It's a particularly chilly day after classes at Infinity University; and Riventon is leaning over the edge of one of the taller buildings that's near the complex of the university - he hasn't attended class here in roughly two weeks, and he's not here to pick up his homework - though, in a sense, he's here to deliver some. He's not alone, today, as sitting next to him on the side of the building is a suspiciously pale girl with fabulously long, black hair.
As he drops off the side of the building to land in front of Homura, he realizes she's walking with Madoka. That's a wrinkle he wasn't expecting. But hitting the ground in front of Homura, well... there's not exactly a lot of time to backpedal. So instead, the only thing to do is accelerate.
"Ah, Homura Akemi." Riventon says, a smirk crossing his face. "I hope you'll forgive the intrusion, but there's someone I really do think you should absolutely meet as soon as possible. And, after all, I know you have... more free time? than most people. So I hope you won't fault me too much."
Riventon's voice is practically dripping with a mixture of false civility and sarcasm. He even manages to smirk a bit towards Madoka - maybe if his presence scares her enough, she'll get well out of any potential collateral damage.
Sayaka has avoided classes for the last several days - ever since she learned the true nature about witches, in fact. So it's perhaps a little surprising to find her here, stepping behind a nearby tree as she watches a happy looking Hitomi and Kyousuke walking past, holding hands. Her own hands clench into fists, still feeling the pain of what happened, but she's come here for another purpose as well.
Spying Homura and Madoka nearby, Sayaka narrows her eyes, her lips forming a slight frown as she focuses upon Homura the longest. Indeed, there is bitterness still in her heart for that one, however, when she spies Riventon next, she clenches her teeth, taking a step towards them.
That guy's always trouble, and while she couldn't care less bout what happens to Homura anymore, Sayaka is determined to protect Madoka. She takes a cautious step towards the group, eyeing Riventon warily but makes no move yet. Let's see how this is gonna play out. If he's here for Homu, then he can have her, as long as Madoka is not harmed.
Homura Akemi was walking next to Madoka on their way out from school. She had plans. Nice plans. Plans involving fun things that the two of them could look forward to. Plans that involved not thinking about how terrible Homura's life was.
And then Riventon.
Homura's reaction to Riventon's arrival is to immediately step between him and Madoka, holding up her shield defensively and letting her other hand over the edge of it. She was smiling in a sort of melancholy way when it was just her and Madoka, but now there's no smile. The look she aims at Riventon is more of a stare than anything else.
"I don't really care to meet your creepy friends, and I'm actually going to be quite busy this afternoon. So if it's all the same to you, why don't you go find a fire to die in?"
Sayaka's presence is barely even noticed. Homura doesn't seem to be paying attention to much of anything, other than Riventon and Madoka, and really she'd rather only be paying attention to Madoka.
Classes are something that Mikoto's had to force herself to actually attend, recently. With the disruption in town due to the storm, she managed a few days free, but, well. Sometimes you just have to bite your lip and do what's expected of you. And try not to protest too loudly.
She's on her way off campus, eager to spend another long evening working on her tech-salvage, when she spots Homura and Madoka. She's about to turn down the other way - she owes them an apology for the previous night, but doesn't really want to talk to them right now - but then she hears that voice. Riventon.
No, no. Homura can handle whatever that baka is up to, can't she? She keeps walking, pretending not to notice the confrontation. Better to let them be, not cause the two girls more grief after what had already happened.
But it's Riven-baka. And there's a convenient alley just a little further on. Maybe... maybe she should just make sure...
Madoka is humming happily as she walks next to Homura, wondering to herself if this constitutes a date or whether it's just a friendly outing. If it was a date it'd be their first planned one, so she's perhaps a little excited despite how harsh the last week has been.
When Riventon drops down in front of Homura Madoka gasps in surprise just from the shock of it. It takes a split second to register who is in front of her. Maybe if she knew he was going to be somewhere she could temper her reaction but as it is she merely reacts. Her hand flies to her mouth and she stumbles backwards, even despite the fact that Homura steps in front of her, letting out a sharp scream of fear.
It's perhaps a bit bizarre; she didn't react half as badly to Walprugisnacht itself when it was smashing entire city blocks into rubble. And yet here is Riventon merely standing in front of her and making a snide comment and Madoka is tripping over herself to get away from him, face turning as white as a sheet. She falls, landing on her behind and scrambling a bit on the ground. "You! What are you doing here. G-get away!" She can barely even get the words out.
The dark magical boy in front of her has become in her mind the embodiment of fear and evil itself.
Riventon just smiles. "You already tried the setting me on fire thing, Akemi-san. Which, I have to admit, given your name - kind of amusing." Riventon's smile curls up even more. "Also, I think it's very funny you'd refer to my friend as creepy before you've even met her. You're not wrong, of course."
"Kaname-san, I'm not here for you today." And then that part of trying to make Madoka scared takes center stage. "But if you hang around here, I might grab you as a parting gift. Your power is still very interesting, and my lab still has open spaces."
There's a snap of his fingers behind his back, and a greyblack blur falls behind him. "But really. Onto the business at hand. Akemi-san? Meet..." and he steps back to reveal a very pale Homura Akemi, with grey eyes (though they look blue in the moment, reflecting a surge as the 'second Homura' makes a sort of connection between the resonance in whatever she is and the 'real Homura', before fading back to grey.). "Homura Akemi!"
The much more grey Homura really has an uncanny valley effect about her - even aside from the ash-pale skin and grey eyes, something about her just bleeds wrongness - perhaps most keenly for the real Homura. Her hands come up to cradle her face, and she speaks - in an entirely too-excited-for-Homura tone. "Oh! It's me! And Madoka. Lovely, beautiful, kind, precious... easily BREAKABLE Madoka." At the word Breakable her hands drop to her sides in fists - and she procedes to henshin just as Homura herself might, standing with her shield in her hand in a combat stance.
