Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maya leans down, peering through the bars of the small cage.

“And what about this one?” she asks, glancing at Mahiru standing next to her.

“Ah, well,” Mahiru leans down too. With a frown, she says, “That’s...one of our more, ah, difficult cats.”

Chewing on her cheek, Maya studies the cat curled up within, her back to them both. Fluffy blonde fur, curled up into a tight ball, her large tail swishing back and forth in an agitated kind of way. Maya doesn’t miss the coiled tension in the cat’s form, and she takes note of the claw marks on the side of the cage.

“What’s difficult about her?” Maya asks anyway.

“She hasn’t taken well to being in a place like, well, this.” Mahiru gestures at the shelter; it’s not terrible, by any means, but Maya understands well enough that getting shoved and trapped into some tiny enclosed space amongst dozens of other animals doesn’t make for the best of moods. “Her owner before this,” Mahiru says, lowering her voice as she anxiously twines her fingers together. “Was...very, very rich, but she had no relatives so...her cat came to us. There are specific notes, apparently, that her owner left behind so that if anyone took her, they’d know how to take care of her.”

A high-maintenance cat, Maya sees now. “Could I read those notes?”

Mahiru blinks, surprised. “D-do...do you actually want this cat?”

Maya glances at the cat, then shrugs. “We’ll see.”

---

Maya studies the notes, eyebrows raised at the previous owner’s delicate and detailed writing, taking note of everything that ‘Claudine’ wished for, wanted, desired, and needed. She purses her lips when she reads in the owner’s fanciful penmanship: Her name is Claudine, but I like to call her Kuro.

She goes back to the cat, leaning down and whispering, “Kuro?”

The cat shifts, peeking her head up above its body; she blinks at Maya, her irises a bright red bordering on pink. One of her ears twitches, and her tail flicks against the wall of the cage before the cat’s eyes narrow. For a moment, the two stare at each other, before Kuro hisses at her and curls back up again, pressing further into a corner, her back still to Maya.

Mahiru comes around then. “S-so, um, we do have other cats you can take a look at--”

“I’ll take her,” Maya says mildly, straightening up.

“R-really? You’re sure?” Mahiru crosses her arms, concerned. “I don’t think it’ll be easy--”

“I welcome the challenge, then.” Maya smiles.

---

With that, Maya takes Kuro home in a pet carrier, and all the while in her car she hears Kuro hissing and clawing at the walls. It hadn’t been easy either, getting Kuro into the carrier and she and Mahiru sported similar scratches along their arms, but nonetheless. Maya feels happy with her newfound friend.

On the way home, she makes a quick grocery stop, then when she gets back to her apartment, the handle of Kuro’s carrier in her hand, she hums as she unlocks her door. That’d been one thing that Kuro liked apparently -- songs, music, and she feels Kuro go quiet, as if her cat were trying to listen.

“Alright, Kuro,” Maya says softly, and she closes the door behind her, lowering the carrier to the ground. “We’re home.”

---

Kuro’s first impression as she takes her first steps out of the godforsaken, ugly and disgusting carrier is confusion, and then pure, utter contempt.

Confusion, at the new surroundings; she recognizes that this new place is very small compared to her old home, which had been a sprawling mansion with grounds and fields for as far as she could see in every direction, grand gardens and grasses for her to play in. Now here?! This was some pathetic excuse for a human abode. Tiny, it was up some stairs, there was no garden in sight, just some pathetic living room and kitchen and another hallway.

No garden here. Kuro immediately thinks she does not like it here, and she does not like her new owner.

So of course, she whips around and hisses, her fur standing on end.

Maya stands by the door, amused. “I’m glad you like it here, then,” she says unperturbed, and she takes careful steps around Kuro as she goes to the kitchen.

Kuro blinks. Was her new owner not going to touch her again, after that terrible episode of putting her in that carrier? She heavily disliked it when random strangers tried to touch her and make her filthy and desecrate her beautiful fur with their unworthy hands. Yet, this peculiar new owner...just walked right past her.

Still. Kuro doesn’t want to give the benefit of the doubt. Turning up her nose, she turns around and begins to explore what little territory she has now.

Couch, television, coffee table. Couch is pathetic and old, she’ll sink her claws into it later. Television is alright, maybe she’ll push it over later. Coffee table, she’ll swat everything off its surface later too.

To her surprise, she finds, in the corner of the living room, a cat tower, and a very, very soft looking cat bed, with small toys atop it.

Kuro stares, suspicious for a second, before she lowers her head and tentatively sniffs. She paws at the yarn ball, and begrudgingly admits that it’s not that bad.

All the stuff. New, unused. Quality was very fine, she admits, for some tiny dinghole place like this.

She explores some more, hopping on top of the couch and sinking her claws into the awful fabric. Not even worth her time clawing at; her paws deserved better. She hops off, and continues to wander. Going down the hallway doesn’t provide her any entertainment either; just two closed doors, and the door handles are the round ones so she can’t even stand on her hind legs and open them with her paws. That makes her snort. Stupid human owner. Kuro’s certain she’ll find a way to open those doors on her own eventually.

“Kuro, I have some food for you,” Maya calls from the kitchen.

Kuro looks up, then sniffs the air and tastes the scent of something very delicious, something that reminded her of what her old owner used to make, and absolutely nothing like that garbage she was fed at the shelter.

She quickly pads over, but then stops at the entrance to the kitchen and slowly steps in, eyes narrowed, tail swishing back and forth. The food might smell good but Kuro’s certain her new owner will no doubt fail at making her favorite dishes.

“I hope you like this, Kuro.” Maya bends down -- keeping her distance -- and places a shiny silver white plate on the floor, topped with a slice of cooked salmon, alongside a serving of very, very high-quality wet cat food consisting of chicken sufficiently covered with a surface of gravy.

Exactly the same type her old owner had fed her.

Kuro narrows her eyes, crouching low to the ground, ears flat against her head. Too good to be true. Her new owner can’t possibly be that good.

Maya smiles at her instead, friendly and serene. “I’ll leave it here for you, Kuro. If you don’t like it after ten minutes, I’ll make the other things on your, ah, very specific list.” Standing up and picking up the stack of notes on the counter, she leaves the kitchen, humming all the while.

Kuro watches her go, saying nothing.

Then when she’s certain her owner’s out of sight, she hurriedly pads over to the food and inhales it -- goodness, it smells amazing. She can’t help the low purr that resonates out from her belly, and after doing a quick check of the food by pawing at it and licking her paw, she concludes that the food is, in fact, genuine.

Thank God. Kuro eagerly digs in. The food at the shelter had been so awful and it’d been so long since she’d had a real, gourmet meal! Meant just for her! Oh, and the quality of that cooked salmon -- Kuro purrs happily. Perfect, too. Just the right texture, the right warmth.

When she finishes her first, real dinner, purring as loudly as a lawnmower, she turns around and sees Maya peeking out from around the door.

Kuro stops purring. She stares. Frozen.

“So, you liked it, didn’t you,” Maya says, a smug smile on her face.

Kuro, of course, has no response to that but to immediately hiss at her owner, turning her back and settling onto the floor, her feet tucked underneath her as she grumpily glares at the wall.

Maya laughs. “Don’t worry, Kuro. I’ll take good care of you.”

---

And Maya certainly does, much to Kuro’s consternation and chagrin.

Each meal Maya makes for her is perfect. Almost annoyingly so, because her new owner can’t possibly be that good!

But Maya really is, just that good.

Kuro will never admit it, or show it though. To her surprise, Maya doesn’t seem to mind. In two weeks, Maya makes no attempts to pet Kuro, to come close to her, to interact with her at all, always giving her her space and time.

Maya, on the other hand, quite likes her new giant angry blonde puffball. Despite Kuro’s prickly personality, she’s rather well behaved and keeps to herself. Maya gets a hiss as a greeting in the morning when she leaves for work, and she gets a hiss as a greeting in the evening when she comes home, then another hiss after dinner. It’s a pleasant partnership, the two have.

Maya follows the old owner’s notes to a T, studying it to the point she has most of it memorized. Much to her satisfaction, it seems to pay off; she knows that when Kuro thinks she’s not looking, Kuro often purrs in contentment either after a good meal or after playing with her new toys or settling on top of her little cat tower.

She thinks it’s only a matter of time until Kuro warms up to her.

Like always, Maya is right.

---

One night, she settles into bed. Like most nights, she leaves the door open, just in case Kuro needs her for something. Most of the time, of course, her cat doesn’t bother her save for when she wakes up and gets the morning hiss in greeting.

She knows that Kuro likes to sit just outside her door. It’s her cat’s weird way of observing her, and Maya’s more than willing to give her cat the chance to know that she means no harm.

Yawning, Maya turns off the lamp on the nightstand and lies down, pulling the blanket up over herself, and soon enough, she drifts off to sleep.

Kuro, of course, sits and stares for a little while, just to make sure. Her owner’s caught her looking happy more than once, and Kuro’s determined to make sure Maya doesn’t catch her purring again.

Padding into the room, Kuro goes to the side of Maya’s bed, breath held.

Maya makes no movement.

Kuro sits.

She glances at how Maya’s hand has fallen off the side. She glances back up at Maya’s sleeping face.

Her old owner had pet her and showered affection on her all the time, spoiling her with love and adoration. Maya, despite her offensively tiny home, had done everything perfectly. Food, toys, bed.

The one thing that she hadn’t done was pet her own cat.

Not like Kuro wanted her to, or anything. She wasn’t touch-starved or anything, of course. She definitely didn’t want someone to give her belly rubs and to pat her head and to pick her up. She definitely didn’t want to sit in someone’s lap and curl up next to someone in bed and nuzzle and cuddle to her heart’s content.

Kuro eyes Maya’s hand again.

For just the briefest second, she ducks her head forward, briefly rubbing the palm of Maya’s hand against the side of her head.

She lets out a very, very quiet purr. She likes it best when people scratch behind her ears.

She glances at Maya’s face again.

Nothing. Maya is still sleeping.

Kuro repeats the movement, a quick pat on the side of her head with Maya’s hand. Maya’s hand is soft. Warm. Kuro thinks she quite likes it.

Chapter Text

“I knew I would find you here.”

Claudine looks up at the sound of that voice, and she sighs. “Where else would I be, Maya?”

Maya walks -- no, strides -- over to her, ever as confident and brilliant as the sun that shone above them. For this occasion, she’d done away with her silver and red armor, instead donning a simple robe accented with a red sash tied around her waist, its ends fluttering in the light breeze. Her three sets of white wings, their tips edged with feathers as red as a robin’s are tucked neatly behind her, and her head is crowned with two sets of smaller wings of the same hue, marking her as an archangel of the skies, wielder of the primal element, fire.

Maya sits down next to her counterpart, leaning back one hand to study her.

“What?” Claudine asks, a little too defensively.

Though Claudine’s known for a long time that all four of the primal elements are needed to keep the world afloat -- fire, water, wind, and earth -- there are times she feels envious of Maya’s position as second-in-command to the supreme primarch, the archangel who oversaw them and guided them and the future of evolution itself. Maya, the chosen adjutant, the best of all of them. That, Claudine knows without a doubt, but it still makes her envious.

Then again. Her role -- as Maya’s opposite -- makes her power all the more important.

Claudine leans forward, and dips her hand into the lake; ripples cast out from all directions in the clear water, and for the briefest second, Claudine sees her reflection.

The archangel of water, the most fickle of the elements. Its power stretched between the lines of blessings to disasters, and she was meant to watch over and keep balance of it all, the unerring cycle of water as it flowed and kept on through the stream of life. Whereas Maya’s hues were matched with bold red, Claudine’s wings were a lighter white that faded to sky blue at the tips, and her own winged crown was the same color as a bluebird’s.

At least they could match in clothing. Either armor, or casual dress, albeit Claudine’s sash was as blue as the ocean, a deep color that marked the unending vastness of the waters.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Claudine,” Maya says.

Claudine snorts. “You’re quite straightforward.”

“Is it wrong to ask what my partner may be thinking, at a time such as this?” Maya asks quizzically.

It’s a valid question, of course. Blunt, Maya may be, some would have even called it shallow, but Claudine knows better. Maya’s thoughts and emotions ran deeper than any current, and primal ruler of fire she may be, Claudine knows that Maya’s fury could be as overwhelming and vengeful as a tidal wave.

“I’m trying to relax, Maya.” Claudine pulls her hand out of the water and snaps her fingers, and the water of the lake goes completely still, reflecting the perfect clouds and blue sky up above as perfectly as a mirror. “It’s not like we’ll be getting a break like this anytime soon.”

Maya says nothing for a moment, letting Claudine have her peace.

Though Claudine will never admit it aloud, she’s grateful that Maya’s here. The calm before the storm always sent a shiver up Claudine’s spine, and this was no different. There were powers at play here that none of the primal elemental archangels had seen before.

Not to mention. Their leader, the supreme primarch, that who ruled over them all and governed evolution, was dead.

And now they are all heading to war.

Claudine dislikes that thought intensely. War. It was the antithesis of life, a harbinger of destruction, an unseen demon that rivaled the angels’ need to maintain the very fabric of reality.

“Are you afraid, Claudine?” Maya asks.

Bristling, Claudine whips her gaze around to Maya’s. “I can’t believe you would ask me that kind of question.”

Maya’s gaze holds steady, her jaw set. “Are you?”

When Claudine scowls, the waters of the lake become a little restless, tiny waves clawing at the shore with ripples dashing across the surface. “What do you expect me to say, Maya? Yes, I’m afraid.”

She crosses her arms, turning her gaze out across the lake, towards the mountains in the distance, so similar to the spines on a dragon’s back, tipped white with snow.

“Is it wrong to be afraid that all of this,” she waves her hand at the untouched nature around them. “Might be destroyed? That all the life that’s come to be in the past hundreds of thousands of years might not make it? We’ve spent all our lives governing the world, cultivating it and teaching everything in it how to enjoy the gift of life. In just a few days, that might all be gone. Everything might be.”

She reaches a hand out, and a tendril of water winds its way up to her palm, curling up into a perfect sphere; curling her fingers, the water reforms and hardens into ice.

They both stare at the little flat crown in her hand, reminiscent of a hairpin. Then the ice melts and takes another shape, that of two stars.

“But as much as I am afraid, Maya,” Claudine says, and this time her voice softens. “I have hope, too.”

A smile flashes across Maya’s face. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Rolling her eyes and snorting, Claudine says, “You believe in those two dunces, don’t you?”

“As much as you do, believe it or not.”

That much makes them laugh.

“Don’t get me wrong though,” Claudine says, and she tosses the water in her palm away, and it sparkles as mist before them. In a darker tone, she adds, ”I don’t plan on going down easy, if those bastards try and take me out.” Archangel of water she may be, the more pacifist of the four angels, she wasn’t afraid to throw hands -- or swords of ice -- when she needed to. Protecting life was her core tenant; it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t hesitate to strike down those who would try and violate that principle, as ironic as it may seem.

Just like water, she could be calm, or furious, when she wanted to be.

“I don’t doubt it, Claudine,” Maya chuckles.

Claudine starts a little when she feels Maya’s hand over her own.

“I know we’ll make it through,” Maya says, voice gentle, but there’s that ever present spark of determination there too. “We won’t lose this fight.”

Maya’s right, Claudine knows. There’s hope on their side. Their allies were coming together, the archangels and human dwellers of the land, all uniting in the face of certain peril and danger. Regardless, they’d seen courage before, in those mortal adventurers. If they all worked together, they’d vanquish the evil that gathered on the horizon, painting the skies a dark black and bloodred.

A battle is coming, no doubt. And Claudine plans on spending -- and enjoying -- her last day of peace with her counterpart.

“If I kill more of those monsters than you do, you’ll owe me a drink,” Claudine says, leaning in a little.

Maya mirrors her, their faces closer now. “Mm? What makes you think you’ll beat me, in that regard? I’ve always been the better fighter, you know.”

“And you think I haven’t gotten better?” Their wings shuffle a little, enclosing them in a soft embrace of feathers, shielding them from the world, red and blue together.

“Perhaps you have. But what makes you think I haven’t gotten better?” Maya asks, the hint of a smirk curling the corners of her lips.

Claudine reaches up, gently tugging on a strand of Maya’s hair, and she chuckles at the twitch of the wings her partner’s head. “In all the eons we’ve been alive, you’ve remained as annoying as ever.”

“And in all the eons we’ve been alive, you’ve loved me anyway,” Maya says softly, softer than a cloud, than a gentle breeze, than a brush of the summer sun.

Claudine gently cups Maya’s cheek, and feels the warmth under her palm. A part of her has always wondered if she and Maya had been created in such a way that they’d been destined to be together, in this kind of way, bound not only by the polarity of their elements but by the pull and tug of their hearts. Humans had a name for it; ‘soulmates.’

She can only hope that in the coming battle, their bond can keep them both in the skies.

“Then show me you love me too,” Claudine murmurs, and Maya obliges her, closing the distance, and their wings close in around them.

Chapter Text

She’s running.

Running, as fast as she can through the halls of the giant, underground bunker, her boots slamming into the concrete tiles. Without a single regard for courtesy, she pushes and shoves people out of her way. She doesn’t care, not anymore, not after hearing the first bit of hope she’s had in weeks -- no, months.

She whips around a corner and sees the doors to the infirmary, where a small crowd has gathered, murmuring in hushed tones.

Her friends are already there. Futaba and Kaoruko turn around when they see her skid to a halt before them.

“Where? Where is she?” she asks hoarsely, hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Where’s Maya?”

“Kuro,” Kaoruko starts, and already Futaba and Kaoruko are firmly placing their hands on her arms, as if trying to hold her back. “Look, I don’t think you should go in just yet--”

“I need to see her!”

She shoves them off of her and pushes her way through the crowd and into the infirmary; the brilliant, sterile white light blinds her for a second, but then she sees a sight that makes her heart shatter into shards of glass in her chest.

Maya, oh. Her Maya, lying down on a gurney in nothing more than a white hospital shift -- and Claudine has to repress a sob when she sees Maya’s face.

Gaunt, pale, drawn. Like they’d starved her, deprived her of life’s bare necessities. Her eyes are closed, and she looks so weak, so small, the shift loose and baggy around her.

Ignoring the bustle of doctors and nurses flitting around her and to the other gurneys in the room, no doubt with other recovered prisoners of war, Claudine makes her way to Maya in a daze. Oh, God, they’d done that, to her Maya, hurt her in such a way and Claudine wants nothing more than to shove her sword straight through that monster’s heart, destroy him for what he’d done to--

Maya opens her eyes, briefly.

The world stops for Claudine, then, because she hasn’t seen those lovely lavender eyes in so long.

Relief. Waves of relief crash over her and tears come to her eyes as she goes to stand at Maya’s side, reaching a hand out to grasp Maya’s--

“Maya--”

The next second, Maya’s thrown herself off the gurney and they both hit the ground, Claudine’s back slamming into the tile as Maya’s hands clench tightly around her throat, her gaunt face twisted with unadulterated rage.

---

“She’s...She’s been brainwashed,” Junna says tiredly, hours later after the commotion died down and Maya was belted down and strapped down double over on a stretcher and wheeled out to a private, locked room.

Claudine’s throat still feels raw. From the crying.

From how hard Maya had tried to strangle her, to kill her.

She would’ve died if Futaba hadn’t rushed in and swung a fire extinguisher straight at Maya’s head.

Claudine trembles in her seat at the round table of the rebellion’s leaders. She’s too shaken to say anything.

“We, um, think they did their hallucination technique on her,” Junna continues, flipping through the pages on a clipboard before her.

“Torture. Just. Just say it was torture,” Claudine says, toneless.

Everyone glances at each other; Nana at Junna, Futaba to Kaoruko, Hikari to Karen to Mahiru. They’d all been part of the Games once, experienced it one way or another, through friends or family or being in it themselves. Now they were here, spearheading the resistance group to overthrow the tyranny that had ruled over them all once.

She and Maya had been through everything -- everything -- together. Except their plans for the most recent Games had gone awry. Maya had been left behind.

Claudine hadn’t stopped thinking of that day. She’d jumped at every chance to save her, but the last one had had to be a covert mission. They couldn’t afford to send one of their big guns, one of their leaders. So Claudine had had to wait as the rebellion’s most skilled and stealthy agents went out into the dead of night.

And now they were all here. With one missing from their ranks. The one screaming in a private room ten levels beneath them, strapped wrists and ankles to a gurney.

It’d shaken them all. Even Nana. She was pale, and her clothes were frayed from when she and Futaba had had to fight Maya back onto the gurney.

None of them had expected the Capitol to go this far. To take one of their own, in such a way, and return her, in that kind of way.

“Um,” Karen says in the heavy silence following. “What...what does that mean?”

“They inject a kind of venom or poison that induces hallucinations. The brain’s more susceptible to...manipulation, if the person’s not all there,” Junna says carefully. She drops her clipboard onto the table, and it clatters in the silence. “It’s...I don’t know of a way to undo it, other than than therapy. We’ll need to know just how far they’ve brainwashed her, what the damage is.”

“We already know what the damage is,” Claudine says, but it’s as if she’s hearing herself from far away. “They made her think I’m a monster.”

The Capitol’s plan had succeeded, Claudine realizes then. They’d absolutely destroyed the morale of the rebellion’s leaders, and most especially, they’d thrown an absolute nuke at herself. Vengeance, no doubt, for how the most recent Games went and how she’d sabotaged that. To let Maya back into the ranks of her former comrades and then immediately unleash her to kill them all.

To kill her.

It was smart. Clever. That much, Claudine can admit in the dull, farthest recesses of her mind.

The room remains silent, as they all try and find their own way to overcome their most recent tragedy. They’d had far too many these days.

Claudine’s fists clench underneath the table. No. No more. Nothing else like this.

The war needed to end. She wasn’t going to fizzle out and die in a hole out here.

Claudine stands up, and everyone looks up at her.

Though waves upon waves of grief wash over the shores of her heart, Claudine finds dry land in her mind, lighting a fire with a brilliant lightning bolt of pure, pure fury.

“I’m not letting them get away with this,” Claudine says, and her throat aches. “We can’t let this get to us. We still have to get out there and fight back, or else this is just going to keep happening. We didn’t go through all of this to get taken down by something like this. No more tragedies. No more of this.”

Karen stands up, her hand bunched into a fist over her heart. “Kuro’s right. We can’t give up just yet. We can win this war, all of us, together. I know we can.” Hikari, at her side, stands and nods too, and one by one, Claudine sees the rest of her friends take stands as well, resolve lighting up their eyes again. She could see the anger, the grief, the frustration in all of them, a fire that had long since been set alight by a cruel, cruel hand that sat entrenched in a Capitol far away.

