Walpurgisnacht had been destroyed.

The cost for such a victory was too great. The shadow of Kriemhild Gretchen now loomed over the carnage that once was Mitakihara.

A trail of blood ran along the ground, following the wounded Magical Girl as she crawled across broken pavement and over shattered concrete. A gash along her arm where a flying street sign had caught her. Cuts and bruises covering her legs from when a car had crushed her against a dumpster. Her once luscious hair now a mess in complete disarray, matted with blood and mud. Red running down her face from a wound on her forehead, coating her left eye and blinding it.

She stopped at the feet of her mentor and friend, Mami Tomoe.

The blond was hanging limp, her eyes closed. Her feet dangled several inches off the wet ground, as she was held in place by an iron rod that had pinned her to a totaled bus. Blood ran down her body from her stomach, where the rod jutted out a foot and a half. Her head was hung as if in shame, her lips only barely parted. A weak, rasping breath came from the veteran Magical Girl.

A hand reached up and grabbed Mami's foot, shaking her leg lightly, careful not to pull at her against the impaling rod. Mami's eyes fluttered half open, and her mouth turned down in a frown. Suddenly, she gasped in pain, shuddering at the sensation running through her. Her arms instinctively moved to the rod and grabbed hold of it. She looked at it, gasping and coughing as she tried in vain to free herself. She slipped, falling forward and crying out.

In the howling silence of the dead city, someone heard her cries.

"You two are still alive."

Fighting through the pain, Mami looked up and saw Homura stalking towards her. She couldn't manage much. "Help..."

Stopping beside the scene, Homura glanced down at Kyoko. The red Magical Girl had fallen unconscious at Mami's feet. She was about to comment on the predicament the two were in, knowing full well she wouldn't be around for much longer and would likely miss the outcome, when something occurred to her. "This hasn't happened before. You're always dead by this time."

Knowing there wasn't much time, Homura had to act quickly. She wrapped her arms around Mami, holding her steady and pulling her along the rod until, with unsavory sounds, Mami fell off the end and landed in a pool of muddy water right at Kyoko's side. Homura then rolled Kyoko onto her back. Mami pushed herself over, little strength remaining in her body. She held her hand over her stomach, cringing as the wound healed part-way. She ignored her scrapes and burns, as they would all heal soon enough.

Homura rushed to her side. "Do you have enough magic to heal Kyoko and yourself? I'm out of grief seeds."

Taking several deep breaths, Mami slowly nodded. "I'll be... just fine."

As Mami went about three more treatments, closing the hole through her body, Homura observed the towering Witch in the distance. "Walpurgisnacht was defeated. Madoka destroyed it. But she used so much energy, her soul gem filled up with so much despair, she transformed into something even more powerful. Madoka's Witch will consume the entire world in a matter of days. We could never hope to defeat it."

She turned back to see Mami had postponed healing herself in favor of Kyoko, sealing up the gash on her arm first before running her hands along her legs. Kyoko's eyes opened just as Mami finished healing her forehead. She gave her a sad smile. "I can't tidy up your hair. Sorry."

Kyoko let out a long sigh. "What happened?"

Homura stood up. "We won. But now there's an even more powerful Witch poised to obliterate the planet. We're down to three, so there's no point in staying here." She glanced back at the other two, who were now struggling to their feet. "And I can't abandon you two here, knowing what you'd face."

Kyoko absently produced a grief seed, purifying her soul gem before handing it to Mami. She closed her eyes, thinking through what Homura had just said. "So what can we do?"

Homura stepped over to the two. "Same thing I always do at this point, but with a twist." Seeing they didn't understand, she began to explain as fast as she could. "When I made my wish, Mami and Madoka had just died fighting Walpurgisnacht. My wish was to go back in time to before I met Madoka so I could do it all over. I wanted to protect her, but she died again. And again. I failed. I- I can't save her. She always dies here. Everyone dies here."

