Last update was October so roughly half a year has passed. Very clean, eh? First multi-POV chapter since chapter 9. Enjoy if you can!
Early morning, 46th floor of Atlas Central Command…
Kyouko decidedly hated psychiatrists. In fact, she had hated them for a long time now. She despised how absolutely insufferable they were with their questions.
Oh, no, they didn't force her to say anything. They were actually very reasonable about her wanting to keep secrets. Still, they'd always write down notes about her every time they asked a question. If she didn't answer, that was enough to know she was hiding something. She'd prefer if they didn't know she had secrets to keep in the first place. In all likelihood, though, they probably just wrote about how she didn't trust them—which, to be honest, she'd be fine with if "distrust" was all they wrote. It was true. She didn't trust them.
But no. Her problem wasn't all of that. Her problem was the fact that they were asking at all.
She didn't want anyone to understand. She didn't want anyone to know what was inside her head. No one needed to see that. No one deserved to see it. Hell, Kyouko would argue that even she herself didn't deserve it. Why the fuck should anyone have to deal with the broken pieces inside her head, herself included? They didn't need to be dealt with. They're there for a reason. They're part of what made her good at her job. When she was forced into making this appointment, Mami had told her it was "for the safety of herself and the people she worked with." Bull-fucking-shit. Huntsmen and huntresses were wellsprings of trauma, cynicism, and hypocrisy while the monsters they fought were drawn to negative emotions. They were supposed to be grimm-magnets, each and every one of them packing enough internal strife that even the most mindless creature of grimm would choose to fight them over, say, a nearby terrified civilian. How the fuck were they expected to do their jobs if they were healthy and happy?
Kyouko then scowled as she noticed the psychiatrist tapping on her scroll. "Do you not want to be healthy and happy?" she asked, eyes not leaving the device.
Kyouko struggled not grit her teeth even harder lest her fangs break pierce her aura and cut a hole through her bit lips. It wouldn't be the first time. "Next question," she growled.
"This will be the final set of questions for this session. Why do you think Command ordered you to go to these sessions?"
"They want to keep me on a leash," Kyouko said with a grim smile. "Why else?"
"Does this bother you?"
"Yes," Kyouko snapped. "It bothers me."
The psychiatrist continued tapping on her scroll. "Hmm… Let me clarify something. Is it the act of leashing you or the leash itself that bothers you?"
Kyouko shook with barely contained annoyance and frustration. She wanted to break something, preferably something owned by this shrink. "If I say both, am I allowed to leave yet?"
"Is it both?"
Kyouko rubbed her face. "Oh, for the love of—Yes."
A thin and polite smile found its way on the psychiatrist's face as she glanced up at Kyouko. Their eyes met for only a moment before she looked back down to her scroll. Kyouko felt dizzy from rage at the eye contact.
"Very well. That was the final question for this session. Leave at your discretion, Kyouko Sakura."
Kyouko wordlessly left the doctor's office in a hurry, tense anger making her limbs tremble as she walked. She glared daggers at the sea of people that parted before her on her way to the elevator. The looks they wore, so wary and anxious, made her almost as sick as the look her shrink gave her.
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath as she slammed her hand onto the elevator button. She tapped her feet impatiently. "Come on. Hurry it up…!"
The numbers on the elevator's status screen slowly ticked upward, stopping at one of the floors for a moment before climbing again. When it reached floor 16, Kyouko suddenly felt the familiar brush of someone's aura. She felt her mood lighten slightly.
The doors eventually opened to a disgruntled looking Homura who slowly stepped out.
Kyouko grinned. "I knew that signature was familiar."
Homura tilted her head just a few degrees as she stared at Kyouko critically. "Counselling," she said.
Kyouko wondered for a moment how Homura could have possibly known but then shrugged at the conclusion that it didn't really matter how she knew. "Yeah. Mami's doing. Wouldn't ever go if she didn't convince me. Lemme' tell you. Worst mistake I've made in months."
Homura continued staring, tilting her head the other direction. "I see." She put a hand out behind her to prevent the elevator doors from closing. "I have business to attend to, Kyouko. And I believe you were going down."
