1033/Relighting the Candle

Relighting the Candle
Date of Scene:	13 February 2016
Location:	Homura's Soul
Synopsis:	After Madoka forms a direct emotional connection with Homura, who had fallen into despair and transformed into a Witch, the two relive their mutual past and come to terms with each other's feelings, resulting in a freshly ignited hope for the future.
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Homura Akemi

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Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It's a rush of thought and emotion, an impossible connection between a humble girl with perhaps a spark of the divine and a creature of suffering and despair for whom all hope should have long been lost. It begins formless though intense, as Homura's most recent despair that threw her spirit into chaos and sent her down the spiraling path to destruction crashes over Madoka.

    That intense self loathing and hatred, that feeling that even in what should be her moment of success her mission was doomed to ultimate failure and everything that accompanied it. This is the thing that Madoka had been singularly unable to understand but now it hits her all at once. It's powerful enough that it should crush her beneath it, should smash her sanity like a wooden boat against a rocky cliff in a hurricane. But it does not.

    What it does is evoke an immediate response, resounding cry of sympathetic pain, of mutual hardship and suffering that pours through this channel of pure thought and emotion. It protests against the unfairness, yes, but mostly it just hurts, deep and true and caused by nothing more than the mere knowledge that that pain of Homura's is extant and real, echoing with sympathy and an intense desire to comfort and soothe, to put an end to that suffering.

    In the current formlessness it's Homura's first taste of just exactly how Madoka reacts, has always reacted, to the suffering of those around her.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura thinks it's bad enough that she herself has to bear that pain, and it's intolerable that Madoka has to bear it with her... but for the moment she allows it, and doesn't fight it, because this is what Madoka wants. Whatever Madoka has done... whatever she sold her soul for, Homura wants to honor it, even if her own wish to protect Madoka has now and at last fallen through.

    Homura's anger at Madoka is intense. Not nearly as intense as her Love, which Madoka might see but Homura refuses to fully embrace, but it is there, filled with frustration and anger and hopelessness. Above all of that floats the question... 'Why?'

    ... but then Homura feels Madoka's sympathy, her pain... what she feels for others. Is this what seperates Madoka from Homura? Is this why she's so kind? To take the pain of others as her own... is that what it means to care?

    The emotion is, at first, incomprehensible to Homura, but this is a part of Madoka and she wants to understand it and accept it. It's not really the same as the love she felt for Madoka, the love that Homura is... seemingly afraid of, but she starts to get it. It makes perfect sense.

    In a barren land, that Madoka might recognize as the inside of Walpurgisnacht's barrier, Homura stands, surrounded by various corpses. Some have a Soul Gem, some do not, but one way or another they are all Madoka's. If one were to count, they'd see that they were 98 corpses in this sad, rainy place.

    Homura lifts her hand, inviting. Madoka is here to talk to her, and she came all this way. It's true that Homura had been avoiding Madoka recently... but not because she didn't want to see her. What she feels now, what she expresses now, is welcoming. Please, come in. You'll find me in the deepest part of my despair.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The anger doesn't get an immediate response like the despair did. It is instead met with silence- an accepting silence. Madoka allows that anger and rage to pour out towards her without resentment, because she knows very well why it's there, why Homura would be so angry at her for seemingly spitting in the face of the wish she once made to protect her, a protection that had come to mean from the very power she had so recently accepted.

    'Why?'

    That gets answered immediately and abruptly, as waves of emotion roll through the connection, each tender variation of that which is most powerful: Love. Flashes of memory almost too brief to comprehend but instantly recognizable in whatever this place is, of the two of them dancing, holding each other, consoling each other, snuggling and kissing. With each comes a different nuance, first the unconditional love Madoka first reached out with, followed by a deep love of friendship, a deep affection, and finally a spark of that intensity Homura even now denies herself fully, of passionate romantic love.

    And amongst it all is the singular response to the query itself, 'You.'

    When Madoka herself finally appears amongst the numerous bodies of her defeated and broken self it's not as the radiant Madokami, but as the girl. It might be difficult to notice, that 99th body laying about, but unlike the others this one has not been defeated- at least not yet. She shifts first and then stands, a few dozen feet from Homura, and walks towards her.

    Quietly she walks to Homura's side, only to cast her eyes about on all the wretched figures of herself. But the sorrow and pity that shows in those pools of pink are not for herself, but for the one before her who endured the loss of every last one of them.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    'Me...'

    Homura isn't surprised. Not exactly. Even after she told Madoka that it was hopeless, and even after she expressed her own feeling of worthlessness... Madoka never accepted that. She never would, and Homura knew it. Homura couldn't change that part of her, no matter how much she hated what it meant.

    Emotionally, she is still. She doesn't know what to feel. Is she still angry? Is she happy to see Madoka? Is she afraid? Is she depressed? Probably a bit of each, but all of those things are too much to feel at once, and so she feels nothing, for that moment.

    When Madoka is next to her, Homura speaks. It's a strange voice. It's not that the sound itself is strange, but with it carries all of the meaning and emotions behind it.

    "It's good to see you, Madoka-chan." She can't say that she's 'happy' to see Madoka, because she is anything but happy right now, but having one living Madoka among all of these dead ones... helps. In a way.

    "I guess... I should've known. With feelings like yours... of course this would be your fate. You always did want to protect people. I was denying you that, even as I was trying to protect you." There is a bit of sadness here, but also acceptance. Homura isn't accepting it because she likes it. In fact, it's quite the opposite, she is terrified by it. Yet, this is a part of Madoka, a part of the person she loves most, more than anyone. It's important, because it's a part of her.

    Her feet shift, and she now faces Madoka. "Still... this can't be easy for you." A deep concern wells up. "Isn't this dangerous? To take on this much darkness, and so soon after you contracted. It must be harsh on your Soul Gem. What if it gets too dark?"

    "Please be careful..." Unbidden by Homura, but certainly a part of her despair, is the image of another girl, crying over one of Madoka's corpses, holding it in her arms. This girl isn't the Homura that Madoka knows, but the Homura she saw in the picture. Braids and red glasses and all. Current Homura speaks, "It isn't worth saving me... if you're not alive. Don't kill yourself trying to get me."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "It's good to see you too, Homura-chan." Despite all the awful carnage around her, despite the hurt inside the girl in front of her and the resonating pain she feels as a result, and despite all the swirling emotion in this place Madoka is smiling. Smiling because it really is good to see Homura. Even this much should have taken it's own miracle, and yet here she still remains.

    "I'm sorry. I know this isn't what you wanted for me, but this is what I am." She looks around at some of the bodies, those with Soul Gems. "I think I know now why your felt your mission was impossible, Homura-chan. It became impossible when protecting me started to mean protecting me from myself. But that's my fault too, isn't it? I hope you can forgive me for that."

