Erin Ptah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ptahrrific) wrote2012-12-12 11:19 am
ptahrrific) wrote2012-12-12 11:19 am
Entry tags:
Madoka Magica | Homura, Madoka, Sayaka | PG-13 | Persephone's Waltz (9)
Title: Persephone's Waltz, Chapter 9: All that matters is to keep moving.
Characters/Pairings: Homura, Madoka, Sayaka
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer/Warnings: See table of contents.
In which the BFFship of Sayaka and Madoka struggles to weather strained conditions; there are more escape attempts, interspersed with waltzing; and Sayaka won't forgive anyone who makes Madoka cry, herself included.
***
April 9
Saturday
Madoka crossed off another date on her handwritten calendar, and glanced over at the bedroll. At least this time Sayaka had made it under the covers before dropping like a rock.
The idea of staggering their sleep schedules had its appeal. It offered some illusion of privacy for parts of the day, which they would probably need, no matter how much they loved each other, to keep from stabbing each other over the next three weeks. Not that Sayaka had planned it that way. She was still thinking in terms of all in, right now, to get out of this today.
Supplies for a second prisoner had been appearing in batches at the top of the stairs. The clothes Homura had brought in Sayaka's size were decent but plain, with none of the careful (okay, stalkery-y) attention to detail she had paid Madoka's wardrobe. She was in a grey T-shirt now, and the leg that stuck out from the end of the bedroll revealed the hem of a pair of teal sweatpants...
...and the Ace bandage?
Creeping out from under the mattress covers, Madoka tiptoed over to check. Sure enough, her eyes hadn't betrayed her. When had Sayaka hurt her ankle? Why hadn't she mentioned it?
Pride, Madoka answered herself. Stupid question. Sayaka kept secrets in order to look strong, just as Madoka kept secrets in order to keep peace. And look how well it turned out for me....
She sank back onto the bed and tried to think of something to do that wouldn't disturb Sayaka's sleep. Kaguya Super Contract Z might work with the sound off, but the noises were half the fun.
The school morning stretching routines came to mind, and she settled into them with relish. She'd fallen out of the habit, with nothing so energetic as Sayaka's escape-seeking efforts to replace it, and gotten antsy and twitchy as a result. Right arm across chest. Left arm across chest. Right elbow...
...behind her ear? Or could it be out in front of her? And where was she supposed to grip her arm?
For that matter, how did the leg stretches even start?
Madoka grabbed her notepad and frantically wrote down all the stretches she could remember. No need to panic over it, she told herself. Sayaka would remember them better...and she could even ask Homura, though the notion would horrify Sayaka beyond the telling of it.
She took a calming breath, turned the page, and started doodling instead.
***
April 10
Sunday
"I've got it!" exclaimed Sayaka, appearing in front of Madoka as she stepped freshly-showered out of the bathroom. "Soy sauce!"
"...What?"
"We'll hoard it. Soy sauce, frosting, ketchup, whatever we can get. Then spread it all on the steps right before Akemi comes in. She'll slip and fall, and we make a dash for it while she's down!"
Madoka shivered, wringing out her soaking pink locks. "Falling down stairs hurts, though!"
"Mado-tan. That's the whole point."
"But — what if she breaks her back, or something? That is, who's going to stop Walpurgis Night?"
Sayaka smacked her chest with an open palm. "Me and Mami, of course! Don't you believe in us?"
"I...it's not a question of belief." Madoka ran the comb through the end of a tufted fistful of hair. "The way she talks about it, it sounds so overwhelming...and Ho— and Akemi definitely wants to fight it. Wouldn't it be best to have as many allies as you can get? To keep her unharmed at least until then, for the sake of protecting Mitakihara?"
"Ehhh, I bet Akemi's lying about that too," said Sayaka with an arch hand-flip. "If it were really a big deal, wouldn't she want me for an ally? And instead she's got me locked in some hole without my Soul Gem, where I can't even practice."
"I guess that's true."
"Hey, don't worry about it," insisted Sayaka. "Mami's protected this whole city for years all by herself. Together we'll be unstoppable."
***
April 11
Monday
"It's a game," explained Madoka, standing at Sayaka's shoulder while she hovered the mouse over the Kaguya Super Contract Z icon. It was the first time Sayaka had paid attention to the computer since discovering it had no wireless card. "Actually, Akemi told me she would let me out if I could win it...."
"She said what?" Pressed up against her back, Madoka flinched; Sayaka moved immediately to reassure her. "Madoka-chan, you airhead! And you've been using this for homework? I mean, it's probably hacked to be unwinnable, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, right?"
"I didn't even get close," Madoka admitted. "But that could just be me."
Sayaka harumphed. "I bet it was! I bet Akemi had it arranged to take up all your time, just like she had the clothes arranged to make you feel comfortable." She clicked past the starting screen, opening up a playing field. "How does it work?"