Kyouko shook her head and chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. No time for chit-chat, I know." She entered the elevator, clapping a hand on Homura's shoulders as she passed by. She then typed 01 on the elevator keypad and waved goodbye. "See you around, Hom."
The last thing she saw before the doors closed was a small nod from Homura. It gave Kyouko a cool sense of calm despite how strangely irritated Homura looked.
Why did Homura look so pissed off? Sure, given the floor she got off at, she was probably going to a counselling session herself but it wasn't like she had the same fiery hatred for psychiatrists like Kyouko did. It was so strange, to be honest. Homura was always so cool and collected. The only time Kyouko ever saw her actually mad was… was…
Huh… Kyouko could have sworn she'd seen her angry before. It was relatively recent, too, but the she couldn't seem to focus on the memory. Must have been when she got herself wasted and convinced Homura to have sex with her. She didn't remember anything from that night.
Kyouko sighed and crossed her arms, leaning onto the elevator's glass windows. She fished a pockets for her pack of cookies, tore it open, and popped a cookie in her mouth. She watched the city below slowly grow in size as the elevator continued its descent.
Meanwhile…
Homura rubbed the back of her hand as she watched the elevator doors close. She took a slow deep breath as she distanced herself from Kyouko's emotions.
She never did cut their connection like she told herself she would. Somehow, Kyouko still didn't remember anything despite it all. It also seemed like Kyouko had no idea they even had a connection at all. Homura wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Kyouko about it. Assuming she actually cuts their connection someday, Kyouko not knowing would be for the best.
Still, though, the sudden influx of anger had made Homura wince. The moment she was in range, she had felt an overwhelming torrent of emotion flow into her from Kyouko. She had needed to project back a strong sense of restraint and calmness in order to quell it—and even then, Kyouko's feelings were still strong enough to influence her.
That was the most inconvenient part about having their souls linked like they were. One's mood could so easily influence the other.
"This is your fault," Homura said under her breath as she adjusted her glove before continuing on to her own counselling session.
She suppressed a frown at the thought. Another fruitless hour was about to be wasted because her counsellor didn't have the right clearance to know what exactly she dealt with on a daily basis. She could only sigh with resignation. Oh, how inconvenient Atlas' protocols were at times.
Late morning, Winter's personal studio, Atlas Central Command…
Sparks flew as Sayaka's blade glanced off the flat of Winter's. Before Sayaka could pull her momentum back for a follow-up attack, Winter took a half step forward and jabbed her saber into the space between Sayaka's cape collar and breastplate. Her aura blocked the damage but it didn't prevent the jab from ruining her concentration and knocking her off her feet. The two glyphs on the floor quickly dissolved as Sayaka fell. She grimaced and rubbed her collarbone and backside.
Winter stared down at her impassively. "Lieutenant, you're overcommitting to your strikes again. I'd have thought training with me would have stamped that bad habit out of you by now." She walked a few paces away and raised her sword. "Get up."
Sayaka's frown deepened as she stood and took a fighting stance once more. Below her feet, another one of Winter's glyphs appeared, pulling her down with crushing force. She needed to create a glyph of her own to counteract its effect.
Winter smiled at the white circle of music notes surrounding the black snowflake glyph. "Well done. But you know it doesn't end there." She took a slow and deliberate step, saber swaying left and right like a snake sizing up its prey. "En garde!"
Winter lunged forward and attacked. Sayaka quickly moved to defend.
Training with Winter was less a regimented schedule of activities as it was a seemingly arbitrary series of tasks. Mostly filing paperwork and following Winter around.
Sayaka shuffled backwards to keep out of Winter's strike range. Unfortunately, being out of Winter's range meant that Winter was out of Sayaka's range as well. Sayaka was physically taller but Winter had the longer sword. Moving in for an attack meant she'd be vulnerable to a counter attack.
Well, there was also an allotted amount of time for Glyph training. Most of it amounted to summoning a glyph and having it do a thing repeatedly for around two hours. By the end of it, she was always left feeling exhausted.
It was more what Sayaka expected.
A clash of metal rang as Winter parried a high thrust from Sayaka. In the same motion, she performed a counter cut that Sayaka barely dodged, the tip of Winter's saber grazing the surface of Sayaka's aura shields.
