Kirche paced back and forth in her room. She honestly had no clue what had happened, but she knew it had been big. Tabitha had gotten herself a creature very similar to the one Zero had. The only thing seemingly different being that it had light blue highlights instead of pink. Not that such a small detail mattered.

The only thing that did was that Tabitha sneakily took one, and yet when she asked if she could have one too, she was quickly denied. It was annoying. Why couldn't she have one too?

What made it worse was Tabitha. Ever since she got her new pet she just looked more relaxed. Like there wasn't as much to worry about. Oh sure, it was REALLY hard to notice the difference for anyone that didn't know the girl, but she did. If someone like Tabitha could relax after getting one, then it had to be special. That meant she wanted one.

Her inner rant was cut off by a hard, yet somehow still polite, knock. Curious at who would knock like that, she opened the door. Behind it was Louise. "May we come inside? We have something we need to discuss."

Kirche frowned slightly, but allowed her unexpected guest in all the same. The frown was quickly replaced by a smile as she closed the door. "What do you need, Zero?"

There was a twitch from her guest, but they quickly rallied themselves. "Siesta called in her favor. She wants us to buy her contract."

"Are you asking me to loan you money?" Kirche wasn't upset by this. Just really really confused. With the sharing of the symbiote her and Tabitha seemed to be much closer now, and it wasn't like Tabitha wasn't really hurting for money.

"No, we have more than enough allowance to buy a servant contract. The problem is that Count Mott bought her first, and his price isn't in coin." The smaller girl gathered herself. "He wants the Zerbst family heirloom in exchange."

That old thing? Really? Well it WAS supposed to be powerful, though she never needed it. Honestly she had no real attachment to it. Though she couldn't just give it away.

"So, you want to see if I will give it to you?"

"We know you won't. We want to know your price."

"I think you know my price."

"And we told you, we can not just make them so easily. It requires a lot of energy and resources."

They HAD said that. Did that mean they were already pregnant/making an offspring when the creature was summoned? Or had something happened? Wait… Zero had been in quite the hurry after her duel with Guiche. A duel that had seemed quite unusual… Was that it? Was that the answer? Honestly, she could ask, but this would be far more fun. The look on her face would be delicious, and afterward they could all laugh it off.

Without warning she drew her wand, chanted a few words, and let forth a stream of fire. She held no fear as the pinkette was engulfed by the flames. After all, they would sputter out as soon as the magic was eaten.

Except the flames DIDN'T go out. They stayed and grew as she kept up her casting.

That was when the screaming began. A terrible scream of anguish that seemed to come from two sources at once that bled into each other. It tore into her heart and mind.

In a panic she cut off her spell, and immediately casted a low level water spell to douse what fire remained. Upon the floor lay Louise. Her clothes twitched and spasmed. Her own body barely moved. What had she done? Oh Founder, what had she done!?

Tabitha. Tabitha might be able to fix this. Even if she couldn't, Kirche had enough money to buy a powerful healing potion if they needed it.

She ran out of her room to find her friend. She had to fix this.

Hours later found Kirche in her room once more. This time joined by her friend Tabitha. She wilted under the other girl's glare.

They had been able to help Louise in the end. It had still required a potion, but Tabitha also did something else. Though she wasn't sure what. The third girl was in her own room, sleeping off the damage and the , she would be fine. Mentally…

Kirche wasn't sure.

"Why?"

"It was supposed to be a joke." She tried to explain. The excuse tasted like ash in her mouth. The glare got worse. "I thought your symbiotes ate magic, so I figured I would feed her a lot of magic at once. Surprise her with it. I figured she might yell in shock, maybe pout in that cute angry way she does. In the end she would have the energy to give me my own pet, and I would hand her the heirloom, and we would all be happy." She hugged herself tightly. "She wasn't supposed to be hurt. The fire should have been harmless. She shouldn't have had to scream like that. Scream at all. SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO GET HURT!"

Tears ran down her face. Hot and angry. Shameful and ugly. Yeah, she teased and prodded the other girl. Tore her down when she could. However, that was how rivals worked. It was what they were supposed to do. She never wanted to actually hurt the girl. Hadn't wanted to kill her.

Another pair of arms wrapped around her. "Stupid." came the gentle whisper.

"Yes, I am." She felt better in her friend's embrace. She didn't deserve it. With reluctance, she pushed Tabitha away and looked her in the eyes. "In my trunk there is a package with my family's crest on it. That's the item Ze- Louise wants. Please give it to her."

Blue eyes stared into her own red ones. Seemed to stare far deeper than that. After what felt like an eternity, the other girl nodded, and did as she was bid.

After her friend left, she resumed embracing herself as tears continued to fall.

It was well into the night when she received a knock on her door. It was probably a maid or something. She hadn't left her room since the incident. Had skipped dinner. It didn't matter.

She didn't react when her door was opened. They would do what they needed, and leave.

"Fu was right. You are a mess. Where is all your passion Zerbst." A spiteful voice full of venom spoke into the dark. That stirred her from her stupor.

"Louise?"

"We are KU!" something grabbed her and pushed her further onto her bed. Each of her limbs were restrained, and her throat was grabbed tightly. She couldn't breathe. "And we will take what is owed."

Was this it? Was this the end? Tears slid down her face as she closed her eyes. She didn't struggle even as she continued to try and breathe through a constricted throat. Her body felt weak, and only grew weaker.

If this was the price she had to pay…

Blessed air filled her lungs as she was released from her bindings all at once. Her weakened body wouldn't move though.

"Honor demands we pay all our debts back. For good or ill."

Something moved over her. Something cool hugged her tight. A second mind brushed her own. Everything that made her her was brought to the fore.

She wasn't a terrible person. A selfish one yes, but not a malicious one. She was fire and passion, and she burned brightly. Perhaps too brightly at times.

However, where she burned all those around her, THEY would do better. Fire did not burn fire.

They stood from the bed. The figure of their progenitor/rival/victim kept their position by the door. They approached and embraced the smaller figure. Ku stiffened, but neither pulled away or returned the touch.

"We are Ka, and we will see that you never burn again." Their second skin brushed against Ku's. Genetic material was passed over and allowed to integrate. A tendril reached out and retrieved their wand. A few words brought a small flame to its tip.

Ku flinched, and instinctively tried to escape. Ka held them firm. Ku began to panic as the fire brushed their skin.

Nothing happened.

No burns, no screaming, and no pain. That didn't mean that Ku calmed down right away. No, it took several minutes for them to even notice they weren't in danger. That knowledge made the pain in Ka's heart all the worse.

The flame went out, and fingers stroked hair. Calming words were uttered until the smaller host finally calmed enough to pull away.

"We need to see Fu. She should know about this."

They nodded in response as they let the pink haired girl walk out ahead of them. In the end they couldn't fix this right away. It would take time, but they would continue to try.

At least they could protect those they cared about from themselves. They wouldn't hurt them like that again.

No one would ever scream like that again.