A/N: So I finally got up off my rear and decided to start publishing this story that's just been sitting around in my head for the last couple of years, fermenting. I say that, but it's really only been the last handful of months that I've given it some real serious thought. All the same, if you're here looking for the canon cast, you may be mighty disappointed. 'Cause we're going full OC up in this place!


It was hot.

It wasn't just your typical hot summer's heat, either. This heat, shimmering and buzzing in her ears, pressed down like a heavy weight on the girl's narrow frame.

She was exhausted, and not just because the heat. In the upper left corner of her vision, two riveted bars were hung. The first one, filled less than a third of the way with green was suspended above a thinner nearly full blue bar. And above them both, written in English letters and an old style Impact font was a name – her name – Mauve Rebuff.

"Give up yet?"

The girl, Mauve, directed the question to a second individual kneeling on the ground less than ten feet away.

Clad in a dirtied dress of off-white petals, the pale yellow avatar attempted to stand. Pudgy, pod-like hands and feet tapered into limbs like flimsy stems. Her back was dotted with brown seeds of varying sizes; Mauve made a note of each.

Two bright blue ovular eyes locked with hers and an air of bitter laughter passed between the two girls.

Mauve was undeniably in bad shape. The sleek purple armour that shielded her avatar's body was cracked and broken in various places. Her mask, empty save for a single red slit of a visor, was burnt black, as was part of her chest and the better part of her left arm. She had a short dip in the lava to thank for that.

But where she was running low on health, this other avatar the colour of untanned leather, was certainly on the verge of death. After the abuse she'd been put through and having a hole punched through her abdomen just now, it was miracle she was still alive at all.

About twenty minutes earlier the air of the Unlimited Neutral Field had been filled with the sounds of tolling bells: the signal for the Change. Swept up in the multi-coloured aurora, the entire map, riddled with deep scars from numerous battles over the last few days, was reset. The ruined and then ruined again apartment complexes and yellow sky of the Wasteland stage had been wiped away without a trace.

The residential apartments at her back now sported a volcanic skin. The train that should have been running through Shinomachi station right about now had been replaced by a honey-like river of molten rock.

The Lava Stage.

Mauve had clicked her tongue in disappointment as the UNF cycled through the various stages. So far this was the third one she'd seen since she'd dived earlier today. Accelerated one thousand times, fifteen minutes earlier today had become ten days. Ten days she'd spent accumulating Burst Points by means of repeatedly hunting and killing a specific Burst Linker.

At level eight, the yellow avatar by the name Flax Jasmine was only one level above Mauve. Jasmine's skill set, focused primarily on inflicting status ailments and crowd control, put her at a distinct disadvantage when pitted against Mauve's mid- to close-range chain attacks in a one-on-one. Equipped with an intimate knowledge of all of Jasmine's parameters, skills, and tactics, Mauve had staked everything on her own ability to shut Jasmine down entirely and ambushed her out here in the UNF.

Again and again Mauve would kill her, until she saw the familiar muddy yellow avatar disintegrate into ribbons of data.

That had been the plan, at least.

Fast forward several days and Mauve had gone through battle after battle with veritable little rest in between. Her mental fortitude had begun to waver some time ago and, stretched to the limits of her endurance, she was about ready to keel over if this cycle didn't end soon.

Although this wasn't her real body, prickling anticipation had coursed through her, from the hairs atop her head down to the base of her spine when she saw the familiar light of the revival beacon, and Jasmine within it once more.

Putting the new field to use, Mauve promptly ensnared Jasmine with the chains coiled around her arms and taken her for a swim in the lava. Judging by the other girl's screams Mauve had thought this would be over quickly. She was mistaken.

Her special gauge ran out before Jasmine's health had and the yellow avatar had treated Mauve to a massive dose of her [Vesper Shroud] immediately after her feet were back on solid ground.

Numbed by the thick, mustard coloured gas, Mauve had been unable to give chase as Jasmine fled toward the closest leave point: Meiji Jingu Stadium. It was only after struggling to move her unresponsive limbs and nearly throwing herself into the lava that she had somehow caught up with the other girl at Shinomachi station.

