Heartwarming / Resonance Days

As a moments subpage, ALL SPOILERS ARE OFF

Even in death, love and kindness persist.

Resonance Days

• Kyoko's love for Sayaka and, over time, Oktavia. While it's not really what she would want, it's obvious that Kyoko's drive to get Sayaka's memories back is born of genuine love, and while the Sayaka situation makes their relationship more tense, she clearly cares deeply about Oktavia as well. In Genocide City, despite having no idea what's going on, she never hesitates to keep Oktavia safe. Kyoko may be bad at showing it, but she loves her mermaid.
  • In chapter 8, though Kyoko still isn't sure if she wants to leave Freehaven or not, she admits that Oktavia is a good reason for her to stay.
  • Mixed with tearjerker, on the Elysian to cloudbreak, Kyoko has time to think about her goal to bring Sayaka's memories back and realizes that Oktavia as she is seems genuinely happy. She has a lot of the same personality traits that Sayaka did, but lacks the flaws that ultimately doomed Sayaka, and Kyoko starts to reconsider wether it's actually a good thing to ruin that by making her remember.
  • While Oktavia is sulking over not getting to come along for the journey to the Withering Lands because of her tail, Kyoko notices immediately and sees through any of her attempts at avoiding talking about it. Though she's a bit rude about it, she clearly tries her best to cheer Oktavia up and assure her, especially when Oktavia says that Kyoko, Mami, and Charlotte are basically her family.
    Kyoko: We are going to that place, and we are taking Momo out of that slimy bastard's paws and pulling Elsa Maria out of whatever pit he's dropped her in. And then we are coming back for you. We are all gonna be together at the end of this, and it sure as hell won't be in some tiny cell. Not the rat's or the Alliance's. You got that?
    • The scene ends with the two of them sharing a Hurricane of Puns, laughing together despite everything, and Kyoko lightheartedly tossing Oktavia into the pool.
• On the flipside of that, Mami and Charlotte's relationship. While Oktavia and Kyoko are very much in a complicated stage of their relationship, Mami and Charlotte have long since worked out their issues, and are now Happily Married, living a peaceful life together, loving as can be. Mami outright calls the day they were married the greatest day of her life.
  • While Mami was worried about telling Kyoko about her and Charlotte's relationship, Kyoko is nothing but happy for her friend, and even more so when she learns that they're married. While Kyoko might not like Charlotte, she is glad that her old friend and mentor has someone who makes her happy.
• Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances of their first meeting, Oktavia has a deep trust and faith in Kyoko, and will generally follow her lead through thick and thin. When Kyoko refuses to sign the Compact, Oktavia does so as well, against her better judgement and despite having made it clear that she wants to. She won't join the New Life Alliance if Kyoko isn't with her.
• Kyoko and Mami's reunion. While they parted on horrible terms, and there is still much unsaid between them, they reconcile and talk about what has happened since last they met, Over the course of their talk, the tense atmosphere turns into friendly banter as Mami recounts how she always wanted to meet her again by saving her life, and Kyoko jokes about the Florence Nightingale Effect, and how she did get her wish after all.
• Charlotte takes to calling Oktavia "Tavi".
• Nie and Arzt, despite making everyone uncomfortable with how casually intimate they are and the fact that they look like twins, genuinely love each other very deeply, seeing each other as soulmates and feeling that there is nothing that can ever bring them down as long as they are together.
• Kyoko recounts how, after she and Mami separated, she spiraled further and further into apathy and selfishness, losing any belief in heroism she once had. Mami asks what changed, and Kyoko merely gestures towards Oktavia, saying that meeting Sayaka and seeing her stubborn determination to be a hero reminded her of what she had once been like.
• In the burnt out husk of Elsa's tower, Kyoko turns over an old drawer and finds Elsa's stuffed animals, perfectly unharmed by the fire. Charlotte remarks that it's like a miracle, and Kyoko says Elsa would agree.
• Mami admits that she feels bad for Annabelle, and Charlotte says it's just like her to have Sympathy for the Devil.
• Annabelle turns down an offer of safety in Freehaven because she can't leave her sister behind.
• On the dock of Freehaven, Oktavia is overjoyed to receive a wheelchair, allowing her to move freely despite being fish from the waist down. While wheelchairs are often used in media to represent disability, here it's something that lets Oktavia surpass the limitation she has been stuck with since the first chapter.
• In general anytime Kyoko encounters something in the afterlife that genuinely excites her. Despite her overall cynicism and distrust towards the afterlife, she is practically Squeeing over meeting her first aliens, a pair of Calliopes. Being a sci-fi fan, meeting real life aliens is a dream come true to her. She also screams in joy over getting to stand on the back of an Elysian, a dragon-like aircraft.
  "And, just for a moment, all of Kyoko's problems were forgotten. The obstacles they still had to overcome, the enemies that would surely rise up to oppose them, the issue with Sayaka and that damned legal mess they were going to cause. She was riding a golden dragon through a field of flying jewels, on her way to get her sister back. In that moment, Kyoko was happy."