Clearly, Riventon is up to no good. And Sayaka shouldn't really interfere, as Homura's more than capable of protecting Madoka. However, when Riventon introduces a second Homura, even Sayaka's creeped out by her - especially her over excitability as she talks to her double! What utter insanity is this? Could there really be two Homuras?
Sayaka's not sure what this is about, but she sure as hell doesn't want Madoka involved in this - especially when it calls her breakable!Besides, she really needs an excuse to beat up Homura! Sayaka darts behind a tree again and transforms, before leaping towards the fake Homura, sword pointed at her neck.
"Touch Madoka and I will hack you to pieces, freak!" she growls. The bluenette doesn't even look at Madoka or the real Homura. Right now, she just wants to beat something up, and this fake Homura will do nicely. However, both the real Homura and Madoka might just notice something off about Sayaka today. She seems..Unusually cold, hollow..And her soulgem's somewhat low, too, though thankfully not yet in the danger zone. She probably shouldn't get into a long fight in any case, but she doesn't seem to care.
As for Mikoto, she barely notices her in her current state.
Mikoto paces along, carefully keeping up her facade of being a Perfectly Normal Student Who Has Nothing To Do With All This Weird Stuff. Of course she isn't, but, well, that's not her problem.
Then she hears NotHomura's introduction. Ohhhhkay. Riven-baka is up to his usual, huh? And that's definitely Sayaka's voice, too. Surely the pair of them can handle this.
Then again, two Puellae against Riventon and whatever sort of monster he's brought with him. And Homura's going to be focussed on protecting Madoka. Still, it's none of her business.
Except that it's Riven-baka. He who must be annoyed. And that alley is right there.
She turns down into the alley, then sprints to its far end. A brief glow of a Belkan spell-glyph at her feet, unseen from the street, accompanies the appearance of her Barrier Jacket.
Just in case, she tells herself.
Well Homura was certainly thinking 'date' when it was brought up last night. She's certainly far more interested in doing that than anything Riventon has planned. Yet Riventon is here now and kindof in her face.
When Madoka is threatened, Homura finally does glare at him. That still makes her angry, apparently. Homura reaches behind her to grab onto Madoka's hand, to reassure Madoka that she's here, and reassure herself that yes, Madoka is still here, and healthy.
Homura watches quietly as the other Homura appears. She hears the tone which she interprets as sarcasm, and the word 'Breakable' gets Homura to twitch.
Sayaka appears, threatening the fake Homura. She's acting like she does when she's about to Witch, and her Soul Gem's a bit dark. Homura doesn't really have a Grief Seed to offer her, and Sayaka wouldn't take it even if she did.
Time immediately stops, both for herself and Madoka. Homura starts walking down the path to the schools exit, leaving Sayaka, the fake Homura, Riventon and Infinity behind. It looks like she's about to just ditch the fight altogether, and indeed that was her intention, but she stops.
Turning to Madoka, she says, "I need to go deal with this. As much as I really, absolutely, unquestionably do not care about whatever fight Riventon wanted to pick with me, Sayaka's involved now. Find a good place to hide, okay Madoka?"
Homura releases her hand, and when time unfreezes she's right in front of Fake Homura. "Such a pity. Recently created and yet your time has just run out."
Madoka trembles on the ground staring up at Riventon and for several moments she can hardly do anything. It's a dangerous thing to create such a construct of fear around a single person or thing, pinning upon them all the things that are terrible in your own mind.
That said Madoka is not without courage. Even as scared as she is she realizes there's something she can do. She reaches towards her pocket, only to freeze when the white haired scientist glares speaks to her. She barely hears that he isn't here for her. She hears very well that he has reason to take her and space available to hold her. And what he said the last time she was in that awful place resounds in her mind- he'd never intend for her to leave.
Homura takes her hand and Madoka squeezes it tightly. Using it as a source of additional strength she reaches into her pocket and yanks out her phone. Her fingers tremble as she types out a desperate plea with one hand.
To Takashi.
Once she's done the stuffs her phone away so hopefully Riventon doesn't notice her call for backup. When she looks up the situation has changed, and her eyes go wide and confused. Two Homuras? But why is that other Homura standing next to Riventon, and why does she look and act so strange?
Madoka catches her name being spoken, the words spoken about her, and then the hensin. All that she can say to that is a tiny high pitched, "Eep."
When time stops she'll pick herself and follow Homura, getting out of the way and hopefully making it to safety. She gives a quick nod of her head, "I know you do." Her words come between quick breaths, the poor girl on the verge of hyperventilating. "But... Homura-chan! Please be careful. Don't take any big risks, okay? I'll do what I have to to be safe... so you do that too!"
And then Homura is gone.
Riventon sneers. "I think both of you will find that time is no longer your ally exclusively - in fact, it's on my side." He casually steps up and clamps a hand down on the shoulder of his Nullheart Homura minion. And she responds. "It's on our side.", correcting him - before for everyone else, time stands still.
But with Riventon touching the Nullheart, he's pulled up into her own stopped time. It's still a strange thing - acting when everyone else is still. He has to resist the urge to walk over to one of the people and poke them. But that would defeat the purpose, ne? And Nullheart Homura is, for someone who can stop time, far more impatient than he is. "Are you ready?" she asks. She's drawn from her shield a very particular copy of a very particular golf club, and has it over both shoulders.
Riventon shrugs, and holds out a hand, walking in front of Sayaka and charging a blast. "Fine, fine. Take all the fun out of this." he says to Riventon.
