[Author's note: I'm reuploading this chapter with a minor edit to clarify an important plot point at the end. Your humble author screwed up and made things too ambiguous; my apologies. - BHS]

Chapter 35: The Battle is Won...

The Lighthouse

Vertex Point Five

"Homura-chan...? Homura-chan!"

There was no answer. Homura Akemi wore a small, satisfied smile as she lay limp in Madoka Kaname's arms. Her chest rose and fell gently as the jewel in the earring she sometimes wore faded back from white-hot to pale violet to amethyst.

"She'll be all right." The voice of Fantine, the Lighthouse keeper, was taut with strain, as if Homura being all right was more trouble than it was worth. The blue-winged spark that served as her avatar hovered close to Madoka's shoulder. "That was a ton of magic she burned at once to pull that stunt, but she... she has more than enough to spare. In any event..." Bitterness flooded her words, bitterness that Madoka could almost taste. "She's right. She did it. She pulled out all but one of Alph's team, and a few others, too. Dead End's forces are in no shape to track Miss Akemi's magic signature after what she did to their palace, so we may be out of danger for the moment, but."

Madoka barely heard. Half of her wanted to stay and tend to Homura until she woke, and the other half screamed at her to run to the Arthra right away to see Mami and Kyoko, Sakura, and the others. They had to be in bad shape after their ordeal... Back and forth she dithered, her eyes darting between Homura and the Immaterial door rising out of the floor of their room in response to her thoughts.

"Go," said Fantine. "I promise I won't let Akemi out of my sight."

There was an edge on those words that flew over Madoka's head for the moment as she blinked away nervous, happy tears. "Thank you, Fantine-san! Thank you... If she wakes up before I get back, tell her I'll be with her right away to thank her properly!" With that she gave Homura's conscious form a brief, tight hug and laid her down. There was no time to move her to her bed, but it was simple enough to direct the Immaterial to shape itself into a copy of it. The prismatic substance rose up underneath Homura like a loaf of bread in an oven, lifting her friend off the floor and supporting her. Madoka squeezed her hand once more, then hurried out of the room.

Now it was only Homura and Fantine's avatar. Silence fell over the room as the spark bobbed in place, and tension built in the air with every passing second. "I hope," said Fantine, frigid as the bottom of the ocean, "for your sake, that you're sleeping well, Miss Akemi..."

TSAB L-Class Inspection Cruiser Arthra

Cargo Bay One

Minutes earlier

"Let me see if I've got this straight," said Chrono Harlaown. The young mage's hands gripped the shaft of Durandal, his Storage Device, so hard that his knuckles were white beneath his armored gloves. "This Akemi girl who's staying in the Lighthouse, she has enough mana, or whatever it is her universe uses, to perform a complex cross-dimensional transport spell..."

"Yes," said his mother, Admiral Lindy Harlaown, the Arthra's commanding officer. Six mint-green, fairy-like wings formed from her mana were unfurled from her back as she took a stance alongside her son, no less tense than he. A platoon of the Arthra's remaining crew stood ahead of them, Devices armed and ready for anything. Safely behind the platoon's defensive line, Provisional Nurse Balzac Yugo waited along with three hand-picked volunteers, two officers for each of the hover-gurneys they hauled down from the Infirmary.

"... on a dozen people at once..." Chrono continued.

"Yes."

"... who were trapped inside a fortress that's in a state of quantum superposition and shielded by so many barriers and AMFs that the entire Bureau couldn't detect it, let alone make a dent in it."

"That's right."

"It's Alph, ten others, and a defector from Dead End..."

"Mmm-hmm."

"... and she just plucked all them out and is sending them here, to our cargo hold. Without consulting us or contacting us at all."

"I think that's most of it, yes. At least, according to what Fantine said."

Chrono bristled like a porcupine. "And we're letting a civilian get away with this?! Who does Akemi think she is?!"

"Someone quite important and quite powerful, evidently," said Lindy. A vein twitched in her forehead. "As for getting away with it? We're not exactly operating under TSAB jurisdiction, Chrono... as much as the Bureau even exists anymore. In this situation, we follow protocol to an extent, but given the circumstances..."

"Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, Admiral," said Chrono, observing protocol while on duty as always, "but this is insane. Why in the worlds didn't she do something before now?! If she had that kind of power, she could have helped the Navy fight the Will, or saved Headquarters, or—" He sputtered, unable to articulate the rest of his outburst in his anger.

Lindy lowered her voice so that only her son could hear. "I don't know, Chrono," she said. Dangerous words to come out of a CO's mouth, even in the best of circumstances. "Believe me, I'm upset too... but whatever Akemi's reasons are, she's saving Alph and her team when no one else can. We have to give her that much."

The hold's main hatch whooshed open. Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa Harlaown bowed, then joined the defensive line.

"Sorry we're late, Admiral," said Nanoha. "We were on our way here when we ran into Usagi-san and a few others... apparently they heard, too. They're on their way here."

"How many others?" Lindy arched an eyebrow.

"Um," said Fate, exchanging a worried glance with Nanoha.

The footsteps thundering down the corridor outside indicated that "a few" meant "half the Lighthouse". Lindy couldn't blame them; there were enough loved ones and family members among the survivors that she should have expected something like this.

