God, not AGAIN,' Picard thought. Aloud, he asked, "Where is the source, Mr. Data?"

The android tapped the controls, attempting to identify the source and type of disturbance. "It is temporal," he said. "And moving. Deck 18, Section 34 Alpha."

Commander William T. Riker tapped his commbadge. "Bridge to engineering."

"La Forge here," came the reply.

"Geordi, you have something incoming to Engineering," Riker informed. "Secure the warp core: the last thing we need is losing ANOTHER Enterprise." He turned to Picard. "Damn it, not again! I don't want to face ANOTHER board of inquiry!"

"You and me both," replied Picard, politely refraining to mention the reason for said hearing.

"Already on it, Commander!" Forcefields activated within engineering, right before something impacted a field short of Geordi La Forge's 'office'. It was a black-haired girl with violet eyes, wearing a white and purple dress of some sort with a ring on her right hand. "La Forge to bridge: I've got an intruder down here." An intruder that was glaring at him.

15 minutes later

After an armed standoff that lasted all of 3 minutes, Homura had relented to the security officers and was escorted to sickbay where she was being looked at by Commander Beverly Crusher. 'Doctors. How I loathe them.' She liked the Iconian doctors, though. They hated Kyubey almost as much as she did and weren't bleeding hearts, always whining about the 'moral thing to do' instead of JUST FREAKING DOING IT.

She actually mourned their loss from the universe.

Her attention turned to the door to sickbay, where a bald man wearing a red and black uniform and four gold rank pins on his collar had just entered. "I'm Captain Picard, commander of the Enterprise. You are?"

Homura WOULD grant the man the respect he deserved. Because millennia old or not, this guy scared the piss out of her. "…Homura Akemi."

"Miss Akemi, how did you get on board the Enterprise?"

"…I don't know. The last thing I remember is going to my class. Then I appeared in that… giant room."

Crusher glanced at Picard. "Her biological readings are NOT normal. She has better recuperative abilities and limited brain activity, yet she's fully awake instead of being in a coma! I can't explain it!"

"My… differences to you do not matter, Doctor. I apologize for what happened. I imagine I surprised Commander La Forge when I suddenly appeared."

"Yes, you did. Thankfully, we're in earth orbit, we we can send you home at any time."

Homura's eyes narrowed slightly. She was not getting off this ship.

"I'm sorry, Captain." The shield on her arm (which Crusher had tried and epically failed to remove from Homura's person) clicked and whirred several times. "But the Enterprise will be the end of my rather… lengthy journey." The next thing Picard knew, he was on his ass.

Five decks down from sickbay.

Riker had the feeling something was happening, judging from the flashing console in front of Data. 'I just know that I'm going to get blamed for this.'

"Commander, there is another temporal event."

"Riker to sickbay. Captain Picard, Doctor Crusher, please respond!" It must be noted that Starfleet officers are highly competent. Takes more than a degree in piloting to get onto a starship, after all.

However, when crewmen began disappearing from the bridge, things became too weird to handle for everyone but Data. "Our guest may—" Data disappeared mid-sentence, leaving Riker alone on the bridge. He looked around once before he disappeared too. And reappeared in one of the cargo bays, alongside half the crew.

"...Why do I feel like I was manhandled by a 14 year old? And why do I feel so violated?"

Yeah, NO ONE wanted to touch that subject.

"For a ship so advanced, I'm surprised they still use Windows." Homura was VERY busy locking the ship's systems out, using everything from numerology to her pet obsession with Madoka's life to make it nigh-impossible for anyone to get out of the two cargo bays.

"Now… how the hell am I going to bring this thing with me?" While she could bring anything short of a tank with her via her shield (in one timeline, Sayaka called it her 'hammerspace'. She quickly learned via MANY 7.92mm rounds NEVER to call it that) a 685 meter long starship was… a LITTLE out of her league.

So, time to do some studying. The past wasn't going anywhere: she could take her time.

"Stone arch on some planet… too far away to help. Temporal vortex? Hmm. I think I saw that on Iconia, once. Four ships against one. Wasteful. Too chaotic: I could end up in the Gamma Quadrant, and dealing with the Dominion in any time is a pain."

