Chapter Text
Timeline HA-19
Sayaka didn’t really think much of the Transfer Student at first. Granted she was pretty, with that aloof coldness and long black hair of hers. However Sayaka couldn’t really tell anything else about her besides that. Not that she was exactly trying to figure her out, not with all her weirdness involving Madoka, if anything that made Sayaka less inclined to figure out the black haired Transfer Student. Well that was until Sayaka accidentally wandered into a Witch’s Labyrinth.
The blue haired girl had been terrified when she first entered. The whispers in her ears trying to urge her to come have a tea party and yellow ribbons trying to tie her up. It was really creepy and that was still not including what she would later know as familiars trying to kill her. Honestly Sayaka was half convinced that she would have died if it weren’t for Homura sweeping her off her feet and carrying her bridal style away from both the ribbons and familiars.
Homura jumped away until the both of them landed safely away from the messes around the rest of the labyrinth. Homura had her normal cold aloofness plastered on her face as she looked Sayaka in the eyes.
“Stay here, otherwise you will die,” Homura warned. She turned around and flicked her hair behind her in one fluid movement before marching forward to confront the familiars and Witch with a pistol in hand.
The ensuing battle had Sayaka entranced, Homura moved through the battlefield like a valkyrie on a mission. She dealt with each familiar with a single pistol shot, and dodged the ribbons by simply disappearing and repairing somewhere else. Even with Sayaka’s limited combat knowledge, she could tell that Homura had a lot of practice fighting. That became even more apparent when the Witch itself made an appearance and Homura began throwing pipe bombs at the Witch before it even had the chance to attack her. All in all Sayaka now knew that Homura was not only pretty, cold, and aloof, she now knew that she was also cool as hell.
After the Witch disappeared Sayaka watched a Grief Seed fall into Homura’s awaiting hand and be tucked away into her buckler. It was only then that Homura turned back to Sayaka with her pressing gaze.
“Now Miki-”
“You're so cool!” Sayaka interrupted. Homura blinked a few times in response and Sayaka got up to her feet and rushed towards the girl grabbing her hands much to Homura’s confusion. “I mean, you took out that thing like it was nothing more than a minor annoyance. And the way you came in and saved me like any knight would was awe inspiring!” Sayaka rambled. Homura opened and closed her mouth, Sayaka taking that as an invitation to continue speaking. “You're like a real life anime character!” Sayaka declared. Homura blinked a few more times before she got her bearings together.
“Miki-san, this is not all fun and games,” Homura bluntly stated. Sayaka tilted her head in return and dwelled on the words.
“It isn’t?” Sayaka asked. Homura frowned and shook her head.
“No, I could die at any time, even if I look cool. I have to be hyper focused on staying alive first and foremost,” Homura explained. She wrenched her hands free of Sayaka’s and turned around, flicking her hair behind her head as she did so. “If you can’t understand that, you have no hope of ever surviving in my line of work,” Homura declared. She began walking away, leaving a dumbstruck Sayaka behind. The blue haired girl sat there in silence for a long time before blinking in confusion.
“Wait… Was she worried about me getting hurt?” Sayaka questioned. The blue haired girl stared off into the distance trying to contemplate what just happened.
“Greetings Sayaka Miki!” Sayaka turned to her side and spotted a white cat-like creature sitting atop a nearby park bench.
“Wait, so you're telling me Magical Girls are real?” Sayaka asked. She now sat atop her bed with the white cat-like creature, Kyubey, as he explained the world of Magical Girls and Witches to the blue haired girl.
“Yes, in exchange for a Wish I will make you a Magical Girl and you will fight Witches to protect the citizens of this city from harm,” Kyubey explained. Sayaka pondered this information for a bit, and other questions began to spring into her head.
“Is being a Magical Girl dangerous?” Sayaka asked. Kyubey’s tail flickered to the side in response.
“Of course, Witches are dangerous creatures after all, I can not guarantee your absolute safety if you decide to contract,” Kyubey answered. Sayaka hummed in return.
“And I can Wish for anything?” Sayaka asked. Kyubey nodded in return.
“As long as your Wish is equal to your karmic potential, anything is possible,” Kyubey answered. Sayaka raised an eyebrow.
“Karmic potential? What’s that?” Sayaka asked. Kyubey’s tail flicked to the other side as it began to pace atop the bed.
