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I wanted to write something for 07. no regrets, just rebirth, but then I stared at it and just kept flashbacking to episode 12, so instead I rewrote the ending of PMMM together with theme 8.
Turns out that that isn't kosher! So I will be posting this fic just for Theme 8 instead.
Title: lessons fit for deities
Day/Theme: 08. he traded one eye for wisdom and the other for hope.
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Characters/pairings: Madoka
Rating: PG13 for violence and mentions of character death
Content Notes: Wisdom was learning about the system, hope was defeating it. Spoilers for the entire series
he traded one eye for wisdom
The more Madoka learned, the more she realised she didn't know.
She thought she knew all there was to know. Homura had taught her that the souls of magical girls were now encased in a gem. Sayaka had taught her that magic girls could turn into witches.
Then Kyouko and Mami had taught her about death. Kyouko showed her how easy it was to die (just a bullet, just an arrow to the soul gem would take a life) and Mami showed her how easy it was to kill (the arrow fitted to the bow easily, she had used it so many times before and she just let it fly).
Now, Walpurgisnacht was about to teach her about defeat. She wished she could skip this lesson.
As she and Homura lay in the water, heavy with the knowledge that their grief would consume them, Madoka wondered at all she had learnt. If she had known what Mami could do, would she have stopped her before she hurt Kyouko? If Kyouko had remembered about Soul Gems, would she have guarded hers more carefully?
She fingered Sayaka’s Grief Seed, nestled in her pocket, and wondered what she thought about becoming a witch.
There was only one question left, a question only Homura could answer. Mind made up, Madoka took Sayaka’s Grief Seed and held it to Homura’s gem. Only then, only then could she bring herself to ask the question:
“Can you go back in time and make sure foolish me doesn’t get tricked by Kyuubey?”
If she could wish again, she’d wish for wisdom.
and the other for hope
In another timeline, Madoka learned everything there was to know about becoming a magic girl without becoming one.
Since her talk with Kyuubey, right until she reached the bomb shelter, she thought about what to do with this knowledge. That was what her Mama had taught her to do. “Knowledge is for helping others,” she said, back when Madoka had asked her why school was so hard. “That’s why you go to school to study, even though you don’t feel like it.” Homura was already out there, using her knowledge to help others. Madoka felt so useless just thinking about it.
But Madoka knew she had a bright mind. She figured things out, like knowing when Papa was about to pluck fruit in the garden, or the best way to wake Mama up, or how to get Sayaka and Hitomi to stop arguing. So she turned to the problem of Walpurgisnacht, and witches, and the magic girls that they came from.
When Madoka figured out the solution, it frightened her so much that she had to leave her family, go right to the edge of the school and look at the storm. This far away from the centre, she couldn’t see the witch. She couldn’t see Homura, who must be fighting right now. But it didn’t matter. She had seen it before in her dream. Even now, the memory of it was frightening.
She thought of the magic girls that had died fighting Walpurgisnacht. She thought of families like hers, huddled in frightened groups in shelters as what they thought was a storm passed overhead. It made her sad, thinking about how they all couldn’t fight back because they didn’t understand. Madoka understood, yet here she was shivering and not fighting back.
With a wish in her mind, Madoka stepped out into the storm. She had wisdom already – this time she’d learn something new.
This time, Madoka learned what it was like to be reborn as hope.
Turns out that that isn't kosher! So I will be posting this fic just for Theme 8 instead.
Title: lessons fit for deities
Day/Theme: 08. he traded one eye for wisdom and the other for hope.
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Characters/pairings: Madoka
Rating: PG13 for violence and mentions of character death
Content Notes: Wisdom was learning about the system, hope was defeating it. Spoilers for the entire series
he traded one eye for wisdom
The more Madoka learned, the more she realised she didn't know.
She thought she knew all there was to know. Homura had taught her that the souls of magical girls were now encased in a gem. Sayaka had taught her that magic girls could turn into witches.
Then Kyouko and Mami had taught her about death. Kyouko showed her how easy it was to die (just a bullet, just an arrow to the soul gem would take a life) and Mami showed her how easy it was to kill (the arrow fitted to the bow easily, she had used it so many times before and she just let it fly).
Now, Walpurgisnacht was about to teach her about defeat. She wished she could skip this lesson.
As she and Homura lay in the water, heavy with the knowledge that their grief would consume them, Madoka wondered at all she had learnt. If she had known what Mami could do, would she have stopped her before she hurt Kyouko? If Kyouko had remembered about Soul Gems, would she have guarded hers more carefully?
She fingered Sayaka’s Grief Seed, nestled in her pocket, and wondered what she thought about becoming a witch.
There was only one question left, a question only Homura could answer. Mind made up, Madoka took Sayaka’s Grief Seed and held it to Homura’s gem. Only then, only then could she bring herself to ask the question:
“Can you go back in time and make sure foolish me doesn’t get tricked by Kyuubey?”
If she could wish again, she’d wish for wisdom.
and the other for hope
In another timeline, Madoka learned everything there was to know about becoming a magic girl without becoming one.
Since her talk with Kyuubey, right until she reached the bomb shelter, she thought about what to do with this knowledge. That was what her Mama had taught her to do. “Knowledge is for helping others,” she said, back when Madoka had asked her why school was so hard. “That’s why you go to school to study, even though you don’t feel like it.” Homura was already out there, using her knowledge to help others. Madoka felt so useless just thinking about it.
But Madoka knew she had a bright mind. She figured things out, like knowing when Papa was about to pluck fruit in the garden, or the best way to wake Mama up, or how to get Sayaka and Hitomi to stop arguing. So she turned to the problem of Walpurgisnacht, and witches, and the magic girls that they came from.
When Madoka figured out the solution, it frightened her so much that she had to leave her family, go right to the edge of the school and look at the storm. This far away from the centre, she couldn’t see the witch. She couldn’t see Homura, who must be fighting right now. But it didn’t matter. She had seen it before in her dream. Even now, the memory of it was frightening.
She thought of the magic girls that had died fighting Walpurgisnacht. She thought of families like hers, huddled in frightened groups in shelters as what they thought was a storm passed overhead. It made her sad, thinking about how they all couldn’t fight back because they didn’t understand. Madoka understood, yet here she was shivering and not fighting back.
With a wish in her mind, Madoka stepped out into the storm. She had wisdom already – this time she’d learn something new.
This time, Madoka learned what it was like to be reborn as hope.