The first through the hatch were also the smallest. A winged golden teddy bear bellowed to any who could hear in a thick Kansai accent: "Outta the way! Outta the way! Lemme through, I gotta see if Sakura's okay!"

Kero was followed by a vaguely rabbit-like creature wearing a silver brooch, who was pulling at his huge, fan-shaped ears in agitation. "H-has anyone seen Erika, ~desu?" said Coffret, flitting from one perplexed officer to the next and staring at them with big, round, pleading brown eyes like something out of a Disney movie from Earth. "Please, she's my partner..."

And those were only the first two. They were followed by Usagi Tsukino, now known to most if not all of the Arthra's crew as Sailor Moon, legendary champion of love and justice in her home universe. Said champion was presently in a state of near-hysteria; the names "Rei-chan" and "Chibi-Usa" and "Michiru-san" emerged from the stream of strident, high-speed babble that came out of her mouth, but little else was intelligible.

Barely behind her, out of breath and even paler than usual, was a slender teenage girl dressed all in black. Hotaru Tomoe's silence was a contrast to her older fellow Senshi's screeching, but her eyes were haunted just the same.

"Tsukino-san," said Chrono, "please calm down, you're going to give the crew a headache." He blinked. "Shouldn't there be another one with you?"

Hotaru fretted, reluctant to make eye contact with someone she barely knew. "Um," she said, barely audible over Usagi going into a fit of preemptive bawling. "Minako-san fell behind. She forgot her phone back in her room. Without it, she can't talk..."

"She what?!" Obviously, he hadn't read the briefings on the residents of Vertex One carefully enough, Chrono thought. He didn't recall anything about one of the Sailor Senshi being mute.

Next were two tall young men, hand in hand, one dark-haired, severe, and stoic, the silver-haired one's eyes far more visibly worried behind his glasses. Neither said anything. The one who came barging between them made up for that: a fiery Hong Kongese girl in a cheongsam, black pigtails flapping behind her like banners. "We heard somebody saved Sakura!" barked Meilin Li. "Is she here?"

"Not yet," said Chrono, now sporting a bulging vein near-identical to his mother's. "If you would all calm down and—"

Then came the Precure and their allies: Tsubomi Hanasaki, red-faced from crying, the thick round lenses of her glasses tear-stained, with her fairy Chypre in tow. Yayoi Kise and Yui Nanase, hands entwined, reluctant to speak up. And—

Chrono, Lindy, Nurse Yugo, and a few others all goggled.

Princess Hope Delight Towa, also known as Towa Akagi, the elfin girl that had occupied a bed in their main infirmary for days now, supported herself against a bulkhead as she staggered for the hatch. Her apricot curls were now streaked with shining lines of silver in a dozen places. She seemed half-dead on her feet, but her eyes were alight with flame as she spoke a name that somehow carried over all the other noise and confusion: "Kirara."

Nurse Yugo waved over another officer to take his end of the gurney he carried and pushed his way through the crowd. "Princess, you should be in bed, you can't—"

Towa clutched at her chest as if her heart were seizing, and she shot her nurse a glare that struck him to his soul. "Where... is... Kirara?" Her nails dug into the bulkhead's plasteel surface and left quarter-inch divots in it.

Nurse Yugo swallowed visibly.

A dozen simultaneous thunderclaps of displaced air marked the appearance of twelve new bodies in the small area of the cargo hold that was currently unoccupied. The rescue team, minus one, plus three former prisoners, plus one defector, exactly as Fantine said. Exactly as Homura Akemi promised.

Pandemonium threatened to break at any second, so Lindy did what she did best: take command. "Everyone," she shouted, "stand back! Let the crew tend to the wounded first!"

To Lindy's credit, the civilians obeyed, though they all paced in place like horses about to run a derby. Nurse Yugo and his volunteers pushed forward with their gurneys... and were momentarily confused. Their intel said only two needed medical attention.

At least it was immediately obvious who needed the gurneys the most. Yuko Omori, alias Cure Honey, lay unresponsive on the deck floor, her skin a pallid white tinged with yellow. Layers of skin on her arms and legs appeared to have been stripped away, as if someone or something had gone over her with a peeler. Two of the volunteer nurses set to work, ensconcing her body in a sterile barrier field before carefully lifting her onto the gurney.

That left Nurse Yugo and Private First Class Martin Allex, one of the bridge officers, to tend to Erika Kurumi, Cure Marine, who was finally, mercifully unconscious. Allex sucked in a breath when he saw the girl's injuries, and Yugo couldn't blame him. Erika's knee was little but a hideous, mangled mass of swollen purple-black flesh, and the rest of her leg looked scarcely better. There was something thick and shiny plastered to her skin, keeping blood from oozing out, but that was hardly to her favor; Yugo confirmed visible blood leakage in the soft tissues surrounding the wound. It was most severe around the shattered patella, but ugly, bruised staining marred the limb's dermis and muscles down to the calf. He and Allex used their Devices to float Erika onto her gurney in a stasis barrier, unwilling to risk further damage by carrying her. Once loaded with their patient, they turned to rush her to the ICU... not quite fast enough.

Tsubomi got a clear look at her best friend's condition as the nurse and his assistant passed by, attempting to weave through the crowd. Her hands flew to her mouth in horror. The sound she made was too choked and distorted to be called a scream.

