First Word
Hyp3rB14d3
Gotta catch 'em all!
As you stared at the storm clouds spread across the sky, your hand drifted to your shield. It was almost time. You were prepared. You would do it this time. Really.
Walpurgisnact would be arriving within the next few minutes. Just like it always did. And you were prepared to fight it. Just like you always were.
It would be different. It had to be. For Madoka's sake.
Like always, you had spent the month preparing. This time, you had managed to ally yourself with Mami. You had done it early on enough that you had been able to prevent her from scouting Madoka. Unfortunately, that hadn't stopped Kyubey from pegging her as a potential and making the offer, though you had managed to talk her into holding off on making a wish. Still, he was likely trying to convince her to wish even now.
You forced that particular concern to the back of your mind. As long as you managed to take down Walpurgisnact, she wouldn't make a wish. You had to believe that.
Your eyes drifted to Mami. You had managed to keep her alive this iteration. You had long since learned that if she could be kept from finding out about the truth of Puella Magi and of Witches, Mami could prove an invaluable ally. Unfortunately, gaining her trust, keeping her in the dark, and keeping her from dying before Walpurgisnact arrived were all difficult to accomplish, making her a rare ally. Still, you had somehow managed it this time around.
With Mami still alive, Kyouko had never shown up to assume her territory. That was fine. Based on past experience, she would likely arrive on her own midway through the fight. If you could stay alive until then, and keep Mami from dying as well, you stood a good chance of success.
...Well, maybe not good, but they were significantly better odds than you usually dealt with.
A mist began to rise from the ground, and you readied an RPG. It wouldn't do much other than serve as a distraction, but then, that was what you were planning to use it for anyway.
A familiar ran by. You ignored it, keeping your aim steady. More familiars approached, ignoring you as steadfastly as you were ignoring them. And suddenly, the witch appeared.
You fired. Your attack hit dead on, slamming into Walpurgisnact before it could react. Or perhaps it simply ignored the attack because it wasn't a threat. Either way, the attack failed to inflict any damage.
That was fine. You were just providing cover fire so Mami could approach unnoticed.
You quickly sent a second and third RPG flying toward Walpurgisnact, but the witch continued unhindered.
"TIRO FINALE!"
Suddenly, a huge explosion tore into the witch, sending it flying in a way your RPGs never could. Immediately, you withdrew a pair of automatics and leapt into the quickly forming horde of familiars. You needed to remove them from play quickly. Were you alone, you might have delayed fighting them in favor of focusing on Walpurgisnact, but stray familiar attacks have always been the most common source of death for Mami during Walpurgisnact fights. And you needed her alive.
You let yourself go on autopilot, ingrained reflexes driving your body as you slaughtered your way through the familiars. In the distance, you spotted a building starting to tear itself from the ground. Walpurgisnact had started fighting back.
Just as you finished off the familiars, you caught sight of a red blur streaking through the city. Kyouko, arriving earlier than you expected. A surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Tossing your guns aside, you withdrew your sword and charged after her.
As you approached the giant witch, you noticed how quiet it had become now that you had stopped shooting. It was too quiet. Something was wrong.
Why wasn't Mami shooting anymore?
The answer came to you in the form of the body of a young girl, head crushed under part of a building. A blond drill peaked out from the rubble.
Kyouko passed it by without slowing, either not noticing it or not caring.
Normally, you would have done the same, at least until Walpurgisnact was dealt with. But for some strange reason, you couldn't. Not this time.
"Mami?" someone asked, sounding shocked. It took a moment for you to realize you were the one that had said it. A horrible pain began to spread in your chest. You didn't have time for this. You needed to get back to the fight. Mami was dead, but you still had Kyouko. You still had a chance.
You forced yourself to turn, but everything felt wrong. Detached. As if you were viewing the scene from afar instead of from the middle of it.
You caught sight of Kyouko, falling through the air, but it wasn't until you spotted the hole through her chest that you understood what you were seeing.
Everything began to seem less real. Like you were watching a video, or playing a video game. The camera even seemed to zoom out, making everything look smaller.
Your sword felt different. You looked at your hand, and realized you're wearing a guantlet. No, not just a guantlet, you were wearing armor.
Then you saw your reflection in the glass of a nearby building. A massive, armored mermaid looked back at you. Because of course it did.
You are not Homura Akemi.