They resolve to meet again later, to get back on schedule with their preparations and plans. Maya had just been another mission; they had many more to do.

Though Claudine had thrown on a brave face at the meeting, once she gets back to her quarters, she shuts the door and staggers to the ground, letting her anguish and despair consume her as she sobs, tears flowing freely down her face.

Her Maya.

She cries for hours, so much that her chest aches, that her face hurts, and her heart feels empty.

She lays there on the ground for a long time. Long enough that she hears her alarm blaring the time for the new day, and she gets back up, cleans herself up, and gets back to her duties.

For Maya. For her Maya. She had to keep going.

---

For Maya, a part of her knew she was safe. She was with the rebellion again.

But she can’t understand why they’d let her into the resistance. Why they’d let a monster like that, a murderous, cold blooded, vicious and ruthless monster be one of their leaders. She remembers how that woman had murdered her family, how her sword had cleaved them all in half, how she’d laughed as she’d set entire cities on fire, leaving innocents to burn. Even worse, Maya’s certain there were times it were actually her torturing her, burning her with poisons that made her feel like she was drowning and burning at the same time.

Maya looks up from the gurney when the door to her bare white room opens. She glances at the long, dark window on the right wall.

Junna walks in, and Maya feels relief. Junna. Junna was safe.

“Maya,” Junna says carefully, closing the door behind her and standing by it. “Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?”

“Junna,” Maya says, and she relaxes, sinking back against the sheets. Kind of; she can’t move that much, what with the belts and straps chaining her to the bed. “I remember you, don’t worry.”

Junna’s face lifts up a little at that, a bit of relief in her eyes. “That’s good! That’s really good, Maya. Well, I hope the past day has been...alright for you?”

“...For the most part,” Maya says, glancing at the window again. She wonders if Nana is behind the glass, watching her, analyzing her. She hasn’t forgotten that Nana can see things others don’t.

“I hope you’ve gotten some rest.” Junna makes a note on the clipboard in her hands.

“The most rest I’ve had in awhile,” Maya admits. She may be strapped to a gurney, but it’s a thousand times more comfortable than the cold cement of a decrepit, underground jail cell. “I’m just...really glad to see you, again.”

“We are too,” Junna says with a small smile, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well, hopefully you’ll get some more rest soon.”

“Well, it’d help if you could,” Maya makes a pointed look at the straps binding her to the bed. Then she remembers why she’s here, why she needed to see a leader of the resistance immediately. She had to tell them the truth, what was going to happen, what that monster was about to do--

“Ah,” Junna says, a brief flash of fear flickering across her face as she slowly makes her way to stand at Maya’s side. “Sorry, it’s just...after what happened, we can’t--”

“Junna, what I did was necessary for the rebellion,” Maya says, and she can’t believe Junna of all people would believe that monster. “You believe me, don’t you? Junna, you have to know what she’s done.”

“Maya, you…” Junna glances at the window, then back at Maya with a helpless expression.

“Junna, please. You have to listen to me. She’s going to nuke this entire place. The entire rebellion.” Maya strains against her bonds. “We have to get to her first! We need to take her down--”

“Maya, just think clearly for me,” Junna says, but she’s gone pale.

“Junna,” Maya says sharply, and she tries so hard to lean close to Junna, to tell her. “She’s a psychopath! You don’t get it, she’s murdered hundreds of innocents, the firestrikes, the bomb drops, they’ve all been her!” Maya strains against her bonds. “Junna, you must believe me. I can save us all--”

“Maya, you need to calm down--”

“She needs to die, Junna! She’s a monster!”

Maya fights viciously against her bonds, so hard that the gurney shakes with her efforts as she flails about. She has to save Junna, Nana, all of them from her, whatever it took--

“Maya, I’m sorry,” Junna whispers, and then she sinks a needle into Maya’s neck.

---

“Well, we had our first session with...Maya,” Nana says quietly to Claudine when they’re standing in the air hangar, overwatching the unloading of supplies.

Claudine doesn’t say anything. They stand next to the pallets stacked high with weapons, ammunition, other sorts of weaponry.

“It, um. I think we’ll need to do some more sessions with her,” Nana says.

Claudine says nothing, arms crossed. Her nails dig hard into her skin, and she’s doing everything she can to fight back her tears.

---

A few weeks pass. The entire time, they never release Maya from her bonds, only doing so to let her relieve herself before putting her back in. The first time, she’d fought them, tooth and nail before they’d knocked her out again with another needle to the neck. She’d learned after that to go peacefully.

A small, stone-faced person comes in at mealtimes to spoon feed her, but they never answer her questions. They only sit there and stare back at her with a perfectly neutral expression, patiently waiting for her to take the offered spoon.

Junna visits her everyday.

After a week, Maya realizes that Junna, nor her caretaker are going to listen to her. She learns that if she answers Junna’s questions, Junna is more prone to answering her own questions.

Junna explains to her everything that had happened on the outside since she’d been captured. The war was going, basically. They were in the midst of it now. When Maya pressed for more news, Junna had shaken her head. She couldn’t reveal too much. She was afraid that the Capitol had...done more, to her brain. That maybe she was secretly feeding them information, somehow.

It stung when Junna told her that. Junna, not trusting her.

Maya understands, though. She tries really hard to, but she’s still dead certain that that woman needed to die.

“So. Tell me everything you remember. From the beginning of the first Games,” Junna says one day.

It takes a few days to go over everything. Junna presses her on every detail, making notes in her clipboard. She tells Junna of how that monster had slaughtered every other tribute in the first Games, how she’d only managed to get out by pretending to go along with their fake story of being in love. She tells Junna of how that monster had brought the might of the Capitol on the farthest districts, punishing them for revolting against her. She tells Junna of the second Games, how that monster had betrayed them all by throwing Maya and their other friends to the wolves.

Junna listens to it all. She sits there at Maya’s side, her face pale, her eyes wide, but she listens. In that way, Maya hopes Junna can understand, that she can convince Junna to take action. Maybe even Nana, if she’s standing behind that glass wall.

“Alright,” Junna says tiredly one day, and she finishes dotting a period on her clipboard. “That’s...all you remember?”

“It’s everything I know, I swear,” Maya says.

Junna presses her lips together, and Maya notices just how tired she looks. “Well, Maya. I have to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

“...Half of what you told me isn’t real,” Junna says, and she meets Maya’s eye. “The Capitol. When you were there, I know they tortured you. They fabricated some of your memories.”

Maya opens her mouth to rebuke it, her memories were so real--

But then Junna gives a weary sigh, and sets her clipboard down on her lap, taking away a set of photographs. “Alright, Maya, let me show you…”

---

Another few weeks with Junna, and they spend it patching up the...fabrications, in her memory. Junna brings her proof of reality, photographs, videos, recordings. Reluctantly, Junna admits to her that she’d pulled all these first hand sources from their friends. Hikari, Karen, Mahiru, Nana, Futaba, Kaoruko. They’d rounded up everything they still had left from the war, keepsakes they’d treasured from a time long past.

Never once though, does Junna bring her any kind of memorabilia about... her.

It takes a long, long, time for Maya to be convinced though.

However, she can’t deny how pangs of pain hit her brain each time Junna shows her solid, concrete proof of their past. Headaches occur almost daily, and each time she falls asleep, still strapped to the gurney, she wakes up drenched in sweat; her dreams, or her nightmares, or whatever visions her brain showed her in slumber made her even more confused.

Little by little, she begins to remember what’s real and what isn’t. It hurts, though, to relive those memories, to replace the fake ones.

She and Junna practice a reciting facts, to ground her back into reality.

“What’s Nana’s favorite animal?” Junna asks as Maya’s panting hard from reliving another memory, dragged up from the depths.

“A...a frog,” Maya breathes, gritting her teeth.

“What’s Mahiru’s favorite food?”

“Potatoes.”

Facts. Truth. Junna asks her those basic questions when Maya’s having trouble distinguishing what’s real and what isn’t. It helps, though.

Maya still harbors her feelings and thoughts about her, though; the feelings weren’t as strong as they used to be, because every now and then Junna would slip up and mention her without thinking.

It...made her question, a little. Junna had shown her just how much the Capitol had gotten into her brain, destroyed her own past and remade her into something of their own, and that made her feel disgusted down to her core. To be used, by them. Maya hated it. She was willing to believe they’d twisted a good number of memories of her friends.

But to believe the memories about... her. They were the most real of all, in her mind. Yet, could she trust them too?

Who did she trust more? Junna and her friends, or her own brain?

It was a hard question. Only time could answer it.

---

“The sessions are getting better,” Nana tells Claudine one day as they finish grabbing their gear from the airship. They’d finished another raiding mission, one of the easier ones, a base on the outskirts of the Capitol’s territory. “We’re making a lot of progress.”

“...I see,” is Claudine’s stone cold reply.

“Claudine,” Nana says as they shoulder their packs and step down the ramp of the airship and into the hangar. “She’s...open to remembering what’s real and what isn’t. We’re showing her proof, all the stuff we have from before.”

“I see.”

“...Claudine.” This time, Nana lands a hard hand on her shoulder, and forcefully turns her so that they’re looking at each other. “Listen to me. If...if you have anything, from before, like photos or videos--”

Claudine bites down hard on her own tongue, and tastes blood. “No.”

Nana stares at her.

Truth be told, Claudine has dozens of things from...before. She’d kept the little swan pin that Maya had given her, after their first Games. It was elegant, and beautiful. She’d also kept the violet ribbon Maya had liked to wear. She loved it, dearly.

There were other things, too. Souvenirs of other times.

“I...I can’t, Nana,” Claudine whispers, and Nana discreetly takes them behind a stack of pallets. “I can’t.”

When Maya had returned, Claudine had shoved everything that had connected her to Maya into a drawer in her room, and then she’d locked it. She couldn’t stand to look at any of those things anymore. The pain was unbearable. Her heart could only take so much.

“...Alright,” Nana says finally. “I understand.”

---

“So, Junna,” Maya says one day. They’d spent enough weeks together that Junna felt comfortable undoing her bindings, and Maya and Junna sit together, side by side on the gurney as they finish another round of photographs for the day. “I want to ask.”

“Yes?” Junna looks at her, adjusting the glasses on her face.

It’s taken a few days for Maya to gather the willpower and the gut strength to ask what she says next, but she does it. “Do you have...any photos of...her?”

Junna goes pale, and she glances at the dark window. “Oh.”

“I...notice you don’t have any, when you come here.”

Junna swallows. “...Um.”

Maya answers for her. “You...don’t bring any because you don’t want me to lose control again.”

Her lips thin, Junna says, “...Partly, yes.”

“...But...do you have any? I think we’ve gone over almost everything else in my memory. I just want to know what’s real about her and what isn’t.”

“Maya,” Junna says slowly, and she sets her clipboard and photos in her lap. “I must be honest. I...don’t think it’s a good idea to do that, right now.”

“Why not? If you want to put me back under the bindings, then please do so. Whatever would make you most comfortable.” If she can just complete her memory, maybe Junna and Nana would let her out of this damn interrogation room and back out onto the field, where she could help. The only holes left to fill were the ones with...her, which left a sour taste in Maya’s mouth, but it was the truth. She had to know what else was missing.

“It’s...not that. It’s just.” Junna takes off her glasses and presses a tired hand over her eyes. “We don’t have anything that’s of you and her.”

“Really?”

“...She won’t give anything to us.”

For some reason, Maya’s gut wrenches painfully in her gut and her chest tightens.

“Maya, I’m sorry. We tried to convince her, we really did. But we can’t force her, and we’re not going to.” Junna stands up, putting her glasses back on and holding her clipboard to her chest, her face apologetic. “Just...get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Junna prepares to leave, and Maya can’t understand why it’s so hard for her to breathe. “Junna, wait,” she says softly, and Junna turns at the door. “Bring...bring just one thing back. One. I can start with that, and I’m sure she can too.”

There’s a split second look of hesitation on Junna’s face, but then she nods.

---

Claudine spends a long time standing in front of the locked drawer. Futaba, at her side, glances up at her.

“I can open it, if you want me to,” Futaba offers.

Claudine shakes her head, and with a trembling hand, she raises the key to unlock it.

At the last second, she pulls her hand away, trying to swallow back the urge to throw up. She’d locked away that part of herself a long time ago, accepted that...Maya was gone. In her mind, that’s what it was, and that’s what it would be. It had to be, for her to keep going in this godforsaken war.

“Please open it for me,” Claudine whispers, and Futaba gently takes the key from her and unlocks the drawer.

Claudine gets a split second look at the violet ribbon within before she whips around, holding herself, hissing through her teeth.

“Alright, alright!” Futaba drops the key on top of the drawers and puts her arms around Claudine, hugging her. “It’s alright, hey, I’m right here, it’s alright--”

Her friend has to comfort her for a solid minute, and Claudine fights back the panic attack rising in her chest.

“This. This is too much, Futaba,” Claudine says through clenched teeth.

“Alright, alright. Let’s. Let’s not try it for today. Let’s take a break, alright?” Futaba guides Claudine over to the bed, and then she goes and locks the drawer again; hearing the sound of the lock turning eases the tightness in Claudine’s chest a little, knowing that it’s...all gone again.

Her heart still feels as empty as the biting winter cold, but she’d rather that than be burned alive from the inside out with the agony of heartbreak.

---

“Anything?” Maya asks, tapping her pencil against her knee. Junna’s taken to bringing her notebooks, so she can write down things she remembers, things she knows as facts. A diary, a journal, of some sort.

“Well,” Junna says.

Maya can read her friend’s expression well enough. She swallows, and her heart feels like it’s been punched. “She said no.”

Junna shrugs helplessly. “I...I’m sorry, Maya.”

Maya looks away, fighting back the bitter taste in her mouth. Nothing. She’s giving her nothing.

“...Can I talk to her?” Maya asks, turning and meeting Junna’s gaze.

Junna’s lips go thin. “You want to talk to her.”

“Yes.”

“Maya, if she said no to giving you an object, I don’t think she’s going to agree to you actually seeing her, and her seeing you.”

“It’s still a chance I want to take. Strap me down again, if you must. Whatever would make her comfortable.”

“Why do you even want to talk to her anyway?”

Chapter Text

Irritated, Claudine stalked ahead on the worn, beaten down path through the forest, ignoring her newfound companion.

This was supposed to be her first journey as a real, full-fledged mage. This was supposed to be a grand, majestic and awesome trip to the Tree of Life, where all mages made a pilgrimage to at least once in their lifetime. This was supposed to be her time to shine.

So why, why, she thought with gritted teeth, did the Mages’ Guild assign her the one and only knight who had never escorted a charge in her entire life? Why did she have to get the most inexperienced knight in the entire city?

Oh, sure, her instructors had told her that this knight had the best marks, that this knight was the best in her class, that this knight was one of the best in a lifetime.

Claudine hadn’t believed it all for one second. She was certain they’d only given her this knight only because she was the youngest out of all of the newest, full-fledged mages. It wasn’t her fault that her brilliance and aptitude for the arcane arts meant she was a thousand times better than mages years ahead of her. Fools. All of them. They just wanted to see her fail at her pilgrimage.

“Are you going to ignore me for the entire trip, Lady Saijo?” Her knight said behind her, easily keeping pace with her hurried, angered walk. “If you would like to discuss what is bothering you, I would be pleased to assist you.”

What was more, Claudine hated to admit that the knight was polite, formal, and courteous. Like a real knight. It would’ve made the trip a lot easier if her knight was some rude brute, because then she could have proven that the knight was flawed or imperfect in some way, but no.

Tendou Maya, was, in every way, flawless.

Claudine had seen it for herself, in Maya’s mock battles with her fellow peers and. Absolutely lethal with a sword, a dancer with a blade in her hands. Supposedly in the royal court, Claudine had heard that Maya had impeccable manners and poise, and dozens of suitors had called for her hand in marriage.

Instead, the damn, chivalrous and valiant knight had turned them all down to join Claudine on her journey. What a self-sacrificing and noble deed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Claudine said bluntly, her cloak flapping behind her as she began to make her descent down a hill. Under her breath, though, she said, “Why the hell did I get you?”

“I was told that you were the best in your class. I was the best in mine. Do you believe that to not be a suitable partnership for this journey?” Maya asked, her armor quietly clinking as she followed close.

“You’ve never even done something like this before!” Claudine whipped around, hands bunched into fists at her sides. “How do I know I can trust you to actually protect me? You don’t even know what we’re going into, do you?”

“I know perfectly well, actually,” Maya said, with a raised eyebrow, just the slightest edge of offense in her voice. “We’re meant to cross the Forest of Spirits, take a ferry across the river and into the Land of Lost Souls, and from there travel across its plains by horseback until we reach the farthest shores of the mortal world. I believe at that point, we are to be judged on our worthiness by the angels, and if we are worthy, we will be allowed passage to the Tree of Life. Is that not so, Lady Saijo?”

Claudine stood there, dumbstruck and speechless. That was, quite literally, what they were going into, down to the T.

“During our travels, I believe these are the types of enemies we might face,” Maya said, and from underneath a pocket in her armor, she withdrew a small notebook and began flipping through its pages. “The Forest is considered the easiest part of the trip, as the wildlife is relatively peaceful…”

She went on for another ten minutes, describing monsters and creatures and fantastical beasts that they might have the chance to encounter across their journey before snapping her notebook shut and pocketing it once more.

“Does that satisfy you, Lady Saijo? Do you require a more detailed analysis of our trip?” Maya asked, the barest hint of a smug smile on her face.

Whipping around, red in the face, Claudine said nothing and continued stalking her way through the forest path while Maya laughed behind her.

Only day one of their journey and already Claudine thought that this knight was the most insufferable knight she’s ever met.

Chapter Text

She tentatively held her hand out the window, and droplets of cool rain landed onto her open palm. Overcast skies in signature gray and the light patter of the rain drizzling down onto the academy made the air humid and a little chilly; not at all the best kind of weather to walk home in.

Claudine sighed.

Rain.

Shaking her hand dry, she leaned away from the window, smoothly sliding it closed as she bit down on her lip.

With classes done for the day, she turned and followed the rest of her classmates leaving the classroom and heading back downstairs to the front entrance; one hand clenched around the strap of her bookbag, Claudine smoothly diverted her course away from the rest of the students and instead made her way back down to the locker room.

Pride, more than anything, made Claudine get back into her dance attire and prepare for another round of solo practice after class. There was no way in hell she was going to give Tendou Maya the opportunity to see that she’d forgotten her umbrella on today of all days.

So when she stood in the middle of the empty studio, facing the wall of mirrors, she was quite certain that after her practice, the rain would ease up and she could walk home.

As she went through her usual round of stretches, she was also quite certain that Tendou Maya had probably returned home as well. She hadn’t seen her rival in the locker rooms, and she was sure she’d seen Maya leave the classroom before her and follow Junna and Nana to the front entrance.

Claudine was therefore, very, very sure, that there was no chance Tendou Maya would figure out that she’d forgotten her umbrella. Absolutely no chance. She just had to spend an hour or so dancing the afternoon away, and then it’d be a quick walk back home. Easy.

In the middle of following the steps of some hip hop choreography however, a spark of irritation lit her ire as she wondered why she gave so much of a shit about whether or not Tendou Maya saw her without an umbrella.

As Claudine finished a tight spin and she once more saw her reflection in the mirror in front of her, she saw for a split second, Maya’s very smug smile.

Scowling, Claudine whirled away as she followed the fast pace of the music.

Damn that woman. Maya didn’t even have to be in the same room as her to get her worked up.

At least by the end of the hour, Claudine was panting hard, bent over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. All in all, that’d been a good practice session. Heading back to the locker rooms and using a small towel to wipe away the sweat at her neck, Claudine did a quick glance out the window and felt her heart sink, her hand clenching into a fist.

It was still raining. Why, God.

Claudine took her leisurely time getting back into her uniform, hoping beyond hope that maybe it’d just be a few more minutes.

Unfortunately, as fate liked to have it, when Claudine stood at the front entrance of the school and looked out into the courtyard, it was, most certainly, still raining.

She swore under her breath. Maybe she could make a run for it. But...her hair. Could she afford to ruin it, and her clothes?

Claudine pulled her phone out, thumb hovering over Futaba’s name. Maybe she could call Futaba to come pick her up? But wait, no, the last time it’d rained she’d seen Futaba and Kaoruko pull the dumbest stunt and try to motorbike home through the pouring rain -- the two had entered the house, soaking wet and none the wiser.

But then she heard an all too familiar voice right behind her.

“Oh, Claudine?”

Speak of the devil, Claudine turned and there Tendou Maya stood, an umbrella in hand, and with that ever present, despicable smile on her face.

“...Maya.”

“Did you forget your umbrella today, Claudine?”

The musical lilt to Maya’s voice only added to the humor in her tone.

Claudine bristled, hands turned into fists at her sides. “... Yes, Maya, I forgot my umbrella today.”

“Oh, I see,” Maya said, but then she continued to stand there, the two of them looking at each other as the sound of rain pattered on outside.

After a few second of Maya’s smirk steadily growing even wider, Claudine understood right then that Maya wanted her to spell it all out. No greater way to admit defeat than for Claudine to simply say it out loud; a cunning, devilish, and sly move on Maya’s part. So Claudine wished in that second, if there was a God, that God would smite her where she stood -- or even better, make the rain go away.

Neither happened, so Claudine grit her teeth and said it.

“Maya. Would you.”

“Yes?” Maya looked as chipper as a child given a treasure trove of candy.

“...Would. You. Share your umbrella. With me.”

Maya beamed at her, so brightly that Claudine actually had to raise a hand to shield her eyes. “I’d be absolutely delighted to, Claudine.”

Maya began to hum a little tune as she opened up her umbrella, leaving a surly Claudine to reluctantly stand at her side as the two headed out, feet stepping lightly on the rain soaked pavement. Claudine let out a huff of breath as she walked close to Maya’s side, their shoulders brushing as they left the academy gates and made their way down the street and back to the dorms. However Maya nailed her timing, Claudine had no idea, but a part of her did feel just...the tiniest bit grateful...that Maya had been there…

After a minute, Claudine dared a glance at Maya’s expression and saw that she was still indeed beaming with happiness as she hummed her little tune.

“You don’t have to be so smug about it,” Claudine said under her breath.

“I’m not smug. I’m actually very happy right now.”

“Because I messed up?”

“No, because I’ve always wanted to share an umbrella with you, Claudine.” Maya looked at her with a smile so warm and gentle and happy that Claudine’s heart stuttered in her chest as she struggled to find a response.

“I-I...Th-then let me hold the umbrella!” Claudine abruptly, without thinking, jerked her hand up and inadvertently covered Maya’s hand in her own.

The two stopped on the sidewalk, looking at each other, both caught by surprise.

