Ranbu Escalation (PMMM/Gaim)

[X] Homura needed to hunt Witches anyway. Maybe it would be better to get it out of the way..?

Four teenage girls and one old men walked down the road, as the sun began to set. It would have been a suspicious sight even at the best at times, and Homura's anxiousness, Sayaka's clear irritation, and Sid's overall... Sid-ness... Didn't help matters.

It was a good thing there was nobody around, then. The area of Mitakihara they were currently in was part of the business district, where people didn't pass through often when not on work related business, and at this time of day, people had either gone home, or would be dealing with too much work and wouldn't have time to look out the window and interfere with what the group was currently doing.

Homura was leading the way, rubbing the ring on her finger anxiously as she looked around.

Honestly, Madoka wasn't sure if this was such a good idea. But Homura did need these Grief Seeds, and the sooner they resolved this, the better. She was going to be a bit late for dinner, but her parents would understand. Heck, her mother might even be happy at the excuse to tease Madoka over what could have possibly kept her. Nobody else had any pressing obligations, and nobody was going to be in too much trouble if they were out for a bit longer than usual.

Sid's constant, loud footsteps behind the four girls had been something that Sayaka was constantly getting annoyed about, and the four girls had moved into a tight group as they walked, with Sid trailing behind a significant distance.

"I don't like this." Sayaka grumbled, under her breath.

"None of us do." Madoka replied. "I... Sid doesn't really seem like someone we want on our backs."

Hitomi looked back, before looking forward again and speaking in a soft voice. "I don't think he can hear us from back there, if we don't speak up."

"Good." Continued Sayaka. "Honestly, can we even trust him to keep his end of the deal? He seems self serving enough that he might've been lying."

"We don't have much choice." Hitomi continued, wearily. "He might go back on his word. He might not. There's a chance, however slim."

"How do we even know he can make a proper threat anyway?" Sayaka asked. "Sure, magical girl responded like he was, but she-"

"I trust her." Madoka interrupted, predicting where Sayaka was going. "If she seemed scared by the threat, then it's probably real enough that we should try to prevent it."

"...Tch." Sayaka sighed. "Fine, then. Oi, Braids, how long until-"

Sayaka stopped, as she noticed Homura flinch at the nickname, and turned her head to Madoka.

"You ask her." The blue-haired girl complained. "She can't talk to anyone else, apparently."

"Homura?" Madoka asked.

"...I... I think t-there might be one..."

She stopped, and turned to face an alleyway.

"...H-here, maybe?" Homura tried. "I... H-Haven't really done this before..."

Sid's loud footsteps drew closer, and he quickly turned to look down the alley as well.

"Go on, then." He drawled, still holding an unmarked Lockseed in his hand. "Get this over with."

Homura took a few steps towards the alleyway, holding her hands together, before parting them again. On the back of her hand, the small purple gem had returned, somewhat clearer than when Madoka had seen it earlier, but still somewhat cloudy.

...Is that Homura's Soul Gem? Was that dark coverage within it the result of using her magic?

The girl with the braids walked towards the alleyway, and the group followed her in. Homura was hesitant as she walked on, and as she reached a corner in the alleyway.

"...I-It's here." Homura muttered, turning the corner as she did so. Madoka stepped behind Homura, and as the girl with the glasses extended her hand towards the brick wall the alley led to, the initial ripple began. A red circle of energy expanded from roughly on level with Homura's hand, and from the origin point, smoke began to form. The smoke itself quickly parted around the epicentre of the effect, leaving a hole of pitch blackness in the centre of the smoke.

As the red ripple faded away, the smoke solidified around the darkness, and a sigil formed over it. A border of what appeared to resemble chains surrounded a pointed shoe, and Homura's breath grew heavy as she saw it.

"So, that's the labyrinth, then?" Sid asked, right behind Madoka. The pink haired girl felt her skin crawl as she turned around to look at the man, and Homura jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Y-Yes..." She stammered out, her hands shaking as she tried to ball them into fists. "It's... Ugh..."

She takes a moment to look around, before closing her eyes. A purple glow surrounded her, and Sid took note as it faded, altering Homura's costume and forming a shield around her arm.

Opening her eyes again, Homura took a breath.

"R-Ready?" She asked, as she stepped forward.

Madoka took a moment to look over everyone. Sayaka and Hitomi were being quiet, staring at the two dimensional symbol floating in front of the wall. Sid, meanwhile, was starting to look impatient.

"I'm ready." Madoka decided. "Go ahead, Homura."

Nodding shakily, Homura stepped forward, and pushed against the barrier with the hand her Soul Gem was on. A sound rang out, one which Madoka couldn't quiet describe. It sounded vaguely familiar, but distorted. Homura's hand phased through the barrier, and she stepped into the Witch's labyrinth, disappearing from view.

Madoka watched for a moment, and thought.

...There wasn't much room to misinterpret or misunderstand at this point, was there? There definitely was some kind of monster behind there. Something Homura was going to have to fight, and...

...Madoka was starting to feel afraid, watching the hovering portal thing. What could possibly be behind there? Would she be in danger if she stepped through? Would Homura be alright?

"Huh." Sid noted, pocketing the Lockseed he was holding as he stepped towards the circular barrier. "Isn't that interesting..."

He trailed off, clearly considering something, before stepping through himself.

...Homura, Sid, and a monster were all past that entrance, and Madoka had no idea what was going on in there.

Well, even if she felt afraid, she couldn't just stay here, could she? She had to...

Homura would need someone to rely on, wouldn't she? And even if Madoka thought she was the worst possible person to rely on, she was the one Homura had gotten attached to, so she should live up to that expectation.