It probably would have been faster just to read the instructions, but Madoka caught on and played along with Sayaka's attempt at reaching out. "It's like the story of Princess Kaguya, you see? There's a Princess in every bamboo shoot — there, click it! When you click it, it Contracts them, you see? And the bad guys are — there! Aim at that. It's a Shadow, and you have to take it down with your Moonlight. It's kind of like Sailor Moon, too."
"Or like a real puella magi," agreed Sayaka, navigating her Princess between a handful of new bamboo stalks to take on the next Shadow. "I'm going to clean this field up in a snap. You watch."
"There's a catch, though," said Madoka. "You can't leave the Princesses alone for too long, or they turn into Shadows."
"They what?"
"Yeah, it's tricky, you see—"
"The hell kind of mind game is this?" Sayaka clicked the game window closed, hitting the Yes under Exit now? with a vicious snap. The slander of it! That awful, manipulative.... "This isn't a game at all. It's brainwashing! She's trying to make you think puella magi turn into — into —!"
"Into witches?"
Sayaka let out a hiss of frustration. "If she wanted you to avoid contracting so bad, why couldn't she be straightforward about it, huh? Why does she have to be a freak about it?" Without waiting for an answer, she moved on: "Is there anything else interesting on here, or is it just your pop music and papers for Saotome-sensei?"
"Well...Akemi has brought some classical music down lately...."
She put her own warm hand over Sayaka's, and guided the mouse through the appropriate folders. When she got to the album name, Sayaka drew in a short breath through her teeth. "That folder. The Kaiou one. Open it up."
Madoka did.
"Are the filenames right? Play one of them."
Madoka did.
"I don't believe it," muttered Sayaka, as a haunting violin waltz soared through the room. "Either she also hunts down obscure classical recordings, or that bitch ripped my iPod."
***
April 12
Tuesday
"Do you think you could convince Akemi to bring us energy drinks?"
"I could try. There used to be iced coffee, but I drank it all." Madoka was up on the bed with Panda-san at her side and the notebook on her knees, while Sayaka paced the rug with military precision. Now that she was looking for it, Sayaka did seem to be favoring one ankle. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better to let yourself relax more?"
"Are you kidding? If anything, you're the one who needs to relax less and exercise! You'll get all out of shape if you don't. Like astronauts after they've been in space for weeks."
"Isn't that because of the lack of gravity...?"
"It's the principle of the thing!"
"And anyway," added Madoka, blushing, "I don't remember how to stretch."
This brought a halt to Sayaka's pacing. "You mean like before class?" At Madoka's nod, she rocked back on her heels and thought. "Now that you mention it, I don't either. But who needs 'em? Technique isn't important. All that matters is to keep moving."
"I've been taking walks," Madoka admitted. "In circles, like you just now. When I start to feel too antsy and cooped-up."
"Really? I don't remember...."
"I save it for when you're asleep. It's too weird, it would feel embarrassing if you watched."
Sayaka threw herself backward onto the bed at Madoka's feet. Her exuberance reminded Madoka of their third-grade sleepovers, back when they didn't have so far to fall. "Don't be ridiculous, Madoka. It's only walking."
Before Madoka could answer, her stomach let out a loud gurgle. She blushed and tried to hide her face with her notebook (the top drawing featuring herself in a mahou shoujo outfit based on Ojamajo Doremi). Sayaka giggled.
"You want something from the fridge?" she asked. "I bet I can recite everything that's in there. I bet...." Her eyes narrowed; she sat up, giving the squat refrigerator a predatory once-over. "I bet we'd find something we could use in there if we just took the thing apart."
"Sayaka-chan! You can't mean it. It's too valuable!"
Sayaka sighed. "I guess you're right. I'd hate to lose the advantage it gives us in food storage."
***
April 13
Wednesday
The last slice of chocolate cake was dried and flavorless, and Sayaka wasn't all that hungry. She forced herself through each chilled bite anyway, with Madoka cheering her on. "Don't give up, Sayaka-chan! Get that sugar rush! Thirteen more minutes, that's all, then you can fall asleep. You can do it!"
Even if Sayaka was still awake when Akemi came down, she wasn't going to be much use in this state. Maybe she should take a calculated loss. Better to nap through their jailer's visit and make it look deliberate than to let Akemi watch her fail in the struggle to stay awake....
"Don't slouch!" urged Madoka. "Maybe you should walk in — um, I mean, you could do sit-ups — get your blood flowing! Or I — I could get some cold water and throw it on you! Would that help?"
"Water," echoed Sayaka, tongue thick from the crumbled chocolate residue. "Just to drink, please."
Madoka hopped up from her cross-legged position on the floor, to rummage in the cupboard and the fridge before sitting back across from Sayaka moments later with an icy glass. "Here you go!"