"Well, we can have fun after they're crippled, okay, Riventon-kun?" Hearing that come out of Homura's mouth - even Nullheart Homura's - is still very wierd. Then she starts the coutdown, swinging at one - and then when time unfreezes, her golf club is about to impact the real Homura in the stomach, and Riventon's blast is being unleashed at Sayaka nearly point blank.
"FORE!" Nullheart Homura shouts out as time begins again.
Time freezes once. Suddenly Madoka and Homura are gone. When time flows again, Sayaka suddenly sees them at the other end of the walkway, Madoka running for cover. Oh boy. Sayaka's never fought Homura or a double of her before, but she realizes then that this is going to be an incredibly challenging battle.
Eyes narrow upon the fake Homura, about to stab her in the neck with her sword, when suddenly, time freezes again...When it's released a second time, Sayaka finds that fake-Homu has moved positions, swinging her club at the real Homu who has returned to the battle, and then suddenly a blast is aimed at herself!
Utterly confused and caught off-guard, Sayaka yelps as the blast hits her point-blank in the chest, sending her flying across the campus, crashing into a nearby tree, and causing it to crack in places. A blast that close and powerful could kill a normal person - even a normal Puella would be pretty banged up. Sayaka's accelerated healing however, kicks into high-gear, rapidly healing the hole in her chest. However, with her soulgem already so low, it's probably extremely unwise of her to heal herself right now.
She has a vague memory of watching that other, poor Puella turn into a witch, and she's not ready to go just yet - not that way, anyway! With a growl, Sayaka pulls out a grief seed - of which she's accumulated quite a few by now - using it to purify her soulgem. Even so, with such a grievous injury at such close range, Sayaka is not yet able to fight back at full force.
"D-dammit!" she growls, eyes glowering at Riventon..Just give her a minute here to recuperate.
"You think time is your ally?" says Homura, with an almost uncharacteristic snort. Then suddenly, Nullheart Homura is in front of her, swinging a golf club into her stomach. There's no dodging that impact, and Homura knows it. She bends forward, clutching her stomach. Fortunately for her, she knows her own weaknesses as well as she knows her strengths.
Suddenly, Homura's hand reaches out to grab the Nullheart. "You idiot. Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" Purple eyes look up at the fake Homura, glare as cold as the grave.
"Twelve years. I've had twelve years to master the power you're only now starting to play with, noobie. Let me show you the strength of a veteran Puella Magi."
Homura releases the Nullheart, only to stop time and reappear behind her, grabbing the back of her neck. "Now... do you intend to stop time again? Wherever you go, I'll follow~." A shotgun is in Homura's hand, pointed at the fake's back. "Tell me. Do creatures like you experience fear?" She fires.
A concerned eye goes towards Sayaka. That was a sudden hit, and Sayaka of this timeline hasn't yet learned how to fight Homura. Yet, revealing Homura's weaknesses to Sayaka, especially in front of Riventon, seems like a really bad idea at this point.
Madoka turns and runs. That's what Homura wanted her to do, and against such an awful person she's not sure there's anything she could even do. She of course has her small first aid kit in her pocket but a few bandaids and some iodine wipes aren't going to do any good until this fight is over. She's seen Homura fight and knows how explosive they can be.
True, most of her biggest and most dangerous weapons were expended against Walpurgisnacht but that doesn't mean rockets and bombs might not start going off all over Infinity's campus. Maybe all those people in henshin can survive a stray rocket, but a single one landing even close to Madoka would mean the end for her.
She trusts Homura not to make such a mistake- but only the real Homura. She doesn't trust Riventon or the seemingly fake Homura who would fight by his side a whit.
She runs for almost a minute, and then ducks behind a building. True, she's not completely out of harms way but she's along way off and behind cover. Close enough to see muzzle flashes, magic beams, and explosions but far enough to be safe.
And once she's safely she gets her phone out again and- no response. She was really hoping he'd answer this time, but it looks like wherever he is Takashi is either unwilling or unable to answer. There's a brief moment of worry for him, and then she goes to plan B.
She calls out with her mind. It's been a long time, but he came when she wanted to look for Kyouko. Kyubey! Kyubey, are you there? What's going on? Why are there two Homura-chan's?!
Homura seems to be confident she can handle things. That's good. Mikoto - Miss Blue, now - lingers at her corner, waiting to see if assistance is needed. She doesn't want to just barge in and distract the girl.
Except Sayaka doesn't seem to be doing so well. Maybe they do need some help.
And then a Madoka goes looking for shelter. Practically right on top of her. Well.
"Architect. Bystander defense."
And a glowing golden shield appears, forming into a dome around Madoka.
With the noncombatant protected, she abandons her security to move confidently out from the corner, Flickers already forming around her.
Sword drawn, she steps up to where Sayaka has landed. "Up for some two on one?" she asks her fellow blue-themed swords-woman.
The Nullheart lets out a cry - and from such a distance, it's perhaps possible that Madoka might not be able to tell the scream of pain's source - is it the grey homura, or the real Homura! But instead of blood, the shotgun blast only tears a chunk of murky, black energy out of the Nullheart - belying its true nature as a living construct of negative energy, more golem than person.
"Twelve years and this is the best you could do?" the Nullheart Homura hisses as black energy flows from her ally Riventon's gauntlet into her, healing that wound and putting her back together as a fake Homura.
And the resonance between their two alike yet different souls brings the words to the golem's mouth, words she knows may sting because she knows the core of her double's heart. "You're even more pathetic than I thought. You can't even protect the person you care so much about. She's still getting caught up in things like this. Because you can't stop it. And for twelve years, you've been forcing her to repeat the same tragedies. And only now that you've ended up here, in this world, with all of these people, were you strong enough to defeat it without her help. And yet, now, because of your weakness, look at all the other horrors she's exposed to. There are much worse things than witches prowling around."