Nagisa Misumi, Cure Black, looked as if she had gone against about twenty champion boxers in a row and lost every round. Even a Precure's endurance had upper limits; after her old battles against Dusk Zone, Black sometimes wondered what exactly it would take to bruise her Cure form's steely skin. Now she knew, and she wished she didn't. Coughing and spitting blood, she lay prone on the steel deck, unable to lift herself up.

"Black," Mepple squeaked from the pouch on her hip. "Black, I can hear Chypre and Coffret! Someone... someone saved us! We're back, ~mepo!"

Was it true? Did someone really bring them home? Black didn't dare to believe it. She would have pinched herself, but she was too sore to pull off that motion. People flowed around to either side of her, like she was a rock in the middle of a river. The memory of Fortune, corrupted into that thing's puppet, battering her without a shred of mercy or feeling in her jeweled eyes... it tormented her, playing on an endless loop beneath her blackened eyelids as she shut them tight. In moments, she heard and felt the officers checking her over, trying to determine how badly she was hurt. She answered them robotically in words she wouldn't remember later. Yet again she had failed as the Precures' leader, more spectacularly than ever. Honoka had been right there, inches from her reach... and because she wasn't strong enough to defeat the monster Fortune had become on her own, she was still stuck in that living hell.

Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Sailor Chibi-Moon, picked herself up in a daze, uncomprehending. It seemed she was back on the Arthra... but her nightmare trip through Jamais Ville threw everything into question. Saving them all should have been impossible, right? No one could have pulled them out of Galactica Palace so easily. It was only when Usagi and Hotaru burst through the crowd of people and hugged her tight that she began to believe what her senses were telling her. No illusion, she thought, could recreate Usagi's warmth, the volume of her crying, or the cool touch of Hotaru's cheek on hers. If by some cruel twist it was all a fake... then God help her, she was surrendering to it.

"Don't," said Michiru Kaioh, Sailor Neptune, to the officer attempting to help her up. "I'll be fine." The lie came smoothly to her. She and Alph had dragged the others into this, and for what? Joker saw them coming, and sent Haruka away. Her participation had been all but pointless. They had risked everything, and come away with almost nothing. As soon as she dislodged the officer and pointed him toward others to assist, Neptune slipped into the crowd, found the cargo hold's hatch, and went through it, leaning against the bulkhead of the corridor outside. She would not cry, she promised herself.

The Arthra security team gave Rei Hino, Sailor Mars, a wide berth. The blazing wings extending from the red glowing streaks in her hair were still active, crackling with tongues of flame as she flickered in and out of stability. Hold together, both Reis thought in semi-unison. We have to hold together. Their mental voices joined in one of their favorite mantras and repeated it, over and over until the fire calmed itself and her flickering slowed. It was all right now. They were back on the Arthra, they were safe... but she didn't truly believe it until Minako Aino shoved her way through the worried officers that surrounded her, seizing her in a hug.

"Minako-chan," said Mars as she finally let her transformation break, turning back into plain old Rei... or as close as she could manage. "Minako-chan, I'm so—"

Crack. Minako's palm left a stinging welt on her cheek. Her lips moved in silent fury, her blue eyes shone with tears. Rei was no lip-reader, but she made out the statement well enough: How dare you. How dare you. How dare you.

Rei's spirits sank. They failed to lift again, even after Minako wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close once more, sobbing into her shoulder.

Sailor Iron Mouse was causing a minor commotion on her own. "I told you, I surrendered!" she said to the security team approaching her as she held up her tiny hands. "I'm on your side! Or their side, whichever! I'm not with Dead End anymore! There's no need to... hey! What are you doing? Let go of me! I have valuable information! Let go, I said! I helped the dog lady and the rest escape, I'll have you know! Don't you even think about—"

"Ring Bind," said Sergeant Leader Nanto Sierra, head of the security detail, who was already on the last few of her nerves.

Iron Mouse fell squealing to the deck, her wrists and ankles now pinned together by glowing green circles. "Th-this is unfair! Don't you people have laws against abusing prisoners?! Ouch, get your hands off me! Where are you taking me? Let me go! Mars! Twinkle! Mommy! Heeeelp!"

"Make sure her cell has is stocked with a few comforts, Sergeant Leader." Lindy's attention had been caught by the little turncoat as half of the security team carried her past, bound and helpless.

Sierra blinked. "Admiral? Are you sure?"

"She surrendered in exchange for asylum, according to Fantine," said Lindy. "We can offer her food, a bed, and blankets, at least. If she does have information, we should try being a better alternative to Dead End first."

"Aye, Admiral. And what about those two?" Sierra jerked a thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of the other half of her team...

"Look, asshole, I'm not gonna tell you again!" Kyoko Sakura snarled from between clenched teeth, brandishing her spear at the nearest officer who dared try to point his... whatever it was at her. A magic wand, a gun, or something other, Kyoko wasn't sure, but she knew how to recognize a weapon, and all the fancy tech and magic in the world couldn't disguise a cop when she saw one. She and the police had had an adversarial relationship in many of her lifetimes, she remembered. It wasn't something you just got over. "Get that thing outta my face, or I'm gonna bury it in yours."