Her eyes narrowed on one entry: slingshot maneuver. 'discovered by the USS Enterprise (hmm. Perhaps I'll read up on this ship's history) in 2267, which made the ship go… back… in… time…'

Homura's stoic look broke as she forced the computer to make the calculations. March 25th, 2011. Then the second trip to Walpurgisnacht's arrival on April 31st. One to pick up Madoka, one to kill that fucking thing once and for all.

She began to laugh. It was strange. She hadn't laughed since the Iconians were wiped out. They were enlightened, powerful. And the Incubators 'influenced' a few races to wipe them out.

'Perhaps I'll get my hands on one of those ships and kill off those monsters once and for all. They won't miss one of them.' Beeping caught her attention. "Vessel detected on approach: identified as escort-type, Defiant-Class."

"No. Starfleet will NOT stop me." She pressed a number of keys, activating the ship's shields and weapons.

USS Defiant

"Sir, the Enterprise isn't responding to hails. And she's heading for the sun." Benjamin L. Sisko, commander of Deep Space Nine and captain of the Defiant, was not happy with that news. He was on his way to Earth with the Defiant and his senior staff in order to attend a situation briefing at Starfleet Command (and greet the Enterprise-E on its' stakedown) when they got the call to intercept the now-silent flagship. The Defiant WAS better equipped to handle a Sovereign-Class starship (their only real match was the older Galaxy, and the Sovereign was a hell of a lot more maneuverable) in case there was trouble.

Miles O'Brien tapped the controls in front of him before he noticed a change in readings. "Sir, she's locking weapons on us!" Sisko wanted to facepalm. Someone clearly read Enterprise history. 'Someone always steals the damn ship. ALWAYS.' The NX-01 was hijacked twice, the first Enterprise in Federation service taken over no fewer than 10 before she was lost, the Nimbus III Incident was STILL an embarrassment and the Enterprise-D was a freaking flytrap.

"Lock weapons on her engines. Let's… try to be gentle with her." Going on record for destroying a Starfleet ship? That ended careers. Going on record for destroying the Enterprise? He wouldn't be able to show his face in the known galaxy ever again.

USS Enterprise-E

One button. One button was all that was stopping Homura from unleashing the firepower of this fully armed and operational starship on the Defiant. 'So why the hell aren't I PUSHING IT?!'

Something beeped. The voice of the computer announced that she had an incoming message.

"Put it on the screen!"

"Whoever has taken the Enterprise, this is Captain Benjamin Sisko of the Federation starship Defiant. You have ten seconds to power down your weapons and surrender before we open fire."

"I can't let you do that, Captain Sisko," hissed Homura. "I need this ship, and I need it now."

"What the… Mr. Worf, prepare a class-two quantum torpedo."

Homura reached for the button. And then there was light.

What the…

"What—oh. Again. What do I need to know now?" Sisko spoke with the resignation of a man who'd experienced far too many out-of-body events.

"Emissary." Homura nearly screamed at the voice; Madoka? She turned, and…

That wasn't Madoka. It had her shape, her eyes, her clothes as Homura had last seen them, but the posture, the unflinching, unblinking gaze of the eyes, the body language in general was all wrong.

"Do not attack the girl, Emissary. And Homura, do not attack our Emissary."

"He was going to shoot me!"

"That is what they wish for. They are a threat to us, a threat to Bajor. You must unite to defeat them."

Sisko growled deep in his throat. "I'm supposed to just ally with a girl who stole the Enterprise? Against what, by the way?"

"Them." The voice contained actual disgust, now coming in deeper tones from a tall, dark-skinned woman who walked from nowhere up to Sisko. "They pervert the order of things, feed upon the souls of… small temporal things. Things like your Jake."

Sisko straightened, and there was a wicked gleam in his eye. "I see. Well. That certainly changes things, now, doesn't it?"

Not-Madoka turned to Homura. "You must accept the Emissary's aid. For without him, you are lost."

Homura felt a tear trace its way down her cheek; the thing, whatever it was, looked so much like her Madoka…

"I will. I promise!"

And then there was light.

She was back on the Enterprise, lights flashing, and someone was asking Sisko if he should fire over the screen link.

"No. Old Man, I want you to plot a slingshot. We need to follow the Enterprise."

Homura ignored the objections as she cut the link. 'I had more allies than I thought.'

She opened another channel, forwarding the dates of the two slingshot events. She didn't care if they followed her for the first trip: Makoda was HER responsibility. 'Sisko doesn't care about her. He just wants the Enterprise to go back safely. Well, he'll GET the ship back. Missing most of its' armament, but he'll get it back.'

