29Chapter 2
If there were ever a stranger pairing of girls, it would surprise Kriemhild Gretchen. Oh, sure, anyone who looked at Homura and herself as they exited the Middle School would see...well, two normal girls. Her grin would probably unnerve the average person, and Homura's mask- save for little twitches at the corner of her mouth -would keep anyone from knowing what she felt. Despite that, they still looked like two normal girls leaving school together. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary there.
Of course, no one knew she was a Witch! Or that Homura-chan was probably angrier than she had ever been before. Details, details. Who really cared anyway? Kriemhild didn't! All she cared about was the fact that she was back with Homura, despite all odds against it. Nothing else really mattered to her.
Did that make her overly attached?
"Are you intending to follow me everywhere I go?" Homura may not have been able to read her mind, but the Magical Girl always did know what to say. Or when to say it.
"Not everywhere," Kriemhild replied with a little giggle. Her pink eyes, a remnant of Madoka that she couldn't shake, danced with amusement at the distinctly sour look creeping onto Homura's face. "But I'm not letting you out of my sight when I have the chance, Homura-chan. I won't let you die after all!"
A single raised eyebrow was the only reply the Magical Girl gave. Granted, that eyebrow conveyed every bit of scorn she felt at the very idea. Of needing protecting.
Silly Homura.
"I'm going to protect you from everything, Homura-chan." Rolling her eyes, the Witch attempted to lock her arm with the Magical Girl.
Homura neatly sidestepped the action, her long and lean legs pushing her ahead from the shorter Kriemhild. Clearly, she was going to play that way. Well it wasn't like Kriemhild hadn't expected this. She'd come around eventually.
"Come on, Homura-chan! I just want to help you!"
Narrowed violet eyes turned back, the closest Homura would allow herself to a glare, "All I have to say, I already said. You are a Witch, I am a Magical Girl. We have no reason to work together. Especially as you should be very well aware what my mission is, and always has been."
To protect Her. Yes, I know that very well...
Kriemhild rolled her eyes, "Aren't I the same pers..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the girl was rather rudely interrupted by way of a certain blue-haired teenager. A certain, very jealous, teenager. Sayaka always was that way with Homura, wasn't she? At least Kriemhild assumed so. She only knew two Sayaka Miki's after all. But then, that was more than enough wasn't it? It wasn't like she could deal with more than th-
Focus. Focus.
"Sayaka-chan!" Kriemhild forced a more 'Madoka' smile onto her face, waving at the bluenette. The scowl on Sayaka's face mirrored what the Witch was actually feeling, funnily enough.
"Madoka, you were worrying me!" Sayaka's voice was filled with both worry for her friend and more than a little suspicion directed at the transfer student. "Why'd you wander off with...what's her name? Hitomi and I were looking everywhere for you."
"I was just showing Homura-chan around the school. Riiiiggghhhhttt?"
The last was directed at the time-traveler, who visibly shuddered at the sickly sweet tone. "Yes. Kaname-san was simply helping me adapt to the new school."
"I told you to call me by my first name!" Kriemhild bit down annoyance. Homura wasn't just not calling her by her name, she was using the last name of the girl she once was.
"Hm."
With Homura being, well, Homura...Sayaka was the one to draw attention on herself. By actually laughing at the byplay between the self-professed monster wearing her friend's face, and the girl she should be hating.
"Man, Madoka, you're just making friends with everyone, aren't you?" Sayaka's grin was more than a little teasing, as she walked forward and wrapped an arm around Kriemhild's shoulder. "That's our Madoka for you, always trying to be nice."
"Sayaka-chan!" Kriemhild tried to force the other girl off her, and only succeeded in making the taller girl laugh at her struggles. Stupid human body!
Continuing to laugh at the ineffectual struggling from her friend, Sayaka turned her bright blue eyes on Homura. The implacable time-traveler had merely raised an eyebrow at the glance, seemingly relieved to no longer be the target of the Witch.
"Say, transfer student," not once removing her arm, Sayaka talked to Homura Akemi with...a completely normal tone of voice. "You notice anything about Madoka here? She's been acting a bit odd lately."
"How would I notice if she were?" Homura always did have a way of dryly stating her point.
It just had Sayaka grinning at her, "Well, you've never met her before. So if she's acting different, maybe you can tell me how. Hitomi is always saying I need a different perspective on things!"
"Hm."
Homura's violet gaze drifted over Kriemhild, contemplative behind her mask of indifference. That gaze, more than anything before, had Kriemhild actually worried. It was a strange feeling, like a chill running down her spine. A very physical chill that was completely at odds with the warm body pressed against her side and practically strangling her. And the Witch wasn't sure she liked that feeling at all. Feelings in general were strange, but fear just didn't fit! Especially fear of Homura, the one person who actually mattered to her.
She shouldn't be afraid of Homura. Homura was her best friend, the person she wanted to protect. It didn't make any sense!
But Homura-chan hold's my fate in her hands. I know that Mami is around here somewhere...
"I'm afraid that all I can tell you, is that she is very friendly and desires my companionship. For some reason." Threading her fingers through long black locks, Homura threw her hair back over her shoulder. An ever so slight pursing of her lips the only sign of the discomfort she felt with those words. "As I said, I do not really know her."
Not really a lie. Homura-chan didn't know her, she only knew Madoka. And knowing Madoka was not knowing Kriemhild. Which was why she wanted to stay with the taller girl. To let her know how she was different from Madoka!
"Huh. That sounds like Madoka, all right." Sayaka frowned, though it quickly faded back into a relaxed smile. "Well, if you're not busy, want to come with us? Madoka and I were going to hit up the mall later!"
Homura blinked. Very slowly.
Kriemhild's smile twisted into a fragile, thin line.
