Restless, Part 1

It was raining, it was pouring, and unfortunately for the four girls caught in it all, they were so far from anything resembling snoring that sleep seemed like nothing but a distant fantasy.

So did warmth, for that matter.

And dryness.

As well as full bellies.

It was not a good day.

Mami, Charlotte, Oktavia, and Kyoko all struggled to make their way across an open field, fighting against the wind and the rain. Mami had thrown up several makeshift umbrellas and a something of a shield-wall, so they had some protection against the elements at least, but it was still a miserable experience.

"Okay, seriously!" Charlotte complained as the rain pelted their meager cover so hard that it sounded like hailstones. "What storm goddess did we piss off?"

Mami sighed. "Well, we've already angered two major superpowers, helped destabilize an entire territory, and drawn the attention of the dockengauts, so I suppose we were due to upset a deity."

"That wasn't our fault though," Oktavia called from near the back. Two of her magical train wheels were fixed to her wheelchair, so at least they didn't need to push her. "We just mind our own business and crazy crap happens! If people would just leave us alone then nothing would-AH!"

She had come across a particularly deep patch of soft mud, causing her to sink enough to get stuck. Her wheels whirred as they cut at the mud like sawblades, but it did nothing more than splatter brown droplets everywhere.

"Um, help?" she said.

Charlotte stared down at her in disbelief. "Tavi. Your wheels can fly."

There was a pause, and then Oktavia grumbled, "Shut up." Her wheelchair lifted out of the mud pit, moved forward a couple meters, and settled back down again.

Mami shook her head. It was a shame they couldn't just make another flying platform to lift them above the clouds. They had actually tried that, but the strain against the wind had proved to be even more difficult than walking, and they needed to save their magic.

Then her gaze moved from Oktavia to Kyoko, who was at the very rear, and she felt troubled. For once the redhead had nothing to say about the mermaid getting stuck, when normally she would be the first with the sarcastic quips. In fact, she had barely seemed to notice at all.

Kyoko had been like that ever since they had all escaped from the dockengaut territory. She always seemed to be distracted, often staring intently out over the horizon while ignoring her friends. Any time they needed to talk to her, they often had to repeat themselves two or three times to get her attention, and her answers were always short and quick before she went back to her own little world.

Mami was growing very worried. She and Oktavia had managed to get out of the dockengaut territory very quickly, and though Charlotte had it worse, it was nothing compared to what Kyoko had gone through. What little they had managed to glean sounded absolutely horrific, from being badly burned by valk venom to having to tear out her own eyes to having her entire arm eaten off by dockengauts. And though she hadn't talked much about her experiences inside the dockengaut tunnels, she had made the occasional vague reference to meeting another human girl down there, one of the dockengauts' meat slaves. Charlotte had grimly opinioned that Kyoko had witnessed exactly what it was that dockengauts did to their victims.

Charlotte was right; Kyoko was not well. None of them were, but Mami's one-time protégé had it the worst. She needed help and needed it badly. Unfortunately, they did not have the means to give it to her.

"Okay, just for the record!" Oktavia shouted over the wind. "We should've stayed at that last farmhouse. They offered to put us up and everything!"

Charlotte shook her head. "Last time we did that-"

"Last time you did that was years ago! Like, way before you met us! And seriously, just because one pair of farmers turn out to be soul-sucking demons doesn't mean they all are! We took the food they gave us, didn't we?"

"Well, yeah, but we're hungry."

"And cold. And tired. When we could be in a place with warm beds, hot baths, and a freaking fireplace! But nooooo, we had to keep moving, you said! We couldn't take the risk, you said! It'll just be a little rain, you said! And now here we are-"

"Oktavia," Mami said through clenched teeth. "That's enough."

Thankfully the mermaid stopped complaining. Now free from that distraction, Mami spared a bit of magic to conjure up a pair of binoculars. She searched this way and that, but in most directions there was nothing but open fields with the occasional tree.

One direction, however, held promise. There were several rocky hills rising up, and she was sure that she caught the glimpse of what looked like a cave. Even if there wasn't the hills would provide more shelter than what they currently had.

"Head for those hills!" she called, pointing them out. "At least we'll be able to get out of the wind!"

The others said nothing, but they all changed course and headed forward.

