As Time Diverges: The Mitakihara Case

"Sorry, but this crossover was bound to happen eventually..."

—NaXyld, the author of this fic.

As Time Diverges: The Mitakihara Case is a Death Note/Puella Magi Madoka Magica crossover fanfiction that asks the question of "What if Light and L were in Mitakihara City during the course of Puella Magi Madoka Magica?" then answers it like so.

In an Alternate Timeline, Light doesn't pick up the Death Note and it falls into the hands of someone else who disposes of it soon after. Light is soon recruited by L to investigate a case involving disappearing girls. As part of the investigation, they spy on one Tomoe Mami, disguised as teachers. This leads them to the world of the Puella Magi, where death and despair will obviously follow.

The story can be read here. Though just be warned for spoilers from both sides.

Its sequel can be read here.

Tropes used in As Time Diverges: The Mitakihara Case include:

• Adaptation Dye Job: Light has orange hair and L has blue hair in this, as they did in the Manga.
• Bat Deduction: This is usually how L figures out about certain things.
  • As does Light in Chapter 15.
• Batman Gambit: L's plan to make Madoka a goddess goes without any hitch... Okay, maybe the rise of Kira being one, but other than that, all according to plan.
• Breather Episode
  • Chapter 7, although since it's adapting Episode 5, it's a given.
  • Chapter 12, which is a short chapter to boot too.
• By the Eyes of the Blind: Kyubey still can only be seen by Puella Magi and those with potential to be come Puella Magi, but he is also seen by L due to being Touched by Vorlons. Light also sees Kyubey after Sayaka becomes a Puella Magi.
• Call Back: To Death Note's scene with L falling off his chair after hearing about Shinigami. Replace Shinigami with Magical Girls.
• The Cameo: Beyond Birthday is mentioned by Kyouko in her Backstory.
• Canon Foreigner: There are several Witches that appear in this fan fiction that weren't in the anime. See Shout-Out below to see where they came from.
• Cassandra Truth: Part of the reason why L didn't want to explain that Soul Gems become Grief Seeds to Madoka and Sayaka. The other is that it would make things worse for them.
• Chekhov's Gun: Light's hand gets bitten by the suicidal woman in episode 2. This bites him in the ass when he tries to save Mami.
• Creator Breakdown: Pointed out in 15, where NaXyld says that he is having one and that all his stories take a dark turn when he has one. All his stories.
• Crossover: Well duh. But it also briefly crosses over with "Homura's Encyclopedia of Witches". See Shout-Out below for more details.
• Continuity Overlap: The Shinigami King and Death Notes were created by a girl contracting with Kyubey and wishing for someone to die. In fact, the Shinigami King is a Witch.
• Continuity Nod: Kyouko calls out the finishing attack name that Mami suggested in one of the CD dramas as she sacrifices herself to kill Octavia.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Octavia gets both ends of the spectrum in two separate battles. In the first battle, she was defeated by Walpurgisnacht, and the second battle, she beats down Elsa Maria. Even L noted about how easy that second battle was.
• Dark Messiah: Light. A bump down from A God Am I.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Kyousuke's last words to Sayaka in chapter 17.
• Evil Redhead: Light
• Face Heel Turn: Light
• Foreshadowing: Tons in regards to the second Awful Truth. There is also one to Kyousuke's operation and quite a few to L's unique properties.
• Foregone Conclusion: A lot of Madoka fans will see where the twists will come. Until Chapter 9 that is.
• The Gump: L is the one who gave Madoka Sayaka's Grief Seed in a previous timeline.
• Heel Face Turn: Madoka's wish in the first timeline in this fic was to invert Light's Face Heel Turn.
• Heroic BSOD: Light and L after Mami's death. They move on from it, but it hits them hard.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Like in Madoka, Kyouko sacrifices herself to destroy Octavia, but Mami helps her out in it as well.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: A few chapters follow Madoka's style.
• Immune to Bullets: Much like Madoka, this trope is averted as well.
• In Spite of a Nail: Octavia still disappears prior to Walpurgis Night, but this time she lives. She arrives during Walpurgis Night however, but gets curbstomped by Walpurgisnacht .
• Must Let Them Get Away: L allows Light to get away, much to Homura's dismay.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Light ends up with the Death Note and becomes Kira after L manipulates Kyubey into going back in time as part of a Batman Gambit
• No Kill Like Overkill: L points this out to Mami when she pulls off the infamous "Unlimited Musket Works" attack.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Light is red, while L is blue, as represented by their hair colors.
• Rousing Speech: L delivers this to Mami when she talks about how lonely her life is before she fights Charlotte. Twice.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Naturally. However, Chapter 12 shows an exclusive example in the form of having L subdue the suicidal woman instead of Light as it will prevent her from biting Light's hand. This turns out to be the best route.
• Shout-Out: A few are given towards Abicion's "Homura's Encyclopedia of Witches" fan-fiction. Some of the victims in the case are related to some of the Witches and a few Witches replace some of the Witches from Madoka.
  • And in the epilogue, there's a little shout-out towards Coccinea, with the line that originally appears in the Visual Novel Recut's The End screen:

"We remember her, so we are not alone."

