Cinder seemed equally frozen, her eyes wide with surprise. For a split second, her fortress of anger opened a single window, revealing something vulnerable underneath.

Then reality crashed back in and the window snapped shut.

"Don't touch me!" she snarled, stumbling backward. Her wings flared defensively, claws out.

"Sorry!" I yelped and I took off running before she demanded anything else of me.

Cinder attempted to pursue me. Her legs were clearly still numb from meditation, making her usual predatory grace look quite hilarious. Her leather boots squeaked as she staggered after me, using the lockers for support.

"Get... back... here..." she growled, but the threat lost some impact when combined with her wobbly movements. Her wings kept twitching, trying to help her balance.

"Nu-huh!" I called back cheerfully, maintaining a safe distance. "Those legs working okay there, Rock Star? Looking a little stiff!"

"Just wait… When I... Get feeling back... In my legs..." she threatened, taking another unsteady step.

"You'll what? Stomp me extra hard? Cus I probably would like that! I'm quite the devious bastard!" I teased.

"You..." Cinder heaved, her wings flaring with indignation. "You… You’re so effed up!"

"So I've been told!" I called back, dancing just out of reach.

"First you stalk me, then you manipulate me into performing… record me without permission, and now you're... you're..."

"Bringing joy to your otherwise dreary existence?" I suggested maintaining a safe distance, the beast orb-powered hexasuit keeping me extra spry.

"Aarrghh!" She tried to lunge at me but her legs weren't quite cooperating yet. Her wings fluttered as she caught herself against a locker. "I'm going to turn you into minced meat!"

"Such scary promises," I grinned, backing toward the exit. "But maybe save our dinner date for tomorrow? When you can actually give chase properly and not limp about like a… baby Quetzalcoatl learning to fly?"

"I swear to whatever god you believe in..." Cinder growled. “That’s it!”

She folded her wings around her. Each of her feathers took on the colors of the hallway and then she slowly vanished from view, becoming invisible.

"Gotta run, invisi-babe!" I called cheerfully, already halfway to the door. "Places to be! Naps to partake in! But hey - great performance today! Twenty eight thousand thumbs up. You really do have an amazing voice!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND?!" Cinder's screech echoed through the hallway as I burst through the exit doors into the late afternoon sunlight.

I sprinted across the parking lot. Behind me, I could hear Cinder's increasingly creative threats growing fainter as I increased the distance between us.

The van was waiting faithfully where I'd left it, looking even more decrepit in the golden afternoon light. I yanked open the back doors and then shut it and collapsed into the bean bag chair breathing hard but grinning like an idiot.

The entire van shook as something - no, someone invisible - kicked it hard enough to make the rusty frame rattle.

"GET OUT HERE YOU CREEPY LITTLE-" Cinder boomed furiously. Her combat boots connected with the van's side again, making the whole vehicle shudder.

I scrambled up, peering through the tiny window in the back door.

I still couldn’t see her, but her legs seemed to have recovered enough for property damage, at least.

"Try kicking a little harder," I suggested through the small, steel-mesh covered window. "It'll help you blow off some steam! Does being invisible reduce the power of the kick, by the way?"

WHAM! The van rocked violently as Cinder's combat boot connected with the side panel again.

"DELETE. THOSE. VIDEOS!" Each word was punctuated by another kick. The van's ancient frame groaned in protest. It was thankfully very solid and stood up to the angry Quetzi goth girl assault.

"What are you hounding me for, angry ghost?" I asked between kicks. "Other classmates recorded you too. Go haunt their personal residence. I bet they already uploaded their phone vids to OmniTube under 'Quetzi Goth Angel Covers Metallica, Piano Version'. Kids and their phones these days."

WHAM! Another kick made the van shudder.

"I don't care about THEIR recordings!" Cinder snarled. "YOU'RE the one who set this whole fucking thing up! YOU'RE the one who manipulated me into performing! YOU'RE the one who-" KICK "-keeps-" KICK "-following me-" KICK "-around!"

"Following you?" I gasped in mock offense. "I'm wounded! We just happen to share some classes. Pure coincidence!"

"BULLSHIT!" The van rocked again.

"Innocent until proven guilty!" I declared. "Thems your Omnithean justice system rules not mine!"

I put the phone speaker to the steel-mesh window and began to play “She wants me dead” by CAZZETTE.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Woke up this morning with a gun to my head

Somebody help me, she wants me dead”

The speaker boomed with the deep bass.

“She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead

She wants me dead, d-d-dead, dead, dead”

“Try to synchronize the kicks with the music,” I suggested and heard a roar and then a series of kicks.

“Hmmm, that was way out of tune,” I commented as the song ended. “C minus.”

Something violet and sparkly fluttered in the side mirror as Cinder started to run out of mana, flickering erratically and panting loudly. Focusing on it was hard, but I tried to do so anyway, looking through the camera's viewfinder. Her snout was elongated, predatory, far more draconic, long tongue visible between rows of sharp teeth. Absolutely massive, shimmering, violet wings semi-faded into background spread out in wide arcs.

WHAM! One final, particularly vicious kick made the van shudder, and then... silence.

I peered through the tiny reinforced window to see Cinder fully fading back into existence and leaning against the van's side, panting heavily and completely spent. Her Quetzi features melted away, face and wings becoming less stretched, retreating back to make her much more humanoid.

Her silver wings drooped with exhaustion, and her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.

