"Wait, don't do anything r—" I held my hands up in a panic.

The next thing I knew, the hallway lit up in a flash of pink light, and my body lurched backwards as a pink blur slammed into me.

My back hit the wall of the corridor as Ichigo tackled me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and pulling me close into a hug. The force of her tackle had knocked the wind out of my lungs and I gasped for air, my vision spinning slightly as she picked me up in a squeeze.

"W-whoa, easy. E-easy!" I hacked, struggling to breathe.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! You're here, and you're okay! And I didn't even know it was you this whole time!" she cried, her voice filled with joy as she squeezed me tightly.

Her cat ears tickled the sides of my face and neck and she pulled back to look me in the eyes.

"Are you okay?! Oh, gosh. Of course you're okay, you're right here!" She exclaimed.

"Can't... breathe..." I rasped, struggling to breathe as she hugged me.

"Huh? Oh. Ohh, right, duh," she mumbled, loosening her grip and dropping me to my feet. She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, adjusting the athletic crop top she'd summoned.

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"Ehehehe, sorry," she mumbled, rubbing her neck as she flashed me a fanged grin. "I guess I got carried away a bit. It was just really surprising seeing you here and all. I mean... I knew you got hurt pretty badly, so I was really worried."

"I-I'm alright. Thanks, though," I replied as I got to my feet and dusted myself off. I took another deep breath and let out a soft exhale before looking back up at her with a warm smile.

"It's... nice to see you too, Strawberry. I'm glad you're alright too."

She blushed and smiled, nodding shyly.

"Y-yeah. It is."

The hallway was quiet for a moment, the two of us just standing there awkwardly as I looked at her. She seemed to be lost in thought as she looked at me with an unreadable expression. I could tell that there were a million questions on her mind and that she was trying to decide which ones to ask first. Her gaze seemed distant, almost sad, even. The experience must've affected her more than I could imagine.

And then, she suddenly snapped back into focus with a bright grin on her lips as her tail curled behind her. She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her feet as if nothing had been bothering her, the moment of awkwardness disappearing as quickly as it came. "Oh! Hey! Do you think you could come back to the dorms so we can talk about yesterday?" she asked excitedly.

I gave a wry grin and shook my head.

"I'm not sure. I'm supposed to report to Emberline for a debrief. But erm..."

I'd only stepped out of my suite because of a sudden sense of curiosity, and it had been completely on impulse. But...

I pulled at my bed hair self-consciously and glanced around the empty hallway. "I really need to freshen up first."

I could only imagine what a mess I must have looked like after spending a night in the ward, and I felt extremely exposed under Ichigo's, er, Claw Strawberry's gaze.

I felt like a trainwreck, and it was hard not to feel a little uncomfortable when the only thing covering my body was a thin, open-backed gown. I could feel the fabric clinging to my skin, the air flowing through my hair and down my neck as if I was naked.

I blushed, turning away to hide my embarrassment. I needed to get cleaned and dressed.

"Oh, right, right. That's probably for the best, yeah," Strawberry laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about all this."

"It's fine, really. Um... do... do you have any plans later in the afternoon? I mean, we should hang out and stuff. If you want to," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

"I'd love to, but... I dunno. My afternoon is pretty loaded up with classes," Strawberry said, frowning.

"Oh. Well, maybe another day then," I mumbled, feeling a little bummed out.

Strawberry was really cool to hang around and I had fun training with her.

"Hey, how about lunch later, though? We could talk more then and have a proper chat," she said.

My smile returned and I nodded in agreement. "Erm, by the way. So uh, Elysia wound up revealing her identity to me too. I woke up with her shoveling a bottle of smelling salts up my nose bawling her eyes out. It's a long story."

"Ah. Yeah, she can be kinda like that, huh? She seems sweet though. If a bit eccentric." Strawberry mused.

"Yeah. She is." I agreed. "But she's nice, and I like having her as a... friend."

Strawberry smiled and then glanced down at my phone and Nexus device. "Welp. You've got a lot to get caught up on. I've got your back, so don't hesitate to reach out, okay? And I'll let everyone else down there with us know that you're doing alright."

She jumped in and gave me one more quick hug, before turning around and walking down the hallway, heading towards the exit. Her cat ears flicked as her tail waved behind her, and she paused at the corner, turning around and giving me a small wave.

"Don't forget. I'll see you at lunch," she said with a smile before heading off.

"See you later... Ichigo," I replied.

She giggled, and I could see the corners of her mouth turn up into a grin as she walked away with her hands behind her head.

I sighed and leaned against the wall for a second, taking a moment to collect my thoughts and calm my nerves.

Today was definitely going to be an interesting one. But I was ready for whatever came my way.

I tugged at my hair again, frowning at the hospital gown.