During the offer in the interrogation room, Winter had explained to her that her training would take up a lot of time. The mind-numbing repetition of one technique for hours on end was a logical expectation.
What she did not expect was the rather frequent trips up and down Central Command, shadowing Winter while she supervised various operations.
Winter feigned a sideways cut which Sayaka moved to parry. At the last instant, Winter twisted her wrist just right and used the curvature of her sword to stab around Sayaka's guard. Even as it landed a hit on Sayaka's shoulder, Sayaka managed to tag Winter on the chest with a stab of her own in retaliation.
Sayaka was aware that Central was always busy. Of course it was busy—the titular center of all operations in Atlas? I couldn't not be. However, the scale and complexity of it all never really hit Sayaka until she joined Winter making her rounds.
There had to be thousands of moving parts, every one of them a cog in the big mess of a machine that was the Atlas Military. Winter went through the effort of explaining the many intricacies of the jobs being done and it overwhelmed her. Even after two months, it was still overwhelming.
Sayaka's concentration waned for only a moment and immediately her counter glyph over Winter's gravity glyph weakened considerably. Her limbs suddenly felt like they were underwater. Every move felt sluggish until she managed to recorrect her glyph. She barely kept Winter's onslaught of attacks at bay during that time.
"You should remember these people and the jobs they do," Winter had told her during her first week of training. "It will help you in the future."
Initially, Sayaka hadn't understood why it would be helpful—and why Winter was telling her about all that in the first place. She likely never would have realized it either. It took Hitomi pointing it out to her before she got it and, even then, it felt like it couldn't be real.
Winter was grooming her for a leadership position.
Siren Song clattered to the ground as Winter's slicing cut made contact with Sayaka's neck. Once again, her aura prevented her bloody demise but the feeling of cold steel sliding across her throat still gave her goosebumps.
"Much better, Lieutenant Miki," Winter said, picking up Sayaka's cutlass and presenting the handle to her.
Sayaka took back her weapon and sheathed it before saluting stiffly at Winter.
"At ease. You did quite well today. You've earned a recess. Make use of the showers, eat some food, then report to my office by thirteen-hundred hours."
"Yes, ma'am," Sayaka replied before marching towards the locker room. A shower definitely seemed good right now.
It sounded absurd to her at the time. Sayaka Miki, a commanding officer? It still sounded absurd to her, if she were being honest. However, given what she'd spent the last two months doing, she couldn't deny that it was a possibility.
Noon, Atlas shuttle bay…
Kyouko shifted her weight as she stood to the side of one of the many dropships currently docked at the shuttle bay. She was in her combat robes. One hand held Rossio Phantom, shaft rested against her shoulder, the other hand a half-unwrapped bar of chocolate which she had already taken large bite out of. Next to her was Mami Tomoe in her own combat uniform, standing straight and motionless with her hands behind her back like the stick up her ass was a literal one.
They were currently waiting for the members of Mami's rag-tag class of disabled students. It was a field-trip, Mami had told her. They'd be clearing through the grimm-infested forest while Mami and Kyouko kept them out of trouble.
"So," Kyouko said in between bites of her chocolate. "Why am I part of this again?"
Mami's gaze remained neutral and directed forward as she replied but the tone made it clear she was mildly annoyed at having to provide another explanation. "Because, Kyouko," she began, "I am a huntress specialized in anti-personnel combat while you are specialized in anti-grimm. You're here for insurance in case something happens that I can't deal with. And if the two of us aren't enough to deal with it, you can still help me buy enough time for backup to arrive."
Kyouko tilted her head slightly as her eyes narrowed. "Uh huh," she muttered, not completely convinced. "Okay, you've got a point but why me? Aren't there other instructors at the academy who can help?"
"There are," Mami said simply, still looking straight ahead.
Kyouko blinked and tilted her head the other direction. "Okay…? Why didn't you ask them to help with this?"
For the first time in many minutes, a sign of emotion showed on Mami's face. She side-eyed Kyouko, lips pursed into a thin line and a slight twitch of her eyes betraying discomfort. "They… are people I have working relationship with but not ones I'd trust my life or the life of my students to."