"What the hell makes you think Madoka will like what you're doing?" Homura spun around in her chair, seeing Kyoko Sakura sitting in the Captain's chair, pocky in mouth and in her Puella Magi uniform. "Come ON, girl. Taking her away from her family just to protect her?"

"I will do what I must."

"Oh, PLEASE." The redhead jumped out of the chair, leaping over the railing. "You want to protect her? There's only one way to DO that." Sh leaned in to whisper into Homura's ear. "You gotta kill 'er." Homura's Beretta 92 reported as she fired the weapon at Kyoko.

"I won't do that."

"Don't you think you have no choice?" her head snapped to look to the entrance to the Captain's ready room, seeing Mami Tomoe. "You've known this for decades. Her fate is sealed: no matter what, she dies." 30 9x19mm rounds were emptied from her MP5K, Homura BARELY keeping her mask together.

"She will NOT die. I did not spend 500 years just to let her DIE!"

An unwelcome voice caught her attention. "Yet in every timeline, she contracts and dies for it." A 12-gauge shell was unloaded in the direction of the unseen Oriko Mikuni. "SHUT UP! I don't want to hear that from YOU, you murderer!"

"Oh, like YOU'RE one to talk." More 12-gauge shots from her Remington 1100 blasted into the only one to kill Madoka before Walpurgnisnacht even came.

And at that moment, she just freakin' SNAPPED as an RPG-7 appeared on her shoulder.

She had the Enterprise; why the fuck should she BOTHER with these popguns? "When that witch dies, YOU will be next." She pulled the trigger, sending the 88mm warhead at the seer girl at damn near Mach 2, which caused an explosion that made the computer activate forcefields to contain the blast.

'They'll have to recarpet, I suppose.'

She dropped the empty launcher, stumbling towards the helm. The computer could make the calculations. All she had to do was fly the ship.

USS Defiant

"Ben, WHY aren't you ordering us to engage and just retake the ship?"

"Old Man, that would be pointless. Besides, I get the feeling she's important somehow."

Jadzia Dax was tempted to slam her head into the helm. "Message from our friends in the wormhole?"

"Exactly. Doctor, did you run her description through the Federation database, before and after 2161?"

Julian Bashir nodded. "I did," he said, "and I only came up with one match to your description of the girl." Then again, pale skin, black hair and violet eyes were common, although her outfit, which was that of a schoolgirl, helped. "Homura Akemi. Born August 5th, 1996. disappeared… April 31st, 2011."

"So, what, she's a time travelling schoolgirl?" O'brien put his hand to his head in the fashion of his last commanding officer. "Great. And I thought odd was just restricted to our time."

"It gets stranger. She disappeared the same day Mitakihara, Japan was practically destroyed. And her body was never found. And we know aliens have visited Earth before."

Sisko was STILL trying to make Quark pay for the Roswell crap from a few months ago.

"So, what, this is a predestination paradox? The Department of Temporal Investigations hates those." Sisko smiled knowingly.

"So, we're going to help her kill something that kills a city."

"Well, we'll know our target when we see it. Follow the Enterprise."

USS Enterprise-E

Homura guided the Enterprise toward Earth's sun, the computer having done the calculations to get them back in time. "This should be interesting."

Her first stop: March 15th, 2011. Her goal: to get Madoka on board the enterprise before that goddamn incubator could get in contact with her.

The next stop: April 30th, the same year. The goal: nuke the living shit out of that god-witch before gloating at Kyubey and venting the damn thing INTO THE SUN.

The sun hadn't done her any favors. Why the fuck not?

"Warp 9.96 for a few moments, slingshot around the sun..." The Enterprise jumped to warp, circling the sun. 'Soon. VERY soon.' She began to chuckle before breaking out into maniacal laughter as time warped itself, sending the flagship of the UFP Starfleet back in time 361 years, 6 months and four days.

A Tuesday.

She hated Tuesdays.

Madoka Kaname was a nice little girl. If you looked past the really, REALLY odd hair color. Then again, this was Japan: weird's the norm, so no one cared to notice.

"Bye mom! I'll see you after school!"

Junko Kaname waved before her daughter disappeared around a corner. The mother of two exited soon after, and in any other time, she would've seen her daughter running off to school.

