The Tenshi Maru is a pretty big ship, and it's all too noticable this close to Mitakihara's shoreline, but there are important excavations to be handled today and Homura has tried to position the ship so that it stays out of people's way. Sunset tower looms over the shoreline, a tribute to Eclipse's hubris, but Homura and Madoka remain unaware of its true purpose. It's location only gets the slightest raised eyebrow, and Homura would not have even noticed it had she not picked this spot for much of the same reason.
Nearly five months ago, Walpurgisnacht struck here. Homura threw everything she had at it, sparing nothing, and all of her ships and helicopters sank to the bottom of the sea around this one area. Normally she'd be content to let the dead rest undisturbed, but she has bills to pay, and there's a lot of valuable salvage underneath those waves.
Which explains why Homura is here, but why would Eclipse suddenly be interested? Was it just some cheap real estate? She can't imagine there being any profit in picking this location, but it's not as if they wouldn't know exactly what transpired here.
On the bridge of the Tenshi Maru, Homura sits in her captain's chair with a posture of relaxed authority, hand propping up her cheek and legs crossed as she looks out the window. She's wearing a typical outfit for a captain, white shirt with black tie, white cotton pants to go with it, and a classy white captain's hat sitting upon her long black hair. There is a full crew of normal humans working the ships today, most of them at least ten years older than Homura herself, with the exception of a few Contractors on the bridge who are more in her age range.
She quietly feels a small tinge of remorse, because the true historical significance of these ships will never be recognized, nor will anyone ever know that they defended Japanese soil long after they went missing.
Just like no one knows about the Puella Magi, or the other magical girls who fought here, she thinks.
On the decks below, workers scurry to prepare cranes and make sure that the lower deck is clear, in preparation for when it will eventually submerge. The clear skies above promise a nice day, and if all goes according to plan, they won't find anything that they don't want to, and Captain Homura will have plenty of time to cuddle with First Mate Madoka later.
Homura is sitting in the captains chair looking like a thoughtful captain, wearing the proper attire for the esteemed position. Madoka has no proper seat on the bridge, and a much more nebulous place amongst the crew. Which is why she feels she can get away with wearing a sailor suit. You know the kind; neat white top with the traditional blue sailor collar with a matching blue kerchief tied just beneath. White pants have been ditched for a matching blue skirt of modest knee length, though tall white stockings completely cover her legs to give the same effect as well as being undeniably cute. Clean white shoes actually made to firmly grip the steel deck of a modern ship adorn her feet, and sitting atop her head is a white sailors cap, a stripe of blue accenting the top rim.
She moves about the bridge, walking from station to station and keeping an eye on the actual operations as skilled sailors go about their jobs. It's a fascinating experience, because on the one hand she has no earthly idea what they're doing, but on the other she knows that exactly. Because while she has no sailing or ship operations experience she has literally read the entire operations manual for the Tenshi Maru, cover to cover.
The navigation station is especially interesting, because even with the anchor down maneuvering jets are needed to keep the ship perfectly in place, important for such a big ship in the busy Tokyo Bay, and such stationkeeping is as much an art as it is a science. "You're doing such a good job, Yoshida-kun!" Madoka chirps, watching the masterful handling of the controls, "You're even accounting for the wind, aren't you?" It makes sense, because when fully surfaced the ship does have a large cross section. With a smile she says, "Keep up the good work!" only to bounce over to the Captains chair.
Her mood is clearly much different than Homura's right now, the significance of the ships they're here to salvage perhaps not as meaningful her as they are to Homura. Madoka for once isn't quite able to read the exact reasons for her girlfriends mood, mostly thinking this is a moment of importance and great focus for her as opposed to nostalgic sadness. "Everything looks to be in order, Captain-chan," she offers, using the title because it's respectful to call her by it in front of the crew, but also because she thinks it's cute. "Once the crews are done on deck we should be ready to submerge. The sonar has confirmed no shallow wreckage directly below us, and confirms a ship of approximately nine-thousand tons displacement ten meters directly starboard at an approximate depth of forty meters with a small debris field surrounding it's location."