The trip to the hills only took about ten minutes, but it felt like hours. However, the closer they got the more Mami was sure that there was an actual cave in the hillside. And as they were in a nice, safe human territory, they wouldn't have to expect anything meaner than a bear. And they could handle a bear.

Finally they reached the mouth of the cave. It was a pretty good size, and they were all able to get inside without ducking their heads.

The improvement was immediate. Mami banished the wall and umbrellas, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God," Oktavia moaned as she wrung out her hair. "Okay, next time the locals warn us about bad weather, what say we listen? Okay?"

"I thought you liked water," Charlotte said, shaking out her shirt.

"I like calm, stable water I can swim in. I like fast-moving water I can ride. A bunch of cold drops hitting me in the head while a freaking hurricane tries to tip my chair over is not my idea of a good time."

"Speaking of the temperature, does this cave feel kind of warm to you?" Mami said.

The four of them stopped and took stock of their surroundings. The cave went a fair bit further back, curving out of sight, which was great in terms of shelter, but sort of worrying when it came to avoiding local nasties that might want to take their faces off. Also, the air was surprisingly warm. It made for a very nice change, but Mami would really like to know why.

"All right, on your guard everyone," Charlotte said, pulling out the knife she had nicked from Artz. "Mami? Kyoko? Arm up."

"Already on it," Mami said, a musket already in her hands. Kyoko said nothing, but she had a spear out and at the ready.

The four of them marched forward, Mami in the lead, Charlotte and Oktavia in the middle, with Kyoko bringing up the rear. They cautiously approached the curve in the cave's path. It remained large enough to accomondate even Oktavia, and the further in they got the warmer it became. What was more, it was also getting really humid.

Suddenly the path opened into a large cavern, and Mami froze in place. "Oh, my God," she said, lowering her musket.

"No way," Charlotte said, shaking her head. "No way were we this lucky."

"Shut up, don't jinx it," Oktavia added, her bright blue eyes gleaming.

The cavern was about the size of a high school gym, with a craggy ceiling about three meters up and a fair amount of stalagmites and stalactites, as well as the occasional pillar. There were several small pools of water here and there, with one large pool near the center.

Thick steam rose up from the water, the source of the heat.

"We found a hotspring," Kyoko said, the first thing she had said in hours. "A freaking natural hotspring." A pause, and then, "Hot damn!"

"Don't rush in right away," Mami said. "The water might be toxic."

"Look, we've had enough rain as it is without you pissing all over our parade, okay?"

"I'm just saying, we should be cautious. Give me a moment."

Mami walked over to the largest pool and knelt down by the water. Her finger started to glow, and she place it right over the water's surface. A small orb of light lowered from her finger into the water, and she closed her eyes and concentrated.

A few moments went by, and then Oktavia said impatiently, "Well?"

Mami opened her eyes. Sighing happily, she stood up and smiled. "Well girls, I'd say our luck is starting to turn, because the water's fine!"

…

"BANZAIIII!"

Kyoko took a running start and cannonballed into the pool, sending a small wave crashing up.

Oktavia, who was really enjoying the opportunity to stretch her fins by swimming around and around the pool's perimeter, just shook her head. "As usual, you have all the grace of an epileptic mongoose. Honestly, the water's so shallow that you're lucky you didn't crack your…Kyoko?"

The waters settled down at Kyoko's point of entry. However, the girl herself failed to appear.

Rolling her eyes, Oktavia sighed and said, "Okay, you're going to make me come down after you, aren't you? You do realize that I'm a fish, right? Like, you couldn't outswim me if you had a submarine propeller strapped to your skinny butt."

From their place reclining in the shallows, Mami noticed something rising up behind Oktavia. She opened her mouth to say something, but then Charlotte nudged her and shook her head. "Just let it happen," she said with a particularly wicked grin.

Mami shrugged and settled back down. Okay, so the mermaid's complaining had been getting on her nerves a little bit lately. She could let this play out.

"Okay, so we're going to do this then," Oktavia continued to say to the water. "Don't blame me if you end up all embarrassed. You were the one who-"

"SHARK ATTACK!" Kyoko howled as she leapt forward to wrap her arms around Oktavia's middle. The mermaid shrieked in surprise and nearly leapt right out of the water. "YOU!" she roared and leapt fully onto the laughing redhead.

