Madoka awoke in a daze. Hugging her pillow, she gave a big yawn.
"What a weird dream."
The morning light softly filtered into her room. She glanced at her clock; time to get ready for school. With no small amount of disdain, the pinkette drug herself out of bed and out towards the back door where her dad was usually tending to his garden. She prepared to open the sliding door, when she realized he wasn't there. Huh, that was odd. Maybe he was waking up mom?
She headed over to the futon where her mother was sleeping on and… she wasn't there. The futon was still there, but fully made. This perplexed Madoka, she felt like her whole routine was off.
"…Mom?" she called out, throwing a glance into the empty bathroom, "Dad?"
The house was silent and empty.
"Tatsuya?"
Nothing.
"Where is everyone?!"
Now she was worried. Madoka scoured the house looking for her family, but no one was there, and there was no sign they'd ever been there. The kitchen was unused, their rooms were empty. Where could they have gone?
Madoka made a beeline back to her dad's garden and opened the door, "DAD?" she called out, but any further words died in her throat as she looked up.
The sky was burning. It was burning and everything else was burning too and she could hear the screams and—
Madoka awoke in a panic, taking a second or two before realizing she wasn't burning to death and… actually not sure where she was. That was a really weird feeling, considering the nightmare she was still shrugging off. But soon she realized she was in a cellar of some kind, like a really old-timey one, and her bed was made of straw and wood.
… where was she?
"You're awake!"
Oh thank god, a familiar face. Madoka sighed with relief as Mami wandered over. She wasn't wearing her normal clothes but rather some sort of dress and… for that matter, Madoka herself had been changed into an old-fashioned and unflattering skirt and tunic. Like, European medieval old-fashioned. She didn't own anything like this.
"…Where are we?" she asked in a daze, "What happened?"
"What do you remember last?" Mami asked her gently.
Madoka struggled to remember as she sat up, swinging her bare feet onto the cold stone floor. Realizing that was a mistake, she folded her legs back up on the bed. What was the last thing she'd remembered? She'd been at home, sick with the flu and then… oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
It all came flooding back to her in an instant. Mami caught her beginning to hyperventilate and did her best to calm her down, sitting down next to her and gently grabbing her shoulder, with her other hand being squeezed by Madoka's, "It's okay, It's okay. You're here now. Focus on my voice, take deep breaths."
Madoka calmed down as best as she could be expected considering the situation, but tears began to well up in her eyes, "… I killed the universe," she said, her terrified, horrified voice barely above a whisper, "I killed… 'everyone'." Her mom, her dad, Tatsuya, Hitomi… everyone she'd ever known was gone, every magical girl she'd ever saved, every person who had ever been born, and it was all her fault. Entire civilizations and species. Countless trillions upon trillions upon trillions. An incalculable, unimaginable loss. Grief began to overwhelm her. She felt sick.
"No, you tried to save them, don't you remember?" Mami asked her, drawing her into a hug even as her companion broke into sobbing, "You tried to save Homura—"
"Where is she?!" Madoka asked with start, pulling away as she glanced around frantically, "Where's Homura?!" her search found no one except her and Mami… and the sleeping form of Sayaka on the other side of the bed. Well, there was one friend accounted for, at least.
"… I'm afraid they only found the three of us out in the swamp. I have no idea where Homura is. Or Kyoko and Nagisa, for that matter," Mami said mournfully.
"Do… do you think anyone else made it?" Madoka asked, leaning back into the hug.
Mami shook her head, "I don't know. But Skyrim's a big place, or so they told me."
"… Skyrim?"
Oh boy. Mami was still wrapping her head around this too, "The place we're at. We're… not on Earth anymore, I don't think".
"… Then where…?" She really hadn't considered that with the universe gone, they shouldn't be here. None of this should be here. There should be nothing. Her crying subsided a bit at this sudden pang of confusion.
So where were they?
"Frost Creek, if that means anything to you. Small town near Morthal," said a new voice. A middle aged caucasian man with vanishing grey hair had stepped down from the ladder leading up to what Madoka assumed was a cabin of some kind. He seemed kind.
"Oh, Madoka, this is Bren Frost-Digger. He's the one who rescued us," Mami said, introducing the new arrival as he began to rummage through the shelves that lined the walls, which for the first time Madoka was noticing contained a lot of jars of various substances and other supplies.
"… It's nice to meet you," Madoka replied.
The man chuckled, "Swamp's a bad place to find yourself even in the best of times, especially bad now that summer's coming to a close what with this cold snap. Glad to see that you're alright though."
Mami stood up and bowed, "Apologies, I was going to grab what you asked, but then Madoka awoke."
Bren waved her off, "It's fine. I figured it was something like that. You're a good kid. Take the time you need, Aia and I can keep watch on the shop until you get back."
"Thank you," Mami replied as he gave her a smile before ascending the latter with the ingredients he needed.
He paused halfway up and looked at Madoka, "Oh, I'll have Aia bring some food down to you when she has a minute. You must be starving".
"… Shop?" Madoka asked Mami after Bren vanished.
Mami shrugged, "Bren and his wife run the village apothecary. I've been helping them out," her smile faded, "Earning our keep".
Something else was bugging Madoka, "… He wasn't speaking Japanese." Truth be told, she couldn't pin exactly what language Bren had spoken, only that it sounded vaguely European. Nothing stood out from her days watching over the universe and rescuing magical girls. Even the false memories of America Homura had given her yielded little, as dreamlike and ephemeral as they were. And yet, she'd understood him. How?
… Actually for that matter, she hadn't spoken Japanese to him either.
Mami actually managed a chuckle at the increasing bafflement on Madoka's face even through her tear-stained face, "Aia brewed something while you were asleep, don't ask me what it was, a potion of some kind. When I drank it, I could talk with them perfectly clearly. Then we gave it to you and Sayaka. Magic of some kind, I guess."
The other girls' name was enough for Madoka to glance back at her friend, and then everything began to come crashing down once more. A small shudder from Madoka's frame was Mami's cue to wrap her in another hug, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out. I'm sure of it," she said softly as Madoka broke into more sobbing. They stayed that way for quite a while.