They were silent for a moment. A moment that was broken by Kyoko. "So Mami and Madoka died, and you made a wish to save Madoka. And... not Mami?"

"Well, I..."

Mami cut her off. "You can stop time, and when you are touching someone else the time stop effects them as well. So if you've been going back through time so much, have you never taken someone else with you?"

Homura shook her head. "No one was ever left."

Mami smiled. "Well then."

One Month Earlier...

Homura opened her eyes, staring at the familiar ceiling of the hospital. A sight unusually welcome came into focus a moment later. Kyoko's face, too close for comfort. She put her hand on the grinning face and shoved it away, sitting up in her bed. Kyoko settled into place, lounging on the windowsill. Across the room, Mami was inspecting the calendar.

The blonde glanced over to Homura. "So this is your room."

Homura shoved her way out of her bed, sighing as she walked over to the calendar and stood beside Mami. "This is my hospital room. I stopped going home after the third time I looped back."

Mami shot her an aghast look. "You mean your parents don't know where you go?"

Homura blinked. "Does that matter?" She stopped cold, suddenly aware that both Mami and Kyoko were glaring daggers at her.

Kyoko placed her hand on Homura's shoulder from behind, gripping painfully tight. "You mean to say you have loving parents waiting at home for you, worried sick about you, and you don't even go to see them? How many times have you gone back in time and never bothered to even check in on them, let them know you're alive? As far as they know, you just up and disappeared one day!"

Homura brushed Kyoko's hand away, though with more than a little effort. "They don't care about me that much. I'm just..." She shook her head. "Look, I'm just their sick daughter. A helpless little girl with a heart problem. ...a hopeless little girl."

Mami stepped in front of her. "No. No you are not. It might not seem like they care so much when you don't care. Homura, do you even remember what they're like? How long have you been doing this?"

Homura tried to look at the ground, but because of how close Mami was standing she could only see the older Magical Girl's chest. "Seven... eight years. Maybe nine..."

Kyoko threw her arms up in the air. "Well! That explains your lack of social skills!"

Homura shot her a glare. "Like you would know."

"Better than you!"

Homura held up her hand. "Okay, stop. This isn't getting us anywhere. There's no point to going to see my parents. I don't need to see them and it would be a waste of time."

It was Mami's turn to grab Homura's shoulder this time. "Homura, take a moment to consider who you're talking to. I'm the one who failed to save her parents when they died, because I didn't think to make my wish for my whole family instead of just me."

Kyoko crossed her arms grumpily. "And I'm the one whose parents died because of my wish. I think I speak for both of us when I say we would give next to anything to have them back. Your parents are still alive, and you say you don't need to see them. I think you're full of shit."

Homura threw Mami's hand off of her. "Just drop it. My parents are not your parents. Maybe yours would be worth going to see, but not mine. Besides, I've got a mission to complete. Remember, that is why I brought you along. To complete my mission."

"Fuck your mission, you ungrateful little spit. You go home and see your parents, let them know you're alright, Mami and me will look after Madoka and Sayaka." The redheaded Magical Girl rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie. "Unless you want to fight with me. And no cheating and using magic powers."

"No fighting." Mami stepped between the two of them and turned to Homura. "But she is right. You need to reconnect with your parents. Remember who you are, and then you can worry about the rest of us. We will look after them for you, and we will make sure neither of them make a contract with Kyubey, but you need to step back and let us deal with it."

After a moment longer of the two locking eyes over Mami's shoulder, Homura backed down. "Fine. Then you two should get going. Kyubey makes first contact with her today on her way to school."

Mami transformed in a flash of light. "I'll handle this then. Kyoko, you stay here for now." Before either of the younger girls could argue, Mami had opened the window and jumped out.

Homura let out a deep sigh and looked to Kyoko. "Great. So what am I supposed to do with you?"

"What's that supposed to mean? You really are ungrateful, aren't you? We jump through time with you and you want us out of your hair right off? What's up with that, huh?"