After a few quenching gulps, Sayaka held the glass to her temple, hoping the cold would shock her brain into waking back up.
Get her blood flowing, Madoka had said....
"Madoka? Do you know how to waltz?"
"N-no."
Sayaka grinned. "Want to learn?"
At a couple of centimeters taller, Sayaka took the boy's role. Not a problem; she could do the girl role already, and that was the one Madoka would probably be playing, right? Even if she did end up in some cute moe girls' love-love situation, odds were good the other girl would be taller.
"You hear the three-four time?" she asked, one hand resting on Madoka's waist, head already nodding with the beat of the digitized violin's chords.
Madoka (blushing cutely) nodded. For all her protests that she didn't know a lot about music, she had heard Sayaka talk about it often enough, and picked things up faster than she gave herself credit for.
"Your feet start each measure together," said Sayaka, reciting the familiar words in spite of the fog still plaguing her sleepy mind. "On each beat you take a small step with one foot, then a big step with the other, then a small step with the first foot to bring them together again. We'll start on my countdown, okay?"
"I think so," stammered Madoka.
Ah, she'd be fine. "Three-two-three Two-two-three one-two-three go!-two-three...."
There had been a time when Sayaka had boasted she could do classical dances in her sleep. She'd thought she was exaggerating. Apparently, not by much....
A sway of exhaustion hit, and her heel smacked against the bedpost.
Sayaka instinctively grabbed Madoka's shoulder and waist, clutching her friend for support while standing on one foot and biting the insides of her cheeks to distract her from the pain. It didn't fool Madoka for a second. "Sayaka-chan! Are you okay? H-here, sit down! Is it your ankle?"
No longer afraid of drifting off the instant she touched the mattress, Sayaka let Madoka help her to it. "You...noticed?"
Madoka blushed again. "I saw that you had it wrapped up," she admitted, trying to lift Sayaka onto the covers. Their relative statures didn't make it easy work, but she gave it her best. "I didn't know it was still bad. You should elevate it! I'll get the cold water —"
Over her shoulder, Akemi chose that moment to shimmer into view.
"She's here," grunted Sayaka.
With a squeak of surprise Madoka let go, letting Sayaka's limbs untangle from hers.
"A-A-Akemi-san!"
Was it Sayaka's imagination, or did the girl's image flicker like a bad holo? "Kaname Madoka. Am I interrupting?"
"Sayaka hurt her leg!" burst out Madoka (Sayaka tried not to groan). "We need more ibuprofen. And a new bandage!"
Akemi's hand dipped under her shield. Out came a rolled-up bandage, which she tossed aside to land on the bedroll, then a pair of small white pills. "Step aside. I'll watch her take them."
What did she think this was, a psych ward? Sayaka tried to think of advantages she could wring out of a couple of painkillers, to no avail. And then Akemi had the handgun out again, so when she dropped the pills into Sayaka's outstretched palm, Sayaka resisted the urge to clock her one.
With Akemi so close and Madoka shooed out of the way, she realized all at once, Madoka had a clear path to the stairs.
Sayaka stalled. She tried to get the pills to stay under her tongue, more to kill time than because she thought she'd get away with it. She swished the water around in her mouth. She caught Madoka's eye and tried to relay the idea through sheer willpower. If only telepathy still worked when Kyuubei was out of range!
Madoka looked meaningfully at the gun, then turned away.
The pills were starting to dissolve, the bitter taste washing through her mouth. Sayaka gulped them down and stuck out her tongue at Akemi, who nodded and left without a word — walking right past Madoka, brazen as you please, and up the stairs.
Sayaka hated her so much.
"I'm sorry," said Madoka, breaking the silence. "I completely forgot to ask for soy sauce."
***
April 14
Thursday
Madoka crossed off another date on her handwritten calendar. If Homura was to be believed, her ordeal was about halfway through.
She almost wanted to celebrate, but it wasn't like she could bring this up with Sayaka, who would have been suspicious if Homura had asserted that water was wet. Instead she let Sayaka sleep. It was the only real relaxation her friend was getting; a week in, and Sayaka still spent her waking hours wrestling with the bounds of their prison, when she wasn't practicing various methods of taking on Homura or being relentlessly cheerful with Madoka. If the girl hadn't had a roommate's comfort to think of, Madoka suspected she wouldn't have bathed.
There was no knowing when Sayaka had last gone to sleep, but she was dead to the world when Homura came down that afternoon, and no amount of Madoka's shaking could wake her.
"Good," said Homura, pocketing her gun (not that she had pockets; it was the shield, that was it, some kind of pocket with magic). "I can bring you some hot food without worrying it'll be thrown at me."
"You shouldn't antagonize her," said Madoka. Loyalty hummed in her chest. "Wasn't it bad enough to lock her up without insulting her too?"
