Training Grounds, Infirmary

“How are you feeling?”

Melinda crosses her arms, ignoring the twinges of pain caused by the movement. The girl occupying the bed she stands by, however, does not turn her clouded gaze in Melinda’s direction, even as another silent tear slides down against the machine covering most of her nose and mouth.

“…My face hurts,” Julia eventually answers, voice slightly distorted.

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Melinda says, sighing with exasperation.

“No, I don’t.”

Melinda rolls her eyes. “Seijuro played nice these past few years, and even I forgot how much of a monster she really is. You shouldn’t beat yourself up too much over this. There’s always another day.”

This time, Julia doesn’t answer. In fact, her gaze remains glued to a particular point in the room’s ceiling she seems to have found remarkably interesting after Melinda entered the room.

With surprise, Melinda notices the girl’s hands are trembling visibly, even as they stand motionless by her body… And, after a moment of hesitation, she decides to sit on the bed in order to grab one of them, which finally seems to attract Julia’s hollowed gaze in her direction.

Instead of speaking again, Melinda squeezes Julia’s cold hand and forces herself to face the girl’s eyes without averting her own.

“Why… Why are you here? We’ve barely talked before.”

Melinda shrugs. The truth is, she feels responsible for Seijuro’s behavior, for not having noticed the girl’s emotions spiraling out of control as much as they did. All she ever thought about was how to best her in a fight… Some righthand she is.

“It’s not your fault,” Julia says, seemingly having noticed Melinda’s guilt. “You warned me not to go. You warned them Seijuro was acting strange, and sending us to fight her was a bad idea.”

“I didn’t think she’d…!”

Melinda shakes her head, clenching her teeth.

“Hijack the event? Take the fights seriously for once?”

Julia stares at Melinda calmly, appearing to have regained some of her usual coolness through their exchange.

“Do you know why she did it?”

Once more, Melinda shakes her head. “If she ever told me anything, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I can’t believe she thought this was a good idea. She’s usually so…”

“Responsible? Levelheaded?” Julia completes knowingly.

“Yeah,” Melinda agrees, throwing the other girl a questioning glance. “How do you know?”

“She reminds me of somebody I know.”

After a moment of locked stares, it becomes clear Julia is not going to elaborate and Melinda nods, signalizing she understands.

“You never answered my question.”

“I feel like shit,” Julia murmurs as her hand jerks into Melinda’s grip, driving her to squeeze it. “It’s like I can still hear it… Their cheering…”

“Nobody would go through a loss like that untouched. You’re brave for having stood on top of that ring Julia.”

For several seconds, Julia stares toward empty space, seemingly lost in thoughts too complicated to put in words, her skin pale and breath shallow.

“I…” Julia breathes, then swallows. “I think this is it for me.”

Melinda blinks, surprised, as she watches the girl’s expression worsening, twisting into an obvious crying grimace.

“What? You mean… You’re giving up?”

“I’m not giving up!” Julia suddenly screams, attracting a surprised glance from a nearby nurse walking by.

“I was told you’re not supposed to move your face too much,” Melinda murmurs as they both pause to stare back, causing the nurse to continue forward after a warning glance in their direction.

“I was told the same,” Julia admits, leaning back against her pillow with a small sigh.

“So…” Melinda searches the other girl’s expression for a moment, noticing she has regained her composure nearly as fast as she lost it, impressively enough. “I’m sorry, bad choice of words.”

“No… You’re right. I’m giving up. I know my limits, and I’ll never defeat somebody like Seijuro... Or somebody like you.” Julia stares straight into Melinda’s eyes, her voice now producing a certain amount of newfound confidence. “I like fighting, and I know I’m good at it… Much better than most people. But today I realized facing against you monsters for a chance at being better than average is not worth it when my life is at risk.”

“Nobody has died on the ring-”

“For the past half-century, I know,” Julia completes, “But we still have plenty of long-term damage, and the risk is there. Hardly the type of record I’d like to break.”

Frustrated, Melinda runs her free hand through her short hair, letting out an exasperated sigh. “I know you’re shaken by what happened, but you’re rushing your decision.”

“Maybe,” Julia admits, “I’m still thinking about it… But I can’t go through something like this again. I can’t, Melinda.”

Julia’s gaze seems to beg Melinda to understand, to not think her a coward for her decision.

“I won’t push you,” Melinda says, after a pause, “But I think it’s a shame to waste your hard work and potential after coming this far. And I don’t think I’d win against you ten out of ten either.”

Julia chortles. “Not ten out of ten, eh? You know your face is looking like a worse mess than mine, right?”

“It hurts like hell, too,” Melinda admits with a solemn nod, “Every time I speak.”

The girls exchange a long gaze of mutual understanding.

“She didn’t even hesitate to cave our faces in with her foot,” Julia murmurs.