And Sayaka Miki continued smiling, completely missing what her words had done. Typical of her really.
"You are...inviting me to the mall?" Homura's words were slow. Halting. As if she were testing the waters to figure out she wasn't dreaming.
Sayaka shrugged, "Sure, why not? I mean, Madoka seems to like you and she's always been good at judging character. She's the one who got Hitomi and I to be friends after all."
"I was surprised that you would invite a 'transfer student' to join you."
As if realizing the emphasis Homura had put on those words, without once changing her tone, Sayaka winced. Finally removing her arm from Kriemhild's shoulder, the blue-haired girl scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Heh heh...sorry about that, Akemi. Madoka could tell you I get a bit..."
"Defensive?" Kriemhild suggested, a distinctly sour tone to her voice as she rolled her shoulders. "Overprotective? Refusing to let me be alone?"
"Yeesh...don't hold back why don't you." Sayaka grimaced, sending a sidelong glance at Homura. "And this is why I was asking you if she seemed off. Madoka's never been this assertive before. It's kinda spooky."
"Indeed."
Kriemhild just grumbled under her breath. So what if she was complaining about exactly what she wanted to do to Homura. Sayaka didn't have to protect her from anything, she could handle herself! But Homura needed protecting from everything. Other Magical Girls and Witches would want to hurt Homura, if only to get at her. And she couldn't have that. After all, it was her job to create a perfect world- even if it was only for herself and Homura.
It made complete sense, unlike Sayaka's paranoia.
"Anyway, I figure that if Madoka wants to be your friend, I can at least give it a shot...y'know?" The bluenette continued, seemingly pushing aside her worries about her friend. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"
Homura was silent, contemplative, and completely unwilling to show whatever it was she was thinking. Nothing new there.
"Come on, Homura-chan," Kriemhild was not so willing to hide what she felt. While she was annoyed with Sayaka for the interruption, this was a chance to get Homura to stay around. A chance to talk with the taller girl and convince her that she wasn't evil and only wanted to protect her. Not something to waste! "Why don't you come along? We can have fun together!"
While Homura remained silent, Sayaka shuddered slightly. "Madoka...never say that again. Jeez, I didn't think your voice could make that noise..."
"What noise?" Honestly confused, Kriemhild tilted her head at Sayaka. Black ribbons fluttering with the movement, as her youthful face scrunched up into a confused expression.
Eliciting nothing more than a sigh of resignation from her friend, "I guess not everything's changed, eh Madoka?"
Kriemhild would remain baffled by what Sayaka was implying, as Homura cleared her throat softly. Blue and pink eyes turned back to the elegant girl, who merely raised an eyebrow. Homura's otherwise expressionless face told nothing about her feelings beneath the surface. Unsurprising, really, though the words she spoke most certainly were. After all-
"I would be glad to join you."
-they had never come from her lips before, and Kriemhild should know. Fragmented as they were, she still had most of Madoka's memories and she knew Homura didn't like Sayaka. At all.
"Homura...chan?" Kriemhild may have wanted the other girl to come along, but she hadn't really expected it.
"I see no reason to not join you," Homura swept her hair back, her violet gaze meeting Kriemhild's pink. Words were exchanged mentally, if not verbally. 'I have no desire to work with you. However, I have equally little desire to let you out of my sight until I am certain what you are capable of. I care little for Miki, but this is the best option to keep you in check.'
Before the Witch could even hope to reply, Homura cut the link off. Probably because the cloying feeling of Kriemhild's energy continued to scare her. Kriemhild could say the same about Magical Girl energy. It made her distinctly uncomfortable, and every time her eyes drifted to the Soul Gem at Homura's finger, she had to suppress a strong urge to destroy it. Despite knowing, very well, that it would kill the one person she cared about.
"That's not exactly what I was hoping for there, Akemi," Sayaka was clueless, of course, unable to hear their conversation. The teenager sighed dramatically, and flung her hands into the air. "Ah well, at least you're coming along. You know where the mall is?"
"Of course," Homura spun on her heel, and began walking in that direction without another word.
"Madoka." Sayaka turned to her friend, watching the new girl walk into the distance. "Your choice of friends is weird."
Kriemhild just grinned at the bluenette, "What does that say about you then, Sayaka-chan?"
"Hey! Madoka! Get back here you little-"
A bit shorter than my usual, to be fair, but it seemed like a good point to end.
Which, on that note, this one is shorter than 2500 because I'm trying to pace myself more now that I'm getting back into the swing of writing the fic. As I said before, I feel the major flaw with the original Salvation was that it was far, far too rushed. I could have made this 4k or so words by combining in what will be Chapter 3, but...it wouldn't have helped with the flaws of the original. I feel these shorter chapters will allow me to slow the plot down a bit and develop it more. That might just be me.
(I mean, actual novels don't have 4k word chapters for the most part. And I've said in other stories that...hm. Honestly, 2-2.5k is my new average. I write what feels right not for raw word count anymore. I know a lot of people prefer chapters longer than 2.5k, but if it fits...it fits. Also, pushing myself is not conducive to good writing.)
As for Sayaka, it's easy to forget that she had no problem with Homu-Homu, even in the last timeline, until she acted all creepy towards Madoka. She even went for that whole 'in awe of how she looked' bit. There's that lingering cross-timeline suspicion in the back of her head, but Sayaka right now shouldn't have any major issue with Homura.
It helps that Kriem-chan is throwing her off.
Speaking of which, it is very difficult to write her internal thoughts. Writing from the perspective of a very questionably-sane Witch is not easy. I'm trying to show that more than in the original, with how disjointed her lines of thought are and how hypocritical she is. Kriem-chan isn't sane- though from her perspective she is -and I need to show that. Hopefully it worked.
