Mocha was more than Sensha could possibly have anticipated. More beautiful, more adorable, more… mature. The girl was still so petite, and ridiculously light in her hands that it made the centaur woman nostalgic. The Mocha she remembered had always been light as well, but adult Mocha still barely weighed more than the tauress' gun.

The vermilion hair that Sensha remembered so vividly was swept to one side in long, fluffy swirls, unruly and wind tousled, while on the other side it had been trimmed short or swept back. Her face was even more adorable than the centaur remembered, her little beauty marks having darkened if only slightly and filled in a little. But the eyes, her big, baby-blue eyes caught Sensha more than anything else. She could have held Mocha and stared into them forever.

Mocha was looking up at her with curious confusion. She could tell from the confusion in those big baby blues that her little bird didn't recognize her. The thought caused her pain and joy in almost equal measure. Was she so different that Mocha truly couldn't recognize her? Had they both grown that much?

"Um… big gal, can you… put me down?" She asked, her expression a mixture of confusion and discomfort. Sensha almost dropped her in her haste to get Mocha to her own feet, kneeling to be closer to her height rather than to tower over her.

"Sorry, little bird. I uh…" she managed before something overtook her. She needed to touch Mocha, needed to fix her hair, to make sure she hadn't been hurt in the fighting, she needed to check her back because she had hit the window and her abs pretty hard. Without noticing it, she began moving her hands, brushing finger through Mocha's hair, sweeping away loose shards of glass and twigs.

"How have you been? Was everything okay while I was gone?" She asked, running a hand down Mocha's back. Her arms were ready to envelope Mocha all over again, tense with awkward excitement.

With her dearest person right in front of her, she couldn't help but ask about everything. She couldn't stop her own mouth from running, asking far more questions than one person wanted to process in only a few seconds.

Luckily, the detective was there to save them both in just the nick of time. Clearing his throat, the handsome wolf stepped up to both. "Good to see you're both okay. We have a few casualties to report, so I'll have the two of you wait here while the PD sends out support and a splatter team. Gotta let the medical feds have a look since we of the PD were involved so we have an alibi if someone comes trying to charge the city with unlawful murder," he said, his calm voice really cutting between them. It seemed to ease Mocha’s tension, though, and for that, Sensha was grateful.

"That being said, the officer who was meant to introduce you two is currently entertaining thoughts through a new hole in his cranium, so, I'll do the honors and they'll be sending an extra officer with the splat team to brief you," he continued, his voice deadpan as he rattled off technical terms and grotesque descriptions with an almost comical level of disinterest.

"Mocha Te Bottsu, this is Sensha. Sensha Bradley Forthright," he said, not even stopping when Mocha's jaw dropped and she stared at the centaur who returned her stare with a warm, knowing smirk. "Sensha, I assume you know Mocha, since you requested her specifically as your liaison."

Sensha nodded, staring into Mocha, searching through her emotions past her glasses. She wanted to see the excitement there, longed to see her best friend, her reason for living, overjoyed at their reunion. Instead what she saw pained her heart. Mocha didn't look happy. She looked confused, distraught. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears.

Sensha moved forward. She wanted to hug Mocha, to embrace her and let her know that everything was alright. Yet the girl of her dreams stepped away from her, creating distance as she turned to the detective. She wasn't even looking at Sensha any more. She was looking at… at this dog man!

Rage and pain surged in Sensha's chest as she listened to Mocha's voice turn to the detective. "Where do you want us to wait detective? I can keep a lookout while the big girl relaxes, but I don't think the cabin of that van is secure any more," she said, seeming to just move on in the conversation as though Sensha hadn't just been reintroduced into her life.

Taking action she pushed the detective out of the way as she stood, moving into Mocha's view. "Little bird?! What's wrong? Wh-why won't you look at me?! Why won't you talk to me?!" She demanded, taking up the space in front of the smaller woman, demanding her gaze, her attention.

"Hey, big girl," Mocha said, putting up her hands and backing away, looking at Sensha like she was dangerous, like she was a stranger. "Calm down. There's no need to get more violent."

"Why are you talking like that?! Don't you remember me?!" Sensha pleaded, grabbing Mocha by the arm and yanking her closer. Sensha felt the girl's demeanor change entirely, saw a flash of panic and terror across her face as she was pulled. Then she felt the familiar cold of a muzzle pressed to her abdomen.