You are S̗̅ͯͩ͋̎a̵̰̻̦̝̦̖̪͑̈́ͪ̀̀y̨̤̮͇̠̹̩͂ͥȃ̤̜̯̙̖̰ͯ̒͘k͊̇̄ͣ͘ă̳̔͗̈͂́ ̤̜́̈́͒͢M̭͍̩͙̬̬̪̀i̲͓̽̆k͓͚̻̒̃̀̉̆ͮ̈́̕i, and you have not made it through a single iteration without witching, dying, or both.
And now you can't even turn back time to undo your failure.
As you felt despair begin to overtake your consciousness, you heard a familiar voice talking. Madoka.
You couldn't understand what she was saying, but you knew it was her. In an instant, the detached feeling vanished. You looked around, and quickly spotted her talking to Kyubey. 'No! She's wishing!'
You rushed forward, all other thoughts forgotten, hand gripping tightly on the hilt of your sword. You had to kill him before he could grant her wish. Before he could ruin her life like he'd ruined the lives of so many other girls. The way he'd ruined yours.
A figure stepped out from behind a piece of rubble. Your sword flashed out before you could consciously consider how to react.
As you split her in twain from the shoulder to the hip, recognition struck. Hitomi.
Horror filled you, but you didn't stop moving. Your sword raised itself before you. You were almost there.
For a moment, you felt a grim hope. That you were going to kill the Incubator before Madoka could wish.
And then, in utter defiance of your mind's commands, your body turned and slashed at Madoka.
"NOOOOOOOO!" you scream, yanking at your blanket. "NOOOOO! NOOO! NOOOOOOO!"
Your wailing awakens your parents. Despite how late it is, both of them are reassuring you in under a minute. They're here, they tell you. You were just dreaming, and everything is okay. To your shame, it's not until they've taken you out of your crib and spent several minutes rocking you that you calm down enough to realize you haven't failed, witched, and murdered Hitomi and Madoka. And even after realizing this, it takes you a long time to stop crying. Because even though it was just a dream, you are still Sayaka Miki. And you have died or witched in every preceding iteration. It's so stupid. You know there's more to it than that, that you're really Homura Akemi. But right now, you certainly don't feel like her.
When you finally do stop crying, your parents return you to the crib. Then your dad turns to your mom. "Hey. I just realized. Sayaka just said her first word."
[] Arts and Crafts and Secret Fight Club.
[] Kindergarten.
[] A violin performance.
[] A religious awakening.
[] Transfer Student.
[] Something else? {Write-in}
Walpurgisnact would be arriving within the next few minutes. Just like it always did. And you were prepared to fight it. Just like you always were.
It would be different. It had to be. For Madoka's sake.
Like always, you had spent the month preparing. This time, you had managed to ally yourself with Mami. You had done it early on enough that you had been able to prevent her from scouting Madoka. Unfortunately, that hadn't stopped Kyubey from pegging her as a potential and making the offer, though you had managed to talk her into holding off on making a wish. Still, he was likely trying to convince her to wish even now.
You forced that particular concern to the back of your mind. As long as you managed to take down Walpurgisnact, she wouldn't make a wish. You had to believe that.
Your eyes drifted to Mami. You had managed to keep her alive this iteration. You had long since learned that if she could be kept from finding out about the truth of Puella Magi and of Witches, Mami could prove an invaluable ally. Unfortunately, gaining her trust, keeping her in the dark, and keeping her from dying before Walpurgisnact arrived were all difficult to accomplish, making her a rare ally. Still, you had somehow managed it this time around.
With Mami still alive, Kyouko had never shown up to assume her territory. That was fine. Based on past experience, she would likely arrive on her own midway through the fight. If you could stay alive until then, and keep Mami from dying as well, you stood a good chance of success.
...Well, maybe not good, but they were significantly better odds than you usually dealt with.
A mist began to rise from the ground, and you readied an RPG. It wouldn't do much other than serve as a distraction, but then, that was what you were planning to use it for anyway.
A familiar ran by. You ignored it, keeping your aim steady. More familiars approached, ignoring you as steadfastly as you were ignoring them. And suddenly, the witch appeared.
You fired. Your attack hit dead on, slamming into Walpurgisnact before it could react. Or perhaps it simply ignored the attack because it wasn't a threat. Either way, the attack failed to inflict any damage.
That was fine. You were just providing cover fire so Mami could approach unnoticed.
You quickly sent a second and third RPG flying toward Walpurgisnact, but the witch continued unhindered.
"TIRO FINALE!"