The Nullheart grins. "Like me. Don't worry though, I'll do what you couldn't. I'll protect her. I'll keep her in stasis. She'll never hurt again... because she'll never feel again. I'll keep her perfect and safe and unharmed forver - because you can't."
Meanwhile, Riventon unleashes a barrier from his gauntlet - only there's something different. The barrier itself has a deeper, purple hue, and it feels cloying to both Homuras - but the Nullheart, at least, has expected this. "Now you two can fight it out on even ground - since NOBODY can stop time in this barrier. Time is already stopped, in a sense. Little trick a gentlman named Kunzite taught me, modifying the parameters of a barrier like this."
And then Miss Blue makes her presence known via the casting of a spell. "Miss White really needs to keep better tabs on her employees!" he shouts. "I'll have your job for interfering this time, Miss Blue. And your head, if you don't back off. Go do some paperwork or something. Riventon generates a few orbs, ready to fire them off at the two blue sword wielders, while the Nullheart Homura just keeps slamming that golf club into her hand - she seems, for the moment, to be willing to have her fight verbally.
Sayaka struggles to her feet, her strength already returning to her, and with on last effort, she's standing straight up, crouched into a renewed fighting stance. Stronger than ever, she smirks at Riventon, swinging her arm in an arc in front of her as she unleashes multiple cutlasses from thin air to fly at him. "You freak! I wont let you live, this time! Shooting Stinger!!"
That's when she hears Homura's admission about her powers. So that's how it works then? As long as someone touches her, they're immune to her powers!? She smiles coldly at Homura, "Thanks for the tip!" Heaven knows how she'll use this information - it's useful how to know how she can beat BOTH Homuras, when the time comes. But for now, Homura is a useful ally..
Then Mikoto joins the battle, and while Sayaka has come to respect Miss Blue after fighting alongside her against that automobile witch a while back, right now she's in a grumpy mood, and not 'needing help'. "Forget it! This is my battle!"
Was Kyubey here already, or did he ignore the barrier as easily as he ignores the other rules of reality and sense and morality? There's no telling - but he is here, and he walks calmly up beside the barrier Madoka was placed in. "I have about as much understanding as you do, Madoka Kaname." The little white rat says. "It's like a duplicate, but also very much like Homura Akemi herself. In a sense, all Puella Magi have bodies that are just constructs. This other Homura is just taking that a bit more literally."
'Twelve years and this is the best you could do?' Homura hesitates as her copy seems unphased. Should that phase her? No, that's just combat banter. The fact that the Nullheart seems to be healing herself from Riventon's energy is a little disconcerting. However, nothing about this really bothers Homura until her copy continues talking.
Homura hears the kinds of things she says to herself all the time, only now they're out in the open, they're being said in public. In front of people Homura doesn't trust. In front of people whom Homura really didn't want to share that with.
"Shut UP!" she shouts, arms now trembling. "I'll never let that happen to Madoka. Never! I'll kill you first!"
Homura was already a little unbalanced, holding herself together only with Madoka's red ribbons. Now, forget balance, she's tipped over. Her eyelids are trembling, her teeth are gnashing, and when she speaks her voice is a cold, shaking thing. "I don't know what you know about me... but it doesn't matter. I wont spare you."
The anti-timestop barrier comes up, and Homura just turns her wild-eyed stare at Riventon. "That isn't going to save you."
Homura side-eyes at Sayaka. 'Thanks for the tip', indeed. Well, it wont matter for much longer anyways.
So Homura can't timestop. This isn't the first time that's happened. She looks at the Golf Club, and produces her own copy of it. If her fake wants to play that game, then Homura will play it. Even without timestop, she's still fast on her feet, and she closes the distance between the two of them and swings her bent club towards the Nullheart's stomach.
Miss Blue shrugs at Sayaka's response, and lets the girl go on ahead. She isn't about to get pushy with any of them, right now, except of course good ol' Riven-baka. He is going to get the full measure of her contempt.
She's going to express this, for now, by doing just what Sayaka asked. She saunters forward, at a slow pace, sword returned to its scabbard at her side. (Of course, she continues to build up her stack of Flickers, but she'd do that anyway.)
"I'm pretty sure White-chan would be right there in your face, if she were here. She's much less patient with jerkholes than I am. So, here I am. Maybe fourth time's the charm, hmm?"
So maybe she's going to help Sayaka a little. By goading Riventon into making a mistake, and giving the blue Puella an opening.
The scream rips through the air and reaches Madoka's ears. She can barely make out that one of the Homura's got the drop on the other and there was a flash, but she's too far away to tell the difference in eyes and skin tone. Either way it cuts to her heart and she crouches down, wincing at hearing that awful sound of pain.
The barrier pops up around her and tints her sight yellow, only for Riventon's larger barrier to shunt her and everyone else into a pocket dimension. A quick test shows that her hand passes right through it when she tests the yellow one, and from that is able to guess that it's meant to protect her rather than keep her trapped, and she lets out a sigh of relief.
Kyubey shows up and proves to be more reliable than Takashi. Well, no one ever said the little white alien wasn't exceedingly opportunistic. "A duplicate but also like her?" Madoka responds, trying to make sense of those words. "So she isn't just a different Homura arriving from another timeline." The thought had occurred to and worried her.
Madoka is quiet for a moment and then looks over, "Kyubey, when you make a contract with someone you take their souls from their bodies and turn them into a Soul Gem, right? That duplicate Homura-chan... she has a Soul Gem too! Is that real? Is that really her soul or is it just a part of the construct?"