"Miss," said the officer, a corporal, nearly cross-eyed as he tried to follow the spear point hovering less than an inch from his nose. His hair was fiery orange, his eyes blue. "Please, it's just a routine scan. Our intel says that you and your friend were both turned into monsters under Dead End's control, we have to make sure you aren't—"

"Aren't what?!" Kyoko spat. "Aren't dangerous? Tough luck, pal. You're gonna see how dangerous I am if you don't point it somewhere else in five seconds. Four, three..."

"Sakura-san," said Mami Tomoe, laying a hand on her temperamental friend's shoulder. "It's all right. It really is just a scan, you can believe me."

"Tch." Another truth that Kyoko remembered: Mami wouldn't lie. She still hated cops and cops hated her, but Mami wouldn't lie, not about something like this. With great reluctance, she dismissed her transformation and her spear along with it, scowling at the officer as he waved his wand-thingy over her. "Not just space cops, magic space cops. Whoever pulled us here has a sick sense of humor."

"I wonder..." Mami's brow furrowed. One of her fingers played with the curls of her sunny yellow hair.

"You're both clear for now," said the corporal with the scanner, grateful that he wouldn't have to resort to restraining her. "We'll have to run more intensive scans when we have the equipment up and running, of course, but you both seem normal..." He peered at his holo. "Miss Tomoe, do you have a cardiac implant? A... what are they called on Earth again? A pacemaker?"

"No," said Mami. Perplexion wrinkled her brow. "Why do you ask?"

"There's a shadow in the vicinity of your aorta, something the scan can't quite make out," said the corporal. "It might be just a malfunction, but we'll check to make sure—"

"Once the proper equipment is running, of course." Mami nodded. "Thank you."

"I hope he tries to scan me again." Kyoko stuck her hands in the pockets of her beloved jean shorts and utterly failed to mutter under her breath. "Sure hope you have a space proctologist somewhere around here..."

"Sakura-san," said Mami, putting a hard edge on her name.

"If you'll both come this way, please, we've set up some temporary quarters..."

"Cells, he means."

Time to pull out the secret weapon. "Guest quarters," said the corporal. "With replicators. Food replicators. Anything you can program is on the menu."

A sharp-toothed grin spread across Kyoko's face as her attitude did a sharp 180. "Why the hell didn't you say so? All right, I'm shutting up."

As the corporal led them past, thanking his lucky stars he had read Kyoko Sakura's file beforehand, their group failed to notice something in the bustle and confusion. It was a sound from somewhere in the vicinity of Usagi Tsukino, now latched onto Rei Hino and wailing like a banshee. The sound was soft enough that it was drowned out and overlooked by everyone present. It was one that only Usagi might recognize, but only possibly, for she had not heard it in five years.

As Mami Tomoe walked by her, the Moon Stick reacted from its storage in Usagi's pocketspace. No one saw or heard it, but one of the three round jewels beneath the wand's mounted crescent moon flashed briefly, and it let off a series of tones like that of a sonar screen: Ping. Ping. Ping...

Sakura Kinomoto had to be helped to her feet. When she tried to stand upright, she swayed as if the deck beneath her were that of a sea vessel, not a space cruiser. Her vision was little but endless swirls of color, her skin was clammy, her stomach tied itself in sour little knots. Dimly, she was aware that she had come within a hair's breadth of losing herself, but that awareness was buried under the more immediate shock and horror of what Joker did to her... tried to do to her.

Much as was the case with Chibi-Usa, her experiences in Jamais Ville cast a few moments of uncertainty on what her senses told her, once they calmed enough to process where she was and who surrounded her. At any other time, hearing those familiar voices and feeling their presence would have been a source of instant comfort... but there was a seed of doubt now. She had been through a place that made no sense, that played by no logical rules, that tried to fool her senses. If a place like that awful city existed, how could she trust anything that—

"Sakura-chan!"

"Kinomoto-san! Sakura!"

"Outta the way, koumusume, yer doin' it wrong!" An intake of air rushing into tiny lungs, followed by her name shouted right into her ear at a deafening volume: "OI, SAKURA!"

That did it. Sakura smiled weakly at the noisy golden blur hovering at her shoulder. "Kero-chan," she said to it, reaching out with a trembling hand to pat him on the head. "You're here..."

"What the heck were you thinkin'?!" said Kero. "Runnin' off without tellin' anybody! That's not like you at all..."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." The black hair of the person hugging her... For a brief moment, Sakura thought it might belong to Tomoyo, returned to her by some miracle. The pang of sadness that followed was visible even in her dazed state; it was Meilin. Still a dear, beloved friend, and still a miracle in her own, different way... but not Tomoyo. Sakura gingerly returned the hug regardless. "Meilin-chan."

A sharp, hurried sniffle. "Shame on you, making me cry like this! What would Shaoran say?!"

"I—" Sakura was about to answer when the two larger shapes looming over Meilin cleared into features that she knew. Her heart dropped down into the pit of her stomach. As always, Toya didn't have to say anything. It was written on his face and gleaming in his eyes: his hurt, his anger, his worry for her. And of course Yukito was with him, they were always together, but Yukito was freer with his words, more transparent with his emotions. He had been crying too, she saw. Crying for both of them.

Sakura swallowed heavily and motioned Meilin to move aside. Without a word, she embraced her brother.

There was only so long Toya could stay mad, even in the worst of times. He knelt down, returned the hug, and pulled Yukito in for one as well. For all Sakura's power, she still felt so small in his arms, so very small...