Jasmine hadn't hesitated to whip a couple of those brown seeds at Mauve then.

[Black Powder Seed].

It was another one of her abilities. It did hurt to get caught in the blast radius of these grenades – however small it was – but for the most part they just produced a headache inducing bang and a bright flash of light.

Little by little Jasmine had managed to whittle away Mauve's health while the purple avatar was still reeling from the effects of one stun grenade after another. It was partly luck, partly skill that put an end to that. With her still working right arm Mauve had sent the chain coiled around her arm hurtling forward. It tore through Jasmine's floral body like it were wet tissue and the pain sent the smaller yellow avatar to the ground.

Her slender limbs caved under her as she tried to stand and it was with one hand clutching the hole in her stomach and her head on the ground that she turned her eyes back to Mauve.

"I can still forgive this..."

There was any number of things Mauve could have imagined her saying right then. That was not one of them and it stirred up a complicated mix of emotions in the girl's chest.

"We can both get out of here. We'll go home. We'll get a good night's sleep. We can talk this through tomorrow. You can pay me back all the points you've taken later. Nobody has to know."

"I'll know."

She must've found humour somewhere in Mauve's curt reply because Jasmine laughed. It was no surprise that she cut it short with a grunt of pain either.

"It's a little late for talking, don't you think?"

Had it been last week Mauve would have been willing to talk things out. But no amount of talking could fix the damage that had been done.

Without as much as a word to Mauve, her own [Child], Jasmine had gone ahead and hunted Mauve's long-time partner to a forced uninstallation. Cardinal wasn't coming back to this world. She didn't even remember it.

"I guess it is."

"Why...?"

Confused by Mauve's question, the yellow avatar tilted her head.

Clenching her good right hand into as tight a fist as the claws would allow, Mauve pushed the question she had agonized over for the last two days before luring Jasmine here. "When you told me I could give this game to one other person... you said you would trust my judgement. That you would trust whomever I picked. So why?"

She watched in silence as Jasmine slowly tried to pick herself back up once more. Although successful this time, the yellow avatar was notably shaky. "I did trust you."

Mauve's chain buried itself in the ground the other girl had occupied a second earlier. She had managed to jump clear of it, albeit quite clumsily. Were she in better shape, she didn't doubt that Jasmine would have spun her circles like the ballerina she fancied herself as. Now it was all the flaxen avatar could do to keep herself upright.

"Oh, well that was close." Moving her long limbs to frame her face, Jasmine turned her eyes back to her child. "I wasn't lying just now. I did trust you. Cardinal was a fine choice. I don't think I could've picked anyone better for you."

She sounded sincere enough but she still hadn't answered the question. "And? What? What is your point? Why did you do it?"

"She was dangerous."

The chain came again, burying itself in the hard ground where Jasmine had been a moment earlier. She half-stepped half-stumbled out of the way but failed to keep her feet under her this time.

That three simple words could make Mauve so angry was a surprise even to herself. The heavy fog of fatigue that had been clouding her mind began to bleed red. Jasmine had fallen on her back and held the open wound in her stomach. Lacking any of her earlier hesitation Mauve kicked the yellow avatar's hands away and planted her foot in their place. A sharp hiss passed through the smaller avatar's mask.

"She was... she was putting weird ideas into your head! I had to do something!"

Forcing out just that much seemed to take what little fight she had left in her. While still tense under Mauve's foot, Jasmine made no move to struggle free. She wouldn't even look at the other girl.

"If I did nothing... you'd be labelled a traitor. Two legions have already been ruined because one King wanted to reach level ten. What do you think would have happened if you tried? If you actually got to level nine, and you started attacking the kings?"

It didn't even need to be said. If Mauve, at level nine began to attack the Kings to level up again, she'd be hunted and killed in short order.

"I was prepared for that." Mauve tried her best to harden the statement, and failed. Instead it sounded feeble, like a small child after a scolding. Clenching her claws into fists, she stared down at the ground between her and Jasmine.

"I wasn't." Even in her condition Jasmine picked up the role of the scolding parent without missing a beat. "And not just me, either. What about Moss?"

"What about her?"