    That concern is met with assuaging comfort, "It doesn't matter how hard it might be. Maybe it is dangerous, but I'm committed, and I can't believe my prayers will fall on deaf ears. The only thing that could hurt me enough to stop me right now would be to not try."

    She takes a step forward and reaches out, taking Homura's hands in her own. "That isn't going to happen. I'm going to live past today, and so are you. Your prayer was to protect me, Homura-chan, and I won't let your prayers end in despair."

    She starts to walk past Homura, towards the girl this Madoka had never truly met, towards the girl in the braids and the glasses weeping over the body of her only friend. One hand lets go, but the other holds tight, leading her over. "Tell me about her, about you, Homura-chan. Or... yes... show me, instead."

    She looks over into Homura's eyes, "I want to, need to see it. All of it. Please let me understand you."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    "You only had to lose me once. I had to lose you over and over." Homura's anger rises. Her eyes seem to burn at Madoka. Her eyes are actually on fire, since this is a metaphorical space. "98 times! And now... now I have to watch it a 99th time. How can you expect me to bear that when you couldn't even let me go once?!" It's a mirror of the same argument she heard from Madoka... and Homura knows it, but still. She can't be honest about her feelings unless she says that.

    She closes her eyes. The fire goes out. Homura shakes her head. "I do forgive you. I've forgiven you every single time you left me, but that doesn't make the pain go away." She holds her hand over her chest, over her heart. "This breaks, every time I have to see it, and every time I have to pick the pieces up and glue them together, and start over again... but I can't do that anymore. What am I supposed to do now? I can't save you anymore. I can't protect you."

    Madoka takes Homura's hands, and Homura squeezes hers in turn. "You wont...? But how... I don't understand. I don't even know how you're here. This should all be impossible."

    Homura is led by Madoka over to her younger self, her past self. She hears Madoka's request, and looks down at the braided girl. "You want to know? ... how can I express all of that?" She tries to figure out how this works, and remembers the way she transferred her feelings to Endymion. She grabs Madoka's shoulder with her free hand, her other hand still holding Madoka's.

    "Well... it's like..."

    Homura closes her eyes, opens up her memories, and lays out all of them for her. Every detail, every person, every battle against Walpurgisnacht, every fight between Puella Magi, every time the Puella Magi became friends, people that might not even exist in this timeline, every heartbreak, every time she broke down in tears, even all the places where she stopped time just so that no one could see her cry... everything that Homura has felt.

    She gives Madoka exactly what she asks for.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Those purple eyes burn at her, her anger made manifest, and Madoka once more accepts it. "It isn't how many times we've lost each other. It's how many times we've lost each other and been able to let go. In that... I think we're both even with each other at exactly zero." She makes apologetic eyes at Homura, "I am sorry that yours is a pain that's had to stick with you, that you've had to remember each and every one of those times."

    Madoka is told that Homura's heart breaks, and as she does the dark haired girl can -feel- Madoka's breaking alongside it. That shattering and anguish, not a horrible feeling of loss but instead a agony that someone so dear to her should have to endure such suffering over and over again. "You have saved me. You have protected me. If it weren't for you I would never have made it here. If not for you it all would have ended here," a small gesture with her free hand towards the 'here' she means, the 'here' where a not yet Puella Magi Homura cries over the still warm body of her fallen friend.

    "Impossible only means it would take a miracle to make happen. And we both know that magic and miracles are real; but you have to know exactly which miracle you need to make come true. Everything you've taught me, everything you've shown me... it led me to this answer." Madoka's hand goes first to over her own heart and then extends to wave at the entire place around them, not just the current scenery but everything behind it that allows it to be.

    And then the floodgates open, over a decade of not only emotion but thoughts and experiences. All at once Homura is reliving her entire adolescent life over again, every last moment of heartbreak, tears, and sorrow. And this time Madoka is here with her, seeing it beside her, pulling her close in an embrace that isn't real but feels as close as any that is.

    Terrible pain. The physical pain of battle and the emotional pain of being rejected and misunderstood, of seeing friends and loved ones die over and over again. Crushing loneliness that is almost too much to bear as bonds once formed and acted upon are met only with confusion and suspicion. The disbelief and terror as the horrible truth of what Puella Magi truly are is revealed, over and over.

    Bitterness and rage, but mostly bitterness, as the same acts play out over and over no matter how much Homura does to counteract them. Mami awes and dazzles Madoka, and possibly Sayaka with her amazing and elegant fighting, only to die and leave them alone or, worse yet, turning on her friends upon learning they may all some day turn into the Witches she's fought for so long. Sayaka forever mistrustful, only laying off when Madoka forces her to stop. Demanding perfection and purity only to be ground beneath the heel of her own judgmental nature. Kyouko forever rushing in and taking charge, declaring herself a force to be reckoned with and proving it, preaching the values of selfishness only to make a heel turn towards softness, inevitably just too late to make a real difference by it and undo the damage her prior actions had caused.

    Homura herself, time after time turning her back on people she could have once claimed to care about as their glaring flaws rear their ugly heads time and time again, refusing to allow herself to trust anyone as her shattered heart closes itself off to anyone not named Madoka Kaname. And then, of course, there's Madoka herself, whose unfailing kindness always leads her down the path of self sacrificing destruction. A girl whose personality and compassion draws Homura like a moth to flame but can't possibly lead to an end other than misery and death in a world as unfair as the one she lives in. A girl who can somehow simultaneously believe completely the horrors Homura says await her and yet time and time again throw herself into destruction for the sake someone other than herself.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    All of this is taken in by Madoka, Homura's entire past and history with all the excruciating palette of emotion she's endured. Throughout it all she is reacting, responding, not with words but with pure, raw emotion of her own. Almost invariably it's sympathy and compassion, accompanied by a haunting, tormentingly powerful desire to soothe and ease that pain. The bitter cry of anguish that Homura has heard so many times is not uttered, but rather her own personal form of suffering that lies beneath it. It's there, almost omnipresent.

    But it isn't a wholly bad thing. It is pain, yes, but it is the kind of pain that drives action. This isn't a suffering that is wallowed in for eternity; it is not despair. It's the kind of misery that forces action and makes doing nothing impossible. It makes being a mere bystander a non-option. In this impossible metaphorical space Homura can feel it just as keenly as Madoka, for here their emotions are connected intrinsically and perfectly.

    Now, perhaps, she can see what she's been asking Madoka to do for these past months, and understand the intensity of the desire to help she has always felt. This moment, this place; reaching it was an impossible feat, but so too was exposing Madoka Kaname to Walpurgisnacht and having her stand on the sidelines while friends died before her eyes without stepping in and intervening.

    But that impossibility had come true. So, also, has this one.

    That isn't even the end of the revelation, but only the beginning. Because Homura does not experience only the feelings of Madoka, the girl from this 99th timeloop. This place, this metaphorical here and now, is outside of both time and space. Perhaps it is by a quirk of Homura's own time magic, or perhaps it indicative of the bond formed between the two, but both Homura and Madoka are now exposed to the full depth and breadth of every single Madoka that came before.

