Memories of a Broken Timeline

Showtime

 The day had arrived. Walpurgisnacht was coming. The city had ordered all of the citizens, including Madoka, into storm shelters. The entire city was silent, except for the wind, and the voices of three teenagers standing on a roof.

"And you're sure it's today?"

"Yes, Kyoko. Just be patient."

"We've been standing here for two hours! I want to fight something!"

"Kyoko," Mami soothed, "soon we will be engaged the most important fight of our careers. You can wait." Her twintails bounced wildly in the wind. Doctor Strange nodded gravely. He was as prepared as possible. He'd convinced Wong to let him borrow the Eye of Agamotto, although he hadn't really convinced him that something the librarian had never heard of was a threat. Homura tensed.

"It's coming." The wind picked up, the sky went grey, and it began. The familiars appeared around them, dancers for the witch's stage, girls silhouetted in starlight. Kyoko summoned her spear to engage one, a figure in a flowing skirt wielding two knives. She stabbed. It spun. It stabbed. She ducked. She jabbed and slashed, blocked and ducked. It moved like water, spinning and flowing, swiping and slicing. Three more dropped behind them. One, bearing a sword, charged them; two others, each carrying a spear, moved around them. Mami smiled. Her ribbons flashed like lightning, binding the familiars. Homura shot them, bullets passing through their chests. They exploded into starlight. Two attacked Doctor Strange. One sat on a roof, bow aimed at him. The other one was attempting to stab him through the back with a dagger.

He spun and summoned a shield. An arrow whistled through the air toward him. "Doctor Strange!" Homura yelled. He spun to block the arrow, and the knife sliced down his back. He hissed and jabbed his hand back. A sparking orange blade appeared in his hand and cut through the familiar's stomach. It twisted and dissolved. He threw the blade at the one on the rooftop. He missed, but it jumped down from the rooftop, tailcoat sailing behind it. Mami's ribbon twisted into a gun, and she fired it through the creature. Behind her, Kyoko lowered her spear as the familiar shifted into stardust.

Another figure dropped down beside them, a girl wearing a long cape. She flipped her shield and blasted it. She shot many of the others around them, despite already knowing how futile it would be. The familiars would come back again and again until the witch was defeated, and she had to conserve her magic. Homura tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked around. With no familiars in the immediate vicinity, she exhaled.

Mami smiled. "Well, that wasn't so bad."

"You'd think the most powerful witch ever would be able to rustle up some more impressive familiars," Kyoko said.

"It's not over yet." A sword whistled past Mami's shoulder. Homura looked up. Standing on a lamppost was a figure in armor and a long cape, bearing a sword and shield. Kyoko gasped. It was a young girl, no older than ten, reborn as a performer on the accursed stage.

She spun, blades launching toward them. They jumped out of the way as the swords shot past and into the building behind them, where they dissolved. Mami was the first to retaliate, firing a series of bullets towards it. It blocked and dodged. Mami continued to fire. The familiar responded with another volley of blades. Soon, the two were engaged in a macabre dance of smoke and shield, bullet and blade, combustion and clanging. Both spun and spiralled, cape and twintails trailing behind them.

Three more familiars appeared behind them. They moved together, a ghostly archer flanked by twin lancers. Doctor Strange summoned a whip and lashed out, slicing a lancer's spear in half, The weapon dissolved, only to reappear. The archer pulled back its bow, long hair whipping behind it. It loosed an arrow, arching towards Kyoko, a perfect trajectory for her soul gem. Homura flipped her shield back and shoved her out of the way. She blasted the familiars, spun around, and shot the child engaging Mami, frozen mid-leap. The arrow hung unwavering in the air. She raised her shield and let time resume.

The arrow hit her shield; the familiars dissolved. When no more followed, they relaxed. "I need a grief seed," Kyoko demanded. Homura sighed and, reaching into her shield, handed her one. She tapped it against her soul gem and tossed it back.

"You and I should probably do that as well," Mami advised. Homura nodded, using the same grief seed as Kyoko. Mami pulled out one of her own to purified her gem. Doctor Strange exhaled heavily. He let his whip dissolve and looked around. Homura tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled. At this rate, maybe this could work.

"Did you feel that?" Kyoko asked. And she did, a cold racing down her back. She knew that feeling. She dreaded that feeling. In an instant, the sky filled with light, pink and green and purple. As quickly as it came, the light vanished. Then they heard it, a peal of sick laughter. Homura looked to the figure she knew was behind her, that had haunted her for a lifetime, a ghostly doll of lace and gears. The others turned to look as well. The color drained from their faces as they suddenly understood. Walpurgisnacht had arrived.