“Your karmic potential is how much you will affect the world at large in the future,” Kyubey answered. Sayaka furrowed her brows in response,
“So people who will be politicians or CEOs will have more karmic potential than say… a baker?” Sayaka questioned. Kyubey nodded and Sayaka frowned. “Which means my karmic potential is rather low, isn't it?” Sayaka muttered. Kyubey rolled onto its back and looked up at the ceiling.
“Surprisingly your karmic potential is higher than I would expect, but perhaps you will be more important in the future, more so than even you realize,” Kyubey answered. Sayaka puffed out her chest in pride at the thought of being an important person in the future. “So knowing all that, do you have a Wish in mind to make?” Kyubey questioned. Sayaka fell silent for a moment and lifted a hand to her chin in thought.
“A Wish? What do I want to Wish for?” Sayaka mused. Ideas popped in her head quickly and the most notably one was simple. “Maybe I should just Wish to be a Magical Girl so I can keep everyone else safe and be a cool hero for everyone,” Sayaka thought to herself.
“No, I could die at any time. even if I look cool. I have to be hyper focused on staying safe first and foremost. If you can’t understand that, you have no hope of ever surviving in my line of work,” Homura’s words echoed in her head. Sayaka frowned and looked back to Kyubey.
“Could you give me some time to think?” Sayaka asked. Kyubey rolled back onto his feet.
“I can give you time to think, but just know that this offer will not always be available to you, so make sure to come to a decision soon or it might slip through your fingers,” Kyubey warned. Sayaka nodded in understanding and watched the creature leap towards her window and hop out of it with ease. Sayaka watched it go, still dwelling on what the Transfer Student had said.
“Homura,” Sayaka called out. The black haired girl released a sigh and kept looking at her Soul Gem in her hand searching for a Witch while the two walked down the street side by side.
“What do you want, Miki?” Homura questioned. She sounded annoyed and cold, but that wasn’t exactly different from how she was usually.
“Kyubey approached me after you and I met the other day and offered to make me a Magical Girl,” Sayaka explained. Homura hummed in return.
“Not surprising, he always pounces on new victims as soon as possible,” Homura mused. Sayaka would have to think about that later.
“I want to know why you think I wouldn’t survive as a Magical Girl,” Sayaka asked. Homura finally brought herself to a stop and looked up from her Soul Gem, a baffled expression on her face.
“Why?” Homura asked. Sayaka smiled bashfully in response.
“Well you saved me and you were at least somewhat worried about me when you warned me that being a Magical Girl was dangerous and that I probably didn’t have the guts for it. So I simply want to know why,” Sayaka answered. Homura took the information in her for a moment and changed her Soul Gem back into a ring before meeting Sayaka’s eyes. She took a deep breath and Homura’s eyes sharpened into seriousness and she began speaking.
“You're brash, charge into things without thinking, wear your heart on your sleeve, you have too much of a sense of justice, and you don’t handle stress well,” Homura broke down. There was a moment of silence before Homura let out a breath and Sayaka furrowed her brows in thought for a long moment.
“Those sound like insults,” Sayaka retorted. Homura let out a very tired sigh in return.
“You asked for my reasons why I think you are not suited to be a Magical Girl and I gave them to you, they are not insults, simply observations,” Homura remarked. She flicked her hair over her shoulder before turning around and moving to take her Soul Gem out once more. “Now if that is all I should be-”
“Hold, I have one more thing,” Sayaka interrupted. Homura looked back at her for a second and raised an eyebrow. Sayaka looked bashful for a second before speaking. “Ah… Are you free at all on like… Saturday?” Sayaka asked. Homura blinked once, then twice, then a third time just to make sure and then her face changed into one of utter confusion.
“Are… Are you asking me out on a date?” Homura questioned. Sayaka grinned in return.
“Can you blame a girl for trying? You are really pretty and cool, who wouldn’t want to at least have one date with you and I do want to get to know you at least a little better if you are going to spend so much time around Madoka,” Sayaka explained. Homura opened and closed her mouth a few times before she turned around.
“I will meet you at the mall at twelve thirty, do not be late,” Homura instructed. Sayaka let out a small cheer as the black haired girl walked away and Sayaka walked in the other direction simply wondering what she would find out about the black haired girl.