Claudine felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

Maya’s hand tightened around the handle of the umbrella. Claudine made to pull her hand away--

“We could hold it together,” Maya said softly.

Going breathless and thoughtless, Claudine could only furiously blush as she kept her hand over Maya’s, her palm warm against Maya’s fingers.

“F-fine,” Claudine said, and she tugged a little to get Maya to walk forward again. Despite the chill air from the rain, Claudine felt very hot, her face as red as a tomato. Only Tendou Maya could catch her off guard like that, being so genuine and honest and sweet and...Claudine hunched her shoulders, trying to stall her thoughts right then and there. Maya was walking right next to her.

When they turned around a corner, Maya started to hum again, a light and peppy tune.

“Really, Maya. Singing in the Rain?”

“It’s a wonderful song, and quite appropriate for the occasion, Claudine,” Maya said smoothly.

Claudine rolled her eyes and groaned, shoulders slumping. “You are absolutely unbelievable.”

“Would you like to sing it with me?”

“Excuse me?”

“I do quite enjoy hearing you sing, Claudine. I wouldn’t mind if you sang it with me.”

Claudine opened her mouth, then shut it; Maya met her gaze with genuine earnestness, a warm smile on her face. It was a look that could’ve swayed even the most obstinate of stone cold hearts, and Claudine found her willpower and resolve crumbling away.

Damn Maya.

“Fine, fine! I’ll sing it with you. But I’m not doing the dance parts! I’m not getting soaked in this weather.”

Maya cheerfully laughed, and Claudine’s hand burned around Maya’s.

So on their way back to the dorm, they took turns singing the lines of the iconic song, their background music the soft patter of rain on the sidewalk and the quiet sounds of their steps along the pavement, a subtle substitute for tapdancing.

As much as Claudine hated to admit it, she liked to hear Maya sing too. So much so, that when they did reach the dorm, she felt a tiny bit of disappointment as they finished the last line of their impromptu duet.

Of course, it was only a tiny bit of disappointment. Nothing more. She definitely didn’t wish she could sing a little more with Maya.

With her ever present, annoyingly infinite amount of grace, Maya held the door open for Claudine. “After you.”

Through a pout mixed with a scowl, Claudine stepped past her and into the front hallway, shoving off her shoes.

“Thank you for walking with me today, Claudine. I quite enjoyed it. A blessing, I might even say,” Maya said behind her.

Oh, now Maya was just rubbing it in. Of course God would be on Tendou Maya’s side, of all sides.

Chapter Text

“You’re not really gonna go back out and hunt, right?” Futaba asks, slamming down her half-empty tankard of beer. “The wolf’s gonna tear you apart, you know!”

Claudine snorts. “Like that’s gonna stop me. I’m not afraid of some big bad wolf, Futaba.”

“Claudine, you don’t get it,” Futaba says, and she leans in a little closer; the tavern is relatively full of townspeople and travelers, with waitresses and waiters bustling about to deliver drinks and food. Futaba and Claudine had chosen a corner for themselves, exchanging stories of their day. “They say this wolf is bigger than a horse. Like, an absolute beast.”

“Yeah, it’s probably a bear then.” Claudine rolls her eyes, taking a swig of her own tankard. A quick glance out the window next to them, and she sees a full moon and shrugs. “I’ve taken down bears before, Futaba. I’m not that worried.”

“Alright, alright. I get you’re the best hunter in the kingdom but I’m serious,” Futaba says, meeting Claudine’s gaze with her own. “I really don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back out there, especially at night.”

“A bounty’s a bounty,” Claudine says, setting down her tankard and tossing a few coins onto the table as she stands up. “Look, I better get going. Night’s when it actually comes out, right?”

Futaba helplessly looks up at her, wringing her hands. “Claudine--”

“Look, you can stay here if you want. You helped me a lot this afternoon with the tracks, but I can solo the actual kill myself,” Claudine says, and she picks up her pack, along with her bow and quiver from next to the table.

“Your funeral,” Futaba says under her breath as Claudine makes her way through the crowd and out the door.

---

As it turns out, the hunt that night proved futile. Claudine hears the wolf’s howls and finds its tracks even in the dimness of the moonlight above, but she can’t make head nor tail of where the tracks lead. Frustrated, she goes back to town and settles down inside Futaba’s home, where her longtime friend had offered her a place to stay as she hunted the supposed beast.

The next morning, Claudine heads to the tavern to grab some food and supplies to go before venturing out into the forest again.

Nana, the tavern owner, a tall woman with a strange hairstyle, casts a curious eye at her as she hands over some food. “You’re Claudine Saijo, yes?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’ve heard of you,” Nana says with a smile. “You’re a very good hunter, aren’t you?”

“One of the best,” Claudine says as she puts Nana’s food into her pack. “Don’t worry about the wolf. I’ll take care of it.”

When Claudine looks up and meets Nana’s gaze, she swears, for a split second, she sees Nana’s eyes change color, but then she blinks and Nana looks normal again.

“Miss Saijo,” Nana says slowly. “You’re...going out to hunt the wolf?”

“Yes? I mean, it’s why the seneschal of the town called for me.”

Nana looks as though she’s trying to fight a smile. “Ah, Junna called for you. She’s my wife, by the way. I’m...glad you’ll be handling...the wolf for us.”

A shiver runs down Claudine’s spine, but she can’t quite pinpoint why. Something about Nana seems...off. “I...Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all,” Nana says, and then she lets out a little sad sigh. “I just quite like wolves. It’s a shame this one has to go.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take it down cleanly and quickly. It won’t feel anything.” Good hunters always took down their prey, fast. The less suffering the animal feels, the better.

“I see,” Nana says, and then she tilts her head to the side, tapping a thoughtful finger to her chin. She glances down at Claudine’s pack and other things. “Are you planning on staying in the forest overnight?”

“Yes, I am. I know it’s dangerous,” Claudine says, eyeing her own bedroll. “But I think I’ll work faster if I can make camp in the forest at the end of the day rather than make the trip all the way back here. The wolf seems to move a lot, and from what I understand, it only comes out at night.”

“Hm, yes, yes,” Nana says idly. “Well, Miss Saijo, since you’ll be going on such a difficult excursion, please have this on the house.” As Claudine watches with a raised eyebrow, Nana reaches underneath the counter and comes back up with another wrapped piece of food.

“What is it?”

“It’s baumkuchen. It’s quite a delicacy in these parts,” Nana says with a wistful smile. “I would save it for...um, breakfast, tomorrow morning. Let it sit overnight.”

“Um, sure.” Claudine shrugs and pockets the baumkuchen into her pack. Free food never hurt anyone. “Thank you, Nana. And please let Junna know that wolf will be out of her hair soon enough.”

“Oh, I certainly will.” Nana watches as Claudine leaves the tavern, a growing, mischievous smile on her face. With no one left save for the tables and chairs and the fireplace, Nana places an elbow on the counter, resting her chin on her hand.

With a twirl of her finger, a little spirit wisp poofs into existence before her and blinks up at her, shaped like a tiny ball of light.

“Follow Claudine for me, will you? I’d like to see what happens,” Nana says with a wink.

The wisp nods, then dissolves into nothingness, leaving nothing behind but little sparkles.

“You’re welcome, Maya,” Nana says aloud to the empty tavern.

---

On Claudine’s part, she spends the entire day thinking she’s wasting her damn time.

The same thing as yesterday. She finds the tracks, she follows them, then realizes she’s going in circles. She begins to think that maybe there’s some dumb clown out there wearing giant paws and howling at the moon just to annoy and frighten the villagers for entertainment. By late afternoon, Claudine finds the edge of a large stream and sits down to take a break, taking grateful drinks of the clean spring water from her cupped palms.

Lately, on her hunts, the hard part was facing the damn monster. She’s taken down giant bears, even a wild dragon or two, some minotaurs, a chimera here and there. All of them had been so easy to track, but this damn wolf eluded her -- her, of all people!

Claudine works herself up into an irritated and spiteful mood. No pathetic wolf was going to ruin her perfect streak of hunts. She was not going to fail this one, no matter how long it might take her.

She eats a late lunch, munching on a sandwich Nana had given her, and mulls over her plan for the coming day. Follow some more tracks, make camp in the evening, then wait until morning and start referencing a map she’d brought to see if she could maybe do process of elimination on the wolf’s lair. Maybe some caves nearby might show here where the wolf might be holing up each day.

Out of curiosity, Claudine takes out the baumkuchen and squints at it. It looks more like a dessert than a breakfast food, but she shrugs and puts it back into her pack. Whatever. She’ll eat it tomorrow morning.

She checks her gear before she sets out again. Cloak, check. Bow and quiver, with arrows, check. Pack, check. Short sword in her pack, check. She was good to go.

Claudine sets out once more.

Late evening comes, and Claudine sighs, looking up at the darkening sky. Better stop and make camp. Another pointless afternoon.

She finds a tiny clearing close to the edge of a valley, surrounded by trees, and she makes herself a tiny fire to stay warm, munching on a dry dinner. Couldn’t risk cooking anything lest the smell attract the beast to her. Sitting on the ground, her pack next to her, Claudine chews on the inside of her cheek as she pulls out her map and stares at it, angling it just so she can get all the light she needs from the fire. She studies it for some time, glancing up every now and then at the clear sky up above to spot the full moon still obstinately hanging up above her, silver and white.

Every few minutes she pauses to listen, and all that accompanies her is the quiet sound of crickets, the quiet rustle of the wind in the branches of the trees, and a little far off, the sound of the stream rushing by.

Nothing out of the ordinary, for now. Claudine goes back to the map.

She studies her map for a while, mentally taking note of places that she might care to explore tomorrow. Her plan for the night would be she’ll put out the fire and then go climb a tree and find a nice branch to sit on and sleep in, because she’s not stupid enough to sleep on the ground.

Before she does that though, she thinks that she’ll grab a little snack from her pack before tucking in. She turns to the pack at her side, opening up the top flap--

Suddenly, she hears it.

The unmistakable, guttural sound of a low growl.

Claudine freezes, every muscle in her body tensed, coiled, ready to spring.

She slowly, slowly turns her head into the trees.

A vicious chill runs down her spine. Her heart stutters in her chest.

A giant wolf, barely outlined in the dimness of the moonlight stood just ten paces from her, its dark fur almost as deep a color as the shadows, with its brilliant violet eyes burning a hard gaze at her through the trees.

Stupidly, she thinks, it’s too early. It still has to be hours before midnight--

Claudine sees it before she can even think about it. The wolf, lowering itself, about to pounce--

Its giant form hurls through the trees, claws outstretched and Claudine’s body immediately reacts and she throws herself to the side, dodging and rolling, already whipping up her bow and nocking an arrow.

Her back hits a tree, and she bites her tongue as she sees the blur of the wolf go past her.

She’s ready to fight tooth and nail, she wouldn’t die here, she couldn’t possibly lose to a giant dog--

Instead, Claudine, braced against the tree, stands there, dumbstruck.

The wolf had landed by her pack and was digging through it, its muzzle pushing aside the open flap as it sniffed.

Claudine stands there, not daring to move. She didn’t want to fire her arrow. Her sword is still in her pack, she has no means of defending herself save for the one arrow she’d managed to whip out from her quiver. Like her quiver, the rest of her things are just a foot away from the wolf’s massive paws. Idiot, beginner’s move.

Claudine watches, instead. The wolf eventually seems to find what it’s looking for, giving another low growl, and it pushes out of her pack the... baumkuchen?

The wrapped piece of food lands on the grass, and the wolf paws at it, trying to undo the knot of the cloth. After a few vain seconds, the wolf snorts.

Claudine’s heart couldn’t possibly pound any harder.

The wolf looks up at her.

Then, it looks at the wrapped baumkuchen. Then at her again. It makes a swiping motion with its paw.

Claudine can’t help it. She looks around her, stupidly thinking who the hell is the wolf talking to. Was...the wolf talking to her?

The wolf growls, snapping Claudine’s attention back to it. It makes another gesture in the air, and Claudine can’t help but stare at its massive claws. No doubt this wolf could cleave an entire man in two.

When Claudine doesn’t move, the wolf gives an exasperated snort. It begins to nose the wrapped baumkuchen -- into her direction.

Claudine’s trapped against the tree. She has one arrow. She’s probably going to have a heart attack in the next thirty seconds. She doesn’t know what to do, her sword is over there, she has one arrow!

Within moments, Claudine’s pushed up against the tree as the wolf pads over to her, giant and huge and massive and every inch a beast. It noses the wrapped baumkuchen at her feet, giving a low whine. It makes the same swiping gesture once more, lifting one paw up at the baumkuchen.

Claudine realizes, belatedly, that the beast wanted her to unwrap the baumkuchen. The wolf. Wants the baumkuchen.

She doesn’t know what to do. Never once in her entire life had a monster she’d hunted ever asked her for anything.

Breathing hard, Claudine meets the wolf’s gaze and sees a sharp kind of intelligence there. No doubt about it. The wolf wasn’t normal.

It wants to eat her damn baumkuchen.

Slowly, deliberately, Claudine reaches down towards the baumkuchen. The wolf stares at her.

With a trembling, shaking hand, Claudine undoes the knot, the cloth falling away to reveal the prize within.

The wolf gives a high pitched keening sound, almost joyful, and immediately it digs in and Claudine bites down on her lip, hard, when she sees how sharp the wolf’s fangs are as it happily chows down.

A second too late, Claudine realizes that the wolf is hungry. Once it finishes the baumkuchen, it no doubt would go and finish her off.

But it’s right there! Just a pace away from her! She had one arrow!

Maybe she can beat it to death with her bow. Or, maybe her bare hands. That’d be one way to go down.

As Claudine’s thoughts get more and more desperate and wild as she stands there against the tree, the wolf finishes its meal, licking its lips with a growl of satisfaction.

It looks back up at her again. Claudine tries very, very, hard not to breathe.

It licks her face.

Claudine’s feeling too many emotions at once to even respond other than with a wide-eyed expression, and she swears for a split second that the wolf is grinning -- and then it turns away and begins to pad off into the trees again, its large tail wagging happily.

For a moment of clarity, Claudine uses her sleeve to wipe away the wolf’s gross spit and saliva from her face.

She nocks her arrow and fires.

The arrow shoots through the trees and hits its target -- how could it not, she couldn’t possibly hit missing the side of a barn -- but then the arrow harmlessly rebounds off the wolf’s back.

Claudine stands there, dumbstruck.

The wolf turns around with a mild expression, glancing at the broken arrow on the ground, then at Claudine. It raises its eyebrows, almost asking, really? Rolling its eyes, the wolf pads back over to her pack, nuzzling at its contents before it paws out her sword.

Wait. Her sword--

The wolf lowers its head, grasping the handle of the sword between its jaws, and then it swings its head and sends her sword flying into the forest. They both watch it fly in a graceful arc before it disappears into the trees.

The wolf looks at her again, its violet gaze challenging, almost daring her to try another move.

The damn beast eats her baumkuchen, and then it throws her sword. This sounds like some kind of setup straight out of a comedy, and Claudine can’t tell if some god is playing a giant prank on her or if this is all comically real.

Gritting her teeth, Claudine meets the wolf’s gaze with her own, unwilling to back down. If she was going to die, she absolutely would not die lying down.

The wolf stares at her for a few more seconds, before rolling its eyes and shrugging, giving a noncommittal grunt before it yawns, settling down next to the fire and curling up. It looks at her once more, jerking its head at the fire.

Claudine almost implodes. Now the wolf wants her to keep the fire going! How entitled!

Then again, it isn’t like she has many options. If she doesn’t light the fire, the wolf could still kill her anyway.

Stiffly taking a few steps away from the tree, Claudine comes to the opposite side of the fire across from the wolf, and tosses a few branches in, and the fire licks its way up the wooden fuel, softly crackling.

The wolf yawns, then closes its eyes and curls up to sleep.

Claudine’s been through many fights in her entire life, but never once has she met a foe that thought of her as so insignificant and so unimportant that it would calmly fall asleep in her presence. The amount of nerve this wolf had -- Claudine’s halfway between a volcanic eruption and a devastating earthquake of emotions as she stands there, fists shaking at her sides, bow clenched tightly in one hand.

Chapter Text

Panting, she reached an arm up to wipe away the sweat on her brow, breathing hard in the humid, jungle air. Hours, it felt like, since she’d departed from the village at the edge of the trees and entered the giant ocean of green and dense ferns and plants. Pausing to lean against the trunk of a large tree, she took the waterskin hanging from the pack on her pack and took a swig, thankful that the water within was still cool to the taste.

She could use magic, of course, to make it colder, but it’d be a waste. She needed to conserve her energy. She had to keep moving.

Taking a deep breath and swatting away the annoying bugs flitting around her, she carefully stepped over a large root and continued her way into the dense, unforgiving jungle.

Every now and then, she would pause and squint up through the canopy of leaves and take a guess at the time. A few hours before, she’d spotted the sun hanging high above her, blindingly white amidst the light blue sky. Taking that as her point of reference, she figured it was late afternoon by now. She still had some time to make it to her destination before evening would settle in.

Once, she heard the telltale sound of a stream flowing nearby, and she gratefully knelt down by its edge, cupping the flowing water in her hands and splashing it across her sweaty face. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair, sighing as the water cooled her temple. Her tank top was disgustingly drenched through, of course, but nonetheless she did her best to wash it clean in the waters of the stream before sparing a little magic to make it dry once more. She donned her top back on, settled her pack on her back, and set off once more into the endless green.

To the unknowing eye, it would’ve looked as though she were wandering aimlessly through the forest. To her, however, her path was straightforward and clear; with her years of training, she could see the subtle glow of runes scratched on the bark of tree trunks, pointing to her the way.

Back at home, she’d been haughty and arrogant in saying that her predictions were always right, that obviously there was a magical relic here in the jungle. When she’d gotten to the village, even she had spared just a little bit of doubt at herself; no one had found the relic before, so who was she to say that she could do it?

The villagers, however, had told her of a more alarming story. A few people like herself, they’d said, had gone into the forest looking for the god-touched item of legend; no doubt, like herself, they had followed the clues sprinkled across history.

None of them had ever come back.

Nonetheless, she followed the path markers, and continued on her way.

She couldn’t give up now.

The jungle became darker as time wore on, and soon enough she was forced to use a little magic to light a flame in her hand; it emitted no heat, only light, and it kept her company as she made her way through the dimness, carefully watching the ground to avoid tripping over any more roots or hitting any low-hanging branches.

Her efforts granted her a reward; just when she was thinking of stopping and making camp, she began to feel solid stone underneath her feet. Crouching down, she brought her flame close and saw, underneath the dark dirt, the unmistakable look of stone masonry underneath her.

Her breath caught in her throat, and she stood up, shouldered her pack, and hurried forward. She was close. She could feel it, and she could see it too, and the rune markers along the trees grew larger as the trees themselves became less dense, the trunks becoming larger and thicker as she pressed forward into the unseen.

Up ahead, between the trees, she could see an opening, and she gasped when she came out onto the other side of the jungle.

Before her, she saw a massive, stone building that towered high above her and its side buildings stretched like wings on either side of it, huge and looming and impressive in its size and splendor, even centuries later. Though it was old and weathered by the elements, she could make out the unmistakable sculpture of the swan at the peak of the tower that rose from the center, and it had cast its gorgeous wings outward, a symbol of the past power of its ruler.

Vines and plantlife and wildlife had long since reclaimed the giant palace for itself, stretching across window sills and climbing up and along the front walls, and even onto the front steps that led up to the massive front entrance. The doorway, she could tell as she drew near, holding up her little flame of light, had been impressive back in its day; a giant pair of doors that swung inward, its surfaces wrought with intricate, detailed scenes of the noble who no doubt had lived within.

She paused, then, to try and make out what the scenes were. Time had blurred some of the details, but she stood there and did her best to decipher the story.

On the left door, at the top. The first panel depicted the sun, how its rays of light stretched down to the people below, and in the center among them all, a young child wielding a sword.

Then, in the middle. The next panel showed the hero, now a little older, riding into battle against what looked to be a horde of literal demons. She had to squint a little to make out the atrocious horns and intimidating claws that the artist had etched onto the monsters, and she shivered. Even now, demons were still formidable foes. Her mother had been conscripted to fight against them in the last war.

The last panel, at the bottom. The hero, resting upon a throne, her sword at her side, the pommel in the shape of a swan. In her books at home, she had read that the hero had been saved at the last second by a swan, who had sacrificed itself to take the killing blow meant for the hero; but it’d given the chance for the hero to slay the demon general once and for all, creating lasting peace for the land.

She moved to the right door, to read its panels. She was less interested in these, as they depicted the hero building her kingdom with the support of her people at her side.

Shouldering her pack once more and holding her little flame aloft, she stepped inside.

Gasping, she clapped a hand to her mouth.

She had entered the great, long main hall, and it extended all the way down from her, a torn and frayed long carpet rolled out in the middle, overgrown with vines and weeds that had long since taken root within. On either side of her, with columns stretching into the high ceiling, were unlit braziers and tapestries hanging in between each, all faded and unraveled with age. No doubt, centuries ago, this place had been flawless and pristine with beauty and grace befitting its ruler, but now the building was crumbling, and if she craned her neck up, she could make out patches of the evening sky, starlight and moonlight drifting lazily down from above and into the main hall.

Chapter Text

Sitting in the secluded, dim corner of the tavern, Claudine clenched her hand around her tankard, ignoring the beer within it. She briefly considered drawing her hood over her head, but then thought against it. It would draw too much attention, what with the rowdy, boisterous loudness of the tavern around her. The adults sang drunken songs, thrusting their tankards and the air and laughing, their voices carrying over the large room, and the bartender and waiters had their hands busy as they flitted and dodged around the room to deliver even more food to their excited guests, while children giggled and flit around the adults’ feet with tiny sparklers in their hands.

Throughout it all, Claudine sat there, trying to look as small as possible.

She didn’t think she could celebrate anything, after what had happened.

A week and a half. One week and a half, it’d been.

Her knuckles turned white around the tankard, the cold metal hard against her palms.

The town had some local holiday, today. Claudine didn’t blame them for celebrating, for having their fun - what fun they could have, in a time like this, when her kingdom was tearing apart at the seams.

Her kingdom.

Her birthright.

Unjustly torn from her, by a cruel hand that claimed to be God’s scion, truthful and honest.

Lies, all of it.

She remembered the chaos of that night. How her retainers had smashed through her doorway, panting and breathless and a little wildness in their eyes, rushing to her and hastily throwing her things into a bag. Futaba and Kaoruko had then spirited her out of her room as fast as they could; Claudine had been able to hear sounds of fighting throughout the castle, ringing sounds of metal and steel clashing in the night. She’d realized then that her uncle, her father’s brother, had made his move.

