The feeling came suddenly. The feeling of a powerful force coming together, fusing into one being. I could only smile bitterly.

   “Mistress, that girl recovered her memories. What're you going to do? Let them kill you?” A soft voice called behind me. I turned around and faced the Clara doll with cherry red eyes and pink hair. The doll sneered at me, it's eyes full of hate.

   “Yes.” I turned away and touched the ribbon Madoka gave me.

     “Of course you would.” It said. “The one with the blue hair seemed especially angry. I bet she'll give you a painful death.”

    I could hear the excitement in the doll's voice. I knew my familiars hates me with a fiery passion, but did it really wants me dead this bad?

   I smiled ruefully. I swore to myself that when Madoka recovers her memories and join the Law of Cycles, I'd let her kill me. At this point, there was nothing I could do. She surrendered herself  to being the Law of  Cycles and as long as Sayaka, Mami, and Kyoko were with her, she'd be happy.

   I can sense them coming. They weren't really wasting any time, were they? I summoned my weapon, I needed to give the illusion that I'm fighting back after all. 

…

“Ah!” I jolted awake and gripped my covers. My body was trembling and sweat covered my body.

That dream…why can't I remember it?

Before I could think on it further, the door open and a woman with long, dark hair rushed in and hugged me.

“Homura-chaaan, are you excited?” The woman asked.

“Huh? Uh, why?” I asked nervously.

“What do you mean, why? You're coming home today!”

Memories came flooding into my head. That woman is my mother. I have a younger brother, Haruki. I was in a coma after a car crash. How could I have forgotten that?

“S-sorry mother.” I mumbled. “I just woke up.”

“You did? Ah, I shouldn't have run in here. Oh yeah, you know that Haruki's is cooking your favorite meal! He's really became such a good cook and-”

“Shouldn't we go to get discharged?” I asked quietly.

“Oh yeah, I forgot! Come on, Homura!” Mother stood up and left, only to come back and help me. Mother can be a ditz sometimes…

After being discharged from the hospital, mother took an hour to drive home. Not because our home was an hour away, but because she apparently forgot to buy cleaning supplies yesterday. I didn't have the energy to leave the car, so I insisted on staying inside.

Ah, I can't wait to see Haruki. I thought with a smile.

Haruki…

I frowned. I couldn't really remember Haruki. Isn't he my brother? Now that I mentioned it, I didn't really feel that comfortable around mother. I always felt on edge around her. Was something wrong?

“Homuraaaaaaa-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaan~” Mother called out, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Eh…wha!? Didn't you go in for cleaning supplies!?”

My mother held 5 large bulging bags of groceries in her hand and most of the content were nothing but snacks.

“Cleaning supplies? Oh shit, I forgot!” Mother turned to run back into the store but I quickly bolted out the car and stopped her.

“… Maybe you can get them later, mother. Let's just go home.” I said nervously. “Besides, Haruki is waiting on us.”

“Ah! You're right!” Mother said. “I'm sorry Homura, I saw a bunch of tasty snacks and I had to get them!”

Why is mother such a ditz? I sighed and got mother into the car. Seriously, why do I feel like the adult all of a sudden?

A/N: Hope ya enjoyed this mess! I've been wanting to write this for a while, but I just now started lol. This is my first time writing GL so don't expect too much!!

“Homura are you okay?” Haruki asked.

      “I-I'm fine!” I stammered.

     I'm not fine. It's been two weeks since I've been discharged, and today's my first day of school. I haven't really left the house much, I just read books and watch TV.

   “Homura-chan's just nervous because today's her first day of school!” Mother said cheerfully.

    Uuu, why is mother like this!?

    “Ah, I remember the first time you went to school. You were so nervous, you were practically in tears! Huhu, it's so cute how you never cha-”

   “I'm going now! Bye mother, bye Haruki!” I quickly bolted out the door before mother could say any more embarrassing things.

