A/N: A sequel to Infected, largely ignoring Spread (though I might draw some things from it later on). A lot of things I wanted to play around with from the first season, so that's what I'll do. Largely focusing on Ruko and Iona, but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing the rest. :D

Also written for the Novel With Prompts Challenge at the Selector Challenges Forum. The prompt for this chapter is "helpless".

The Fighters
Chapter 1: Means to Win

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'Well, Miss WIXOSS champ.' Her brother's tone was teasing. He was always doing that. Never scared. Never looking closer. 'Want to battle a mediocre player like me?'

Ruko's hand automatically went to the clasp of her purse before she registered it. Her cards pulsed in there. Her LRIG, yearning for battle. Tama's hollow, empty, card. The rest of them: those she only drew and slapped on the playing table…and yet they seemed to have their own energy, their own words…

Her heart thudded, locked in a room and wailing to be let out even though she was terrified of what was on the other side of that door.

Claustrophibic. Yeah right.

'Ru?' her brother tried again.

Ruko yanked herself away, the purse swinging near her waist and her head almost striking the chest of drawers behind her. 'No!' she snapped. Louder than she meant to, but it escaped her.

Her brother's look slowly morphed into one of confusion, before he grinned again. 'My little sister's all grown up now? You've got that tiger look down pat, you know.'

Ruko put a hand on her heart and willed it to calm. Her brother was being his usual self, she knew: airy and teasing and nothing at all like that other voice telling her to keep on fighting –

'It's not like he's a Selector.'

She gave a growl of frustration and tore at her bag. When the clasp stopped her: hard and cold and unfeeling, she made to toss it away instead. But something stopped her. Something always stopped her.

'Because you know you want to fight.'

And the worst thing about it was that she couldn't deny the voice of her new LRIG.

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'Why do you bother?' There was some amusement in Iona's frosty tone, though Ruko did not appreciate it. 'It's not like you don't fight after all. But if we fought together, you could actually get something out of it.'

Her voice came through the jewellery box Ruko had tried locking her away in. It had been a goodbye gift from her mother: something to keep precious things safe in so they didn't break, or get lost. Now it was a prison and if her mother had foreseen the use of it, then she also knew something Ruko didn't.

Of course, mothers were supposed to know such things, but Ruko wondered if that really did apply to her mother. Because she could think of a long list of other things mothers were supposed to do, and dumping both kids at her mother in law's wasn't one of them.

If only their father was still alive…

'I didn't peg you as the sort to be a Daddy's girl,' Iona sneered, picking up her thoughts as though she'd broadcasted them aloud.

'Shut up,' Ruko snapped back. If it had been Tama, she wouldn't have pried to begin with. Tama had somehow, instinctively known, when Ruko wanted her thoughts to herself and shielded. Iona either didn't know how to do that or couldn't care less.

And seeing as Tama had known little about the ways of the LRIG when compared to Hanayo and Midoriko, or even Yuzuki. Ruko was sure it was the latter.

And Iona's response only served to reinforce that. 'Hmmph,' the LRIG scoffed. 'I didn't think I'd picked a weak little coward, you know.'

Ruko said nothing. She realised full well her refusal to fight or accept was cowardly – but what else was there to do? Fighting with Iona…it was nothing like fighting with Tama. The blood rushed to her head and it was over before the start had even registered in her head. Her heart was pounding like she'd sprinted and yet she'd been a frozen fixture on the seat. And there'd be a fog where the battle had taken place.

Ruko did not trust Iona, had refused to listen to her version of what had occurred. And she could not call Hiteo or Yuzuki to bear witness: they'd made a pact together after all. Whether she and Tama succeeded or failed, that would be their final battle. The last time they picked up their LRIGs and battled as Selectors for their wishes.

If Tama could not do it then, they'd thought, it was practically impossible.

'It's not necessarily impossible,' Iona mused.

'Would you stop that?' Ruko forced out through gritted teeth, before the words caught up with her. 'You mean –'

'You're forgetting the entire principle of the WIXOSS.' There was the sound of a smirk in her tone. 'We form wishes.'

'Tama didn't give me my wish,' Ruko rebuked, though it was a weak argument. By listening to Iona, she'd already lost the fight.

At least there was no-one around. No Selector, no player, to engage in a fight. It was just Ruko and Iona and the darkness of Ruko's room.

'Tama did not accept your wish.' Iona knew she had the upper hand, and she forced it. 'She had her own wish after all, that you ignored.'

Ruko's eyes dimmed. She had ignored Tama's wish, and had paid for that by losing her.

'You know mine,' Iona pressed. 'And I know yours.'

Ruko took a deep breath. 'Do you really think you can put an end to this game?'

The LRIG laughed: a barking laugh that seemed to cause the jewellery box to rattle. But that was foolishness, Ruko knew. LRIGs existed only in their cards and on fields. If the jewellery box did shake, Iona was not the cause.

'What's funny?' Ruko turned to the box, staring at the card locked within.

Maybe Iona could sense that, because she only laughed harder. 'I can see your wish,' she reminded. 'You made the wrong one with Tama.' Tama's name was said in almost a snarl. It was clear the new LRIG despised the old one.

It was a shame, Ruko thought, that she couldn't be so clear with her feelings towards her new LRIG.

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'Have you thought about it?' Iona suddenly asked, making Ruko jump in the middle of working on a math question.

'You done?' her brother asked lightly, switching the television off. 'Me too; there's nothing on.'

Ruko decided she was done. It was the perfect excuse to relocate to her room and, besides, math wasn't keeping her focus.

Nothing really kept her focus tight enough for Iona to not disturb her.

The sound of shuffling cards made her look up. Ayumu was fiddling around with his Selector deck again. Did he always do that? she wondered. It seemed so nowadays.

She could feel Iona's restlessness. And…she could feel her own restlessness as well. Her wish – what was it? And fighting along with Iona – would that really achieve it? Or would it be like Yuzuki and her dream? Snatched away before she could taste its fruits. Now doomed to a life as an LRIG, until she could steal away someone else's dream.

But she wouldn't do it to Hitoe. She would rather stay an LRIG, even if her dream was slipping further and further away…

But for Iona, that fate was her dream.

What is my dream?

'What are you thinking about?' Ayumu asked.

'My dreams,' Ruko replied.

Ayumu grinned and put his deck on the table before leaning over it to ruffle her hair. 'There's my little sister,' he said. 'I was wondering where you'd gotten to, for a little bit.'

'I'm sorry,' Ruko said, abashed. She honestly hadn't meant to distance herself from anyone, or really change. It was just the Selectors: Tama and Yuzuki and Iona…

But that was only a half-truth, wasn't it?

'Want to play now?' Ayumu asked, curiously.

Iona was, surprisingly, silent. Ruko left a small smile slip on to her face. Maybe she could.

'Okay.'