• Oktavia's sheer childlike wonder at seeing the Magi's Gift Emporeum, and even more so her joy at playing the piano. Part of her witch powers is being an amazing musician, and she is so swept up in the music that she doesn't even notice the crowd gathering to listen to her play.
• Marisa, after Kyoko beats her in a fight, turns very friendly, which Kyoko finds somewhat weird. Despite Kyoko's overall rude attitude, Marisa quickly realizes that she's just having a really bad time due to being new to the afterlife, and offers to buy her breakfast.
• Kyoko ignoring all reason to kill Reibey when she learns that her sister is with the Void Walkers and having to be restrained by Mami is sweet, but not surprising. Slightly more surprising is the fact that Charlotte has to restrain Oktavia, who grabbed a fillet knife and tried to get in reach of gutting Reibey at the same time as Kyoko did. Despite having never known Momo, Oktavia is completely with Kyoko in wanting Reibey dead for threatening the latter's sister.
  • Later, after Kyoko has calmed down to the point of not rushing ahead but still panicking over the realization that her sister is in the afterlife, Oktavia takes her hand and assures her that everything will be alright. Kyoko has a hard time believing her, but appreciates the support and doesn't let go of her hand.
• Oriko, aka. the Madam's, backstory is tragic, but because of it she sees that Annabelle is heading down a bad path and still has a chance to redeem herself. She offers her and Nikki transport to anywhere she wants and honest work once they get there. Annabelle is skeptical and ultimately rejects the offer, but Oriko seems to have been completely genuine in her desire to not see her fall down the same hole that she did.
• At the climax of the Cloudbreak arc, Annabelle is practically home free with the unconscious bodies of Kyoko and Oktavia, but hesitates because Nikki is still fighting Mami and Charlotte. Despite how desperate she is to escape the afterlife, Annabelle has had Nikki by her side since the very beginning, and promised that they would leave together. She may be callous, cynical, and even sadistic at times, but she refuses to leave her sister behind.
• The first thing Oktavia says to Kyoko after she gets back from being dragged into the open air by Annabelle?
  Oktavia: Don't scare me like that again.
• Wayhouses, institutions set up near spawn sites in order to provide newly arrived magical girls and witches with the help and counseling they need after the rather rough transition to the afterlife. Notably, even Annabelle Lee is supportive of the practice, and even muses that she could have worked at one if she had more patience.
  • Hungry, a wild witch girl who's so far gone that she can't even say anything except "hungry", appears first in Mami and Charlotte's backstory where she's chased of by a sympathetic Shizuku. The next time we see her, she's in the care of the Etherdale Wayhouse, and while she still can't speak properly, she's clearly receiving the care and support she needs.
    Patricia: She's sweet, but a real handful sometimes.
  • In the Monsterland epilogue, a pack of wild witches gather around the Wayhouse, watching the Void Walkers to make sure they're not there to cause harm. After the void walkers leave, one of the wild witches lets Demmi pet her and seems to recover enough of her sanity to know that Demmi means her well.
• When Annabelle Lee can't sleep and is spiraling, Patricia sits down across from her and the two have a talk. While AL is her usual blunt self, Patricia apologizes for having mishandled the treatment of AL's gang when they first woke up and thanks them for their help. AL is surprised since she so rarely receives genuine kindness, and the two of them have a short and friendly (if somewhat blunt on Annabelle Lee's side) conversation culminating in Patricia offering Annabelle Lee and Nikki to stay at the Wayhouse, clearly genuinely wanting her to say yes. While AL turns her down, she notably isn't bothered by the question as she usually would have been.
  • Patricia gives the offer again after the battle. This time, despite being in a general bad mood from losing Kyoko and Oktavia, Annabelle Lee doesn't find it in her to snap back, and in fact finds the prospect of staying at the wayhouse rather appealing, all things considered, even if she ultimately doesn't take it.
  • During her time at the Wayhouse, Annabelle Lee had several talks with a wild witch in recovery named Polly, and her Companion Cube doll named Mary Anne. In the aftermath of the battle, while talking to Patricia, AL spots Polly, who lost her doll and is now nearly catatonic (in fact, seeing Polly shot down even after she coldly dismissed her was the part of the impetus for AL changing her plan from escaping to making Lily pay). After a moment of hesitation, Annabelle Lee gets a sock from a nearby worker, draws a face on it, and gives it to Polly, calling it Mary Anne's cousin. Polly doesn't react much, but when Annabelle Lee returns, Patricia has a wide grin on her face.
    Annabelle Lee: What? She grew on me, okay?
    Patricia: Are you sure you don't want to stay?
    Annabelle Lee: Look, I gave her a sock. That doesn't mean I want to adopt her.
    Patricia: If you say so.
• While the context is rather tragic, chapter 21 mentions that, for the past day, whenever Mami or Charlotte have a Freak Out, the other immediately goes to their side to comfort them. And when both are spiraling at the same time, they just hold each other close.
• In the aftermath of the battle of the wayhouse, Annabelle Lee and her gang are hailed as saviors and elevated to minor celebrity status by Lily's former victims, which is not only a break from their usual Butt-Monkey status, but entirely deserved as it was their actions that finally took down Lily. Even Charlotte admits that she feels like they should thank them, even if she doesn't relish the idea, and neither her nor Mami have it in them to ruin the moment.