"You know, the funny thing is, I don't think Kyoko actually can swim," Mami remarked as she and Charlotte watched the two play.

"Really?" Charlotte said. "Then what was that?"

"Underwater crawling, probably."

Charlotte snickered. "You're telling me that a bonafide mermaid just got snuck up on by someone who can't even swim? While in water?"

"Nobody's perfect."

"You're part of my world now, baby!" Kyoko crowed as she stood fully up in the waist-deep water, arms wrapped around Oktavia's waist from behind. The mermaid yelped and clawed at the air, but she was unable to stop Kyoko from being hurled up over Kyoko's shoulders back into the pool.

"This is nice," Charlotte murmured, resting her head in its usual spot against Mami's shoulder.

"What, getting to relax a little, or seeing them having fun again?" Mami asked.

"Both."

"Stop grabbing my boobs!" Oktavia shouted. "It's not fair, you don't even have any! I can't do it back!"

"Oh, you did not just-C'mere, you second-rate Ariel knockoff!"

"But mostly the second," Charlotte said. "They needed this."

"We all did," Mami said.

Charlotte turned her head to eye her. "Yeah, I noticed you haven't been keeping up with your pills. Do you have any samizayn left?"

Mami sighed. "Well. Let's just say that Kyoko isn't the only one on edge lately."

"Leggo of my hair, It's only just starting to grow back!"

"You noticed that too?" Charlotte said. "With her being all quite most of the time and sneaking off when she thinks we're not watching?"

Mami shrugged. She didn't want to ruin the good mood they were cultivating with that unpleasant topic, but it was best that they got it out in the open. "She hurting. With everything that's happened, and-"

"I know, I know," Charlotte sighed. "Believe me, I'm worried about her too. It's just…" She shifted her weight, turning over to rest her head against Mami's. "I have to worry about you first, you know?"

Mami smiled. She ran her fingers through Charlotte's hair, which was getting so long. It was honestly not a bad look for her. "I'll be fine," she said. "I can deal with this."

"Well, I mean, you're not just supposed to stop cold turkey."

"I know."

"It's going to be a problem."

"I know," Mami said again, her voice testy.

Charlotte sighed. "Well, all right. First things first, find someplace we know is safe, someplace civilized. Then we can, you know, start…fixing."

"Fixing what?"

"Us."

Mami let herself sink down a few centimeters into the steaming water. "Do you know what this feels like? Our first couple of months. Remember those, where everything was so scary and strange, and we were just so stressed out all the time, and I'd just start crying out of nowhere?"

"Hey, don't take all the credit. I did plenty of crying myself."

True, but Charlotte wasn't the one to shoot her own head off, but Mami decided not to bring that up. "And at least then we had a place to stay, people to take care of us, and an entire town to help us along."

"And now we're on our own," Charlotte said.

Mami shivered despite the heat. "Yes."

Charlotte silently watched the kids splash and play in the water for a bit. Then she sighed and draped her arm across Mami's shoulders, drawing her in. "We'll get through this," she said. "We'll find a new home. We'll build new lives. We'll make new friends. It'll get better."

"I know," Mami said, though she did wonder. "I just, you know, miss the old one."

"Me too."

"But you're right," Mami said, forcing cheer into her voice that she didn't actually feel. "There are other places that can be home. We've got nothing but time. We'll…We'll find somewhere, somewhere safe. And this will…all blow over. And then we can get started catching up."

"We've got a lot to catch up on."

"I know

"In fact," Charlotte drawled as her hand slid up and down Mami's thigh. "There's some other things we can catch up on. Since, you know, we finally have some time to catch our breath."

Mami's own breathing was starting to grow heavier as Charlotte's fingertips left tingling trails across her bare skin. "Can't," she said, though without much conviction. "The girls are right there. Can't, um, do it in front of them. They'll see."

In answer, Charlotte lowered her mouth until her lips were mere centimeters from Mami's. Mami could feel her wife's warm breath on her face. "Let them," Charlotte said, her voice thick with longing. "Maybe they'll finally see what's right in front of them."

Their lips met, and for a moment Mami forgot all her objections.

