"I'm sorry I can't go, Mami.", sighed Madoka, a fever making her face blush with unwanted heat.

"It's okay, Madoka.", the blonde replied, from Madoka's bedside, stroking softly the younger girl pink bangs. "It's just a familiar. I'll be back soon."

Madoka smiled softly. "Still. I promised we'd fight together. Always."

"A promise can be broken for a day, Madoka. You have the flu. Be easy with yourself. Your health is important, too." Mami smiled and rose from the chair she was, patting Madoka's face with careful moves. "Stay in bed. I'll be right back." Madoka nodded slowly and let herself fall into a feverish sleep, full of dreams of colors and mirages, blobs of color in a black background.

Madoka woke up alone, which was... Weird. Shouldn't Mami be back already? The girl got up from her bed, wraping herself with a blanket and treading the way to the kitchen slowly. She was in Mami's house, but the girl herself wasn't there at all.

"Mami?", she asked, voice hoarse, while she relied on the wall for support. Her legs were a bit weak, maybe because she just woke up, maybe because of the fever. "Mami?", Madoka tried again, with no success. However, a slight cough was her answer, from the kitchen probably, so there she went.

Madoka didn't found Mami there, however. She found the new student in her class - Homura. She was sitting on a chair, staring at the pale wood of the table.

"Homura… Homura-chan?" She asked, furrowing her brow. "What are you doing here?"

The girl with black hair kept staring at the table, left hand closed with something.

"Homura-chan? What's wrong? If you're looking for Mami…" She tried, but Homura looked at her with her cold, steely eyes.

"I'm… I'm with Mami. Here.", she interrupted, putting a Grief Seed on the table in front of her, a flower blooming on its top, carved on its sides. "Here she is. Mami… Mami became a witch, Madoka. And I had to kill it. I'm sorry."

She blinked slowly. What…?

"I'm… I'm sorry?" Did she hear it right?

"Mami became a witch on the middle of the fight. I was obliged to kill it. I'm sorry.", Homura answered, voice just barely more than a whisper.

This couldn't be happening.

"Is this a joke, Homura-chan?"

Homura glanced away.

"I wish it was."