All of this is information was already reported to Homura by their respective stations, but considering she is literally Homura's personal secretary at Salamander Salvage she goes ahead and sums everything up for her in a concise summary. Her eyes sparkling in excitement, all ready for the first real salvage mission of the Tenshi Maru. So much that they've done has led up to this!
Few people in Salamander ever question Madoka's presence, and many consider her to be almost synonymous with Homura herself. As they should, because Homura told them to. The bridge crew, especially, understands this. The fact that what she's wearing still passes for proper seagoing attire doesn't hurt at all.
Yoshida responds with a chipper, "Yes, ma'am! Windspeed holding steady at 18 kph. We won't have much trouble today." As Madoka bounces away, Yoshida says, "Thank you, Kaname-sama."
At the mention of the word 'Captain-chan', several of the members of the bridge crew chuckle, and even Homura herself can't help but break a smile. After listening to the rest of Madoka's report, Homura nods. "Sounds like we're ready to go."
"Akemi-senchou, Admiral is contacting us. He wants to know when we'll begin operations on the Choukai."
Homura's hand drops from her cheek, and she turns her head towards comms. "Sakada-san, tell the Admiral that we're preparing to lift it right now. He should be able to see it soon."
The Tenshi Maru is not alone in the bay, and this is not a solo operation. This, actually, is more of a commission. Five modern JSDF destroyers were found at the bottom of this bay, due to events that were in no way Homura Akemi's fault, and the JSDF decided to hire Salamander for the job of pulling them out of the water. More than that, but several cruisers are escorting the Tenshi Maru in the bay, in a mix of formality and a desire from the JSDF to be involved.
The hope is, if they aren't too damaged, they can repair them and get them back in working condition. They also hope to figure out what happened and why they vanished, but they won't. Homura Akemi made sure of that herself.
"Hiraoka-san, tell the crew to move the cranes into position. Just like we planned. Kikuchi-san, when the crew gives the all clear, submerge the lower deck. I want this to be a smooth job."
There are several calls of 'Aye, captain' form the crew, and Homura settles back into her seat. Outside, people clear out from the lower deck, moving towards bulkheads and sealing them shut behind them. A few people remain in the cranes, but the operation seat for those is elevated enough that the people won't even come close to going underwater. Water rushes over the top of the lower deck once the green light is given, and the cranes stay still in a locked position for now.
Captain Homura looks up at Madoka, smiling. The bridge is too small for them to really be outside of anyone's earshot, but Homura still speaks in a low voice when she tells Madoka, "Thank you, for being here with me."
A small nod is given from Madoka as the windspeed is given to her, wondering a little how much of the control feathering being done is adjustment for it as opposed to the conditions in the bay itself. When she's thanked she looks back over her shoulder and gives a small shake of her head, "MmMm! Madoka!" She always wants to be addressed by her given name, even in situations like these where it would be rude to do so without being invited. It's not like she has anything against her family name, of which she's actually quite proud, it's just that it's so much more friendly and welcoming!
After she gives her report Madoka is quiet, standing just to the left of Homura's captain's chair, doing her best to keep from interrupting and trying to pay attention herself, just in case. When the Admiral is mentioned Madoka looks out the window of the bridge over to the lead JSDF cruiser where she knows he would be. She doesn't feel any kind of nationalistic pride, looking at the warship. She appreciates it's role in the defense of the nation, but it isn't a tool of peace, it's a tool of war, and war between men is not something she would ever condone.
But the ship they're about to raise, the Choukai? It was used to defend Tokyo from Walpurgisnacht, an insanely powerful Witch that could have killed nearly the entire population if left unchecked. Maybe even more, with how powerful it was even compared to previous timelines. So the Choukai truly was a weapon used in defense of human life, and only in defense of human life. As opposed to Homura's thoughts about it never being given it's true historical significance for it's role in that fight, Madoka finds herself feeling sad that it will have sank, will have 'died' for such a truly noble cause, only to be salvaged and once more put into the hands of people who may one day use it to kill people.
