Madoka's arrow narrowly missed the first hagraven as the crone-beast flew in towards the pinkette. She prepared another shot, but it veered off wildly as the hagraven almost seemed to teleport right in front of Madoka and set her off-guard. Madoka dodged a swipe from the talons, then blocked a second swipe with her bow before landing a solid kick on the crone's withered midsection. This was enough to knock the wind out of the bird-lady, giving Madoka a chance to draw her sword.
Mami meanwhile was fighting two on one. She'd had the sense to grab one of the extra short swords they kept with Sayaka, allowing her to now fight two-handed. She was doing a fine job of it, blocking each assault in turn in a graceful and fluid manner.
… At least, until the white hagraven vanished in a burst of feathers and then reappeared behind Mami.
"… What?!" the surprised blonde got out before she sent herself tumbling to the ground in a last-ditch bid to avoid being gutted. The white hagraven was on her, feet talons descending on Mami with ferocity. She again avoided being struck, but was now firmly on the defensive as she struggled to get herself back up off the ground and into a proper fighting position.
"Mami!" Madoka shouted out in alarm, though she herself was in no condition to do anything. The pink-haired girl was currently pinned against a tree, her sword guarding her against the first hagraven's claws as the awful creature's cackling gave Madoka a whiff of her truly awful breath. She was stronger than the average person even without her magical girl powers, but Madoka found these hagravens to be just as strong as she was, if not more so thanks to the fact that they were almost double the size of either her or Mami.
"What's the matter, dearie?" the hagraven screeched, "The more you struggle, the more it's going to hurt."
"Who—who are you!? What do you want with us?!" Madoka asked as she struggled. If they couldn't reason, then maybe at least they could get information out of the trio of monsters.
"Come with us and find out!" the hagraven crowed, before pulling one of her hands back. She came down on Madoka, aiming for the pinkette's face before the girl dropped down low and used her smaller size to roll under the hagraven, slicing at the monster's legs as she passed between them. The hagraven screeched in pain, turning around to face Madoka once more. Except instead of facing talons again, Madoka found herself dodging flying icicles the size of her head as the monster unleashed a volley of ice spike spells on the poor girl. Madoka barely evaded one and then two, then managed to shatter another with her sword.
Out of options as the hagraven prepared a lightning spell, Madoka threw her sword as hard as she could as a hail-mary, lodging it in the monster's side. It screeched in pain again as Madoka back-flipped over to where she'd left her bow and drew another arrow as the hagraven ripped the blade out and came charging.
"These don't look like any soul gems I've ever seen," the second hagraven said. She'd disengaged from her fight with Mami and now stood over Sayaka's unprotected body, holding the bluenette's soul in her claws.
"SAYAKA!" Madoka shouted in panic as her attention was diverted. The first hagraven was on her, knocking the pinkette to the ground, with only Madoka's bow keeping the monster's claws from eviscerating her.
Mami glanced over at Madoka's screams and realized she'd made a critical error and had let one of the hagravens get away. Cursing herself for such a rookie mistake, the blonde attempted to end the current fight as quickly as possible. Making the hagraven block one of her swords, Mami then used her free blade to cut off one of the hagraven's hands, causing a horrific screeching noise from her opponent as the monster staggered back in agonizing pain. Mami then followed it up with a stab to the belly before breaking from the fight and making a direct beeline to Sayaka.
It wasn't enough.
Enraged beyond all reasonable thought, the white hagraven teleported in front of Mami with a burst of feathers, then kicked the surprised blonde girl while she was in mid-run and sent her flying back into a tree. Mami rolled in midair, using the tree as a launching pad to throw herself back at the monster, swords raised.
Igniting a flame spell to cauterize the stump where her hand had once been, the white hagraven then opened fire, unleashing a powerful sustained bolt of lightning aimed at Mami.
Mami was struck dead-on, her body flying back as her weapons went scattering into the snow. The white hagraven pushed her assault on the girl, whose body was now struggling against the after-effects of being struck by lightning. Despite her handicap however, the blonde grabbed the hagraven's leg and with a mighty, albeit clumsy heave sent her flying into a tree.