But not now. She was gone. Junko's eyes widened before she yelled for her daughter. Madoka was not fast enough to get out of line-of-sight in less then 30 seconds.

She got no answer, and her daughter was just gone.

The businesswoman screamed the scream of a horrified mother whose child had been taken from her.

Madoka was happily running when a shower of light caught her before she reappeared in a strange room. Screens and controls were everywhere, with chairs too. "Don't be afraid." Madoka jumped as the female voice before turning toward it. It was a girl wearing a pretty white, black and purple dress with black hair and violet eyes. A shield of some kind was on her left arm.

"W-who are you?"

"My name is Homura. Homura Akemi. And I'm here to protect you."

Madoka nervously chuckled before she backed into a wall. Her head made contact with a metal plate with an english inscription. USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-E SOVEREIGN-CLASS - Sixth starship to bear the name', it read, with a motto at the bottom. 'To boldly go where no man has gone before'.

"Uh, if this is a joke...It's not really funny, Akemi-" "Homura." Madoka almost flinched at the near-fury in the girl's voice. "Call me. Homura." Scary girl says you call her something, you DO IT.

Madoka was kind, not stupid. "O-Ok, H-Homura."

Homura's face turned blank once more. "I will not hurt you. I'm only doing this to protect you from a creature known as Kyubey. Once my mission is complete, I will send you home. You have my word."

Madoka walked into the room, likening it to a bridge on a ship. "Uh… Homura, where are we?"

Homura pressed a key on a console before the forward bulkhead fizzled, before displaying an image. Of EARTH.

"We're in geosynchronous orbit over Mikihara." Madoka's brain basically fried at the knowledge that she was in SPACE. On a spaceship! "Madoka." She shook her head before facing Homura. "I'm a Puella Magi. A magical girl, as it were. I've been working for over 2000 years to make sure you were safe from that monster and the witches born from magical girls that fall into despair. So that you do not become death, destroyer of worlds because of it." She pressed a key that moved the ship away from Earth.

"B-But… why? Why ME?!"

"Because, in so many timelines, you contracted. In so many timelines you became the monster that haunts my nightmares. I have done EVERYTHING I could using what resources I could get my hands on."

The ship - The Enterprise, Madoka forced herself to think, the ship was named the Enterprise - moved toward the sun. "Then my power changed through so much use. And I discovered a truth. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Madoka had heard one of her teachers say that once: a quote from some American author.

"So, I decided to get more firepower. I made allies of a race called the Iconians, who were perhaps the greatest race to roam the stars. But the Incubators destroyed them. So I went into our future. I took this ship, and I will use it to destroy Walpurgisnacht."

"Wal… Purgis—"

"It's German, Madoka. It means 'night of Saint Walpurgia'. It is also the name for the second most powerful witch of them all. Which I am going to kill using the Enterprise. But first, I must ensure your safety."

Madoka's mind was reeling. Witches, Puella Magi, time travel, freaking aliens?

It was almost too much to bear. But Madoka was a smart cookie.

"Uh… How are you going to… 'ensure my safety', Homura?"

"By taking us into the future. To April 30th."

Homura pressed another button. "Please, sit down." Madoka shook her head. "No. No, I've-I've got to get home! My family—!"

Homura shook her head. "Forgive me. But you will return to them once that monster is dead and gone. I promise."

The pinkette began to cry, and she was suddenly hugged by the dark-haired stranger. "I am so sorry. So, so sorry that I have to do this." She half-dragged and half-carried Madoka to the center chair before putting her down in it.

"But it needs to be done. You are too naive to not contract with that creature for your friends' sake."

She walked back to the left console before pressing another key, putting up some form of energy field. "Please, don't try to escape it. you'll only hurt yourself."

The Enterprise suddenly shuddered, forcing Madoka to scream.

USS Defiant - April 30th, 2011, 2330 hours Japan Local Time

The Defiant orbited the Earth near Japan, using the coming storm to mask them from ground-based sensors.

As for space-based? The freaking Connie 1701 could hide itself from 1960s surveillance: it was easy; didn't even need the cloaking device.

Dax had hacked a satellite broadcast, determining that it was a Tuesday.

Sisko liked Tuesdays. Some of his greatest victories had been on Tuesdays.

Sisko paced the bridge of his tough little murder machine as Dax kept an eye out for the bigger, badder Enterprise. "You know, Ben, that girl should BE here by now. She went through the slingshot first."