  • Charlotte later tries to tell Demmi and Janelle who Annabelle Lee & co are. They respond that they already know, but that they would all be enslaved or what's worse if it wasn't for them, so Charlotte and Mami better not try to start anything with them because if they do everyone present will be on the void walkers' side.
• After almost ten chapters, Mami finally reunited with Kyoko and Oktavia. She doesn't even take the time to get up, scampering across the floor to embrace them both while crying tears of joy. Both reciprocate the hug, Oktavia is likewise crying happy tears, Kyoko cracks a joke, and Mami can't even find the words to respond but her happiness at seeing them again is evident. When Charlotte enters, the three make room for her in the hug, and once they finally let go she spends a good while kissing her wife.
  • Layer, Mami plans on giving Oktavia a stern lecture for driving recklessly, but admits that it might get lost between the hugs she'll give her.
  • The aforementioned hug is repeated when Kyoko and Oktavia wake up after the whole debacle and finds that Mami has fallen asleep watching over them. She pulls them into a crushing hug as soon as she wakes up, crying from happiness.
• When Kyoko wakes up, she finds Oktavia cuddled up with her arms around her, and again resolves to keep her safe.
• When Kyoko and Charlotte reunite in Monsterland, Charlotte recounts how they got out of the Dockengaut offal pit eventually thanks to Oktavia, though it took some convincing. Kyoko initially assumes it was because of her acrophobia, but Charlotte clarifies that there was a different reason she didn't want to leave.
  Charlotte: That wasn't it. She didn't want to leave you.
• The reunion at the end of Monsterland;
  • When Charotte and Kyoko are eventually rescued by the Border Guard, Mami screams her wife's name in joy and pulls both of them into a bone-crushing hug.
    "You're okay," Mami wept as she kneeled down with them, her head slumping into Charlotte's shoulder. "I thought you were gone. Both of you. I thought I'd never see you again"
  • The second she gets close, Oktavia tackles Kyoko, looking like she's been crying nonstop for days on end and takes a while to convince herself that Kyoko is even there and it's not a hallucination. She later removes Kyoko's (cut-off) ponytail to complain about her being dirty, but freezes at the sight of Kyoko with her hair down.
• In the epilogue, Kyoko goes through something of a crisis and ends up asking Elsa Maria's compass for guidance. It spins for a second... before pointing to Oktavia.
• The family gets a much-needed break relaxing in some hot springs.
• While Kyoko won't give up on saving her sister, she decides that she can't force Mami, Charlotte, and Oktavia to go with her, and decides to put her quest on break for long enough to help them establish a peaceful life for themselves so she can continue alone. Oktavia assures her that she's not getting rid of her that easily.
• In Restless, Sayaka off-handedly mentions that everything she knows about music is from gifts she got for Kyosuke, leading Ophelia (Kyoko) to realize that Sayaka treats giftgiving as a kind of love language. She can't help but think about the necklace Oktavia gave her during their first week in the afterlife.
• When Ophelia tells her that Mami is "alive" again, Sayaka can hardly believe it, falling to her knees crying from relief, shock, hope, sorrow, and countless other feelings.
• As Sayaka suffers a Heroic BSoD from learning of the true nature of her predicament, Ophelia rushes over to embrace her and reassures her that she is not worthless, that she has saved their lives countless times, and that they all care about her deeply. It doesn't matter to her that she didn't have her memories, as far as she is concerned Sayaka and Oktavia are the same, and she will find a way to have both regain their memories without losing the other.
• Jerky the Valk experiences fear for the first time while walking into Mephisto's lair. He still heads on undeterred, determined to save his mama.
• Sayaka tries to apologize to Candeloro for having failed to live up to Mami's legacy, but Candeloro stops her; She may not remember the details of her life but she remembers how broken Mami was from being a magical girl, and that the facade of perfection she put up was just a facade. Sayaka may think she's a failure for not being as good as Mami, but Mami was not perfect and felt like a failure too, in many ways more than Sayaka. She finishes by telling Sayaka that she'll fit right in so long as she stops beating herself up, and welcomes her to the team.
  • Despite her stubbornness and hero worship, Sayaka never once misnames Candeloro or tries to get her to remember her old life.
• For most of the story, Kyoko has vehemently refused to use Oktavia's real name, using nicknames openly while internally thinking of her as Sayaka. In Restless, she gets to experience how it is to be a witch herself, so when Sayaka jokingly misnames Oktavia, Ophelia immediately corrects her, finding that even doing it jokingly bothers her.
• In the aftermath of Restless, Oktavia feels like a monstrous body snatcher who killed Sayaka Miki, and assumes that Kyoko would much rather have Sayaka back. Kyoko, who's fallen in love with both Sayaka and Oktavia, hugs her and tells her that even though it was nice to talk to Sayaka, she's happy to have Oktavia back.
• It turns out that, whatever Jerky and Kyoko did to Mephisto, it freed the souls she had been tormenting while consuming, allowing them to pass on peacefully.