The Nullheart ducks back, and for a moment, the two of them are essentially swordfighting, but with golf clubs. The real Homura gets a good swing in, though, and the Nullheart's face takes a hit - of course, instead of breaking or bleeding, the construct's face just distorts, ending up with both eyes on the same side of her face for a moment, until they slide slowly back into place (courtesy of some more dark energy from her patron.)
The Nullheart jumps back, lobbing two of Homura's rarely seen energy orbs at the real one. "Oh, but you're mad. You wouldn't be mad if you didn't know I was right. I know everything about you, because I am you. Or, I will be, once I kill you. And I'll do a better job at it, too! I won't put Madoka through eternities of torture!" she says, with that very un-Homura look on her face.
"My heart is just like yours, if a little better. I know what you're worried about. And it's all true! Oooh, but if I /was/ going to keep Madoka out there, I'd at least make sure she was capable. How do you think she feels, cowering like that? It's inevitable she'd make a wish now - you're too weak to protect her, but you've coddled her so much she's too weak to protect herself, too! So weak!"
Meanwhile, though, Riventon really didn't want to get involved in a fight alongside his construct - it's draining his own energy to heal itself, after all. And with Sayaka, he's trying to dodge her cutlasses rather than shield all of them - to conserve his energy, he's fighting more carefully - to leave more power for the construct fighting his current nemesis of the day. "What, are you two upset I didn't make one for you too? Lonely? This isn't your fight, all you have to do is step away. Especially you, Sayaka. This is a waste of your grief seeds." He says, putting up a barrier just in time to block two of the last swords he was just not nimble enough to dodge.
Most days, Mikoto's goading would get a swift response - but today Riventon's purpose is to conserve energy so his Homura can win the day. "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, Blue-san - do you know what that is? Take your friend and back off. Go practice swordplay like good little girls in a corner or something. Once again, you're making this fight into your problem when it really shouldn't be.
Kyubey looks. "I don't know. As far as I can tell from here, it seems to be a soul gem. Which means..." he turns to look at the two Homuras fighting. "...I wonder if it could create a witch, too? Since I guess you know all about that, now... what do you think? I don't know, but I'm very interested. It's got emotions, that's for sure, but they're very different from the Homura Akemi I know. And it's already wielding magic, so I have no idea what the potential that thing had, if anything, was."
Sayaka snarls as she lunges after Riventon, this time with her dual swords. She's fast, one of the faster Puella for sure - comes with the territory of being a melee fighter of course - and her blades are magically sharpenned, more than the average blade.
When Riventon puts that shield up, she swings both of her swords at him, one after the other, extending into chain-links for a moment as she unleashes double blasts of blue energy, trying to bring down his shield.
Then, if that works, she'll continue to try and hack and slash at him in close combat.
"Just shut up! I dont want to hear it! You once kidnapped Madoka, now you're messing with Homura's mind? I might not like Homura much, especially after....!"
She catches herself, before she reveals the true nature of Puella, although the look on her face suggests something terrible had happened with her recently, something somehow related to Homura, perhaps?
And she realizes that Riventon is pretty powerful, but still, Sayaka cant stand depending on others for help. Not anymore! "Even so, I cant let you replace Homura with that cheap duplicate...She at least serves one purpose: To protect Madoka-chan from the likes of you!"
Homura's focus is entirely on her Nullheart copy. She knows how Riventon works now, or at least has some idea. He's the kind that likes to show off his creations, or at the very least he likes to study them as they work. Which means that her focus should be on the construct. She occasionally glances towards Riventon, just to keep track of him, but only when she thinks she has a spare moment.
Homura is actually... a bit further out of her element than she'd like to admit. The inability to timestop has shut down a lot of her offensive and defensive options. She's trained for this kind of fight, of course, but practice and practical application are two different things.
Homura's golf club finds purchase, but her expression doesn't even change. There's no joy in this for her. When the energy orbs come out, Homura holds her shield up and produces a large purple barrier that absorbs the shot. "I'm always mad. Don't act like that's an accomplishment."
What the Nullheart says next is what disturbs her most. "Capable...?" Homura actually does take a moment to consider how Madoka feels. Is she really cowering? Helpless? She never thought about what Madoka felt during combat. Whenever it came up, her mind was always focused on the enemy, and by the time the fight was over Madoka usually seemed to be relatively calm.
She hesitates a lot longer than she should ever allow herself to. The Nullheart is getting under her skin, and she hates it. She already felt useless enough, especially when Madoka felt bad because of her, but to think that the very act of protecting her was...
'It's inevitable she'd make a wish now'
"SHUT UP! If he's just going to use his energy to heal you, then I'll just have to make sure there's nothing left to heal!"
Homura pulls out an RPG and fires it at the Nullheart Homura, following up with another and then a third. She doesn't have the advantage of firing several at once, but she knows how to fire them quickly regardless.
Sayaka's statement might've been encouraging, if Homura could hear it over her own explosions.
Miss Blue throws her head back and laughs, delighted and amused. Somehow, she finds Riventon's remark utterly hilarious. Maybe it's the whole mirror-image fight. Maybe it's seeing him on the defensive. Or maybe it's what he said.
"Right, right. And you're barely holding your own against two of them. I'm laughing at the "superior intellect"." You think you're so very clever, don't you?"
More and more of her Flicker Shots swarm about, well above her head, nearly invisible against the gray sky.
"Don't worry. You'll have plenty to laugh about in the hospital. You'll like it there, the food's great."
She isn't focusing on attacking him at all, really. The flicker-pile is almost automatic, at this point. Instead, she tosses a little shield in front of Homura, to block the shots aimed at her. Like the one protecting Madoka, it has no effect at all on Homura's outgoing attacks...