Kyouko frowned as she raised an eyebrow. "What, they have something against metal limbs? Doesn't that Iron-wang guy have the fancy robot arm? Do they have something against him as well?"
Mami's frown became more apparent as she glared in annoyance. "Kyouko, his name is James Ironwood. He's the academy head. Can you at least try to get his name right?"
Kyouko grinned. "Well, I can't help it if Mr. Metal-Erection has a funny name."
Mami sighed in exasperation, massaging her temples. "You know what, Kyouko? Never mind."
"Alriiight. I'll stop. Geeze. You'd think I was insulting your mother with how you're reacting."
Kyouko took another bite of her chocolate bar as a silence grew between them. It was a relative silence. The shuttle bay was filled with the sound of roaring engines and humming machinery, not quite deafening but certainly loud. It still wasn't loud enough to drown out the lack of conversation, though. She chewed thoughtfully as her eyes wandered.
"So, about my co-workers," Mami eventually said.
Kyouko shifted her weight. "You said you didn't trust them?"
Mami looked down, though her face was still carefully neutral. "Not… not entirely," she said. Kyouko nodded her head in a motion telling Mami to continue. Mami pursed her lips. "A few of them are the reason I had to become my students' 'remedial' instructor. They're not incompetent, just… not cut out for teaching…"
For a while, Kyouko didn't reply. She couldn't reply. The underlying resentment in Mami's voice was palpable, even with her trying to hide it. What could Kyouko possibly say that'd be appropriate?
"So you asked me for help because I'm just better than them, right?"
Probably not that…
"Oh you are far worse," Mami said flatly. "I reviewed the footage of you helping that one class last Monday and it was absolutely terrible."
There was a twinkle in Mami's eyes despite her neutral expression being no different from the one she had before. Kyouko felt that, maybe—just maybe—she had said the right thing. Mami certainly seemed happier.
Kyouko grinned, shrugging. "Hey, they wanted practical demonstrations. I fucking delivered."
"You also delivered several students to the infirmary," Mami said pointedly. "They can't learn if they're knocked out or have been exhausted of aura before they even know what's happened to them."
Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. The kids love me, though. You can't argue with that."
Mami sighed. "They're not kids, Kyouko… But yes, they did seem to enjoy your demonstrations."
Across the hangar, Kyouko noticed a familiar looking cloak approaching. Tailing her were a few more familiar looking people.
"They're early," Mami said with a small smile. "We might be departing sooner than I expected."
Kyouko's grin widened as she ate the last of her chocolate bar and entered the dropship. "I'll tell the pilot. Shotgun, by the way."
Mami looked back at her, still smiling. "This won't be long."
Kyouko raised a hand in lazy salute as she disappeared inside.
Early-afternoon, Commander Schnee's office, Atlas Central Command…
As ordered, Sayaka reported to Winter's office at two o'clock where she stood by the door and waited for the commander to arrive. It didn't take long as the elevator doors slid open and Winter emerged into the hall, flanked by two guards and one of the logistics officers Sayaka remembered being introduced to.
"At ease and stand-by, Lieutenant," Winter said, tapping her ID onto the door lock. "I need to finish this first. You may follow into my office."
The logistics officer offered a tired smile and salute at Sayaka who returned the gesture. They both followed Winter through the door and took seats on either side of her desk.
A few minutes of arguing about the micro-management of funds and resources later, Winter removed her glove, pressed her thumb onto the logistics officer's scroll, and dismissed her.
"I apologize for that," Winter said, opening her drawer and pulling out a granola bar which she then unwrapped and began eating. She spoke between bites. "The meeting was running a little late. We had to skip lunch in order to finalize things. But nevermind that. How was your break?"
Sayaka shrugged. "Well enough. The shower was good. The food was okay for cafeteria food. Spent a few minutes before getting here listening to music."
"String instrumentals again?" Winter asked with a small smile.
Sayaka fidgeted in her seat but only slightly. "N-no, ma'am. I do listen to other genres of music."
"Forgive me for assuming then," Winter replied as she projected several documents onto her table. She began scrolling through them as she ate.