    Each is different, and yet very much the same. Madoka rescues Homura Akemi, the new transfer student, alongside Mami and it fills her with a joy and pride the likes of which she'd never before had in all her life. Walpurgisnacht is before her, certain death. Homura is behind her, begging her to stay, begging her not to do what she knows she must. A sadness that she has to leave this poor girl behind settles upon her, rivaled within her heart only by the desire to protect this same girl and everyone else by the looming monster. She jumps to her final battle.

    Incredible joy as Homura helps defeat their first Witch together, that this sweet girl has what it takes to spend her nights hunting beside Mami and herself, excited for all memories this new friendship will bring. Pain. Confusion. She used up too much magic, but she had no choice- Walpurgis had to be defeated right then or they were all going to die. Out of nowhere comes grief and despair.

    Torment and agony as Octavia von Seckendorff is defeated, the truth of Witches that Homura had tried to warn them about proven all to real. Icy terror as Mami kills Kyouko and takes aim at Homura. She will not let this tragedy continue to unfold- it's the hardest thing she'll ever have to do, but she kills Mami herself before she can harm Homura. The very depths of despair, her Soul Gem at it's very limit. It's too late to save herself. Even the Grief Seed she's lying about not having won't stop the process that's already begun. Sickening thoughts of selfishness that disgust her. In this moment she hates herself. In this moment the Madoka watching is disgusted, 'I'm sorry I did this to you.' Madoka, in the same funk Homura has been in the last week, only hours ago in the church, begs the poor girl beside her to rescue her and sets her upon an impossible task. She then goes even a step further, throwing salt in the awful open wound and making her best friend kill her so she doesn't have to suffer.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Countless lives as a hapless bystander, watching her friends hurt and die around her while forever being told she must not set herself down the same path they all go down themselves. Before she was happy and confident, but now she's a shell of her former self. Sad, lonely, depressed. Worthless. Good for nothing. A burden. Always having to be protected. Always having to be saved. And when she does, when she finally, inevitably gives in to the (selfish?) desire to help she ends up destroying the person she cares about most. It's almost always Homura. Invariably, if they spend any amount of time together, she is drawn to that cold girl like a moth to flame; a near perfect mirror to Homura's own feelings, only played out one month and a half period set at a time rather than building eternally upon itself with repeated exposure.

    Homura was wrong, of course. She had died before, only to have Madoka return her to life. Never did she become a Witch, before now, but she did die. By now the anguish is familiar, as the purple diamond-shaped Soul Gem explodes into fragments from one cause or another. But in the end, always in the end, Madoka will not allow Homura's death to stick.

    Many dozens of timelines have now passed, but now their endings bear a new foreboding shadow of doom. Homura fights Walpurgisnacht alone and loses, only for Madoka to finish what she started. Doing so consumes all of her magic, and she dies. There is a brief flash of something other than sympathy and sympathetic pain from Madoka- fear. This is the first time she's seen her own Witch in it's world-destroying capacity. The first time she's seen Kyubey casually mention it will take a year, then a month, and then a week for the unstoppable Kriemhild Gretchen to destroy the entire Earth. But this fear is quickly replaced with a mixture of resolve and hope. That is one possible end, but not the only possible end.

    In these, however, is the same vision. Madoka standing on the enormous tree sprouted by Walpurgisnacht in the middle of Mitakihara, while off in the distance Homura fights. It's horrible and cruel, and Madoka can't stand to watch it. But even as Kyubey attempts to spur her into action she holds off, waiting until Homura's fight proves impossible. Sometimes she's right on when this is, and sometimes she jumps the gun, but she does wait, even if only a little while. Even that, though, is awful. Especially when it's a timeline when she knows how much Homura cares about her, and how much she's done for her. Those are the worst of all, because her heart aches and bleeds for her, desperately wanting to step in and either fight alongside her or protect her.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Through all of this the anguish and the suffering seems to be the most prevalent, because the lives of Puella Magi have always been ones of combat and suffering, but alongside that is something else deeply important. Not just what Madoka feels about Homura's situation, but what Madoka feels about Homura herself, and her thoughts. It must be hard to believe, these thoughts, given Homura's opinion of herself. But Madoka does, and always has, thought the world of her.

    Even when she was the girl that Homura might look back on and see as pathetic, Madoka saw as a sweet, innocent soul in need of companionship and friendship. When she was newly coming into her own she saw her as a friend and ally, someone she could trust with both her happiness and her life.

    And when Homura was coldly calculating, trying to find some way to save Madoka from her miserable fate, she saw as powerful, strong, and so often misunderstood by all those around her. Even Madoka herself couldn't understand, but she never held her actions against her. The kindness, the compassion, they're easy to see by anyone who is around Madoka for very long. But what's harder to recognize is the forgiveness that enables them. Homura does something that hurts Madoka. It hurts, but Madoka forgives her. Homura says something awful in a chilling, heartless tone. Madoka rebukes her... but feels terrible about it before the words are even out of her mouth. She doesn't deserve that, and Madoka knows it. She resolves to try not to let it happen again.

    Homura reveals her insecurities and low opinion of herself, and Madoka can't understand why. Here is a girl who does so much to protect people, and to protect her she eventually learns, who in her selflessness(selfish selflessness?) suffers over and over to try and make things right the way she thinks they should be right no matter how much the odds are stacked against her. Though all her flaws, errors, and mistakes Madoka never fails to regard Homura with a high opinion.

    Everything, all of this, comes in a flash. The intensity of it might seem overwhelming, but in this place of pure thought and emotion such things are easily absorbed, if not always easily understood.

    Madoka, who is still holding Homura's hand, looks over to her. "I see it now. All those times. Everything you've done for me, this eternity of suffering you've gone through for me. You really are the most wonderful friend I could ever have asked for." She looks down a little, only to turn her eyes up to Homura's. "Is it any wonder, then? Being able to see myself through your eyes, to feel what you've felt, and knowing myself... I've always loved you, Homura-chan. Every one of those times I've come to love you." She reaches out with her hand, trying to cup Homura's cheek if she'll let her. "Even now I love you, exactly as you are." A brief flash of thought, of Homulilly on her death march to execution, ready to bring curses upon the world and place the kiss of death upon innocents. "Even though you're hurting and lashing out at the world I love you, Homura-chan."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura holds Madoka close, to brace her for what she's about to see if nothing else. Also to provide a bit of comfort, if she can. Like the afforementioned moth going towards the flame, she has gotten burned every single time.

    She still fears what will happen when Madoka sees her own Witch, but who knows? Maybe Madoka has an answer for that, too? Homura still hasn't asked what her wish was.