"Get their soul gems and let's go." the second hagraven said as she scooped Sayaka's body over her shoulder. She looked over at the other hagraven, currently pressing herself against Madoka, "Uela, quit playing with your food and do your job!" she began to rise into the air with a magic spell, preparing to fly away.
"SAYAKA!" Madoka screeched in absolute gut-wrenching terror. Her friend was being taken before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do. Not again. Not again. She couldn't lose any more people—
"Worry less about her, and more about yourself!" Uela said, grabbing for Madoka's ring. The bow was lost in the tussle as Madoka desperately tried to wrench her hand out of the hagraven's tight grip.
Sayaka was airborne, and the hagraven she was being carried by was getting away. Mami knew she only had one shot. Grabbing her crossbow, she loaded a bolt as quickly as possible, and then even as the white hagraven was on her, aimed and fired it at the escaping creature—making sure as much as possible to avoid Sayaka. The bolt, enhanced with an electrical spell, ripped through the air and hit the hagraven in the small of her back, shattering her spine. With a crowing of agony, the hagraven fell from the sky, letting Sayaka and her soul gem go as she tumbled to the earth a few dozen meters away.
"Dyta!" Uela cried in alarm as she let Madoka's hands go.
Bad move.
Madoka grabbed her bow and another arrow, and as Uela was looking over to where her companion had fallen, Madoka let her arrow fly into Uela's neck. The hagraven stumbled back in shock as blood splattered out, clutching at the arrow and the wound.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" the white hagraven squawked at Dyta's seeming demise, aiming for Mami's head. Out of weapons and desperately wishing she had her ribbon powers, Mami fired another electrical blast. It missed; the hagraven teleported once again and came down on Mami from the side who cleanly dodged the attack. She then kept dodging, evading each and every one of the hagraven's clumsy attacks like an expert dancer.
*THUNK*
Another of Madoka's arrows impacted the side of the white hagraven, the force alone enough to stagger her. She looked over at the pinkette, then at her wounded sister, now on her knees with an arrow in her neck. Mami meanwhile had managed to dig up one of her swords from the snow. With a clean swing, she separated the hagraven's head from her neck, and it was tossed into the snow as the body fell to the ground, lifeless.
Mami breathed heavily as the implications sprung up in her mind. Don't think about it. It was a monster, it was going to kill you. Don't. Think. About. It.
Uela pulled the arrow from her neck, allowing a small healing spell to stem the bleeding. All around, the situation had unraveled; Mira was dead, Dyta was probably dead, and she herself was wounded and outnumbered.
… Yeah, screw this.
Backing away from Madoka as the latter readied another arrow, she teleported over to Dyta. The poor crone had broken her neck in impact with the ground; she was gone. Uela looked over the snow-covered ground for any sign of the blue-haired girl's soul gem, seeing if there was any way to salvage the situation, but there wasn't any time: the other two girls were upon her.
Seeing that the game was up, Uela teleported away to a safe distance in the trees, then took flight.
Her master was not going to be happy.
Madoka and Mami rushed over to Sayaka in a fit of worry and panic.
"Is she okay?!" Madoka asked Mami as the latter kneeled down where Sayaka lay in the snow. She put her hand on her neck; there was still a pulse, and she was breathing. Good. There were a few scrapes and cuts though, of which the implications were clear: Sayaka didn't have her advanced healing magic. Not that big of a surprise since their soul magic was locked off, but still unfortunate. Luckily Madoka and Mami had both picked up a basic healing spell from Wulf's training.
However, Madoka was currently busy with a far more important task.
"Where is it… where is it…" she mumbled to herself with worry, on her knees and looking for any sign of Sayaka's soul gem in the snow. She didn't see it, it wasn't here. Dread filled her stomach… Uela hadn't taken it with her, had she?
A glimmer of gold and dark caught Madoka's attention. Oh thank god. She scurried over to where the gem was half-buried and clutched it tightly against her chest as she let out a deep sigh.
Sayaka was okay.
Madoka looked over at Mami who was clearing up Sayaka's wounds. The two locked eyes.
