Ranbu Escalation (PMMM/Gaim)

[X] Homura should use her magic. Maybe Sid won't be able to get enough information out of it.

Reluctantly, Madoka turned back towards the Familiars on the stage.

The one that had fallen out of sync, the one being torn apart, had stopped making any noise. The rest of the Familiars were tearing it apart, taking vaguely flesh-like organs and steeling clockwork gears and re-organising them, as if they were building up another creature.

Those things...

They had fallen on one of their own with a level of brutality which made Madoka feel sick. How harsh would they be against a Magical Girl who wasn't one of them, here to slay their...

...What was the relationship between a Witch and the Familiar, anyway? The Witch makes the Familiar, but were they subservient to it, or independe-

No, no, Madoka had to focus on this. Even if she really wanted to think about anything other than the idea of the monsters here killing each other and anyone else. It wasn't a pretty thought but Homura was relying on her for some advice, and she had to live up to that as much as she could.

"...Forget about Sid." Madoka decided. "It's... He's suspicious, but don't take risks if you don't have to. If your magic means you can beat the Witch without being hurt, then use it."

"I..." Homura started, looking at her shield as she trailed off. "...I could do both if I was better-"

"Don't worry about it." Madoka interrupted, before Homura could continue. "Maybe you could do better. Maybe not. If there's only so much you can do, then there's not any point worrying about what else you could have done. You'll just need to get better later and do more. And until then, if all you can do is be safe, then that's enough."

Homura gave Madoka another look which the pink-haired girl couldn't really place. It seemed almost... Somewhat like some kind of admiration. She hadn't said something that admirable, had she?

Looking back towards the stage, Homura closed her eyes, and reached for her shield.

"...W-When time starts again, the labyrinth will be gone." Homura explained, briefly. "I-I mean, not entirely, b-but when the Witch d-dies, the barrier will f-fall apart. We'll end up in the alley again. Next to..."

Homura trailed off, as she looked back towards Sid. Sayaka and Hitomi were keeping their distance from anything, but were looking over at Madoka in what looked like, as far as Madoka could tell, a concerned look.

"...Alright, then." Madoka nodded. "Be safe Homura, okay?"

Homura nodded, vigorously. "I-I will!"

Staring ahead with some kind of determination, Homura reached out to touch her shield-

-And the sound of an alarm blaring fills the air, as the space Homura was in a moment earlier is filled with empty space. The sound of chains hitting the ground join the alarm, a desperate thing, the sound being less of an alarm clock and more of an emergency alarm.

The world around Madoka was dissolving, as she looked around, and she heard shocked cries over by the entrance to the labyrinth. Homura hit the ground in the centre of the stage, surrounding by the dissolving Familiars, a bloody red staining the arm that her shield wasn't on.

Madoka's heart stopped as she realised why exactly Homura's arm had been stained red, and the pained sound that the Magical Girl made as she clutched at her arm.

The world around Madoka fizzled away completely, and a moment of blindness passed, before she found herself standing in that alleyway again. Two voices nearby gave a surprised exclamation, but Madoka blocked them out, as she reached out to grab Homura.

"Are you okay?" Madoka asked, frantic, as she took in the closer examination of Homura's arm. The sleeve of her shirt was cut and torn, but not enough for Madoka to get a good look at it. The sections of the cloth that were cut were bloodstained.

She'd been hurt. Even with her magic, she'd been hurt. There had to be-

...Madoka had been able to move in Homura's time stop, when Homura had been touching her. Is that what happened here? Homura had to touch the Witch, and it managed to hurt her while they were in contact?

"I-I'm okay!" Homura insisted, even as her hand shook. The gem on her had darkened considerably since the last time Madoka had seen it. "I-I just need to..."

"Well, then." Sid spoke up, and Madoka's gaze turned to him before she fully realised she was paying attention to him. "I've seen all I need to see. Good luck wi-"

Sayaka stepped forward, and drove a fist into Sid's stomach. The Lockseed Dealer doubled over, his words cut off but a sudden gasp, as Sayaka pushed on, grabbing the collar of his shirt while he was down. She pulled him down further, and Sid's hat slipped off of his head as she did so.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sayaka snarled. "'Oh look a girl's hurt and bleeding, well time to go.' What kind of scum just-"

She didn't get any further, as Sid swept his leg forward, hitting the back of Sayaka's knee and throwing off her balance. Hitomi gasped, and quickly stepped in, catching Sayaka before she could fall. The blue-haired girl's grip slipped, and Sid took a moment to collect his hat.

"Careful, little girl." Sid warned. "If you keep this up, I might think you were under the delusion that your opinion mattered. As the responsible adult, I'd have to correct that delusion. If you want to question what I'm doing, grow up first."

Walking out of the alley, he adjusted his hat, trying to tip it just right.

"Fortunately, as the more mature person here, I think I'll be nice and keep my end of the deal anyway." Sid continued, pulling his unmarked Lockseed from his pocket. "Just a suggestion? Maybe don't give me a reason to discipline you, if you want it to stay that way."

And with that, he relocked the Lockseed and left.

"...Fucking asshole." Sayaka spat, as Hitomi helped her get her footing again.

Madoka stared after the place Sid had exited, trying to calm her breathing.

...There hadn't been any reason for that. Sayaka had hit him first, but there was no reason to leave when Homura looked like she was hurt, and the way he was talking when he left wasn't necessary at all. If he had been trying to discourage Sayaka from hurting him again, that would have been one thing, but he didn't need to be condescending and threatening about it.

But enough about Sid. Madoka had bigger things to worry about.