"You done redecorating my mobile home, darling?" I asked cheerfully.

"I... hate... you..." she panted, sliding down to sit on the asphalt. Her combat boots had left impressive, deep dents in the van's rusty panels. She was considerably stronger than a human when it came to kicking vans.

"Nah, you don't," I replied, emboldened by the safety of my mobile rusty fortress. "You're just mad because I got you to show off your amazing talent to the world. The videos are already being spread across the net, me deleting my higher quality version will do absolutely nada. 'Sides, aren't you in a troupe as the Bard or something? I fail to see the problem of you getting a bit more fame."

"The problem," Cinder growled, still sitting against my van, "is that you're a manipulative creep who doesn't understand basic concepts like consent!"

"Says the person who just committed assault and battery against an innocent vehicle," I countered. "Pretty sure that's a crime too. Just so you know, this van is covered in dashcams."

"You... You're bluffing! Who the fuck would put cams on this rusty bucket?”

"I would," I replied and tapped the dashcam duct taped to the back door window. "Look here. This is a OmniMart Dashcam PF-r91. Whenever someone moves near the van or damages it, the cam records it. You did a lot of moving and kicking there."

"Arghhh!" Cinder ground out, but some of the fight seemed to have drained out of her. "Why are you like this?"

"Like what?" I open the van door slightly, eyeing her. "A chess grandmaster? A talented photographer? An appreciator of Quetzalcoatl musicians?"

"Like... THIS!" She gestured wildly at all of me. "One minute you're this awkward mess who can barely string two words together, then you're some kind of chess prodigy and social butterfly, then you're running around recording people and manipulating situations... It's like you're a different person every five minutes!"

"And that's... bad?" I arched an eyebrow. "What are you shaming me for, Miss Kaleid?"

"Are you seriously trying to compare your weird personality shifts to my Kaleid name? That's not even remotely the same thing!"

"Isn't it though?" I challenged. "My state is fluid. Sometimes I'm awkward, sometimes I'm confident. Sometimes I'm a chess master, sometimes I'm a photographer. Just like sometimes you're a fierce rocker and sometimes you're a classical pianist and sometimes you kick innocent Acadian Postal Service vans."

"That's... that's completely different!" Cinder sputtered. "You're just trying to justify being a manipulative creep!"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "I've got a rusted van now with extra boot dents to justify how creepy I am. Or maybe I'm simply trying to figure out who I am, just like you are. Get off my case, babe."

"Don't call me that! And stop trying to act like we're the same. You're just... you're just..."

"Just what?" I leaned against the van door, keeping it between us as a shield. "A complex person with multiple facets to my personality? Someone who doesn't fit neatly into the boxes people try to put me in? Gosh, that must be so confusing for you."

"That's not..." Cinder started, then stopped. "You're twisting everything around!”

"Am I though?" I asked softly. "Or am I just refusing to be what everyone expects me to be? Sound familiar?"

"What... how?" She blinked, staring up at me.

"Uh, huh," I looked back at Cinder.

She seemed too tired to kick anything. It was time.

"So…” I began. “Essentially any Omnethian can self-identify as Kaleid based on their personal understanding and experience of rejecting relationships and family or whatever?"

Cinder's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Are you... are you actually trying to understand, or is this another one of your cheeky chuppy mind games?"

"I already understand," I replied. "Please don't hate me. I'm going to destroy you, very, very gently."

Cinder's red-orange eyes widened as she panted. "What's that supposed to mean? Destroy me gently?! What are you, some kind of a performance artist?"

"I reject all authority," I grinned. "My new Kaleid full name is… ‘I love Alex and I am his goth bae’. I raised my tone to match hers. Now, if you don't use my new full Kaleid name I will be very offended and angry.”

Cinder stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Her wings twitched with what might have been anger, amusement or annoyance - it was hard to tell for sure.

"You're actually insane," she declared finally. "Like, legitimately out of your freaking mind. What the fuck kind of Kaleid name is ‘I love Alex and I am his….?!’”

Her mouth snapped shut as she realized what she was saying.

"Better start practicing it, goth bae." I wiggle my eyebrows. "If you don't, I'll use a far worse new name… like the fluid ‘insert compliment here!’”

"What?! That's... That's not how Kaleid names work you absolute ass!" She panted out. "You can't just... invent a fluid-ass-name that…. that are compliments about yourself!"

"Apa pa pa. Your Kaleid name is juuuuust as made up. It’s not actually backed by any legal paperwork. Enjoy being trapped in a logic loop of my devious design, Cinder."

Cinder buried her face in her hands, her wings twitching with what might have been suppressed laughter or pure frustration. "I am NOT using any of those ridiculous names!"

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep calling you whatever I want to, babe," I shrugged, watching her reaction carefully.

Her wings flared with renewed anger. "That's different and you know it!"

"Is it though?" I leaned against the van door. "You want me to respect your Kaleid-ness, but you won't respect mine? Seems a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Tisk tisk tisk."

A blue eye framed by very dark makeup stared at me between her hands.

"You… can’t…." she started, then stopped, clearly struggling to find words.

"Can't what?" I grinned. "Make up my own Kaleid name after a deep, inner peace meditation session with my Japanese ghost Master? Create my own rules about how I want to be addressed? Pretty sure that's exactly what you did, Rock Star…”

Cinder opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“Checkmate." I grinned.