Sayaka x Kyouko. Spoilers to Episode 9 because this is something of a sequel to it.

I do not own Puella Magi Madoka Magika or any of the characters from that series.

A Special Place

Sayaka woke up.

The last memory she had was that of two rude men on a train. No, that wasn't exactly true. She remembered feeling something after that. Something intense. Despair, that's what that was. Humanity didn't seem worth it. There was no one and no thing worth fighting for.

She glanced around herself. She wondered if this is what it felt like to be a Witch ... everything around her was ... lightless. Not really black, nor white. It was difficult to explain. Then she remembered further. The fight. A voice calling her name ... Madoka! How could she not have known at the time? What had she felt, and seen? It was unclear even to herself now. Music. Yes, the music with Kyousuke ... Madoka and Kyouko had tried to stop him from playing ... no ... no that didn't seem right either.

"What happened?"

She expected an answer, for no logical reason, but received none.

"Where am I?"

She could hear the sound of her voice, as she could sense her own body. Sense. Could she feel it, or see it? Somehow those concepts barely made any sense any longer.

"Can you hear me? Who are you?"

"I can hear you," replied a voice.

"Kyouko?"

As though saying her name made her appear, Kyouko's form became apparent to Sayaka. To say that she saw her didn't quite seem like the correct concept, but Sayaka couldn't think of any other way to mentally frame it.

"Where am I? What happened?"

"We're in hell, I would guess."

"Hell? That means ... that we're ..."

"Dead? Yup."

"But ... but why would you say we ... are in hell?"

"Only good girls go to heaven," Kyouko replied with a smirk.

Sayaka was shocked.

"What happened?"

"That's the third time you've asked that same question."

"So you heard me before? Why didn't you answer?"

Sayaka felt Kyouko's presence near her. No, she could see her walk over to her. She had a toothy grin, eyes narrow, looking just as Sayaka had remembered her.

"Wait ... wait ... we are dead? What ... how is that possible?"

"I couldn't let you die alone."

"What?"

She was shocked, again. She sensed ... no, felt ... Kyouko's fingertips brush her cheek. Felt them trace lightly up to her temple, and down her jawline, finally to trace lightly around the edges of her lips.

"You became a Witch. We failed you. I failed you. Isn't it ironic, we who used our wishes for happiness for those closest to us, would end up dying together?"

"Ironic? But ... but why did you sacrifice yourself?"

"Like I said, I couldn't let you die alone. Since I couldn't save you, I owed you at least that much."

Sayaka turned away from Kyouko, but somehow the girl's image never left her eyes.

"You should have fled."

"And what? Leave you as a Witch to hurt others?"

Sayaka said nothing. Kyouko cupped her chin firmly, and pulled her face close to hers.

"You don't understand, do you?"

"No," Sayaka said, trembling. Or at least it felt like that.

"I love you. Simple, huh? Stupid. Stupid! Me, I who shut out everyone else, who decided I could do it at all for myself. I even tried to kill you! Hell, maybe I should have after all. Would've been less painful."

Sayaka was silent. She simply stared into the other girl's eyes.

"I don't really know exactly when it happened. I just started realizing that I felt really good, for the first time since my family died, ,when I was with you. I watched you fight. I protected you, which I think you realized. You lost your self there even before becoming a witch, so I don't really know. And as you slipped away from us, from me, I felt my love growing. I was willing to try anything. My love for you was so strong I was willing to risk Madoka's life to bring you back."

"I did hear her voice. I did. I guess ... I guess I didn't know who she was anymore."

"Doesn't matter now. Homura and Madoka got away. I think. Well, they aren't here anyway."

"It's ... it's just us? Mami ..."

"Isn't here. No, this is just our own little special place ... in hell ... just for us."

"For us? What about ..."

"Don't. Please ... don't. Don't ruin this for me. I did this because I love you, Sayaka. Not admire. Not like. Not think "Gee, she's such a swell gal!" ... but love. And right now that's all that matters to me, and it's all that has mattered to me for some time."

Sayaka said nothing.

"Well, we have all the time in the world, Sayaka. An eternity. You will never, ever, be alone again."

Sayaka felt as though she could cry ... somehow she could not. But she did feel Kyouko's body, and she collapsed into this, letting the other girl's arms surround her.

"You will never be alone either, Kyouko. And maybe, one day ... I'll be able to tell you ... what you told me."

"Yeah ... yeah. One day."

Over time, insofar as that concept had meaning here, the two souls blended, merged together, until to an outside observer there would have been no way to discern that what remained had ever been anything resembling two human shapes.