Sisko nodded in agreement with his science officer. "I know, old man, but there is something that she needed to do: the Prophets more or less said so. You know how cryptic they can be."

"I can't think of worse races."

The tactical post began sending out beeping alarms. "Sir, I have a contact on the sensors. It is the Enterprise."

"Very good, Mr. Worf. Open a hailing frequency." The Klingon worked the console, opening a channel to the enterprise. The bridge of the ship appeared on the big screen, with Homura sitting at the helm and… a girl sitting in the captain's chair?

"Captain Sisko."

"Miss Akemi, we wondered where you were. Would you mind… explaining?"

Homura's expression was much softer than ever, but still hard. "My mission, Captain, is to protect that girl. Her name is Madoka Kaname. Once that creature is dead, I will send her back to the surface. Your Prime Directive be damned."

Sisko didn't bother to argue the point. He knew what happened to her: she disappeared the same day as Homura.

"Prepare to assist me, Captain. Our foe will be here in minutes." The link cut out before the Enterprise turned to enter the atmosphere.

Sisko growled, deep in his throat. "If I didn't know how serious her mission is, that girl would really be starting to annoy me now. Mr. Worf, prepare a class-two quantum torpedo. And write on it, 'Courtesy of Captain Benjamin Sisko', because when I find the thing that the Prophets say feeds on little girls' pain, I am going to personally open a can of Defiant-powered whoop-ass under its rear end."

"Aye, sir," growled Worf, with just a touch too much satisfaction.

On the ground

Kyoko Sakura knew she shouldn't be anywhere NEAR this place. But Mami didn't have a chance in hell against this thing alone. Not when the elder girl barely survived her encounter with that freaky ass witch Charlotte, which she nearly got killed by losing her head. If Kyoko wasn't in town, Mami would be a headless corpse in a labyrinth, lost to all.

And that new girl, Sayaka Miki, would be dead, too. She felt a strong PULL to the bluenette for some reason, and while she would've loved to figure it out, they never had the time.

Sayaka contracted soon after the 'incident', as it was now called for two reasons: to heal that idiot boy and to find Madoka Kaname. Kyoko reasoned the girl's disappearance off as something simple: she accidentally entered a witch's lair.

Sayaka said she didn't: disappeared practically at home.

The redhead bit into her pocky as she began to shudder.

It was here.

Thunder was the welcoming applause to the witch to end them all: the Helpless Stage-constructing witch, Walpurgisnacht.

The top of the witch was a bunch of rotating gears while the bottom was a seeming female body.

The three girls had one thought. Which Sayaka voiced. "You are one UGLY motherfucker."

(BGM: Madoka Magica Online OST: Walpurgisnacht Event battle)

"Let's get to work, girls!" Mami said as she materialized two wheel lock muskets before firing them at the witch, basically spamming lead at it. Sayaka and Kyoko ran across the birdges and jumped onto the buildings used by the giggling monster as weapons, getting closer to the creature.

"Oi, Sayaka!" Kyoko called out. "Can you Unlimited Blade Works this fucker?!"

The bluenette gave her a thumbs up before producing another sword, using it as a ranged weapon by throwing it at the witch at near-mach speed. Followed by many, many more.

So much so that the creator of the term felt inadequate in another timeline.

Kyoko jumped onto the witch itself, using Sayaka's swords as stepping stones to stab the living hell out of it. But that only pissed it off.

"What the hell?!" Kyoko yelled. "What'll it take to kill this ugly—" A sonic boom interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

And she stared into the face of their saviour.

USS Enterprise-E - above Mikihara

Homura barely heard Madoka's screams about Sayaka. But she made note of them. "She's alive," she whispered to herself. "THEY'RE alive. How are they alive? They always, always die before Walpurgisnacht even shows up. Except for the first timeline, but that doesn't count."

"Homura!" Madoka cried out. "You've got to save her! PLEASE!"

Anything for her goddess.

The sleek greyhound of the skies flew overhead as Kyoko was batted away from the super-witch. Mami kept firing muskets and a few Tiro Finales at that thing before a building hit her position. Kyoko winced. Mami might've been soft, but she was the closest thing to an older sister Kyoko had.

Then light surrounded her as she landed on carpet. At Sayaka's feet. 'Wait, WHAT?' She looked up, before the girl in question screeched in embarrassment.