Suddenly, a huge explosion tore into the witch, sending it flying in a way your RPGs never could. Immediately, you withdrew a pair of automatics and leapt into the quickly forming horde of familiars. You needed to remove them from play quickly. Were you alone, you might have delayed fighting them in favor of focusing on Walpurgisnact, but stray familiar attacks have always been the most common source of death for Mami during Walpurgisnact fights. And you needed her alive.
You let yourself go on autopilot, ingrained reflexes driving your body as you slaughtered your way through the familiars. In the distance, you spotted a building starting to tear itself from the ground. Walpurgisnact had started fighting back.
Just as you finished off the familiars, you caught sight of a red blur streaking through the city. Kyouko, arriving earlier than you expected. A surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Tossing your guns aside, you withdrew your sword and charged after her.
As you approached the giant witch, you noticed how quiet it had become now that you had stopped shooting. It was too quiet. Something was wrong.
Why wasn't Mami shooting anymore?
The answer came to you in the form of the body of a young girl, head crushed under part of a building. A blond drill peaked out from the rubble.
Kyouko passed it by without slowing, either not noticing it or not caring.
Normally, you would have done the same, at least until Walpurgisnact was dealt with. But for some strange reason, you couldn't. Not this time.
"Mami?" someone asked, sounding shocked. It took a moment for you to realize you were the one that had said it. A horrible pain began to spread in your chest. You didn't have time for this. You needed to get back to the fight. Mami was dead, but you still had Kyouko. You still had a chance.
You forced yourself to turn, but everything felt wrong. Detached. As if you were viewing the scene from afar instead of from the middle of it.
You caught sight of Kyouko, falling through the air, but it wasn't until you spotted the hole through her chest that you understood what you were seeing.
Everything began to seem less real. Like you were watching a video, or playing a video game. The camera even seemed to zoom out, making everything look smaller.
Your sword felt different. You looked at your hand, and realized you're wearing a guantlet. No, not just a guantlet, you were wearing armor.
Then you saw your reflection in the glass of a nearby building. A massive, armored mermaid looked back at you. Because of course it did.
You are not Homura Akemi.
You are S̗̅ͯͩ͋̎a̵̰̻̦̝̦̖̪͑̈́ͪ̀̀y̨̤̮͇̠̹̩͂ͥȃ̤̜̯̙̖̰ͯ̒͘k͊̇̄ͣ͘ă̳̔͗̈͂́ ̤̜́̈́͒͢M̭͍̩͙̬̬̪̀i̲͓̽̆k͓͚̻̒̃̀̉̆ͮ̈́̕i, and you have not made it through a single iteration without witching, dying, or both.
And now you can't even turn back time to undo your failure.
As you felt despair begin to overtake your consciousness, you heard a familiar voice talking. Madoka.
You couldn't understand what she was saying, but you knew it was her. In an instant, the detached feeling vanished. You looked around, and quickly spotted her talking to Kyubey. 'No! She's wishing!'
You rushed forward, all other thoughts forgotten, hand gripping tightly on the hilt of your sword. You had to kill him before he could grant her wish. Before he could ruin her life like he'd ruined the lives of so many other girls. The way he'd ruined yours.
A figure stepped out from behind a piece of rubble. Your sword flashed out before you could consciously consider how to react.
As you split her in twain from the shoulder to the hip, recognition struck. Hitomi.
Horror filled you, but you didn't stop moving. Your sword raised itself before you. You were almost there.
For a moment, you felt a grim hope. That you were going to kill the Incubator before Madoka could wish.
And then, in utter defiance of your mind's commands, your body turned and slashed at Madoka.
0o0o0
"NOOOOOOOO!" you scream, yanking at your blanket. "NOOOOO! NOOO! NOOOOOOO!"
Your wailing awakens your parents. Despite how late it is, both of them are reassuring you in under a minute. They're here, they tell you. You were just dreaming, and everything is okay. To your shame, it's not until they've taken you out of your crib and spent several minutes rocking you that you calm down enough to realize you haven't failed, witched, and murdered Hitomi and Madoka. And even after realizing this, it takes you a long time to stop crying. Because even though it was just a dream, you are still Sayaka Miki. And you have died or witched in every preceding iteration. It's so stupid. You know there's more to it than that, that you're really Homura Akemi. But right now, you certainly don't feel like her.
When you finally do stop crying, your parents return you to the crib. Then your dad turns to your mom. "Hey. I just realized. Sayaka just said her first word."
[] Arts and Crafts and Secret Fight Club.
[] Kindergarten.
[] A violin performance.
[] A religious awakening.
[] Transfer Student.
[] Something else? {Write-in}