Persephone's Waltz
is a fanfiction of Puella Magi Madoka Magica written by Erin Ptah (SailorPtah). Taking place during one of the later time loops, Homura has become so exhausted by the repeated failures that she's kidnapped Madoka and locked her in a basement, intending to hold her there until Walpurgisnacht has come and gone. It doesn't go well.
Not to be confused with Perfect Crime, another Madoka Magica fanfic with similar main idea but different plot points and writing style.
Persephone's Waltz contains examples of:
- Anti-Interference Lock Up: Homura kidnaps Madoka and keeps her locked to stop her from being found by Kyubey and contracting.
- Big Damn Heroes: Too many to count. Sayaka apparently comes in at Homura's mercy, but then reveals that she came in intentionally. Kyoko provides Sayaka a grief seed moments before her witch transformation. But the one that tops the entire list is Kyuebey, who brings Sayaka's Soul Gem back to her so they can break out.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Homura willing to go as far as to kidnap Madoka to keep her away from becoming a magical girl, but in public she is good at acting like the shy, awkward, clumsy girl she once was, which takes suspicion off her when Madoka goes missing.
- Butterfly of Doom: In chapter 18, Homura is furious finding out that her kidnapping Madoka lead Sayaka to wish for the power to find her best friend rather than heal her crush Kyosuke, as that led her to finding Madoka and breaking her out of Homura's basement.
- Bunker Woman: Poor Madoka is imprisoned by Homura in a basement completely terrified of her.
- Cutting the Knot: The entire premise. Homura has failed to communicate how dangerous the situation is so many times, she just decides to take Madoka by force.
- Discard and Draw: Instead of healing Kyosuke, Sayaka wished to find Madoka, exchanging her usual healing powers for extrasensory abilities.
- Exact Words: Homura states all of her friends have died. "Have died", not "are dead".
- Foregone Conclusion: This story takes place before the series, and ends with Madoka wishing to save Homura's life, and to repair her psychological damage. Homura does not succeed, and goes back in time again.
- The Ghost: Mami is mentioned, but never appears in person, succumbing to despair during Sayaka's imprisonment.
- Gilded Cage: Madoka's prison is made as comfortable as possible, modeled after her own room, including stuffed animals and clothes she likes. The implications of this only terrify her more.
- Hearing Voices/Freudian Trio: To deal with her isolation, Madoka (Ego) talks to mental versions of her mother (Superego) and Sayaka (Id).
- Hope Spot: Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka are dead, but Walpurgisnacht is destroyed with Madoka still alive and non-magical. Homura actually succeeded, just in time to get chopped in half by falling debris.
- Kaizo Trap: An utterly cruel one at that. Homura has finally saved Madoka from contracting and fighting Walpugisnacht, and Madoka actually forgave her for kidnapping her and is willing to become friends…and then a pane of glass slices Homura in half as she's about to hug Madoka, forcing Madoka to contract to save her and force a timeline reset.
- Killed Offscreen: After escaping, Madoka and Sayaka make it to Mami's apartment and run into Kyoko, who tells them that Mami was killed by a witch that Kyoko killed afterwards. After examining the remaining grief seed, Sayaka reveals to her that the witch was Mami.
- Lady and Knight: Sayaka is the knight wanting to rescue her lady Madoka. In Chapter 10, Sayaka hesitates in being intimate with Madoka as a knight must court their ladies in a pure matter least they be distracted, though Madoka argues that since they love each other there shouldn't be any reason they shouldn't be closer.
- Let Me at Him!: When Sayaka is passing by a Storefront Television Display about Madoka's kidnapping, a man says to his friend, "I bet whoever's got her is taking some cute pictures of his own." It takes a manager, a nearby worker, and two waitresses from the café next door to pull Sayaka off him.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: When scanning the city for any adult puella magi to help explain to Madoka and Sayaka's families and loved ones about Walpurgisnacht, Sayaka shudders as she finds the only matching case is right where Homura is standing, making her see Homura even more of a creep than before. Of course, Homura's "age" is the result of constantly traveling in back for hundreds of failed attempts to save Madoka.
- Noodle Incident: The game Kaguya Super Contract Z was created as a result of another contract. Homura mentions that she has no idea who or what created the game, only that it exists.
- Public Secret Message: Madoka tries to hide a clue to her kidnapper's identity in a message to her family. Homura sees through it instantly, but lets her rewrite the message.
- Rewatch Bonus: In the last chapter, Homura comments offhand that she sometimes stops time to cry on Madoka's shoulder. Chapter 5 is narrated by a different person, but contextual clues note indicate that she was doing this during the conversation about Amy.
- Sanity Slippage: Homura is outright insane by this point, despite remaining externally emotionless. The few chapters from her POV have erratic prose that barely differentiates from thought and speech, and eventually turns into quoteless rambling.
- Shout-Out: The game Kaguya Super Contract Z has two. Princesses are created by growing them out of bamboo shoots, and fight Shadows using Moonlight.
- Split Personality: Madoka suspects Homura has one due to how easily she switches between her current stoic personality and the original, meek one.
- Took a Level in Badass: Sayaka, thanks to Mami's notes given to her after her death, gets to do some amazing things with Mami's posthumous training. Such as actually hurting Walpurgisnaut...solo, which was more than Homura could do. And with Kyouko's help, they manage to actually kill the mega-witch, something only Madoka was capable of doing.
- Unwinnable by Design: Kaguya Super Contract Z, a game modeled after the magical girl/witch system meant to show Madoka what's going on. In the game, bamboo shoots appear on the screen and can be clicked on to turn them into Princesses (magical girls), which are then sent out to fight Shadows (witches) using their Moonlight (magic). A Princess who runs out of Moonlight will become a Shadow herself and must be defeated by creating more Princesses, but all the Princesses will eventually be overwhelmed by Shadows.
- Yandere: Homura kidnaps Madoka with the intention of keeping her safe from Kyubey and Walpurgisnacht. She also shoots Sayaka when she tries to break her out.
- Your Favorite: Creepy version. Not a food in this case, but rather a special soap Madoka likes, a pink one in the shape of a strawberry. Its presence makes her realize this is not a prank, Homura has been stalking her, and has been inside her home.