"If you would be so kind to SHUT THE FUCK UP, I would be able to kill this thing," came an unfamiliar voice

Both girls looked to their front, before noticing Mami standing beside them in shock and seeing the girl flying this… ship. "Who the feck are YOU?" Kyoko asked

"Homura Akemi," the girl replied. "And I just saved your lives, Sakura." The ship they were on banked forward before it faced Walpurgisnacht. "479 years, you son of a bitch. Time to pay the goddamn PIPER!"

The witch was PUSHED by the ship, which they noticed from the plaque was called the Enterprise, high above the city by a beam of sorts. "Sayaka!"

The bluenette blinked at the voice before running over to the center chair, where a pinkette was sitting. "Madoka!"

Kyoko made a note to apologise for saying a witch killed her.

"Where WERE YOU?! I was worried!"

"Uh, Homura over there brought me here to protect me from something called… the Incubator?"

Kyoko narrowed her eyes at the mention of Kyubey. A Puella Magi named Yuma contracted with the bastard, then turned into a witch in front of Mami and the others. After they killed it, Mami tried to off herself. After, of course, trying to kill THEM first.

After a few hours of work and a LOT of bruises, Mami's despair turned to rage.

Rage pointed at Kyubey.

It also somehow cleaned up her soul gem. None of them had been able to figure it out, and to be honest, they didn't WANT to know.

In the end, Kyubey had learnt to avoid them. Getting Tiro Finaled wasn't fun, they assumed.

They assumed. It was fun for them, at least.

"Uh... Homerun, right?" Homura gave Kyoko a glance before reaching into her shield.

And pulling out a M243 light machine— 'WHAT THE FUCK?!'

"Do NOT. Call me. That. I have been subjected to you calling me that in EVERY FUCKING TIMELINE. NO LONGER." She racked the bolt of the machine gun.

"Do me the courtesy of USING MY ACTUAL NAME."

Kyoko dumbly nodded. "Uh… Akemi. Thanks for savin' Sayaka's friend. What do you mean by.. .timeline, though?" the black haired girl sat down watching Walpurgisnacht struggle against whatever the ship was using to push the big bastard.

"I watched you all die. More than once."

The three then decided they DIDN'T want to know.

Walpurgisnacht was not happy. Witches in general were ill-to-please, but this witch was mad. The big grey metal thing was PUSHING IT.

NOTHING pushed it.

As they exited the atmosphere, the witch realized it was in space.

That made it more mad.

USS Defiant

"That is one ugly little thing."

Sisko had to agree with Bashir on that one. "Mr. Worf. As they once said on Earth, kill it with fire."

Worf's blood demanded that that creature die, as it reminded him of monsters from Klingon mythos. And Sisko just gave him the excuse to kill it.

"Aye, sir." Worf pushed the firing command, unleashing dozens of pulse cannon bolts at the witch, pounding the monster with everything they had.

Quantum torpedoes slammed into the witch, actually harming the monster as the Enterprise joined the fight, firing her phasers at full power at Walpurgisnacht.

On board the flagship, Picard and his senior staff had finally gotten out of confinement, and were crawling their way to the bridge via the Jefferies Tubes.

"It appears the Enterprise is engaged in combat, sir." Picard was tempted to order Data to shut up, but the android was right.

"Can we disrupt power to the weapons system?" Riker asked

"That would be ill-advised, Commander. Whomever the Enterprise is fighting will recover from the assault, then focus attention on us."

"And if the weapons go offline, Ms. Akemi may decide to ram the Enterprise into it. No, the best course of action is to keep moving, Number One."

Picard led the way through the tubes before they reached a ladder. "Come on."

Homura was ecstatic. This goddamned thing was finally DYING.

After almost five centuries of fighting, and 1500 years of trying to find another way, Walpurgisnacht was about to die at last!

She pressed the key to fire the forward quantum torpedoes again before she began laughing like a maniac.

The other three Puella Magi were tempted to go Bruce Campbell on her, but that forcefield was protecting her. And Madoka was giving them puppy-eyes.

Only those without a soul were immune to that.

And while they were basically liches, they DID have souls.