Homura's mask slipped. What Madoka saw underneath was unidentifiable, almost glitchy, like a computer program struggling with what emotion to render next. "She doesn't listen. I tried to be nice. Over and over. She never listens...."
When had she found the time to be nice to Sayaka for more than five minutes?
"Thinks she's the hero. Thinks there are heroes in the first place. Wastes her wish on that boy's happiness — throws her life away on the gamble that he'll love her — throws us all under the bus when she realizes he won't. Doesn't realize she knows nothing."
"I don't think it's a waste at all!" exclaimed Madoka, rallying to her snoring friend's defense. "Why shouldn't a comfortable person use their power to help someone less fortunate? If — if I were to get a wish — I'd think it was a waste to use it on myself!"
"You shouldn't think things like that," snapped Homura.
"Why not? Even down here, I'm safe, I have food and water, you're planning to let me out — I'm better off than so many other people! And even if I became a puella magi and — and died — if I could heal sick people, or clean up the pollution in the ocean, or stop a war—"
"And not think about what it would do to the family and friends that love you?"
"Don't use my family against me!" cried Madoka. "The one who's hurt them most already is you!"
"You, also, know nothing," said Homura darkly.
"And you know so much? What did you wish for?"
Homura's violet gaze bored into her. For a second Madoka saw what Sayaka must have seen when she hissed Inhuman.
The question went unanswered.
***
When Sayaka found out she'd slept through Homura's visit, she very nearly lost it.
"And you let me miss it?" she demanded of Madoka, after going through several paint-peeling curses. "What were you thinking?"
"I — I'm sorry, I tried —"
"Did you? Did you really? You're not, I don't know, conspiring with Ms. Mysterious Transfer Student while keeping me knocked out?"
She was in motion, rocking back and forth on her heels, arms gesturing broadly and hands clenching in front of her. Madoka meanwhile stood with feet pressed tightly together, shoulders hunched. "How can you say that?"
"How could you not tell me it was Akemi in the first place? How could you let me look like an idiot? How could you just sit around like you've given up?"
It took Madoka beginning to cry to snap Sayaka back to her senses.
"Madoka...?"
"I'm sorry." Her hands clenched around fistfuls of her skirt; teardrops dripped down and spattered on her taut knuckles. "I'm sorry. I don't know how to do this right. I've never been kidnapped before. I tried to wake you up. I swear I tried. I'm sorry...."
"No. I am."
Madoka's head bobbed up. Sayaka put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, then stepped forward into a wooden hug. It was, for the moment, the best she could do.
"It's my own fault," she said, patching the words together into phrases. I've been screwing around. Wasted a whole week knocking on stone walls and uncovering tiny air ducts. Preened and postured when Akemi wasn't around, only to fold any time she showed up. Fooled myself into thinking it was enough. That you were out of danger because I found you in one piece. "Shouldn't have yelled. You're not the one I'm mad at. It's okay. I'll do better. For you."
***
"Are...are you sure it's night?" asked Sayaka. The lights were out, and a soothing instrumental playlist on a loop, but she couldn't have felt less wide-awake.
Madoka, beside her, shrugged. "That's what the clock says."
"And you think we can trust it?"
"I think...we may as well," said Madoka slowly. "You don't have to sleep now if you don't want."
Sayaka shook her head. "Mm-mm. I said I'd get back on a normal sleep schedule, and I meant it."
Being under the same covers as Madoka had been the best incentive she could think of. It had been a few years since they'd had a proper sleepover, but Sayaka was hoping her body would remember that having Madoka curled up in light pajamas next to her was its cue to fall asleep soon, and hold still and quit in the meantime.
(The plan was, in some ways, backfiring.)
"...I have to confess something," whispered Madoka, one hand brushing Sayaka's sleeved shoulder.
Sayaka did her best impression of someone whose heart rate hadn't just suddenly doubled. "Yeah?"
"It's a little embarrassing...."
"Um, Madoka...maybe you should hold on to that kind of thing for now? A situation like this can make you...lose perspective. You might say something you'll regret, once we're home...."
"You deserve to know!" exclaimed Madoka, fidgeting against the sheets. (One of the stuffed animals above their heads was jostled by the motion; a fuzzy ear flopped across Sayaka's face.) "I-it's about you."
Sayaka swallowed. "O-okay. Go ahead."
"Akemi told me...I mean, I didn't ask, or anything, she just said it like she forgot I wouldn't know...Your wish. She told me your puella magi wish was to heal Kamijou-kun."
In the darkness, Sayaka stared, then began to grin. Got her.
"Sayaka-chan? Are you mad?"
"She's lying." Sayaka couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this smug. "That, or Miss All-For-Your-Own-Good doesn't know as much as she thinks she does."
"Oh! Then what was...? Um, not that you have to tell me, if you don't want...."