Ever since they left Cloudbreak, the two of them had had few precious moments to themselves. True, they had managed to stick together, save for that…incident in the dockengauts' territory, but there always seemed to be someone else around, whether it be Kyoko and Oktavia, or the Persephone Protectorate, or the Void Walkers, or pretty much anyone. And as they had lived most of their life up until then by themselves out in the middle of the ocean, it was a hard change to adjust to.

But though Charlotte was always there with her, and though there had been no lack of physical contact between them, it wasn't the same. It did little to ease how much Mami yearned for Charlotte, how her body ached for her wife's touch, or how long it had been since she had been allowed any kind of relief. And the harder things got, the more stress and worry she accumulated, the more she noticed that lack.

But though Mami was moments away from surrendering herself to the wave of desire that was about to crash, to let her heart and mind sink and set themselves adrift, she still couldn't, not just yet. "Charlotte," she said, placing a hand on her wife's shoulder and pushing her back. "We…we can't. They're kids."

Charlotte sighed in disappointment. "Then, we can…move? I mean, the steam's so thick in some places, it'll be like we're in another room."

Now that she mentioned it, the steam was really thick. Mami was fine with that compromise. "Yes," she said. "Let's."

The two stood up, hot water sliding off their bodies. "Um, girls?" Mami called over to Kyoko and Oktavia. The two were still wrestling, oblivious to what was going on around them in their attempts to dunk one another's head in the water.

"Hey!" Charlotte shouted. The kids stopped their battle and turned to them in surprise.

Clearing her throat, Mami said, "We're going to, um, go off for a bit. Just to the other side of the cave. Won't be long…"

"Maybe," Charlotte muttered.

"So, if…if you need us, just shout."

"And only if there's an emergency," Charlotte added. "So help me, if there isn't one, I will bring the wrath of God down on you."

Kyoko and Oktavia exchanged looks. Then they grinned. "Oh, are you?" Kyoko said. "And what exactly will you two be doing there, hmmm?"

Mami's face was already flushed, but she was fairly certain it went up by a couple degrees. "Just…you know, we need a little, um…"

"A little…what?" Oktavia said. The mermaid was struggling mightily to keep from laughing. "A little what, Mami?"

"We're going to have sex," Charlotte said flatly. "Laugh if you want, I don't care. But we need this, so don't you dare get in the way. Got it?"

"Charlotte!" Mami said, aghast.

"What? They know, we know, so why not just come out and say it?" Charlotte thrust a finger at the kids in warning. "No interruptions."

Kyoko threw up a mocking salute. "Aye, aye, skipper. Just try to keep the noise down, okay?"

"No promises," Charlotte said. With that she grabbed Mami's hand and pulled her away from the pool and deeper into the steam, with Kyoko and Oktavia's laughter echoing throughout the cave.

…

Before leaping into the hot spring, the four of them had taken the time to wash their clothing in one of the smaller pools. And as they were still drying, Kyoko settled for pulling a white towel out of the supplies that the farmers had been kind enough to lend them. As miffed as she was that Charlotte had refused to let them stay the night, at least she had consented to this. After all, what kind of long journey could be taken without a towel? They were practically essential to life.

She dried off her hair the best she could and was pleased with its length. It still was a far cry from how gloriously long it had been before she had been forced to lop most of it off, but at least it was past her shoulders now. That done, she then wrapped the towel around her torso. Then she cast a brief glance over her shoulder before heading toward the mouth of the cave. As hilarious as she found Mami and Charlotte's bluntly stated reason for going off for a bit, Kyoko was glad for it, as it gave her the space to take care of something important, something that she didn't need prying eyes looking over.

They had left most of the perishables out of reach of the steam but also out of sight from the cave's opening. Kyoko stole over to them and rummaged through the food. Taking an apple for herself, she also snatched up a few sticks of smoked turkey jerky and headed for the front of the cave.

The rain was still coming down hard. That was worrying. She didn't know how her secret friend would deal with such a damp climate. Granted, his now-deceased family had lived in a swamp, but that just meant that they were resistant to anything local to them. Hopefully he wouldn't contract some kind of fungus harmless to Earth creatures but fatal to those from his natural habitat.

Raising her voice, she called out, "Hey! Come on out! I know you're out there."

A clicking squeak told her that she needn't have yelled.

