A/N: The fanfic is hungry, it demands more reviews!

Enjoy!

Chapter Six: just who are you?

Homura didn't know where she was.

She walked across the empty void, nothing could be seen, she drew her pistol and pointed it at the darkness.

"Oh, you don't like it here?" A voice resonated from everywhere, echoing over and over again.

"Where am I!?" Homura demanded, pointing her gun in all directions. "Who are you!?"

"You never could help her, you know? All you could do was break her. Over and over again."

"Show yourself!" Homura yelled, losing her composure.

A motion behind her knocked her on her back, the pistol flying off into the darkness.

Small thread wrapped around her, tying up her arms and legs until she couldn't move. A humanoid shape emerged from the darkness.

The young women wore a black dress with a red ribbon tied to the front.

"Wha- you're" Homura stared.

******** smiled. "What's wrong? Not happy to see yourself?"

She raised the blade of an ice skate.

Then she brought it down on Homura's neck, ripping through flesh, bone, and blood tearing her head from her shoulders-

March 19, Satuday

Morning

Akemi Residence

Homura stared at her face in the mirror as she checked her neck. Not a single cut on it.

"What is wrong with me?" She muttered.

"Meow!" Amy appeared next to her.

Homura smiled. "You don't know either do you?

"Meow."

Homura sighed. "Sometimes I think I died and this is my personal hell, you know? Just repeating this nightmare over and over."

She reached down and the cat. "Thanks for being here for me."

"Meow!"

She shook her head. She had to get ready for Madoka now.

Same Time

Kaname Residence

Madoka fidgeted as she checked her Soul Gem. So far it wasn't very corrupted, sill, she had seen first-hand how quickly that could change.

-Homura continued to smile as her once bright-purple Soul Gem began to crack-

She banished those images. Homura was alive, everyone was alive now. All she had to do was make sure it stayed that way this time.

She put the gem away and walked downstairs to wake up her mother.

"Um, mom, I'm going to be out for most of the day, if that's okay with you."

"Oh?" Junko Kaname asked, curious. "What for?"

"Well, a new girl's going to be joining the class soon, a-and she invited me to her house for the day to... get to know her." Madoka said, stuttering. "And since she'll be in my class soon..." Madoka trailed off.

Junko smiled. "Is she the one who got you that ring?" She asked, pointing at Madoka's Soul Gem ring.

Madoka stiffened, not expecting the question. "Umm..." She stammered.

Her mother grinned. "Ah, she did didn't she?" She chuckled, waving her hand. "You're free today, have fun!"

"Th-thanks mom!" Madoka said.

Then she was gone.

Downtown

Alleyway

Afternoon

Homura looked from the small group of familiars to Madoka. "You ready?" She asked? eyes raised as she took out a M4.

Madoka nodded. Homura continued to look at her. "If you get in any trouble, just call."

Madoka smiled. "I know." She took a deep breath. "Okay, here I go!"

Her Soul Gem began to glow. First her pink and white dress appeared as white gloves came into being on her hands. A bow materialized and she instinctively grabbed it. So far, the same outfit that she had worn every time she became a magical girl.

Except for one small difference.

A small shield materialized on her left arm. In the center was a pink rose, with an hourglass shape on the surface, filled with sand.

Madoka and Homura stared at it.

"That's new." Homura muttered, eyes raised. She looked at Madoka nervously. "Are you sure about this?"

Madoka smiled. "I'm fine Homura-chan."

She looked at the familiars, there were six of them, all milling around, and so far unaware of the girls' presence.

Madoka raised her bow.

Then her shield activated.

The grains of sand inside started to glow as time stopped. Madoka glanced around surprised. She could stop time.

Then her body took over. She pointed the bow at one of the frozen familiars as an arrow materialized.

She fired and the arrow lanced out for a split-second before freezing as well.

Instinctively she raised it a second time, as another shot was sent towards a second familiar.

Then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth.

By then the power had faded from the shield and time resumed its normal course. Each of the arrows continued on their journey and slammed into the familiars, who screamed in pain and/or disintegrated. The two survivors were quickly shot by Homura, who looked at Madoka, eyebrows raised.

"Not bad." she said. Madoka smiled hesitantly in response.

Izabel's Barrier

Madoka stared at the Witch bound to what looked like the Arc de Triomphe surrounded by bizarre familiars, many of which had human limbs implanted in their bodies in bizarre patterns. "What is-" she blurted out.

"Izabel, the Artist Witch, her nature is vanity. She believes herself to be the greatest thing to ever exist. Often interacts with the human World so people can see her work." Homura intoned emotionlessly. She looked at Madoka. "I'll clear a path, you take care of the Witch. Aim for the top of the Arc."

Madoka nodded, and the two went to buisness.

A pair of grenades exploded in the middle of the mess of familiars, sending the body parts they contained flying in several directions as the two Magical Girls raced through the newly made hole in the group. A pair on the right were blown apart by a shotgun blast, while others closing in from the left were holed through by a volley of arrows. As the two blasted through, Homura quickly turned around and stopped any attempt at pursuit with a burst of gunfire and a small block of C4.

Meanwhile Madoka continued to run towards Izabel dodging or destroying familars along the way. An explosion behind her heralded the destruction of a few dozen more familiars. Madoka finally got within range, and aimed her bow at the creäture perched on top of the Arc. Her arrow lengthened and glowed before shooting out, skewering the Witch.

The Arc exploded as the Witch screamed and the Barrier collapsed, leaving nothing but a Grief Seed.

Homura walked up to her. "Are you alright Madoka?" She asked.

Madoka almost didn't hear her. She was still going over what had happened in her head. She had beaten a Witch. She could fight now. She wouldn't be useless anymore, she could help people. Homura wouldn't suffer again because of her, no one would.

"I did it..." She almost whispered.

"Hmmm?" Homura questioned.

"I did it!" She cried, overcome with emotion as she grabbed Homura with a bear hug. "I did it! I can help you now, I'm not useless anymore!"

"Did we, do it?" Homura whispered as she was carried down by Madoka's ribbons after her first fight with a Witch.

"You did it!" Madoka cried, hugging Homura joyously, ignoring the girl's suprised yelp. 'You were amazing Homura-chan!"

Of course, a few weeks later, she would see Madoka as a Witch for the first time.

"Well done." Homura said. Then she turned away.

Madoka deserved this moment, she didn't need her tears to ruin it.

"I agree, that was quite impressive." A voice rang out.

Both Homura and Madoka turned to the voice. Madoka gasped.

Standing there in her outfit was Mami Tomoe, with Kyubey not far behind.

"Regardless I would still like to know, just who are you?

A/N: If there are any OOC moments or any other problems with this fic please tell me. I can't fix things if I don't know that they're wrong in the first place.