For a brief moment it even reminds her of a Puella's 'final' transformation, going from a protector of innocents to the very Witch she once protected them from.
But that's silly, and the comparison isn't really apt. The Choukai isn't an ailing girl, but merely a piece of military hardware whose deeds are decided by those that inhabit it.
Homura might notice her expression changing to a thoughtful, slightly solemn one for the briefest moment before shaking her head and smiling again as all this runs through her head.
This is, after all, the first salvage mission of the Tenshi Maru, a ship named after her that will, in effect, give new life to other ships. In a way the comparison is apt after all, she decides, because the Choukai's future will once more be mutable and indeterminant, free and open as it ever was before. After all, it isn't her job to say what a Puella should or should not do after she is saved, or to cast judgment upon them for their choices. Just like the Tenshi Maru her job is only to dredge them up from the depths, give them new life, and allow them to take their own course.
Too lost in thought to pay attention to the goings on of the ship, Madoka registers Homura's voice quieting and dropping it's tone of authority and looks over to her, returning the smile and bending down to say in an equally quiet voice, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Maybe she's just too far up in her own head, Madoka considers. After all, the actions of the one Puella she has saved couldn't make her more proud.
"A-ah, yes, of course. Kana-- er Madoka-san!" comes the self-correction from Yoshida. A few other chuckles happen as a result. Well, at least the bridge of the Tenshi Maru is cheerful, even on such an important occasion.
Homura watches as Madoka's face goes from cheerful, to solemn, to cheerful again, without knowing exactly what sombering thought is going through her head. To Homura, she isn't even thinking about the significance of the ships. Sure, it's the first real salvage operation of the Tenshi Maru, and that matters a lot, but Homura's bothered by a small worry that she doesn't want to voice.
The massive salvage ship sinks, as it is designed to, and holds steady at its new depth. Massive crane claws sink into the ocean, vanishing beneath the waves. Normally this part would take a long while, but the water here is shallow, and the ships are not far below. Divers swim down with the hooks, grabbing onto the edges of thick rope to guide it to its destination. Large remotely operated vehicles swim off of the deck of the Tenshi Maru and into the deeper waters.
Homura's company, for all of its lightheartedness, operates like a well-oiled machine. Just how she likes it.
While ropes and air-filled canisters and so on are moved underwater and put into position, Homura stands up from her chair, arms behind her back in a stately way, and begins peering over the shoulders of her bridge crew, pacing around the bridge in order to pass her gaze over every detail. Madoka once said that she leaves very little to chance, and she wasn't wrong.
She lifts a wrist to eye-level, looking at her watch. She's making note of how long it takes, so she can gauge the efficiency later.
"U-umm... captain?" Sakada speaks up again. "The divers say they found... something."
Homura looks immediately in Sakada's direction, walking over to the comms. "What is it? Can they put a camera on it?"
Sakada relays instructions and taps the buttons on the small monitor that Homura usually uses for video conference calls. It shows an underwater picture of... a skeleton, wearing a dark, ragged, waterlogged dress. The blue of the sea and fuzziness of the camera makes it almost impossible to make out the exact color of the clothes, but there's a heart-shaped locket that hangs around the neck.
Homura's gut clenches. She has long ago learned to hide her shock, but she still feels it and it weighs upon her stomach. She turns away from the screen, taking a couple steps away, speaking loudly so the rest of the bridge can hear her.
"Have one of the divers bring it up in a box, and inform the police that we've found a body. I think I have a solid idea of who that is, but we'll need dental records to make sure."
Sakada, and indeed the rest of the bridge, turns to look at Homrua. She... knows that body? How could she possibly? Perhaps hearing the unspoken question, Homura responds. "She was a friend of mine. She vanished in the middle of the Mitakihara storm. Last I saw her she was trying to save people who had been caught out." Not an exact truth, as Madoka will remember, but it's the story that Homura told Laisa's family. She felt like she had to. Laisa deserved better than to be forgotten.