"It's fine." A sudden fit of daring made Sayaka want to roll over and drape her arm across Madoka's stomach, maybe even twine their legs together. If it weren't for her plans for tomorrow, she really might have. "Mado-tan...my wish was to be able to find you."
Characters/Pairings: Homura, Madoka, Sayaka
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer/Warnings: See table of contents.
In which the BFFship of Sayaka and Madoka struggles to weather strained conditions; there are more escape attempts, interspersed with waltzing; and Sayaka won't forgive anyone who makes Madoka cry, herself included.
***
April 9
Saturday
Madoka crossed off another date on her handwritten calendar, and glanced over at the bedroll. At least this time Sayaka had made it under the covers before dropping like a rock.
The idea of staggering their sleep schedules had its appeal. It offered some illusion of privacy for parts of the day, which they would probably need, no matter how much they loved each other, to keep from stabbing each other over the next three weeks. Not that Sayaka had planned it that way. She was still thinking in terms of all in, right now, to get out of this today.
Supplies for a second prisoner had been appearing in batches at the top of the stairs. The clothes Homura had brought in Sayaka's size were decent but plain, with none of the careful (okay, stalkery-y) attention to detail she had paid Madoka's wardrobe. She was in a grey T-shirt now, and the leg that stuck out from the end of the bedroll revealed the hem of a pair of teal sweatpants...
...and the Ace bandage?
Creeping out from under the mattress covers, Madoka tiptoed over to check. Sure enough, her eyes hadn't betrayed her. When had Sayaka hurt her ankle? Why hadn't she mentioned it?
Pride, Madoka answered herself. Stupid question. Sayaka kept secrets in order to look strong, just as Madoka kept secrets in order to keep peace. And look how well it turned out for me....
She sank back onto the bed and tried to think of something to do that wouldn't disturb Sayaka's sleep. Kaguya Super Contract Z might work with the sound off, but the noises were half the fun.
The school morning stretching routines came to mind, and she settled into them with relish. She'd fallen out of the habit, with nothing so energetic as Sayaka's escape-seeking efforts to replace it, and gotten antsy and twitchy as a result. Right arm across chest. Left arm across chest. Right elbow...
...behind her ear? Or could it be out in front of her? And where was she supposed to grip her arm?
For that matter, how did the leg stretches even start?
Madoka grabbed her notepad and frantically wrote down all the stretches she could remember. No need to panic over it, she told herself. Sayaka would remember them better...and she could even ask Homura, though the notion would horrify Sayaka beyond the telling of it.
She took a calming breath, turned the page, and started doodling instead.
***
April 10
Sunday
"I've got it!" exclaimed Sayaka, appearing in front of Madoka as she stepped freshly-showered out of the bathroom. "Soy sauce!"
"...What?"
"We'll hoard it. Soy sauce, frosting, ketchup, whatever we can get. Then spread it all on the steps right before Akemi comes in. She'll slip and fall, and we make a dash for it while she's down!"
Madoka shivered, wringing out her soaking pink locks. "Falling down stairs hurts, though!"
"Mado-tan. That's the whole point."
"But — what if she breaks her back, or something? That is, who's going to stop Walpurgis Night?"
Sayaka smacked her chest with an open palm. "Me and Mami, of course! Don't you believe in us?"
"I...it's not a question of belief." Madoka ran the comb through the end of a tufted fistful of hair. "The way she talks about it, it sounds so overwhelming...and Ho— and Akemi definitely wants to fight it. Wouldn't it be best to have as many allies as you can get? To keep her unharmed at least until then, for the sake of protecting Mitakihara?"
"Ehhh, I bet Akemi's lying about that too," said Sayaka with an arch hand-flip. "If it were really a big deal, wouldn't she want me for an ally? And instead she's got me locked in some hole without my Soul Gem, where I can't even practice."
"I guess that's true."
"Hey, don't worry about it," insisted Sayaka. "Mami's protected this whole city for years all by herself. Together we'll be unstoppable."
***
April 11
Monday
"It's a game," explained Madoka, standing at Sayaka's shoulder while she hovered the mouse over the Kaguya Super Contract Z icon. It was the first time Sayaka had paid attention to the computer since discovering it had no wireless card. "Actually, Akemi told me she would let me out if I could win it...."
"She said what?" Pressed up against her back, Madoka flinched; Sayaka moved immediately to reassure her. "Madoka-chan, you airhead! And you've been using this for homework? I mean, it's probably hacked to be unwinnable, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, right?"
"I didn't even get close," Madoka admitted. "But that could just be me."
Sayaka harumphed. "I bet it was! I bet Akemi had it arranged to take up all your time, just like she had the clothes arranged to make you feel comfortable." She clicked past the starting screen, opening up a playing field. "How does it work?"
