Sunset ^beta

Maybe Madoka was just dreaming. After all, she'd been having strange dreams and nightmares lately. Once she dreamed of Sayaka wielding swords and battling a creature made of shadows. Sometimes she dreamed of a blonde girl with ribbons and muskets or a red-haired girl wielding a strange spear. Another time she dreamed of the transfer student Akemi Homura standing among rubble and firing a frighteningly large rocket launcher. Yet those weren't the worst - those were the vague nightmares in which her body simply exploded in despair and it was such a painful transformation, but she had to save everyone, had to save the world, had to save Homura—

She slapped her cheek, and it hurt. So this wasn't a dream. She really had no idea where she was.

The sky was in sunset, but it was also a far deeper red than Madoka ever thought possible, and all around her were red lily flowers. She rubbed her eyes; she was supposed to meet up with Sayaka and Hitomi after school, and even if the discussion with her teacher had taken longer than expected, it couldn't have been this late already. But upon leaving the school building, she had seen that transfer student heading around to the back, and for some reason, Madoka decided to follow her.

Even so, since when did the school have a garden like this?

"Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep…" Madoka muttered to herself. But of course, it was difficult to sleep well when she kept having nightmares. She took out her phone, but there was no signal. She frowned; that had never happened while near the school. But was she still near the school? She glanced behind herself, but she didn't even see any signs of the school building. Just more red lilies with petals like spider's legs.

She shut her eyes tightly, trying to calm herself. She had to think about this rationally. She remembered leaving the building. She remembered seeing the transfer student, and after that… She couldn't remember. Her blood ran cold; she honestly, truly could not remember. Here she was, surrounded by blood-red flowers under a blood-red sky, and she couldn't remember anything.

"Madoka?"

She turned at the sound of that voice, and behind her stood the transfer student Akemi Homura. "Homura-chan!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Homura, and she couldn't think of anything else but how happy she was to see Homura again.

But her cheeks flushed as realization dawned on her, and she quickly released Homura. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Homu— I mean, Akemi-san!" Madoka stammered. "I don't—"

"You can call me Homura," the transfer student said quickly, but there was a kind of strange wistfulness in her dark eyes. "Are you hurt?"

Madoka's fingers tightened around the straps of her schoolbag, and she wished her heart would stop racing so fast. "I'm fine, I think."

"That's good to hear." Yet Homura's stoic expression didn't change. She was dressed oddly too, in a white shirt that almost looked like a sailor's uniform but not quite, and her black stockings also held a purple diamond pattern. However, the strangest was the gleaning shield on her left arm and the violet gem on her hand. It was the same outfit Madoka had seen so many times in her dreams.

"Um…" Madoka tried to say. Embarrassing as it was, being so forward with Homura and embracing her and calling her by her given had felt so… familiar. As if they had once been friends.

Her chest tightened. No, something more than that too.

Homura stepped closer to Madoka. "This is a witch's labyrinth," she said, answering one of Madoka's many unspoken questions. "I'll keep you safe, and once I defeat the witch, we'll be free of this place."

Madoka's eyes went wide, and an image of the terrifying monsters from her nightmares flashed in her mind. "Defeat? You mean you fight witches?"

"Yes." Homura held up her left hand, upon which was that violet diamond-shaped gem. "I'm a magical girl, so my duty is to fight witches." She spoke so plainly, but Madoka couldn't ignore the hint of bitterness to her voice. "So please, stay close to me and let me handle things. I'll protect you."

Those words felt so familiar, and yet a hollow pang ached in Madoka's chest. She had to help Homura, but how? She was just a normal girl, after all. Thus she said instead, "I trust you, Homura-chan," and again Homura's name felt so right on her tongue.

Maybe it was just Madoka's imagination, but a pained expression crossed Homura's face, and once more she had that stoic, somber air about her. "Then let's be going," was all she said.

As they walked, Madoka kept close to Homura, and the red lilies grew larger and more numerous, almost like spiders. Homura followed no obvious path, but the gem on her hand sometimes glowed, and when it did, she began walking in that direction. Madoka shivered. It was almost as if the two of them were delving deeper and deeper into some kind of hell.

Something moved, rustling the red petals, and startled, Madoka jerked back, bumping into Homura. "What's wrong, Madoka?" she asked, an edge of fear to her voice. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine!" Madoka said, blushing. Again she noted how familiarly Homura spoke her name, and she didn't want to admit to being startled by something as mundane as the wind. Instead, she asked, "Um, how did you become a magical girl? Is it something anyone—?"

"Only the truly desperate should become magical girls," Homura interrupted, her gaze frighteningly sharp. "You and Miki Sayaka have no reason to."

Madoka opened her mouth to protest, but no words came. Was she too weak to become a magical girl? What did Sayaka have to do with all this? But when she saw just how very cold Homura's gaze was, she found she couldn't speak.

Yet Homura's expression softened as her face fell. "I'll… tell you more when we get out of here."

Madoka tried to smile. "Do you promise?"