As the three of them had descended down into the dungeons, she’d asked Futaba and Kaoruko whether her parents were coming with her.

Their faces, Kaoruko in near tears, Futaba in anguished despair. That had been enough of an answer.

The fighting had been coming closer and closer to them, at that point. Kaoruko had opened a secret passage, no doubt leading out of the castle and into the woodlands beyond the city.

“We’ll catch up to you, hold them off,” Futaba had said, panting, wielding her halberd just as Kaoruko wielded her own naginata. “Two towns to the east, there’s a tavern with a swan. Meet us there, in one week.”

Claudine had nodded, but hesitated. They had to move quickly; these were all the orders Futaba could give her. But she couldn’t -- wouldn’t -- leave them. Lose them, too.

Kaoruko pushed her forward. They weren’t able to waste more time.

“Go! Don’t worry about us!” Even through her tears, Kaoruko had managed to give her one last smile before she’d shut the passage.

Now Claudine sat here, in the tavern called the Swan’s Song, and it’d been three days past their assigned meeting date. She remembered, how, after the exact passing of one week she’d waited. And waited. That entire day...Waiting, and waiting.

Neither of her retainers showed up.

She’d gone to her small, rented room in the tavern that night, and cried. She hadn’t cried before that, not when she’d sprinted through the hidden passage, not when she’d traveled alone through the forest, not when she’d finally gotten a day to rest in the tavern, all the while holding out hope against hope that her friends would appear. Now that her last ray of light had faded, she had cried, hunched in a ball against the door, sobs wracking her chest as she grieved for her parents and her friends and for all she knew in the castle who had resisted her uncle’s rebellion.

She didn’t cry after that. She couldn’t afford to.

With a discreet gesture, she checked the pouch of money tied securely to her belt. She still had a good deal, but she knew it wouldn’t last her long.

She would have to move on. Soon.

As she watched several children run circles around one of the tables in the tavern, Claudine once more rolled over her plans in her head. It was the only thing she could do.

She had to find a way to get to the neighboring kingdom. She knew of extended family there, who she had the utmost faith would help her in her plight; Claudine knew for certain that her aunt, her mother’s sister, would no doubt be building up her own rebel forces right now to retake the throne. She just had to reach her, first.

But how to do it, without getting caught? By careful eavesdropping, Claudine had discovered that the official word from her uncle was that she’d died along with her parents. He’d no doubt said that to give the illusion that his rule was absolute. Having her alive complicated things, when the throne was, by all rights, hers.

Claudine couldn’t tarry here for long. No doubt, a team of assassins had been sent to find her trail.

Following her own advice, Claudine stood up, tossing a coin on the table and turning to head back to her room. She could tuck in early, then rise tomorrow and head out--

Suddenly, a chill went down her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Out of the corner of her eye, Claudine saw someone watching her, staring straight at her.

She didn’t bother to look. She had to move. Now.

Just as Claudine began to dart and push her way through the crowd, she saw the figure in the corner of her eye stand up, and move to follow her. Her heart pounded. She shouldn’t have stayed here.

Hurling into a room, Claudine slammed the door shut and was a whirlwind as she gathered her things into her pack. For a split second, she considered leaving out the door -- but no, stupid, her tail was only going to follow her, she had to jump from the window.

Claudine didn’t stop to think. She threw open the window and jumped -- out of the second floor.

Futaba and Kaoruko had taught her enough of a knight’s ways; she hit the ground and immediately rolled, wincing at the shock of pain up her ankle, before she started sprinting.

No looking back -- she ran, ran as fast as she could through the winding alleys of the town and into the shadowed darkness of the trees, the moon hanging high above her in the sky. Her ankle throbbed -- she ignored it. She kept going, hurling past the trees, pushing branches out of her way, not daring to turn around and look back.

When she’d ran a sizable distance, enough so that the lights of the town could only be dimly seen in between the trees, she slowed to a stop and placed her back against a tree.

Glancing around her, she saw nothing, only the stillness of evergreens, and the looming darkness of the forest beyond.

There would be no comfort for her tonight. Her life on the run began now, this moment.

Swallowing, Claudine turned and kept walking, her hand perpetually at the knife at her belt. She wished she had her sword -- but in their rush to run from the castle, they hadn’t had time to pick it up.

The sounds of the town and its merrymaking faded away, and soon enough, quietness closed in around her, eerie and unnerving and almost unfriendly. Claudine shivered. She kept walking. She was too afraid to stop and make camp, not when the forest was so open and vulnerable. If she could find some kind of cave to rest in, maybe, or...something. Anything.

She spent a moment getting her bearings, studying the constellations in the sky and figuring out which direction she needed to go in. As long as she headed east, she’d make it one way or another to the neighboring kingdom.

Nobility she may be though, she couldn’t pass up on sleep or weariness, and by what she figures is late at night, she has to stop and rest.

She sat down at the base of a wide tree, drawing her knees up to her chest and dumping her pack next to her. This entire week...It’d done enough to her.

She could spare herself thirty minutes of sleep.

Claudine closed her eyes, letting tiredness, grief, and heartache pull her into unconsciousness.

---

She woke when she heard the snap of a tree branch.

Eyes flying open, heart ripping a wild pounding in her chest, Claudine jerked her hand out towards her bag, gripping it hard.

Staying crouched and low to the ground, Claudine blinked hard, trying to pull herself out of the haze of sleep.

She did a quick glance around her.

Trees. Bushes. Shrubs.

No people, though.

Using the tree trunk as support, she slowly, slowly, pushed herself up to stand. The sky was lightening; probably just half an hour before dawn.

Tha was when she heard it, behind her, the person standing around the tree.

“Your Highness.”

Claudine’s stomach dropped to her feet, and her entire body was seized by an ice cold hand, a violent shiver running down her spine as she turned.

She allowed herself half a second to look.

A woman her age. Young. A sword at her waist. Wearing a cloak, too. Brunette hair. A violet gaze.

Claudine didn’t hesitate.

She whirled around and sprinted. Sprinted, as hard as she could.

“W-wait! Princess!”

Claudine heard the woman following close behind her, running at the same pace to catch up to her. God, god! Claudine didn’t bother figuring out where to go; she simply ran as fast as she could, dodging around trees, jumping over bushes, ducking under branches.

But she was tired. Oh, she was so tired. Running was the last thing she wanted to do, but surviving and living was the first thing she wanted to do, so she had to make do with what she had.

And what she had was a single knife, some gold in a pouch, and some clothes and basic tools in her pack. Not a lot to go on. Eventually she’d have to stop running.

Claudine gritted her teeth, trying not to let despair weigh on her lungs; she needed to breathe to run, to fight.

So be it then. If she were to die, she would die fighting.

Claudine skidded to a halt, ripping her knife out from her belt.

Her pursuer stopped in her tracks as well, panting hard -- but Claudine didn’t give her much time to recover, and instead Claudine takes the advantage. She dashed forward, remembering her training, going for the lethal points with her dagger.

Her opponent dodged, a look of alarm on her face. “Princess, wait--”

Claudine kept up her barrage of attacks, and her opponent dodged and ducked backwards, just barely avoiding the end of her blade. “Princess, I’m not here to hurt you--”

“And you expect me to believe that?” Claudine snarled. She grunted as she swung her knife around again -- and the end lodged itself in a tree. Shit.

Chapter Text

Maya saw her first, and her heart stuttered in her chest, her breath catching in her throat as she saw Claudine exit the airport doors.

Claudine. Her Claudine.

Her feet were already moving before she could think, and soon enough, Claudine’s wandering gaze fell on her girlfriend and her face -- oh, her beautiful face -- lit up as well.

They’d been together long enough that they didn’t need words. They embraced each other, hard, Claudine burying her face in Maya’s shoulder and Maya eagerly inhaling that lingering scent of lavender in Claudine’s hair. Then, they spared a second to kiss -- a messy kiss, bumping teeth -- but it made them both give a breathless laugh, foreheads touching as they finally took the chance to gaze at their other half.

Only three weeks, it’d been, of Claudine heading home for family business.

Still. It’d felt like an awfully long time to be away from the person they loved most.

Claudine stood on her toes for the briefest second to give Maya a quick peck on the lips -- couldn’t display too much PDA, they were still at the airport.

“Let’s go home, Maya,” she said softly.

Maya looked so happy in that moment, and she reached her hand up to gently brush Claudine’s cheek with the tips of her knuckles. “I’d like nothing less, love.”

---

As much as Maya wanted to make love to her girlfriend the second they got home, she was also aware that Claudine was tired, jetlagged, and needed rest.

She helped carry Claudine’s suitcase up to their apartment while Claudine stretched and yawned, complaining about how she smelled like the inside of an airplane and how she needed a good nap and then a good meal. Maya chuckled; she was already ten steps ahead, having prepared their fanciful dinner already, earlier that day.

They’d barely entered their bedroom when Claudine began stripping, tossing away her coat, throwing off her jeans, flinging off her shirt and happily relieving herself of bra before entering their closet while Maya rolled her eyes and set her suitcase off to the side.

She knew what Claudine wanted next; she neatly put away her own coat on top of a set of drawers before drawing on her own pair of sweatpants and settling down into bed. Afternoon it may be, she knew what Claudine wanted, and she planned on giving it.

While she waited, she turned her gaze to the warm afternoon sunlight gently spilling out from the shades covering the balcony doors; the lazy beams slanted across the floor and across their bed, marking a tender orange glow across the sheets in the dimness of their room. It was a fine day, all in all. Even better, now, with Claudine here. She was her starlight, her sunlight, her moonlight, and everything in between. That much, would never change.

Claudine came out of the closet, wearing one of Maya’s accursed ‘This is Tendou Maya’ t-shirts and a pair of panties, and saw Maya expectantly waiting on the bed, elbow propped on a pillow.

With a smug, knowing grin, Claudine gladly slipped underneath the covers of their bed, sighing with contentment as she snuggled in close to Maya’s side, resting her head on her shoulder.

After a second though, she paused, and propped herself up on an elbow.

Maya raised an eyebrow. “You wanted to cuddle, right?”

“...I want to spoon.”

Maya laughed. “Big spoon or little spoon?”

She watched with amusement as Claudine seemed to think it over. Then, Claudine said, “...Little.”

“Sure.”

Claudie laid down on her side and felt Maya snuggle close in behind her, wrapping an arm around her. Now this felt better. Nothing better than getting off an hours-long flight and getting to spend some quality cuddle time with her loved one.

Maya, on the other hand, with a light heart, pressed her face into Claudine’s hair, letting out a hum of happiness. Now this felt right.

“God, you always really did like being big spoon,” Claudine mumbled.

“And you really like topping when we’re having sex, but you don’t hear me complaining.”

Maya gave a startled oomph when Claudine roughly elbowed her stomach.

“Maya, don’t ruin the mood. Just shut up and cuddle me.”

“As you wish.”

Spending a few moments pressing light kisses to her girlfriend’s shoulder, Maya said softly, “I thought you hated that shirt.”

“It’s comfortable. Even if it’s ugly,” Claudine yawned.

“Ouch.”

“Suck it up.”

“Won’t you be cold wearing just that?”

Claudine looked over her shoulder to give Maya a look. “Maya, why do you think we’re cuddling? You’re going to keep me warm while I nap.”

Maya chuckled. “You’re so needy.”

“Maya. Cuddles. Now.”

“Of course, love. Of course.”

Settling down with another sigh, Claudine took comfort in being in their soft bed, her girlfriend pressed close behind her and holding her so. She’d missed being in her girlfriend’s arms. She’d missed sharing a bed with her warm, soft body. She’d missed Maya, period.

“I missed you,” she said softly.

“I missed you too,” Maya said just as gently, her breath warm across the back of Claudine’s neck. “I missed you too, my love.”

Just before Claudine slipped into slumber, she felt Maya gently slip her hand into her own, and it made her smile.

Meanwhile, Maya listened to the rhythm of Claudine’s breathing slow, how she softened and relaxed in her arms.

Burying her face in those wonderful locks of blonde hair, Maya breathed in, deeply, cherishing the moment. Finally. Claudine, home.

True to her word, Maya stayed there, snuggling close, the both of them warm underneath the blankets. She took some time to admire the glow of Claudine’s golden hair in the afternoon light, took some time to press some more kisses against Claudine’s shoulder, took some time to simply lie there and listen to the peacefulness that surrounded them both.

Chapter Text

When Claudine stepped off the subway train, she tiredly shouldered her bag and hurried up the steps, eyes squinting against the bitter winter wind. Great. Not only a long, difficult day at work, but the weather wasn’t all that nice either. A cold front moving in meant cloudy skies and dismal, freezing winds that nipped at her nose and cheeks.

As she made her way along the sidewalk, dodging other fast-paced commuters heading home, she comforted herself with the thought that she was at least finally heading home.

Home.

Work had been rough; their director had been particularly grueling lately, intent on perfection, and it tended to make the cast altogether a little more stressed and irritable as they all tried to bear the brunt of their director’s criticisms. Admittedly, it was something she was used to, but even she could only take so much.

Sighing as she made her way up the steps up to the apartment, Claudine felt herself relax. At least at home, she could get herself a nice cup of tea and fall into bed and curl up amongst the sheets and get some well deserved rest.

And she could be with her girlfriend. That was what Claudine looked forward to the most.

She headed inside, tossed her bag down on the couch in the living room and headed straight to the bedroom.

As expected, Claudine found Maya in bed already, settled half underneath the sheets as she sat back against the headboard, a book in her lap. The lamp on the nightstand provided a warm light over her in the dimness of their room, and Maya looked up when Claudine came in.

“Hi.” Maya’s expression softened, and Claudine’s heart did too.

“Hi.” Claudine dipped into their closet to quickly strip off her clothes and throw on some sweats. With that, she went back out and saw Maya had settled down onto the bed, arm already propped out for Claudine to join her at her side.

With a happy grin, Claudine let out a cheerful sigh as she slid under the covers and into Maya’s embrace. Maya gave a quick kiss to the top of Claudine’s head, shifting a little so she could pick up her book once more.

“Was rehearsal that bad today?” Maya asked, deftly using a single hand to turn the page.

“Stressful, as usual,” Claudine said with a yawn. “We’re all thinking of talking to the director and asking him to tone it down.”

“A good idea.”

“What’ve you been reading?”

“Mm. It’s a long fantasy. Junna recommended it to me.”

“Does it have romance in it?”

Maya laughed. “Yes, Claudine, it does have romance in it.”

“Good.” Claudine closed her eyes, inhaling the light scent of strawberries on Maya’s sweater. It was her old gray one, the one she still wore from Seisho. Claudine remembered when she asked why Maya still wore the damn thing when it’d been years, and Maya had stubbornly said it was pointless to throw it out of it held up over time.

Though Claudine wouldn’t say it, she too had a fondness for it. It had a lot of memories. She’d worn it herself many times (to which Maya pointed out each time, and Claudine told her to shut up).

“How was work for you today, though?” Claudine asked.

Maya lowered her book for a moment, thinking. “Nana showed me more of the paperwork that goes into productions.” She sighed. “I never quite thought being backstage would involve that much writing and meetings.” Lately, Maya had taken an interest in the more technical side of theater as well, and Nana had helpfully taken her under her wing. It was one thing to be the star of the show; it was another to be the one who created it.

They continued to speak idly of their day, with occasional pauses to let Maya read a page of her book. Claudine took those moments to simply enjoy the comfort and warmth that Maya provided; on stage Maya always had such hard and sharp edges, but at home she could be so soft, so gentle.

She found herself dozing off, and Maya softly spoke her name to wake her. “Claudine. We should get dinner.”

Blinking blearily for a second, Claudine instead tugged a little at Maya’s sweater. “We can’t just cuddle some more?”

“I would love to, but I’m hungry.”

Claudine couldn't argue against that. With a heavy and dramatic sigh, she rolled onto her side as Maya got out of bed, rolling up the sleeves of her sweater.

“I’ll make dinner for us, love. You could take a bath in the meanwhile. I know that always cheers you up,” Maya said.

A warm bath with soft bubbles with a gentle aroma wasn’t exactly the same as cuddling her girlfriend, but Claudine saw the appeal in it too. It’d be a nice way to relax from her long, grueling day, too.

So as Maya went to the kitchen, Claudine tied her hair up into a bun and prepared herself a bath, and as she dipped into the bathtub, she gave a sigh of relief as the heated water soothed the tension in her body. Leaning her head against the edge of the tub, she sank neck-deep into the water, little soap bubbles on the surface providing her an aroma of lavender. Glancing at the edge of the tub, Claudine saw Maya’s stupid rubber duck, and she had half a mind to swat it onto the floor.

She took it, and put it on the water too, where it happily bobbed up and down.

“Stupid duck,” she muttered, and it floated on its idle way across the sea of foam bubbles. She kinda liked it, as dumb and terrible and ugly as it was.

---

Eventually, Maya came to the bathroom and knelt down by the tub, telling her dinner was ready.

“Oh, I thought you hated Mr. Puddles.” Maya reached out and picked up her rubber duck with a smug smile.

“I do hate him. He’s stupid, like you.”

“If I’m stupid, Claudine, then you have to be just as stupid for dating me and living with me.”

Claudine’s answer was a flick of her fingers, splashing Maya with a bit of water.

“Hey!” Maya ran a hand over her face, but she was smiling too. “I’m happy to see you’re feeling better, at least. Enough so to be mean to me, as usual.”

“I’m only mean to you when you’re doing something stupid. Which is almost all the time.” Claudine nonetheless beckoned with one finger for Maya to lean in; she did, and Claudine gave her a quick kiss in apology. “I’ll be out of the bath in a moment. Thanks, for making dinner.”

“Anytime, love.” Maya straightened up and left, leaving Claudine to clean herself up.

---

Dinner, as it turned out, was Maya preparing a candlelit dinner with rose petals scattered across the dinner table.

“You’ve had a long day, love. I thought I’d make something special today,” Maya said, coming up from behind Claudine to wrap her arms around Claudine’s waist.

“Not bad.” Claudine turned her head to press a kiss to Maya’s cheek.

“‘Not bad’?” Maya sounded offended. “You understand who you’re talking to, yes?”

“You heard what I said.” Laughing, Claudine gently turned herself around in Maya’s arms to reach her hands up and cup Maya’s cheeks. “You know I love this, Maya. Believe me, if it wasn’t up to my standards, you would know. And you know that you’re always up to my standards.”

“If the day comes when I do something that isn’t up to your standards, would you say so?” Maya asked.

“Obviously.” Claudine rolled her eyes. “Now come on. Let’s eat.”

Like always, Maya’s hand at perfection -- at really, anything -- served Claudine well here, the dinner as perfect and as good as any other, always done exactly to Claudine’s tastes and preferences. Of course, Claudine knew for a fact that it was Nana really pulling the strings in the background, who had taught them both to cook better than the average person, so credit had to be given where due.

With dinner complete, they went through their usual routine of cleaning up. Maya chose dishes, while Claudine put things away. It was the rhythm of things that also brought Claudine comfort; they’d lived together long enough now to know what balance they needed around their home, what they both liked and disliked. It was another way to say they were partners in more places than just the stage.

When all was said and done, Claudine took the opportunity to come up behind Maya at the sink and wrap her arms around Maya’s torso. “Now. I want to cuddle, Maya.”

Maya laughed, finishing off a dish and placing it in the dish rack next to her. “Do you, now. I would have never noticed unless you told me.”

Rolling her eyes, Claudine stepped away and made her way to the bedroom. “Just get over here when you’re done.”

“Of course.”

Claudine settled into bed, and Maya, true to her word, came soon after. She did as Claudine had asked of her, getting underneath the sheets and offering her arm so that Claudine could snuggle in close.

“Finally,” Claudine mumbled.

“So needy.”

“Shut up.”

Maya chuckled, taking her book from the nightstand and flicking on the lamp, resuming where she’d left off. For some time, there was nothing but the sound of Maya turning the page, the slight rustle of the sheets as one of them shifted for comfort. Claudine took her time to listen to the peace surrounding them, to feel the gentle rise and fall of Maya’s chest as she breathed in and out, to watch the simple gesture of her hand as she turned a page of her book.

The simple domesticity of it all. She could’ve argued to herself that she cuddled with Maya every night, but it was the idea of being with her loved one in that kind of way that made Claudine’s heart feel soft and warm. To be at Maya’s side, every night, to wake up next to her, every morning.

She liked it all very much. She would say, she loved it very much, too.

“Good night, Maya,” Claudine said, closing her eyes and letting drowsiness drift over her.

“Good night, my love.” Maya pressed one last kiss to her head before she sank into slumber, dreaming of a sweet smile.

Chapter Text

Inhaling a deep breath of the eternal summer air, Claudine leans against the marble column of her hilltop temple, an apple in her hand as she gazes out onto the land. A faint flutter of the breeze and the quiet twinkle of windchimes are gentle sounds to her ears, and the tender warm touch of the sun’s light settles lightly against her skin. The wind ruffles the edges of her white robe as she draws her knees up to her chest, settling her chin atop.

Crunch. She takes a bite out of her apple, trying not to think of the last time she’d eaten a forbidden fruit.

Instead, Claudine focuses on the distance, of the land she called her own.

Elysium.

It’s a perfect heaven and eternal paradise for the heroes of the mortal world. Endless fields of ever blooming flowers of all colors, with clear and clean streams of the finest water crisscrossing in between. Hilltops and valleys of the liveliest flora and fauna, with only the loveliest summer weather accompanied by a pleasant sun and even sweeter moon.

Pursing her lips, Claudine made a mental note to thank Karen and Hikari later. The goddesses of the sun and moon deserved their due credit for keeping watch over her own little pocket realm, away from the rest of the Underworld.

Despite the sweetness of the apple, Claudine tastes bitterness on the tip of her tongue, and she can’t help but stiffen her shoulders as she thinks of the reason why Elysium existed in the first place. Not only was it a worthy afterlife and heaven for the heroes, but it was a haven for herself as well. Being Queen of the Underworld isn’t as appealing as most people think it might be; Claudine isn’t a big fan of eternal damnation, after all, and Elysium’s shores and fields were the only places she could find a reprieve from the rest of hell.

“Your Highness?”

Claudine turns her head to see a tall figure striding towards her, shaded by the interior of the temple. She squints a little, then feels her shoulders relax in relief.

“Nana. What is it?” Claudine pushes herself up. “What news do you have?”

Nana, all blonde hair and bright green eyes, smiles at her with all the warmth of a star. “Good news! The reparations of that old temple in the southern quarter is going well.”