The answer was that she liked people watching for some reason and didn’t really like going out into shops or shopping in general. Sayaka also noticed that Homura stuck fairly close to her the entire time they were out and about at first she was confused, then she realized that Homura just didn’t really like other people.
“So, you really aren’t a social person are you?” Sayaka asked. Homura shook her head in response.
“No, I just like spending time with people I know or care about over strangers,” Homura answered. Sayaka got a small glint in her eyes at those words.
“So you care about me, got it,” Sayaka remarked. Homura rolled her eyes in return.
“I did not save you for nothing, Miki,” Homura retorted. Sayaka paused for a moment while Homura continued walking. Sayaka recovered from her momentary lapse and raced to catch up to the black haired girl.
“Well if that is the case, you can just call me Sayaka,” the blue haired girl declared. Homura turned the idea in her head a few times before nodding to herself.
“Very well, Sayaka, if you insist,” Homura stated. The blue haired girl soaked in the sound of her name on the other girl's lips and used the new bit of confidence she gained to grab Homura’s hand and pull her forward. “What are you doing?” Homura asked. She didn’t actually stop Sayaka from pulling her forward but she did stare at her weirdly.
“Well since you don’t like people all that much, how about we go somewhere more private?” Sayaka suggested. Homura blinked a few times before she lightly shrugged her shoulders.
“If you think it would be better,” Homura muttered. Sayaka continued to pull the black haired girl forward until they eventually reached a small garden built as part of the mall which many people didn’t venture into or were hanging around. Homura looked around the garden and enjoyed the sights while Sayaka walked next to her. “You are more thoughtful than I gave you credit for Sayaka,” Homura remarked. Sayaka smiled in return.
“Compliments now? I guess I still have a chance of making you fall for me yet!” Sayaka declared. Homura lightly shook her head in return.
“I would not bet on it, as enjoyable as this afternoon has been, I have my eyes set on-”
“Madoka, right?” Sayaka finished. Homura turned towards her and slowly nodded. Sayaka let out a small laugh in return. “Don’t be too surprised, I thought at first you were eyeing up Madoka like fresh meat like any bully would, but now I see it's the stoic cool girl’s first middle school crush,” Sayaka playfully teased. Homura pouted, which made her look incredibly cute.
“This is not my first crush,” Homura retorted. Sayaka waved her hand in return.
“Sure, sure,” Sayaka replayed. Homura’s pout turned into a frown, which was just as cute. “You can keep chasing after her if you want, but know that for a limited time I will be available just for you,” Sayaka stated. Homura looked at a long time before she spoke.
“Are you really okay with letting me go?” Homura asked. Sayaka tilted her head back and forth for a moment and let her smile fall from her face.
“Not really,” Sayaka answered. But she smirked a moment later. “But I have a feeling I can convince Madoka of anything, including sharing you,” Sayaka stated. Homura went still for a moment before she started giggling. The sound was like music to Sayaka’s ears.
“Ah, I get it,” Homura began after her giggles died down. “If I get Madoka, you want to join in to get us both,” Homura said with mild amusement. Sayaka grinned at her friend in return.
“Can’t deny that!” Sayaka retorted. Homura fell silent for a long moment and eventually a small smile graced her lips.
“Here are my terms, if you can convince Madoka to start dating me and you at the same time, I will give the relationship a chance,” Homura proposed. Sayaka let out a small cheer of victory.
“You got yourself a deal, Homura!” Sayaka accepted. Homura hummed in approval and the two walked side by side through the garden once more taking it in with only each nearby.
Sayaka thought it was really nice and looked forward to returning here with both Homura and Madoka one day.
Sayaka wandered through the watery ruins of what remained of Mitakihara, rain poured down on top of her as she took slow and tentative steps through the city.
She really shouldn’t be out here with the supercell about to pass through any minute, but both Madoka and Homura were missing from the shelter and the blue haired girl just had a sinking feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. So she ventured out into the storm to try and see if she could find the pair.
She didn’t find Madoka, but she did find Homura.
Pinned to a stone wall by nearly a dozen metal rods, her school clothing bloodied from the many puncture wounds and her lifeless eyes stared down towards the ground below.
“HOMURA!” Sayaka screamed. She sprinted up to the girl but couldn’t even reach her to begin helping her.
“It is useless, even if you could pull her free, her Soul Gem disappeared after Madoka Kaname got buried in rubble,” Kyubey’s voice echoed through Sayaka’s head. The blue haired girl found the white cat-like creature perched atop a stack of rocks sitting there like nothing was wrong with the world.