• Spared by the Adaptation: The Asshole Victims in the train are spared from Sayaka's wrath, though not from L's.
• The Stations of the Canon: The story follows the same flow as Madoka Magica. Mami saves Light, L, Sayaka, and Madoka to her fighting a Witch to Mami dying to Sayaka being a Puella Magi to Sayaka and Kyouko fighting to the Awful Truth to Hitomi telling Sayaka that she likes Kyousuke to Sayaka's Witchification. It starts to split off from the plot however when Light kills Kyouko prior to her fight with Sayaka's Witch. Not to mention L's deductions and his conversations with Homura making another split from the plot.
  • As of Chapter 12, it's following it's own stations of the canon, with massive changes to the formula.
• Together in Death: L dies in the final chapter of the sequel, but thanks to the Soul Gem that Madoka gave him in the third chapter, he was welcome to her Paradise in order to prevent him from fading into nothingness. There, he was reunited with the other Puella Magis, including Watari.
• Touched by Vorlons: The reason why L can see Kyubey, is immune to the Witches' curses and decipher Runes. He was affected by Madoka's magic.
• Trademark Favorite Food: L and cake, obviously. That is until Mami dies. He then stops eating cake due to how he compares the cake to Charlotte. He shifts to Kyouko's Trademark Favorite Food, Pocky.
• Translation Convention: L can translate Witch Runes. The reason? He spent a previous timeline deciphering them, then having Madoka use her magic to preserve L's memory.
• Wham! Episode: Since it does follow the plot of Madoka, of course it has the following Wham Episodes.
  • Chapter 5 is an adaptation of Episode 3 in which Mami dies.
  • Chapter 6 makes Episode 8's reveal appear a little early, what with L being The Smart Guy.
  • Chapter 8 adapts Episode 6 in which the first Awful Truth is revealed.
  • Chapter 9 on the other hand, while it adapts Episodes 7 and 8, pulls off a twist with not only having Light turning evil, but also having him kill Kyouko before she confronted Octavia.
  • Chapter 10 gets worse when The Reveal of Episode 9 rears its head. Also, it turns out that L got tied up in Madoka's Fate Lines since the third time line and Kyubey is responsible for Kyousuke's failed operation, all to make Sayaka contract.
  • Chapter 11 has Homura becoming Walpurgis Night and L dying. Also, time's reset now.
  • Chapter 14 compared to the other wham episodes has little punch, but the fact that Sayaka still contracted and that Kyouko is still going to Mitakihara City to fight some Magical Girls doesn't exactly help matters.
  • Chapter 15, much like chapter 14, has little punch compared to the others, but it does have Light finding out about one of the Magical Girl's Awful Truth and it ends with L beginning to tell the girls the other Awful Truth. On a Meta Standard, the reveal that there will be a sequel might shock some people.
  • Chapter 17 is where things really begin to hit the fan. L allies with Kyubey. Kyousuke dies. Sayaka becomes a Witch again. Mami and Kyouko sacrifice themselves to kill her. L is doing all this to make Madoka a goddess. Kyubey eliminates L from the timeline, then asks Ryuk to drop the Death Note on a time in which Light would notice and use it to become Kira. Oh, and the Shinigami Realm is a Labyrinth and the Shinigami King is the Witch in that Labyrinth.
• Whole-Episode Flashback: With Chapter 10 covering Episode 10 of Madoka, it's expected.
• You Cannot Fight Fate: Mami and Sayaka still have their fates sealed, and while Light tried to save Mami, the pain from the bite he received from the suicidal woman threw off his aim. Kyouko still dies, but from different means.
  • As of Chapter 12, it's subverted.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Non-lethal version. Kyubey eliminates L from the timeline.
• You Should Know This Already: Much like all Madoka fanfics, crossover or not, In-Universe Alternate Timeline is at play here.
• Visionary Villain: Yeah, even without the Death Note, Light still gets this mindset, although he doesn't go for the A God Am I route.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Light calls out L for allying with Kyubey.