First Time

• Before the plot kicks in, the fic seems to be just a story about Mami and Charlotte being left alone for a week not long after starting their relationship. While Mami is rather nervous, Charlotte is overjoyed over getting a week alone with her girlfriend, especially since it means they can get intimate without Shizuku interrupting as usual.
• In one of the flashbacks to three weeks after they died, Mami suffers a nightmare and Charlotte comforts her. While Mami doesn't want to talk about it, she does silently ask Charlotte to stay with her.
• In another flashback, Mami shoots her own head back due to the realization that she's "just a ghost". Charlotte refuses to hear it, insisting that Mami is no less real just because things are different before telling her that she can't lose her because she's one of the only friends she has.
• Charlotte confesses her feelings to Mami and, after a session of Gayngst and a talk with Shizuku, Mami reciprocates.
  Now that she had been made aware of how they really felt about each other, Mami wondered how she could have not noticed it sooner. It just felt right, holding Charlotte in her arms and being held in turn.
• After a talk with Jezebel, Mami realizes that what has been holding her back from being intimate with Charlotte is her own guilt and feeling that she doesn't deserve it. With that realization, she finally confronts her own feelings and tells the voice in her head to shut up so she can be happy with her girlfriend.
  Mami: Now? I think I'm a little tired of weighing myself down. Now I think I'm ready for a little happiness.

Gift of the Puella Magi

• Despite her overall jerkass attitude, Shizuku shows herself to be a true and genuine friends. When they realize that Mami and Charlotte were both planning on proposing, Shizuku tells her to ditch the Christmas parade and go be with her fiancee-to-be. There will be many parades, but this night should be special.
• To any trans reader, Natsuru coming out to Charotte and Charlotte accepting her whole-heartedly. Not to mention that Natsuru was initially turned into a girl against her will, but eventually realized she was happier in that form than she ever was as a guy.
• Roseanna pulling Charlotte's strings to make sure she and Mami buy the exact same engagement ring for each other, only with inverted colours (large pink gem with smaller yellow ones on the side for Charlotte, large yellow gem with smaller pink one on the side for Mami).
• Charlotte proposing. After being with Mami in the afterlife for four years, she's decided that she wants to spend the rest of her eternal life with her and plans on proposing while celebrating Christmas with their friends in Pinespire. Following some drama involving the engagement ring, it turns out that Mami had also planned on proposing at the same time, and the two exchange rings at night in the snow outside of their friends' cabin.
• When Charlotte starts catastrophizing that her losing the ring is a sign that she doesn't deserve to be together with Mami, Mami stops her and assures her of how much she loves her;
  "You are not a stupid person," Mami said firmly. "And you are no more selfish than I am. Making a mistake like that just means you're human, no matter what sort of changes you've gone through. And you are also beautiful, brave, kind, and the best thing that has ever happened to me." She let out a small laugh. "And yes, that's taking that head-chomp incident into account, because as bad as it was, it freed me from a life of ignorant slavery and brought me to paradise. And it gave me you. And there is no one I'd rather-"

