Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/5061820. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/F Fandom: Mahou_Shoujo_Madoka_Magika_|_Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica Relationship: Akemi_Homura/Kaname_Madoka, Kaname_Madoka/Tomoe_Mami, Kaname_Madoka/Miki Sayaka, Kaname_Madoka/Sakura_Kyouko Character: Kaname_Madoka, Tomoe_Mami, Akemi_Homura, Miki_Sayaka, Sakura_Kyouko, Kyubey Additional Tags: Multiple_Pairings, Magical_Girls, Series_Spoilers Stats: Published: 2015-10-24 Chapters: 2/? Words: 2226 ****** Endless Euphoria ****** by SilverDeadnight Summary Kyubey offers Homura the chance of a lifetime, yet there is always a price to pay -- what would she give to save the lives of her friends? ***** A Deal with the Devil ***** The darkness continued around Homura never seemed to cease, there were times in which she'd find a source of light from a street lamp or two but finding a working one was rare in itself, after all.. she was inside of the destroyed city that she had lived with her friends inside of for the last month, yet for Homura this was the sixth month that she had failed to save Madoka. Five times previously she had to watch her dear friend give up her life, now once more she had witnessed it. Her resolve was waning and her legs felt weak, she knew that she had to do this and that she absolutely must save Madoka but, Walpurgis was so strong and even in some of the timelines where they had all fought together, things always seemed to go wrong. Homura had begun to lose hope in all of this, was her efforts in vain? Would she never be able to save Madoka? While those thoughts lingered inside of the girl's mind, they were soon swept aside and hidden deep within herself when the sight of a certain individual left her with nothing but cold rage. It was the very same devil in disguise that had caused her to end up in this predicament -- who made them all end up in this. Kyubey was sitting atop a large piece of one of the building's rubble, his pink eyes piercing the darkness as they met with the hardened gaze of the time-using magical girl. Homura spoke no words to the creature, she felt that he didn't deserve any acknowledgement with how he treated their lives. To the creature, the girls were just a fuel source, something to be taken care of and then harvested at their prime. It made Homura sick to her stomach even thinking back on it all, wishing that Kyubey lacked the amount of endless bodies that he currently had just so she could end his life and be done with it all. "Would you like to change your wish...?" The voice was as high-pitched as it always was, lingering on the mind for a couple of moments before the question really sunk into Homura's mind. Even when she had begun to contemplate his words, she had already removed a .40 Calibur Glock from behind her shield and lined it's sight with the creature's body. A single shot rang out throughout the air, ripping across the lifeless city and resounding through hundreds of broken walls and destroyed streets. Kyubey made no sound when his body began to fall down off the slab of rock, crumpling onto the concrete below -- not that it mattered much anyway, as another version of himself had appeared to replace the previous, residing next to the old body as it had begun to eat it's own remains until nothing was left. "There's no reason for me to trust you anymore, you already take enough satisfaction in watching me fail over and over again, don't you? What more could you hope for in giving me a chance at changing my wish? Hmph.. it has a cost to it, just as all the wishes do, I'm not too eager to learn what that cost is either." The girl replied after the new Kyubey had arrived, letting her eyes watch the creature feast like some parasite. While hypocritical for her to think, Homura believed she had no time for this, every second that she could spend in her existence could be a single second that could be used to save Madoka's life, as well as the lives of her friends as well. She'd begin to walk further down the street, attempting to scope out better vantage points in the city's structure for the next battle with Walpurgis. If there was anything she could be confident with, it was the fact that every time she turned back the clock and cycled through the month again, she learned a little more against the Witch and the city their battle took place in every last time. Kyubey lingered where he had been when the Magical Girl had turned her back on him and had begun to keep walking, but he did raise his voice again after several steps were taken by her, presenting the very two questions that would lead into the most drastic change of events that could ever have swept Homura and her companions. "What if your battle with Walpurgis never had to happen anymore? What if Madoka would never have to die to it again?" Homura stopped almost immediately and felt her heart almost completely stop when Kyubey produced those possibilities towards her; It was too good to be true, wasn't it? Even so, the creature had her attention again, leaving the raven-haired girl to turn back around and put her gun back inside the void of space within her shield. She'd remove it again only if she felt it necessary - - Kyubey wasn't worth wasting anymore bullets anyway. With a sigh slipping past her lips, she'd stride herself towards Kyubey and lean down to grab it by the scruff of it's neck. A strong pull hoisted the long-eared being up until he was eye level with the girl as he had been in the previous body. "You've five minutes to explain whatever it is you're going on about and if I don't like what you have to say then I'll toss you into the nearest sewer drain." A mediocre threat at best but Homura wasn't privy to giving out empty threats when it came to Kyubey. Knowing that, Kyubey thought it wise to speak up quickly if he wanted to avoid having his 'lovely' white fur tarnished by whatever muck lay beneath the streets of the city. "I can reverse all of this and erase the existence of Walpurgis. Not only that, but I'll also avoid any contact with Madoka and her friends which will give them average lives." There was no hesitation in Homura's mind at this option, speaking up almost immediately with the knowledge that Kyubey had little to lose in betraying them all. "What is the catch? There is always one with you, nothing is ever free. So get to the point! What would I have to sacrifice to make your words reality?" If one didn't know any better, that could almost say that Kyubey was giving a tiny smirk instead of his usual smile. He had ascertained the girl's