Kaguya hadn’t wanted to come to this fight. She wasn’t always present for Kazegami fights, but her father made her attend this one. He even made sure she would be here by bringing her himself, though he didn’t stay due to all the work he had to do. She decided he was a coward then, not willing to see the carnage that he illustrated.

She could see Samantha sitting as close to the arena as possible without actually being in it, and on the side instead of above the waiting room as was customary for those close to a combatant. That worried her, afraid that Samantha would try something to save Emmett and end up getting killed instead. The only thing that eased her worry was the knowledge that Samantha couldn’t have her glaive, so it would be unlikely that she’d try anything in the arena. She stared at Samantha for several long moments, feeling her chest tighten until it was hard to breathe as she remembered how angry Samantha had been with her the other day in the arena.

The arena was mostly empty, which was odd for official challenges. She could see Gianna up in the upper seats as per usual, but she was the only Valentini in the stands. It seemed like only a handful of the Thomas were there as well. The Kazegami were a majority in the stands today, though the noise levels were at the normal level despite only a third of the audience.

She could see determination in Samantha’s face, even from here in the stands above the waiting room. She was as far as she could be from the arena by sitting here, which is where her father had her seated. Kaguya wanted to go to Samantha, to hold her hand and be there for her. She would have anyway, but her heart seized in fear as she thought about what her father would do to her if she left this seat. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to handle it if Samantha turned to her in anger again.

The fighters were coming out of the waiting rooms. Emmett was dressed only in gi pants, holding two swords. Monica was in holding two thick sticks, which Kaguya knew were her folding fans. They were dangerous if you knew how to use them, and Monica was extremely skilled in their use.

They took their stances, and the teacher said the rules that everyone was aware of before he stepped back and the two combatants begin. Neither moved at first, and then Emmett started moving. He moved like it was a dance, though Monica was very skillful in her blocking and dodging. She was smiling the entire time, and then Kaguya realized that with every dodge she made, another line of red appeared on Emmett’s upper body.

Samantha was gripping her chair’s arms, glad there wasn’t anyone near her at the moment to care about her treatment of the arms. She watched as another line appeared on Emmett, this time across his shoulders. He was slowing down the longer the fight went on, and Monica was only speeding up. Finally, Emmett faltered, and Monica jumped back, opening her two fans and preparing a fancy maneuver.

“Like hell I’m going to let this happen!” Samantha yelled, jumping the wall and sliding between Emmett and Monica, grabbing one of his swords. The fan dug into her left arm deeply, and Samantha couldn’t help but cry out. Monica laughed and backed off, making several other motions with her fans that Samantha felt cut into her arm and face before Monica had left her entirely alone. Samantha scowled and stood up, grabbing the second sword with her injured left arm. She could barely grip the sword, but she didn’t drop it and instead got into a stance.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Monica asked, laughing. The teacher was confused, unsure if he should stop the fight or not. “You’re not as good without your glaive, are you? You’ve only ever used that in a fight, or is that wrong?”

“Nope, you’re right. I’ve never seriously fought anyone using a sword before. And especially not Emmett’s blades,” Samantha admitted, getting into a stance. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to just stand by and let you cut up my little brother.”

Monica laughed again, and then rushed forward. Samantha could only block half of the blows, and her clothing was showing rips and tears all over her front side. There was a lot of blood leaking behind them, as well. Samantha shifted her stance and took a deep breath, focusing even harder on her left arm. There were several other blows to her person, but after a few more minutes of this, the audience gasped to find Samantha starting to block using the sword in her left hand.

“How the hell can you use that arm already?” Monica scowled as she backed off again. Samantha just smirked and got into a new stance. Monica made a few more moves to attack Samantha, getting blocked. Then she backed off and also got into a new stance, one that Samantha recognized now after all the training she’d done with Gianna using Emmett's swords. It was typically a dual sword stance, but it was odd seeing the two folded fans instead of blades. Samantha watched as Monica smirked. “It doesn’t matter if you have only one arm or two, I’ll make sure I kill you now!”

As soon as Monica rushed forward, so did Samantha. They both swung their weapons, and while the first thing everyone noticed was the sword sticking through Monica’s chest where her heart was they were quick to realize that there was a knife stuck in Samantha’s sternum as Monica fell over and Samantha was struggling to stay on her feet.

Kaguya had started running down the stairs to jump over the wall as soon as the two rushed each other. Samantha started to fall right as she got there, barely catching her and easing them both to the floor.

“Why did you..?”

“Emmett,” Samantha answered with a smile. She closed her eyes and leaned a little more into Kaguya. “Can you… take the knife out?”