"Please handle her with respect."
A smile shows on Madoka's face as the name is corrected, and she makes sure to give Yoshida a bright smile. If people want to chuckle they can, laughter is a good thing to have around!
As the actual salvage operation gets underway Madoka looks on with wide curious eyes. She knows the weight those cranes can handle, and the torque their winches put out. She knows about how long it should take to lower the hooks into place, but she has no idea what those numbers really mean in a real world situation. She can hear the operators make their reports and knows that everything is working within normal operating parameters, but not the dangers that might occur should things start to go wrong.
And that makes it all very interesting to her, to see this enormous ship actually put to work. Some things fall into place while other's elude her. One thing is certain though, Homura has put together an excellent crew that knows exactly what they're doing. It really is a well-oiled machine, and it's working as intended.
She stays near Homura during the start of the operation but wanders and lets her focus as things continue on, more interested in what people are doing and why than their efficiency. She's actually over by the radar station, watching as nearby vessels are rerouted around the operation, when Sadaka informs them of an abnormality.
Madoka wonders back over that direction and looks to Homura, not trying to ask for any context so much as see her in action as she handles the situation, eyes turning between the Captain and her crew as they interact. And then they go to the view screen as it turns on.
At first it's just what you'd expect from any underwater video; blurry and with a spotlight going off into the distance with small particles floating along with the water's current. The image confuses her at first, but then she realizes the object is much closer than was thinking, a few meters instead of a few dozen. With this new perspective in mind she looks over the image again-
What starts as a gasp ends as a cry as she steps back from the screen, a hand closed lifting to her face and covering her mouth as she nearly stumbles. The skeleton was obvious once she looked again and prompted the gasp, but it's the locket and dress that really get to her, hammer into her head exactly what- no, exactly who it is she's seeing. "Laisa-chan..!" she squeaks out, making it obvious to the crews she also knows who this body belongs to. It also makes it obvious the happy girl bouncing around on the bridge making people chuckle really is fourteen years old. Maybe some of them will even begin to question her presence here as she slumps into the only chair available, the captain's chair, and begins to sniffle.
Madoka had, of course, known Laisa was dead. She had wanted to attend her funeral, but hadn't known her very well outside her interactions with Homrua and didn't want to intrude on her family. It isn't the shock of learning of the death of a friend, though the crew members may read it as such, but instead something else. She'd never truly mourned that death, had never really let herself say goodbye.
But even that isn't the whole story.
She still has Homura's memories of that distressing event and can even now recall them as if looking through her own eyes. Madoka herself had been praying with eyes closed when it happened, but Homura was watching when Laisa had made her suicide run on Walpurgisnacht, saw when her Soul Gem flared with magic and detonated and her body fell lifelessly into the sea.
Her own pain at not having let go mixes with a tinge of Homura's own grief, the bitter pain of one more friend and ally lost to her, and she lifts her hands to her face, covering her eyes as she curls forward in the chair. "Why?" she asks meekly, only to sniffle and sob quietly, tears spreading onto her hands rather than running down her cheeks. Then a few moments later she asks again, more imploringly, the question both her own and Homura's, "Why..?"
No one tries to shield Madoka from the horrors of reality, and Homura isn't going to stop her from seeing the body. Laisa was Madoka's friend too, for as long as they knew each other. There's a sullen silence that falls over the crew as their bright spot becomes a sad cloud. If this were a military vessel, Madoka might be asked to leave, but this is Homura's operation, and she doesn't care how unprofessional it is as long as the job gets done and no one gets hurt.
Homura no longer feels the grief that Madoka took away from her, but it would be a lie to say that she felt nothing. Homura knew, deep down, that people might die. She knew it when they were planning it. She knew it even more when Walpurgisnacht turned out to be even stronger than she had ever seen. Yet, knowing it could happen never made it easier when it did.
A few of the Contractors, Sakada included, know the real story but say nothing. Madoka and Homura aren't the only teenage girls here. Instead, they work silently, speaking only when necessary to relay information.
