“Take me back!” Burgundy fury carried her voice over the howling wind. Her flames rose to an inferno. The rain around her shimmered with reflected light.

Two did not reply. As the thoughts she’d suppressed returned with force. What set them off, had destroyed the memory always been their plan. Other quandaries burbled in the moment of respite.

She shoved them down again in favour of the few certainties. Two needed an essence, Burgundy was her best bet but she refused to destroy her recollection. No matter how unpleasant or unsightly it was her history. Her pain, she’d rather die than let it be destroyed. Forget as if it never happened.

If she had questions she’d drag them out. Her goals did not need a willing participant. Affection borne of their brief time together recoiled at the notion, but want fell to need.

Violence it was. Her buzzing thoughts stilled.

Burgundy crouched her body primed for another assault.

Close range wasn’t an option. Two was weaponless, and her opponent burned hot enough to sear her with a touch. Evidenced by her aching hand. They were also faster and potentially stronger than her. Two’s control of their environment was her only advantage.

Out mettled by a part of her unconscious. How irksome.

Burgundy lunged even faster than before. Two levelled the full weight of her attention on their arc. An image and a plan sat in her mind, waiting for the perfect moment.

They landed to Two’s right with a flash of steam and the flap of their trailing cloak. Their landing was light as if their metres-long leap were a skip over a puddle. They spun on the ball of their foot. Sights set on Two’s stomach. Intent to charge through her. She wouldn’t have time to dodge, even if she pulled the same falling trick.

That was okay.

She stepped forward. The pounced. Her gaze was fixed to theirs. Yet she didn’t notice the moment the glass panes and wooden bars separated them. One moment there was only a screen of droplets lit by fiery light, the next it changed.

Nonetheless, she noticed the moment the change hit the Burning girl’s consciousness. Her eyes widened, then shut, as her seeking arms turned to defence.

She ploughed through the glass and its wood supports. In an explosion of sharp shards and splinters. The collision gave Two all the time she needed to step aside. Burgundy’s momentum carried her through the room to tear through the paper screen. Several thuds signalled her continued motion.

She stared at the child-sized hole in the living room wall. A mixture of trepidation and satisfaction swirled at the edge of her thoughts. Satisfaction at her successful gambit. Trepidation because she didn’t know how much longer she could manage.

Familiar places were easier. It’s why she moved them here. The rain outside indicated this was still a memory, which seemed to help as well. Managing their position in space was much more difficult.

Her muscles cried for rest, trembling and unsteadying her in a moment where she could afford nothing but perfection. She only had a few more shifts in her.

Two leaned against an unbroken section of the window. She tamped the signs of weakness she could and twisted those she could not. She cupped her trembling behind her back.

Let her shoulders sink, but blended them with half-lidded eyes and a sad curl to her lips. Turning physical exhaustion into emotional. She bowed her head but kept burgundy’s hole and the wall in sight.

She gathered her strength and waited. The next exchange was soon to come.

Burgundy entered the room through the door. Much to Two’s surprise and worry. Gone was the frantic gleam in her eyes. The manic tension that had filled her every motion was replaced with something calm. It was no less dangerous. It reminded her of Daisy’s quiet fury. Ever present but leash and held close.

Her flames reflected the change. They no longer billowed and cascaded around her. They stood low and close to her skin and cloak. Heat filled the room in seconds. Eclipsing a scorching summer day.

They strode boldly towards her. The planks creaked under her heated steps.

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Two sighed, conjuring lethargy and disappointed resignation to fill her voice. “Are you done, or are you going to make me wear down your tantrum.”

She stopped. Her flames flared brilliantly adding the wood smoke and cinders into the air. With a long drawn-out breath, she reigned herself in. Two pictured the conversation somewhere else. A caution in case her rhetoric failed her.

“As if you have the strength, your weak pathetic. Bring me back to the memory and save me the trouble of beating you into a pulp.”

Two shook her head sadly, continuing the performance as she pondered Burgundy’s change in tact, and how to meet it. She rocked to her feet. “What really bothers me is why, we were working well together. I don’t understand why you threw it all away. And before you go screaming again ask yourself why I didn’t put you on the other side of the governor’s office window.”

Their expression soured. Marcy was not the reason Two hadn’t graced her alternate self with a temporary acquaintance with flight. Familiarity brought ease. She’d only been in the office once. She needed time to create the scene. Time this conversation bought her.