“I wanna use my Wish to bring Homura back from the dead!” Sayaka yelled. Kyubey’s tail flicked to the side and its beady red eyes stared into Sayaka’s tearful eyes.
“Bringing the dead back to life is beyond your Karamic Potential,” Kyubey responded. Sayaka walked up to the white cat-like creature and grabbed it by the collar and glared into its eyes.
“Then what can I do?” Sayaka demanded. Kyubey titled its head in return.
“It is not our job to suggest Wishes, it must be your own decision,” Kyubey responded. Sayaka scowled and tossed the creature aside before turning back towards Homura's hanging corpse.
“Can…Can I even do anything?” Sayaka wondered. What wish could save Homura? She couldn’t heal her, couldn’t bring her back to life… And what about Madoka? She apparently got buried under rubble and just helping Homura wouldn’t bring her best friend back to life either…. What could Sayaka even do? What kind of Wish would save both her friends from this terrible disaster? What could prevent them from being here in the first- “Oh… OH!” Sayaka's eyes widened in realization. She found Kyubey standing prim and proper again locking eyes with her once more.
“What is the Wish that will make your Soul Gem shine, Sayaka Miki?” Kyubey asked. Sayaka stared ahead, clenching her hands tightly into fists and standing as tall as she could.
“I wish to be able to go back in time, to just before I met Homura,” Sayaka declared. Kyubey blinked once and began to glow brightly and Sayaka felt a burning pain run through her chest.
“The contract is complete, your Wish has overcome Entropy,” Kyubey declared. Sayaka saw a blinding blue glow in front of her and in the next moment was overcome by its radiance.
Timeline SM-2
Sayaka blinked her eyes slowly, trying to clear the sun from her eyes.
“Sayaka are you alright?” The blue haired girl turned towards the voice and found Madoka standing next to Hitomi as the three girls walked towards their school in the distance. She looked around for a bit and found other students making their way towards the school as well, like nothing had happened at all, no supercell, no death… no nothing. Sayaka’s face split into a grin and she stared towards Madoka and Hitomi with her usual confidence, a silver ring with a blue gemstone impeded into it shining slightly on her right hand.
“Yep, everything is right!” Sayaka responded. Madoka and Hitomi seemed a bit confused but shrugged it off as her usual antics.
“Then I suggest we hurry, we wouldn’t want to be late to school,” Hitomi urged. Sayaka and Madoka silently complied with those words and began marching forward. The blue haired girl was a little giddy, idly wondering if this just so happened to be the day Homura entered into her school. If that were the case, perhaps the two could strike up a team, watch each other's back, prevent each other from being hurt, and save people from Witches… Yeah and Sayaka could save Homura from the terrible fate that awaited her on the day of the supercell’s arrival.
Sayaka mostly tuned out her friends as she began trying to plan out how she was going to talk to the Transfer Student upon her arrival. Even as Miss Saotome went on about why eggs weren’t important in a relationship, which was a blast from the past for her, Sayaka idly awaited Homura’s grand entrance to the scene, how would the Magical Girl react to her presence? How would Sayaka convince her that she was from the future? So many possibilities, and Sayaka couldn’t wait to see how their grand story of fighting Witches together would pan out, the cool and aloof pretty black haired girl and the tomboyish blue haired girl, Sayaka was sure they could do-
Who was that?
Sayaka stared dumbly at the timid, skittish and shy girl with purple eyes, black hair tied back into braids, and red rimmed glasses sitting on her nose. She kinda looked like Homura Akemi but that there was no way-
“Class I would like to introduce you to Homura Akemi, our new transfer student,” Miss Saotome introduced.
…
…
…
WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON!?
Timeline SM-72
Alright Sayaka had the gist of everything now.
She had the ability to return to the day Moe-Homura (Because that was not the cool Homura she met, though she did have her own charms.) would enter school. Sayaka was now a magical girl with all of its greatness. (She was going to fucking find a way to kill the Incubator permanently, with a fucking cheese grater for all his lies… She may have spent too much time around Kyoko these last few timelines, she was swearing too often, even in her own head.)