As for Homura herself, she watches Madoka's reaction, watches her sit in the captain's chair. She approaches Madoka from behind and wraps her arms around her neck. It may not be professional, but Homura doesn't care, and from this position she can still see the goings on of the bridge.
No one has an answer for Madoka's question. No one knows why.
After a moment of silence, Sakada speaks up. "They're moving her up separately, as ordered. The police and the JSDF are talking about what to do. The JSDF wants to continue the operations. The police are acquiescing, since this isn't a murder case, but they will still want the body."
Homura stands up a little straighter, so that she isn't talking directly into Madoka's ears. "Tell them to move her into the storage bay and keep her there, then continue with the operation as planned. Don't touch the body more than necessary, and don't tamper with her. If we find any other bodies down there, follow the same procedure."
"Aye, captain!" Sakada's voice is dutiful
With a low sigh, she says, "I suppose the family will have to bury her a second time."
To Madoka, she whispers, "Shall we pay our respects? The crew knows what to do from here."
Madoka's voice is quiet as she cries into her hands, making small sobs and sniffles than louder cries and wails. No answers to her twice stated questions will come, from Homura or anyone else. Only Laisa could know why she did what she did, anything else would be educated guesses and speculation. It surprises Madoka how much it still hurts, thinking of Laisa, because she wanted so badly to be her friend. She was such a nice girl and Madoka got along so well with her. They shared the same compassion for others, in a lot of ways, but she would never know just how far that comparison went, how much they were similar, and how much they were different.
Homura's arms wrap around her and she removes her hands from her eyes, wiping her tears off on her skirt before hugging those arms gently herself, still crying softly and sniffling, trying not to think too much about the skeleton and it's dress that she saw on the screen, the remains of the girl she considered a friend.
As the sniffles die down she once more pays attention to the scene on the bridge, now noticing the relative stillness and silence. She recognizes that Homura is showing her compassion and support even over maintaining professionalism in front of her crew, and that not a single person is making any fuss about her causing a scene. A small part of her quietly whispers that she knew Homura would attract good people if given the chance to do so.
She'd drawn Laisa to her after all. And Madoka herself, too.
By the time Laisa's body is on board Madoka has calmed down, not the happy peppy she was earlier but no longer crying either. When Homura mentions Laisa's family needing to bury her she says quietly, "It might give them some closure, being able to put her body to rest." Were any of them quietly holding onto the hope that she was still out there somewhere, or distressed over never really knowing the truth of what happened? It's impossible to tell, but if they were this could put their minds to rest.
At the whisper Madoka sits up, turning her head towards Homura before making a small nod. She squeezes the arms around her one more time before standing up, taking a moment to look around a little before quietly going to the door. The trip to the storage bay might be quiet one, though Madoka certainly wouldn't ignore Homura if she speaks to her.
Homura sees Madoka's silent nod, and stands up as her arms fall away from Madoka. As her girlfriend walks by, Homura joins her in walking towards the door. Standing at the threshold, she turns around and says, "I expect you all to carry out the operation as planned. If anything comes up, Hiraoke-san is in charge until I return."
The trip down to the storage area is fairly quiet, and it isn't short. Once in a while, the two of them pass by several members crew in the narrow halls, many of them flattening against the wall and greeting them respectfully. "Madoka-san. Akemi-senchou." None of them seem to be aware of what happened, but whispers are starting to spread about what they found.
As they pass by, Homura nods to them in turn and says, "As you were. Carry on."
It takes a while to reach the storage bay, having to walk all the way from the top of the ship to the bottom deck. Outside, the salvage carries on as planned. Cranes attached to ropes pull the massive hull of the sunken destroyer Choukai out of the water, and remote vehicles push it onto the deck. The JSDF watches on, wondering how in the heck it got so cut up. It looks like they were burned open by... what, lasers?
Well, this is the same storm that picked up skyscrapers and tossed them around, right? It shouldn't be a surprise. Just like maybe it shouldn't be surprising that a large amount of the missiles and machine gun ammo is missing. Perhaps the ships were picked up by the storm itself, and then while they were being tossed about there was an ammo explosion. That all makes sense, right?