"Oh, this… I should have done this EARLIER! DIE, YOU GODDAMN MONSTER! YOU ROBBED ME OF EVERYTHING! NOW I ROB YOU OF EXISTENCE! COMPUTER, PLOT A COURSE TO THE SUN AND LOCK A TRACTOR BEAM ONTO THE TARGET!" Homura's now maniacal laughter had a heavy tint of sadness and self-loathing in it.

The fact that Homura was crying didn't help matters at all.

The Enterprise locked a tractor beam onto Walpurgisnacht, dragging it at maximum sublight toward Sol.

Homura's laughter began incorporating sobbing, keeping her from hearing the click of a floor panel being moved.

And a bald head peeked into the bridge. Mami shyly waved at the man. "H-hello."

"Bonjour." The Enterprise rocked from an impact before Homura turned in her seat as the rest of the staff climbed out of the tube. Picard raised one eyebrow. "Miss Akemi?"

"Oh, Captain Picard." Homura grinned with an almost insane look on her face. "You can have your ship back. It's almost done." She switched the view aft, showing them the enemy.

"My God."

"500 years, I fought that thing, Captain. Now it finally DIES." The Enterprise disengaged the beam before looping over the witch, the deflector glowing with energy. "You have been the emblem of my despair, you bastard. Let's see how you like the emblem of happiness!" The dish fired off a graviton beam, which pushed the witch uncontrollably into the sun, just before it was hit by a solar flare and impacted the ball of superheated hydrogen and helium.

Homura grinned before the laughter began again. "I DID IT! Walpurgisnacht is dead! Madoka never contracted! I FINALLY WIN!"

"Win what?"

Homura froze. 'No.' She cranked her head to the engineering post.

Sitting there was a white, cat-like being with 'hands' extending out of the ears with gold 'bracelets'.

"YOU." Homura pulled out a phaser rifle, and the other Puella Magi did more or less the same. "I will END YOU once and for all."

"You cannot kill me, Homura Akem… i…" The creature shuddered. "What… Why do I feel fear?" The being, the Incubator Kyubey, turned it's red eyes to Picard.

"No. No, you can't be here. You're in the Delta Quadrant. You can't be here!" The Incubator backed away from the captain of the Enterprise, fear coating every word he 'said'.

"He fears you, Captain Picard." Homura smiled in a way that was… unholy. "Or would you prefer 'Locutus'?"

Picard frowned at the mention of his Borg designation. "You fear the Borg." Kyubey shivered in a corner, Homura enjoying every second of it. "Why? Because all they need to do is touch you? One touch… and you're trapped. Part of the hive." Not since the Rebellion incident did Homura feel so emotional. And she was enjoying Kyubey's fear.

"Oh, dear, you've put him into shock," came a voice out of nowhere as a flash of white lit up the room. "How sad."

Picard's face twisted into a grimace at the sound of that voice. "Q."

The being wore a uniform nearly identical to Picard's, but lacked everything seen in the other officers.

Professionalism, for one.

"Mon Capitan!" Q greeted. "It's been a while. Of course, I've been… busy." The sounds of transporters caught the god-like being's attention as Sisko, Dax, and Worf appeared on the bridge. "Oh, great. You. Not going to punch me again, I hope?"

"That depends. Are you here to give me a hard time?"

Q held up his hands. "Perish the thought! I'm here on business."

Picard glared at Q, wanting the omnipotent being OFF HIS SHIP. He was sure Q being on the D cursed the ship to early destruction. "Business?!" He asked, incredulous.

Q pointed at Kyubey. "That little being has caused more grief than I ever have. His people caused the fall of so many cultures before their time. The Tkon Empire, the Iconians, and others. They would've fallen eventually, but they made it happen BEFORE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO, by nearly THREE MILLION YEARS! The Q Continuum isn't happy with them. Not at all."

"And neither are we." A being in a greek-style robe appeared, followed by an old man in simple robes. "We have been trying to find a peaceful way of dealing with the Incubators for millennia. But that is impossible, it seems."

"Ah, Ayelborne and the Metron representative. We're just missing the other two."

The forcefield around Madoka shut down before a light entered her body, and the pinkette stood. "Judgement will come." Sisko knew exactly which race had just co-opted the young girl: a Prophet.

Kyoko backed away before a wall of fire appeared and entered her, taking control of her body. "It will not be pleasant," hissed the Pah-Wraith.

