The paradoxically grief seed

Chapter one: Seed of hope(lessness)

XXX

Tink

A small metal object bounces off a piece of rubble in front of a small black haired girl holding a smoking gun. The girl stares at nothing for a moment before looking down at the fist-sized object, disbelief carved into her face.

The girl's name is Homura Akemi and her tale is a sad one. The short version is she repeat the same month trying to save one girl, Madoka Kaname from her fate. She has failed many times.

Homura picks up the small metal object, a pink ribbon tried to the top of it, a hollow ball of wires in the middle and a spike at the bottom. This would be a grief seed. In this case, this would be Madoka's corpse twice over. If you were to look over Homura's shoulder, you would see Madoka's human corpse sprawl on a slab of rubble, dressed in pink and seemly unharmed, but certainly dead.

Homura blinked "How..." one more detail is needed here. Every loop increased Madoka's karmic debt, making a stronger Puella Magi or magic girl if she contract with Kyubey, a small being that grants wishes in return for service to fight witches, and a stronger witch, the fate of a puella magi if they do not die before a grief spiral. Kriemhild Gretchen, the witch Madoka turns into has far outstripped Homura's capability to defeat by the fifth loop, let alone this one. Thus killing it with a single 9mm bullet surprised the hell out of Homura.

She pulled out the magazine of her pistol just to make sure she didn't nab some secret anti-witch ammo that the military developed and she was completely unaware of in all these loops. Nope, completely mundane bullets.

There was also the fact that Kriemhild crossed a whole mile to interrupted Homura's time rewind, causing her panicked killing shot. She did not know what Madoka wished for in this loop, since it happened while she was restocking her weaponry, but space manipulation Kriemhile, or worse, time stop Kriemhild was a terrifying prospect. Homura would need to keep a much closer eye on Madoka on further loops.

She put Madoka's seed in her shield. A pointless act, she had tried stocking grief seeds and once Mami's soul gem before, but they disappeared after the rewind. Thankfully mundane stuff like all the army's shit she stole stayed. She would of really killed herself if she started at square one every time.

She gave the ruined city around her one last look before starting up the rewind. Three seconds later, she vanished, along with the timeline.

000

Now then, we shall take a break to explain that Homura is wrong. The grief seeds and Mami's soul gem did not disappeared. The incubators, the race that Kyubey belong to, did not have time travel for all their technology advancements. They did, however, had a theory.

One could, designating an area, send one's soul backwards through time in that area until the soul hits itself, stopping its travels. However, the energy needed to send an soul backwards proved hard past a few second. So when Homura made her wish, Kyubey, seeing her karmic debt, gave it a whirl, choosing Homura's hospital bed. Kyubey would never know he succeed where the rest of his race failed.

Since none of the witches nor Mami ever used the bed, they kept going till the energy faded and got crushed by a chanced dinosaur's foot.

Madoka's on the other hand...

000

A nine years old girl with pink hair done up pigtails with orange ribbons fumed on the white bed. Of course she would break her leg the day before the sunniest day they had all month.

She looked at the pile of children book and one manga that seem to of slipped in by accident and sighed. She should of paced herself better, now she was going to be bored.

"I wish something interesting happen." she said out loud.

Poof

The girl blinked the light out of her eyes. It felt like she opened the curtains on to a bright sunny morning. Looking down on her blanket, she spotted a small metal bauble with a lovely pink bow on it.

Her hand touch it and flinched. It felt dangerous like an wild animal, but she felt that she was safe from it it would never hurt us.

The girl rub her head, when did that thought come from? She stare at the bauble before reaching for the out of place manga.

"Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha." She mused as she opened to the page where the main character was given her device. She ran a thumb over the bauble "I shouldn't get my hopes up, but..."

She tossed it up in the air "...I am about the same age..." She catches the metal object "...and it does feel right in my hands." She smiles "No harm in trying."

XXX

Bleach and hollows, Naruto and the tailed beasts, even Sailor Moon and youma(well Queen Beryl, but still...) and yet there not even one Madoka fanfic where witch powers are utilised by protagonist(s)(apart from witch quest, but that an actual witch.). For shame, Madoka community and don't claim depressive subject, because that didn't stop the Neon Genesis Evangelion community.

Aside that glaring oversight, you got plenty of solid fics so well done, a clap for every one of them.

Other then that, chapters for 'A white eyed exile' and 'GW and TDD' are almost finish, I just got writer's block on how to finish them.

Anyway review, flame or lurk.