Well, it does to the normals, at least.
At the end of their long trip, Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname find themselves in a completely different world. A large, coffin sized stainless steel box rests in the middle of the storage bay, and inside is the skeleton. The dress is as intact as they could make it, and the arms have been crossed over her chest. Someone was kind enough to place makeshift padding underneath, a row of seat cushions that no one was using at the time. It is, perhaps, not the best funeral arrangements, but at least Laisa has been shown the ordered respect.
Madoka follows Homura along the corridors of the ship, trusting her to navigate the Tenshi Maru better than she could. She isn't in a rush to get to their destination, and lucky for her it's a long ways off. As they pass crew members by Madoka will give them small cordial nods, perhaps not the friendly ones they might have expected if they'd met her before. She does her best not to make her passing by them in the narrow halls an annoyance; luckily her small size means it isn't usually an issue.
Otherwise it seems to be a long, quiet trip down to the bottom of the ship. When they get there Madoka quietly walks in to the room, walking up to the edge of the box and peering down inside of it cautiously. Her face tightens a little and her arms slowly cross over her stomach, feeling that same gut clenching feeling Homura had earlier. It doesn't happen as suddenly as it did before, but soon Madoka is crying again, and this time alone in the hold of the ship with what's left of Laisa's body and Homura she doesn't even try to hold back, slumping to the ground and letting all the hurt out.
It isn't a truly horrible thing because it's mostly pent up emotion that hadn't been resolved in the five months since Waluprgisnacht attacked. At the same time though it is like a bolt out of the blue, something completely unexpected and putting an ugly and macabre face onto something that though awful wasn't quite so gruesome.
So Madoka cries there on the floor in her cute sailor outfit, for herself and Homura, but mostly for Laisa herself and her family, who shouldn't have had to go through such a tragedy. It takes ten minutes for her to get it all out this time, and when she's finally standing back up her breath is shaky and her face is a mess. She uses the sleeve of her outfit to wipe it off as best she can, quietly hoping she can make it to a bathroom to wash it before she has to face the crew again.
Again she finds herself looking upon Laisa's remains, looking away and wincing almost as soon as she does. "Do they really have to see her like this?" she asks quietly. "When they saw her last she was pretty, alive, and healthy, but now that is how they're going to remember her." A pile of bones still connected, covered by a rotting dress. Madoka dares not look too closely, worried she'll see tooth marks from fish or some other ghastly evidence of horror.
At least the locket is still pretty. But then when it's contents are considered, it might be the most tragic part of this entire recovery. "That's the one with her and her old boyfriend in it, right?" Madoka lets out a heavy sigh, "I'm sorry I didn't get to know you well enough to help you, Laisa-chan. Maybe I could have shown you friendships that were worth living for, but I never got the chance."
The two of them are alone in the storage bay. Homura doesn't cry. No one comes by to check up on them. At least not for a while. Homura, quietly, turns off her phone. She's sure that the JSDF and police will have their questions, but those can wait.
This is as close to a funeral for Laisa as these two are going to get, and for all of its horror, Homura needs this, and she suspects that Madoka does, too. Especially if she's holding onto Homura's grief.
As Madoka cries, Homura falls to her knees and throws her arms around her girlfriend, holding her and comforting her. There is nothing else she can do. She cares about Madoka more than anything, and this is all that she can do for her. She hopes it's enough.
She releases Madoka as she stands up, and Homura rises to her own feet as well. She walks over to the makeshift coffin and looks over the remains.
"I'm sorry, but it's too late to change how she looks. There is photographic evidence of what she looked like when we found her, and many witnesses. Even if Sakada-san could be convinced to be silent, there are the divers, the police, and the JSDF." Homura shakes her head slowly. "I know how you feel. I understand wanting to spare her family the pain, but don't you also think they'd want to know the truth? Isn't that for them to decide?"