Looking down, she saw the baby valk come out from behind a rock. Fortunately, he looked just fine. In fact, if the red on his snout was any indication, he was doing a better job keeping himself fed than the humans.

Shaking her head, Kyoko knelt down and scratched the small creature right behind his still-growing crest. From the look of things, a little dampness hadn't bothered him in the slightest, which was good. "Hey there," she said. "Jeez, you are good at this whole stealth thing. Followed us this whole way and none of the others noticed. What'cha got there, though? Catch another bunny?"

The valk bobbed his head and squeaked. Then he suddenly spun on his foot and scampered back behind the rock. A moment later he reappeared, dragging the mangled remains of a squirrel by the foot. There was little left of it save for snapped bones and a few uneaten bits of offal.

Kyoko's brow rose. "Hey, good for you! I guess this stuff comes naturally to you guys, huh?" She held out the jerky sticks. "Well, looks like you don't need these after all."

The baby valk immediately stood up straight, his neck extended and his mouth open in expectation.

Kyoko had to laugh. Maybe it was because it had been his first meal, but the little monster had a real taste for jerky. "All right, here you go," she said, holding one of the sticks over his head. He lunged for it, but she pulled it away at the last second. "C'mon. You can do it. C'mon."

The baby valk hunkered down, then leapt up to snatch the jerky from Kyoko's fingers. A few quick snaps and it was gone.

Kyoko gave him the rest of the jerky sticks and leaned back against a rock to watch. She took a bite out of her apple and chewed it thoughtfully. Charlotte had not been lying about how quickly valks grew. The thing was only a little over a week old and it was already the size of a large cat. Its teeth were all in, its horns were getting sharp, and Kyoko finally had to make it stop playfully nipping her when its saliva had started to tingle. Soon it would be as big as the juveniles she and Charlotte had fought. And soon after that…

"What am I going to do with you?" Kyoko said out loud, shaking her head. So far the others didn't suspect that they were being shadowed by an alien super-raptor, much less that it had been adopted by one of their number. When the truth did come out they were going to freak, especially Charlotte, and Kyoko honestly couldn't fault her. There was no way Kyoko was giving the valk up without a fight, but she had no idea how she was going to win.

The baby valk finished its snack and then looked back up to her. Sighing, Kyoko idly scratched his neck again. "Well, I guess I still have some time to figure things out. In the meantime, I'd better give you a name, at least."

A few leapt to mind, mostly along the lines of Baragon, Ghidorah, and Godzilla, but those didn't really feel right. Maybe Spielberg. That would work, right?

The valk found a scrap of turkey jerky it had missed and quickly darted over to gobble it up. Kyoko had to laugh. "Okay, fine. Why not? How about Jerky? Yeah, it's a dumb name, but so what?"

The baby valk looked up at her with his glowing green gaze.

"Fine, Jerky it is." Kyoko stood up. "Now shoo. The others will probably notice that I've been gone too long."

She headed back to the big cavern. Mami and Charlotte were still gone, no doubt engaging in all manner of squishy activities. At least they were keeping their promise to be quiet about it.

As for Sayaka, she was out of the water and reclining against a smooth, stone pillar. She had yet to dress, but she had also wrapped a towel around her middle, which was kind of a shame.

"There you are," she said as Kyoko approached. "Where'd you go off to?"

"Had'ta take a shit," Kyoko said as she plopped down next to her. "A great big, smell, steamy-"

"Okay, okay, spare me the details," Sayaka said as she recoiled. "Please tell me you wiped."

In answer, Kyoko held up a finger and slowly ran her tongue up its length, all the while maintaining eye contact.

"Oh, gross!" Sayaka roughly shoved her away. "Get away from me with that!"

Kyoko cracked up, which just made Sayaka roll her eyes. "Well, good to see you're feeling better at least," she groused. "Which is to say you're back to being a complete ass."

"Love yah too, Blue Tuna."

"Darn right, you do," Sayaka muttered as she settled back and closed her eyes. A moment later they were open again, her eyes staring suspiciously at Kyoko. "Hey, wait. You were joking, right?"

Kyoko looked at her, and then down at her perfectly clean hand, and then at Sayaka.