Sayaka sat in silence for a moment while Winter perused the documents. An odd feeling of awkwardness seemed to fill the room, getting heavier as the seconds passed. It was rare that Winter took up Sayaka's time without giving her something to do. Usually, she'd at least spend a moment to explain what the documents were saying and why they were important. The silence meant Winter must be really busy.
"Again, I apologize," Winter repeated. "A lot of tasks have been put on my plate that I need to look into personally. Which I suppose leads well into the reason I called you here this afternoon."
She then minimized all the documents and folded her hands together atop the table. Sayaka was already sitting up straight but felt the need to tidy up her posture even more in response to this.
"I'll keep this brief. For the foreseeable future, I'll no longer be able to supervise your training. As such, you're being reassigned. Are you aware of Atlas Research and Development?"
Sayaka felt unease in her stomach. R&D was one of the more secretive branches of the Atlas Military. She'd only gone down to the labs once. Winter hadn't planned on giving a tour of the place so the most Sayaka saw were dark hallways lined with reinforced blast-doors. She was told little about them, though she was at least told that R&D took up basement floors ten through twenty all on their own. Why they'd need that many floors so deep underground was left unsaid but she didn't really want to find out.
And apparently she was going to work there now…
"I'm familiar with them, yes," Sayaka replied, swallowing her nervousness.
"That makes this easier, then. R&D Biotech Division is requesting your assistance. It's related to lieutenant Kamijou's case."
Sayaka twitched, eyes widening if only slightly. She suppressed the worried frown tugging at her lips. "What's going on with Kyousuke?"
"Your clearance status is currently processing. You'll be cleared by o'hundred hours tonight at the latest. Until then, that information is classified." Winter's expression softened. "I will say, though, that you shouldn't worry. He's doing fine."
Winter's words did not make Sayaka feel better but she continued to suppress her deepening frown. "Understood. I'll be reporting to someone else now?"
"Yes. By o'six-hundred tomorrow, be at basement floor nineteen of Central Command. Your new commanding officer shall be waiting for you there. Until then, you are dismissed."
Late afternoon, the mountains south of Atlas city…
"That's the biggest ursa I've ever seen!"
Mami pursed her lips. What was supposed to be a routine patrol outside the walls with her "special needs" class became an ordeal to keep them alive while waiting for backup.
"I'm gonna fight it."
A decades-old—perhaps even centuries-old—creature of grimm had crawled its way out of an unexplored cave and started wandering. As luck would have it, Mami and company had encountered it and the more gung-ho of her students decided that it was the perfect time to do something stupid.
"Did you really need to piss it off!?"
It was the worst, most foolish idea any of them have ever had—much to Mami's chagrin. These students lost limbs doing the same kind of foolishness. Why on Remnant did they decide to top their previous acts of stupidity?
"Oh man, run!"
"SHIIIT!"
Mami jabbed her hands forward and pulled one of her students away from an incoming claw swipe that could have easily shattered someone's aura shield. Said student dangled from the ribbons wrapped around her waist as she was reeled to the large tree branch Mami was standing on.
With a tug, Mami sat the student onto the branch and gave her a stern look. "Cadet Bloodhunter, why again did you think attacking an ursa maximam was a good idea?"
Said student gave a nervous smile but otherwise didn't answer.
"If we survive, there will be consequences for your actions today." Mami unwrapped the student and looked to the grimm.
The ursa maximam watched them, slowly walking circles around them on its hind legs.
Mami grabbed two of her shotgun batons from under her skirt, her ribbons grabbing the other two. "I can keep this thing distracted as best I can until backup arrives. You and your team must stay away. Form a loose circle around us. Keep any lesser grimm out. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" After that curt reply, the cadet stood, gave a salute and bounded away.
Mami dropped to the ground and began walking towards the ursa who seemed to take a fighting stance at her approach. Mami could only grit her teeth at this. It wanted to fight her.
The ursa was fifteen feet tall and almost completely armored. The exterior set of ribs that normally followed same curve as its interior ribs had merged into a literal chest plate. The spikes on its shoulders and forelegs had also merged, turning its claws more into spiked maces. The bony plates protecting its hind legs and back had grown large and bulky, seeming to serve an additional function of keeping the ursa balanced while it stood upright. All in all, the creature's defense looked impenetrable, at least for the weapons Mami currently had.