"Oh God." Those were the first words out of the mouth of Kirara Amanogawa, Cure Twinkle. They were prompted by the sight of Towa Akagi's hair as she pushed her way through the officers and ran to her, arms outstretched. "Oh God, Towa-chi..."

Towa didn't hear, didn't care. Kirara was back, that was all that mattered. She seized her beloved tight, and held her as if she might disappear again if she ever let go.

Her hair. Her hair. Twinkle felt none of the warmth of Towa's embrace. When they left at the start of the mission, there were only a few strands of silver in Towa's hair, less than a dozen. It was difficult to even see them unless you knew where to look. Now her red curls were striped with gossamer, as if someone had gone over them with a paintbrush. Whatever was happening to her, and Twinkle had a horrible idea as to what that was, it had progressed this far in less than a day.

It wasn't fair and yet, in some sick way, it was fair. Of the nine that set out on the rescue mission to Dead End's palace, one, Erika, was in critical condition, two, Neptune and Black, had been badly wounded, and two, Chibi-Moon and Sakura, were traumatized. Alph had been humiliated, her pride shattered. Mars was still unstable, perhaps even more so than when they left. And poor Iona... Twinkle's eyes stung as she shut them tight. Iona had lost her body, her dignity, and her will, and she was now left behind, abandoned to the enemy.

That left Twinkle. Of them all, she alone had escaped significant physical or mental harm, the awful hallucinations at the palace's entrance notwithstanding. Seeing what had happened to Towa in her absence and knowing that she had only made it worse... perhaps this was karma, a divine punishment for escaping unscathed while the rest suffered.

She dropped her transformation and returned Towa's embrace, rubbing her back as the princess sobbed brokenly into her shoulder. Kirara was cold inside... if this was her punishment, then karma was cruel indeed. "It's okay, Towa-chi," she said, rocking her gently back and forth. Her words sounded laughably hollow. "It's okay."

"You disappeared..." Towa gasped, her voice hitching. "You disappeared, and I was so afraid... I-I was afraid she would come out again, and y-you wouldn't be there to stop her..."

Kirara clutched her even tighter. "I was stupid. I was so stupid. Don't cry, Towa-chi. It's okay, I'm here now. I won't leave you again, I promise."

Through the wetness that blurred her vision, Kirara made out the shapes of two people moving toward them, one with thick glasses and dark braids, the other with a head like a sunny golden pastry. She recognized both, of course, but there was something off. No, not off, just different. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes and tried to smile. "Hey, Yuiyui, Yayoi-chan. Y-you're both here too? When did—"

It clicked: the way they held each other's hands so tight, the way they moved together in near-unison. The fact that Yayoi looked so much more alive than she had been days before, no longer lost in a fog of grief and misery. The way they looked at each other, blushed, and turned away with trembling, sheepish smiles when Kirara stared at them. She knew, and they knew she knew.

A ray of sunshine that cut through Kirara's clouds of self-loathing... faint, but it was there. She patted Towa on the back and pulled away, smiling genuinely for the first time in what felt like weeks. "Hey," she said to Towa. "Did you know about this?"

Towa blinked and sniffled. "A-about what?"

"Look."

Towa looked.

Yui turned red, and the lenses of her glasses fogged. "Uh... th-thank goodness you made it back okay, Kirara-chan."

Yayoi seemed to be trying to hide her burning face within those fluffy golden curls of hers. "S-sorry we couldn't help..."

"I... I do not understand," said Towa, looking to Kirara for help. "What is happening?"

"Look again." Kirara nudged her. The poor thing still had so much to learn. "They're holding hands."

"But Kirara, you and I hold hands quite often—"

"Exactly. They're holding hands, Towa-chi."

A sequence of emotions raced across Towa's face in quick succession: confusion, then deep thought, then comprehension, then wide-eyed realization. "Oh," she said. "Oh," she said again. Then: "Oh... oh!"

Kirara couldn't help herself; she grinned. "You got it."

"Y-Y-Yui and Kise-san are...!"

"Yup."

"They... we..." Towa couldn't seem to get a complete sentence out, as her delight for the two of them waged a fierce war with how upset she still was over Kirara leaving her, but slowly, haltingly, the corners of her lips turned up...

Thoom. The deck shook beneath the feet of all present as something hit the alloyed floor with enough force to leave a sizeable dent in it. A second sound and vibration followed, much like the first, but louder and more intense. All around the cargo hold, heads swiveled for the source of the tremor...

"I'll kill them..." Alph was on her hands and knees, in her humanoid form once more, pounding the remains of the Droid's control collar into the deck plating. Her anguished snarl was audible even over the sound of her grinding the collar into dust with her bare fist. "How dare they... I'll kill them. I'll kill them all. I'll kill them all... I'll rip every last one of them apart..."

Fate couldn't stand it any longer. Throwing caution and protocol to the wind, she ran to her familiar, her oldest friend, and pulled her close to her chest. "Alph...! Alph, it's all right now. You're safe. You're back..."

Hot tears rolled down Alph's cheeks. "Fate," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "Fate, I'm so sorry. I just wanted... I just wanted..."

"Easy, Alph-san." Nanoha inched forward as if the two were made of porcelain. Though Alph was now a trusted friend, part of her had never forgotten the threats she made on her life back when they first met, when she and Fate were enemies. "Just take it easy. Wh-what happened to you?"