    She's confused, and almost feels betrayed, as she feels what Madoka felt. Not betrayed by what Madoka is feeling now, but by what she asked of her in the past. Didn't Madoka want to avoid all this pain and suffering? Didn't she ask her to do this? Did she not mean it? Wasn't that what she was fighting for?

    What has she been fighting for this whole time, if not for Madoka? This fight has defined her entire life. To think that could've been a misunderstanding... Homura isn't sure she can handle that.

    ... but doesn't that make the current situation somewhat better? Madoka is empowered now. She can fight, and Homura could still protect her, if she were still a Puella Magi. Maybe she still can just a little, if Madoka takes her Grief Seed... but Homura has suspected since before the fight ended that Madoka hasn't come for that.

    Homura's embrace around Madoka tightens as she realizes that this isn't just pulling in Homura's emotions, or Madoka's current ones... but the emotion of all of the previous timeloops' Madokas. Homura doesn't know what to expect from the surge that is inevitably coming to her, but she imagines that Madoka will want Homura's comfort as much as Homura will want Madoka's.

    Then the moment of the promise comes, and Homura gasps. She never once hated Madoka for asking her to do that, though it killed her inside. It was the turning point for Homura, when she started closing off her heart to others, but she never once blamed Madoka for asking her to do that. She still doesn't. Homura was all too happy to endure anything, if it was for her. Even the pain of destroying her Grief Seed.

    If it wasn't really what Madoka wanted, well, Homura regrets having spent so much time yelling angrily at Madoka and misunderstanding her all over one bad moment... but looking back at her own behavior, she can still understand. She just wishes she knew a long time ago. For a moment, she wonders how much she really ever knew the person she loves so much. There's so much she's missed, so much that she didn't understand.

    The helplessness and worthlessness Madoka feels... Homura knows it too well. She wasn't really protecting her. She tried to, over and over, but can she really ask Madoka to live with the kind of pain that Homura had given into, just a short while prior.

    Then Homura feels Madoka's reaction to Kriemhild Gretchen, and Homura whispers, "I'm sorry... I was afraid to tell you... but I know you wouldn't want that end. I know you wouldn't want to do that to everyone..." A flash of hatred crosses Homura's mind. It's only there for a moment, but it's intense enough to make it clear that Homura would just think that the world was getting what it deserved. Then, after that, is the thought, 'I don't really mean that...'

    Homura feels Madoka's hope. Maybe even then, there might be a way out? But who could defeat a Witch like that? Homura wants to believe... but she also has to be honest with herself.

    Then Homura feels what Madoka feels about her, what every Madoka felt about her. To think that anyone could see Homura that way, that Madoka felt that way about her. Homura had always thought that Madoka was being sweet and kind to Homura the way that Madoka was sweet and kind to everyone... but to think that there were feelings like this behind it... Homura feels a little stupid for not knowing it before, and for even thinking that leaving Madoka behind would be okay, but also happy, because she knows just how much Madoka feels about her.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    The surge of emotion, the two way transfer of the history of Homura and Madoka, comes to an end, and Homura needs a moment to recover. In reality, it's an instant, but even in this metaphorical space she needs a rest after that.

    "So we're tied at zero. Fair enough..." Homura mutters, calling back the earlier comment that Madoka made. "... and now that you've seen my pain, and shared in it, then I guess we're even." There's some comfort in that... that she doesn't have to bear that pain alone anymore. That there's someone else out there who understands, all the love and hate, all the pain and loss, all the disappointed hopes... That Madoka herself is that 'someone else' in question. That it's someone who Homura loves and even trusts...

    "Well... at least you weren't tricked, though I'm not sure if this is any better. Knowing what you know now, having seen the things I've shown you... are you still okay with this?" It may be a meaningless question, in this moment, when it is well and truly too late to stop it... but Homura needs to know. She needs to know that Madoka is really okay with this, and everything she just saw.

    Madoka cups Homura's cheek, and Homura smiles sadly. "No... I called Mami ahead of time and told her there was a Witch here, and even my Witch wanted to... I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't hurt people... " Granted, her dying would've hurt Madoka, but... "... as far as I could avoid it, anyways."

    She'd rather die first. The feeling that accompanies that thought isn't depression, but conviction. Homura, like Madoka, has always been ready to sacrifice herself, if something was important enough. This was just an extention of that, if an uncomfortable one.

    "So now you know... you know my life story, far more than anyone else ever has. Maybe you don't understand why I'm hard on myself, but honestly... I can't see why you'd feel worthless either, because you're wonderful, and I will always love you."

    The way Homura feels it, Madoka being wonderful isn't an opinion. It's an objectively measurable fact. A calculated and proven thing. It only makes sense that Madoka would be loved by Homura. She should be loved. She measures up, fits the standard, and there is no one like her.

    Madoka's own kind and gentle love is... different. Homura needs a moment to understand it. Maybe she once felt that way, many timelines ago, before she was broken over and over... but Homura's own love is different. A darker, colder thing, and capable of anything, even horrible things. Homura was afraid to face it before, but Madoka deserves to see it...

    So Homura shows her. The real feelings she had, but didn't ever fully want to own up to or acknowledge. Even in confessing her love for Madoka, she still felt like she was hiding something. She was afraid of scaring Madoka, and she still is, but Madoka has come so far just to know how Homura feels.

    A darkness washes over the two of them, pushing away the scene of Walpurgisnacht, and leaving them floating in a void full of dim, multicolored lights.

    Homura has been selfish, incredibly selfish, even in her sacrifices, even in the things she has done for herself. She wanted was to be with Madoka again, but there was more to it than that. Even in the way she first stated her wish, Homura wanted Madoka's strength. She was envious of it, not hating Madoka for having it, but hating herself for not having it. Not just Madoka's magical power, but her strength of will too, and the depths of her kindness. Madoka's own wonderful and boundless kindness was like a light, and the closer Homura drew to it the more she recognized just how long her own shadow was.

    That feeling Madoka shared with her before, to do what was right, because she must, because it's her duty. That's what Homura lacked, what she never understood, and what would always divide her from Madoka in the end.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Yet, if Madoka ever made Homura feel small, it was only by comparison, and only because Madoka was so great. Homura never knew before now that Madoka felt helpless, it never even occured to her, because no matter what Homura always saw Madoka as the kind, determined, and brave girl who went up against Walpurgisnacht knowing full well that she was going to die.

    Yeah... even if Homura's wish didn't turn out as she expected, that girl, this girl, who is in her arms right now... this girl was worth making a wish for, struggling for, selling her soul for, and eventually even dying for. Homura perhaps accepted her death all too casually, but she accepted it because it was a price she was willing to pay for Madoka.

    ... but accepted that blinded her to what she really felt. It blinded her to feelings forgotten long ago. It wasn't just that she wanted to save Madoka. She wanted to be with Madoka... it was proof of Homura's feelings for her, unfailing feelings that would never stop. In the end, Homura was motivated by love, even if that love was marred by no small amount of envy, and she couldn't deny that anymore.