Homura moved back to her bed and sat down. "Don't take it too personally. If you're both so set on me seeing my parents, then you need to be the ones heading off Kyubey. Because roughly the same time he makes contact with Madoka, my mom is on her way up to see me. I don't care to have to explain who you are."

Kyoko shrugged. "Oh, well, in that case, I just have one question. I saw your apartment, remember? How the heck did you get that?"

"...That's... uh..." Homura shook her head. "Can you go now?"

"Well, alright, but I want an answer later." She opened the door and peered out into the hallway. "Okay, I'll be next door until your mom leaves."

Leaving Homura to herself, Kyoko stepped out into the hall and walked over to the next room, opening the door and slipping in quietly. She didn't know or care if the room was occupied, but when she realized there was someone in the room with her she decided that staring at the boy from the shadows would be a great way to pass the time. Several minutes in, she began to understand what it was like to watch paint dry. The monotony of absolutely nothing happening was broken by the boy when he woke up. His sight must have adjusted to the darkness of the room, because he noticed her almost immediately.

"Hello? Who is that?"

She sighed. "Hi. My name's Kyoko. I'll be your nuisance this morning. Don't worry, my friend is in the next room and I'm just hiding from her mom."

"Oh, you're Homura's friend? That's good. I didn't think she had any real friends." He coughed, causing her a little concern, but it was only one cough and it didn't sound bad, so she determined it wasn't the reason he was in the hospital. He looked back up at her. "Would you mind opening the curtains?"

Kyoko went over to the window and slowly drew the curtains back, figuring he wouldn't want to suddenly have sunlight in his face. "Well, I'm really more like a... a colleague of hers, I guess. We're on the same level. She wanted me to come and help her with a... a relationship, I guess you could say." Once the curtains were fully opened, she turned to walk back to the door. "I think she's a little hopeless on the issue, but who knows, it could turn out just fine."

He grabbed her arm just before she was out of range. "Kyoko... Kyoko Sakura?"

"Wha- How do you know my last name?"

"Kyoko, it's me. It's Kyosuke."

She narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Kyosuke... Kamijo? You're that boy..." She stopped and thought to herself the next part. That boy Sayaka has a crush on. "You... know Sayaka, right?"

He smiled. "So you met her too? That's good. She's a good friend. I hope you two get along." He let go of her and lay back, resting his head on his pillow and closing his eyes. "I'd like my best and oldest friend to be surrounded by good people."

She stood there, watching him for a time, thinking about this boy and Sayaka. They really had known each other for a long time. And he cared for her just like she did for him. Kyoko was starting to think that, given the opportunity, he might have made the same sacrifice as her. Maybe he was worth her wish after all. She was starting to regret that she never got to know the boy.

Kyosuke opened his eyes again and looked up at her. "Kyoko." He said it like he was surprised she was still there. "Where did you go? What happened?"

She was taken aback. "Wha- What?"

"All I remember is one day they said that your whole family was gone. Kyoko, I... I'm so sorry about what happened to them, but where did you go? You just... disappeared."

It took her a long time to figure out a response. This was a level of familiarity she wasn't prepared for. "How do you know me? How do you know about my family?"

Letting out a long sigh, he pushed himself up a little so he could look at her more evenly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you don't remember me. You went through a lot and lost everyone you knew, probably. Kyoko, we've known each other for years. I... I came over to your house twice a week since we were four. Your mother was giving me music lessons? Please tell me you remember that."

Kyoko collapsed into one of the many chairs in the room. How had she forgotten him? "Kyosuke... Really?"

"Kyoko, we were raised together. We were best friends for ten years. You can't have forgotten. Where have you been staying?"

She still had her pride. She couldn't just tell him that she didn't have any fixed place to stay. She was pretty much homeless. If he was, as he claimed, her best friend, then there was no way she could tell him that. "I'm... I'm staying with... with my senpai." She picked Mami's name out of an imaginary hat.

"That's good. Tomoe is kind, isn't she?"

"...How did you know I meant Mami?"