Madoka looks down at Kyubey with a large frown on her face. The last thing she needed now was to be not only reminded of what happens when Puella run out of magic but the fact that that's the creature before her's actual reason for creating Puella Magi in the first place. "I think it's terrible. I can't believe you'd offer people hopes and dreams and tell them they're going to fight monsters when you're really just trying to turn them into monsters in the first place. Anshi-chan- she trusted you. All she wanted was to be happy and protect people and you betrayed her."
Not that she's going to storm away in disgust- the only thing she can really in this is offer encouragement and ask for information. At least Kyubey won't lie to her- she knows that much. And she's too far to offer encour- wait. That... technically isn't true, is it? Not with Kyubey here.
Hearing the scream of 'Shut Up!' before a din of explosions tells Madoka what she needs to know about Homura's mental state. "Kyubey, let me use your telepathy. Let me talk to Homura-chan!" Pause, "The real one, not the duplicate." Because, you know, Kyubey.
And if he allows it, ''Homura-chan! It's okay, I'm safe! I don't know what's going on, but I trust you. I know you're going to win and come back safe to me. You have something that imposter could never have. You have me! I love you. Nothing that thing can say or do will change that."
Riventon is busy engaging the two blue swordswomen - you'd think he'd be used to this by now - and trying not to go on the offensive. But Sayaka is - well, to put it mildly, Sayaka is off the hinge, and she's throwing herself into him with a vicious power. And with his focus on conservation of energy, his shield isn't what it would be otherwise. Sayaka's attacks shatter the shield, and while one blade is caught by the midchildan metal gauntlet, the other one finds a home, piercing through Riventon's barrier jacket.
He lets out a groan of pain and reflexively grabs at the source - Sayaka - catching her by the wrist with his left hand. "I told you to MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, GIRL!" he says, his rage building with his power. "I'M NOT EVEN AFTER HER!" he adds before channeling negative energy into her, like he tends to do when he can get a melee grasp. But something - maybe it's the blood dripping out from under his lab coat - has him even more upset than usual, and before she can struggle away, he's also giving her a massive blast of energy out of his gauntlet. So much for conservation!
"It'll be a cold day on the sun before I let myself get beaten down by the likes of either of you!" Riventon says to Mikoto after evicting Sayaka. "Now are you a member of Eclipse and WPS, or are you a TRAITOR TO THE CAUSE!?" he demands of the one calling herself Miss Blue. "Because Miss White hates traitors a lot more than she hates her favorite lab partner, I'm sure."
Meanwhile, Homura's rockets are coming in against the Nullheart, who... reactively tries to timestop and dodge, only to be reminded that her patron has prevented that. Whoops. And then there's a massive storm of explosions. When the smoke clears, though, Nullheart Homura is still standing, sneering. "You know everything I said was true. You're just delaying the inevitable. Even with that monster defeated, more lurk in the shadows, and you can't always be there for her. Didn't you learn that already? You can't protect her."
Then, suddenly, Nullheart Homura starts to cough, like a lifelong chain smoker with pneumonia. And finally, she ends up coughing up a little purple orb, about the size of a large gumball. There's a reptillian emblem on it - but it's only there for just a moment before the thing shatters, releasing a burst of bright purple energy.
Nullheart Homura reaches out, but it's too late - she's melting into the same oil-slick like substance as before, dissapating. Which leaves Riventon alone in the barrier without his new ally.
Kyubey looks at Madoka. "You know, you would be powerful enough to stop this if you'd join Homura. Don't you think it must be lonely, without you to fight along beside her? The only way you could ever really understand what Homura is going through - even what Sayaka is going through - is to become a Puella Magi yourself."
Still, he obliges Madoka, if only to earn some positive points back from her given the recent goings-on.
Sayaka continues to snarl at Riventon, each one of her sword slashes becoming progressively more aggressive, more powerful..Yet, she does she does seem a bit unhinged, angry about something, and Riventon's a perfect person to take all her anger out on, at least while Homura's busy protecting Madoka from that..Thing.
"Just...Just shut the hell up! Quit treating me like I dont matter! I'm your opponent now, not HER! I'm the one you should be worried about!" But she's fighting recklessly too, and for all her strength and speed, Riventon still manages to grab her wrist, drawing her close, and draining her energy rapidly. Oh no..Not again...!
She yelps, struggling to break through, but the energy draining attack greatly weakens her, and by the time she does manage to break free of his grasp, another, more powerful blast of energy is directed at her. This time, it sends her flying up and out of the campus, flying over other buildings across the street..And vanishing a block or two out of sight..
'You're just delaying the inevitable' 'You can't always be there for her' 'You can't protect her'
Homura stares coldly as her double coughs up a purple orb, which then shatters. The emblem on it, the color, something about that orb disturbs her, even after the Nullheart expires. That creature spoke to a deep part of her that Homura didn't want to face, and now that she uttered the words, Homura can't unhear them.
Then suddenly, Madoka is there. Speaking inside her mind, in any case. Madoka's words bring a warmth to her heart, and it's soothing, even in Homura's current circumstances. When Madoka says she loves her no matter what, Homura believes it, because she knows how Madoka is. She's too sweet to stop loving her, even if Homura's protection turned out to be a betrayal.
I love you too, Madoka-chan. Thank you.
Dark thoughts cloud Homura's mind, and her sourness can be seen in the way her lips twist into a frown, and in the way her eyes are downcast. She turns towards Riventon, slowly walking towards him. "Well? Did you enjoy your little experiment? Did you find a lot of good data? Did you learn something new?"
She's not attacking him right now. There's a good chance he'll just leave now that his experiment is finished, unless he intends to stick around and blab on like last time.