Then she shoved her hand right under Sayaka's nose. "Smell them!" she said. "Smell my poopy fingers!"

"No!" Sayaka laughed. "Get away from me, you disgusting freak!" She managed to get her hands onto Kyoko's chest and shoved her away. As she did so, her fingers got tangled up in Kyoko's towel, and the knot became undone.

"Whoa, hey!" Kyoko hastily tightened it up before it slipped off. "I know I'm the hottest bitch in the party, but hands off the goods!"

Sayaka sighed. "Oh, seriously? We were literally wrestling naked like fifteen minutes ago!"

"That's different," Kyoko sniffed as she settled back down. "What happens in the hot spring stays in the hot spring."

"Hmph. Well, if you ask me, I don't know what you were even upset about. It's not like you had a whole lot under that towel to being with-"

"Oh, hell no!" Kyoko immediately kipped up to her feet. "You do not just go and disrespect this masterpiece!"

With one smooth motion, she tore the towel away and flung it aside. Now fully bare, she struck a body-builder's pose, one leg bent forward and the other thrust back, with one arm flexed in front of her and the angled behind to show off her biceps and shoulder.

"Feast your eyes on this!" she crowed. "Made in God's own image, yessir!"

She expected laughter in response. She expected something wry and pithy. Instead, Sayaka said…nothing.

Confused, Kyoko lowered her arm and looked down at her audience. Rather than rolling her eyes or mockingly covering her face as if it were being burned, Sayaka was just staring. Like, a lot. Furthermore, Sayaka's face was already a healthy shade of pink from all the heat, but it had now reddened a couple of shades.

"Uh…huh." Kyoko dropped the pose. "Well, you're enjoying the show a lot more than I thought you would."

"Huh?" Sayaka started. Then she shook her head. "Oh no. You just, you know, surprised me! I mean, who wouldn't be, you freaking flasher?"

"Yah sure?" The edge of Kyoko's lip curled up. "Did the surprise make your face turn all red too?"

"Of course it's red, we're in a hot spring."

"Yeah, we sure are." Kyoko then slowly stretched one arm up behind her head and let the other slide down her glistening torso to plant itself on her hip in deliberate sensual fashion. She tilted her head to one side, mouth curling into a fetching grin. "A lotta hot things in here, wouldn't you-"

The towel she had flung off sailed through the air to hit her in the face.

"Oh, knock it off!" Sayaka said, her arms folded and face curdled up into an irritated pout. "Between Mami, Charlotte, and me, you're like the fourth hottest member of this team, and you know it."

Kyoko pulled the towel off her face but didn't put it back on. "Prove it," she said.

"Eh?"

Rolling her wrist toward the sulky mermaid, Kyoko said, "You say you're hotter than me? Prove it. I showed you mine, now show me yours."

Sayaka sniffed. "Please. You already got a look. Be content with that."

"Ha." Kyoko draped the towel around her shoulders and smirked. For all of her snootiness, she did notice that Sayaka was taking great pains not to look at her directly. "Well, fine." She turned to walk away, though not before muttering, "Coward."

Both of Sayaka's eyes popped open wide. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You had no problem getting wet and wild with me earlier. So…"

Sayaka's scowl deepened, but so did her blush. "You're an asshole."

"Chicken," Kyoko mocked. "Chicken of the Sea!" She began flapping her arms around like wings. "Bwak, bwak, bwak!"

"Oh, grow up Kyoko! What are you, five?"

"Sayaka's a chicken, Sayaka's a chicken!" Kyoko continued to sing-song. "Bwak, bwak, bwak-"

"Okay, fine! God, I swear you just go out of your way to be infuriating!" Sayaka straightened up and angrily undid her towel and opened it to either side. "There!" she said, flopping back again, not even bothering to make any kind of pose like Kyoko did. "You happy?"

Laughing, Kyoko stuck her fingers into her mouth and loose with a wolf-whistle. "Yeah, baby!" she crowed. "That's what…"

Then she actually caught eye of Sayaka, and all the jokes and taunts died in her throat.

"…uh…"

Despite her nakedness, Sayaka wasn't making any real attempt to show it off. She was just sitting with her back against the column, tail stretched out on the ground in front of her, arms folded under her breasts as she looked away in embarrassment. But even so, while Kyoko always thought that the younger girl was kind of cute in a tomboyish sort of way, she…well…

Damn, that violin boy, what's-his-name, must've been blind!