  She might have said more, but Charlotte chose that moment to lunge forward, wrap her arms around Mami's neck, and press their lips together.
• At the end of the story, Charlotte is rambling about her ideas for the wedding when she realizes Mami's not listening; She's too busy looking at her ring with a dazed smile.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

• Pretty much the entire fic up until the ending. Kyoko is woken up on Christmas morning by Momo and Yuma, in a timeline where Yuma, Oktavia, and Kyoko died together, and Momo has lived in Freehaven since her death. They proceed to spend the day with their friends, going to eat lunch at a restaurant with Mami, Oktavia, and Charlotte, who all live on Nautilus Platform, before moving on to having a party at Momo, Kyoko, and Yuma's place. Aside from some moments of angst and emotional vulnerability, it's nothing but a vision of a truly happy timeline, where the Found Family get to be together, tease each other lightheartedly, and can look towards a happy future together.
• Kyoko clearly enjoys being the little sister (since Momo has matured by over 40 years in the afterlife), being playfully irreverent and snarking back whenever Momo admonishes her for poor behavior. Still, she clearly loves her sister, and never crosses the line of friendly teasing.
• Speaking of sisters, Yuma is in the afterlife and has clearly never been happier, safe with Kyoko who loves her as much as she loves Momo. Even when they were alive, Kyoko tells Mami that taking care of Yuma kept her grounded for the entire time she and Mami were sepparated.
• Kyoko is notably very different here than she is in Resonance Days, or even in the original anime. She refers to Oktavia by her preferred name, is close with Charlotte with nary a hint of tension beyond playful banter, lets Oktavia cuddle her despite not quite knowing how she feels about her yet, and she is emotionally vulnerable enough that she lets herself break apart and cry into Mami's shoulder without trying to pull away or cut the tension with a joke. Having spent the last year in Freehaven, getting therapy, reuiniting with some of her family and finding a new one, and overall being safe, Kyoko could finally grow from the trauma that made her such a standoffish antagonistic figure and become her best self.
• Charlotte mentions for Kyoko that Oktavia would like her to move out with them on Nautilus Platform, missing her despite seeing each other every weekend. Kyoko, to even her own surprise, genuinely wants to go and live with them, but refuses to leave her sisters, and the platform isn't big enough for all six of them. Which is when Charlotte reveals that they've been planning on expanding. Not only do Charlotte and Mami care enough about Kyoko to make such a huge financial decision just to have her closer, but Kyoko loves them and Oktavia enough that she would love to move out in the middle of the ocean just to be together with them.
• After partying at the Sakura residence, Kyoko and Oktavia go for a walk around Freehaven together (while Mami and Charlotte are on a date, and Momo and Yuma are doing their own stuff). That is sweet enough, but then they run into Annabelle Lee, or Crazy Annie as she's known in this timeline. Despite initially getting into a fight with her, Kyoko and Oktavia take pity on her when she breaks down crying, and buy coffee for her. It ends rather poorly with Kyoko getting into an argument with her again, but for a while they do genuinely bond with her, sympathizing with her despair over being trapped in a false afterlife, and especially over having lost her sister. Later, the two spot her flying off, and wish her good luck in finding Nikki. Kyoko and Annabelle Lee may not be friends in any timeline, but it's sweet to know that in at least one world their relationship was somewhat better than it is in the main story.
• Kyoko and Oktavia cuddle while talking about the nature of the afterlife. At least until Kyoko ruins the moment by dumping snow down Oktavia's neck, but even then it's clearly done affectionately..
• While the story ends on a Downer Ending, Kyoko and Oktavia go out together, holding hands in the water as the world falls apart around them.

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