Experimentally, she shot the ursa. The buckshot pellets she had loaded into her shotguns merely ricocheted off the ursa's bony plates. The ursa didn't even flinch.
Mami's frown deepened.
This was one of the reasons she took up teaching. Her arsenal was terrible at dealing with any grimm that was actually threatening.
The ursa made a series of whining grunts at Mami's attempted shot. Was it… was it laughing at her…? It was! It was laughing at her…! Oh, it certainly had some nerve.
The ursa then darted to the side to grab one of the nearby trees. With terrifying ease, it tore the tree out of the ground and threw it at Mami, the roots still trailing dirt as it flew towards her. Mami barely dived soon enough to dodge.
She then ducked on reflex under an unexpected claw swipe. It clipped her beret and sent it flying off her head.
Mami cursed under her breath as she realized what had happened. In the time between the ursa throwing the tree and Mami dodging, it had quickly closed the gap and swung wide. Only Mami's keenly honed combat instincts kept her from a potentially fatal hit. For a creature of such size, the it could move far faster than it had any right to.
Mami ducked again and slid under the space between the ursa's legs, several ribbons shooting out of Seamstress and Tailor. They wrapped around the ursa's knee and thigh, slinking into the gaps of its armor. With a heave, Mami felt her ribbons slice through the flesh underneath. The ursa roared in pain as blood began leaking from its leg.
Mami allowed herself the faintest amount of relief as the ursa stumbled in its attempts to turn and face her. The dust ribbons she used were paper thin but as strong as steel thanks to her aura reinforcement. They were easily sharp enough to cut through the leg tendons that kept the ursa upright.
Not letting up despite its crippled leg, the ursa threw itself backward, letting its weight be its weapon. Mami, thankfully, was prepared to dodge out of the way. The ursa missed its target and tumbled uncontrollably through the trees, craving large swaths of the forest as it did so.
Anxiety began welling up in Mami's stomach again as she bounded after the ursa. She had ordered her students to maintain a large and loose circle formation around her. The chances of the ursa barreling straight towards one of her students and killing them was far too great for her to relax.
Just as Mami reached where the ursa had skidded to a stop, it threw itself at her again. This time, she was unprepared, though. The ursa came charging right as she was about to land. She needed to grab a tree with her ribbons and zip herself aside in order to not get hit—and even then, one of the ursa's spikes caught her shoulder and sent her spiraling head first into the tree she had grappled towards.
In her mind, she reiterated how much she really hated fighting old grimm.
She shook her head clear of dazed thoughts and bounded for the ursa once more.
"Oi, Mami!"
A gruff yell and flash of red in the corner of Mami's eye signalled the approach of Kyouko Sakura.
"What the fuck caused all this?" Kyouko asked as she jumped over the fallen trees, matching Mami's pace.
"Ursa maximam," Mami replied curtly, swinging from branch to branch with her ribbons. "I hamstrung its leg but it won't stay crippled for long."
Kyouko grinned and pulled ahead, disappearing over the crest of the next hill. Following that was the sound of angry roaring from the ursa and maniacal laughter from the wild red huntress.
Mami managed a small smile as she landed on a high tree branch next to the clearing where the ursa had ended its charge. Kyouko had already begun fighting it.
Rossio Phantom's chains whipped, coiled, and snaked about, its triangular blade striking the kinks in the ursa's armor as if it had a life of its own. Intricate patterns of lattice barriers flashed in and out of existence at odd angles and at a disorientingly high frequency. Kyouko herself was a red blur, dancing around the injured ursa in the same way she had danced around the training dummy on the morning after their first mission together. The only difference between then and now was the fact that the ursa was fighting back. Every claw swipe created a cacophony of shattering glass as it broke through every barrier that Kyouko had put up. That didn't seem to be a problem for her, though. If anything, it just made her dance all the more intensely.
Mami's smile widened as she watched. There was an sense of feral beauty that Kyouko gave off when she was in her element like this. It was as dazzling as it was overwhelming.