One could see Alph shuddering from two meters away. "A D-D-Droid," she said, choking on the words in her hatred. "T-took control of my body... made me..." The rest devolved into another furious snarl.

Lindy and Chrono looked at each other with dawning horror. Alph was Fate's master, but she was part of the Harlaown family too. Hurting her was hurting them all. They had been prepared for injury or trauma, but this...

Fate held Alph tight until her shaking petered out. Tear tracks spilled from beneath her eye patch. "It's okay, Alph. You're back. That's what matters."

"Fate," said Alph. She looked up at her beloved master, her eyes glossy and shining deep blue. "Fate. I... I tried... to get your eye back..."

Chrono came to stand behind Fate. "Come on," he said with a sigh that sounded too old to come from one so young. "Let's get her to the infirmary." He patted his adopted sister's shoulder for support.

It happened in a flash, before any possibility of reaction. The instant Chrono's hand touched Fate's flesh, Alph leaped from her arms with a roar and raked her claws across the boy's chest. His Barrier Jacket took the brunt of the damage and shattered into fractals of mana, but Alph's magic cut him deeper than even her claws could. Five hot, jagged parallel lines slashed from one side of his ribcage to the other, blood pooled warm and sticky beneath his Jacket's breastplate...

Lindy's eyes shrank to pinpricks as she dove to break her son's fall.

Nanoha screamed. "Chrono-kun!"

Fate's face turned white as a sheet.

Alph stood, claws bared, her face twisted into a grimace of hatred, her eyes wild and bloodshot. "... Don't..." she panted. "Don't... touch... Fate. No one touches Fate! Not ever! Never again...!"

The Arthra's crew sprung into action, surrounding Nanoha, the Harlaown family, and Alph in a circle. Devices hummed in harmony as mana flowed through them, a contrast to the cacophony of voices:

"Sick bay! Medical team to the main cargo hold, stat!"

"Attention all security personnel—"

"Wait! Please, wait! That's Alph-san, you can't—!"

"What happened?! Are we under attack?"

"—set Devices for binding and stun spells only—"

"Stand down! Everyone stand down!"

"Get the civilians out of here—"

Alph drowned them all out. As the crew and passengers of the Arthra watched in varying states of stupefied horror, she howled at them in a frenzy, froth flying from her lips: "NO ONE TOUCHES FATE! NEVER AGAIN! I'll kill you... I'll kill all of you! I'LL KILL YOU..."

TSAB L-Class Inspection Cruiser Arthra

Secondary Infirmary

"Kyoko-chan! Mami-san!"

Two heads snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice. She was little but a pink blur, rushing to one bedside, then the other, seizing first Kyoko and then Mami in tight hugs. "Kyoko-chan, Mami-san, you're back! I can't believe you're back..."

Kyoko couldn't help but smile. "Can't get rid of us that easily."

"We're glad to be back, Kaname-san," said Mami, taking Madoka's hand in hers and patting it gently.

Madoka beamed, radiant with joy. "She did it. Homura-chan really did it... she saved everyone! I knew she could!"

And just like that, the happiness drained from the room. Madoka swore she felt the temperature drop as Mami and Kyoko looked at one another, their faces paling. Her skin prickled with gooseflesh. "... Kyoko-chan? Mami-san? What's wrong...?"

Silence.

She doesn't know. They didn't need Kyubey as a telepathic beacon to share that thought. She doesn't know.

"Kyoko-chan?" said Madoka, her voice small. "Mami-san?"

Kyoko shut her eyes tight. "I can't. Sorry, Mami, I just can't."

"... Mami-san, what's she talking about?"

Mami folded her hands in her lap, managing to look prim and proper even in a medical bed. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Kaname-san," she said evenly. "There are things you need to know. The first is... that we saw Miki-san while we were imprisoned."

"S... Sayaka-chan? You saw her? Is she all right?"

Kyoko clenched her fists hard enough to draw blood.

"No," said Mami. "Kaname-san, she's joined with Dead End. With Joker."

Madoka was struck with the strangest urge to laugh. Mami wasn't really the type to tell jokes, that was more Sayaka's and Kyoko's field, but surely something so ridiculous had to be a joke. She tried to smile, but the expression didn't quite reach her lips. "M-M-Mami-san, don't be silly. I... I know Sayaka-chan was mad before, back on Earth, but—"

"She has reason to be." Mami summoned every ounce of her strength and looked Madoka in the eyes. "Madoka... Homura Akemi has been lying to you. The reason she was able to save us, the reason Miki-san joined Joker's side... is because she's using your power. She stole it from you."

Dead silence.

The ship, the world, everything reeled underneath Madoka and spun in dizzying circles. Fragments of reasons that that couldn't possibly be true rose to the surface of her mind and got lost on the way to her lips. Her mouth hung open, her tongue and teeth were cold with the stale, sterile air of the infirmary, but she couldn't seem to close it. "I—" Her knees, her knees were turning to jelly. "No, that's—"

-static-

It was a burst of unearthly noise that Madoka thought would split her skull open. Something was screaming in her head, a wretched, warped sound, a sound no living being should have been able to make... part white noise, part the hunting cry of some monstrous beast. It cut deep into the center of her brain in blistering, feverish strokes, and somehow, its scream formed words and images she could understand.