    So... she should've held on, and Homura thinks that now, she could, even if it seemed hopeless, because now she has something to hold onto.

    With Walpurgisnacht dead, the fire that was Homura's namesake went out, snuffed like a candle. Her fire was lit only by her determination, by her goal, by her will to do the impossible. After that, she had nothing left... but now, accepting Madoka's feelings, and her own... maybe she could still do it. If the previous candle burnt for 12 years, maybe this one could burn even longer, and with Madoka to share that time with her... maybe she could finaly, for once, be satisfied with that.

    On the other hand, with that feeling, comes the rage. Not at Madoka, this time, but at the universe. That damned entropy-having universe that pushed the Incubators to seek out creatures with emotions. The universe that could only continue by cutting short the lives of Puella Magi. As much as Homura sometimes hated some of them, she had to acknowledge that they were good people... Mami, Sayaka, Kyouko... all of them started with the best of intentions. They didn't deserve what happened to them.

    Most unfair of all was the death and suffering of Madoka Kaname. After about 40-50 timelines in, Homura really did start to feel like the universe itself was conspiring to destroy Madoka. Why? Why hurt someone so wonderful? So kind? So perfectly sweet, gentle, and heroic? Did the universe just hate good people? Was the sight of Madoka so offensive to the stars and the night sky, that they had to snuff her out?

    Was fate really so cruel? Homura could accept such a thing so wicked and wrong, no matter how powerful and all-encompassing it was...

    ...but maybe that wasn't reasonable. Maybe it was only Homura's own failings that led the two of them to suffer over and over. Or maybe this universe, the one she was in now, was just somehow better and kinder than previous ones. Homura will never know now... because she'd never want to give up what she has here.

    "Thank you for coming here... I know it must have been awful, but I can't tell you how much this means to me. I didn't know how much I needed this. If only we could've talked all this through before I became a Witch. I'm sorry I gave up too easily. This wasn't an inevitable end. I was just screwing up..."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    As confusion and betrayal play in Homura's mind Madoka gives a small shake of her head, "I'm sorry, Homura-chan. I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough for you, that I put you through all of that. If I had known how much suffering it would cause you, how difficult that would be, I never would have asked."

    Doubt. Doubt because since she was in the final stages of transforming into a Witch she can't actually be sure of that. Her moment of weakness there was surely far more a failure than any of Homura's.

    Madoka holds onto Homura in their embrace, shifting between accepting and offering support as it's needed. Learning about herself, and how Homura has felt about her through all those past actions, is very strange to her.

    As Homura whispers to her Madoka nods, "I understand. You couldn't have told me before I knew about Witches anyway. The way everyone reacts... I think you've been right about keeping those secrets." Homura has a terrible thought in a moment of weakness, and instantly it's there- that same forgiveness she'd felt from all those past Madoka's. Her head shakes softly, "It's alright, Homura-chan. I know you don't really mean it. It's okay to hurt every once in a while."

    It's funny. The things that Homura has the hardest time accepting and finds shocking are the things that are so obvious to Madoka. It isn't hard to see how she could come to care so much for Homura over and over again. She's always looked out for her, wanted the best for her. What the best for her has meant has changed several times, and Homura has made mistakes, but she's always strived to give Madoka what she believed she wanted. Suffering so much for that- Madoka can't help but respond to such devotion.

    Homura asks her if she's okay with the way things are, and Madoka can't quite help herself. She giggles. "Of course I am. Didn't I already tell you earlier? What matters is that I'm together with you. Homura-chan, don't you see it? Seeing everything that you've done for me, it only makes me care about you more. It proves I've made the right decision. For someone who has done so much for me, for someone I care about so much, how could I abandon you to a fate like this?"

    Homura would rather die than hurt people and Madoka is almost moved to tears, "You are such a wonderful person, Homura-chan. You are so sweet. Even after all you've been through you still care, even about people you don't even know."

    Homura's wonderful opinion of her is immensely flattering to Madoka. She doesn't quite feel unworthy in this moment, but rather a bit embarrassed to have such an amazing feeling directed towards her. Even in this place she can blush, and her cheeks warm and color, a smile set upon her face.

    Homura shows Madoka the depth of her feelings for her and all their intensity, that thing so powerful it makes her capable of doing anything at all if it means protecting her. Madoka sees it, feels it, and clings tightly to Homura. Not because she's afraid of it, but because Homura was so afraid of what her reaction might be. "I'd never reject you or hate you for your love, Homura-chan. Even where I can't reciprocate the way you feel it, I won't deny your feelings. I won't turn you away."

    sSelfishness is revealed, and yet Madoka sees it in the best possible light. "So you never felt the way I did, that you didn't have a choice to help people. You've never felt that same pull to ease people's suffering," it may sound like the lead up to an insult, but the emotional bond helps show just how incorrect that is. "You've never felt that... but you've done it anyway. Even after you refused to rely on people, you never sought to hinder them. You even helped them when you realized you could. I really do think you're a good person, Homura-chan."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    She looks to Homura and smiles, "Do you know what I never saw from you? What I never saw you do? You never reset to a new timeline and immediately went and killed Mami Tomoe because you knew she'd try to become my senpai. You never once tried kidnapping me and dragging me away from Mitakihara- no one could have stopped you if you did. You never once came to me and asked me to wish for something I wouldn't understand that might make your task a little easier the next time around."

    Her head tilts slightly, "Did any of those things ever occur to you? Because Homura-chan... you berate yourself because you'd do 'anything' to serve your purpose, but that 'anything' is only things you feel forced into, without another way out. That's because you're a -good- person, Homura-chan. You think I'm so wonderful, you believe in my kindness, so please accept my opinion and judgment."

    As Homura's feelings once more go to her feelings of love for Madoka, and the undeniable fact that she wants to be with her Madoka's emotions respond with an emphatic, YES! Because this, most of all, is what she was trying to bring back to Homura. The thing that was worth living for. The thing that started her off on her long, cruel journey.

    That same thing that had now driven Madoka to take her chance and sell her soul to the devil she knows in order to have a chance at having a real life with Homura now that the cycle had finally been broken.

    "Yes! And I want to be with you, too! Homura-chan, I really did mean what I said in the hotel room. I need you. I can't stand the thought of having to live in a world without you. It might be stupid of me, because I have a family who loves me, many friends who care about me, and a potentially long, happy life ahead of me. You've told me that so many times before. But I think you understand better than anyone... what's the worth of that if I can't share it with you? And if you feel the same way, that you need me, that you'd die a thousand deaths to be with me and have me in your arms... I can't see that as anything but amazing."

    Rage at the universe? Madoka's pretty okay with that, actually. In a moment of self-indulgence Madoka rages at the universe right alongside Homura. How dare it require something as awful as the despair of innocent girls to continue on. What demon created a world as vicious as this, that naive hurting girls are preyed upon and mentally abused by creatures who could never truly understand the harm they were causing? It's wrong. Sick, disgusting and wrong. What Madoka is doing here is a band aid fix, treating a symptom rather than the disease. But what it also is a stepping stone, a single step on the path to finding some other, better solution.