"Oi, Mami! You gonna jump in or what!?" Kyouko called as she barely ducked under a claw swipe. "This thing's mad and confused! We've got a limited window to work with here!"
Mami slowly shook her head and swung to the other side of the clearing, looking for an opening. When she found it, she pounced, landing on the ursa's bony snout. She met Kyouko's gaze for an instant, shooting her a wild grin of her own. Her gauntlets thrummed with power as she jabbed ribbons into the ursa's eye sockets. With the clench of her fist, she carved them out. The ursa once again threw its head back and roared in pain, also throwing Mami off of it.
"That was metal as fuck," Kyouko commented with an impressed whistle, helping Mami back onto her feet. "The blood spray ruined your makeup by the way."
"Please. As if I'd let it do that," Mami said, releasing a pulse of aura from her skin. The blood immediately vaporized off of her.
"Convenient," Kyouko quipped. She then looked to the injured ursa that flailed on the ground pitifully. "I feel like I can spend the next hour hitting this thing with everything I got and still not kill it."
Mami grimaced. "Yes. It's very well armored. I think I even felt a second layer of skull in there when I gouged its eyes out."
Kyouko twirled her spear and rested it onto her shoulder. "What did you even do to hamstring that thing, anyway? I spent the last minute stabbing every gap in its armor I could and it seems like all I did was make it mad."
Mami raised Seamstress and wrapped her ribbons around another leg. She gave a short tug and the ribbons then dragged themselves across the flesh under the armor.
Kyouko cringed at the sound of metal scraping against metal.
Mami then swung her arm, flicking blood off of her ribbons as she reeled them back in.
"That is how I did it," Mami said unnecessarily, gesturing at the now limp limb.
Kyouko smiled nervously. "Er, thanks for the demo, I guess? Now I'm even more convinced that you've been holding back on me."
Mami raised an eyebrow. "You're one to talk. You've been holding back on me as well. What was that craziness with the flashing barriers?"
Kyouko shrugged and gestured at the ursa. One of her significantly denser lattice barriers locked around the ursa's arm as it tensed up for another flailing swing. The arm failed to move.
"It's a distraction technique, mostly," Kyouko explained. "Unlike my normal barriers, they're brittle and weak but I can make more of them faster. Isn't nearly as effective against huntsmen and huntresses."
Another barrier locked the ursa's remaining arm, leaving the grimm effectively incapacitated.
"Don't you have your cannons on you? I'm sure a Tiro Finale will punch a good enough hole through its armor."
Mami shook her head. "Unfortunately, the most I can do right now is this." She raised both arms and wrapped ribbons around the ursa's neck, grinding the edge of her ribbons against the armor protecting its throat and spine.
Kyouko winced and put both hands over her ears. "Damn, that's an annoying sound!"
"Get used to it! We might be here a while!" Mami retorted, face contorted in concentration as she continued to saw into the ursa's neck. "Make sure to keep it bound! This is using a lot of my strength!"
"Yeah, yeah! I know!"
A few minutes passed and four entire spools of ribbons were used up. Even Mami's aura reinforcement didn't prevent her dust ribbons from being torn to shreds at the abuse she was putting them through. It ended up being worth it, though. After she finally sawed completely through the bony plates, her ribbons sliced through flesh underneath like a hot knife through butter. The ursa maximam began dissolving into black smoke even as its head fell to the ground with a wet and sickening crunch.
"Call my students," Mami panted, kneeling tiredly next to the fallen creature of grimm.
Kyouko fished her scrolled from a pouch on her belt. "You alright there?" she asked Mami, dialing the number of that Bloodhunter girl who Kyouko remembered was the top of their class.
"I'll be fine," Mami said, still breathing heavily. "I want them here before this corpse disintegrates. It's not often they get to study an ancient grimm like this. We should dissect it while we still can."
Kyouko raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you an anti-personnel specialist?"
Mami smiled up at Kyouko. "That's what you're here for."
