History Fanfic / AsNApproachesInfinity

''As N Approaches Infinity'' is a fan fiction story available on [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11116656/1/As-N-Approaches-Infinity fanfiction.net]] and [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/3553727/ AO3]] by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/150452/Corisanna Corisanna]]. It is a Manga/{{Bleach}} and Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica crossover.

** The description of the rooms leading up to the central chamber of Witch Alexandria's labyrinth is inscribed with hidden text [[Literature/HarryPotter "thief you have been warned beware"]] If you recognize the quote fragment, you should know it ends with "…of finding more than treasure there." They do.

* InSpiteOfANail: As of Timeline X + N + 1, the plot of [[Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica Kazumi Magica]] is occurring mostly as it does in canon, only slightly slower due to the Incubator sending Soju to Mitakihara. [[spoiler: As of Chapter 77, the Dawn of Hyades descends upon Asunaro.]]

* RefusalOfTheCall: When Uryu does research into the possibility of Quincy girls being contracted, Ryuuken notes when Uryu was born, his wife Kanae confessed that she had been approached the Incubator when she was young, and that she had considered making a contract, but ultimately refused and that she was relieved that she had. At the time, Ryuuken had thought it was just something brought on by childbirth, but now thinks he owes her an apology.

* SirSwearsALot: Karin, Jinta, Ichigo's Hollow, Kyōko (Until Tatsuya starts picking it up).

* GroundhogDayLoop: Over six weeks instead of one day; Homura mentions that she stopping counting exactly how many cycles she's been through somewhere around the forties, and that was a long while ago. It's made clear that this is particularly hard on her, as the loop only exists because she keeps deliberately hitting the ResetButton.

* ISeeDeadPeople: Homura is surprised to find that she can see spirits in Karakura; it's explained that the Mitakihara region is low on spiritual energy, so it's to be expected that she hasn't run into this situation before. [[spoiler:More surprisingly, Madoka's father Tomohisa is just spiritually aware enough to see ghosts; he and Junko moved to Mitakihara in the first place so their kids could have a normal childhood]].
* ItsAlwaysSpring: Homura ruminates at one point that thanks to the time loops, she's spent at least several years in a nonstop spring, and things like summer or winter are starting to feel way too abstract.

* ParentsAsPeople: According to Homura, despite their [[ParentalNeglect treatment of her]] Sayaka's parents ''do'' love her but are terrible at expressing it. It's heavily implied that she's witnessed their distraught reactions when Sayaka dies in previous timelines.
* ParentalNeglect: Sayaka's parents are guilty of this. It eventually causes their daughter to run away.

* SpannerInTheWorks: For all the firepower and tactics that Homura's new allies bring, the single biggest trump card is Orihime's ability to cleanse Soul Gems and revert Grief Seeds. Mami and Kyoko handle the AwfulTruth about Witches far better mainly due to learning about it, as a temporary escape from the Incubator's system.

** Similarly, spiritually experienced characters tend be surprised by the sheer amout of spiritual power Madoka has, and compares its power and volume to Ichigo's.

* TheGadfly /{{Troll}}: Urahara.
* TheHeartless: Witches and Hollows. It's speculated that the former are even a specific type of the latter
* TheNicknamer: Ichigo call Homura ''Stopwatch.'' While Sayaka calls Yoruichi ''Midnight the Conqueror'' and Homura ''Stranger Danger''.

* TooMuchAlike: As multiple characters point out, this is the reason Homura and Urahara have so much trouble cooperating with each other. Both are incredibly calculating and perceptive, aiming to be in control of a situation in order to achieve benevolent goals, but this generally makes them butt heads when it comes to larger strategy. Urahara knowing this and trying to treat Homura similarly to himself doesn't really help; despite appearances, she's far more emotionally invested, and just trying to appeal to surface-level logical arguements makes Homura take his apparent detachment at face value.

* {{Understatement}}: The framing device opens with Homura starting to inform Urahara's group about the situation, claiming that there's a threat on the lives of the Kurasaki twins. Upon finishing her recap of the first timeline's CataclysmClimax, which involved [[spoiler:the Incubator killing most of the ''Bleach'' cast and creating a King's Key]], Homura muses that she's probably picked up Urahara's habit of underselling a problem.

