"...Heh."
"You really don't know when to stop, do you?"
"Nope."
Rain hooked her hand around Cecilia's sleeve and started walking backward, dragging her toward the center of the ring.
"You sure you wanna keep poking me?" Cecilia asked. "I'm not as strong as you keep thinking I am."
"Too late for that."
Rain pointed at her like she had just caught her stealing.
"I spent fifteen minutes dragging a yes out of you. Fifteen. You think I'm letting you crawl back into your little corner now?"
"You're very pushy for someone I met, what, ten minutes ago? I don't think you've ever gotten a no before."
"I have. I just don't listen."
"Anyway." Rain finally let go of her sleeve and stepped ahead, stopping near the middle of the clearing. "I'll keep it sheathed. That way, when you lose, you can't say I bullied you."
A strange weight kneaded behind her eyes, the noise of the audience fading into nothing.
"Last chance."
Rain turned back toward her before she lifted the sheathed blade until its tip pointed at her chest.
step.
step.
step.
Cecilia took another step, and the loose strands of Rain's blue hair began to cling lightly to her forehead.
step.
Sweat.
A thin shine gathered across Rain's hairline, then along the side of her neck.
The air between them started to bend in faint, uneven waves.
Hot.
The hand around the sheath tightened, her knuckles turning pale.
step.
Then Cecilia lifted her hand and placed it gently on top of Rain's head as she ruffled the damp hair.
Rain stared up at her, sweat running down her cheek.
shhk—THMP!
Rain blinked up at the sky, flat on her back, the blade still gripped in her hand.
For a second, she did nothing, a snail shriveling in the sun.
shhk!
Sharp lines carved themselves beneath Rain's sprawled form, forming a pattern.
tckk...kkk—tchkk!
A heavy haze surged upward.
Rain twisted off the ground and sprang back up a few feet away, her boots digging into the earth as her gaze snapped downward.
What had been loose grains only a second ago darkened, screaming as the air brushed against them.
Jagged shapes forced themselves upward from the ground in crooked bursts—half-formed blades of blackened grit, all angled toward where her legs had been.
More.
A line snapped up from the ground.
"Hey—! That's cheating!"
Rain swept her scabbard down.
Crk—tshhh!
The jagged points shattered under the hit, scattering across the clearing in glowing orange.
Rain's boots carved hard into the sand while she backed away, the glowing grains snapping and hissing around her feet.
Tchk!
And more.
Until the blackened mass burst into a haze of shimmering static that lunged at Rain.
fwhp!
Rain's face tightened before she brought both hands up, turning the sheathed blade sideways as a makeshift shield.
The static washed over her in a rough wave, the grains dragging across the scabbard in jittering bands of black, brown and orange. Her silhouette splintered at the edges, blurring until she looked like something else entirely.
Cecilia followed right behind it, looking past the haze and into Rain's glazed eyes.
Her own face stared back through the shimmer.
Cecilia's hand slipped through the static and caught the mouth of the sheath.
Krrrk…kch.
The scabbard trembled between them, caught in both their hands while the haze dragged over their clothes. Rain's grip tightened, the muscles in her forearm standing out as she tried to pull back.
Sweat ran down the side of Rain's face in rivulets, gathering beneath her eyes before slipping past her jaw and dripping into the sand.
The red in her eyes deepened little by little.
Rain pulled again, harder this time, her boots digging shallow trenches through the sand.
The tendons in her neck stood out for a second before the scabbard jerked halfway free, only to stop again when Cecilia's fingers tightened near the mouth of the sheath.
Rain's gaze lifted, centimeter by centimeter, like she was staring at something that had grown taller with every second.
KCH—!
The sheath tore out of Cecilia's hand.
Rain stumbled back half a step, dragging in labored breathes while the tip carved into the shifting sand.
Sweat washed over her face completely, darkening the strands of blue hair stuck to her skin.
snffk…
The inside of Cecilia's nose burned with each breath. Little pinpricks crawled across her arms, her neck, the backs of her hands, growing sharper all at once.
Like kernels bursting open.
The edges of Cecilia's vision narrowed.
The sound around her dulled until everything turned white.
The land behind Rain stretched thin and far away, like it had been shoved behind glass.
"..."
The white light swallowing the dark suddenly spat everything back out. The world lurched backward in one violent motion, as though Terra itself had been ripped out from under her.
A voice cut through, faint.
One more time.
"...?"
Cecilia blinked.
For a second, the screen above her bracelet stretched across her vision, its darkened surface layered in a sheet of water.
Damp hair clinging to her cheeks before she lowered her wrist and the screen faded away.
Steam clung to the cramped room, curling along the mirror and walls in soft, uneven layers.
tpk…
tpk…
tpk…
Her thoughts slid down the mirror, and herself.
Cecilia's mouth tightened.
What am I doing?...you fool, letting yourself follow the whims of a kid! I'm never letting that brat drag me into anymore...hahhh....