Homura. She saw Homura.

And she saw herself... but not herself. Another self, glorious and shining in a pearlescent white dress, hazy feathered wings spread from her back. She, her other self, was soft and warm and beautiful and terrifying and awesome in the old sense of the word, and slowly she drifted down from the heavens on a prismatic road of light, extending a hand to her dearest friend. Homura reached up to take it...

Homura smiled. She whispered something.

And she ripped Madoka's other self in half.

There were words then, words scarred into her thoughts with white-hot iron brands, impossible to forget:

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

And the vision, the words, were gone, between one eyeblink and the next.

Madoka tried to speak... and saw that whatever had just happened, whatever nightmarish hell that vision came from, it was clear from the looks on their faces that Mami and Kyoko saw and heard and felt it too.

Kyoko's stomach heaved. She pressed her hands to her temples and shook her head. No good; the images lingered in her mind, and it was like the words were carved on the insides of her eyes. KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU... Just thinking of anything related to the concepts of devils, walking, or Homura brought them blazing back. "Wh-what..." she said, trying not to be sick. "Wh-wh-what the hell was that...?!"

Mami shook in place, pale as the linen sheets she rested on. "I... I don't know... Kaname-san...?"

Crash. In the next chamber over, the volunteer nurse had just dropped his tray of instruments, clutching at his forehead as if something were trying to escape from it. Bleary-eyed, he stumbled into Mami and Kyoko's room. "Are... are you two... you three... all right? Did... did it happen to you too?"

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

They had. They did. Not only Madoka, Mami, Kyoko, and the nurse.

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

It happened to everyone on Deck 12 of the Arthra, inside of the secondary infirmary and out of it. And it happened on Deck 11, and Deck 10, and Deck 9, all the way up to the bridge, and all the way down to the depths of Engineering. The same vision, the same words, struck every living soul on the ship.

They struck every survivor within the Lighthouse, including the Lighthouse Keeper herself, who hunched over her console in agony.

They struck every being in Dead End's palace aware enough to think for itself. Many shivered, most screamed aloud.

They struck in Vertex One, on the battlefield that was the Osa-P storefront in Azabu-Juuban, throughout Tokyo, throughout Japan, throughout Earth, the Sol System, the Milky Way, the universe.

They struck in Vertex Two, where somewhere in England, Eriol Hiiragizawa felt a massive breach in time and space, something that even he, with all of Clow Reed's knowledge, was at a loss to explain.

They struck in every facet of Vertex Three, the multitude of Earths and other worlds that the Precure protected, haunting humans and non-humans and fairies alike.

They struck in Vertex Four, across all planets and civilizations formerly watched over by the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, from Midchilda to the farthest reaches of uncharted space.

And they struck in Vertex Five, still frozen in time seconds after Homura Akemi detected that Joker had put out Earth's sun in an instant... in that Vertex alone, there was no one to hear.

In every corner of creation, in every mind capable of understanding it, there were the same images, and the same message:

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

The Lighthouse

Vertex Point Five

Minutes earlier

Something is wrong.

Homura Akemi woke from sleep with that thought... no, that certainty, in mind. Something was wrong. She rose, brushed back her hair, and stood up, feeling with her power. An attack? Could Joker have possibly tracked her power, this soon? No, that was impossible. But just in case...

Homura dipped into her pocketspace and withdrew the Isolation Field cage that held the last remaining unaltered Incubator. It blinked at her. Homura Akemi? Is something the matter?

"Shut up," she said, by way of greeting. "I need to know if you feel any of your kind nearby."

Kyubey blinked again and tilted his head. You're unable to tell for yourself?

"They might be using Isolation Fields. I trust you'll answer me truthfully and to the best of your abilities, or else you'll face the consequences."

Incubators have no concept of deception.

"I'll ignore that blatant falsehood for the time being. Do it."

Kyubey closed his eyes and reached out with all the senses available to him. He felt nothing, and he told Homura so.

"Then what..." Homura's brows furrowed. She reached for the comm crystal that lay by her side and ran her thumb over its control. "Fantine," she said. "I feel... some disturbance. Is there trouble?"

No answer. That was unusual.

"Fantine?"

When the blue-winged spark of light materialized before her, there was something... different about it. As if it were somehow less bright, less animated than she had seen it before. "Miss Akemi," the avatar said, cool and polite. "At the moment, there's no trouble... save for the trouble between us."

Homura couldn't resist smirking. "Trouble? If I'm correct, I've saved the rescue team and all of reality with them." She paused for effect. "Something you could have done, if you're as powerful as you claim to be."

"And I'm grateful."

That threw Homura for a momentary loop. Honestly, she wasn't expecting that from Fantine, not ever. However, she could hear the "but" coming, enhanced senses or not.

"But..." said Fanatine's avatar. "You realize, of course, that your recklessness placed me, Madoka, the Lighthouse, and everyone and everything else in grave danger. If Joker's forces had intercepted you while you pulled that stunt, Miss Akemi, or if their scanners picked up traces of your magic..."

"They didn't, and they won't." Homura gave the avatar a proud, thin-lipped smile.