With an exasperated sigh, Jasmine turned her eyes toward Mauve. "Sometimes I wonder how you can be so smart and yet so stupid." The purple foot pressed down harder on her stomach and the yellow avatar writhed in pain until the pressure diminished. Breathing heavily behind her mask, she struggled to continue. "It wasn't just your [Child] that was lost; Moss lost her [Parent]."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Guilty as charged..." Awkwardly Jasmine moved her hands above her head in surrender. "But if you go through with this, you'll be hunted next. And when you're gone, she'll be all alone."

"I know. I know that, but..."

The weight on Jasmine's stomach was removed and Mauve knelt herself down gingerly beside her.

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. Jasmine's eyes, still the same bright blue Mauve had always known, stared up at the ash-filled sky, and Mauve's at her.

The cry of a distant Enemy coaxed the flaxen avatar to lift her head. Following her lead, Mauve turned her head to see the silhouette of the titanic quadruped. Blinking lights gathered around the head and the beast reeled. For one group of Burst Linkers, the Hunt had begun.

"We hunted one of those types last week, didn't we? You, me, Cardinal. I remember Moss was so angry with herself when we told her about it."

"Was it really just last week?"

Mauve tried to recall the memory even as she asked. It had been the first Enemy they'd taken down just between the three of them - the sort of battle you'd brag about to your grand kids. Mauve had done just that and recounted a much inflated version to Moss, her Grandchild. She wanted to laugh despite herself just remembering how teary-eyed and frustrated Moss had looked as she promised them all that she'd join them for sure on the next Hunt.

And as they watched the staggering beast Mauve came to the painful realization that there would never be a next time.

Perhaps coming to the same conclusion, Jasmine turned her eyes back to the sky and gave Mauve her last chance to back out.

"Are you still going to go through with this?"

She wasn't looking directly at Mauve but the purple avatar nodded slowly, knowing she'd see. She'd come so far for this purpose. Even if Jasmine never breathed a word of this to anyone, there would be no way to go back to how they were before.

"I guess that's it, then. Can I ask you one more thing?"

Mauve nodded again.

"We'll still be friends, right?"

"... Always."

A pudgy, pod-like hand clasped the charred claws of her left hand and squeezed them. Jasmine couldn't have had more than a few percent left in her health gauge. But still she held on and bled the last of it out through her fingers until a faint light enveloped her. Internally Mauve prayed for the familiar yellow pillar to come whisk her away and replace her in an hour.

The light grew stronger but there was no pillar. Bit by bit the floral body before her peeled off into bright ribbons until there was nothing left. It was finally over. The avatar known as Flax Jasmine no longer existed.

And the hand that had held tightly to Jasmine's in those last few seconds closed around empty air.

.


.

"Nao?"

A slender finger jabbed at her cheek as the girl opened her eyes. She felt like she was just waking up from a very long, very deep sleep. Yawning, she tried to stretch her arms and shoulders.

"Naaoooo!"

The finger jammed against her cheek again and the girl called Nao leaned back into her chair and rubbed her eyes.

"Yuuuzu!" Parroting the other girl, Nao began to look around the small room. Four walls bare of any decoration, one door (locked, of course), a small round table, and two chairs directly opposite one another. It took a moment before reality snapped back into place for her and she remembered they were in a dive cafe.

When she came to that realization her eyes settled on the girl sitting across from her, although she wasn't exactly sitting anymore. Leaned over the small table, black hair streaked with blonde falling free over her shoulders, with one hand planted firmly on the table and the other poised to poke Nao again at any moment was Uehara Yuzuno.

The two locked eyes for a brief moment before Yuzuno fell back into her chair with a heavy sigh. "Jeez! I've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up, you know?"

"How long was I out?"

Nao began to scratch the back of her head nervously as Yuzuno's eyes went down to where her clock should have been in her visual display.

"About a minute longer than I was, I guess?"

Looking down at her own clock, located in a translucent window in the lower left corner of her vision Nao spied the time.

6:07 pm, December 7th, 2044.

That sounded like it should be about right. She'd asked Yuzuno to come here with her after club activities were done for the day with the excuse of scouting a dungeon in the UNF. There were enough dive cafes in Shinjuku's Yotsuya neighbourhood that it had taken only a handful of minutes to get here by bus and get a booth. That felt like it had been ages ago, but it hadn't even been twenty minutes.