Looking down at the skeleton, she frowns. "I doubt that the police will bring anybody by to identify the body. Not when it's in a state like this. If the family wants to, they could keep her casket closed, and never even have to see it."
Laisa doesn't respond to Madoka's words, but if Laisa were around to hear it, Homura imagines she'd tell Madoka that it wasn't her fault.
"I still don't know why she did that," says Homura. "I guess I never will. It's not like she wrote a note. I think she thought what she was doing was right, and her soul gem didn't look especially tainted, so it's hard to believe that she was suicidal." Though... with a dark red Soul Gem, a taint would be hard to see even if it was pretty bad. "Maybe she just wanted to make sure that her death meant something, I wish I knew."
Madoka isn't going to turn away Homura's comfort. Much the opposite. She turns to Homura, crying into her shoulder and hugging her back. A part of her feels selfish because in truth Homura was the closer of the two to Laisa, and here she is the one being comforted. But turning away from the comfort, refusing to be consoled and hurting Homura in the process by the rejection would do nothing other than hurt them both and damage the relationship they've built.
No, there was never any chance of that.
"I know," she replies quietly about changing the way Laisa looks. She does frown a little at the mention of her family wanting to know the truth, "They never can. Not the actual truth. You told them she died helping people though, right? They deserved to know that much." As for the mention of keeping the casket closed and not seeing what the two of them are seeing now she nods. "There's one thing we can do. We can make sure the pictures of how we found her never get out unless her parents release them. I don't want there to be pictures of her in the newspapers and on TV." If her parents decide to let it be spread so be it, but they can probably keep a muzzle on the official Salamander Salvage recordings.
When Homura mentions not knowing why she took her final actions Madoka turns and hugs her, pulling the dark haired girl close and rocking her a little. "I know. And I know you'd have tried to stop her if you had. I don't think that's something we'll ever find out."
She takes a breath and forces herself to look at Laisa's skeleton again, and this time it doesn't have such an impact. She's getting used to it a little now, as awful as that is. And really it isn't that a skeleton is an ugly thing; everybody has those bones inside of them. It's what's missing that makes it so difficult, all the things people use to identify one another. Her eyes move over the bones themselves, and then over the dress Laisa had been wearing before she henshined for the last time. And finally her eyes go to the locket again. If she took it to that battle, it really must have been important to her. "...I hope they bury it with her. I think she would have wanted that."
Laisa's family can never know the truth. Not the whole truth. It's not as if Homura would keep it from them, but it's more that they could never understand even if it were explained to them. Homura's never really pushed the limits on that. She's been afraid to, but she does know that there's no point in trying.
"No, they can't, but they know it well enough. Laisa was saving people, and she was a heroine. It may have not been the most honest way to tell them, but it was closer to the truth than anything they would have imagined on their own."
That's right. The pictures. Homura controls those, doesn't she? "The police may want them, and the JSDF may want to take a look, but aside from that nobody has to know. We can save the pictures on a USB stick and then delete all other copies, and then lock the USB stick up so that not even hackers can get a hold of it. If the family wants them, they can have them, and we can leave that up to them, too."
She gazes over the coffin, and its occupant. "There's nothing that ties her to the disappearance of the ships, so people won't dig into it that much. It's likely they'll assume she was just dropped here because it was the middle of the storm. So many other things ended up around here. The helicopters, parts of buildings, so on and so forth. If that's how they take it, it's likely that this won't become a big deal in the news at all."
Madoka is hugging her, and Homura is still looking down into the casket. An arm wraps around Madoka, and Homura leans on her. There really is no knowing these things. "I would have... I just... she surprised me. She was well out of my reach before I even knew what she was doing."
Homura looks at the locket. "It did. She sold her soul over that business, no matter how you look at it. It's a part of her, and I really can't imagine anyone else finding any joy in it."
Homura leans forward, making a small adjustment. She takes the locket into her hand, and slips it between Laisa's ribs. Coincidentally, it hangs right where her heart would be, but most importantly the locket is hidden now. "There. They can't remove it if they don't find it."