It probably would have been faster just to read the instructions, but Madoka caught on and played along with Sayaka's attempt at reaching out. "It's like the story of Princess Kaguya, you see? There's a Princess in every bamboo shoot — there, click it! When you click it, it Contracts them, you see? And the bad guys are — there! Aim at that. It's a Shadow, and you have to take it down with your Moonlight. It's kind of like Sailor Moon, too."
"Or like a real puella magi," agreed Sayaka, navigating her Princess between a handful of new bamboo stalks to take on the next Shadow. "I'm going to clean this field up in a snap. You watch."
"There's a catch, though," said Madoka. "You can't leave the Princesses alone for too long, or they turn into Shadows."
"They what?"
"Yeah, it's tricky, you see—"
"The hell kind of mind game is this?" Sayaka clicked the game window closed, hitting the Yes under Exit now? with a vicious snap. The slander of it! That awful, manipulative.... "This isn't a game at all. It's brainwashing! She's trying to make you think puella magi turn into — into —!"
"Into witches?"
Sayaka let out a hiss of frustration. "If she wanted you to avoid contracting so bad, why couldn't she be straightforward about it, huh? Why does she have to be a freak about it?" Without waiting for an answer, she moved on: "Is there anything else interesting on here, or is it just your pop music and papers for Saotome-sensei?"
"Well...Akemi has brought some classical music down lately...."
She put her own warm hand over Sayaka's, and guided the mouse through the appropriate folders. When she got to the album name, Sayaka drew in a short breath through her teeth. "That folder. The Kaiou one. Open it up."
Madoka did.
"Are the filenames right? Play one of them."
Madoka did.
"I don't believe it," muttered Sayaka, as a haunting violin waltz soared through the room. "Either she also hunts down obscure classical recordings, or that bitch ripped my iPod."
***
April 12
Tuesday
"Do you think you could convince Akemi to bring us energy drinks?"
"I could try. There used to be iced coffee, but I drank it all." Madoka was up on the bed with Panda-san at her side and the notebook on her knees, while Sayaka paced the rug with military precision. Now that she was looking for it, Sayaka did seem to be favoring one ankle. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better to let yourself relax more?"
"Are you kidding? If anything, you're the one who needs to relax less and exercise! You'll get all out of shape if you don't. Like astronauts after they've been in space for weeks."
"Isn't that because of the lack of gravity...?"
"It's the principle of the thing!"
"And anyway," added Madoka, blushing, "I don't remember how to stretch."
This brought a halt to Sayaka's pacing. "You mean like before class?" At Madoka's nod, she rocked back on her heels and thought. "Now that you mention it, I don't either. But who needs 'em? Technique isn't important. All that matters is to keep moving."
"I've been taking walks," Madoka admitted. "In circles, like you just now. When I start to feel too antsy and cooped-up."
"Really? I don't remember...."
"I save it for when you're asleep. It's too weird, it would feel embarrassing if you watched."
Sayaka threw herself backward onto the bed at Madoka's feet. Her exuberance reminded Madoka of their third-grade sleepovers, back when they didn't have so far to fall. "Don't be ridiculous, Madoka. It's only walking."
Before Madoka could answer, her stomach let out a loud gurgle. She blushed and tried to hide her face with her notebook (the top drawing featuring herself in a mahou shoujo outfit based on Ojamajo Doremi). Sayaka giggled.
"You want something from the fridge?" she asked. "I bet I can recite everything that's in there. I bet...." Her eyes narrowed; she sat up, giving the squat refrigerator a predatory once-over. "I bet we'd find something we could use in there if we just took the thing apart."
"Sayaka-chan! You can't mean it. It's too valuable!"
Sayaka sighed. "I guess you're right. I'd hate to lose the advantage it gives us in food storage."
***
April 13
Wednesday
The last slice of chocolate cake was dried and flavorless, and Sayaka wasn't all that hungry. She forced herself through each chilled bite anyway, with Madoka cheering her on. "Don't give up, Sayaka-chan! Get that sugar rush! Thirteen more minutes, that's all, then you can fall asleep. You can do it!"
Even if Sayaka was still awake when Akemi came down, she wasn't going to be much use in this state. Maybe she should take a calculated loss. Better to nap through their jailer's visit and make it look deliberate than to let Akemi watch her fail in the struggle to stay awake....
"Don't slouch!" urged Madoka. "Maybe you should walk in — um, I mean, you could do sit-ups — get your blood flowing! Or I — I could get some cold water and throw it on you! Would that help?"
"Water," echoed Sayaka, tongue thick from the crumbled chocolate residue. "Just to drink, please."
Madoka hopped up from her cross-legged position on the floor, to rummage in the cupboard and the fridge before sitting back across from Sayaka moments later with an icy glass. "Here you go!"
After a few quenching gulps, Sayaka held the glass to her temple, hoping the cold would shock her brain into waking back up.
Get her blood flowing, Madoka had said....
"Madoka? Do you know how to waltz?"