"… We can't wait for morning," Madoka said, standing up before walking over to her and kneeling down again, "We need to get to Dawnstar tonight."
Mami nodded in understanding as she glanced up towards the evening sun. They couldn't sleep out here, not after what had just happened. Don't think about it. "Agreed. If we hurry, we might arrive by dawn."
Madoka picked Sayaka up and began to take her over to her cart, while Mami began to hunt down the myriad of weapons they'd left scattered across the battlefield. She stepped over the corpse of the hagraven she'd shot her crossbow bolt into—that was two bodies she was responsible for today. Wraiths were one thing, and she'd certainly gotten into scuffles with other magical girls over the years, but she'd never actually killed another sentient being before.
They were ugly, certainly, non-human definitely. They were evil and had given them no choice.
It had been so easy.
Don't think about it.
Madoka put Sayaka back down in her cart, making sure to wrap her friend back up in the blankets. She sighed; Sayaka should have been awake, considering her gem wasn't pitch-black anymore. For not the first time since coming here, Madoka wondered exactly what Homura had done. Again, Mami's quotes came back to her, but for all her (admittedly fuzzy) knowledge, Madoka couldn't figure out what Homura might have meant.
Mami handed Madoka her sword and bow, before putting one of the extra swords back in the cart with Sayaka and rearming herself. The two looked over the battlefield—two corpses, a bunch of bloodspots, and a whole lot of footprints on the snow.
They couldn't stay here; not if the surviving hagraven brought reinforcements, or if something worse was lurking.
"Dawnstar?" Madoka asked Mami as she grabbed the cart handles.
Still staring at the battlefield, Mami didn't reply.
"… Mami? Mami!"
"Huh, wha—" the blonde was shaken from her thoughts, "Sorry, I was just…"
"… Are you okay?" Madoka asked her, concerned by the troubled, far-away look Mami was giving.
"We just…" Mami exhaled as everything caught up with her, "We just killed two people." She had killed two people; Madoka had had nothing to do with it.
.. Oh. Madoka glanced back at the corpses, then at Mami. In all the chaos she'd kind of forgotten; this was a Mami who hadn't had to suffer in the Witch timelines, when maiming or killing other magical girls was normal. The wraith universe had been far more forgiving, and even those older versions of Mami had usually avoided that mess but…not always.
Shades of Mami killing Kyoko after taking Sayaka's witch down flashed through Madoka's mind. Madoka killing her and then she and Homura breaking down at what she'd done.
"They… they didn't leave us a choice" Madoka told her as gently as possible, regret seeping into her voice. She never enjoyed it, she never wished it. Life was precious.
Mami blinked; at first taken aback by Madoka's seeming cavalier attitude. That… didn't feel like Madoka at all. The Madoka she knew was naive and innocent. She wouldn't be so…accepting of this. She should be freaking out right now.
But that was all a lie, wasn't it? Madoka had been a god; a timeless being who had seen everything the universe had to offer. A psychopomp who ended girls' lives and carried them off.
"I…" Mami looked into Madoka's eyes and for just the barest of an instant, she was not her bashful underclassmen. She was something Older.
"I'm sorry," Madoka said, putting on a reassuring as possible smile as she could, "It's… never easy, is it?"
"… On the contrary." Mami said, disagreeing, "I… I think that might be the problem."
She was clearly shaken, Madoka could tell that much. After a moment of hesitation, Madoka turned and wrapped her arms around Mami, giving the very surprised (but grateful) older girl a hug, "If you hadn't, Sayaka would be gone and we'd be dead. You did the right thing. Thank you."
Mami let out a deep, shuttering breath before the two let go.
"Are you okay?" Madoka asked again.
Mami collected herself. The brief window of vulnerability vanished as Mami steadied herself, once again putting on her airs of invincibility and confidence, of composed dignity and serenity, "I… yes. I'm sorry. I'm alright."
Madoka put her hand on Mami's shoulder reassuringly with a smile. Mami returned the smile, though not quite as enthusiastically, before they finally began to head off. Mami didn't look back, she instead focused entirely on their objectives, and on the two people she was with. She didn't think about it.
Don't think about it.