This would end, and though she left the door open, she doubted peace would be used.

“Why Burgundy?”

“Why!” the screamed in a quaking breath. As if she were on the verge of coming apart. She visually choked on the emotion. “ Because I hate you and that! Was the moment we were borne.”

Despite herself, she was drawn by their raw passion. Every word a declaration, every breath a moment from collapse. Into violence, into tears. “Removing a memory won’t change the past, it won’t change who we are.” The words geld more sincerity than she intended.

“But it will. It will.” A smile replaced her clenched teeth. A wide grin not marred by scorn or vitriol. Just a smile. “ Do you like who you are?” The sudden change in topic jarred Two. “Do you like staying up, Thinking about the people, the friends you hurt? All because you weren’t good enough, strong enough. To pave a better path.”

Their features curled into incandescent fury, but her voice remained a low simmering thing that pulled Two further in. “When you linger a bit too long in a room. A few seconds slow to end a conversation, and you see it. You feel It. That moment it comes over their face and they notice there’s something wrong, with, you.”

Burgundy stepped around the room’s centre table and it’s chairs. Her fingers the wood, leaving smoke and char. It was a monumental effort to hold her ground.

“And then just a little, you believe it.” The words tore into and grasped hold of her calm. Then tried to rip it out. Her careful control buckled and a shudder ran down her spine. Her breath caught, stuck against some emotion she couldn’t identify. Yet she weathered, retreating deeper into refrain.

She breathed and let go. She pulled her scattered image together. “And you think destroying a single memory will remove all that.”

“No, but is a start.” She whipped a chair at Two.

Two had a moment to blink before the wood projectile collided with her face. She took a step back as it crushed her nose.

She fell over Lancet’s table, dooming mountains of paper to the ground. Through bleary eyes and a haze of confusion. She glimpsed Burgundy outside the window.

Which provided even more confusion. For a moment that could have lasted forever. She stared at the child. Hovering in the open air surrounded by rain and very much on fire, with a table in hand. Then in a feat of acrobatics that eclipsed all others. She swung herself onto the table. Using said table as her anchor. Then kicked off it and through the window.

She couldn’t step aside this time. An explosion of pain joined the others. For an instant, she saw Burgundy’s face, unobscured by her hood. Bloody lines borne of broken glass adorned her face. Her hair was tousled, dreads poking loose from her bundle. Her eyes shone ever so brightly.

Then a fist to her face reduced her world to heat and pain. A fitting prelude to the hurt that followed. She tried to resist. She flailed and kicked. Struggled for an exit, but a fresh blow always scattered her thoughts before they could conjure a retreat.

Her scattered thoughts did answer a question. Burgundy was stronger than her.

When the beating stopped Two was surprised to find herself conscious. “Get up.” Two struggled to her feet but her limbs were laden with pain. A scorching hand wrapped around her neck and forced her upright.

Two fell but Lancet’s desk caught her. The heavy object stood despite the violence. She braced her trembling hands against it before she could slide to the ground. She tried to straighten her legs. They were less than compliant.

Idly she wondered why everything hurt so much. This was built from her heart, her thoughts and emotions. Yet she couldn’t remember ever being in so much pain. Either she possessed a truly unique imagination or the spirit was a bastard. She leaned towards the latter.

“You gonna croak on me now, or are you gonna get me where I need to be.” She glanced at Burgundy. Suffering the pain of motion. Their fire had dimmed to pre-fight levels. Droplets scattered through the broken window and sizzled on her. She stood calmly, not bothering to glare at Two.

She’d let out all her steam.

She laughed. Burgundy raised her brow. Two laughed harder until a lance of pain forced her quiet chuckle.

“You done, I got places to be.”

“What would happen if died” Two rasped.

They levelled a flat look. “It doesn’t matter, you aren’t going to make me kill you, and even if you did. So what, anything is acceptable as long as I’m not you.”

“Oh,”

“Oh in fucking deed. Now are you going to keep testing my generous patience or what.”

Two thought to herself then levered herself forward. “Fine, just tell me why are you certain I won’t do it spite you.”

A wide gin consumed their face. It looked tired. “Because you’re a coward, you’ll do anything, to survive. You’d rather be someone else than not be. “ She took Two’s flame-touched hand. Then shot her a glare. “Now go.”

Two swayed on her feet. Faintly aware the flame wasn’t burning. “Anything, huh” She muttered under her breath.

She smiled faintly. She stepped into a black world.