    It might be insane, but Madoka really does think it will happen. Somehow, some way. Maybe it will be her who finds the answer, and maybe it won't. But in a world filled with magical girls and their overflowing hopes and dreams she feels deep in her heart that together they will find a way to right this universal wrong.

    Madoka gives Homura a sweet smile as she speaks again. "You're welcome, Homura-chan. I'm happy to be here, to share all of this with you. But please don't be hard on yourself. This talk... it couldn't have worked without the connection we have right now. I really do wish I could have gotten through to you without having to make the wish I did, but I tried everything I knew of and none of it worked."

    A small shake of her head, "None of that is your fault. That you such a burden for so very long without collapsing is incredible. This new chance you'll have, this new flame in your new candle," yes, she really can feel everything that Homura is thinking, "just think how much longer it will burn without those burdens. Think of how much wonderful time we can spend together. How many more dates we can have."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka takes in a very deep breath, and then lets it out. She's preparing herself for something. "I think it's time. Homura-chan... I'm going to ask you to do something for me. It's going to be scary, but I want you to trust me. I want you to have faith in me. Please trust in the solution I've found, that you've fought so long to help me find."

    For any Witch what she's about to ask would be hard. But for Homura it's has an entire extra layer of terror added onto the normal grief, because she cares and worries so much for Madoka. "Your pain and your suffering. All your misery and despair. All the grief that has built up inside of you... I need you to let go of it. And I need you to give it to me."

    Madoka looks into Homura's eyes, deeply into them. "I know you'll be afraid for me. I know when you feel it hurting me you're going to want to scream and stop. But... I'm strong, Homura-chan. You've shown me how strong. I can do this. That burden of yours... I can bear it for you."

    She lets go of Homura's hand only so she can wrap both arms around her, pulling her close. "It's the only way. A Witch is a Puella Magi who has fallen into the depths of her despair and can never find her way out. That's why it's 'impossible'. Because no matter how much hope you give her, how much happiness, always that despair will chain her."

    Madoka leans her head to the side and nuzzles her cheek warmly against Homura's. "So please... give up your sorrow and regrets. If you can just let go for a moment I can do the rest. I can do this, Homura-chan. I can do what has never been done before; I can save you from being a Witch."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    "No!" Homura's voice is nearly a shout. "Maybe I'm mad a little, but Madoka-chan... even without that, I still would've gone back over and over for you. Just... I would've handled it differently. If I had known that it wasn't really what you wanted, what would make you happy, I never..." What would she have never done? "I would've focused on different goals, is all."

    Then her purple eyes meet Madoka's pink, with a firey conviction. "I still would not have accepted a world where you had to die, and I would've kept searching for a way for you to live and be happy. Nothing would ever stop that."

    Homura shakes her head. "I should have known. I know how Puella Magi get when they start turning into Witches. I myself was getting that way, and I knew what was coming after. I should've seen it... I just..." With an apologetic smile, she says, "I guess I'm just not very good with people."

    Homura wonders, how could she ever ask Madoka to abandon her? She wouldn't do that, and Homura knows it. She was so focused on her mission to see what really had to be done, and too focused on what she knew to really see the truth. "I shouldn't have asked you to, knowing now how you feel. I know I couldn't bear it if the roles were reversed... so how could I ask that of you?"

    Madoka is moved to tears... is Homura really that kind of person? She did say it... but it violates her self image to see herself that way. Normally, she'd dismiss it, but... with Madoka's feelings right here, she can't just ignore them. Instead, for once, she accepts the praise, smiling at Madoka and saying, "Thank you... It means a lot to me that you see me that way, but you're the same. In a lot of ways, you're better than me, especially in that."

    Madoka praises her again, and Homura blushes, but her mind crosses over every mean thing that was said about her. Every time Mami or Sayaka or Kyouko accused her, and the things they said over and over. Half the time they hated her for made-up reasons, mistakes and misunderstandings... but it didn't help that they occasionally had a legitimate reason to hate her. They weren't alone in expressing that, either. Homura was always the loner, and even her parents weren't around very much.

    ... but none of those people ever understood Homura as much as Madoka does, and Madoka is the one saying she's a good person. Maybe that matters more than any number of misunderstandings...

    "It's true... I never sacrificed anyone else for my ambitions. Not if I could avoid it.Maybe it would've made things easier in some ways, but not really. I needed Mami Tomoe. I needed Kyouko Sakura. I needed Sayaka Miki. I needed you, though I tried to make it without your power..." But needing them is just an excuse to be nice, isn't it? You're not being completely honest here, Homura.

    "... but also... I couldn't accept an ending where I had to do something like that, and I knew you wouldn't either. Sacrificing you to save you... I could never live with that. I'd turn into a Witch for sure if I let myself do something like that. I wont say it never occured to me, but I will say it was never a thought I was happy with."

    'please accept my opinion and judgement.' Homura smiles, reaching up to play with Madoka's hair. "Okay, since you're judging me, dear angel, I'll accept it." She giggles and leans in, pressing her nose against Madoka's. "You're never going to live down that nickname now, since I've seen your real power." Yeah, those cute little angel wings and long pink hair did not escape Homura's notice or admiration!

    "I need you, too. I forced myself to think that I didn't, because it hurt to lose our relationship over and over... but I really don't think I could ever stand being without you, no matter how strange things got between us. If you feel the same way... since you feel the same way, then I'll be glad to spend more time with you. As much as we have left, however long that is."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura pauses in shock as Madoka... actually agrees with her? She expected to be admonished for that, or disagreed with... but to have Madoka actually validate even that feeling. "Yeah... well... maybe we can find a better solution one day. Maybe then, we won't just save ourselves, but every Puella Magi, and even the universe. Isn't that what a magical girl is supposed to do?"

    For once, Homura actually believes in the hope that Madoka is giving her.

    'I tried everything I knew of and none of it worked.' Homura looks away, frowning. "... so did I. I tried everything to help you... and none of it worked... until it eventually did, and even now, this is working. I don't... know what I'll do next, but there's a lot to think about, and I never would've seen these things without you."

    She giggles at the mention of even more dates. "We only really had that one, huh? Haha, what a ripoff, after all this time." She shakes her head, still smiling. "... but yeah... I'd like that, to come back with you... and have a lot more dates than that. This has been a long time coming, far more than I ever knew."

    Especially if Madoka had loved her this whole time.

    Madoka asks for her faith, and in this moment Homura would give her anything, and promise her anything, though she doesn't say it. Yet, she feels the apprehension, and the request, and that fear travels through her and freezes her spine. "You want me to do what?"