interest yet again and was sure that this would be his greatest offer yet and the last he'd need to make for a while if all went according to how he wanted. "Your life will be the cost. It will not be given immediately, there is no need to fear that happening. I will give you a full six months with your friends, to enjoy your daily lives together like you would have if I had never arrived to your planet. Once those months are over though, I will return to claim what is mine from this deal." Once Kyubey had finished speaking, Homura had dropped him onto the cold, hard and not to mention cracked ground. She had begun to pace back and forth while thinking over the ramifications of this 'easy route'. What would Madoka think about her if she were to take this opportunity? Would she be happy with a life that meant the loss of one of her friends? Homura wasn't even sure she was worth being thought of as a friend anymore with how selfish her wish had become -- rewinding back time to see her alive again and again, only to intertwine the pink-haired girl with a stronger responsibility in fate. She was about to decline when the idea that this could be a chance to redeem herself and end the cycle rose from the depths of her brain. "I'll do it.. but only under the condition that we will meet where Walpurgis first spawned in this city." It was an odd request to be sure but Kyubey nodded his head to it in agreement, to the creature it made no difference where they would meet -- only that in the end, Homura's life would be gone. With their deal struck, reality began to warp around them by Kyubey's influence and the wish was now -- Granted. ***** The First Day of Tomorrow ***** Chapter Summary Having made her deal with Kyubey, Homura is sent into an Alternate Reality where Walpurgisnacht would never occur and the lives of her friends are to be uninfluenced by Kyubey. With six months to do everything with her friends that she could wish for, what will happen? How will their relationships form now that they would never become Magical Girls?! With only Homura remembering what has happened to them all, will she be able to live normally? Violet eyes begin to open, a new morning had started for the girl named Akemi Homura in a reality that is now her's for the next six months. Hardly believing it herself, the girl sat up from her bed whilst having awoken in her nightwear beneath the covers. Her gaze turned and fixated onto the curtains of her room that danced along the air beside her bed from it's open window, a sight that she was all to familiar with when she had reversed time back to the beginning of the first day of that dreadful month. Should her memory serve her right, today would be her first at the school if everything was to go as it would have without Kyubey's meddling. Without delay, Homura pushed herself free from her covers, stood straight and began to stride her way to her dresser to prepare her clothing for the day. Thousands of thoughts ran through her mind, paranoia clutching at every fiber of her being on what she would witness when she got there, would they really all be able to live peacefully now? "Calm down.. you're just overthinking things." Homura reminded herself verbally while popping on her school top, brushing her hands at the underside of those long black strands of her hair to flick them from out of the shirt's interior and along her back once more. "Just breathe.. you can handle this, no matter what happens.. do it for her." Those words rang out through her room and was an attempt at self-confidence -- she was going to need it. -- Click, click, click, click... the sound of her footsteps were prominent among the empty hallway of the school as Homura headed her way to the Classroom for the first time, but for her this was the seventh time, wasn't it? She stopped in front of the door and checked the clock at the middle of the hallway, protruding down just a little ways from the ceiling to mark the time at 8:14AM. Good, she had a minute before the teacher would call on her to come inside of the room, things were going well so far and there was no sight of Kyubey yet either so that was definitely a plus to all of this at least. Seconds were counted in her mind while watching the long hand of the clock move, waiting until it was directly a minute before she entered inside the room to catch the teacher in the middle of her introduction of a new student. The students of the room all cast their eyes onto her for their first time but it was all nothing new for her, they each had the same gaze towards her as they did the second time she had run through this, befuddlement and awe in their irises like she was some alien among them all. She ignored all the eyes set on her save for one pair, which when met with her own had still left her tight in the chest. There she was, Madoka Kaname. Madoka was watching her with that smile on her face that was always enough to make the time user's heart melt on the inside into a pile of bliss, but Homura would never tell anyone that -- she'd be more inclined to shoot you if you asked. It wasn't just that Madoka held this aura of innocence about her that made Homura want to just run to Madoka and wrap her arms around her friend, it was also the fact that to her, Madoka was probably the most beautiful girl that she had ever laid her eyes upon. Waiting until the teacher had asked her to take a seat after introducing herself, she made her way to the available chair right behind Madoka and lowered herself down at the desk. She was about to put her bag's strap on the back of her seat to keep it safe and away from everyone else's grasp when she heard Madoka's voice raise up in a soft whisper in front of her. "Akemi-san." Madoka spoke, grabbing the Magical Girl's attention. "My name is Madoka Kaname, let's try to get along together, okay?" Having finished speaking, Madoka offered nothing less than a smile towards who she had thought was the new girl at the school, but for Homura to hear those words.. it meant so much more. "I can't wait." Homura returned, fixing her bag onto the back of the chair and then facing forward again in her seat to face the slightly turned girl ahead of her. For the first time in all the times she had gone back in a while, she gave a smile that was honest and true. She was happy to even just get to see Madoka alive and for her to be the one to initiate a greeting instead of her? It was a pleasant new experience and perhaps the greatest way to start off this new life that she was bound to live for the next few months. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!