“Not even for a second,” Melinda agrees, “I doubt she pulled back her strength, either.”

“Damn monster,” Julia concludes with a shudder Melinda assumes was supposed to look playful, if not for the very real flash of fear in her eyes.

Melinda sighs. “Well, I probably should return to my own nanomachines now, lest they decide something needs to be broken again to be fixed correctly.”

“That’d take weeks,” Julia points out, rolling her eyes.

“Better safe than sorry.”

Melinda shrugs, smiling as she squeezes Julia’s hand one last time before rising and heading for the door.

“She’ll reach her breaking point sooner than she’ll look for help,” Julia calls out as Melinda approaches the exit, causing her to hesitate.

“I know,” Melinda says, without turning, “Talk to me if you need it, okay? Or, if not with me, then with somebody else.”

Melinda catches Julia’s nod before one of the nurses walks in, and the door slides closed after her.

“How is she?”

For a moment, Melinda continues to stare at the room’s closed door, many thoughts fighting to overlap over one another.

If not for the trio of boys nearby, all of whom wear kimonos similar to her own, she might have stayed there for much longer.

Aden, Kameron, and their less talented friend, Jacob, all exchange glances with each other after spotting her face, and Kameron whistles. “Better than you, I hope?”

“Only one of us cried out there,” Melinda points out, staring the boy straight in the eyes, only to regret her words once he blinks, obviously taken aback by her comment.

“Kameron fought and lost, and there’s no shame in that.” Aden steps forward to pat his friend on the back, meeting his gaze encouragingly, before turning to face Melinda with a frown. “Would you mock his efforts, Sutton?”

“I thought I was vassal number one?”

“And I thought you were better than this,” Aden counters, anger flaring through his expression.

“Guys, stop,” Jacob interjects with a sigh, “We came here to talk to her, remember? About Eden?”

A tense moment of silence follows as Aden’s gaze remains locked to Melinda’s, neither of them willing to avert their eyes first.

“It’s okay, Aden. Leave it for the ring, alright?”

Only once Kameron taps Aden’s chest lightly with his fist, does the taller boy click his tongue and step back, relaxing ever so slightly even as his stare continues comfortably resting on Melinda’s expression.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“This whole shit’s weird,” Aden speaks, “Clunky, and rushed. There’s something to it.”

“Like what?”

“Beats me,” Aden admits, shrugging. “I was hoping you’d share something, honestly. Aston was… Stranger than usual, to say the least.”

“Even if Seijuro did share some sort of confidential secret with me, what makes you think I’d say anything to you?”

Aden sneers, rolling his eyes. “Oh, I know she didn’t tell anything; I bet she trusts you about the same she trusts me. No, I meant to ask if you’ve noticed something. These headsets are bound to be valuable… But the question is, how valuable exactly.”

“Why do you care?”

“Isn’t it obvious? With you, Julie and Seijuro out of the competition, it was a piece of cake. You help us understand what we’re getting ourselves into, and we’ll let you have one of our headsets.”

“I have nothing to tell you,” Melinda declares, facing all three pair of eyes, one after another, before shaking her head. “And here I thought you came here because you cared for what happened to Julia.”

Aden shrugs. “Both of you more than deserved one of the ten spots. Shame.”

And with that, the tall boy turns and walks away, closely followed by Jacob and Kameron.

At the same time, a known silhouette turns a corner, entering Melinda’s corridor as she walks by the trio of boys without as much as a glance in their direction.

“Miss Sutton!”

Melinda offers the furious nurse her most innocent smile, though it does little to stop the woman from continuing to stride in her direction.

***

Earth In Words Institute, Front Entrance

She must be dreaming.

As Beatrice stares into the parade of flashing lights and dancing people under the darkening sky, she decides there’s a good chance she’ll wake up in the morning and realize this was all a dream.

But it felt so real.

The music. The stage. The cheers.

Colorful lights wave over her face, dancing, and Beatrice stops herself short of pinching her thigh.

Nothing wrong with dreaming a little.

Morning will come regardless.

“She’s late… Really late,” the petite girl murmurs with a sigh.

Seijuro promised to come back and enjoy the festival with her, then stopped answering Beatrice’s messages completely. It was still early in the morning then. Now sundown paints the world red, and Beatrice is starting to doubt her friend intends to keep her promise.

Beatrice glances toward her heels, long taken off her tired feet and put aside beside her violin case.

Should she attempt a connection?

“She must have had a good reason to ditch me,” Beatrice tells her shoes.

Right? And she can always speak with Seijuro tomorrow, once things are back to normal. They’ll still have class together for the rest of the year, anyway.

“Blip. Bee. Beep?”

Beatrice raises her gaze to find a floating bot staring at her.

“Hey little guy. You lost or something?”

“Bleep! Bee!”

Almost as if indignant by the suggestion, the spherical bot rotates in place, flashing its colorful, soft lights an angry red.