"N-no."
Sayaka grinned. "Want to learn?"
At a couple of centimeters taller, Sayaka took the boy's role. Not a problem; she could do the girl role already, and that was the one Madoka would probably be playing, right? Even if she did end up in some cute moe girls' love-love situation, odds were good the other girl would be taller.
"You hear the three-four time?" she asked, one hand resting on Madoka's waist, head already nodding with the beat of the digitized violin's chords.
Madoka (blushing cutely) nodded. For all her protests that she didn't know a lot about music, she had heard Sayaka talk about it often enough, and picked things up faster than she gave herself credit for.
"Your feet start each measure together," said Sayaka, reciting the familiar words in spite of the fog still plaguing her sleepy mind. "On each beat you take a small step with one foot, then a big step with the other, then a small step with the first foot to bring them together again. We'll start on my countdown, okay?"
"I think so," stammered Madoka.
Ah, she'd be fine. "Three-two-three Two-two-three one-two-three go!-two-three...."
There had been a time when Sayaka had boasted she could do classical dances in her sleep. She'd thought she was exaggerating. Apparently, not by much....
A sway of exhaustion hit, and her heel smacked against the bedpost.
Sayaka instinctively grabbed Madoka's shoulder and waist, clutching her friend for support while standing on one foot and biting the insides of her cheeks to distract her from the pain. It didn't fool Madoka for a second. "Sayaka-chan! Are you okay? H-here, sit down! Is it your ankle?"
No longer afraid of drifting off the instant she touched the mattress, Sayaka let Madoka help her to it. "You...noticed?"
Madoka blushed again. "I saw that you had it wrapped up," she admitted, trying to lift Sayaka onto the covers. Their relative statures didn't make it easy work, but she gave it her best. "I didn't know it was still bad. You should elevate it! I'll get the cold water —"
Over her shoulder, Akemi chose that moment to shimmer into view.
"She's here," grunted Sayaka.
With a squeak of surprise Madoka let go, letting Sayaka's limbs untangle from hers.
"A-A-Akemi-san!"
Was it Sayaka's imagination, or did the girl's image flicker like a bad holo? "Kaname Madoka. Am I interrupting?"
"Sayaka hurt her leg!" burst out Madoka (Sayaka tried not to groan). "We need more ibuprofen. And a new bandage!"
Akemi's hand dipped under her shield. Out came a rolled-up bandage, which she tossed aside to land on the bedroll, then a pair of small white pills. "Step aside. I'll watch her take them."
What did she think this was, a psych ward? Sayaka tried to think of advantages she could wring out of a couple of painkillers, to no avail. And then Akemi had the handgun out again, so when she dropped the pills into Sayaka's outstretched palm, Sayaka resisted the urge to clock her one.
With Akemi so close and Madoka shooed out of the way, she realized all at once, Madoka had a clear path to the stairs.
Sayaka stalled. She tried to get the pills to stay under her tongue, more to kill time than because she thought she'd get away with it. She swished the water around in her mouth. She caught Madoka's eye and tried to relay the idea through sheer willpower. If only telepathy still worked when Kyuubei was out of range!
Madoka looked meaningfully at the gun, then turned away.
The pills were starting to dissolve, the bitter taste washing through her mouth. Sayaka gulped them down and stuck out her tongue at Akemi, who nodded and left without a word — walking right past Madoka, brazen as you please, and up the stairs.
Sayaka hated her so much.
"I'm sorry," said Madoka, breaking the silence. "I completely forgot to ask for soy sauce."
***
April 14
Thursday
Madoka crossed off another date on her handwritten calendar. If Homura was to be believed, her ordeal was about halfway through.
She almost wanted to celebrate, but it wasn't like she could bring this up with Sayaka, who would have been suspicious if Homura had asserted that water was wet. Instead she let Sayaka sleep. It was the only real relaxation her friend was getting; a week in, and Sayaka still spent her waking hours wrestling with the bounds of their prison, when she wasn't practicing various methods of taking on Homura or being relentlessly cheerful with Madoka. If the girl hadn't had a roommate's comfort to think of, Madoka suspected she wouldn't have bathed.
There was no knowing when Sayaka had last gone to sleep, but she was dead to the world when Homura came down that afternoon, and no amount of Madoka's shaking could wake her.
"Good," said Homura, pocketing her gun (not that she had pockets; it was the shield, that was it, some kind of pocket with magic). "I can bring you some hot food without worrying it'll be thrown at me."
"You shouldn't antagonize her," said Madoka. Loyalty hummed in her chest. "Wasn't it bad enough to lock her up without insulting her too?"
Homura's mask slipped. What Madoka saw underneath was unidentifiable, almost glitchy, like a computer program struggling with what emotion to render next. "She doesn't listen. I tried to be nice. Over and over. She never listens...."