    Homura feels exactly as Madoka predicts. Terrified that it would hurt Madoka... desperate to find another way... but... how else could this happen? This is what Madoka wants... and even if Homura didn't voice the promise, Madoka probably felt it, and this time Homura knows that Madoka really means it.

    Homura holds onto Madoka, and thinks... What if she does this and Madoka dies? What if she does this and Madoka becomes a Witch? Even after the hope that Homura felt welling up inside her, the despair was too much. How could Madoka ever bear it?

    No, this is the power that Madoka wished for. This is what she wanted, not only to save Homura, but to save everyone. Homura would only be the first. She had to respect that, to honor it. She doesn't dare deny her beloved that. Even if it hurts... this is what Madoka wants, and despite the pain it's going to make Madoka happy.

    Yeah... she really has no choice. Homura is compelled by her own Love for, and now her Faith in, one Madoka Kaname.

    "I'll do it... just... give me a moment."

    All around them, the dark abyss stirs and shifts. Horrible eyes open, looking in on them. Terrible imagery and painful voices surround them. Yet one by one, every horrible image and sound, every terrifying feeling, every awful pain, is stripped out of the nothing and into a single form: a diamond-shaped gem, filled with blackness. Even the darkness of the abyss is stripped away, leaving them in a realm of solid white instead of deep black.

    One of Homura's arms releases Madoka, and she reaches up to pluck the dark parody of her Soul Gem from the air. She then pulls away from Madoka, but only far enough to offer her what she asked for.

    "Here it is. My pain, my loss, and all of my sorrow. Take it... I give it to you, along with my love and gratitude."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "We've both made mistakes. At some point or another we've both underestimated how much we care about each other, or how much we're willing to go through for each other. But I don't think we'll have to worry about things like that any longer. I love you, Homura-chan, and I know you love me." Madoka doesn't say this about any one thing but more as a general response to the entire emotional conversation and the long past they've shared together that she's only just been able to full realize.

    Homura accepts her praise and her kind words and it makes Madoka very happy, to be able to finally do something that might make Homura feel good about herself. It isn't just happiness she feels in the moment but also a sense of accomplishment, that she's been able to properly show Homura how she really is from an outside perspective, with that same force of truth about it in her own mind that Homura had felt about her.

    "Even if needing them really was just an excuse to not have to hurt them I wouldn't hold it against you. But I know you better than that; you don't want to have to sacrifice people needlessly. You don't take advantage of people and throw them away. Even if you think you're using them you've done it in a way that helps them towards their own goals." And it's not hard to see why Homura wouldn't allow herself to act that way. Isn't that, after all, exactly what the despised Kyubey did? Pretend to offer people what they want, all the while knowing it will only send them into the pit of despair.

    Madoka blushes brightly and laughs happily as Homura calls her an angel, "Why would I want to live it down, Homura-chan? The way you call me that makes me feel so special and loved. I may have become something of an angel, but I'll always be your little angel."

    She smiles in a tender, but slightly bittersweet fashion, "It hurts me a little, knowing you cut yourself off from your true feelings like that. But I can understand why. As much as I know I've always cared for you, I wouldn't have known what to do if you had placed it upon me before I'd gotten to know you. I can't be too sad, though, because of how things finally ended up. In a way I feel like it's been a long time coming for me, too. We've only just started dating so it's a little scary to say something like this, but I feel that I belong with you, and as more than just a friend."

    Her cheeks pinken brightly as she talks, and Homura gets an amusing special insight- she's willing that blush on her face. She loves feeling flushed and embarrassed when talking about mushy romantic things. She wants Homura to make her blush. She likes being the coy, innocent girl sought after by an intense lover.

    When she realizes the empathic bond between them means Homura can effectively read her mind about what she thought she turns, involuntarily, much brighter red and whispers, "Oh my gosh..!" before giggling madly.

    Her head quickly nods up and down, "Y-yes! We'll have lots more dates! Though... we've had lots of 'kind of' dates, aside from the official one." She giggles a bit, thinking of the times they snuggled together after Homura admitted her romantic feelings for each other.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    These sweet thoughts really are the perfect jumping off point for what happens next, and Madoka is happy the way the conversation has turned out. Just as she suspected the idea of what she has to do terrifies Homura, but just as the dark haired girl professes her love and faith in her to do this right, Madoka had faith that if she explained it properly Homura would agree.

    This is the scary part, and the most untread ground of all. Homura gathers up all her suffering and pain, making it easier for Madoka to grasp, and holds out the condensed, metaphorical representation of her despair.

    "I accept it, Homura-chan, and I always will. Please know that I think everything about you is beautiful and wonderful. Without you to lead me here, without all your hardship, I never could have gotten this far. You say I'm wonderful and that makes me so happy. But I still think I can be more, that I can be better. I believe that and I know it can come true because together you and I are so much more than we could ever be apart."

    Madoka lifts a hand and extends it to the false Soul Gem, this thing filled with nothing but the vile darkness of suffering and pain inside Homura's soul. She doesn't pluck it out of Homura's hand, but instead lets it hover over, and closes her eyes.

    It begins. A black mist raises from the gem and begins funneling into Madoka, through her outstretched hand. She winces and cries out, because this truly is an awful feeling. It's the very depth of despair itself that is the utter abandonment of all hope, meant to quash out and obliterate hope itself from the soul of a Puella Magi turned Witch.

    Homura's despair is intense, having had so long to build upon itself, and Madoka cries as it funnels into her, tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks as she leans heavily upon Homura for support. This is a thing she could do without it, but if she's asking Homura to show faith in her than she will return that same faith by allowing herself to be aided and assisted.

    Homura was worried it would be too much. It feels like too much to Madoka. It feels impossibly horrible and dark, as if this was what the words agony and suffering were created to describe.

    And yet she does not give in to it. For as horrible as it is for her, she knows this is something that sweet, once innocent girl holding her now has had to suffer through, and if she fails that suffering will return. To prevent that, to keep Homura from suffering this pain again, she can endure anything.

    Anything.

    Even the darkest depths of despair, the crushed hopes and dreams, and the most painful grief imaginable. While she cries the process doesn't continue apace, but rather speeds up. The darkness seeps into her at a terrifying rate, what was once a flow becoming a torrent, and then a waterfall. But it was that very first trickle, that first taste of Homura's grief that was the breaking point. Once she knew she could some of it she knows she can handle it all- it's only going to hurt very much. She can take that kind of suffering and continue on. Though her world is temporarily a thing fully immersed in despair she has her anchor, her lifeline, and refuses to let go.

    'I won't let your prayers end in despair.'

    She refuses to let this suffering she feels now to be the end of Homura Akemi and her heartfelt desire to protect her friend. That she herself is the friend to be protected is emotionally significant, but at this point factually unimportant. Homura is a soul in distress and Madoka can save her. And with that centering her in the core of her being she maintains the willpower and inner strength to suffer through the entire vast depths of Homura's despair.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    In the end even the very curse that Homura called down upon herself in the end is removed, lifted, and transferred over to herself.