Beatrice looks past it to the people below, wondering if someone is looking for their lost toy. But once she doesn’t immediately spot anything obvious, Beatrice shrugs.

“You came here to convince me to join in, is that it?”

“Bleep!”

Once more, it rotates its body, this time flashing blue in apparent joy. Beatrice laughs, though shakes her head.

“Sorry, I’m waiting for somebody.”

“Bleep…”

Immediately, the bot deflates, lowering itself several centimeters.

Beatrice chuckles again. “You’re quite smart, aren’t you? Sorry for being a disappointment.”

“You’re not a disappointment, Beatrice.”

Beatrice rises from her seat, swirling to face the voice’s source then immediately stopping short as her own voice ends up stuck in her throat.

Her sister, Linda, stares over the spectacle much like Beatrice was doing until moments prior. One hand over the rail, her golden dress and hair sway lightly in the wind, lights twirling over the woman’s otherworldly beauty.

“You… What are you…?”

Beatrice struggles to find words. How did her sister find her?

“You’ve made it,” Linda says, “Rank nine thousandth, nine hundredth and seventieth… Higher than me, when I first started.”

“Except you started at ten,” Beatrice points out, nearly spitting the words. “What do you want?”

Linda laughs dryly. “My ring, for starters.”

Then, her sister stares at her, an practiced easy-going smile in place, and Beatrice finds herself frozen by the soft glow of her eyes; By the poorly hidden, barely controlled tension in there.

“Since when did you start smiling like Mom?” Beatrice murmurs.

Linda’s smile grows. “Did you really think I wouldn’t have noticed it missing? Or that I wouldn’t know it was you who took it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You probably lost it somewhere and then immediately thought to blame me. Wouldn’t have been the first time.”

“Bleep?”

“You little shit,” Linda speaks slowly, almost as if savoring the words, “Some things never change, do they? Mother always believed you, too, no matter how many times you bullshitted your way out of trouble. No matter how many of my things you threw away year after year.”

Linda steps in her direction and Beatrice feels a surge of adrenaline down her spine.

“What more do you want from me?!” she screams, surprising even herself with the amount of emotion in her voice. “Can’t you see you’ve already won?! That they’re finally yours?! The house, the money, our parents?!”

Unaffected, Linda continues her steady approach until she stands close enough to touch, staring down a trembling Beatrice with what some might have called love, given they were far enough to not notice the madness within.

“And you won’t stop until you’ve stolen it all back, and more. I see it now…” Gently, Linda runs her fingers through Beatrice’s hair and cheek, drawing a wince out of her sister. “I thought pushing you away would be enough to help you move on. Forget about me, about the family name. I was soft. Thought I should show mercy to my blood and flesh… I should have locked you in a basement long ago,” Linda finishes in a whisper so soft Beatrice is barely able to hear her.

Beatrice swallows. “W-what?”

“Where. Is. My. Fucking. Ring?”

“Bleep!”

It was for a split second, but Beatrice ended up glancing toward her violin case. Enough for Linda to notice, anyway.

“How kind of you to not have thrown it in the thrash this time,” Linda comments sarcastically, almost as an afterthought as she pushes Beatrice aside and walks up to the case, unceremoniously opening it.

“You see, Beatrice, I never cared much for your petty games and jealousy. I thought: ‘She’s sure to outgrow them eventually!’. Assuming something other than the worst from you, a mistake I’m sure many have come to regret.”

Grabbing her beautiful jade ring, Linda rises as she inspects it.

“You were my sister, and money or fame or presents should’ve been less important than that.”

Beatrice laughs, a strangled sound which scratches her throat on its way up. “Of course, you would think so, when you were the one who had them all! Easy to not care about the attention when you were to one hogging all of it! Easy to not feel jealousy when there’s nothing to be jealous of!”

Ears ringing, tears streaming down her face, Beatrice watches as Linda’s expression changes several times in the span of a couple seconds before settling firmly on disgust.

“You pathetic, entitled twerp! You never made it any less than impossible to love you!”

“Linda’s sister is all I’ve ever been! Some fucked up, lesser version of Miss Perfect! Life never gave me a chance!”

Faster than Beatrice could react, Linda’s slap snaps her vision sideways.

“You were born a second daughter of one of the most prestigious families in the world! In the most advanced country on Earth! In the fucking capital! You had everything!”

Screaming wordlessly, Beatrice swings her hand and returns the slap.

Linda doesn’t even flinch, despite the ugly red mark covering her cheek as she calmly returns her gaze to face Beatrice’s.

“Wanna fight, little shit? Wanna go at it, like the good old times?”

Beatrice breaths heavily, eyes wide and heart beating fast as fear and hatred send bursts of adrenaline through her veins faster than she can think.