Yuzuno was even still dressed in her school uniform, a powder blue neck tie poking out from beneath her navy blazer.

"Oh, really? Uh, sorry about that."

Crossing her arms, Yuzuno puffed out her cheeks and pouted. Nao couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight. But her expression, while comical, made the girl's chest tighten.

She made the mistake of looking down at her left hand.

"Nao...?" Yuzuno's normally easy-going voice was worried. "Hey, you okay?"

"We'll still be friends, right?"

Her eyes burned.

Laughter giving way to throat-catching sobs, Nao had retreated as far back as her chair would allow and the hot tears spilled out. Hands balled up into loose fists, she pressed them to her face. "I'm sorry... I am so sorry... I didn't–! I never meant–"

Struck by confusion and concern in equal measure Yuzuno froze, unsure what to make of it. As she should have. Flax Jasmine was dead, killed by Nao/Mauve Rebuff's own hands, and had taken with her all of Yuzuno's memories.

This was the outcome she had fought so hard for. She should have been happy. Instead she felt rotten.

"I'm so sorry, Yuzu..."

.


.

Nao tugged on her scarf as the elevator descended to the first floor. The inside of the dive cafe, while heated during the winter months, was not too bad on its own. But once fully decked out in her heavy winter clothes Nao was sweating.

Yuzuno popped up from behind her as they stepped out into the main lobby.

"You sure you're okay?" Evidently still concerned (and rightfully so) Yuzuno had held off on most of her questions until Nao had calmed down. "You want me to walk you home?"

"N-no. It's fine. I'm fine." Quickly declining the offer, Nao rubbed her eyes once more. She had stopped crying a while ago but her eyes were still red and puffy. They were itchy now, too. "You probably need to be getting home now, right? I kept you a little longer than I thought I would."

"No, it's all good. I'm not even sure I want to head back just yet. I told my dad I'd be late getting home. He said it was fine – recommended it even. Apparently something got mom pretty mad earlier and she's still calming down."

The crisp, early December air greeted the pair as they stepped outside. It had first begun to snow a few days ago, though it had melted come the next morning. But the little flakes had already started to fall again.

Sticking her hands into her coat pockets for warmth, Yuzuno stared upward. "You sure you don't want me to walk you home?"

Again, Nao declined. "No. I don't think I'll head home right away either."

Sneaking a glance back at her virtual clock, Nao confirmed the excuse was still a viable one.

6:42 pm.

Yuzuno's mouth made an 'O' in realization. "Right, right. It's still visiting hours, isn't it? Going to see Mari-chan?" Nao nodded in confirmation. "Alright, I'll let you do that, then. I'll join you next time, 'kay? I'll see you tomorrow."

Yuzuno was hardly more than ten feet away when Nao turned in the opposite direction and voiced the command.

"Command, Voice Call. Number Zero-Three."

A familiar voice answered directly in her head seconds later.

"Nao?"

For her own comfort as she walked to the nearest bus stop, and so as not to bug the other people sharing the sidewalk, Nao answered with her thoughts rather than out loud.

"Good evening, Shi-chan. Sorry for calling so suddenly."

"Agh, n-no. No. It's fine. I don't mind. D-did you need something?"

Unable to fully bite back a chuckle at the younger girl's nervousness, Nao's face split into a smile. She heard a groan echo in her head so she guessed Shizuko had heard it.

"Are you coming up to visit Sis again today?"

"You bet. Are you still there?"

"No. I just left a few minutes ago. She fell asleep so... Ah! No! That's not what I mean! I mean, I'm sure she'd be happy if you went to see her..."

There was another quiet groan, followed quickly by a second bout of stifled laughter.

"No, it's alright. If she's sleeping then I won't bother her. She needs the rest."

Nao counted a third groan. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I can visit her tomorrow. Ah, by the way, Shi-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Whatever happens, I'm still me, okay?"

"Nao...?"

Her confusion was palpable. But, smiling softly to herself, Nao cut her off before the questions began flowing.

"Well, that's all I wanted to say. I'll see you tomorrow."