Kyoko found herself focusing her gaze on a shimmering droplet of water that was sliding down one of Sayaka's shaggy blue locks. It beaded up at the end and dropped onto her shoulder, where it slipped down around her pale neck, down between the curve of her modest chest, where it slid around the slight mounds of her abs before coming to rest at the top of her waist, where glistening human flesh melted into pink, blue, and black scales.

Suddenly Kyoko begin to feel very hot, and for reasons that had nothing to do with the steam, and in more places than just her face. She let her tongue slide out to moisten her mouth, and bit down on her lower lip.

Sayaka must've noticed how suddenly Kyoko's jokes had stopped, and she frowned and looked up. "Um, what?" she said as she straightened up. "You told me too!"

Kyoko swallowed. "Uh…yeah."

Sayaka tilted her head to one side. "Uh, Kyoko? Are you…drooling?"

Kyoko blinked. Then it finally struck her how this had to look, and she jerked back. "Nothing!" she cried, and then hastily wiped her mouth. "I mean, I wasn't, uh, you know, wasn't…"

"Oh. My. God." Sayaka's eyes went wide. "You were ogling me!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"You totally were!" For some reason, Sayaka seemed delighted by the revelation. "You were staring and drooling and everything!"

Kyoko gritted her teeth. "Was. No! And besides, y-you were ogling me first!"

"So you admit it!" Sayaka grinned. She looked down at herself, and then pushed herself forward with her palms.

"What are you doing?" Kyoko demanded.

In answer, Sayaka angled herself around so that she was lying on her side, the hump of her thighs pushed up with one hand resting on her ass, the other supporting her head, as she displayed her naked torso with all the seductive energy of a siren draping herself over a reef. "Hey, sailor," she said, her voice low and husky.

Kyoko inhaled sharply through her nose. She hastily shook her head to banish all the weird thoughts and flipped her towel open to again wrap it snugly around her torso. Then she sat down against the column, this time further away from Sayaka, and stared out into the mist.

A moment later she heard Sayaka shuffling around as she sat back up and put her own towel back on.

After a moment, Sayaka said, "So…uh, what say we just chalk all this up to the steam doing weird things to our heads and never bring this up again?"

"Agreed," Kyoko said with a nod. "Absolutely."

"Right. Because I think we both got a little carried away there."

"Oh yeah. Carried away. Mmmm-hmmm."

There was a pause, and then Sayaka said with a more iron edge to her voice, "And my name's not Sayaka. Remember?"

Kyoko winced. "Yeah. Uh, my bad."

"It's okay," Sayaka said after a beat. "Actually, I'm just glad to see you acting more like your old self."

Kyoko frowned. She scooted around to get a look at Sayaka's face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sayaka sighed. "Oh, come off it, Kyoko. You've been acting all strange ever since the thing with the dockengauts. I mean, I get it, but you were starting to have me real worried."

Uh-oh. "Strange how?" Kyoko said, careful to keep her tone neutral.

Sayaka fidgeted, her hands agitatedly twisting together in her lap. "You know, you barely talk anymore if you don't have to, you keep sneaking off by yourself all the time, you always seem liked you're somewhere else, you…" She sighed. "Look, it's got me worried, okay?"

Kyoko's body was already running hot for a number of different reasons, so it had no trouble redirecting that heat into smoldering indignation. She felt her jaw, neck, and shoulders clench up, like she often did when someone was prodding too deeply into subjects that she did not want to talk about. "Well, don't be," she said shortly. "I'm fine."

There was a long pause, and then Sayaka said, "Bullcrap."

"What?"

"You heard me. Bullcrap. You're not fine."

Kyoko said nothing.

"Look, Kyoko. I get it, I do. We've all been through Hell, but you? You had your arm eaten off! You got blinded and had to rip your own eyes out! And that's not getting into everything that happened before the dockengauts!" When Kyoko still didn't answer, Sayaka pressed on. "Look, I've…I've been kind of a mess too, okay? I've, uh, I've been having nightmares, I keep jumping at shadows, I get scared for no reason, so I know…so I know it must be worse for you. So yeah. You got me worried."