"Regardless," said Fantine. "While I am grateful for you saving Miss Kinomoto and the others... I can't allow this to happen again. I told you before, Miss Akemi: you can be a powerful ally, but you're a wild card. You can't be trusted, and the power you stole from Madoka is too dangerous to leave in your hands.

"Therefore..."

Homura's eyes flew open in genuine shock. She knew. Now she recognized what it was that she felt, what exactly was wrong. Something was draining her power.

No, not something. Someone.

"I truly am sorry," said Fantine, low and bitter. "I had hoped I could finish this while you were still asleep."

Damn her. Damn Fantine, and damn the safety of the Lighthouse. Homura transformed and lashed out at everything in reach, tearing apart the Immaterial constructs that composed the room. She could already feel the difference; her bolts of power were crippled, shadows of what they could have or should have been. All of her enhanced senses trickled away... it was as if she were turning from fully-abled to deaf, dumb, blind, and paralyzed, bit by tiny bit. She was shrinking, becoming less. She screamed, she howled in denial, she cursed Fantine and her damned Lighthouse...

"I can't force you to give Madoka her power back," said Fantine. Her voice... Fantine's voice was dulling, becoming flat and toneless. "As I said, even I don't know what would happen if she lost control here. And I can't make you completely human again, either... whether I like it or not, you can still be valuable to our cause. So you'll be a Puella Magi again, or near enough. I'll store this power, at least until I figure out how we can use it safely."

Homura fell to her knees, moaning in agony. Her body... her body was heavy, a slow and clumsy thing... soft. Fragile. Vulnerable. The cold violet eyes that once watched entire universes being recreated glared at the blue-winged spark that was losing its luster, the brilliance of an aura that mere human sight could never begin to understand. She glared, still full of hatred and defiance. "Kill... me," she breathed. "Kill me."

"No," said Fantine. "For all you've done, you don't deserve that. I won't kill you, and I won't let you die. You'll live, Homura Akemi. You'll live, you'll learn from your mistakes, and you'll face the consequences of your actions..." The spark paused, and when it spoke again, its words were the bitterest that Homura had ever heard from it. "Like the rest of us do. I'm increasing power to the siphon."

"No..." The word was pathetic, pleading. Desperate. Homura reached for the spark with her weak, powerless, human hands. It was all slipping away between her fingers, and soon it was like she never had it at all... The knowledge. The freedom. The possibility. They all become less tangible than ghosts as she was reduced by the siphon to what she once was... small, lonely, frightened, and useless.

Homura wept. She wept tears bitter as vinegar, tearing at her hair, tearing at her flesh. She snatched the earring from her lobe, altered its shape with a burst of magic that now seemed ugly and feeble, like a blunt instrument. It was a Soul Gem again. She raised it high and prepared to dash it to pieces on the floor...

Seconds ticked by. The amethyst Soul Gem hung in her fingers.

She paused. She was half-mad with rage and grief, but if she ended it all here... Madoka. Madoka would lose her without ever knowing how much Homura loved her. She would find her here, empty and lifeless, and forever wonder what had happened to the person she once called her best friend.

Seconds ticked by.

And Homura wept... but softly. Silently. Her tears fell warm and gentle as summer rain. She couldn't do it. Even if all was hopeless now, even if Fantine had stolen everything from her... there was still Madoka.

And damn it all, she was still afraid.

Homura knew there was no God, there was no Hell, there was nothing after the death of a Puella Magi but... nothing. The end of existence. Ceasing to be. She knew that, but...

... but she was afraid that she was wrong.

"I'm sorry," said Fantine again. It almost sounded like she meant it.

Homura opened her mouth to curse the Lighthouse Keeper again...

-static-

... and she was assaulted by a scene out of her own memories, but seen as if from a camera: the magnificent figure of Madoka as Hope Herself, descending from on high to take her hand...

... and she watched herself smile as she seized those perfect, glowing hands and ripped Madoka apart.

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU,

AND HER NAME IS HOMURA AKEMI.

The words were a crescendo in her brain, a cannon blast of meaning, impossible to misinterpret. And perhaps more than any other being in existence, Homura understood how true those words were... they would haunt her as they haunted no other, forever and ever...

And just like that, it was over. She was back to herself, the message still ringing inside her skull, rattled and in pain but otherwise alive.

Kyubey blinked at her. Are you all right?

Homura stared at him, infuriated. Curse him, she should have wiped him and his kind from existence when she had the chance. She opened her mouth to tell him so, then snapped it shut. He wasn't worth the effort. "Fantine?" she said instead. "What... what was that?"

Fantine's avatar wasn't in the same place it was a few seconds ago, before the message. It lay on the floor, its wings twitching weakly. The voice from it was barely a whisper. "Oh no," it said. "Oh no no no no... It's Joker. Joker just... he launched an attack, a-and... It's all gone wrong."

"Fantine?" Homura leaned over it, shaken despite herself. "What is it? What's gone wrong? What did Joker do?"

"It's all gone wrong," said Fantine. "It's all gone wrong. Heaven help them, it's all gone wrong."

"It's all gone wrong," said Fantine again.

"It's all gone wrong."

"It's all gone wrong."

"It's... it's all... gone."

END OF CHAPTER 35

NEXT:

BUT THE WAR GOES ON

[Author's Note: Chapter 36 is already underway, and hopefully will be up in a week or less. Be patient, answers are coming. - BHS]