Leaning one shoulder against the column, Claudine nods as she takes another bite out of her apple. “Good. That place has been crumbling apart for decades, I’m glad we’re finally taking a look at it.” Chewing on her apple, Claudine then gestures of Nana to follow her. “Here, let’s walk. I’d like to hear of what else you’ve heard…”

The two of them descend the steps of the marble temple and enter into a garden with neat little dirt paths, and Nana tells the Queen of Elysium about the ongoing renovations of the rest of the realm.

It’s a daily occurrence for Nana to come to her, to bring her news. In the afterlife, Nana still wore what she’d worn while with the living; polished golden armor that hinted at her toned and lean muscles, with hints of white accents on the edges, accompanied by sleek leather sandals with straps criss crossing up to her knees. It was the signature mark and wear of a renowned warrior, and the two swords resting at her hips said enough of Nana’s strength and prowess.

It contrasts wildly with Claudine’s simple white robe clipped at the shoulder with a golden brooch and the golden wreath resting atop her head, but it’s something to be expected when living in the realm of heroes. Besides, it’s not necessary for Claudine to look the part of a queen -- she is a queen, with or without her title.

“...told me that Junna’s finishing the blueprints of the new lighthouse,” Nana says as the two of them stand at the edge of the garden, looking out into a deep valley down below. “She also has some new ideas for conjuring up an eternal flame, and she’d like you to come by her workshop later this week.”

Claudine chuckles, tossing away the finished apple core. “Let me guess. You’d like to come with me?”

For a battle-hardened warrior, Nana squirms a little under Claudine’s gaze, a red blush to her cheeks. “I-I wouldn’t mind at all, Your Highness.”

“C’mon, Nana. Just call me by my name.”

Nana glances around her; once she’s verified that it’s just them two, she gives a little nod of acknowledgement.

“It’s skill kind of weird to call you that, though,” Nana admits. “You’re a queen, Kuro.”

“A queen,” Claudine snorts. “A queen of dead people isn’t really the most impressive title.”

“Still a queen though,” Nana chuckles.

“And you’ve known me for like, what, a decade now? You can drop the ‘Your Highness.’”

Not like time really had any meaning when they both lived in eternity, but still. Claudine preferred to keep things casual. She preferred to not be reminded of her unwanted position.

Nana gives a nonchalant shrug with a giggle. “Fine, fine! I’ll do my best to loosen up...but only if you do, too.” The tail end of Nana’s words change tone, and Claudine glances at her longtime friend to see Nana studying her with an intent look.

“Loosen up,” Claudine repeats under her breath. “How can I?” Paradise, Elysium may be, but it was only to the dead who saw its merits. For Claudine, it was her prison, her punishment for her hubris. She had no one to blame but herself, she knew...but it didn’t make her any less bitter, any less reluctant to accept her role as a queen of a realm she didn’t want.

Concern colors Nana’s voice. “They’re worried about you, you know.”

“Who?”

“Your people.”

Claudine lets out a huff of disbelief. “Why would they need to worry? They’re living in heaven.”

“A heaven ruled by an unhappy queen. They understand all the work and effort you put into this place,” Nana says, and in the light of the sunset, a golden glow frames her serious expression. “Kuro, I’m just saying. Your unhappiness -- it’s tied to Elysium too, you know.”

Pursing her lips and looking away, Claudine can see the truth in Nana’s words. As a queen, as a goddess, her connection to Elysium influenced it in more ways than one.

“The storm last week,” Nana says gently. “Did something happen?”

Tasting bile on her tongue, Claudine once more gestures for Nana to follow her. As they head towards a shaded pavilion, Claudine says softly, “Maya came to visit.”

Those were always dark days for Claudine and the rest of Elysium. Claudine hated being reminded of her monumental failure; she’d been arrogant enough to challenge Maya and stupid enough to lose the battle against Maya, the threads of fate unwinding towards Maya’s favor, and in losing Claudine had lost a good deal more than just her pride. She’d lost a portion of her freedom on the mortal world and in the realm of the gods higher above. She’d made a stupid, stupid mistake, and there was no god of time to undo her pride.

Claudine had done the best she could with what cards she’d been dealt. If she had to rule Elysium, then she would rule it and watch over it as best she could...even if it made her unhappy. She wasn’t one to impede her mistakes on others.

“I figured,” Nana says, not unkindly as they take a seat down on a marble bench. The two of them gaze out into the rest of Elysium, watching the golden sun makes it descent to the horizon. “I assume if I’m the one bringing you good news, you see her as--”

“The person who brings bad news, yes.” Leaning on one hand, Claudine lets out a heavy sigh. “She...came here, to check up on me. I...didn’t want that.”

Nana says nothing, waiting patiently at her queen’s side.

“...I just don’t understand. She’s been doing that lately. Just...coming here, asking me how I’m doing,” Claudine says, an undercurrent of anger in her tone. “As if she cares about how I’m doing at all. I just...I hate when she comes here. I hate seeing her, I hate...being reminded of how I fucked up. I hate it all.”

Nana nods in acknowledgement.

“It’s just…” Claudine lets out a shaky exhale, trying to ignore the tightness of her chest. The wind turns a little colder, a little chillier, and Nana shivers despite the warm sunset.

Claudine continues, “I wished she didn’t come here at all. But I know why she does. This is the underworld, afterall. She has to check in on everything in her realm.”

“But it’s your realm now,” Nana says softly. “And you’ve been taking care of Elysium for quite a long time now.”

Claudine gives a noncommittal grunt. Again, the concept of time. She really didn’t want to think about how long it’d been since she’d gotten here.

“So...Kuro,” Nana says, hesitation slipping into her voice. “What if...Maya’s really just coming here to try and talk to you?”

“Why would she do that?” Claudine snaps her gaze to Nana’s, abruptly sitting up straight, her hands curling into fists in her lap. “I have nothing to say to her.”

Chapter Text

Fear. Terrible, indescribable, fear.

Claudine drops down onto her knees next to Maya, tears in her eyes as she begins ripping off the ends of the sleeves on her shirt, hands trembling as she stares down at Maya’s crumpled body. Her stomach wrenches in her gut, and she tries so, so hard to stifle her sobs.

That beast -- maybe a long time ago it’d been a giraffe -- whatever it was now, it was clever, it was cunning, it was cutthroat and brutal.

Just when she thought their team had had the upper hand -- it’d gone straight for their strongest, Maya.

And Maya hadn’t been prepared.

The beast had dashed off into the forest and away from the clearing while they’d all cried out in alarm as Maya had slammed into the trees behind her, brutal gashes along her chest and arms, blood seeping into her clothes and onto the ground underneath her. Even in the silver moonlight, with shadows eerily cast down from the forest trees around them, Claudine had been able to tell enough in that single moment the monster’s blow had landed to know that what had hit Maya had been nigh close to a death blow.

Claudine doesn’t hesitate for a second. She sprints straight after Maya, God be damned. Not after everything they’d been through to get this far, to find that monster. She couldn’t lose...

“You three! Go on ahead! Follow him!” Nana barks at Junna, Karen, and Hikari. Karen had opened her mouth to argue, but a sharp look from Nana cut her off; Hikari and Junna gave quick nods and dashed off after their prey, with Karen shutting her eyes and sprinting after them.

“Maya, Maya, stay with me,” Claudine pants, pressing one hand over a deep cut over Maya’s stomach. “You damn vampire, you are not dying like this.”

Maya, her white shirt stained brilliant red, her black pants soaked with her blood, chokes out a response, blood dripping down her chin, “I-I’m fine--”

“No, you’re not,” said a sharp, clear voice; Claudine looks up to see Nana kneeling down next to them both. Nana reaches a hand out, pressing it against Maya’s shoulder to get her to sit back fully against the tree, ignoring Maya’s choked gasp and flash of pain across her face. “You need to stay here.”

Maya tries to say a reply, but she coughs again, face twisted in agony, her chest riddled with deep gashes and lethal cuts.

“God, Maya,” Claudine says, and she reaches up to tear off makeshift bandages from her shirt sleeves, hands trembling as she tries to wrap the bandages around Maya’s torso. “I swear to God--”

“You’ll die if you don’t do it, you know,” Nana says, and Claudine glances up to see Nana and Maya exchanging a heavy look.

Maya’s eyes widen. “No. I won’t. Not to her--”

“Then you’ll die.” Nana’s gaze doesn’t waver, and then she turns her head to look straight at Claudine, and a shiver shoots down Claudine’s spine. It’s the first time since she’s met Nana that Nana appears... inhuman. It shouldn’t have been surprising -- it was Maya who introduced her to Nana -- but when Nana speaks, it’s the first time Claudine really notices Nana’s fangs, how her eyes possess an ethereal glow from the moonlight above.

Claudine swallows.

“Claudine. She needs blood,” Nana says, straightforward. “You--”

“No!” Maya snarls, another cough wracking her body, but she forces herself to say, “Claudine, I won’t--”

Nana brutally cuts her off, maintaining her forceful gaze on Claudine. “She needs the blood to recover. She’ll heal faster with human blood.”

The two of them stare at each other, Claudine’s brain going through a thousand thoughts. She looks down at the makeshift bandage she’d pressed against Maya’s torso, and sees that it’s already coated in blood, slick and warm on her fingers. She glances up to see Maya’s face, pale and weak, but her pleading gaze wrenches Claudine’s gut--

“I’m not going to force you to choose,” Nana says after a moment, standing up and gripping the two katanas in her hands as she stares out across the clearing. “Join us, once you’re done. We’ll finish him off.”

Then, with that unnerving, vampiric speed, Nana dashes off across the clearing in a blur before she too disappears off into the trees.

“Claudine, don’t,” Maya pants, and Claudine whips her head back to see Maya gazing at her, her lavender eyes begging. “Just go, I’ll be fine--”

“You won’t,” Claudine says through gritted teeth, still fighting back tears. She takes her hands away from Maya’s chest, and ignoring the blood on her fingers, pushes her hair back over her shoulder, kneeling closer. Her heart pounds in her chest, driven not by the fear of dying herself but by the overwhelming terror that Maya …

“Maya, just--”

“You might die,” Maya says, desperate. “I might take too much, it’ll take a lot to--”

“Then do it, take as much as you need,” Claudine says, breathing shallow as she tries to control her nerves. “I swear, you’re not dying here.”

“But I don’t want you to die either,” Maya whispers.

“I trust you, Maya.” Claudine leans forward, baring her neck as she tilts her head. “So please.”

Every second they waste arguing means Maya is one step closer to leaving, and with the cold sweat breaking out on her forehead and the tense anxiety twisting her insides, Claudine wants nothing more than for Maya to live -- whatever it took to do that, Claudine would do it.

Maya resists the impulse and the urge for a strong few seconds, hunger and desperation twisting her expression, but with a short gasp, she clenches a fist in Claudine’s coat before she opens her mouth, fangs bared.

Claudine can’t help but cry out when she feels the fangs sink through her skin, and she has to reach a hand forward and brace herself against the tree as Maya too pulls her in close, her own hands tugging at Claudine’s coat. Instinct told Claudine to run, for becoming ensnared in a vampire’s grasp is the last thing any human would want, but every emotion in Claudine’s body holds her there, fierce and determined to see this through, to make sure Maya still lived…

But God. It hurts. Claudine winces and pants a little as Maya’s fangs sink even deeper, seeking out more of her blood, and she feels Maya’s tongue against her skin, drinking it all in. Maya pulls her in close enough until she’s sitting in Maya’s lap, and she clenches her hands around Maya’s shoulders to steady herself, gritting her teeth as she begins to feel lightheaded.

But still, Claudine resists the urge to make Maya stop. However much Maya needed…

At some point, Claudine’s vision begins to blur, and everything feels cold to the touch, even Maya.

And finally, Maya pulls away with a gasp, blood dripping down her chin, her eyes vivid and bright. Rejuvenated and revived, Maya opens her mouth to tell Claudine--

But Claudine slouches in her embrace, and Maya gives a startled cry as she props Claudine up. “Claudine, stay with me--”

Claudine’s vision blurs, and the tips of her fingers feel cold; she can just barely sense the sensation of Maya standing up, holding Claudine in her arms, and Claudine rests her head against Maya’s shoulder...She felt so tired, cold, if she could just...sleep…

“Claudine! Claudine, you have to stay awake!” Maya’s desperate voice cuts through her haze, and Claudine just manages to mumble a weak response back.

“Maya…”

She was alive.

Chapter Text

Groaning, Claudine pushes herself up off the sandy cavern floor, wincing as she feels all the brunt of the scrapes and cuts across her bare skin. As she squints in the dimness, she looks up above her to see a small, circular opening, with starlight pouring in from the open sky. That brings her a little relief; she isn’t completely trapped in this old magical cavern. Or, pit, now more accurately, as Claudine unsteadily stands up and looks at her surroundings.

The golden riches and wonders that had been there just before were now gone, replaced with numerous rocks blanketed by piles and piles of sand; there was no treasure here, any longer.

Except…

Claudine glances down at her tightly clenched fist. At least throughout all that trouble, she’d gotten what she’d been told to get -- some kind of stupid old banged up lamp.

“Oi! Kuro!”

A familiar voice echoes down to her, and Claudine squints up at the cavern opening way up high.

“Futaba?! Is that you?!” Cupping her hands to her mouth, Claudine calls up above to her friends. “You guys! I’m alright!”

If she squints, Claudine can just make out the the two dark figures of her friends peeking out over the giant pit’s opening, starlight behind them.

From a distance, Claudine hears Futaba shout down to her, “You alright?!”

“Yeah! I’m fine, just roughed up a little!”

“Thank goodness!” Kaoruko’s voice joins Futaba’s. “Don’t die yet Kuro! You still owe me for lunch!”

Claudine rolls her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. Well, at least her friends seemed unscathed; they’d managed to get out of the crumbling magical cave in time, jumping out of the tiger’s mouth in the nick of time. Claudine, however, hadn’t been so lucky just two steps behind.

“Just wait there! We’re gonna figure a way to get you out!” Futaba calls, then her shadow disappears as she pulls away; Kaoruko follows after, and once more Claudine is left to stare up at the opening up way, way above her, far from reach. Sighing, Claudine puts the lamp down before drawing her worn and weathered vest more securely around herself; she’d be here for a while no doubt.

She takes a few minutes to study the pit’s rocky walls, and finds that there’s no footholds or handholds solid enough for her to hold onto, so climbing out isn’t an option. She tries to see if there’s any gear she can dig up from underneath the piles of sand, but all her fingers can catch hold onto is the fine grain of sand or the rough surface of rock.

Heaving a sigh, Claudine goes to sit down next to the lamp, drawing her knees up to her chest.

“Stupid lamp,” she says underneath her breath, shooting it a glare as if it’d know her dissatisfaction. She, Futaba and Kaoruko had been promised a great reward if they’d managed to get this lamp out from this somehow mystical and magical cave, but now Claudine wondered if the cost was worth it. Looking at all the ruin and rock around her, she wonders why the king’s sorcerer had asked them specifically to get the lamp -- for who would want some banged up old lamp like this?

Frowning, Claudine picks the lamp up and squints at it, trying to look at her curved and warped reflection on its side with what little starlight she has for illumination.

Unthinkingly, Claudine reaches a hand up and begins to rub at the lamp, trying to clear her reflection--

When suddenly, there’s a loud bang---

---and a colossal plume of smoke explodes out of the lamp’s end.

With a cry of alarm, Claudine chucks the lamp away from her and scrambles away from it, hastily pushing herself to her feet and throwing her fists up. If this was some other magical test, she’d fight it--

“Finally,” comes a sensual, deep voice, filled with allure and enchantment.

As the smoke clears, Claudine’s breath catches in her throat when she sees a beautiful woman conjured out of smoke standing by the lamp, brunette hair adorned with little links of gold, beaded with amethyst crystals along her temple. The color of lavender matches the rest of her outfit, pink and gold and lilac accented throughout the fine cloth, more rich and extravagant than anything Claudine’s ever seen. But there on her wrists, were golden bands, adorned with gems all around.

“So,” the strange woman says, turning to Claudine with a dazzling smile. “You’re the one who awoke me, yes?”

Claudine stands there, in her raggedy little old vest and raggedy old pants and raggedy old shoes, blonde hair unkempt and dirtied, and all she can do is look at stare at this illusion, all beauty and all loveliness and all elegance combined into one.

The woman comes towards her, putting a hand on her chin as she looks Claudine up and down. Even the way she walks...

With raised eyebrows, she says, “Hm. You’re not quite what I expected, but I guess you’ll do.”

That subtle insult gets Claudine to bristle, and she manages to remember how to breathe. “E-excuse me? I’ll do?”

“Hm, yes,” the woman says with a vague wave of her hand. “So, judging by your, ah, expression, you don’t know what I am, do you?”

“Know what?” Claudine finds her tongue, scrambling for footing and purchase in this bizarre conversation. “That you’re some bizarre random lady that just came out of some ugly old lamp?”

The woman’s mouth immediately drops open, and she presses an offended hand against her heart. “Ugly? It’s not ugly!”

Claudine makes a pointed look at the lamp lying on its side just a few paces away.

“...Fine, it’s a little ugly,” the woman says under her breath. “Not like I chose it, though.”

“So are you like, some sorcerer? Magician?” Claudine asks, eyes narrowed. She wishes she had her handy knife she usually kept on her, but she’d lost it in all the chaos.

The woman laughs, a loud, rich sound that fills the cavern. “Goodness, no. I’m something much better. I’m Maya.”

The woman -- Maya -- says that with such proudness and smugness, and all Claudine can do is stand there with a quizzical expression, eyebrows raised.

“And? Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Claudine asks.

Again, Maya puts on an offended air. “Fine, since you don’t seem to understand just who or what I am. I am a genie. You know what that is, right?”

“Really? You’re a genie?” Now Claudine’s the one raising her eyebrows. “You don’t really look like it.” She’d thought genies would be more...grand. Bigger. More...magical? Instead all Claudine has to look at is some outrageously beautiful woman, and appearance-wise, Maya looks close to her age. Though there is some kind of subtle... aura, about Maya, Claudine can’t quite register or feel the supposed all-powerful omnipotent might of a genie standing before her.

Maya lets out an exasperated sigh, as if knowing Claudine’s thoughts. “Look, not all of us can look like giant blue men with goatees. I have tastes.” Crossing her arms, she says, “I hope you know the usual rules still apply though. Three wishes, and no more. Don’t wish for me to kill people, don’t wish for more wishes, the usual.”

“...I see.” Claudine purses her lips, thinking for a moment. Though having Maya here was a lot to take in, Claudine sticks her tongue into her cheek, thinking and processing.

A genie...with the power to grant wishes. Suddenly, she understands the sorcerer’s desire for the lamp...but now it was hers, and the genie was here, with her. 

Three wishes, nothing more. What would she wish for? What should she wish for?

She could wish for that reward from the king’s sorcerer. No, she could wish for something more.

But…why does her stomach twist at that thought?

“If your first wish is to, ah, get us out of this lovely, splendid cavern, I would gladly grant it,” Maya says in the few beats of silence, casting a pointed look at the cave opening way up above.

“Mm, no thanks. My friends will come and get me soon enough.” Claudine turns and sits down next to a large boulder, sitting back against it and turning her gaze up to the little circle of starlight up above. Three wishes...she could wish for anything she wanted. But…

A voice in the back of her head wondered...would it be worth it?

“So you’re really just going to sit here, and wait for them.”

“Mhm.” Claudine, still deep in thought, doesn’t quite notice Maya’s flat tone.

“Well, Master--”

“Excuse me?” That word makes Claudine jerk out of her reverie, and she casts a scowl at Maya. “Did you just call me Master?”

“It’s not like you’ve told me your name.” Maya, in all her otherworldly power, hovers a few inches above the ground before drifting over to Claudine. “What time period is this anyway, in that people don’t learn manners?”

Claudine has half a mind to wish for Maya to get back into her stupid lamp, but instead she bites her tongue. “First, my name’s Claudine. Second, don’t call me master. Third, are all genies this annoying?”

“I’m not annoying. You’re simply slow on the uptake, is all.”

Having someone insinuate that she’s stupid doesn’t bode well in Claudine’s book, and she shoots Maya the hardest scowl. “It’s three wishes. Of course I’d take the time to think about it. I’m not going to waste opportunity.”

Maya heaves a dramatic sigh, twirling her hand and conjuring up a lavish, luxurious couch, all wrought in gold with cushions of the finest kind. Sprawling atop it, Maya says, “Well, Claudine, allow me to say that you’re the first master I’ve had in quite some time that’s actually taking the time to think on what she wants to wish for. Usually it’s the,” she waves a hand. “Money, power, the usual.”

Claudine bites her lip. Both sound nice to have -- but again, her gut twists at the thought. Something innately in her rejects the idea of wishing for something of that magnitude -- surely something like limitless wealth or infinite power came at a price, and Claudine suspects that Maya’s the kind of genie to twist her words if she said her wishes too loosely.

“What...would you wish for?” Claudine asks, hesitant.

Maya, idly eating a few grapes from the palm of her hand, blinks. “Me?”

“Yes? You? Who else would I be talking to?”

Maya pauses, putting her hands atop her bare stomach. “I...I’ve never been asked that before,” she says softly.

“Well, I’m asking you now,” Claudine says. “What would you wish for?”

Maya says nothing for a few minutes, and Claudine takes the time to mull over her own thoughts. Three wishes, nothing more, nothing less. The temptation is so powerful; the allure of anything, of pure omnipotence held an incredible weight of desire, and Claudine understands all the stories she’d heard, of all the plays she’d discreetly seen, all that told about the powers of genies and their magic. A genie’s master could do almost anything -- but everything comes with a price, Claudine knows that much. Nothing ever truly comes for free.

“...I would...wish for freedom.”

Claudine, once more pulled out of her thoughts, raises her eyebrows. “What?”

“I would wish for freedom,” Maya says once more, a little stronger. “I’d wish to no longer be bound to the lamp.”

Straightening up against the boulder, Claudine can’t help but feel a little humbled by Maya’s answer. It’s an honest one, and an understandable wish for someone no doubt bound to a lamp for millennia.

With a bit of sadness, Claudine realizes the price to all these three wishes, for all these masters. The genie was the price -- her freedom, her life. The lamp was...a prison.

Claudine shudders. She’s seen the inside of a cell more times than she’d like to admit, and she’d long since learned that freedom tasted sweeter than any kind of stolen fruit. To be trapped, for eternity...without even anyone to talk to. Claudine’s certain she would’ve gone insane in prison f she hadn’t met Futaba and Kaoruko there too.

Just a year ago, the three of them had decided that they’d had enough of that kind of life, of living in back alleys and selling on black markets. They’d since done their best to live an honest life, but it’d been difficult. The allure of the king’s sorcerer’s proposal...It’d been a desperate attempt to make a shortcut to riches, Claudine understands now.