Kyouko rolled her eyes. "Fuck, Mami, way to take advantage of—Ah, Bloodhunter!" Kyouko did not finish her sentence and instead focused on the scroll pressed against her ear. "Yeah, your teach is fine… Yeah… Round up your classmates and meet us at where your map tells us we are. Good ol' Major Tomoe has a surprise lesson for you guys… Oh…? Ah, shut up. If you're gonna say sorry, tell it to her face."
Mami's eyes twinkled at the interaction before looking towards the ursa maximam once more. She reloaded seamstress and tailor's ribbon spools and crouched in front of the corpse.
"I'm sorry, by the way," Kyouko then said from behind her.
Mami didn't look away from the corpse. "What for?"
"For blowing up at you about the counselling thing…"
Mami put a hand on the ursa's chest, her fingers tracing over the veins running along the bony plates. "I was trying to get you mad. You reacting the way I wanted you to is nothing to be sorry about."
"Oh… Well… Nevermind then…"
Mami pursed her lips at Kyouko's awkward response.
"What even is the point of the counselling, anyway?"
Mami smiled wryly. "Information. If you ever become convicted, your profile becomes public."
Kyouko growled in anger. "I sort of expected that but that's still so bullshit."
Mami let out a dry chuckle. "You're not wrong. Quarterly counseling sessions are an Atlas mandate. Most of their specialists make no attempt to fix whatever trauma or psychoses we have but they force us to take part in it anyway. None of us enjoy it either. That doesn't make it better but know that you're not alone in your feelings about it."
Kyouko didn't reply. Mami didn't blame her. And, frankly, she was grateful. She didn't like talking about it either. And the fact that she had pushed Kyouko's buttons to get her to cooperate only made it more unpleasant.
"For the record, I'm sorry too. I wouldn't have pushed you into it if they weren't my orders…"
"What about all that shit about us not being together?"
Mami drummed her fingers on the ursa's chest, producing a sharp rapping sound.
"That part was true… I do want to know if this relationship runs deeper than being friends with benefits…"
"Right…"
Mami released a sigh as another awkward silence grew between them. Kyouko was still keeping her at arm's length, it seemed. She shook her head slowly.
Seamstress and Tailor whirled to life, ribbons shooting out of her gauntlets. "Cover your ears, Kyouko. I still have more to saw through." She then began the tedious process of using her ribbons to tear open the ursa's chest.
End of Chapter
So, a few things.
First off, I've had multiple people point out that Sayaka's side of the story is completely divorced from everyone else's. I had hoped to take her story slow and ease hers into orbit around Homura's but, given how much more Homura and the other veterans have going on in their lives compared to Sayaka, I realized that I needed to move her along. I may have made a mistake in how far forward I moved since I skipped a lot of scenes but I can probably fix it by just recycling those scenes with some adjustments in a later chapter.
Next on my list is the the ursa maximam scene that I spent roughly 2.4k words on. Not quite a straight rip-off but it's heavily based on the ursa major Ruby fought in "Color Psychology," written by FFnet user arenavanera. The danger posed by the creatures of grimm is inconsistent, both in this fic and in RWBY proper. It's relatively more consistent with this fic given how most of the characters are fully fledged huntresses as opposed to first-years. That being said, I still wrote Homura and Kyouko mowing down an entire grimm-infested forest with no back-up. I needed a way to make the grimm a threat without nerfing my protagonists or resorting to overwhelming numbers.
The whole spiel about huntresses being beacons of negativity was also lightly based on Color Psychology though it was more heavily based on a Tumblr post floating around the FNDM around 2014. Specifically, it was a theory/fridge horror post about how nearly everyone who takes up the profession was trained from an early age to fight and kill just so their childhoods are messed up enough that grimm are more attracted to them than civilians. It's a horrifically logical sentiment and I feel like it fits given how these characters are from Madoka Magica.
Finally, there's the Kyouko and Mami scenes. They're pulling double duty in a lot of ways since they're setting up possible plot threads to explore in a future chapter. Mami and her students will soon become way more prominent and Kyouko will soon have things going on in her life other than fighting everything and everyone—Mami will make sure of it. Throw in Homura and, soon to be, Sayaka into the mix and you've got a whole host of new stuff that can happen. I'm excited to start writing it even though it might take me a while to get there.
This end-note's been pretty long. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until the next one.