“If you weren’t so blinded by your pathetic jealousy, perhaps you’d have noticed the huge mansion you were born in,” Linda continues in a dangerously controlled voice, “Or the servants waiting to attend to your every whim. Your reflection in the mirror, or the expensive dresses you were ever so ready to destroy over a fit. I’m done pitying you, Beatrice. I’m done with you playing the victim when you had every chance to make something out of the infinite number of opportunities you were given.”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”

“C’mon,” Linda dares, stepping even closer, “Give me a chance to cave your fucking face in. Give me half a reason.”

Beatrice swallows. But she doesn’t move, even as the silence finds itself extended to a long moment of locked stares.

“You… Y-you got what you came here for. Now leave.”

“No empty threats from the almighty Beatrice? No promises of regret and pain?”

Beatrice tries to find the words, but a sob cracks her voice instead, nearly bucking her knees in.

“As fragile as she is pathetic and pretty. I wish Father was here to see his fears at long last vindicated; Your pitifulness would be certain to assure him of his decision to get hid you at least.”

“F-fuck you.”

Linda turns, almost as if daring Beatrice to tackle her from the back as she walks toward a nearby trashcan and unceremoniously throws her jade ring into it, to Beatrice’s shock.

“From today onwards, you’re nothing to me. You’re nothing to our family. I’ve already changed the permissions and warned the servants to close the door in your face… I had never seen Cadence so happy before.”

“What…?” Beatrice whispers, her tears forgotten for a moment. “But… Mother… She’d still want to…”

“She can visit you, if she wants to see her daughter so much. Though something tells me you won’t be seeing each nearly as much once that depends on Mother leaving the comfort of her garden.”

“You can’t… That’s…”

“It’s done, Beatrice. Move on with your life.”

Beatrice shoves down a wordless scream threatening to overwhelm the remaining of her sanity. She smiles, though she doubts the expression has anything resembling warmth left in it.

“Linda, w-wait... I-I’ve been b-better recently… I’m sorry a-about the r-rin-”

“And one more thing,” Linda continues, as though Beatrice wasn’t speaking at all, “Despite what you might think, maintaining my ranking has always been something I was expected to do, rather than something I truly enjoyed or desired... But after watching your play, I realized something. There exists no universe where I’d allow myself to be trampled by you. There exists nothing I’m not better than you at, you little shit, and I’d sooner die than lose to you at anything.”

Breath caught in her throat, Beatrice watches Linda’s eyes glow in a way she had never seen before.

“Then come at me because I’ll be waiting at the top for as long as it takes to make sure you will never touch it.”

Long after Linda’s dress has disappeared from her view, Beatrice still stares at the spot where she blended midst the crowd. Absently, she notices night has fallen, but the effort necessary to move seems immensurable.

She should return home; It is clear by now Seijuro isn’t showing up today.

“Oh, wow, that was, uh… harsh. Damn, I’ve never been so glad for being an only daughter before. Sorry for listening in, by the way.”

Beatrice turns, taking in a girl, dirty blond hair and blue eyes, standing by what has to be the same bot as before, shining a worrying shade of orange and yellow over everything.

“Bleep!”

The girl smiles.

“I think this guy was worried about a fight and ended up guiding me here to help.”

“Bee!”

Beatrice considers the effort necessary to wipe her face, then dismisses the thought. She has no dignity left to save, anyway.

“Scram. And if any of this shit ends up on the Community, my sister will end you.”

The girl scratches her chin. “Ironic. You might wanna…”

She gestures as if wiping her face clean.

Beatrice shakes her head, “If you’re thinking of blackmailing me, forget it. I’ve little to lose, and a lot of reasons to take someone down with me. And no, I don’t need your sympathy either.”

Annoyingly enough, the girl’s smile continues firmly in place.

“Noted. Oh man, you really don’t remember me, do you? This is awkward.”

Beatrice frowns, attempting to tie the girl’s face to something she has seen before and coming up short. If she’s after revenge for something Beatrice did in the past, it might be impossible to stop her from spreading the video.

“What do you want?”

“Talk. And don’t worry, I didn’t record anything. You look like you could use a friend right about now, I’d say.”

“I have a friend.”

The girl makes a show of scanning their surroundings, then shrugging once she finds the school entrance expectedly empty given the late hour.

“I don’t see them.”

Beatrice clenches her teeth. “They had an emergency come up. I was supposed to meet them here.”

“How long ago?”

Once Beatrice doesn’t answer, the girl blinks, because the pain must have been plain in her expression.

“Oh…”

“If you don’t have shit to say, then fuck off!” Beatrice screams, hating how obvious are her tears in the sound of her own voice.

“Well, you see Beatrice, as much as I’d love to leave you alone, you haven’t been a very good person, so I can’t.”

“I don’t even know who you are!”

“I’m Sara,” she says, offering a handshake as if in an offering for peace, blue eyes dancing with emotion, “Sara Palmer.”