~Akemi Homura~

Homura opened her eyes, and sat up with a gasp. This wasn't her hospital room. Everything was fuzzy and blurry, because she wasn't wearing her glasses and hadn't repaired her eyes yet. Still, she could see that she'd been sleeping in a large, unfamiliar, empty chamber. Quickly, she raised her Soul Gem to her eyes and repaired them and her heart, improving her body to the superhuman levels she was accustomed to. She undid her braids too, out of habit. Now she could see properly, and what she could see wasn't comforting.

The chamber was completely unfamiliar, and almost Labyrinth-esque. There was no ceiling- either that, or the ceiling was made from stars and galaxies, a beautiful vista of space the likes of which she'd never before seen. The walls were covered in ancient carvings of things and people she didn't recognize, but in some places were broken, revealing more stars as if this chamber was floating in space. Flaming sconces adorned the walls, providing light to the room. No- on second glance, they didn't contain flames, just... light.

There was no one in the chamber, other than herself. There were no entrances or exits either, if you didn't count the holes that led to space. Was she trapped? What exactly had happened? This had never happened before!

"Hoh~ how unusual," a peculiar voice suddenly said, as something whisked her Soul Gem out of her hand. "A soul in a jar. I haven't seen something like this in quite a while."

Homura whirled to face the voice, to see a person where before there had been none. It was an uncomfortably rabbit-like figure; Bipedal, and wearing a strange purple jumpsuit with white boots, and at its side a staff floated in midair, spiraling slowly. Long white ears spiked up above its similarly white head. And floating in front of its eyeless, noseless face was her Soul Gem.

Reaching to a shield that wasn't there, she tried to grab for a pistol that didn't come. It wasn't often that her Soul Gem could be taken from her.

"Give that back," she said, with gritted teeth. She glared at the alien figure, and watched as the corner of its mouth opened, revealing an alien eye peering back at her, from inside its mouth. The thing seemed to be grinning. It was as disturbingly peculiar as a Witch... but didn't feel as dark to her senses. Still, it had her Gem.

"It seems to be a little corrupted," the thing said, ignoring her order. The Gem was mostly light, but traveling back each time did use up some magic. A very small amount of darkness pooled at the very bottom of the Gem, almost too little to see.

"Give it back!" she shouted, her fists clenched and shaking from anger at her own impotence. She couldn't transform without it, and couldn't use any of her abilities. Why couldn't she have just kept hold of it?!

"If you're going to climb the tower, this little thing will be... a hindrance," it said, and then flicked a finger of its monstrous hand at her Soul Gem. And with a chiming crack, it shattered.

Homura gaped in shock as it destroyed her Soul Gem- her soul, the shards dispersing as a light shone from where the gem had once been. She remembered, Kyouko's gem being shattered, the girl instantly collapsing to the ground, the light in her eyes vanishing. She leaped forward, trying somehow to stop what had already happened, and lashed out at the figure when she got close. He stepped back easily and she glared at him, but something took her attention.

Where her Soul Gem once was, a light shone, bright purple. Hesitantly, she reached out to it, and as soon as her fingers came into contact, the light zoomed into her chest. For a moment, her whole body shone the same bright purple, but when it faded, she could feel her Soul Gem- no, it was just her Soul now. She could feel it, inside her chest, like how she could feel her Soul Gem before. But now it felt... lighter. More free. Before, it'd been like crystal, but now it was more like water, shifting gently as she felt it. Could she still...?

With sudden light, she transformed, like so many times before. Her magical girl outfit replaced the pajamas she'd slept in that night in the hospital before all this had happened, and her shield collapsed outward from nothing onto her wrist. It was the same as it'd been... except the diamond where her Soul Gem should've been upon her hand was gone.

"What... what did you do?" she asked the strange being once the lightshow faded away.

"Perhaps like this, you'll last longer than a week," it said, grinning eerily with many pointy teeth. "You no longer need to worry about that corruption. Won't you thank me~? Oh, and..." The creature bowed regally to her, arms swept to the side.

"Welcome to the Tower."