... At least after a hot shower, that was.

I took one last look around, making sure no one else was in sight, before I walked back into my suite and shut the door behind me. Then I stripped out of the gown, tossed it aside, and walked towards the shower.

I turned on the water, stepping inside as steam rose from the hot spray of the showerhead.

The warm water cascaded down my body, and I could feel the grime of yesterday wash away with each passing moment. My hair soaked up the water, and I could feel myself relax as I stood under the hot water.

I stood in the shower for a long time, just enjoying the feeling of the warm water running over my body.

That training 'exercise' was... fucked up. But, it had shown me a lot of what I was lacking, and what I could work on. And I'd be able to get back on track soon enough, I was sure. There were so many new things I could do, so many new things I wanted to learn and new ways I wanted to improve myself. There were still things that I needed to figure out, things I needed to overcome, and things I wanted to conquer, but that was all part of life. It wasn't like I had any reason to rush, or any need to worry about anything.

I wasn't alone anymore, after all.

I sighed and closed my eyes as I thought back to the training session with Tesseract yesterday.

She had somehow known about all the tension that'd been building up between the emergency contracts and the rest of our class. She had set things up so that we'd be forced to work together to survive.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

And then she'd somehow dumped an entire horde of those creatures from the Cataclysm onto us, and forced us to fight them. And even though we were in a 'safe space,' where we wouldn't actually die, it didn't change how terrifying it was.

Just what kind of person was that woman?

What was going on here at this academy, anyway? How had they even gotten those monsters? It was a mystery I wanted to unravel. Something was nagging at me in the back of my mind and it wouldn't let up.

But at least I wasn't alone.

I'd finally found my... sister, even if it wasn't in the way that I had been expecting.

And, even if things weren't quite perfect between us just yet, it was nice to have her in my life. And it was nice to have her to lean on.

I paused, feeling the water cascade down my body as a wave of guilt suddenly came over me.

I was supposed to circle back with Al after the field exercise yesterday, but I had never ended up messaging him.

Did Stella let him know I was okay? I'd opened my phone directly to the Hammurabi Nexus instead of the regular interface earlier, so I had completely skipped checking the other messages on my phone.

I frowned at the thought. He was probably really worried.

And... he was the one person I knew who would understand how scary the whole experience had been. Apart from the cadets of course but I hadn't talked much with them, and they were probably all recovering too. But, I needed to talk to Al about what happened.

He deserved that much. He was my best friend after all. I'd have to make time for that today.

But first, I needed to clean up and get a bit of food in me.

I finished up in the shower and then stepped out of the shower stall. I grabbed the nearest towel and dried myself off, wrapping another towel around my head as I did.

I looked in the mirror and saw myself staring back at me. My hair was a wet mess and there were dark circles under my eyes.

"Yuck." I grimaced at myself in the mirror.

I'd slept better than I had in weeks, but that was still an unflattering look. I was also bony, flat-chested, and looked like I hadn't been eating enough. It was a far cry from the healthy glow that practically rolled off of Elysia and Strawberry.

But sadly enough, it was still a massive improvement compared to how I had been looking when I had arrived in Kaleidoscope City. My mother had put in less hours because of her drinking problem and her worsening mental health, and the food stamps hadn't stretched as far.

The meals at the school had definitely done me a lot of good.

I looked away from my reflection, trying to not feel bad about myself, and finished drying off.

I pulled the towel from around my head and hung it over the edge of the shower. Then, I tied the other towel around my waist.

I ran my hands through my wet hair, combing through it and squeezing some of the excess moisture from it. Then, I picked up a fresh brush off the counter and began to comb my hair, working through the tangles.

Hair had always been a hassle. I never really bothered much to care about it as much as I probably should have, but I tried to keep it looking somewhat presentable. At the very least, I didn't have much body hair that needed taking care of.

My mom once told me that my father was pretty light on the body hair front as well, and I had thankfully taken after him on that end. God knows keeping this mane under control was a pain in the ass enough.

I didn't remember what he looked like or anything, since he'd died before I was old enough to know who he was, so I just took her word for it. I did wonder sometimes how my life and my mom's would have been different if he was still around.

But it was something that couldn't change. Time that had passed us by.

Once I was satisfied, I brushed my hair into place, then looked in the mirror one last time before stepping back out of the bathroom, into the suite's main room.

It was...

I shook my head, trying to keep myself distracted from thinking about the past, and how I had nearly died yesterday. The memories were too fresh and the overwhelming fear and terror still lingered.

I still had the rest of my life to live.

But would fighting those... those things be part of it?