Focussing on Homura's fight as she is, Miss Blue isn't quick enough to block the blast Riventon lets out at Sayaka. She's going to be seeing that in her nightmares tonight, most likely. She does try to get a shield in place to soften the girl's landing, though it's a chancy business. Not at all guaranteed - and she badly misjudges the angle, as the blue Puella goes flying into the distance. Damn.
"Oh, my," she says as she takes in Riventon's rant. "Thank you ever so much for clarifying that. I'll be sure to keep it in mind."
And Not-Homura dissolves back into primordial goop. Good. A win for Homura, at least.
Taking Homura's lead, she simply folder her arms across he r chest and waits. Her Flight spell is primed and ready to evade an attack, the swirling mass of Flickers ready to return it... but this is Homura's fight.
And maybe Riventon will assume that he's convinced her to be a good little girl. ... Maybe.
"That's true. I could make a contract with you and wish for the power to destroy evil and wipe that awful man clean from the face of the planet," Madoka replies to Kyubey. It'd be a lie to say that wasn't tempting. Her pink eyes turn from the explosive fight down to the small catlike alien, "But that wouldn't actually help Homura-chan at all, would it? It would make it easy to win the fight, and true she would be able to fight beside me. But I think just seeing me as a magical girl would kill her once she realized what happened, and I think you know that too."
One of the two Homura's is in trouble, Madoka can see that. But the fact that the telepathic response comes back in the way it does makes it obvious which one. Also the fact that one of the two is melting into a puddle of goo and so far as Madoka's seen that is not one of the horrors of becoming a Puella Magi.
"Homura-chan... she won." Madoka lets out a huge sigh of relief, only to wince as she sees a blue streak across the sky after a big black blast. "S-sayaka-chan! I hope she's going to be okay. It's a good thing she's so tough..."
As annoyed and upset as she is she isn't going to deny that Kyubey just helped her out. "...thanks, Kyubey."
Riventon - isn't sure what to think. He should be happy - everything worked out fine, actually. Why is something, somewhere, bothering him? Maybe it's just the uncanny valley of the two characters, or maybe it's the way Homura's moving - or maybe it's the fact that Madoka was here. In fact, he can only assume it has to do with Madoka. Wouldn't be the first time her presence had changed things entirely.
So he just pretends like he's not bothered at all. "Hmph. I expected better." he says, with a snarl on his face. "Couldn't beat you. Needs more work. Should've been fine, especially with my support." he admits, perhaps being a little more blunt in an effort to seem like everything is going according to some sort of plan - very counter-intuitive. "Good thing I can make more of those." he says. He looks at Mikoto.
"I'm still going to be having words about you." he adds, almost petulantly. "We really shouldn't be paying someone who's working against our organization's goals." he adds. There's nothing more to be said - nothing more for Madoka, either. He doesn't want Homura to take that strange sour darkness out on him - and he can see ways in which she would - so he ducks out, teleporting via the dusk zone before his barrier shatters (leaving Homura free to use most of her suite of powers anew.)
Homura watches as Riventon leaves. Her cold gaze goes back to Mikoto, and Homura waves at the other WPS employee. With her timestop powers now unlocked, Homura Akemi immediately vanishes from the field of battle...
And immediately reappears next to Madoka, back in her school clothes and without her henshin, tapping her finger against the yellow forcefield that has been protecting her. She sees Kyubey next to her... but that's not a surprise, considering the earlier telepathic message. Still, she doesn't like it. Circling around Madoka like a vulture. Such a shameless creature.
"Well. That happened. I'd be more worried about Sayaka-san, but I doubt a fall like that would hurt someone with her particular powers, and she seemed to have some Grief Seeds."
Funny. The soul gem ring should be on the hand that's tapping against the forcefield, but it's not visible. Clearly it's around, since Homura hasn't fallen over like a corpse, but it's just not where one would expect it to be.
The moment that Homura disappears from her sight, Miss Blue pauses. She was about to say something... but Riventon's gone, and so is Homura... oh, there she is.
"Labyrinth Architect. End bystander-defense mode." The force-field around Madoka dissolves away immediately, removing the obstacle from Homura's path.
"Have a good day, you two." she calls, and then moves on, returning to the path she was walking before all this started. That udon restaurant isn't going to deliver, after all.
"You could save a lot of people, Madoka Kaname." And doom them, but such is the inevitable cycle of magical girls. "It would help more than just her." Like the whole universe! "Maybe Homura Akemi is made of sterner stuff than you think she is." Maybe she's not. Maybe is a good word in the creature's toolkit. "She faced down herself tonight and she seems to be alive. As alive as any of the Puella Magi are. I'd be more worried about Sayaka. The way she's fighting."
"I do try to help where I can, Madoka Kaname. There are a lot of people who are out to be actively hostile and destructive. I always have a purpose, even if you may not understand it - that purpose serves the greater good." After all.. hard to have good with the universe destroyed.
Madoka sees Riventon vanish and then the big purple barrier around them shatters as well. These two things, along with the fact the imitation Homura was destroyed, lead her to believe the danger is gone. Homura appears in front of her and she gets up, running over and hugging onto her. She pulls Homura close to her and squeezes tightly. Now that the danger is past the fear she powered through takes hold again, and she trembles. against the dark haired girl.
"I was so worried. I knew you would win, but I was still worried." From the safety and comfort of Homura's arms she peers down to Kyubey, "Maybe that's true." Two can play the 'maybe' game. "I actually believe that you think what your doing is right, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to agree with you."
Hearing that Sayaka will probably be fine and has Grief Seeds eases her concerns. Hearing from Kyubey that she's fighting oddly raises new ones. "Eh? The way Sayaka-chan was fighting... what do you mean?"