And the price she had to pay for taking shortcuts was to almost die getting crushed by boulders and lost treasures.

Now Claudine understands the foreboding weight settled in the pit of her stomach. The wishes of the genie -- they were just more shortcuts.

She would not fall into hubris or arrogance again, pride or vanity or greed be damned.

Claudine says it before she can think twice. “Maya.”

“Yes?”

“I wish you were free.”

Their gazes meet, and the air in the cavern suddenly goes abruptly still.

“... What?” Maya whispers, but her voice carries. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me.” Claudine stands up, dusting off her baggy, dirtied shorts. She looks up when she hears the soft thud of golden bands hitting the sand, and she sees Maya standing there, wrists bare and unbound, surrounded by nothing but the sands and rocks of the cavern and stillness of the silence.

Just then, Claudine hears a shout above her. “Oi! Kuro! We found some rope!”

“Alright, toss it down!”

Claudine sees the two shadowed figures of her friends peer over the entrance of the whole, then they toss down the length of a long, long rope.

Just as Claudine grabs the end of it, she looks over at Maya, who stands there stock still, mouth agape, her golden bracers solidly on the sand beneath her.

“You coming?”

Chapter Text

Maya knelt down by the pallets of supplies, a clipboard in hand as she counted off the sacks of grain.

All around her, other busy workers did the same as her, kneeling or standing to get a full count of the next load of supplies from the airship that’d landed in just an hour ago. The hangar was full of bustling people, soldiers moving out to be deployed on the front lines, families coming to say goodbye, workers handling the complex routines of guiding ships in and out of the bay doors.

It was the safest place they could think of putting her. Dozens of people were watching her at any given second -- if she so much as made a suspicious move, Maya knew for certain that a mob could hit her in seconds.

She’d agreed with her friends’ plans. Her friends. The leaders of the resistance. They hadn’t been able to keep her isolated in that cell deep beneath the bunker for long; they were busy people, busy coordinating and planning strategies for the war ahead. It’d been a waste of resources and manpower to keep her there, so there’d been a leader council meeting to decide what to do with her. She had to contribute to the resistance in some way, even if no one quite trusted her fully just yet. 

Maya remembered that day, and she bit her lip, hard, as she scribbled down a note on her clipboard.

She hadn’t been there. Futaba had instead said that she’d...abstained, from the vote.

Not that Maya could be surprised about it. All that time ago, when Maya had asked if she could...talk to her, Maya had been surprised to learn that she’d agreed.

But only a few questions, Junna had said. Only a few.

Maya had understood, and she’d picked out a small list of questions ahead of time. It was hard doing so. She had so many questions. That woman was...the last missing piece in her mind.

‘Missing’ maybe, wasn’t the right word.

The Capitol had stripped her of so many of her memories, replacing them with false ones that had twisted her thoughts. From what Maya understood, her memories of... her, had been the most violently warped and torn apart.

Even now, Maya tasted bile in her mouth when she thought of her.

Memories of torture would flicker to her mind’s eye. She’d see that woman’s face again, red eyes staring at her in gleeful joy as she suffered and writhed in agony.

Maya vigorously shook her head, taking in a shaky breath. She straightened up and walked to the next pallet, focusing her unsteady thoughts on the sacks of grain. One, two, three…

The memories she had. She knew most of them weren’t real. She’d figured out what was real and what wasn’t, with Junna’s help. With all of her friends’ help, she’d managed to piece together her reality.

There was still one piece missing, though. No one could tell her what was real and what wasn’t between herself and...that woman.

Only that woman could.

But the day that Maya had finally gotten the chance to talk to her, face-to-face, it’d gone horribly wrong.

Maya had sat up straight in her bed in her sterile white cell. They’d strapped down the lower half of her body to the bed, and handcuffed her wrists to the sides. She had a little movement of her arms, just enough to hold a piece of paper in her hands. Junna had looked over the questions beforehand, giving her approval.

Holding her breath, Maya heard the loud buzz of the door unlocking, and then it slid open.

The last time Maya had seen her... Maya remembered it vividly. Her own hands, clenched tight around that woman’s throat, the furious tidal wave of rage in her--

Now, she didn’t know what to feel. She watched as the woman took a single, stiff step inside the room, and then immediately sit down by the chair by the door, all the way across the room. It was the maximum amount of distance between them both.

Maya stared, her hands clenching around the piece of paper in her hands.

Blonde hair. Tangled. Red eyes. Haunted. Sharp cheekbones. Gaunt.

Even still. There was a hint of fierceness there, too.

She crossed her arms, not meeting Maya’s gaze. Her jaw was tight.

At the time, Maya had considered it cowardice that the woman wouldn’t even look her in the eyes, admit to her everything she’d done.

Wanting to gain the upper hand and to prove herself, Maya stiffly said aloud, “Hello.”

The woman’s nails dug into her arms. “What are your questions?” she asked in a blunt voice.

Maya’s chest tightened. She didn’t understand why.

She turned her gaze to her paper, focusing on it. Breathe, focus. Junna had taught her how. A bead of sweat on her brow. Maya wished she could reach up and wipe it away, but she couldn’t move her hands with the handcuffs on.

Breathe in, breathe out. Maya focused on the words on her paper.

“What’s your favorite food?”

An innocent question. Maya didn’t particularly care for the answer. But it was something small to start off with; Junna had said as much.

Glancing up, Maya saw the woman blinking hard, her lips thin as she turned her gaze to the ceiling.

Something twisted in Maya’s chest at that sight. She didn’t think the woman was capable of tears.

“Macarons,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “Next question.”

Maya took the pencil at her side, and wrote ‘macarons’ underneath the question on her paper. Her hand was shaking.

She asked the next question.

“What’s your favorite animal?”

“...A swan.”

Maya blinked. For just a split second, she’d seen a flicker of a memory in her mind’s eye. She looked at her trembling hand, and her brain put a fuzzy image of something in her palm, something like a pin.

“Next question.” The woman’s voice was sharper now, snappier. Impatient.

It snapped Maya out of her fuzzy memories, and she struggled for a second to write down the woman’s answer. She’d have to think over it later.

“What’s your favorite color?”

At that, the woman visibly swallowed, her face a struggling, composed mask. “Violet.”

Maya wrote that down. Her hand still trembled. Violet. Her favorite color is violet.

“H-how did we meet?” Maya asked. She hated that she stuttered -- it was a sign of hesitation, of weakness, and showing any of that to this woman brought a bitter taste to her mouth. Still, she had to know, to make sure. Vague memories floated in the back of her mind; they’d lived in the same District after all. Had they met first at school? Or had they first met at the Games? The Reaping?

The woman stared up at the ceiling, then tore her gaze to the ground, and Maya saw how her shoulders shuddered, how she hunched in on herself.

“At the Autumn Festival,” she answered, voice barely above a whisper. “We met at the Autumn Festival.”

A pang of pain went through Maya’s head. Wincing, she tried to focus, to grasp at what straws her weakened brain could offer.

The Autumn Festival.

She remembered little festival lights, hanging up in between the buildings on the tiny main street of their town.

She heard the distant sounds of song, of music. The town square, with little stalls. Meager offerings, small candies, just things that the District’s poor people could afford. Even so, it was a time they celebrated. It was one of the only times they could celebrate, during the year.

Maya focused, harder. Where, how did they meet? When, at the festival?

Then, in her mind’s eye, she saw it.

A split second image.

Black headband, on the girl’s blonde hair. A simple, white dress.

“Next question.” Sharp, angry.

Maya inhaled in, hard, through her gritted teeth. Blinking furiously, she swallowed, trying to focus through the shaking of her hands and the tightness of her chest and the lump in her throat. A thought flickered into her mind; she remembered seeing this woman angry, many times, how she’d snap and scowl with that furrow in her brow.

Her anger was a shield. To hide away what she really felt.

Maya went off script, ignoring the questions on the paper in her hands.

“What else happened? When we met?” she asked hoarsely.

The woman hunched a little, and Maya could see the struggle of pain wrought in her face -- but still, Maya wanted to know more, she had to remember. If she just...pushed, a little farther, maybe she could break that shield.

“What happened?” Maya asked again when the woman said nothing, only hunching in her chair. “We met? At the dance? Is that where we met?”

Memories came flashing to her then, in rapid succession, flickers of images in her head that made her wince and grind her teeth together.

Some kind of dance competition. The two of them had joined it. Maya saw, in her mind’s eye, how that blonde girl from long ago crossed her arms, scowling. They’d danced, and danced, until it was just them both. Then, a judge, clapping her on the shoulder as her blonde opponent stamped her foot in frustration.

Then...something else. Flickers of other competitions. Other times they’d competed against one other for that top spot of first place. Maya held her breath, her lungs straining, but she needed to see, to remember it all because there’d been that..one...one Games where neither of them had chosen to win.

That’s when Maya heard it. Just three words.

“You’re not Maya,” the woman whispered, and now there was an undercurrent of despair in her tone. “You’re not her.”

Maya’s mouth went dry. “I’m. I--”

The woman jerked out of her chair, her eyes so full of tears and her hands clenched so tightly at her sides and for the first time she turned her full gaze onto Maya. “You’re not Maya. You’re not her.”

Maya didn’t know what to say. She sat there, beads of sweat on the back of her neck, her heart pounding, her gut twisting, her mouth dry.

“Maya’s DEAD! You’re not her, and you NEVER will be!”

The words hung in the air between them both, weighted and downed with grief and despair.

With no words on the tip of her tongue, no questions left she could think of, Maya sat there, unable to move and unable to understand but so, so badly wanting to.

Then she whipped around and slammed a hard fist against the door. “Nana! Open the door! Let me out! I can’t do this--”

“W-wait!” Maya choked out, and she jerked her hand forward but was caught by the cuffs chaining her wrists down. “W-wait, please--”

“Let me out! NOW!” The woman’s voice went hoarse as she screamed the last word, and the pounding of her fists against the metal door rang loud in Maya’s ears, as loud as the rapid pounding of her own heart--

And then after a searingly painful delayed second, the door slammed open and that blonde hair rushed through it and that was the last Maya saw of her, and the last Maya had heard from her was a sob wracked with anguish and heartache.

Back in the present, Maya felt a hand shake her shoulder.

“Tendou? Hey!”

Maya, shaken out of her reverie, turns to her manager and sees their brows wrought with concern.

“You alright? You finished logging the inventory yet?”

“Y-yes, I have just one more pallet to account for and then I’ll be done…”

Maya quickly finished her task, returning to her manager with the clipboard of notes and then she’s dismissed for the day, her manager casting her a concerned look before telling her to get some rest.

It’d been months since that scarring day. Maya remembered every detail of it.

As she walked through the underground bunker, she crossed through the center of it, a large, tall-ceilinged area that showed the numerous other floors of the rest of the resistance’s headquarters; if she craned her neck up, she could see high above her people flitting about the walkways on other floors, bustling about as they performed their own wartime tasks for the day.

Then, if she turned her head to the front, she could see the large flatscreen that broadcast news and other announcements, and she saw once more yet another video of... her.

Lately, the resistance had opened up a media branch to deal with promoting and improving morale on top of spreading the word for recruitment, and Maya paused in her tracks in the center of the floor to see furious red eyes gazing back at her and a brilliant, righteous voice telling a motivating speech of inspiration and hope.

She… had been gone on the frontlines for months now. Maya had been informed of that when she’d been released from her cell. It was one of the reasons why they let her walk freely amongst the bunker...There was no one for her to run into.

That had made her heartache a little. A part of Maya wished she could see...her. Just...once again. Once more.

On the screen, Maya saw ruins and collapsed buildings, smoke and dust hanging in the air as the camera panned out to the destruction of yet another district.

But then...that woman’s voice carried loud and clear. There was work to be done, but it could be done if they all teamed up together to defeat the tyranny and oppression of a violent dictator that sat in a golden throne in a capitol far away.

Behind her, Maya saw Nana, Karen and Futaba, all with the same resolute, determined expressions.

But in their eyes, Maya saw it more. Weariness. Exhaustion.

She watched the promo ad play out before it cut away to tidbits of news.

Turning away, she kept on going.

---

It was just a week later that... she returned.

Albeit, not in a way that any of them were expecting.

Maya had been in the hangar once more, logging inventory of newly flown in supplies. She stood there next to a pallet loaded high with sacks of grain, and she dutifully wrote down her notes aboard her clipboard, as she always did.

The sudden blast of wind and the rush of air from the opening of the hangar caught her off guard, and she grabbed hold of a sack of grain to hold herself steady as an airship unsteadily landed in the hangar -- then Maya noticed the flocks of people running towards it, all in a rush with looks of panic.

Swallowing, Maya watched the airship touch down and the hatch immediately lower down onto the floor; as the giant hangar door closed, another gush of air made her throw an arm over her face.

It was then then that Maya got a look at the uniforms of the people flocking towards the hatch of the airship.

Medics.

“Quick, get the stretcher--”

“She’s at critical--”

Someone knocks into her shoulder, and Maya turns her head with wide-eyes to see Junna rushing past her, her green eyes wide and her face pale.

The first person that staggers out of the airship is Nana.

Nana, covered and soaked in blood, one hand still gripping her katana, the other grasping her other bicep as it bled profusely, her own face caked with red and smeared with dirt.

Nana--?

Maya watched as Junna sprinted to Nana and caught her girlfriend in her arms, Nana’s tall figure leaning hard against her partner as Junna wound one of Nana’s arms around her shoulders. Nana leaned her head down and whispered something in Junna’s ear, and Junna bit her lip, turning her head to the open hatch of the airship.

It was then that Maya saw it. Saw something that made her heart stop, that made her lose all the breath in her lungs.

It was just a split second, just a split second view.

A stretcher getting carted down the ramp.

A bloodied hand and arm, every inch soaked in red hanging off the edge.

Then…

The briefest glimpse of... blonde hair.

Maya felt like that second was an eternity. The person wheeled on that stretcher, that person covered and dunked in blood, had blonde hair.

Then medics abruptly crowded around the stretcher, and their voices shouted make way, make way and suddenly the mob of medics rushed out of the hangar with the stretcher in tow, so tightly compact around their patient that the wide eyes of bystanders could see nothing of who lay there within.

Maya clenched her clipboard in her hands, her hands trembling, her eyes wide as she stared at the airship but didn’t quite see it.

Blonde hair.

No, no, that...that wasn’t her. That wasn’t. That wasn’t her, that wasn’t her, it wasn’t her--

But then Maya saw Futaba and Karen stagger out of the airship too, in much the same state as Nana. Scars and bruises and other injuries were sported across their entire bodies, their uniforms dirtied tremendously with either grime or blood -- and Maya couldn’t tell whose.

 Kaoruko and Hikari rushed up to meet their partners and support them as well before medics swarmed them too and hastily wheel them away on wheelchairs to get them to the medbay.

Maya watched Junna set Nana onto a wheelchair of her own as the two of them speak to each other in hushed tones, too far away for Maya to hear.

As that party departed towards the medbay, the hangar went abuzz with whispers and murmurs. Maya herself stood there, looking back down at her clipboard and she found herself unable to focus on the neat lines, the numbers, the words.

Blonde hair. They’d only put one patient on a stretcher. And they’d had blonde hair.

---

Maya spent the rest of her day trying to rationalize it to herself. It hadn’t been her, it simply hadn’t been, there was no way that woman would...submit that easily.

She couldn’t quite bring herself to think of...the more final word, but Maya adamantly kept herself in the belief that that woman was alive.

She was alive, for certain. There was no other option.

But other thoughts intruded into her mind, whispered words that had her doubting. What if...it was? Could anyone even survive those kinds of wounds, whatever they’d been? What had her team been up against that would wound Nana, Futaba and Karen too?

As Maya lay in her bed in her tiny room later that night, she found herself unable to sleep, rolling from side to side as she stared through the darkness. She tried to calm herself by thinking of other things. Maybe that woman was just on another airship that had come later, and she was fine. Maybe that was it, and maybe that person on the stretcher hadn’t been her.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

All these maybes and still Maya couldn’t find rest.

Maya sat up, biting her lip as she glanced towards the direction of her door. At the beginning, she’d had guards posted outside, but no longer -- she could go about as she pleased, but she didn’t doubt for a second she knew it’d be suspicious if she was caught elsewhere in the bunker at night.

Nonetheless, getting herself dressed, Maya prepared herself for a midnight run to the medbay. She would just check and make sure on her own. Just a quick check, and then she’d be back in her room before anyone knew.

With skill and stealth, Maya navigated her way through the bunker to the medbay, all the while dodging or hiding from nighttime workers or patrols, and soon enough she silently padded her way down the hallway that led to her destination. She did her best to ignore the less pleasant memories she had here -- such as her first day back -- but she finally came to the set of double doors that led to where patients lay at rest.

Just as she went to open the door though, she heard Nana and Junna’s voices on the other side, and Maya’s heart hurled straight into her throat and she dodged out of the way and threw herself into a nearby supply closet just as the set of double doors opened. Maya kept the door open just a tiny crack so she could hear.

“...sure you don’t want to stay here?” Junna asked, worry clear in her voice as the set of doors opened.

Nana chuckled. “I’d rather be with you, Junna. And don’t worry. I’m all patched up. We can still cuddle when we get back.”

“Nana, you know that’s not what I mean.”

“I promise. I’m fine,” Nana said once more. “Being with you...It makes me feel better already,” she added softly.

The tenderness in Nana’s voice and the moment of quiet afterward made Maya’s heartache a little.

“...Fine, but if one of your wounds reopen again, I’m bringing you straight back here to a doctor,” Junna said, and Maya could almost hear the blush in her voice.

“I’d...rather have the doctors focus on...her, first,” Nana said, but so quietly that Maya had to strain to hear. “They told me that...she’s stable, but there’s nothing else they can do. It’s up to her now.”

Another moment of silence.

“I know she’ll make it, Junna. Don’t worry,” Nana said, but there was something telling in the way Junna didn’t answer immediately. “She’s tough. She won’t go down that easily.”

“I know.” But Junna didn’t sound convinced at all. “But...what happened, Nana? For real? Don’t skip on the details. I want to know what happened.”

A silent beat. “It...It was an ambush. We were heading to the building where civilians were hiding to go pick them up, but...that Kirin...it’d all been part of his plan.”

Junna’s words sounded heavy. “He lured the civilians there to lure you there.”

“Exactly. Futaba was suspicious about why there weren’t any troops on our way there...We should’ve listened to her,” Nana said wearily. “When we got there, the…”

Nana went unnervingly silent, and Junna’s sharp inhale was all Maya needed to know, and she shut her eyes. She thought a prayer for the lives lost.

“...We couldn’t save anyone,” Nana whispered. “They were gone as the building went up and...when we turned around, we were surrounded.”

“Oh, Nana.” Junna sounded so broken. “Nana…”

“We barely got out by running through the burning building...and then out the other side, into the streets to try and lose them. There were more waiting for us though. It was...a bloodbath, to get out.”

“...I’m glad you’re here,” Junna said, and Maya heard the tears in her words. “I’m glad you made it back.”

“I’m glad too,” Nana said softly. “Don’t cry, Junna. Everything will be alright.”

Maya’s heart twisted in her chest. Junna, strong, strong, Junna, crying.

“I hope so, Nana. I really, really, hope so,” Junna sniffed. “Let’s...let’s get back to our room. You need to rest and not stand all the time.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” Nana sounded so gentle, so sweet.

The pair’s voices drifted down the hallway as they lightly argued over some late night baking in the kitchens, and Maya quietly left the supply closet and once more stood in front of the set of double doors. If she peeked through the crack, she saw no one else inside, everything within dimmed aside from some lamps hidden from view by curtains drawn around beds.

Silently and carefully opened a door, Maya stepped inside, eyes darting around; the beds at the front were empty, but she saw a bed to the right with a lamp on and a bed at the far end on the left with a lamp on.

Biting her lip, Maya glanced at the closest bed on the right, eyeing its lamp. If Nana had just left with Junna, then that left...Karen.

With all the stealth and carefulness she could muster, Maya took painstaking steps forward, breath held as she peeked around the first mattress -- then a wave of relief washed over her.

She saw Karen sleeping peacefully in bed, snoring away, albeit the visible part of the arms uncovered from the hospital slip were adorned with bandages. Hikari sat next to her on a chair, her head resting on her arms as she laid her head by Karen’s bedside. The two were fast asleep, giving Maya her chance to delicately slip on by.

Now, the last bed. Just a quick look, Maya told herself. She would make sure it wasn’t her, and that would be it. It wouldn’t be her, it wouldn’t be.

So when Maya stepped past the curtain on that last bed, everything in her world froze in that second.

Nothing moved, nothing breathed, and Maya sensed that her world had stopped as she saw the face of the woman lying in that hospital bed.

It was...It was her.

IV drips were placed on the inside of her arms, an IV bag hanging at her side. A heart monitor on the other side, a slow, slow heartbeat beeping away, too slow for comfort. An oxygen mask over her face as she breathed in and out, so, so slowly.

They hadn’t even managed to put a hospital slip onto her. The upper half of her chest was covered in bandages, as were her forearms and hands. Her lower half was covered by a light blanket, but Maya could see the light imprint of even more bandages there too.

Even in the small light of the lamp, Maya saw bloodstains on the white linen covering her torso.

Maya stood there, not breathing as she stared.

She took a tiny step forward. Then another. And another.

Then she stood at that woman’s bedside, her own heart chained and bruised and battered inside her chest.

Then Maya turned her gaze to the woman’s face, and something wrenched her heart with the force of a sledgehammer.

That blonde hair framed a gaunt face, harrowed by suffering, cheekbones sharp against pale skin, heavy bags hanging underneath her eyes like a bitter winter had slain a once gentle spring. The furrow in the woman’s brow showed she had no peace from a constant war, and the the thinness of her lips showed that even in unconsciousness she carried a omnipresent burden of stress and pain.

Abruptly, Maya felt a tear slide down her cheek, and she raised a shaking, surprised hand to wipe it away. Looking down at her palm, Maya stood there, wordless.

Then another tear. And another, and her chest felt so, so tight with emotion.

Her. Looking like... this. Bloodied and unconscious and weak and... forlorn. Vulnerable. Small.

Maya looked at her hand. Then she looked at the woman’s bare throat.

A violent shudder went through her and Maya furiously pressed her own hands against her own heart, inhaling sharply through her teeth as she tore her gaze away. No. No. She wouldn’t do that. She would not attack her. She would not, she would not, she would not do that. Never, never again.

More tears came from Maya’s eyes then, an unexpected grief joining her at the woman’s bedside.

Maya, so, so badly in that moment wanted the woman to wake up.