   As I got closer to Mitakihara each step felt heavier. I've never been able to talk to people before. Back in the hospital and even when I went to Catholic school. I should probably just stay quiet and hope no one notices me.

  I finally made it in front of my new school, but I can't work up the courage to go inside. So I could only stand and tremble while staring at the school. I was the one who insisted on going to school, why was I freezing up like this?

   “Maybe staying home won't be such a bad idea…” I muttered.

    “Ack! Stop dragging me! Lemme go!!”

    I quickly turned around and saw a blue haired girl dragging a red head towards the school.

    “No way! You'll just run off and skip school again!” The blue haired girl huffed. She stopped when she noticed me, and an array of emotions flashed through her eyes. The red haired girl stopped struggling and looked at me too.

    I-I need to go! This staring is too much...

   “Excuse me.” I squeaked and started to quickly walk home when the blue haired girl grabbed my wrist.

  Eek!

   “Yeesh. What's with everyone trying to skip school today?” The blue haired girl sighed.

     “School's too boring.” The red haired girl said. “Ain't that right?”

     Why are you talking to me all of a sudden!?

     “Um, y-yes?” I answered nervously.

    “Haaah, as if one delinquent was enough...” The blue girl muttered under her breath.

     “H-hey!”

     “I ain't a delinquent!”

      “Are you new?” The blue haired girl asked me, ignoring her friend.

     “Ah, yes! I-I'm Homura Akemi!”

    “I'm Sayaka Miki and that idiot right there is Kyoko Sakura.” Miss. Sayaka said.

     Sayaka Miki…Kyoko Sakura…  Where have I heard those names from?

     The school bell suddenly rang, pulling me out of my reverie.

   “Dammit! We're late!!” Miss. Miki ran, pulling Miss. Sakura and I with her.

...

    It turned out that we all have the same class together. Knowing that put a light feeling in my chest. But I still have to introduce myself in front of people. As I stood in front of the class, I stared at the ground and played with the hem of my skirt. But even so, I could still feel everyone's gazes burning into me. I should've just left when I had the chance.

   “Alright then, introduce yourself to everyone!” Ms. Saotome said cheerfully.

    “Um… I-I'm Homura Akemi. I… uh…it's very nice to meet you…” I quickly turned to the whiteboard, picked up the marker, and wrote my name in a flourish. So strange… I thought my hand would've been trembling, but it was steady, and I felt as if I've done this a million times before.

    After Ms. Saotome explained my situation to the class, she told me where to go sit. I quickly hurried over to my seat. I looked up once and noticed a girl with short pink hair pulled into pigtails and red cherry eyes. An overwhelming feeling of urgency, relief, happiness, love, and despair washed over me.

      Homura-chan!

    Huh? That voice just now… Somehow, I feel as if I've met that girl before.

A/N: The most difficult thing about writing this chapter was figuring out how to use Miss, Mrs., and Ms. I wanted to keep Homura's formal way of referring to a person but, goddammit English language! Why do you have to be so difficult!! And sorry for the lame way of ending this chapter >~>

  “Akemi-san, where did you go to school before?”

  “Were you in any clubs?”

  “Did you play any sports? What about art?”

   “Your hair's really long! It must take time to wash it every morning.”

     “I…uh…”

    I stared down at my lap and tried thinking of something to say. I really wanted to become good friends with them, but for some reason it felt a lot harder to talk to them than it did with Miss Miki and Miss Sakura.

   Ah! What do I say??

    “Akemi-san, you need to go to the nurse's office, right?”

    A bright, cheery voice said. I looked up to see a girl with pale pink hair pulled into pigtails and cherry red eyes. She had a warm smile on her face. For some reason, just seeing that girl made me feel many complicated emotions.

   “Do you know where it is?” The girl continued.

    “No…” I mumbled.

    “I'll take you then there. I'm the nurse's aide for this class.” The girl said cheerily.

