#(Because having an AU for Homu would be great!!!)

[clarafell]

@nenegyo has made a contract.          —         ★

The gray clouds of the morning darken by the time that the last class for the day comes to a close. Homura woke up horribly late this morning, failing to check the weather for today on her cellphone. She didn't mean to wake up late today, but she had spent almost the entire night on the streets of the city. She was low on her important supplies, so she had to prioritize stealing and lurking in the shadows.

She went straight to her usual haunts like a phantom in the night, but she wasn't after souls. Searching for souls with magical potential is Kyubey's duty, not hers. He has told her to be on the lookout for civilians with potential, but not until he declared that she could help the whole universe from being engulfed in despair by looking for more people. In the past, Homura might feel compelled to indeed keep an eye out for potential people to join in the fight against the nightmarish enemies.

After all, that would have to be the greatest thing she would offer to the universe.

That's what she thought about during the beginning of her contract. It wasn't like she was actually making an effort in helping the universe, anyway. Finding someone stronger and smarter would be the best bet for her, so Homura could naturally see why Kyubey told her such things. The truth of what happens to them all spoiled any interest in helping Kyubey find more and more souls. Homura vowed that she wouldn't recruit anyone into the clutches of the Incubator race. The temptation to grant your most brightest wish is not worth the heavy price of tearing your soul out of your body... It isn't worth becoming a monster.

She will let Kyubey continue to make his contracts, even though it makes her stomach twist into knots at the thought of letting him to continue his mission. Homura has accepted the reality that she cannot change their doomed fates or somehow prevent the hatching of witches. She has already made her wish. She knows that death will not come for her, but something so much worse. She will become a witch— She almost became a witch in her original timeline until her very first friend intervened to light the spark of her promise—

She didn't deserve to be saved that fateful day.

Homura is still as good as a corpse, carrying her soul in a purple gemstone. Death always wanted her long before she made her wish by kissing her heart with its poisonous lips. She still breathes and weeps and laughs, but she is a walking corpse. She is a mere spirit masquerading as part of the living, gliding from haunt to haunt until it is time for her to blossom into a witch. One day, maybe sometime soon, she will spread chaos. She will ruin the world until someone dazzling and heroic, straight from a fairytale story, slays her in order to collect her blackened grief seed...

What then? Where will she go then?

Focus, Homura! You have to focus on the present. She is counting on you, even though she doesn't remember right now... You need to be strong! Homura scolds herself, attempting to swat away her gloomy thoughts before she got too distracted.

Last night, Homura was after any form of weaponry that her eyes could spot. She prioritized getting her hands on all sorts of guns, silently praying for the chance to snag herself the scarcely seen bombs. With the rise of more difficult witches, the time traveler has decided to take even the weapons she was not good at fighting in. Without any magical weapons to call hers, Homura has to steal and steal what she can find. She latches onto bombs and all forms of guns, though she confesses that she is horrible at using them.

Waking up late this morning and forgetting to check the weather allows her to forget her umbrella. Not only that, but she had no time to even scavenge for anything to eat for breakfast. No one knew her anymore, so Homura found herself eating lunch alone. Unable to go to her favorite spots, Homura decides to eat in the girl's bathroom. It wasn't the first time she has done this, however. She often hung out in the girl's bathroom to escape away from the pressure of her fellow students back in Tokyo.

Too tired to eat her measly leftovers, Homura floats through the rest of the day. Her stomach aches, but it is nothing compared to the crushing reality that she is all alone again in this timeline. Too depressed over how she already ruined something so soon, her focus on reality begins to become blurry... The sound of thunder and flash of lightning snap her back to an empty classroom. With nothing left to keep her bound to the school, Homura leaves the building. She makes no effort to run back home to avoid the thunderstorm.

She walks and walks, aimlessly wandering the streets. No one will be waiting for her back at home. Her cellphone will not receive frantic rings or concerned text messages. The chill of being dripping wet would once be cause of worry, but the cold wetness has become somewhat of a companion. Violent storms have often now triggered a mental breakdowns, harkening back to her terrifying battle against Walpurgisnacht. She used to enjoy the rain in all its forms until the endless storms from Walpurgisnacht were scorched into her mind.

But right now? The heavy rainfall hides the looming threat of tears, washing them away. She couldn't tell if she was crying, but she didn't bother to hide when she was all alone on the streets. The frightened sound of a familiar cry causes Homura to lift her head, instantly kicking her body into a hurried chase. Homura darts into an alleyway, quick to cry out:

❝ ...Amy? Oh, Amy— Are you okay?! ❞

Homura is too consumed with dread and worry to care if her strained voice echoes. Causing a scene is the least of her concerns. No, her first instinct is to head deeper into the alleyway. The cry of the poor black kitten pierces her heart, encouraging her to quickly head to rescue Amy. She could never forget the cat that Madoka traded her soul to save. They once both knew that Amy preferred to live on the streets, but Homura didn't expect to hear her cries in this awful weather.

Whether the weather frightened her or something else is yet to be seen by Homura, but it doesn't stop her from investigating.

Little did she know, but she does attract company.