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Pixal finds him climbing over the monastery wall in the middle of the night with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He’s not subtle. She’s very lucky for that. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Kai doesn’t even glance down at her. “I’m going out.”
“Over the wall?”
“Yeah.” He loses his footing for a moment and scrambles to haul himself upward. “Why do you care?”
“I don’t.” She watches him for a moment. “You’re going out to fight.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Silence. He drops his bag over the wall. “Why do you insist on going out to do this?”
He swivels to stare at her, crouching on the balls of his feet. His eyes gleam in the dark. “Going out to-”
“Get hurt.”
His eyes flash for a second. Sometimes, she does not think he is entirely human. That makes two of them. “What are you saying?”
“If you can beat me in a fight before you leave, I’ll cover for you tomorrow morning.”
She sees the moment that offer sinks in- he leans back, considering, the wind rustling through his hair. “What happens if I say no?”
“Nothing.”
“You won’t tell everyone where I went?”
“I won’t have to.”
He stares at her. She doesn’t blink.
He lunges.
She slips to the side and lets him hit the ground and roll, quickly recalibrating her sensors to allow her to avoid the worst of the effects of the fight. She doesn’t trust him not to set her on fire- or, at least, not to try. “You’re cheating.”
“You didn’t make any rules.” She can’t see a weapon. If he had one at all, it might be on the other side of the wall with his bag. His eyes are streaming scarlet as he meets her gaze. Heat waves rise from his skin. “This one’s on you.”
She doesn’t say anything to that, just steps to the side as he rushes her and takes the opportunity to jab him in the ribs. He’s a better fighter than she is, she knows that, but she made herself to have staying power. She just has to outlast him. “Why do you think you need to fight dirty to beat me?”
He snarls in the back of his throat, and lights his hand on fire. There it is. If she can make him use his elemental reserves, she can exhaust him. Another slip to the side, but he’s ready now, and he moves with her, knocking her onto her back where she rolls under him as he pins her arms over her head. She knows there’s heat coming off of him. She knows her metal will start to warp if they keep this up. He doesn’t usually fight like this, but it does not occur to her to be afraid. He smiles at her with all of his teeth. “So should we call it there, or-”
She headbutts him and hears something crunch, sends him reeling back and uses the opportunity to get to her feet. She looks herself over- there are handprints in her wrist, but she can deal with those later. It’s just the plating. “Are you done?”
He lets out a gasping, wounded noise and staggers to his feet, bracing himself against the wall. “You-”
“It’s not broken.” She knows how to pull her punches. “It’s not as bad as you would have gotten if you’d left.”
“ You- ”
Pixal settles into a defensive stance. “I asked if you were done .”
He cries out, blood trickling over his lips, light carving through his veins as he charges- he’s gotten sloppy, now. She catches him by the wrist and flips him onto his back, watches him gasp for air as she knocks the wind out of him. It’s not even difficult anymore. It’s turned clinical, dispassionate- everything he hates, and she watches him seethe as he recognizes it. “If it helps,” she offers, “I did turn off my pain sensors before we started.”
“Bastard,” Kai hisses. He gets to his feet again, visibly shaking.
“You didn’t make any rules.”
His shoulders heave, and he begins to circle warily, looking for an opening. She doesn’t move, just watches him pace as he realizes what he’s gotten himself into. This isn’t what he wanted. That’s the point. “You should’ve let me leave,” he hisses. “You- why didn’t you just mind your own fucking business?”
She smiles, because she knows he’ll hate it.
The light flares through his skin, opening dry, cracked, bloodless wounds over his arms as he lets go of his elemental force, letting it wind through him and overtake his mind- it’s enough to wreck her. She knows this.
He holds out a hand, his eyes wild, and she takes his wrist. “Kai.”
He puts his hand over her core.
“That’s enough,” she says. “Kai. That is enough. ”
He stares at her, uncomprehending, his hand slowly melting through her metal frame. He opens his mouth, and his voice dissolves in the hiss and crackle of living fire, twisting through his body. He’s not going to stop.
The Overlord tears through her mind, tells her that the only thing she will ever be good for is mindless weaponry, and she believes him.
She knocks his hand away from her chest and begins to push him backwards. He fights her- he still fights her for every step, but she’s stronger than he is, and she’s not tired, and she slowly backs him against the cool stone wall as the fire rages through him. “I’m sorry about this,” she murmurs. “But I think we’re finished here.”
He opens his mouth to scream, and she punches him in the throat.
The fire doesn’t disappear, but it does gutter briefly as he chokes, and she sees comprehension flicker in his eyes as he presses away from her, further against the wall. The bright red flare dims and disappears in his eyes as they slam shut. She hasn’t moved away from him- she pins him back, and he wraps a hand around her wrists and pulls them tighter against his chest, simultaneously shrinking away and pulling her closer as he shakes.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she says when he opens his mouth. “Don’t apologize. Don’t talk. We have time.”
He shakes his head- just once, like a dog with water in its ear. “I hate you,” he rasps. “I hate- I hate you.”
“Yes,” she says quietly. “I know.”