    “Sorry everyone. Akemi-san has to check in with the nurse during breaks since she woke up from a coma.”

   Eh? No one told me about this!

   “Oh? Really? Sorry for taking up your time.”

    “Talk to you later, Akemi-san.”

  ….

   The girl led me down a hallway and for a while, everything was silent. I could feel a little tension coming from the girl, and I felt even more awkward and self-conscious than I did in the classroom.

   “Sorry about that.” She said suddenly. “They weren't trying to be rude. It's very rare for students to transfer here, so they were just excited.”

  “No, it's okay… Thank you.” I said shyly.

  “No need to be that nervous. We're classmates!” The girl smiled warmly.

   “My name is Madoka Kaname.”  Miss. Kaname said.

   “ I…it's fine.” I looked down so I wouldn't see Miss. Kaname's expression. I didn't feel like I have the right to say her first name. For now, I'll just call her Miss. Kaname.

   “Could I call you Homura-chan?” Miss. Kaname asked.

   “I…  Haven't been called my name very much. It's a really weird name.” I said softly.

  “No, that's not true.” Miss. Kaname said. “It feels really exciting and cool.”

My head snapped up and I looked at Miss. Kaname. Did she really mean it? But even so...

 “… I'm nothing like my name, then.”  I muttered.

  For some reason, that made Miss. Kaname stop in her tracks. I froze at her determined expression on her face.

  “You shouldn't say that!” She cried. “You have such a wonderful name, so you should just be cooler to match it!”

   I stared at Miss. Kaname's smile as a light blush spread across my face. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. I looked at the floor and put a hand to my heart. It's the first time someone has ever said that to me…

…

    “Homura-chan!”

    I looked up from my desk and saw Miss. Kaname handing me a note.

    “U-um, this is…”

    “It's for today's lesson.” Miss. Kaname said.

    Ah, I see. I whispered thank you and looked at the note. It was a single math problem on it with steps to solve it. Is this how people studied for lessons now?

   “How about you solve this problem?” Ms. Sataome asked.

   I nervously left my seat and tried to ignore the stares from my classmates. Ah, the math problems looked so hard! Wait… it looked exactly like the problem Miss. Kaname gave me. I didn't want to look dumb in front of my classmates, so I just wrote down everything from the note.

   “Well done, Akemi-san!” Ms. Sataome said, even though she had a slightly surprised look on her face. I quickly returned to my seat and stared at the desk as Ms. Sataome started explaining the problem in detail.

  How did Miss. Kaname know what was going to be on the board? Why would she help me? Despite myself, I looked over at Miss. Kaname. She stared back and smiled warmly at me. I blushed and quickly looked down again.

   …

   “She got light-headed from warm-up? That's kinda bad.”

    “Well, she was in a coma for a year. She's not really in shape.”

      …

     School was over soon, and I was going to leave the school when someone grabbed my arm. I jumped and saw Miss. Kaname grinning at me with a mischievous smile.

   “Do you have any plans today, Homura-chan?” She asked.

   “No, not really…” I was just planning on going home and helping Haruki cook, but Miss. Kaname's face lit up at my response.

  “Why don't you hang out with me and my friends!” Miss. Kaname said.

   “F-friends?”

    “Yes! You've met Sayaka and Kyoko, right? And I think you'll like to meet Mami and Nagisa!”  Miss. Kaname is very excited.

   I didn't really want to hang out with a lot of people at once, but with Miss. Kaname being so happy, I couldn't really bring myself to say no. Plus, I think I'd like to spend time with Miss. Kaname…

    “That sounds nice…” I said with a small smile.

    “Great! Hey, I'll give you my phone number, okay?”

    I was convinced that today really wouldn't be great, but somehow, I feel a lot lighter.

      A/N: There were a lot of things I wanted to do with this chapter. I was planning having Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyoko sit out with Homura, but in the end I didn't. I'll probably change this chapter on this site where that happens. .>.