When had she found the time to be nice to Sayaka for more than five minutes?
"Thinks she's the hero. Thinks there are heroes in the first place. Wastes her wish on that boy's happiness — throws her life away on the gamble that he'll love her — throws us all under the bus when she realizes he won't. Doesn't realize she knows nothing."
"I don't think it's a waste at all!" exclaimed Madoka, rallying to her snoring friend's defense. "Why shouldn't a comfortable person use their power to help someone less fortunate? If — if I were to get a wish — I'd think it was a waste to use it on myself!"
"You shouldn't think things like that," snapped Homura.
"Why not? Even down here, I'm safe, I have food and water, you're planning to let me out — I'm better off than so many other people! And even if I became a puella magi and — and died — if I could heal sick people, or clean up the pollution in the ocean, or stop a war—"
"And not think about what it would do to the family and friends that love you?"
"Don't use my family against me!" cried Madoka. "The one who's hurt them most already is you!"
"You, also, know nothing," said Homura darkly.
"And you know so much? What did you wish for?"
Homura's violet gaze bored into her. For a second Madoka saw what Sayaka must have seen when she hissed Inhuman.
The question went unanswered.
***
When Sayaka found out she'd slept through Homura's visit, she very nearly lost it.
"And you let me miss it?" she demanded of Madoka, after going through several paint-peeling curses. "What were you thinking?"
"I — I'm sorry, I tried —"
"Did you? Did you really? You're not, I don't know, conspiring with Ms. Mysterious Transfer Student while keeping me knocked out?"
She was in motion, rocking back and forth on her heels, arms gesturing broadly and hands clenching in front of her. Madoka meanwhile stood with feet pressed tightly together, shoulders hunched. "How can you say that?"
"How could you not tell me it was Akemi in the first place? How could you let me look like an idiot? How could you just sit around like you've given up?"
It took Madoka beginning to cry to snap Sayaka back to her senses.
"Madoka...?"
"I'm sorry." Her hands clenched around fistfuls of her skirt; teardrops dripped down and spattered on her taut knuckles. "I'm sorry. I don't know how to do this right. I've never been kidnapped before. I tried to wake you up. I swear I tried. I'm sorry...."
"No. I am."
Madoka's head bobbed up. Sayaka put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, then stepped forward into a wooden hug. It was, for the moment, the best she could do.
"It's my own fault," she said, patching the words together into phrases. I've been screwing around. Wasted a whole week knocking on stone walls and uncovering tiny air ducts. Preened and postured when Akemi wasn't around, only to fold any time she showed up. Fooled myself into thinking it was enough. That you were out of danger because I found you in one piece. "Shouldn't have yelled. You're not the one I'm mad at. It's okay. I'll do better. For you."
***
"Are...are you sure it's night?" asked Sayaka. The lights were out, and a soothing instrumental playlist on a loop, but she couldn't have felt less wide-awake.
Madoka, beside her, shrugged. "That's what the clock says."
"And you think we can trust it?"
"I think...we may as well," said Madoka slowly. "You don't have to sleep now if you don't want."
Sayaka shook her head. "Mm-mm. I said I'd get back on a normal sleep schedule, and I meant it."
Being under the same covers as Madoka had been the best incentive she could think of. It had been a few years since they'd had a proper sleepover, but Sayaka was hoping her body would remember that having Madoka curled up in light pajamas next to her was its cue to fall asleep soon, and hold still and quit in the meantime.
(The plan was, in some ways, backfiring.)
"...I have to confess something," whispered Madoka, one hand brushing Sayaka's sleeved shoulder.
Sayaka did her best impression of someone whose heart rate hadn't just suddenly doubled. "Yeah?"
"It's a little embarrassing...."
"Um, Madoka...maybe you should hold on to that kind of thing for now? A situation like this can make you...lose perspective. You might say something you'll regret, once we're home...."
"You deserve to know!" exclaimed Madoka, fidgeting against the sheets. (One of the stuffed animals above their heads was jostled by the motion; a fuzzy ear flopped across Sayaka's face.) "I-it's about you."
Sayaka swallowed. "O-okay. Go ahead."
"Akemi told me...I mean, I didn't ask, or anything, she just said it like she forgot I wouldn't know...Your wish. She told me your puella magi wish was to heal Kamijou-kun."
In the darkness, Sayaka stared, then began to grin. Got her.
"Sayaka-chan? Are you mad?"
"She's lying." Sayaka couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this smug. "That, or Miss All-For-Your-Own-Good doesn't know as much as she thinks she does."
"Oh! Then what was...? Um, not that you have to tell me, if you don't want...."
"It's fine." A sudden fit of daring made Sayaka want to roll over and drape her arm across Madoka's stomach, maybe even twine their legs together. If it weren't for her plans for tomorrow, she really might have. "Mado-tan...my wish was to be able to find you."