Homura touched that strange violet gem on her hand, but otherwise said nothing. She motioned for Madoka to continue following her, and Madoka complied without argument.

As they walked, Madoka stared at Homura's hand instead of the blood-red flowers blooming all around them. Even in such a desolate place, she found herself longing to hold Homura's hand, the hand of a girl she barely knew. Yet the more she stared, the more she longed to feel Homura's fingers between hers, that soft, warm skin against hers.

As her cheeks burned, Madoka was thankful to be behind Homura. She'd once told Sayaka and Hitomi about her dreams of Homura, and Sayaka had teased her about having a cute crush on the new transfer student. She laid her hand over her chest. Maybe this was just a silly infatuation. But even so, she truly, honestly wanted to hold Homura's hand.

Inhaling a deep breath, she tried to reach for Homura's hand, but in that moment, the labyrinth began to shift.

Red spider lilies erupted from the ground, separating Madoka from Homura, and petals flew wildly around them. "Homura-chan!" Madoka cried out, but red obscured her vision. She tried to push forward, but thorns were hidden underneath the petals - wait, lilies weren't supposed to have thorns, Madoka thought - and something curled around her leg, dragging her to the ground. With a grunt she tried to yank her leg free, and as sudden white-hot pain shot through her body, she couldn't help but scream.

"Madoka!" came Homura's frantic voice, and petals scattered as a large hunting knife cut through the wall of flowers. Homura came into view, and as soon as she saw Madoka, her eyes went wide. "Oh, no, not again…"

Madoka tried to stand, but her leg wouldn't move. Carelessly she dusted fallen petals from her leg, and the thigh-high stocking was torn to shreds. She grabbed another petal, but again a sharp pain coursed through her body, and then she realized: a lily plant, like all those that covered this labyrinth, was growing out of her flesh.

Homura dropped her knife and knelt beside Madoka, tears pooling in her dark eyes. "Madoka, I…" she tried to say.

But Madoka wasn't listening. Flowers were growing out of her leg. Or was her leg turning into flowers? She didn't know. She didn't want to know. Yet she tried to pull them out, but it hurt, it hurt so much. She couldn't even tell if she was bleeding, the flowers were red as blood, and this had to be a nightmare, just another nightmare, no different from all the other nightmares she'd suffered since Akemi Homura transferred to her class—

Madoka didn't realize she was screaming until Homura embraced her, and she didn't know if the tears on her cheeks were her own or Homura's. "Homura-chan?" she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Homura cried, and the sight of her tears almost felt nostalgic. More than once Madoka had dreamed of Homura crying, and still she didn't know how to comfort the other girl.

But she had to do something, small and futile as it would be.

"Homura-chan," she said gently, laying her hand on Homura's dark (and very soft, Madoka couldn't help but notice) hair. "It's all right."

"No, it's not!" Homura seized Madoka's shoulders, and the sight of her so frantic filled Madoka with familiar grief. "You've been cursed and there's nothing I can do anymore…!"

Madoka risked glancing down at herself; both her legs were more flower than flesh now, and her left arm was beginning to transform too. It was a grotesque sight and maybe she wanted to vomit, but instead she just felt hollow. After all, how many times had she faced death in her own nightmares? If she kept telling herself this was just a nightmare, then she could at least pretend she was managing to comfort Homura. "I… dream of you a lot, Homura-chan," she said without thinking. "Even before we met."

"You'd probably be happier if we never met," Homura muttered, a darkness to her voice Madoka didn't quite understand. "But that's why I can't give up. I have to make things right."

With her good arm - her still human arm - Madoka raised a shaking hand to touch Homura's tear-soaked cheek. "Have we met before?"

A broken smile came upon Homura's lips. "You don't remember, but you saved me, a long, long time ago." And again she broke down, sobbing into Madoka's chest.

Madoka put her arm around Homura and saw red lilies beginning to emerge from her fingertips. She was dying and Homura was grieving, and still they tried to comfort each other, small as it was. How many times had they faced death like this? She couldn't remember.

She shut her eyes, but tears still burned. She was dying. She would never see her friends or family again. She would never be able to hold Homura again.

"Homura-chan," she forced out; it was hard to breathe, as more than half her body had transformed into those red spider lilies. "You said… you said there's a witch, right…?"

Homura's eyes went wide as she clutched her shield to her chest. "Yes, but I can't leave you…!"

"But you have to defeat that witch!" Madoka exclaimed as her vision blurred. "Otherwise someone else might get cursed too…"

A range of emotions flashed across Homura's face, emotions that Madoka almost recognized but not quite, and finally she sighed. "You're right," she said. "I must defeat the witch. Goodbye, Madoka."

With the last of her strength Madoka seized Homura's arm and pressed her lips against Homura's, trying to savor that familiar warmth. Maybe Madoka had kissed Homura in more than just her dreams. "Thank you, Homura-chan."

Homura was still a moment longer, as if hesitating, and she turned her back to Madoka, leaving fallen petals of red spider lilies in her wake.

Madoka tried to smile, and as her eyes fell closed, she tasted flowers.