Puella Magi Akane Magica (A Madoka Magica Fanfiction)

Ch. 1: An Evening of Freedom

          I awoke in a strange place—a place that wasn't the cold, dark room I had lived in all my life. This place was dappled with a dim orange glow, and it seemed to be a long, narrow hallway with soft, red seats lining both walls. I was sitting on one of those seats. I was confused, until, after a moment, I felt the ground—or floor—jolt beneath me and the entire hallway shook. It was then that I noticed the windows above the seats. I could see outside, like the one small window in my room had allowed me to, but the scenery outside of these windows was moving... and quickly.

          It came to me, then. The Incubator had told me all sorts of things about the outside world, probably to entice me into making a contract. This was a train. A method of public transportation. And by the looks of the beautiful fiery light coming in through the windows, it seemed to be evening.

          I scanned the train car I was in, but apart from me, it was totally empty. Why wasn't anyone else there? I thought these kinds of places were supposed to be busy.

          I stood up, taking a moment to regain my balance after another jolt of the train nearly knocked me over, and then carefully made my way to one of the windows, taking hold of the back of one of the seats for support.

          The view outside was... beautiful.

          Fields of some kind of plant, swaying in the wind and shining like gold in the light of the sunset. How far was this from civilization, I wondered for a moment, but the thought quickly faded from my mind as I stared in wonder at the beauty behind the perfectly clean glass.

          I had never seen anything like it before—the small, cramped window in my room had only shown a road and a bit of the house across that road, with that dog the neighbors had that would always growl loudly whenever it saw me.

          I was so in awe that it was a long time before I realized something very strange. My hair felt a little shorter. I had never had the tools to cut it in my room, so it had been extremely long and messy. Now it felt... lighter. Still the same black sheen, but shorter. And soft. Straight and clean, not full of tangles. And it wasn't only my hair that was different.

          I was wearing what I could only assume was a school uniform—a dark green blazer on top of a white shirt with a red ribbon, and a patterned green skirt to match, with black knee-high socks and simple yet comfortable brown shoes.

          Looking back up at the window as a shadow passed over the train, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection in the glass and smiled sadly. My living conditions all my life had made it essentially impossible to know for sure what I even looked like.

          Seeing it now, my own face looked completely foreign to me.

          There was a screeching sound, and I nearly fell over as the train pulled to a stop. A quick glance back at the window on the other side revealed a small town—as well as a brown bag sitting on the seat beside where I'd woken up. Seeing as no one else was on the train, I assumed that it must be for me, and so I grabbed it and quickly ran to the door of the train as it slid open with a soft hiss.

          Why was I getting off? I wasn't sure, but I didn't want to sit on the train all night, as pretty as it was. I had to figure out where I was, and what I should do.

          What I should do—that seemed like a pretty big question, now that I finally had my freedom. I supposed I'd never thought of it, as I somehow assumed I would be living in that room for the rest of my life. I was suddenly full of confusion, my head spinning with thoughts of the future—but I didn't have time to think, as the doors would probably close soon.

          I stepped off the train.