She signed, clenching her fingers and sliding the door
"Why isn't this thing working..."
Ikade tapped at her phone, her ears twitching in irritation.
"What're your doing?"
"Uah—!"
Ikade jolted so hard her phone flew out of her hands and bounced somewhere behind her. She shot to her feet, almost immediately slipping and eating the floor the next second.
Ikade slowly turned her head and looked up at Cecilia, nervousness written all over her face. Her nose had gone embarrassingly red.
"...nothing?"
"Anyway…" Ikade pushed herself up onto her elbows, pretending none of that happened. "You didn't go and do something you weren't supposed to, did you?"
"And if I did?" Cecilia stepped past her. "It's not like you could stop me. Or do you have that little faith in me?"
Cecilia ignored whatever it was Ikade said and walked over to the closet.
Behind her, Ikade scrambled across the floor to retrieve her phone
She pulled out the first outfit within reach and changed in only a few seconds—a loose button-up long sleeve and a washed denim skirt.
Before Cecilia could relieve, Ikade slipped behind her and blew lightly against her ear.
"—!"
Cecilia's shoulders jumped.
Ikade's hands landed on them a second later, kneading into the tense muscle with shamelessness.
"Since you wanna act all mysterious, I'll just help myself."
Ikade leaned in while she spoke, her face pressing close against Cecilia's back. Her chin brushed near Cecilia's shoulder and her hands settled into the muscle at the base of her neck.
Her lips grazed the fabric once.
Twice.
A faint warmth crept into her ears, hot enough to make the faint lines beneath her eyes deepen even more.
"Oh? What's this?" Her voice softened, teasing. "You're actually embarrassed."
"Can you stop...breathing on my ear like that..."
Ikade hummed like she had not heard a word.
Her fingers worked lower, gliding from Cecilia's shoulders to her upper arms, then farther down—past her elbows, to her wrists, and finally to her hands.
Cecilia tilted her head aside, her dark hair spilling forward and obscuring part of her sight. Her eyes followed every place those smaller hands touched, feeling Ikade's fingers carefully trace over the ugliness along her skin.
Slowly.
Gently.
Molding the ache into something warmer.
The dark brown protrusions caught the light in dull glints, like sunlight slipping through a window.
"..."
Strands of white hair danced forward, forming little patterns over the hand kneading hers.
fwumph—!
The room tilted.
Cecilia stumbled back a step, then another, before the backs of her knees hit the bed and the two of them dropped onto it.
Above them, the skylight cut the ceiling open, and the clouds took over.
Her gaze lowered.
And she was already outside, walking.
Her steps left shallow depressions in the ground. The dry wind brushed against her skirt, carrying the scent of dust, cooked oil, and something else under it.
Step...step...
Beside her, Ikade kept meandering through whatever was on her mind, and every now and then, Cecilia answered.
In between, a few people greeted them.
Vehicles lined the stretch ahead, the make-believe streets of the caravan still busy with movement.
Ahead, the pitiful medical truck stood where Cecilia had last seen it, its cargo body painted a red that was too bright, with a single faded yellow stripe cutting across the cabin and through both passenger-side doors.
Its black awning stretched over the side, throwing a patch of shade across a folding table and two chairs where an older couple sat beneath it.
Ikade's ears perked at once.
"Oh! Hello again!"
Ikade's voice carried across the short distance, bright enough to pull both Cecilia's eyes and the older couple's toward her.
"Well now." The woman said, looking up from beneath the awning. "Look who came back."
Ikade smiled and guided herself and Cecilia closer.
"You wouldn't mind if we bothered you a little, right?"
The woman had a sun hat propped on her lap. Beside her, the man leaned back in his chair with his own hat covering his eyes.
Both of them were of Ikade's kin.
"A little bothering is about all we have left."
"Alright then! Is this your tr—" She paused, one ear flicking. "...well, obviously it is. You're sitting under it. Uhh...never mind."
The older woman just smiled.
Ikade looked away for a second, coughed into her fist, then recovered almost immediately and pulled out her phone.
Cecilia took a few steps closer to the truck, moving out of the way before settling against its body. She watched Ikade turn the desert green around her with nothing but a camera and too much enthusiasm.
"Right. Starting over."
Ikade lifted her phone like a microphone and pointed it toward them with complete seriousness.
"Hello, honored doctors resting beneath their very obvious truck. Can I ask you two a few questions?"
The woman raised a hand to cover her mouth while the man beside her let out a low breath that might have been a laugh.
"Honored?" the woman said. "Honored might be a stretch nowadays."
Ikade's tail flicked behind her.
"Perfect. First question. Why don't we introduce ourselves for your future fans?"
"Marisol. And this is my husband, Lewis."
"So..." Ikade tilted her head slightly. "Were you two always doctors?"
Sienna watched the older woman throw a glance at the man.
Cecilia watched Marisol glance at Lewis.
It was small.
Barely even a flicker.
But there was something inside Cecilia recognized.