"That's enough, Sensha," Mocha said, her voice a calm, even purr. She was keeping her voice level, something Sensha herself had done many times on the field right before a firefight started. "I don't remember you. I don't know you. And I don't let people touch me like that," she said, speaking softly, her voice taking up all of Sensha's attention and her dreams were shattered. "Let go."

Sensha did let go. She let go, backed away, tears streaming down her face, and then she bolted into the forest. She barely heard Mocha call out after her as she ran. It was over. Her life was over. Her dream was in tatters. Her little sister didn't even recognize her, didn't want to be touched by her. They were strangers.

Shensha hated herself. She screamed in anguish as she tore through the underbrush ignoring branches and brambles as she tried to escape the pain, the embarrassment, the sadness. All of it was too much and after she'd struggled so hard and come so far, everything was still in shambles.

So she screamed in rage and anguish. She cried out into the forest and wailed her agony as she charged to whatever end would befall her. For long minutes she ran and charged and screamed, the tears refusing to stop. Her agony was so intense it took an earthshaking roar to slow her down enough to evaluate her situation.

Looking around, bleary-eyed, it took Sensha a long moment to see just what it was she had enraged enough to cause a minor earthquake. When she did, though, she immediately wished that she hadn't. Standing before her, tall enough to match her own considerable height, and heavy enough to move trees as it stalked toward her, was a giant quaker bear.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The beast was horrific. Its skull exposed as the mana that had infused the creature’s being turned its body into a murderous weapon. The red furred beast was made of literal tons of muscle and bone, a crafted machine designed to kill and eat. The rumor mill said that Quakers were born from man eater grizzlies.

Seeing the beasts burning red eyes on her, she backed away, reaching for Grant. Her hands came back empty and she cursed. Her weapon had been taken from her, put to evidence and impounded immediately when she'd turned herself in to the PD. She cursed herself for being so foolish, cursed herself for being a moron and trying to push herself on Mocha, cursed herself for rushing into the forest with no weapons. She knew just as well as anyone else that the wilds were no place for such antics.

Looking back to the bear she cursed. She had no idea if she could outrun the beast. While Sensha had encountered them before in her life, she'd never run into one without Grant before. Without her weapon, she was pretty sure all odds were in the favor of the bear. Especially now that it was this close and she was in the forest with no idea where she'd come from.

Backing away, she mentally searched for some way out. The bear was approaching, grunting and growling as it closed in on its next meal.

Then its ears perked. There was a bang as it and Sensha both heard something come from overhead. "Shiiiiiiit!" came the prolonged feminine cry from the sky, its volume starting low and gradually increasing as a red blur came careening through the canopy and straight for the beast's head.

There was a loud crack and a deafening bang as the pale skull of the oversized predator burst, fragmenting into white chunks and pieces that cascaded everywhere. The massive beast roared again, pawing at its head and face as the red blur tumbled away and skidded to a stop only feet away from Sensha. As the tauress looked down she saw Mocha, her age-long love crouched and panting, her large white revolver drawn again and smoking from the barrel as the girl kept an eye on the beast.

"That won't put it down! Get running, Sensha," she panted, drawing herself to a stand and aiming at the beast again, confidence rolling off of her like flames.

Sensha's teary eyes only watered more. Mocha had chased her, come after her, even if she didn't remember the relationship they'd had as kids. The girl had still come to find her. But… this wasn't right. This was the —

Her internal monologue was crushed as Mocha sprung into motion, switching her guns on the fly, from her revolver to the smaller semi-automatic pistol and laying into the bear with a barrage of rounds. Sensha wanted to help, and wanted to support her love and take down the beast together. She wanted…

"Sen, the hell are you doing?! Go! You dumb horse!" Came a shout in a growling, raspy voice she recognized. Sensha flinched her eyes darting around at the sound of that voice, the voice of a dead man.

Sensha turned and ran, breaking into the undergrowth at a gallop.

—

"Leaving again?" Came the voice of her dead companion. She panted and gasped as she tried to ignore the horrible memory, to escape death and guilt in equal measure.