"I'm going in." Madoka decided, turning to wards Sayaka and Hitomi. Her friends looked at her for a moment, before Hitomi stepped forward.

"Are you sure?" Hitomi asked her, looking at Madoka. "A lot has happened today, Madoka, and I won't pretend I fully understand everything. If you're not sure yourself, there's nothing wrong with just waiting here and-"

"No, I'm sure." Madoka interrupted, looking towards the labyrinth entrance again. Without waiting for her friends to reply, Madoka stepped forward, and entered the labyrinth.

The first thing she noticed was the sound of clicking. It was a constant, rythimic thing, of a dozen clicking sounds happening in unison. Perhaps one or two of the clicks lagged behind, but other than that ,the identical sound kept repeating with identical timing.

Stepping forward, Madoka realised that she seemed to be in another ally, somehow. Except instead of a wall in front of her, there was more open space. Walking forward, the pink haired girl went through the path that would have, if it worked like normal geography, have led her to the street.

Instead, she realised, she had somehow found herself at a dance concert.

It wasn't overly different from the Beat Rider stages, except bigger. Way bigger. From what Madoka knew of concert halls, this looked as if the stage had consumed the seating to expand and pave more way for dancing.

Sporadically, on the stage, there was...

Madoka hesitated to call them dancers, but she didn't know what they were. They were certainly moving in tune with the clicking. They vaguely resembled clocks, somewhat. They all had two hands surrounding their body, rotating in time with the beat, though how they rotated was random. Some rotated both hands in one direction, some moved their hands in opposing directions. One near Madoka moved it's big hand horizontally, and it's small hand vertically.

Madoka wasn't really sure how to describe them, beyond that.

"Wasn't expecting this." Sid said. Madoka turned towards him, standing against the wall by the alley, just in position to be out of sight of the alleyway. Madoka almost asked him where Homura was, but elected to follow his gaze, instead.

Sure enough, Sid was still looking at Homura, who was circling the stage, careful not to touch it. Immediately ignoring Sid's presence, Madoka rushed over to Homura, just as she got to the corner of the stage.

"What's going on?" Madoka asked, as Homura turned the corner.

"...I remember this one." Homura stated, shaking but trying to hide her nervousness. "It's... I-I saw a Magical Girl k-kill this Witch. Don't touch the stage."

Madoka had assumed the stage did something from how Homura was avoiding touching it, but nodded at the confirmation.

"What are those things?" Madoka asked, pointing at the clock-things on stage.

"F-Familiars." Homura replied. "A Witch makes one when it k... When it k-kills someone."

Madoka's eyes went wide at that statement, and she turned back to the stage to see how many of the clock monsters there were dancing there.

...There was at least eight. Maybe more, it was hard to tell, with how they were moving. So this monster in here, it had already killed eight people...

How? Madoka hadn't heard about too many disappearances, especially not with people who would have passed through this area of the city, and most of what she could remember of the reported deaths here were all caused by overwork or suicides-

...Oh. Those weren't all suicides, were they?

Kneeling down, Homura picked up a small rock by the edge of the stage, and examined the Familiars as she did so.

"If I remember right..." She muttered, before holding back her hand and throwing the rock.

The projectile slammed into the smaller arm of one of the Familiars, throwing it off balance and causing it to collapse. Immediately, the Familiars around it let out a sound somewhere between a screech and an alarm going off, and at once, they descended on the one that had fallen. They ripped into it, tearing apart the fallen Familiar, and Madoka looked away immediately.

"...T-The stage is for d-dancing..." Homura stated, looking away herself. "S-Step on it w-without keeping the t-tune, and..."

A pain scream echoed through the labyrinth, and Madoka paled at the thought of what was going on.

"...Those aren't the things you're looking for?" Madoka asked. "Then..."

"T-The Witch is somewhere in the m-middle." Homura explained. "It's not... It's invisible. Overlooked."

"Then how do you..."

Homura took a deep breath, and Madoka gave Homura time to think.

"I-If I use my m-magic, I can g-get it." Homura explained. "I-I can find the e-exact middle while it c-can't move or attack, and..."

She looked over at the entrance of the labyrinth, as she spoke.

"B-But if I d-do that, h-he might be able to figure out t-that my magic is stopping t-time, and then..."

Madoka quickly grabbed Homura's hand, in an attempt to reassure her.

"It's fine." Madoka assured her. "Do you think you could get to the witch without using your magic?"

"...I d-don't know." Homura stated. "F-Fighting might be d-difficult, and the Familiars w-would attack me if I wasn't d-dancing, so..."

She took a shuddering breath, as she looked at Madoka.

"What do I do?" Homura asked. "I don't... I don't know what to do."

Madoka bit her lip, as she looked from the stage, to back over towards Sid. She saw Sayaka and Hitomi entering as she looked over, and looked back to Homura as soon as she noticed.

...Again, Madoka was questioning the wisdom of Homura asking her what to do. She wasn't a good role model or a great thinker. She barely managed to stand up to Sayaka long enough to convince her to trust Homura as much as she had, and even then, Sayaka still didn't trust Homura completely. And she didn't have any more idea of what to do here than anyone else.

But, regardless of the wisdom of Homura's choice of person to rely on, Homura had made her choice, and that meant it was up to Madoka to make this decision, for now.

[X] Homura should use her magic. Maybe Sid won't be able to get enough information out of it.
[X] Homura should have faith in herself. She should be able to fight off everything here, as a Magical Girl.
[X] Homura shouldn't have to make this kind of decision. They'd already shown what everything looks like, he would have to be satisfied with that.