Maya wanted to know that...she was fine, that she was alright, that she was alive and she’d live and she’d always live and that those burning red eyes would look upon the world once again.

Choking, Maya opened her mouth to try and say...to try and say her name.

She hadn’t been able to, in the entire time since she herself had first come here. But now Maya wanted to say her name, to be able to think it, because maybe if she did then she would wake up and she’d be alright and she’d be fine.

Though Maya tried to form the word with her lips, she struggled hard. Just even...trying to think the name brought up memories of a prison cell from long ago, but Maya gritted her teeth and forced herself through it, to reality, to what she saw before her.

This was real. She was real, and she was hurt and she was lying here in this hospital bed all by herself and there was no one else here with her.

Fighting the twisting of her gut, Maya gripped the edge of the bed with her hands and forced herself to look the woman in the face.

“Cl…”

Come on. Come on. She could do it, she had to, she had to.

“Cla…” Maya started hyperventilating, but she forced herself to take in a deep breath, her knuckles white as she gripped the bed. So close. So close. She could say it, she knew she could.

“Claud…” Halfway. Halfway, but Maya felt her entire body trembling, tears blinding her eyes as she tried to focus on that face, that face in front of her unmoving and so, so still.

It was a single thought that pushed Maya over the line.

The thought of her... dead.

“Claudine!”

Her name came out in a rush from Maya’s tongue, and saying her name suddenly made Maya’s world a thousand times more vivid, like colors from a vibrant painter’s brush had suddenly been thrown into her sight and she felt something loosen from her chest as her world angled itself, aligned itself to the right position and time once more moved forward, each second ticking by.

Maya could breathe, she could see, she felt alive again, in a way she hadn’t felt for so, so long.

But even as Maya stood there, as she stared with all the hope in her heart at Claudine’s face, Claudine didn’t move, didn’t react, and her heartbeat stayed the same.

Slow beeps, one after another.

“Claudine,” Maya said her name again, desperation cutting into her voice. “Claudine! Wake up!”

Nothing. Claudine lay there, unmoving.

It was then Maya realized that their lives weren’t a fairy tale, that even if she’d found the courage to defeat her own inner demons and say the magic word that was Claudine’s name, it wouldn’t wake her, it wouldn’t do anything, it wouldn’t help at all.

Then Maya tore her gaze away from Claudine’s face to Claudine’s hand laying limply at her side. Even with logical thoughts running askew in her brain, Maya grasped onto the single strand of hope running through her heart.

Maybe...Maybe if she...touched Claudine. Maybe if she could go that far, maybe Claudine would sense it and she’d wake up and things would...things would be fine.

Maya forcibly unclenched her hand from the bed and slowly began to raise it up. Her entire arm trembled with the effort to focus, to touch the hand of the person she so badly wanted to be with--

Just when her fingers were just a hairsbreadth away from touching Claudine’s palm, Maya heard it.

The click of the safety of a gun getting pulled back.

Maya froze, her entire body going rigid.

She turned her head.

Hikari.

Hikari standing at the edge of a curtain with a stone cold expression, with a handgun whose barrel was pointed straight at Maya’s head.

“Step away from her. Now,” Hikari said.

“I. I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Maya said, throat dry. “I wasn’t--”

“Step. Away. Now. Or I do something that we’ll both regret.”

Maya swallowed, and she chanced a quick glance at Claudine’s face -- she still lay there, deep in unconsciousness.

“Now, Maya.”

Her heart breaking in her chest, Maya took her hand away, and she raised her hands above her head. That look in Hikari’s blue eyes -- it told Maya enough, that Hikari wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her if it meant keeping Claudine safe.

Hikari jerked her gun in a direction away from Claudine’s bed, and Maya obeyed Hikari’s orders, taking short, obvious steps away. Doing as Hikari bid, Maya allowed herself to get escorted out of the medbay room, past the rows of beds and out the set of double front doors.

“Okay. Stop here. Turn around.”

Maya did as she was told, and to her surprise, she found Hikari staring tiredly back at her, lowering her hands and unloading the gun.

“The magazine’s empty,” Hikari said with a sigh as she showed the empty casing. “I was never going to shoot you.”

“Oh.”

“Now tell me why you’re here, Maya.” Hikari leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms as she regarded Maya with that fathomless blue gaze.

Swallowing, Maya tried to find the right words to say. “I...This afternoon. I...didn’t think it would actually be her. I just wanted...to check. If it really was...Claudine,” she said the last word softly, a quiet whisper that carried a good deal of weight. “I...I wanted to…”

“Make sure she wasn’t dead?” Hikari asked bluntly. “Is that why you snuck all the way here at night?”

“I knew it’d be suspicious if I was wandering around at night,” Maya said, clenching her hands. “I was just planning on checking and leaving as soon as I knew. I didn’t mean to stay.”

“So then why did you stay?”

At that, Maya wasn’t able to meet Hikari’s strong gaze and she looked away, staring at the wall. “When...I realized it was her I...I wanted her to…”

“You wanted her to…?”

“I wanted her to wake up,” Maya said in a rush, despair cutting into her tone. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, Hikari, I swear on my life. I...I thought if I said her name, if I...if I even just...held her hand, I thought she might--”

“That’s enough.”

Maya bit her tongue, and when Hikari said nothing for another moment, Maya chanced a look at her old friend and found Hikari’s expression filled with a deep kind of sorrow and sadness.

“Maya. I know how...you feel. If...Karen and I were in the same position as you and Claudine...I would do the exact same as you,” Hikari said softly. “I know why you came, and I know why you stayed. I knew that even with everything the Capitol’s done to you, your heart’s still the same, Maya.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Maya asked, hoarse.

“You know what I mean.” Hikari tilted her head. “The Capitol can warp and twist a person’s mind as much as it wants, but what’s here?” She tapped her own heart, the center of her chest. “You and I both know that that’s untouchable. It’s why, even with Claudine gone all these months, you still looked for her when she came up on the big screen. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen you.”

Maya swallowed.

“And besides, with you and Claudine...She gave her heart to you a long time ago. And you gave her yours,” Hikari added. “You may not remember it, and Claudine can try and deny it all she wants, but we both know the truth. All of us do.”

Maya said nothing for a long moment, but all she found in Hikari’s blue eyes was a kind of gentleness borne from the hand of truth, carried aloft by a flame of hope that could not be extinguished, even in the most darkest of times.

“So what will you do now that I’m here?” Maya asked. “Are you going to tell the others?”

“No.” Hikari reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Not yet, anyway. Junna would call it a breach of security -- not everyone here trusts you fully just yet, you know.”

“I’m aware.”

“I think we can come to an agreement. As long as Karen’s here, I’ll escort you each night to visit Claudine, and you can try waking her up on your own terms, whatever they are.”

“And why would you do that?” Maya couldn’t quite believe the deal Hikari was proposing; it was too good to be true.

“Because this says it’s the right thing to do. And Karen would agree.” Hikari once more points at her own heart. “Now, do you agree?”

Maya bit her lip, considering her options. Her cover was blown, and if she rejected Hikari’s proposal, no doubt security would increase tenfold here at the medbay.

There was no other choice.

Then another part of Maya told her...she’d do anything to see Claudine again anyway. Even if she had to fight tooth and nail to get to her.

What Hikari proposed...it was the easiest route.

“...I agree.”

Chapter Text

“So, this is what your place looks like?” Claudine asked as Maya held open the door.

“One of them, yes,” Maya answered, and she carefully closed the door behind her, watching as Claudine took tentative steps forward into the luxurious penthouse. The open living room, wide and spacious, bedecked with the sleekest, modern furniture was subtly lit by the evening sky illuminating the long wall of windows across from them. Light indigos, touched by edges of sunset red from the skyline far out in the distance cast a gradient of color across the wooden floor, polished and shined to perfection. With a snap of Maya’s fingers, the lamps set on tables by the leather couches blinked on, casting gold and white amongst the colors of the evening.

She didn’t want things too bright; she had to keep the mood just right for her date.

Maya leaned a hip against one of the couches, watching as Claudine leisurely explored the penthouse, the tips of her fingers brushing against the walls, along the shelves displaying fine works of art, on the marble tabletops of the sleek, silver kitchen set in the corner, over the unblemished, white surface of the dining table. Every inch of the penthouse had been made to perfection. Only the best and greatest was enough for Maya, but as she watched her date stop to admire the paintings along the flawless white walls, she couldn’t help but bite her lip.

The way Claudine pursed her own lips, the way her eyes roamed over the room; Maya waited with baited breath, a small part of her wondering if Claudine approved.

Even though Maya knew the truth, she still craved Claudine’s approval. She’d picked the fanciest of her many hideouts, on recommendation from Nana. She had many more penthouses like these, safehouses for her to retreat to should the authorities come too close…

And yet, here was one with her, right now.

Wearing an elegant, fine, strapless dress, blonde hair done up in a messy yet attractive bun; the dress smoothly outlined Claudine’s figure, her slim waist, the skirt just short enough to be a little teasing (more than once Maya had felt her gaze wandering). In Claudine’s hands, she carried a small, white purse that matched the color of her dress and heels, and the gold necklace at her neck gave a nice accent on top of it all. When she went to stand by the windows, she became silhouetted by the city skyline and the fading sun in the distance, outlined in blue and white, darkened by shadow — but even so, Maya saw the glimmer of citylight in Claudine’s eyes, a hint of awe in her parted lips.

Maya had gone all out for tonight. A dinner at the highest end steakhouse, then a leisurely stroll through the city’s botanical garden, and now here they were, at one of Maya’s penthouses to end their date night.

Keeping her footsteps quiet, Maya went across the room to join Claudine by her side, the two of them looking out into the incredible view. For a moment, Maya studied their reflections; herself in a slim fitting black suit, matching with a violet tie, and Claudine, all in beautiful white.

No one would have ever guessed they were anything but a dating couple. 

“Like it?” Maya asked softly, glancing over at her date.

Claudine chuckled, amused. “Maybe.”

“Oh? What’s not to your liking, Miss Saijo?”

“Oh, I don’t know. A glass of champagne, maybe. You haven’t asked me if I’d like a drink.” A hint of a challenging smirk on Claudine’s lips all but invited Maya’s reply.

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Maya said, “My apologies. Allow me to serve you a drink, Miss Saijo.” As she shifted away from the windows towards the kitchen, Claudine followed after her too.

“I’d hope you had some spare change for fine drinks, Maya,” Claudine asked. “Or did you spend all your money on furniture?”

Maya laughed as she found the mini-fridge in the kitchen, tucked in a space underneath the counter. “As if I would ever serve you garbage. Would a Dom Perignon would be adequate enough for your tastes?” She looked up to see Claudine next to her, already pulling out champagne flutes from a cabinet above.

“It’ll do, Maya.”

With all the grace of a seasoned bartender, Maya deftly filled the flutes to the brim with glittering champagne, bright foam hugging the rim of the glass. 

Holding up her own flute, fingers holding the base of the glass, Maya tilted her drink forward. “Cheers, Claudine.”

“Cheers, Maya.”

The two clinked glasses before taking a sip, and all Maya could think of was just how beautiful Claudine looked, little strands of golden hair hanging by her neck, golden chains of her necklace hanging over her bare collarbones. This close, she was so lovely...Sugar, spice, and everything nice.

And then Maya watched with satisfaction as Claudine blinked, surprise on her face.

“Like it?” Maya asked again, a smirk on her lips.

“Not bad.” Despite Claudine’s little pout, she took another sip anyway, a slight red blush to her cheeks. “You’re truly a charmer, huh. Do you do this for every girl you date?”

“No, just you.”

Before she took another sip, Claudine snorted. “You use that line on every girl too?”

Maya couldn’t fight the smile on her face; that was something she liked about Claudine. Her honesty, her brazenness. No one had ever quite challenged her in such a way. There was boldness in her red gaze, and there was fearlessness in her straight back posture. So many others had bowed their heads before Maya on instinct, all too aware of her presence and her power, but Claudine met her head on, unflinching.

It brought a little thrill to the space between them both, unspoken, unsaid. There was just ever the slightest tension, the two of them dancing on tightropes, a lioness with a tigress.

Even so, with that spark between them, Maya aimed to keep their evening an easy one.

“If you’re going to doubt all my sincere gestures for the whole of tonight, Claudine, be my guest. I’m surprised though, that you haven’t doubted all of my actions from our previous dates.” Maya went back to the wall of windows, looking back out at the city. “You seemed to like it when I brought you to that one bakery, with the macarons.”

“Fine. I’ll admit, that was a considerate and kind gesture.” Claudine joined Maya at her side once more, champagne flute held idly in one hand. “But I’m being serious. Do you do this for everyone?”

For a long minute, Maya said nothing as she studied the city down below. She’d been with others before naturally, but no one had ever been at Claudine’s level.

Perhaps that was to be expected. Claudine Saijo was, after all, the city’s most elite, talented, and skilled detective. She was their ace, the greatest operative the police department had ever seen; albeit she’d never been named publicly as one, exerting and working her talents undercover. Always undercover.

Like now.

“No,” Maya found herself saying. “Not for anyone. Just you.” When Maya turned to look at Claudine, she found, with satisfaction, a pink tinge to Claudine’s cheeks. Even if Claudine’s job was a covert one, she acted the part of a charming, beautiful date quite well.

“Flatterer. Suckup.” Claudine shook her head, albeit a hint of a smile tugged at her lips as she raised her champagne glass.

“What do you mean, Claudine?” Maya asked innocently. “Is it so wrong for me to compliment the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen?”

[Hhhh some dialogue and shit here somehow one way or another maya and claudine get to like slow dancing in the living room or something and maya with a snap of her fingers puts on some mood music i really dont wanna write the transition scene to them slow dancing bc the slow dancing is the hot sexy part]

To the gentle lull of piano notes, the pair made a slow circle, Claudine resting her head against Maya’s shoulder, her hand securely in Maya’s, the other lightly held at Maya’s back. For any other couple, it would’ve been a tender and sweet moment, but since Maya knew of the impending bomb she was about to set loose, she did her best to cherish those few seconds she had with Claudine. Sweet, beautiful, Claudine.

Claudine let out a soft sigh. “This is nice.”

“Mhm.”

“I’m surprised you know how to dance,” Claudine mumbled, and Maya felt Claudine relax against her. “I thought you said your job was in supply management.”

Maya chuckled. “It is, so to speak. But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn some fun hobbies on the side. I must say in return that I’m surprised you can dance. I thought you said you had a desk job.”

A snort, then Claudine’s hand briefly squeezed Maya’s. “I do, it’s just paperwork and stuff.”

“That isn’t boring to you?”

“Mmm. No, it could be worse, I guess.”

Maya bit her lip, hard. What she was about to say next would change everything -- oh, how she wished she could just dance with Claudine and be with her, as any normal person would.

But she couldn’t. She wasn’t normal, and she never would be. That abnormality was exactly why Claudine was here in the first place, undercover, investigating her, dancing with her.

Heart beating fast, Maya said, “I thought you had a preference for field work...” She leaned away a little, and Claudine blinked up at her, their faces just inches apart. “...Detective Saijo.”

It was like the instantaneous flick of a switch. Claudine jerked away, horrified. 

One second, Claudine’s expression was nothing more than shock, surprise -- and fear in her eyes, a fear Maya had seen all too often in her enemies, a fear that made her heart heavy to see it in Claudine’s lovely face.

The next second, it’d immediately went straight to anger, ferocity.

“You won’t kill me here,” Claudine hissed, and then she tore her hand from Maya’s and immediately pulled it back for a punch--

“Claudine, wait--”

Maya dodged the punch, but then Claudine was booking it away from her (she moved fast, even in heels), towards the door--

Maya couldn’t let Claudine leave. Not until they talked things out. With a low whistle, Maya heard the automatic locks in the door shift into place, and Claudine slammed into the door and rebounded off of it, her frantic hand jerking at the handle to pry it open. Neither of them would be getting out, unless one wanted to take a perilous tumble out bulletproof glass and fall twenty stories to the ground below.

[hnnnghhh some more fight scene here. I imagine claudine does that hot sexy thing where she tears a part of her dress from the hip down so she can not be restrained by the damn dress and then on her thigh is like. One of those hidden knife strap holder thingies and naturally Maya’s like oh damn! She’s trying to kill me but that’s really hot]

As Claudine tore the knife from her thigh, wielding it in her hand, she faced Maya with blazing red eyes, her undone hair a tangled mess down her back. In the nice mood lighting of the penthouse, Claudine looked absolutely striking.

Maya couldn’t help but say what was on her mind. “That’s very sexy of you, Claudine.”

“Shut up.”

[hnnngnngghhghh some more fight scene but eventually Maya manages to knock Claudine out by like. Smashing her head into the table or something lmao b/c u gotta have a lot of force to knock out this hardheaded cop detective LOL but anyway they basically fuck up all the furniture in the room b/c obviously. They’re fighting each other. And its hot and intense but anywya. Yeah maya knocks her out and there’s just this unconscious claudine in her fucking penthouse lmao]

[ok anyway then like. Maya just picks up her fake girlfriend’s body bc they’ve p much just been fake dating!! And maya knew from the beginning that claudine was a detective trying to investigate her but she just lets it happen because. She’s fucking lonely and she’s a loser. LOL so she pretends to date claudine and pretend that she doesn’t know that claudine’s a cop investigating her so they end up fake dating for like. A while. But now she spills the truth to claudine b/c she needs claudine for something. Anyway she carries claudine and she just you know. Emo thinks about how beautifu; and hot claudine is even when she’s unconscious and literally had the shit beaten out of her but maya’s gay so you know]

[so she puts claudine in the bedroom and ofc its immaculate bc no one. Lives there. Lol. so she puts claudine on the giant ass huge bed and then she handcuffs one of claudine’s wrists to the bedpost (i can’t decide if she either. Has the handcuff on hand for use or she took it out of claudine’s purse lol AND NO ITS LIKE A COP HANDCUFF noT THE BDSM ONE shE JUST NEEDS TO RESTRAIN claudine when she wakes up so they can talk) and then maya just sits down and emo sadly drinks the rest of the champagne bc shes so sad she has to end her fake dating with her fake girlfriend bc she actually. Loves her fake girlfriend!!]

[and because she loves her fake girlfriend she gets an ice pack and puts it on claudine’s head bc she knows she gave her girlfriend a big boo boo :(( i mean she smashed claudine’s head into the table :(((]

[so maya emo stares out the window to the city and sees the sunset going up and there’s some pretty colors or whatever im too tired to describe this part]

A sharp intake of breath from Claudine alerted Maya that the detective had awoken, and she looked over from her lounge chair by the window. “Awake, Claudine?” Maya asked softly.

On the bed, Claudine shifted, her face immediately turning to a scowl -- she managed to push herself up, and Maya saw the hard set of her jaw, the deep angle and furrow of her brow. Claudine was angry, and rightly so. For a brief second, her face went to confusion as the ice pack from her head fell into her lap, and she looked at it with an incredulous expression...

But then Claudine noticed her wrist handcuffed to the bedpost, and she indignantly jerked at it. Hoarse, she said, “Y-you, y-you fucking--”

“I had to, Claudine. I just want to--”

“You’re not killing me,” Claudine cut in, harsh. “I’ll kill you first before you kill me. I can do it with one hand.”

“Claudine,” Maya said sharply, and Claudine quieted, her eyes going a little wide -- fear, again. “I’m not going to kill you. I just want to talk to you. Please.”

“About what?” Despite Claudine’s brave words, her voice trembled ever so slightly. Anyone would, against the Tendou Maya, reputed daughter and heiress to the most powerful yakuza family in the city. She knew the rumors around her well enough; some had been fabricated, some real, but she knew the image she’d painted for herself across the underworld was someone with severe ruthlessness, intimidation, and perfection.

And no one ever met Tendou Maya and lived to speak of it. That had been one of the few true facts Maya had made sure Nana and the other henchmen whispered amongst the allies, the undergrounds, the bars.

Except when she’d met Claudine...It’d been different.

To find someone so brazenly willing to come to so close to the sun, to reach her. And even if everything Claudine had said or did had been an act, it’d felt so... nice, to have someone interested in her for her. Loneliness had cost her so much; at the time, Maya had justified it as because she needed to get close to someone in the police force for her grand plan of the future. But then, over time, over the months...Maya had found herself...craving Claudine’s presence, wanting to be with her, to...date her. No one had ever treated her the way Claudine did.

And no one had ever tried fighting her so viciously too. Maya was still sore. Normally most of her enemies were killed in the span of a heartbeat -- the fact that Claudine had lasted so long against her, even when Maya had only wanted to knock her out, spoke volumes.

“...I want your help, with something,” Maya said quietly, and she looked away from Claudine. It hurt too much to see her. “I...need the help of a detective. Of the law enforcement.”

“You’re not blackmailing me. I won’t--”

“I’m not attempting to corrupt you. I just want your help with…” Maya took in a deep breath. Just saying something aloud like this was inviting risk, even if they were alone. “...I want your help with taking down my father’s empire.”

For a long minute, there was only dead silence. Maya couldn’t bear to look up and see what was on Claudine’s face. This was the one piece of the plan she needed -- she needed a true and well prepared individual with the law that could help her take down the entire criminal syndicate. If she could be rid of her father’s power, of her father’s influence, of his immense pressure on her to be... like him, then she would have to work with the authorities.

But she had to find, first, authorities she could trust. She knew which officers in the force were in her father’s pocket, which ones were on his payroll. Claudine had been a saving grace, a single beacon of light that had gone untouched from her father’s greasy hands.

Maya refused to be her father’s daughter. She would not turn out like him. She had to be free of the black markets, the corruption, the abominable cost of all the lives her father had taken to retain his seat on the highest throne.

Then, the things he’d done to her to mold her into his image. Maya grit her teeth, hard. Her perfectionism stemmed from his hard and heavy hand, his incessant and ruthless lessons on discipline, on combat.

Maya woke up gasping some nights, her back burning, tendrils of nightmarish flames left behind on her spine and shoulderblades as she recalled the day he’d made her get the family tattoo. She’d been twelve.

Enough was enough. Maya needed out.

And all she needed left was for Claudine to...help her.

“You. Want me to. Help you. Take out the largest yakuza family in the city,” Claudine said finally, her tone hard and flat. “You want me to take out your own family.”

Swallowing, Maya forced herself to look up and towards Claudine. “Yes. I’m asking you to do that.”

“Why?” Naturally, Claudine was suspicious. “Why would you, of all people want that?”

“Because I need out,” Maya said, and this time it was her voice that shook with emotion. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t -- I can’t hurt innocent people like this anymore. I just,” she took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I know you don’t believe me, and you have no reason to trust me. But please, Claudine, I need help to do so. I can’t take out everything my father’s built by myself. I need...I need help.”