"Gonna ditch that chick too?" The green, long nosed devil on her shoulder asked? "Just gonna ditch her because everything got hard?"

The centaur screamed in frustration, the words hurting her worse than the low hanging branches and brambles tearing past her body. She was confused, enraged. It was all too much. "Shut up! Stop!"

"Stop what? Stop talking? Stop pointing out that you abandoned me? That you're abandoning the redhead too? That we'll both be dead because of you?"

The voice was vicious, it was brutal, bad no matter how hard she ran or how loudly she screamed, she could hear it clearly. Phaz, like the gods, and like fate, was mocking her.

"Pity too. When she dies, you literally abandoned me for nothing," he continued. One of Sensha's front legs, the organic one, slipped in the mud beneath her hooves, loosing tractions and sending her sprawling, slamming into a tree. Sensha collapsed, wracked with sobs, a burning, stinging sensation all up her front where she'd jarred her own body and the tree. She felt horrible and dazed.

"I didn't!" She sobbed over and over, beating against the tree with her hand. "I didn't! I swear I didn't!" She repeated, hitting the tree until she felt wet heat running down her arm. Even then she pleaded with the voice, the one voice that could make her feel such guilt.

As she let her arm drop, tears still streaming down her face, she felt a light weight settle onto her saddle area, plush thighs pressed to her barrel as a warm body leaned into her back. Even as she flinched an arm slid around her waist, stroking gently over her midsection as she heard a soft shush from Mocha.

"Chin up big gal, I've got you," Mocha murmured into her back. Sensha felt her there,, her nerves and her spine tingling with the warmth the smaller woman exuded.

"Mocha, I'm… I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, little bird!" Sensha cried, her voice wavering with emotions that threatened to overwhelm her again. But Mocha just squeezed her tighter and continued to rub her sides and abs. She held the centaur as she wept, held her as she mourned everything. And so she continued to cry for her lost friend, for her shattered dreams, for the dignity she didn't feel she had maintained and the self respect she had lost.

Until she was done, and quiet, Mocha held her, humming soothing words into her back, letting her cry. And when finally the woman was spent, she stood and patted her shoulders and began checking her wounds, not pressuring her to talk.

It wasn't until Sensha spoke directly to her that she said anything else. "Little bird?"

"Yeah?" Mocha said, looking up and acknowledging the title. Her eyes were calm behind those shades, in spite of light scrapes across her arms from the forest.

"Why'd you come after me?" She asked, curious, "You don't seem to remember me… and… you didn't have to… I caused so much trouble. You could have just let me go. You could have let me get eaten."

"Well… now that you put it that way, I guess I regret coming," Mocha said, only to scoff and smack Sensha playfully as she indicated that she'd been joking.

"Seriously. I said I got you. That means I have your back. There's no way I'd let some bear eat the pretty centaur lady who calls me little sister after I said that," she continued, seemingly still joking. The levity was appreciated, even if it hurt a little to have her Mocha speaking about her so distantly.

"Also… on an actual serious note… I do remember you, Sen," she said, her voice soft, quiet in a way that made Sensha lean toward her. "It's just… I… I thought you were dead. For over a decade, I thought you were dead. That first year, I held onto hope. I prayed on my family that at least you had made it. That you'd come save me and we could be together… ease the pain…"

Her words were strained, pained and in just as much turmoil as Sensha felt in that moment. Sensha leaned forward reaching out with both arms in spite of the pain she felt in her battered and bruised hand. Yet Mocha pushed her arms away shaking her head.

"I thought you were dead. And I moved on. I'm not your little bird any more. I'm not that girl you got separated from in Neo Sun Carta," the rejection stung just as intensely the second time, and Sensha felt ready to bolt again in spite of her exhaustion.

A small, beautiful, gentle hand cupping her cheek was all that stopped her. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to get to know you again. It doesn't mean I'm not willing to try. So just… take it easy. Go slow with me," she continued, her expression soft, red locks falling over her eye as she tried to convince Sensha to calm down and not give up. "Can you do that for me?"

The next tears to leave Sensha were few and bittersweet, her much larger hand moving up to cup Mocha's. Sniffling, the woman looked at the little redhead and blinked away her tears, a smile spreading on her face. "Yeah," she agreed, nodding and stroking the back of Mocha's hand. " I can do that."