    She should look like a wreck. Her emotions should be haywire, completely frayed. But they are not. Everything that is sane and rational points to the fact that she should be doubled over in agony and barely holding onto her sanity after absorbing so much suffering. But Madoka isn't dangling by a thread- she's holding fast on to a bond of steel newly tempered by the fiery trail of her spirit. And though the toll will tell later right now her expression is that of the utmost joy and jubilation.

    Because she's just done something that was thought to be impossible, and she knows it. She's just saved the life of Homura Akemi.

    With all the grief, all the despair now inside herself there is naught but a gleaming, brightly shining gem in Homura's hand so intensely purple it appears white.

    Out from it and out from Madoka herself is an explosion of power, an upwelling and intense release of pure Hope so brilliant it dazzles the senses and somehow glows in this place of solid whiteness. Out flows not the pains and suffering of the past, but the brilliant new possibilities of the future that before this moment were lost to Homura and everyone who knew her. Flashes joy and memories yet to come, indistinct and unformed yet just as real as the past now firmly behind her.

    This energy released is the exact inverse of that which the Incubators seek; the sudden change of Despair into pure optimistic Hope.

    The metaphorical construct of the gleaming brilliant Soul Gem flares once more, and when the light subsides there is sitting in Homura's hand a single candle with an evenly burning flame, delicate but passionate, her one second chance and fresh start with a healthy, unburdened soul.

Homura Akemi has posed:
    "We have made mistakes..." admits Homura, "... but we've also recovered from them. It's a bit scary for me, thinking that you're a Puella Magi... but if this is really what you want, then I'll stand by you and support your choice. Nothing would make me happier to be at your side, whether it's as a protector, or an ally." Or both, really.

    She leans in with a devilish grin, "... and I'm especially happy to be at your side as your girlfriend." There is no small amount of flirtatious intent behind those words, and if Madoka can feel that? Good!

    Wait, Madoka wants to blush? Hehehehe, this information will certainly be used in the future! Probably to make Madoka blush even harder.

    Madoka should feel accomplished. Madoka has accomplished a lot, and if helping Homura, even saving Homura, was something that she felt so proud of, then Homura is glad to give her a chance to do it again.

    "Did I help them achieve their own goals? ... I suppose so. I always kindof assumed that people would act in their own best interests, if properly informed." Assuming they would believe that information. "If using that to my advantage also helped them in some way, then good. It's just a fair transaction then. I guess we all had a stake in Walpurgisnacht. It wasn't just me."

    The thought about Kyubey annoys Homura a bit. Just thinking about Kyubey makes her angry in some way. She remembers shooting at him moments before she Witched. Creepy little creature.

    "My little angel..." Homura repeats, cooing. "I will always adore you, my little angel."

    Homura shakes her head. "I know it's sad, but if I hadn't done it I don't think I could've gotten this far. It was necessary, and I don't regret it, but I should've remembered that those feelings were there, even if I buried them."

    Madoka feels like she belongs with Homura...? Does she? Homura would like to think so. Homura always felt like she was getting something she didn't deserve with Madoka, almost like she was stealing somehow, but actually... it does feel right, doesn't it? Being with Madoka here, like this, it feels like this is how it should be. "Yeah... I have to agree. We do belong together. I mean... we make each other so happy, so why not?"

    Wait, Madoka wants to blush? Hehehehe, this information will certainly be used in the future! Probably to make Madoka blush even harder. Homura starts considering various ways in which she could try to make Madoka blush, and even that thought exercise is an attempt to get Madoka to blush.

    "It's true, we've spent a lot of time together, and we'll have a lot more time to spend together. I won't leave you again. Not like this." Homura actually thinks she can keep that promise, because she knows what kinds of feelings to look out for, what the danger signs are, and she has some idea of what to expect. More than that, the flame that burns inside her soul now is a lot stronger than the one that was previously extinguished.

    "All the times we've cuddled, kissed, talked, and done things together... they count, maybe not as official dates, but as time spent together. That's what I said I wanted, right? To spend time with you?" Yeah, when Madoka asked Homura what she wanted for her birthday, that's what she came up with for an answer. It was what she wanted, more than anything, and it's what she wants now.

    As Madoka accepts her despair, Homura smiles at her. "You think you can do better, be even more wonderful than you are now? I'd love to see that." It's not sarcastic. It would make Homura overwhelmingly happy to see Madoka succeed. "I want to see it. I've been fighting so hard just so that you'll have a future, and it'll make me so happy to see what you become. Anything I can do to help that, I'll do gladly."

Homura Akemi has posed:
    Homura watches as Madoka takes on her pain, and her suffering. It hurts Homura to see Madoka suffer... but Homura doesn't want her sympathy to make Madoka's job any harder. Instead, she assumes the stone-faced expression that Madoka saw when she first met Homura. What happens isn't a blocking or a stopping of her emotions, but rather a reframing. Like a woman giving birth, or someone pushing their limits. Pain is there, sure, but it's not real damage. At least, Homura has faith that it won't be.

    Homura does embrace Madoka as she leans into her, wrapping her arms around her and holding her. She whispers into her ear words and thoughts that Madoka can feel are nothing but sincere. "You're wonderful, you're kind, you're my little angel, and my savior. I have faith in you, and I love you. I always have, and always will."

    Homura feels the despair leaving her, only to feel it again through Madoka. It was enough to break her before, but this time it's different. This time, she's not bearing it alone, and Madoka is with her, and enduring so much for her. Seeing Madoka go this far only causes Homura to love her all the more. Even with all of this, Homura knows that this is what Madoka wants... not to be a protected innocent, but a magical girl who endures much in order to protect others.

    Then Homura sees Madoka's jubilation, and her heart celebrates along with Madoka for her accomplishments... not only that, but there's a new light and a new hope for Homura... the possibility that this isn't the end for her, but that there's a bright future ahead of her. A future that Madoka gave her. Homura treasures that gift, like she'd treasure anything that Madoka gives her.

    Homura looks at her metaphorical Soul Gem. She should be blinded by that light, but this not being physical space she's able to look directly at it. Then she's hit by a shockwave of Hope coming from Madoka, filling the empty spaces left behind by the absorbed Grief. Homura, who was once trapped in the past in a very literal way, now has a future to look forward to. Her life can move on, and even if things are scary, she still has hope.

    So when Homura looks down at her hand, seeing a single lit candle, she smiles. It seems that her despair was the thing that was temporary after all.

    Yet this deep change does more than just save Homura Akemi's soul. The Witch that had replaced her body couldn't continue to exist without Homura's despair to support it. Without the darkness, that Labyrinth can't exist. Homura knows that this will happen... and it's already being set into motion. Before Madoka can fade from the depths of Homura's soul, Homura smiles at her one more time. "I'll see you soon," she promises.