Puella Magi Hunger Games

Chapter 22

Oriko opened her eyes, blinking, as the blurriness of her surroundings sharpened to a more articulate view.
She was in another room. Fog still lingered, but it only covered the floor, surrounding Oriko as she lay there. Getting to her feet, Oriko looked around warily. Where was the witch? Why was it so empty?
This witch was so confusing. It was almost as though it had dual personalities. One side was empty and lonely, another was happy and playful. Both of them represented grief.
A small crack sounded through the air, causing Oriko to look up in alarm. Structures lined the walls of the room she was in. Structures made of what looked like building blocks. A small childish giggle could be heard coming from one of them.

Frowning, Oriko summoned a couple of her glowing blue and silver spheres. She watched the structures carefully, eyeing them all suspiciously, waiting for the giggle come again. The small giggle sounded again, like a naughty child hiding, and happy at not being found. Yet. A snicker sounded, and it came from one of the building blocks to Oriko's right. Immediately, she flung out her arm in that direction, sending all of her orbs towards the building structure, sending dust and smoke up, as the structure exploded.

Something came flying out of it, wailing in terror. It flew out of the smoke and dust, to land behind another structure, hidden from sight. Huffing in exasperation, Oriko pointed a finger, and more blue and silver orbs went flying towards the block building the witch was behind. Once again, it smashed, dust and smoke hiding it. Rather than hiding behind another building this time, the witch landed a couple of metres in front of Oriko.
Albertine, the scribbling witch's nature was ignorance. She looked like a young girl, with frizzy and curly blond hair. Her eyes were dark and hollow, her cheeks with a patch of blue on each. It was all simple, but she was scribbled. Scribbled like a picture which had been drawn by a child.
Oriko drew in a breath, and immediately summoned her orbs, directing them towards the ignorant witch. Before they could hit though, Albertine's began to cry, tears dripping down the pale cheek's and onto the ground.
Oriko felt the pull of the power, holding her in place. It was even stronger now, now that Albertine was right in front of her. She struggled to resist, trying to pull away from the invisible strands that held her.
"No," Oriko gasped, "No!" She could feel the trap pulling her down, pulling her onto the ground, as the fog clouded over her, smothering and choking her. Her vision turned hazy, as she lay there motionless, until she was numb all over, and she could feel nothing. Nothing.
"Madoka! Madoka!" Homura yelled out into the fog. No reply could be heard, and Homura could feel the invisible threads holding her even tighter. Eventually, she would not be able to say anything. The crying increased in power, overwhelming Homura, making her want to curl into a ball and cry. The feeling was despicable. She had to think of Madoka first.
With a shout of pain, Homura wrenched herself forwards, out of the net, and crashed to the ground. The fog was everywhere, she could barely see anything except haze. The crying had stopped, but it had been replaced with another sound.
Hollow, echoing footsteps sounded through the fog, causing a shiver down Homura's spine. She looked around warily, but could see nothing, the fog was too thick. She pulled out a gun from behind her shield, feeling slightly safer. A bomb was useless here, especially a smoke bomb. There was enough smoke here, and she would have to throw an explosive bomb a certain distance, to avoid getting herself blown up. A distance which she could not even see far enough through this haze.
The ordered marches of what sounded like a line of troops echoed through the fog, first sounding from Homura's right, then her left. It was like the minions she had heard before, when she had been stuck in the labryinth, before Oriko saved her.
Before she could react, a circle of painted faces loomed out of the fog, surrounding her. A line of wudên warriors surrounded her, reaching out to her. In panic, Homura leapt up, out of the circle of minions, landing behind them, and began firing rapidly, destroying one minion after another.
Soon, they were all piles of ash, as Homura breathed hard, out of fear and shock.
A small sigh sang through the fog, and Homura tensed instinctively. Looking around, she saw a small glow of light through the fog.
"Madoka?" Homura ventured forward, towards the light. She stopped short when she realised her mistake.
The light came from a large candle. A candle which made up the head of the witch, Ophelia.
Ophelia's firy head turned towards Homura's direction. Seeing Homura, her candle head burnt even more brightly in anger. The mount she was on reared up, and began charging at Homura, Ophelia riding it, her head and torso now a spear, aimed directly at Homura's neck. Homura immediately drew a gun, firing at Ophelia. The bullets bounced off Ophelia's steel head, causing no effect. Realising this, Homura began aiming for Ophelia's mount. The mount swerved and reared to avoid the shots, knocking Ophelia off course, turning her spear head back into its firey form.
As she regained her balance, turning to charge at Homura again, Homura deftly threw a bomb at Ophelia. The bomb exploded at Ophelia's seat on the horse, knocking her off the horse, while the metallic horse reared and bellowed in anger. Immediately, Homura drew out a rifle, firing in quick succession at Ophelia's vulnerable form. Most of them struck, harming Ophelia more and more. She was almost finished, Homura knew. As she pulled out a final bomb to finish her off, Ophelia screamed a desperate scream. The scream was answered with a wail from a faraway, in the fog.
A figure darted out of the fog to land beside Ophelia. It was a childish form, with blond hair curly and frizzy, a pale face, and dark, hollow eyes.
Homura's eyes widened in shock. Albertine had come to save Ophelia. Immediately, she threw her bomb at the two of them, but it was caught and carried away by a cackling Anja, who rode off with it, in its forever changing vehicle, into the fog. It was a long way away when Homura heard the bomb explode and the Anja's scream.
Albertine placed a hand on Ophelia's shoulder, and Ophelia was healed immediately. Ophelia rose up immediately, and landed on her horse, wheeling around and charging at Homura, her head and torso turning into a spear, aimed for Homura. Homura was caught off guard and the blow struck her in the shoulder, knocking her backwards. She managed to throw a bomb while she fell, but as soon as it struck Ophelia, Albertine appeared beside her, and the damage Ophelia took was gone. Ophelia struck Homura again and again, while Homura screamed in pain, wishing for someone to help her. Finally, she lay on the floor, gasping in pain. She glanced down at her hand. The purple diamond was clouding over, its purple luster disappearing as she watched. Ophelia was charging once again, and Homura knew she couldn't survive it. Briefly, she considered cleansing her soul gem with Walpurgisnacht's soul gem, but immediately dismissed the idea. What was the point when she would just get beaten up again by Ophelia? It must by Kyoko's revenge on her for the fight on the first day. Homura gave a wan, cracked smile, as she heard the thundering steps of Ophelia's mount charging towards her. Soon, it would all be over. She had failed, but that didn't matter. She won't ever feel pain again.