"No." Lewis answered. "...not always. I was doing a residency in Manhattes while volunteering nearby, we met because she was doing an internship as a veterinarian."
Manhattes...that's where we first met.
Ikade blinked.
"A veterinarian?"
Marisol smiled, her greying purple hair swayed with the wind.
"Yes. A perfect pairing, isn't it? But It wasn't quite that simple. Back then, we were both just...too busy, we also butted heads more often than not."
"And yet."
"And yet." Marisol added, her smile softening. "Somehow, maybe that was part of what brought us together."
Ikade grinned and lifted her hand mic toward the man.
"So how'd that turn into this?"
Lewis leaned back in the chair, his eyes diving somewhere farther than the caravan.
"For a while, it didn't." Marisol said. "Life kept moving, and it wasn't a good time for the city yet we kept finding each other again."
"Eventually." Lewis added. "we stopped pretending we didn't feel a thing."
"We moved in together a few months later..." Marisol interjected. "We stayed in Manhattes for a couple of years after that, then moved to Fiesta. We thought that was where we were supposed to be."
The wind stirred beneath the awning, dragging a little warmth past them.
Cecilia stayed quiet against the truck, listening to the sounds of the caravan singing around them.
"Supposed to be?"
Ikade's hand faltered, Lewis picked up next.
"There were people there who needed help. A lot of them...most could not afford it...nor ask for help. The unlucky. The forsaken. The ones the rich swore they'd get around to helping eventually."
"By the time we moved to Fiesta, we really thought we'd found where we were meant to be." Marisol went on. "A city was still a city, sure, but some districts there..." She exhaled softly. "Some people were living like beast."
Cecilia's fingers twitched against her arm.
"At first, I thought we'd do our work, help where we could...and maybe make the place a little kinder before moving on." Marisol's face casted down. "We thought we had time. I though we had time."
"And we paid the price for our assumption."
"But then the unrest in Fiesta started four years ago." Lewis' voice came low, flat. "What was supposed to be shouting in the streets turned into..."
The noise of the caravan felt farther away.
For a second, Cecilia could almost see it—the streets, the smoke, the figures of people running without knowing where to go.
Her fingers twitched at her side.
Marisol's fingers curled tighter around the brim of the hat in her lap.
Cecilia's gaze dropped.
"After that...We just started going farther and farther out, helping wherever people would let us in. At first, we told ourselves it would only be for a little while. Just until things calmed down."
"And by the time we noticed." Lewis said, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "we were already living like this."
Ikade lowered her phone just a little, her ears twitching once while the wind tugged at her hair.
"So...do you regret it?"
"..."
"No."
Marisol shook her head once.
"No. Not when there are still people out there who need help."
Cecilia stayed against the truck and watched in silence, her arms folded loosely while the breeze tugged at the ends of her feathered tufts.
Then, just like that, Ikade returned to herself.
She straightened, lifted her hand-mic again, and cleared her throat with all the seriousness she could possibly muster.
"If some random person watching this way later somehow ends up seeing it, what would you want them to remember about you two?"
"That we tried." Marisol said softly. "Don't concede your dreams....and keep pushing."
Ikade stood there for a second, fumbling for the right words.
Then—
Then.
"Alright!"
She declared it like she had just saved the interview from falling apart.
"That wraps up today's very first, incredibly professional, historic interview for..."
Her whole face lit up.
"Surviving Terra!"
"No—wait, wait..."
Ikade straightened herself before lifting the phone higher into the air, quickly turning it around to pull herself into the frame.
"Surviving Terra with Doctor Marisol and Doctor Lewis! First ever interview edition!"
"First ever, huh?" Lewis muttered, his eyes casting down with a small smile on his face.
"Mmhm." Ikade nodded, completely serious. "So if this gets famous later, just remember I was here first."
Cecilia watched her from against the truck.
For a second, the desert almost looked green.
She gave them both a cheerful little bow before backing away, nearly bumping into someone in the process.
"Ah—sorry!"
Ikade slipped around them, then looked back at Cecilia and pointed somewhere deeper into the caravan.
Cecilia finally pushed herself off the truck and stepped away.
She had barely taken more than two steps before Marisol's voice reached her.
"You look like you have a lot in your mind."
Ahead of them, Ikade had already wandered farther in, chatting with another small group, her hands tucked behind her back while her tail flicked from side to side.
Cecilia turned her head slightly.
Beside Marisol, Lewis lifted his hat just enough to look at her.
"...Do I?"
The caravan kept moving around them, voices folding themselves into the whispers of the wind.
"I think it's admirable."
"..."
"What you two chose to do. Living like this. Helping people who probably can't pay you back. I respect that."
She faced them and spread her arms lightly apart, opening her palms to them.
"But don't misunderstand."
Her hands lowered.
"I don't need a lesson. I don't need someone to tell me what I should be doing, where I should go, or what kind of person I'm supposed to become."
"And you'll have to forgive me if that sounded blunt."
"Thank you for talking to her."