There was apparently a girl named Mami Tomoe who was a long standing magical girl in Mitakihara. The blonde was awesome in battle, but she absolutely could not handle any mental pressure, telling her the truth in the third timeline was not pleasant for anyone. Sayaka needed to figure out a way to make sure the girl didn’t learn the truth while also being on her side. The blue haired girl learned that those two things were very, very hard to accomplish, but hey it was a new timeline, and she had new plans to try out.
Madoka made a frankly amazing Magical Girl and had the determination to go the distance even after learning the truth. Sayaka was absolutely glad that the girl was so easy to sway to her side, or else she would have pulled her hair out many, many timelines ago, having a consistent partner was also nice, even if it hadn’t ended up being Homura like she wanted it to be when she first made her Wish.
Kyoko Sakura was frustrating at first, she would appear in any timeline where Mami died to a Witch or killed herself. She would try to lay claim to Mitakihara as her new territory and that would lead to Sayaka and Madoka clashing with her… At least for the first few timelines, after Sayaka learned that Kyoko could be persuaded with food and shelter, it was really easy to get the girl to cooperate, a little harder if Mami was around, but Sayaka could make it work. (Also note to self, Kyoko is always really flirty with her for some reason… Sayaka did think the redhead was cute so maybe in this timeline she-NO! Wait! Homura and Madoka were her girls! Even if it was the Moe version.)
And then there was Moe-Homura herself. Getting her not to contract was surprisingly easy, shower her with love and kindness and the girl turned from a shrinking violet into a beaming sunflower within a matter of weeks. She did usually get caught up in the Magical Girl business no matter how Sayaka tried to stop her, but at least the blue haired girl could keep her safe from harm… The real problem was protecting everyone in her new little group of friends from Walpurgisnacht.
She had defeated it a number of times, but it was never clean. Madoka was usually the one to die the most, Kyoko would sometimes manage to take the Witch out at the cost of her own life, Mami would get killed in action whenever she made it that far and Moe-Homura would almost always somehow end up caught in the mess of the super cell and Walpurgisnacht and die because of it. She… really didn’t like seeing that girl's corpse so many times, but this time she was sure she could get everyone to the end alive! She would get it done this time no matter what!
So with a grin plastered on her face she looked at her two friends with as much hope as she could muster and turned towards Madoka-
Okay, why was her hair not up in pigtails?
Instead of her normal style, Madoka’s hair was up in a single ponytail with a purple ribbon wrapped around it… Okay that was odd, but little differences like this happened sometimes in timelines, She just had to roll with it.
“Sayaka are you alright?” Hitomi asked. Sayaka nodded and looked towards her other friend.
“Yep! Now we should get to class before we are late!” Sayaka declared. Hitomi slowly nodded while Madoka nodded her head in agreement.
“Yeah,” was Madoka’s muted response. Sayaka raised her eyebrow a bit at that, but decided to ignore it. Now was not the time to get caught up in Madoka’s little differences, now was the time to get ready to reintroduce herself to Moe-Homura.
So just like the last timelines, Sayaka, Madoka, and Hitomi made their way into their classroom. Madoka seemed to be way less excitable as she usually was, more subdued and serious, but Sayaka just guessed that was a part of this timeline’s Madoka and would venture to get used to it before it could cause her problems. So she mentally took in the new Madoka’s details as she awaited for Miss Saotome’s rant about eggs to finish.
This Madoka stared forward with more attention than she usually did and seemed dead focused on the door, which was beyond odd, but again, must- You know what no. Sayaka was convinced that there was something up with this Madoka. Oh, yeah especially now that she noticed that she already had her Soul Gem now that she looked closely. Okay seriously what was up with this Madoka?
“In any case I have good news for everyone!” Miss Saotome declared. Sayaka perked up and turned towards the front of the door forgetting all about Madoka and refocusing on her entire point of going back in time. “You can come in now,” Miss Saotome declared. Sayaka watched the door closely awaiting the arrival of her timid-
HOLY SHIT!
Sayaka’s eyes sparkled as she watched the cool aloof Homura from her first ever timeline walk into the room. Her long black hair like the night sky, her purple eyes like shining amethysts, and her stride confident like that of a runway model. Now this was the Homura Sayaka had gone back in time for. She grinned like she had won the lottery and Homura seemed to notice and looked at her oddly and then to Madoka, it caused Sayaka to look towards her best friend too and found her looking like she had also won the lottery…
Okay, what was going on now?