“What? No! That will just cause you to start bleeding! And if it hit a lung…”

“Please. I need it removed,” Samantha mumbled, her eyes drifting closed while she fought to keep them open, and Kaguya started to tear up before she nodded.

“Fine,” she said softly, before pulling out the knife. A medical team was just coming into the arena, and started to yell as she took the knife out but realized it was too late. They quickly loaded up Emmett and Samantha, and Kaguya ran with them towards the Thomas infirmary.

Kaguya hadn’t been allowed to go into the infirmary with Samantha, so she sat outside and leaned against the wall right by the door. After several minutes, three people ran towards her and she quickly recognized Thea who saw her as well.

“Dad, we need to let Kaguya come in with us,” Thea said quickly, turning to the man with her. He blinked a couple times and looked at Kaguya for a long moment before nodding. Thea helped Kaguya to her feet and led her inside.

“Mr. Thomas!” one of the nurses exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “How can I help you, sir?”

“Two of my kids were just transported here, a boy and a girl,” he said quickly. “I would like an update on their condition.”

The nurse winced. “Well, the good news is that the boy is fine now. He was scratched up and bleeding a lot, but we have him all patched up. Only a couple of the wounds needed stitches,” she told him.

“And Samantha?” Kaguya asked hurriedly, before realizing she was out of line and looking at her feet. The woman put a hand on her shoulder, causing Kaguya to look up and see her smiling.

“Yes, and how’s Samantha?” the woman asked to let the nurse know that it was all right that Kaguya asked.

The nurse hesitated a long moment before saying, “We’re trying to save her life now. She’s in surgery to close a lung, and it will be hard to say if she’ll be fine until after she’s out of surgery and resting.”

Kaguya was pushing herself to stay standing, and her eyes were already overflowing with tears. She found herself being pushed into a chair, and allowed her legs to collapse. Her hands covered her face, and she let herself cry.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. She’ll pull through,” the woman told her in her ear. “As long as her heart is going, she’ll make it. That girl is tougher than you’d think.”

It was twenty minutes later when the surgeon left the operating room with a shocked look on his face. He turned to Mr. Thomas and sighed. “Sir, your daughter is going to be fine. I was trying to work on her lung when it closed up in front of me! She’s still unconscious, but she’s healing at an exemplary rate.”

Mr. Thomas nodded. “That’s probably her ability. She has the ability to heal,” he said, trusting that no one in the room would tell anyone else. “She’ll probably heal the worst of it and then stop to conserve energy. You’ll want to make sure you watch for when that happens.”

“Right, we’ll do that.”

“Samantha is still not awake?” Souma asked Thea as he dropped down next to her from a nearby tree branch.

She sighed and leaned into her knees, her feet drawn up and her arms wrapped around her legs. “No, not yet. She should wake up soon, but the doctors say it’s also possible it will take longer since she’s stopped healing quickly like she did that first day.”

“Healing is a cool ability. I mean, I like my shadow walking, but healing seems like it’d be more popular. Mine is kinda creepy,” Souma commented, spreading his legs in front of him and leaning back on his elbows in the grass. “But they said she healed the worst of it, so it’s just a healing sleep at this point, right?”

“Yeah.”

Souma was quiet for a moment, and then sighed. “I guess that doesn’t really make it any less worrisome for those waiting for her, huh.”

Thea smiled a little. “Not even a little,” she admitted. After a moment she added, “I feel bad for Kaguya, too. She’s not left that room since they put Samantha in it.”

“Kaguya feels like she’s responsible somehow, which I’ve told her was not true and that even you said she wasn’t, but… She’s been pushed into a lot of corners and come out swinging. This is the first time I’ve seen her get this bad without a fight.”

They stayed there quietly for a while, and then Thea huffed and leaned over into him. “You are a horrible comforter.”

“That’s because I’m not a blanket,” Souma joked, sitting up and putting his arm around Thea. “Seriously though… I wasn’t sure if I could. You’ve been mad at me for a while.”

“Kaguya told me what happened,” Thea said. “She said your father would have used me to force you to do things you wouldn’t want to if he realized you were serious about me.”

“Yeah, Kaguya doesn’t quite understand sibling relationships very well,” Souma admitted. “I was a tool and little more until she started hanging out with Samantha a lot more. She’s asking favors instead of making demands of me now.”

“I’m glad you’re getting treated better at least.”

“I’m just glad you’re finally forgiving me.”

“Let’s call it a chance and not straight up forgiveness,” Thea said slowly. “I’m still really hurt about what happened. And I’m willing to set it aside because Kaguya explained. But if you do anything like that again, I’m skinning you.”

“Message received, loud and clear!”