Q looked at the recovering Incubator. "You did a BAD thing. The Q, the Metrons, the Organians, the Prophets AND the Pah Wraiths all agree—and when the little wormhole beings' little turf war gets put on hold, matters truly are serious indeed. Naughty, naughty."

"Well…" The cat-thing shakily stood up. "The universe can't maintain it—"

"WRONG-O!" Q smirked at the Incubator. "The universe doesn't NEED you. It doesn't even WANT you. In fact, it wants you gone. Your species is guilty. Guilty of causing the fall of the Iconians, the Tkon Empire, the Hurq' invasion of the Klingon Empire, the formation of the Dominion, you even created your own worst fear! And Jean-luc's." Picard was one more comment from taking out a phaser and shooting the being. Sisko had to have his taken out of his hand by Dax.

They created the Borg. The BORG.

The same 'race' that abducted and assimilated Picard. The same 'race' that killed 11000 Starfleet personnel at Wolf 359 and Sisko's wife.

"And then there's all the things you did to cause the earth-Romulan war, the Klingon-Federation conflicts of the 23rd Century, and of course, Praxis."

Grief and misery. They followed this thing around like a loyal pet.

Q snapped his fingers before the Enterprise and Defiant reappeared in orbit of Earth, right in front of Earth Spacedock. Ayelborne stepped forward. "Your race has been found guilty of crimes against life itself. There is no defense: your actions speak for themselves. Your sentence, however, is up to your victims." The Organian turned to Homura. "You are the grieved one. The punishment is yours to choose."

The Puella Magi stood up from her seat. "My choice. My choice." Rage, anger, and despair seemingly cloaked the ancient girl. "Damnation is what I want them to suffer. I want them to suffer the grief, pain, and agony they put US through. And I want them to stop doing what they did to US."

Q smiled. "THAT, I can do." Kyubey screamed before the Incubator vanished in a flash. "There." The being waved his hands over the three other Puella Magi and Madoka, before the five beings disappeared from the bridge, and Madoka and Kyoko hit the deck.

Homura began laughing once more, the maniacal tint replaced with insanity. "IT'S DONE! AT LONG LAST, AFTER 1979 YEARS, IT'S FINALLY OVER!" Homura grabbed onto Sisko, smiling in a way that made the commander of DS9 ill at ease. "Centuries of work! AND IT'S OVER! NO MORE MAGICAL GIRLS, NO MORE WITCHES, NO MORE… ANYTHING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She let go of The Sisko, laughing gently now. "I have… nothing left. I have… nothing." She fell on her back onto the deck, curling up into the fetal position and beginning to cry.

The pinkette crawled over to the crying Homura, the others now having nothing but pity for the suffering girl.

Captain's Log, supplemental. After Q returned us to the 24th Century and the Enterprise was resupplied at Earth Spacedock, we continued on our shakedown cruise.

As for the young Homura Akemi, she is now in the care of Starfleet Medical, who are trying their best to heal the young lady.

The monsters known as the Incubators… they caused the deaths of trillions through the consequences of their actions. Starfleet Command hopes to find their homeworld, and make sure they cannot spread suffering ever again.

For a suffering soul such as hers… May she find peace.

Takeshi Yamato: I may have been just a glorified Beta Reader here, but man, this was fun to work on.

Worffan101: Happy to help out, Ron. Always happy to see that d*** Kyubey get what's coming to him. Though, I still vote for The Sisko playing baseball with a certain bunny-cat ***hole. Using said bunny-cat as the ball.

Ron the True Fan: And my first Madoka fic! Ish. Downer ending, but what do you expect? It's like a German opera: always bittersweet.

Takeshi Yamato: True enough - Madoka is to the Magical Girl genre what Neon Genesis Evangelion was to the Humongous Mecha genre: A Deconstructive Mindscrew.

Ron the True Fan: But while this is the end of the story, we're missing something. The beginning. You know what that means, boys! PREQUEL TIME! Don't expect too many updates: Worffan's got schoolwork, and I rate that INFINITELY higher than fic writing.

Takeshi Yamato: True, but who knows? Rather than doing prequels of what we did here, we could go an entirely different direction with Time's Fury, going through the Multiverse and seeing different versions of Homura (with differing degrees of sanity/insanity) getting various weapons from other Sci-Fi franchises to take down Walpurgisnacht.

Ron the True Fan: Could be prequels. could be stand-alones. Who knows...?

Ja Ne, folks!