Would I really want to spend my days fighting them? What did they even want, anyways? They weren't just monsters, they were intelligent, or at the very least, capable of coordinating and following commands to an extent. I remembered the way that the wendigo thing had looked at me with its eyes, its gaze boring into my soul. It was hungry, it wanted to feed, it wanted to kill, it wanted to eat, it wanted to...

I shuddered.

No.

I had more than enough on my plate.

I just had to take it day by day, and that's all I needed to focus on. I would just keep my head down and get stronger.

Just focus on getting through this week.

Then the next. Then the next.

I turned and scrutinized my figure in my suite's bathroom.

I was slow. Faster than any ordinary human when transformed, but that was just the bare minimum.

I was weak. My magic wasn't anything to write home about, and it was the only offensive power I had that wasn't completely awful.

But, there was room to grow and I was already doing that. I'd already gotten stronger, and I could still keep growing.

I'd need to practice my skills, get faster and stronger, and work on my reflexes. And I'd also need to work on getting faster and more precise in using my abilities, as well as work on my mana efficiency. That'd have to be my focus from here on out.

I'd need to work on being able to dodge, to parry, and to avoid attacks. And more options for increasing the distance. My small frame would always be an issue in terms of raw strength, reach, and leverage.

I'd have to make up for what I was lacking in raw power by being more agile, and I'd need more options to survive up close and create space. The fact that my magic was so versatile was a blessing, since it gave me a ton of options.

I didn't understand how I was able to use some of Twilight Aster and... my mother's abilities after my Luminary Conversion evolved into Hopeful Heart Alchemy, but I wasn't going to complain. As expensive as tapping those abilities had been, I was sure with enough time and practice, I could use them to great effect. Maybe I could even use them without burning my mana to nothing in seconds.

The shower had given me a bit of time to process things, but the memories were still there, lingering at the back of my mind. The feeling of helplessness as the monster's jaws closed in on me. The fear and terror as I was being consumed.

The hopelessness as it all seemed lost, but...

But, I had survived. I was still here.

And that meant that I still had a chance.

I had a chance to make something of myself, to become something.

I could do this. I would do this.

I would take it day by day, week by week, month by month.

And eventually, one day, I would make it.

I would survive, I would graduate, things would change, and I'd finally get my chance at a better life. A real life.

And I'd find my mom one day and drag her kicking and screaming to a better life too, if I had to. She'd given up on being a Magical Girl but she hadn't deserved the hand that life had dealt to her.

She didn't deserve what she'd become.

To send herself off to god knows where to buy the world time in an act of desperation. An act of martyrdom.

And I had no doubt that was what it had been.

She wasn't the sort to give up. She was stubborn to the core, even if she hadn't had much to show for it. It's probably where I had gotten it from. So no matter how bad things had gotten, she wouldn't have just abandoned me like that.

I'd seen her fight through hell to provide for us. But her demons were a fight that she had always fought on her own. And those same demons had taken a toll. She'd lost her hope, her spirit.

But... she was still the same woman that had sat down with me to read stories about heroes, princesses and knights. The one who taught me about ideals, and dreams, and what was worth fighting for, and what it meant to be brave. Of morality, and kindness.

I hadn't just imagined the good times, the love we'd shared. She was in there, somewhere. She'd just been... lost along the way. And if I was ever going to find her again... If she was ever going to find her way out of the darkness...

If she was going to find her hope again...

I had to give her something to believe in.

Something to keep fighting for.

I closed my hands around my phone, willing my mana into it, and letting the light that I knew was there, within me, flow out and through my device, and I smiled. It was bright and brilliant and beautiful, and I probably wouldn't ever get totally used to it.

I had a new life to lead, a new destiny to carve, a new future to make, and new dreams to reach. And... I had to do it without her.

So I just needed to show her the same thing that she had taught me, so long ago. To show her the magic, the miracles that a person could make, and that they were real.

That it wasn't too late, no matter what the world might have shown her. No matter how far gone she might have been.

I'd show her the magic she had shown me when I was a little kid, and bring her back.

A flash of orange-red, like the color of the sun, filled the mirror, and I felt the warm light of my magic radiating back from the glass as a uniform materialized around me.

The light grew brighter, brighter, brighter, and then... it faded. There was no longer the image of a sad and scared little girl staring back at me from the mirror.

I adjusted my dress and took a deep breath, frowning at the image that greeted me.

It wasn't the exact dress I'd been in before I'd gone through the field training exercise, but it was a similar enough style and design. I wondered if the Hammurabi Nexus stored backups and duplicates or something.

But there was time to think about that later.

Right. Time.

Now, time to text Al back and see Emberline for the debrief.

But first...

I looked back at the tray of assorted, cold breakfast foods.

...Food first. One more cleanup...

Then Al. Then E.

Right. Good. I had a game plan.

Eyes forward, Sienna.

One step at a time.