"Homura." Madoka spoke louder, drawing attention towards the Magical Girl and away from Sid's exit. "How b-"

No, not 'How bad is this,' that would be bad. It put focus on the found being bad. Keep it positive, keep it...

"Are you okay?" Madoka tried. Yes, better, puts the focus on the word okay rather than bad, much better.

Homura took a moment to look at where Sid had tripped Sayaka, still somewhat spooked, but took a moment to breath as she looked to Madoka.

"I-I'm fine." Homura muttered. "M-Magical GIrls can h-heal. Just let me..."

She took another breath, and moved her hand over her arm, slowly. The gem on her hand darkened slightly more as she did so, but Homura let out a sigh of relief as she did so. Eventually, she reached her wrist, and her brow furrowed before she lowered her hand.

"I... T-Think my wrist is broken." Homura admitted. "I d-don't know... I need more time to f-fix it. A-and... Not here."

"...Are you certain?" Hitomi asked, stepping forward. "You... Are you sure you don't need help? I could help, if you need someone to bandage it until you get a chance to look at it, or let it heal."

"I've h-had worse..." Homura stated. "It d-doesn't hurt as much as... It doesn't hurt much."

Sayaka looked like she wanted to say something, for a moment, but decided against it.

"Well, that was weird." She eventually muttered, struggling to keep the frustration out of her voice. "What the hell did you do in there, anyway? You did something similar in class, you were grabbing Madoka and then you were in your seat, and then you're standing at the side of the stage and suddenly you're in the middle and hurt..."

Homura winced, and looked pained for a moment. Seeing this, Madoka spoke up again.

"Does it matter?" Madoka asked. "She fought the monster, and it's done. The specifics don't really matter."

"...I guess." Sayaka grumped. "We should head home, soon. Or people'll start asking questions."

"Do you need help getting home?" Madoka asked, looking at Homura.

The girl in the glasses stopped for a moment to reach down, and grab a small item off the ground.

Oh, right, the Grief Seed. Madoka hadn't seen what happened to that.

"I-I'm fine." Homura replied. "I... I'll just head home m-myself. It's fine, y-you should get home first."

"...If you insist, then." Madoka sighed. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

Homura nodded.

"Are we meeting to dance again tomorrow?" Hitomi asked. "I still have the Lockseed Sayaka won from Team Danza. Should you take that, Sayaka?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head.

"There's something I need to do before I can meet up." Sayaka replied. "You two keep the Lockseeds, I might take a while. Hey, maybe one of you could do an Inves Battle while I'm gone, try it out."

Hitomi took a moment to consider it.

"I don't know about that, but we do have two Lockseeds. Madoka, do you want to practice while we wait for Sayaka?"

"I-I know a place!" Homura spoke up. "There's... Uh..."

Homura took a moment to realise that everyone was looking at her, and she stepped back.

"...Just text me where after school tomorrow." Madoka suggested. "And make sure you deal with your wrist. If you can't heal it, at least bandage it."

Homura nodded.

"I-I should go now." Homura said. "Bye, Madoka! B-Bye, Miss Shizuki, Miss Miki!"

And with that, Homura left.

"...Odd." Hitomi noted. "She's on first name basis with you, but last name for the two of us?"

"I-I don't know what to say." Madoka stammered. "I d-don't understand how she t-thinks. I-I mean, if she keeps relying on me of all people..."

"Oh, stop that." Sayaka cut in. "Listen, I don't know what's up with Akemi and I don't trust her at all, but cut it out with that. You stood up for her when I was trying to figure her out, and you were the first person helping her when we saw her injured. You're doing fine, Madoka."

"I... If you say so, Sayaka..."

The blue haired girl looked away, and sighed.

...That didn't satisfy her at all, did it?

"Well, today's been a day, that's for sure." Sayaka continued. "See you tomorrow, then."

Sayaka left after that, leaving only Madoka and Hitomi behind.

"...A lot has happened today, hasn't it?" Hitomi mused. "Certainly, it's been exciting."

"Yeah..." Madoka repeated. "I just hope Homura's okay..."

"...That was certainly one of the more surprising parts of the day." Hitomi admitted. "Who knew that Magical Girls were all doing something like this and nobody knew? Perhaps Team Danza has a good reason for not spreading the method of becoming one to everyone..."

...Madoka hadn't told either of her friends what Homura had told her about the Kyubey thing, had she?

Perhaps Madoka should talk to Homura about possibly bringing the topic up to Sayaka and Hitomi. Madoka didn't know what would cause someone to be targeted by Kyubey, and the example Homura gave should mean that the two of them were cautious about trusting it, but Madoka hated having to keep information from her friends.

"Sayaka was right, you know." Hitomi said after a moment. "Madoka, you're surprisingly strong when it comes to looking after someone else, aren't you?"

...Eh?

"I wouldn't say that..." Madoka replied. "I'm just doing my best not to let people down. It's hardly being strong when I'm only doing it because someone needs me to, is it?"

Hitomi smiled. "I don't really see the difference. Perhaps you should think about it some more, Madoka."

"...Perhaps I should."

And with that, the girls all returned home. When Kaname Madoka comes to her home, and dinner is prepared, she finds she has time to spend with family. Do they talk about the events of today?

[X] Some. The rumour of a Magical Girl in Madoka's class had spread far, and Madoka's family watches the Inves game, so it was unavoidable...
[X] Not everything, but a lot. Madoka couldn't tell them what Homura had told her in confidence, but they deserved to know about the Witch...
[X] Write-in.