** Chapters 69-70, [[spoiler:Kyōko finally appears...and it is discovered that someone has been killing the witches in Kazamino, leaving none for her, and fuelled by half-mad desperation, attacks Tōshirō and Mami, quickly turning into a Witch.]]

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with. Adults with no knowledge of the spirit world are of no help and are all Homura knows. She has to learn that the {{Shinigami}} adults avert this trope.

** [[spoiler:Karin's labyrinth has many.]]

*** [[spoiler:As with the earlier room, the shrine to Ichigo has bows and quivers to refer to his Quincy heritage. Swords refer to his shinigami heritage.]]

* DeathByAdaptation: Homura's parents. Then again, their canon status is unknown.

** Similarly, Kyubey states to the twins that it comes from a higher spiritual dimension. Homura muses that while it normally claims to be an alien, she's only heard it claim to be from another world, and she just assumed that meant extraterrestial; until she learned of the shinigami, she wouldn't have realized there's a difference. And that's assuming it's being truthful to begin with.

* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: Featured in Witch Alexandria's [[spoiler: Karin's]] labyrinth, as an art gallery about what she wanted to do when she grows up.

** Homura in particular is quite experienced at making the call to "put her out of her misery". Several shinigami note that it usually takes years or decades to get so coldly rational about this, which raises uncomfortable questions about Homura's mental state.

** People when Homura proves she really does have stolen mundane weaponry stashed in her shield.

* {{Shinigami}}: Courtesy of Manga/{{Bleach}}
* ShellShockedVeteran: Homura.

* TheHeartless: Witches and Hollows.

* TooMuchAlike: As multiple characters point out, this is the reason Homura and Urahara have so much trouble cooperating with each other.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Homura has a good mask, but the Bleach adults with military experience can see through it enough to be disturbed even before TheReveal of why she acts that way.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Sayaka, even without contracting, occasionally gets too excited and jumps to the wrong conclusion mid-exposition. When Homura finally reveals her time powers, Sayaka initially assumes that she hid it because it's like Sailer Pluto where using the ability would kill her. And with ''Sailer Moon'' still on her mind, Sayaka then thinks that Homura is a KidFromTheFuture, reasoning that Ichigo and Rukia would be her parents, before Homura can clarify that she only traveled back a few weeks.

* AnimalEspionage: Yoruichi accompanies Homura back to Mitakihara in her cat form, posing as the girl's unassuming pet while investigating the Incubator's schemes and brainstorming ideas with Homura. They concoct a story about how [[EvilDetectingDog some cats are supernaturally sensative]], allowing Yoruichi to fight the InvisibleToNormals Incubator if necessary.

* ChildSoldier: Homura calls herself this much to the concern of [[spoiler: Yoruichi]].

* CoverBlowingSuperpower: The powers and abilities of Homura's shinigami allies in the second timeline would inherently give away to the Incubator who they are and what they are capable of, and has been one of their main challenges to keep secret.

** Urahara's ''entire character'' gets hit with this during the second arc. Him being an AntiHero? It makes Homura wary of him. BunnyEarsLawyer he is...which thoroughly annoys Homura to no end, as while she knows that Kisuke is intelligent, him behaving in more comical manners infuriates her. Him being CrazyPrepared in canon concerning Aizen's plans made sense because he had over a century to thoroughly study the problem. The Incubator's plans involve even more scientific complexity regarding the Magical Girls, and as an OutsideContextProblem that Urahara didn't even know about, unlike Yhwach (Whom Urahara had basic knowledge of), he needs just as much time to study it, which he can't do in the six weeks allotted before Homura can turn back time. This causes him to be put off-guard when [[Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica Ayase Soju]] shows up, as he didn't take her appearance into account. Him being a MysteriousBacker only adds to Homura's reasons of not fully trusting him. His SinkOrSwimMentor tactics, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Benihime herself, are '''not''' going to work for Homura like they did with Ichigo. Overall, the situation is one that Urahara has to adjust to, his tactics may have worked in Bleach canon, but for PMMM canon, he is out of his depth.

* FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen: Featured in Witch Alexandria's [[spoiler: Karin's]] labyrinth.

* GenghisGambit: Urahara goes out of his way to deliver certain bits of exposition in harsh and unpleasant ways, and doesn't really bother to keep his manipulative tendencies in check; he figures that everyone having a shared dislike of him would foster a sense of unity in the group, and the more friendly people can smooth over any other infighting. As time goes on, numerous characters call out his attitude as incredibly short-sighted; magical girls have already suffered enough manipulations from the Incubator, and adding onto their trust issues means they probably won't listen even when he's trying to be honest and delicate. In a moment of introspection, Urahara himself wonders if he's ultimately doing it out of a case of ComplexityAddiction.

* GroundhogDayLoop: Over six weeks instead of one day; Homura mentions that she stopping counting how long she's been in the loop, only vaguely remembering that the fortieth cycle was a while ago. It's made clear that this is particularly hard on her, as the loop only exists because she keeps delibrately hitting the ResetButton.

* IWasJustJoking: After learning about Homura's TimeStandsStill ability in the first timeline, Karin glumly mutters that it'd be great if she could just go back in time and prevent [[spoiler:Yuzu's death]]. Homura awkwardly looks away and goes silent at that, causing everyone present to realize that she can actually do it.
* ISeeDeadPeople: Homura is surprised to find that she can see spirits in Karakura; it's explained that the Mitakihara region is low on spiritual energy, so it's to be expected that she hasn't run into this situation before. [[spoiler:More surprisingly, Madoka's father Tomohisa is just spiritually aware enough to see ghosts; he and Junko moved to Mitakihara in the first place so their kids could have a normal childhood.]]

* MercyKill /IDidWhatIHadToDo: Invoked by characters fighting and defeating Witches.

* ParentsAsPeople: According to Homura, despite their [[ParentalNeglect treatment of her]] Sayaka's parents ''do'' love her but are terrible at expressing it.

* ResetButtonSuicideMission: At the end of the first timeline, [[spoiler:Urahara accepts that he will likely die protecting Homura long enough for her to initiate her time travel.]]

* ThatsNoMoon: Homura at the end of the the first arc: "Those aren't wings. [[spoiler:That's the Incubator]]."

* WrongGenreSavy: Sayaka, even without contracting, occasionally gets too excited and jumps to the wrong conclusion mid-exposition. When Homura finally reveals her time powers, Sayaka initially assumes that she hid it because it's like Sailer Pluto where using the ability would kill her. And with ''Sailer Moon'' still on her mind, Sayaka then thinks that Homura is a KidFromTheFuture, reasoning that Ichigo and Rukia would be her parents, before Homura can clarify that she only traveled back a few weeks.

* AnimalEspionage: Yoruichi infiltrates Mitakihara in her cat form.

* GroundhogDayLoop: Over six weeks instead of one day. Includes a ResetButton.

* ISeeDeadPeople: Homura is surprised to find that she can see spirits in Karakura; it's explained that the Mitakihara region is low on spiritual energy, so it's to be expected that she wouldn't have found out about it before. [[spoiler:More surprisingly, Madoka's father Tomohisa is just spiritually aware enough to see ghosts; he and Junko moved to Mitakihara in the first place so their kids could have a normal childhood.]]

** Chapter 59, [[spoiler: Kisuke reveals to Hitsugaya that while it is likely that Madoka could survive past Homura's turnback point in the current timeline, if Homura wants her to be saved, then they need to be able to eliminate the Incubator for good. Hence, why Homura needs to continue going back in time, six weeks is nowhere near long enough to gather the information to devise the means of doing so.]]

** Chapters 69-70, [[spoiler:Kyōko finally appears...and it is discovered that someone has been killing the witches in Kazamino, leaving none for her, and in a desperate attempt, attacks Tōshirō and Mami, quickly turning into a Witch.]]

* YouAreNotAlone: Various characters keep trying to convince Homura that she doesn't have to shoulder everything by herself any more. Problem is, she's spent several subjective years doing everything alone, and she finds it difficult to fully accept.