It was so, so painful to say all of this aloud. Maya hated asking for help; it made her feel so weak, so pathetic. It was almost insulting to say Tendou Maya couldn’t do something, implying that she was inadequate when all her life she’d strove to be more than perfect.

[jhfgskdfjg hhhh some back and forth conversation about maya explaining how she knew claudine was a cop since the beginning, she had nana (nana is maya’s like. Righthand man. Righthand banana. Her only like...BFF tbh lol) investigate claudine super deeply and found out she was a detective]

[eventually you know, claudine agrees because WOW this could be a BIG HIT for her resume IF SHE SUCCEEDS in taking out THE TENDOU and the gay part of her is like :(( i wanna be with my fake killer yakuza girlfriend because lbh !!! claudine fell a little in love with maya too over time (cries tears and chokes)]

[anyway once claudine agrees and maya’s sure claudine won’t beat her ass she uncuffs claudine and claudine goes to leave and then she’s at the door and maya’s standing sadly like a little bit distant from her bc i mean. Theyre not rly fake dating anymore they’re just … allies, and claudine makes that really clear they’ll only be WORKING together b/c she’s a cop and she can’t get herself all romantically involved with a YAKUZA so their fake dating is over. So now they’re just coworkers with like. A weird fake dating past LOL]

“And I want to add.” Claudine paused in the doorway, turning back to Maya with another scowl.

“Yes?”

“I hate this place. It’s obvious you don’t live here. It’s too clean. Next time you invite a girl to bed, try not to flaunt your wealth like an asshole.” Then she was gone, slamming the door behind her, and Maya stood there all on her lonesome, biting her lip and wondering just how she’d get Claudine to smile at her again.

[maya is emo and sad bc she wants to date claudine for real but now claudine’s like NO WE ARE ONYL COWORKERS we are not REAL DATING but now they’re both stupid and kind of pining for each a little but maya moreso than claudine bc claudine is kind of angry that maya beat the shit out of her and just kind of. Dragged her through the fake dating thing when she knew the whole time lmao]

[but that’s ok u know like with any mykr au they’re gonna fall back in love w each other and i have more scenes in mind for that!! Also there’s TONS OF JUNANA IN THIS because Nana + Maya are the yakuza and Junna + Kuro are the cops. SO YEAHHHH JUNANA]

Chapter Text

Are you coming??

Maya glances over at her phone, noting the message flashing across the screen. Pausing in her studies of the script before her on her desk, she picks up her phone.

At this late at night, the message is from none other than her partner, and the extra question mark merits a humorous chuckle. Impatient, as ever. Maya sits back in her chair, thumbs tapping on her phone.

Soon.

She leaves the message at that and returns back to memorizing a few more lines in her script. Just a few more, and then she’ll go to her partner.

Her Claudine.

For several weeks now, ever since they’d had their disastrous scary movie night and Maya had slept over in Claudine’s room, they’d kept that particular... habit up. It’d started out as just an excuse — an excuse that neither of them would say aloud — that they were afraid, but then the few nights she’d slept over had turned into a week, then another, and another…

Until it’d become expected that Maya was to come over every night.

So when Maya’s just finishing up reviewing the lines in the second act of her script, she gets another buzz on her phone.

So…??

Chuckling to herself, Maya stands up, closing her script and neatly sliding her chair back underneath her desk. Seems like her partner was calling on her sooner rather than later. Briefly taking a second to make her herself presentable in her mirror — admittedly, she was wearing her usual nightgown and she was sleeping soon, but even so. Maya held herself to certain standards, especially for Claudine.

When she opens the door of her dorm room and makes to cross the hallway over to Claudine’s door, she sees Kaoruko out of the corner of her eye.

It’s past curfew, for sure. They’re not supposed to sleep in each other’s rooms.

Kaoruko’s standing by her own doorway, hand on the doorknob. A devious smirk flits across her face.

Maya only stands there, meeting Kaoruko’s gaze with her own. Putting her hand on the doorknob to Claudine’s room, Maya maintains eye contact, unafraid. They hold their positions, a silent, unspoken battle between them both; until Kaoruko lets out a little giggle, tilting her head against the door of her and Futaba’s room.

“I won’t tell anyone. Hope you two are enjoying yourselves,” she says with a wink, and then she’s gone, leaving Maya to stand in the doorway with a feeling of satisfaction.

Entering Claudine’s bedroom, Maya finds her partner already curled up underneath the sheets of her bed, and her signature pout’s on her face when Maya slides into bed next to her.

“What took you so long? I was getting cold,” Claudine says; true to her word, the second Maya’s settled in Claudine moves closer to her.

“I was studying, Claudine. I thought you might be too.”

Claudine snorts. “I have less lines than you do this time. It doesn’t take much time to memorize.”

“As confident as ever, I see.” Chuckling, Maya extends an arm out, and Claudine gratefully cuddles in closer to Maya’s side, settling her head on Maya’s shoulder. “Warm now, Claudine?”

“Mhm.” Despite her prickliness, Claudine eases into Maya’s embrace, letting out a contentful sigh. She’d always been the more physically affectionate out of the two of them, something that Maya had to acclimatize to when she’d wake up halfway through the night to Claudine clinging to her like a koala to a tree.

“Comfortable?” Maya murmurs. She twines a strand of Claudine’s blonde hair around her finger, tilting her head to press a kiss to the top of Claudine’s head.

“Now that you’re here, yes,” Claudine says back just as softly.

There was always a different side to them, when they were alone together. Maya prizes those moments with Claudine a good deal, as much as she does her banter and wit with her partner when they’re not alone. Oh, how often Maya had seen Claudine express care and affection with her other friends, and how Maya had longed to have just a bit of that for herself…

And now she did.

—-

In return, there were some things that Claudine likes specifically that only she gets to do with Maya.

Like, how every morning, she’d get to brush Maya’s luscious hair.

Maya sits at Claudine’s vanity table, reading a script, or the news on her phone, and Claudine stands behind her, a brush in hand.

“Anything new today?” Claudine asks quietly. She delicately pulls the brush through Maya’s hair, and she marvels at how soft the strands are in her hands. Maya’s always been keen on personal maintenance, always dutifully performing skin and hair routines on a consistent enough basis, so it’s something to be expected that Maya’s hair would feel so smooth — but even so, Claudine enjoys getting to play with it.

It’s one of Maya’s silent signs of trust. She’d never allow anyone else to touch something she prized so deeply.

“Mm. Nothing particularly exciting in the news,” Maya says. She taps through a few more articles on her phone. “There is, though, the grand opening of a new French bakery nearby, if you’d like to go.”

“Oh, really? I don’t think I’d mind.”

“Let’s plan to go then, when it opens.”

Claudine chuckles, recalling something. “Do you just want to go so we can go to your favorite baumkuchen bakery along the way?”

“No, of course not.” Maya sounds scandalized, and Claudine looks up from brushing to see Maya’s indignant expression reflected in the mirror. “I have some sense of decorum, Claudine.”

“You didn’t the last time you ate over twenty baumkuchens,” Claudine says under her breath, and now it’s Maya’s turn to pout and scowl.

“A stage girl must maintain her stamina and strength, Claudine. It’s only fitting that I would have a preference for eating, as that is what gives me energy.”

“Feel free to keep telling yourself that, Maya. Just know that I don’t think there’s any stage girl in history that has an appetite like yours.” Claudine finishes brushing the last part of Maya’s hair, and she reaches around Maya to grab the violet ribbon lying on the vanity table.

Maya’s ribbon. Claudine takes a second to feel the soft silk thread through her fingers, and she thinks of the first time Maya had let her touch it. It was, again, yet another thing of Maya’s that Maya had willingly let Claudine touch; another sign of trust between them both.

Now Maya stays quiet, lacking another quip, and Claudine expertly ties the ribbon into Maya’s hair, and she takes a step back when she’s finished setting the bow just right. 

“Thank you, Claudine,” Maya says softly.

Chapter Text

Claudine’s soft touch bloomed flowers across her skin, warmth and goosebumps trailing up her arm.

Moments like these, Maya loved most. Moments when she and Claudine could have each other, all to themselves. It was the only times Maya could indulge herself, to wander the eden that was Claudine’s touch, Claudine’s voice, Claudine’s soft and supple body pressed up against her own. Here, she had everything her heart desired; the brightest star of the heavens, fallen to earth to be in her own arms.

So when Claudine, lying before her, lightly brushed her fingertips from Maya’s wrist up to her bare shoulder, she couldn’t help but shiver, exhaling and tasting bliss on the tip of her tongue.

Then, that smile, knowing and sweet.

“Oh, Maya,” Claudine whispered, and Maya’s breath caught in her throat as Claudine’s palm rested gently against her cheek, softer than a feather but as warm as the afternoon sun. “Oh, ma Maya.”

Her name, on those lips. Maya could hear no higher praise, and she tilted her head, laying a kiss there on that hand that had chosen to hold her own countless times. Claudine, choosing her, over and over. Maya could ask for no greater blessing, and her heart spilled forth blossoms of the brightest and warmest color, a bouquet made of only a love tended to over a lifetime.

“Tell me,” Claudine said, her words like music as she leaned her head forward, tilting her lips up to brush against Maya’s own. “Tell me what you’re thinking of.”

A thousand things, Maya could’ve said right then, a thousand things about her love. The tiny crinkles at the corners of her eyes when she smiled, the way her hair shone like gold in the brightest rays of sunlight, that little hum she made at the back of her throat when they kissed. A thousand things more, Maya could’ve said.

“You,” Maya said softly as she felt Claudine’s warm breath against her lips. “You, as always, ma Claudine.”

A satisfied hum, a tender stroke of her thumb across Maya’s cheek.

“Good,” Claudine murmured, and each word fell from her lips like petals from roses, faint and lovely. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Leaning forward, Maya received a kiss in return, one that tasted like spring and felt like summer. Love bloomed anew in her heart once more, nurtured by warmth and tenderness. Claudine’s gentle touch; only she could hold Maya’s heart in her hands in such a way, only she could plant the seeds that would flower into the brightest stars and greatest love.

How softly Claudine caressed her cheek, how gently Claudine whispered her name in that breath afterward. Each touch, each word. Claudine was sunlight and Maya reached for her, kissing her once again.

They spent their morning that way, muted whispers with soft murmurs, tender kisses and gentle caresses in between. So many mornings they had together, and each time Maya cherished every second that she got to tangle her hands in Claudine’s hair, to giggle with her lifelong partner at whispered nothings, to smile with all the light in her heart when Claudine would do the same.

Chapter Text

She remembered, as a child, of what her parents told her about the forest spirits.

Powerful beings -- not spirits in a ghost kind of sense, but in that they were a magical species of people who wielded influence over certain elements of the world. They weren’t to be trifled with, and she was to respect their boundaries, their lands. No, humans and spirits weren’t enemies, but they had a longstanding, unspoken agreement that they would keep out of each other’s affairs. It kept things peaceful in the land; the spirits, in the forests, and the humans, in the plains and the valleys. Either way, her parents told her, she had to keep her guard up if she ever met a spirit, for offending them would be a grave crime.

She found out later that that was all kind of bullshit, that her parents told her that to keep her out of trouble, but no matter.

For later, when she was grown and older and taller and living on her own and she had to cross the forest another time to deliver to her grandmother some goods from the land across the way, she paused in her tracks in the middle of a deep green forest.

Claudine pushed the hood of her vivid red cloak back, shaking her head and letting her golden locks fall freely across her shoulders. Raising a hand to shield her eyes from the speckles of sunlight dropping down between the canopy of leaves above her, she let out a sigh.

She’d made this trip dozens, if not hundreds, of times, delivering missives and goods and other things from one town to another. It took no effort to recall to mind just where she had to go. A trek across the path here. A stroll across the bridge spanning a small river over there. A turn at the end of the woods, and straight on until the town came into view.

For today, though...For the past several trips, actually, she’d made…a little detour.

Glancing around her, Claudine saw no one else along the path -- not that she was surprised, of course. Few usually made the trip through through the forest, in fear of bothering the spirits within.

On Claudine’s part, she intended to do just that. She strode off the path a few feet, stopping and putting her bag on the ground before straightening up, putting a hand against a tree as she looked around.

Just tree trunks and green leaves and soft grass, for as far as she could see.

But Claudine knew were more to this forest than meets the eye.

“I know you’re out there,” she called out. “Come out, you big, bad wolf.”

For a moment, it was silent, only the rustle of the trees answering her.

Then she heard the subtle, amused laughter behind her.

Turning, she couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine that always came whenever the guardian of the forest came to her, in all her glory. Pointed, wolf ears at the top of her head, tufted with dark brown fur. The tail that wagged at her back, somehow befitting her confident stride. Eyes of a brilliant lavender hue, more radiant than any star in the sky.

Anyone could spot her from a mile away -- if she wanted to be seen. She had a face of beauty with a clever smile to match, framed by rich, brunette hair, the same color as her tufted ears. Everything about her -- even her simple tunic, vest, trousers and belt attire -- exuded elegance, grace, and magnificence.

She was Maya, the wolf-spirit that called the forest her home and territory.

“You do know I’ve been following you this entire time?” Maya asked, and although Claudine felt her face redden, she nonetheless scowled as Maya came to her.

“I had to wait until we were out of sight, you know.”

There, that stupid smirk, the sly wink as Maya put her hands in her pockets. “And you know as well as I do that no one dares to follow you anymore.”

Claudine could recall that incident with clarity. A night time trip across the forest, and some gangs of bandits had been stupid enough to try and jump her. It was just too bad it was Maya ended up jumping them, leaving them to run with their tails between their legs.

“I still had to make sure, anyway,” Claudine said defensively. It was a weak excuse; she’d just wanted time to prepare herself for her ‘detour.’

Maya sauntered up to her, and Claudine stumbled a little as she took a step back, her back landing flat against the tree trunk behind her.

Planting a hand up next to Claudine’s head, Maya’s gaze roamed over Claudine’s figure. “Mm. I must say, you look absolutely lovely in red.”

Now her face felt as red as her cloak. “How come it’s always me that looks nice? You could put some effort into your wardrobe, too.” Claudine swallowed, her heart pounding in her chest as Maya came closer, the two of them chest to chest.

“Oh? Would you like me to dress up for you, Claudine?” Maya murmured, the tips of their noses brushing.

Claudine reached up, grasping the collar of Maya’s shirt. “Be quiet, you big, dumb, wolf.”

Maya eagerly kissed her then, smiling into it as she pressed closer, hands sliding onto Claudine’s hips. She pulled away for just the briefest second to nip at Claudine’s bottom lip, a hint of a smirk on her face as Claudine scowled and pulled her back in, impatient. Claudine refused to be left wanting; Maya had done that to her just one too many times, and just for this afternoon, she planned on getting what she wanted from this damned wolf.

When they paused to breathe, Maya chuckled. “So eager today. Are you truly that excited to see me?”

“I’m never excited to see you,” Claudine muttered, but even so she reached a hand up to gently tickle the back of Maya’s tufted ears; Maya leaned into her touch, giving a happy hum. “You seem happy to see me, though.” She made a pointed look at Maya’s fast-wagging tail.

Laughing, Maya slid her hand from Claudine’s hip and instead wrapped an arm around Claudine’s waist. “How can I not be happy when I get to see the love of my life, hm?”

“Oh, stop it, you.” Still, the undeniable, brilliant red blush on Claudine’s cheeks gave her away. “You have to be the most annoying spirit in the entire world, I swear.”

“Would you also say I’m the most beautiful? I quite enjoy your compliments, too, as much as your insults.”

“Wow. How charming.”

Reaching up and wrapping her arms around Maya’s neck, Claudine pressed kisses to Maya’s cheeks as Maya laughed, ever the sound of joy, brighter than the sun that shone above them.

“I must say, I also quite enjoy your kisses too,” Maya said.

“For a wolf spirit, Maya, you’re also just a big puppy.” Claudine took that moment to place one final kiss on Maya’s cheek before gently taking a step away and bending down to pick up her bag.

Mockingly placing an offended hand over her heart, Maya said, “Am I not allowed to appreciate the love and adoration that you give me? You are the fairest maiden of them all, you know.”

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Claudine gestured for Maya to follow her through the trees. “Keep trying to flatter me with cheesy lines and you won’t get anymore love and adoration from me.”

They strolled through the forest for some time, making idle chatter as they headed to a spot in the woods meant only for them. They spoke of Claudine’s business between the villages and towns she traveled to, delivering missives and notes and other things between leaders. They spoke of her other hobbies, of singing and dancing in the taverns late at night, enjoying the evening with her friends. Then they turned to Maya’s duties in the forest, how she’d keep careful watch over the trees and plants, taking care of every leaf and root and making sure all the greenery was at its fullest health. They spoke of Maya’s travels across the wide expanse of forest every week, assisting and helping spirits and animals in need.

Or, in Claudine’s case, a long time ago, helping a human in need.

Maya, in all her dramatic tendencies, liked to say it was fate that had made them meet. Claudine thought it was more like a trickster god had decided at that moment to make little five year old Claudine wander off the forest path to admire a brilliant lavender flower.

Of course, her parents had told her multiple times to not wander off the forest path, that her first trek across the forest on her own meant that she needed to stick to the clear cut dirt path that wound its way through the forest.

When she’d happily walked off and bent down next to the flower, admiring it and touching its soft petals with her small hand, she’d looked up and realized she had absolutely no idea of where she was.

She was, of course, Saijou Claudine. She did not cry, she did not panic. Instead, she stood there, hands on her hips, and frowned.

She tried to retrace her steps, but all the trees looked the same and all the grass looked the same and all the shrubs looked the same.

Stopping next to a tree as identical as the rest, Claudine pouted, shouldering her tiny backpack and turning in a circle. She could stay here, and hope someone might come get her once her grandmother realized she hadn’t arrived on time. Or, she could keep going and prove to everyone that she’d rescued herself from getting lost.

Claudine opted for the latter. She was too prideful to admit that she’d gotten herself lost because of a stupid, pretty flower.

Except that wandering around in circles ended up making her trip and roll down a slight incline.

When she sat up, blowing a leaf out of her hair and swatting away the dirt at her clothes, she’d tried to stand up -- and winced, her ankle throbbing underneath her weight.

Sprained ankle. Not a good sign, and definitely not a good sign for a lost five year old.

Claudine learned a lot later that apparently Maya’s parents had been watching from afar. The spirits tended to be more protective around children -- human or otherwise -- and they’d sent their own daughter out on her first ever task of helping a denizen of the forest.

So little Claudine had looked up to see a little girl her own age, but with tufted ears and fluffy tail, gazing at her with a curious expression.

Rather than be afraid of a total stranger, Claudine scowled. Her first words that she spit out were, “I’m not afraid of you!” It did not occur to little Claudine just then that she was facing a forest spirit; rather, in her mind, she was meeting another child like herself.

“I’m not afraid of you either,” Maya said, head cocked to the side as she regarded Claudine sitting before her in the grass.

“...Then do you want something? You’re not taking my cookies, by the way. It’s for my grandmother.”

“You have cookies?” Maya sniffed, and indeed caught the scent of cookies in the air. She glanced at Claudine’s backpack, one ear twitching.

“Hey! They’re mine.” Claudine protectively hugged the backpack to herself. She tried to stand up fully, and instead stumbled -- instinctively, Maya stepped forward and Claudine grabbed hold of her offered arm for balance.

The two stared at each other, Maya wide-eyed and Claudine open-mouthed.

“I-I don’t need your help!” Claudine tore her hand away and angrily stomped up the incline -- or she would have, if she didn’t stumble again trying to walk on a bad ankle.

“I think you need my help,” Maya said, coming to her side and once more offering an arm of support. “You’re trying to get to the village across the way, right?”

“How do you know?”

“I mean. That’s what you humans do when you follow the path. Unless you meant to get lost.”

“I didn’t get lost!”

“You look lost to me.”

“Go away.”

Maya shook her head, ears twitching. “I can’t go away. You need help.”

Claudine sat there in the grass, fuming for a few seconds, thinking it over. This new wolf-girl seemed insistent on staying with her and helping her, and staying here lost in the forest with this wolf-girl annoying her didn’t seem like the most enjoyable of ideas.

“Fine. So what are you going to do?”

“I’ll carry you,” Maya said simply, as if it were obvious.

“...How? You’re tiny.”

Now it was Maya’s turn to bristle. “I’m still strong! I can carry you on my back.” She turned and bent her knees, casting an expectant look over her shoulder at Claudine.

“...Fine, but it’s not my fault if you’re too weak to carry me.”

“I’m not,” Maya said under her breath, and then she grunted as Claudine climbed onto her back, wrapping her arms around Maya’s neck, her chin resting on Maya’s shoulder. If she was gonna get a free ride to her grandmother’s, then she might as well take it.

And true to her word, miraculously, somehow Maya did indeed carry her through the forest. She huffed and puffed all along the way, though, her arms straining, but she did it anyway.

“You’re going kind of slow,” Claudine pointed out at one point.

Maya, a bead of sweat on her brow, asked, “Are all humans as loud as you?”

“Are all wolf people as annoying as you?” Claudine shot back. Five years old she may be, but she had a tongue as sharp as a viper’s.

“I don’t have to carry you, you know.” Maya turned around a soft curve on the path, and up ahead they saw the forest opening out to an open field -- they were close to town.

“Then why are you carrying me? Why help me anyway?” That much, Claudine was honestly curious to know.

“Because,” Maya panted. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Claudine went quiet at that, much to Maya’s relief. Talking and carrying Claudine at the same time took up a lot of her energy.

They made it to the edge of the forest, where they found a panicked and worried grandma waiting by -- she hurried forward once she spotted Maya and Claudine leaving the line of trees. After a few minutes of explanation from Maya and Claudine of what had occurred (Claudine insisting that no, she did not get lost), the grandmother bowed deeply towards Maya and hastily clapped her hand on top of her granddaughter’s head, forcing Claudine to give a little bow of her own.

“I thank you most deeply, spirit, for rescuing my reckless granddaughter,” the grandmother said, ignoring Claudine’s protests.

“I am glad to help,” was Maya’s response, polite and cordial.

“If I may, I’d like to offer you some sweets in thanks.”

“But—!” Claudine indignantly turned to her grandmother, who’d begun digging around in Claudine’s backpack.

“No buts. She helped you, so she deserves something in return,” Claudine’s grandmother huffed, before delicately pulling out a wrapped piece of dessert. “Please, enjoy this. It’s a delicacy around these parts, the baumkuchen.”

“But Grandmo—”

“Shush!” Claudine’s grandmother gave Claudine a little whap on the head with her hand, and Claudine grumbled in response. “Please, take these.”

Maya gratefully took the gift with wide eyes, but her tail wagged all the same.