The yellow barrier winks out of existance and not long after Miss Blue calls out to her. "Thank you!!" she does her best to call back before the Mage is gone.
Homura catches Madoka in her arms, looking over her girlfriend's shoulder at Kyubey. She hears the words the creature says, and she hears Madoka's responses to them, but for once she doesn't interfere. Madoka knows the full facts by now, and if nothing else Homura can at least be sure that she isn't going to be tricked by that creature anymore.
As for what Madoka would knowingly go into, well... Homura tries not to think about it.
Instead she reaches up to pet Madoka's hair. When Sayaka's fighting style is mentioned, Homura actually confirms. "It is a bad sign. When she's like that, she's in a very dark place. Maybe you didn't see it, but she gets reckless like that. It's one of the things she does when she's depressed... and jealous."
She glares at Kyubey for a moment, still speaking softly since she's close to Madoka's ears. "She has Grief Seeds though, and she has friends. You aren't going to claim her that easily, Kyubey."
Homura isn't in a hurry to go anywhere. She's hugging Madoka, and while Kyubey is talking it's not like it would do any good to attack him.
"Well, logically speaking, what I'm doing brings the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of creatures. The fact that some suffering happens to get there is unavoidable, but I wouldn't be doing it if it only caused suffering. There's no purpose in that - no value." Kyubey says.
"Like Homura Akemi said, the way she's fighting - she's detatching herself from the pain. She's trying to fight like that to make up for her lack of natural talent - to try to fight better than she can - to overcompensate. It isn't healthy, in the long term."
Madoka's heart is beating fast in her chest and Homura can feel it as she hugs close. She can also feel the shaking slow and stop and her heartbeat begin to slow as her pink hair is petted, the soothing motion working. Homura tells her about Sayaka fighting recklessly and Madoka lets out a little whimper. She'd be more upset if she'd seen it for herself but from what she's scene the blue Puella is a whirling dervish of blades at the best of times and she was pretty far off.
"Sayaka-chan... she has strong healing magic right? At least she can probably afford to fight recklessly more than most people." And the fact that she has friends and grief seeds- that's what keeps Madoka from worrying that her situation is truly desperate. If she thought otherwise she'd be urging Homura that they go look for her right now.
It's hard not to be a little gloomy. Being attacked, or at least in the area of attacks, two days in a row is harsh. It's one thing to go out looking for trouble hunting Witches, it's another for trouble to land on your doorstep, or school campus as was the case this time. Her head tilts down for a moment before turning it away from Kyubey, resting the side of her head against Homura's shoulder, one fluffy pigtail trapped between them. "How can you say something like that? Torturing people because you benefit from their suffering... how can that have any value at all?"
Homura feels Madoka's pounding heart. Stupid Kyubey, making her worry about Sayaka. The problem is... Homura's seen Sayaka Witch so many times, and she's not willing to lie to Madoka. So she plays devil's advocate instead.
"Using your magical powers to your advantage is just a part of learning how to fight. It's true that she's relatively new, and there are certain pitfalls that inexperienced Puella Magi fall for, but she has a lot going for her." Sayaka's problems are just one half of the story. The half that benefits Kyubey. Homura focuses on the other half.
"She has a veteran like Kyouko-san looking out for her. She knows things about Puella Magi that most veterans live their whole lives without learning. She's faced down a very powerful Witch in combat and lived. In fact, after facing down a Witch like Walpurgisnacht, I'd say she's earned a bit of respect." At least, as far as Homura knows. There's no point in making Madoka worry or suffer any further. She has real things to worry about without adding to it with maybes and what-ifs.
"That said... Don't lower your guard, Madoka-chan. She still has a rough time ahead of her. Especially if she's still pining after Kamijou-san."
Kyubey doesn't really have a directed response to that. "Everyone deals with it in their own way, I've found. After doing this for so long. And I don't cause suffering." Kyubey clarifies. "Suffering might be a result, but it's not the goal. I think if humans were better prepared to face the consequences of their actions, of their dangerous desires, there wouldn't be so much suffering, really. But your race has never truly been good at that."
Madoka gives a tiny shake of her head once Homura is done going over the strengths and weaknesses of Sayaka as a Puella Magi. "I won't, Homura-chan. I need to talk to her, I just haven't gotten the chance. She might be able to handle this on her own but that doesn't mean she should have to."
This time the answer Kyubey gives Madoka is completely unsatisfactory. "It doesn't matter if it's the goal or not, you still caused it. You're turning girls who want to help people into monsters that prey on the innocent." She's not going to directly tell Kyubey to go away but she's had about as much of him as she can stand. She did already thank him so he'll have to be content with that. It's not like she was going to contract unless the worst happened.
"Can we go somewhere else, Homura-chan? I don't know if you still want to go to the mall or not, but I don't want to be here right now." So much fighting... Hopefully she won't start feeling edgy just coming to school every day.
"Oh of course." Homura's words are dripping with sarcasm. "It's our fault that you pressure us into contracts without telling us the full details. We should just automatically know everything about wishes without ever being told! How silly of us to not just immediately know such things from birth."
Homura is getting increasingly tempted to just kick the creature. Madoka can probably feel Homura's hand gripping behind her. She doesn't want to be here either, and the do have other plans.
"She doesn't have to handle it alone. You're her friend. If you want to be there for her then there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just trying to say it's not as hopeless as..." Homura glares at Kyubey. "... someone would have you believe."
At the mention of leaving, Homura says, "I'd love to. Leave I mean. Also go to the mall, if you're still up for that. This whole affair took up a bit of our time, but we can still do something fun."
Homura's already pulling on the hug, taking Madoka by the hand and playfully tugging her away.