Kyoko wanted to tell her to shut up and mind her own business. She wanted to tell her that she was fine, and it wasn't her problem if Kyoko didn't feel like talking. And she really didn't want Sayaka to keep poking at her like that, partially because it wasn't any concern of hers, but also because not only was the mermaid off-base, the last thing Kyoko needed was for her to keep pushing and find out what was really going on.

It was true that Kyoko had left a piece of herself back in the dockengauts' territory, and a few other pieces in the places she had been forced to visit before that. But her new morose demeanor and frequent slip-aways had less to due with lingering trauma and more to do with wanting to spend time with Jerky and not wanting the others to know that she was raising a venomous space dinosaur, one that at least one member of their party had an acute phobia of. Jerky was the one good thing to happen to her ever since they had been kidnapped out of Cloudbreak, and if the others found out about him, Charlotte especially, they wouldn't understand at all, and they would make her give him up, maybe even try to kill him, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

She almost snapped at Sayaka to keep her nose out of her business, but then she had a realization. If Sayaka was noticing her frequent disappearances, then it stood to reason that the other two did as well, and sooner or later they were going to investigate. It would be with the best of intentions of course; they would only be wanting to help her, but she couldn't let them find out about Jerky.

So…why not let Sayaka continue to think that it was just trauma?

"You're starting to sound like Charlotte," Kyoko said.

"Well, she's right!" Sayaka said crossly. "She's worried about you too, we all are!"

"What are you, my therapist?"

There was a pause, and then Sayaka sighed in annoyance. "Okay, you know what? Yes, I am." Sayaka scooted around so that she was looking Kyoko in the eye. "This is Doctor Oktavia von Seckendorff reporting in. Patient is one Kyoko Sakura, the most stubborn of stubborn asses, who refuses to let even her best friend help her, even though she's about three steps away from becoming a total-"

"What are we even doing?" Kyoko growled before Sayaka could finish.

"Eh?"

"What are we doing?" Kyoko repeated, as much to herself than to Sayaka. "Where are we even going? I'm not an idiot, Swordfish. I know people think I am, but I'm not. I know we're not going to the Withering Lands. I know nobody but me is even thinking about saving Momo anymore. Charlotte's done, Mami's done, and you're probably done too. If it weren't for the fact that we'd all get arrested the second we stepped foot in Freehaven, you all would have headed back there as soon as we were out of Marsters."

"That's not true."

Kyoko shot her a look. "Is it? Okay, tell me the truth: have you given any thought, any at all, to the actual rescuing part of this mission? Have you ever once wondered what we were going to do when we got to the Withering Lands? Have you checked to make sure we were going the right way?"

There was a pause, and then Sayaka averted her gaze. "Well, we've had other things to worry about lately," she mumbled.

"Like what?" Kyoko pressed. "Why do we keep moving forward? Where are we going?"

Sayaka shrugged. "Someplace where people won't hunt us, I guess."

"Exactly," Kyoko sighed. "This mission was stupid to begin with. Charlotte tried to tell me, Mami tried to tell me, everyone tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen. All I could think of was getting away from the Alliance and into the Withering Lands. All that mattered was the rescue. I didn't even think of everything in between."

"Like what?" Sayaka said with a frown.

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Oh, like I need to tell you. You already listed it all! Lily, the covens, the Brothel, Brooklyn, the dockengauts, the valks! And that's not even getting into the Asshole Squad that always seems to show up. Charlotte was right, I had no idea what I was getting myself into."

Sayaka leaned her head back against the pillar. "So, are you done too?"

"Yes," Kyoko said after a beat had passed. "And…no."

"Eh?"

"I ain't giving up," Kyoko said in a flat tone. "Not on my sister. I don't care how long it takes, I'm still saving her."

Sayaka arched an eyebrow. "But…?"

"This ain't working. And if it keeps up, I won't even get to the Withering Lands, much less get her out." She rubbed her chin as she put the many thoughts that had been running through her head into words. "So, I'm thinking we should get a fresh start. Find some nice little town where the Alliance won't find us. Get rid of Annabelle Lee and the rest for good. Let Mami and Charlotte start their new lives. Regroup, better prepare, and when the time is right, I'll try again."

"Alone," Sayaka said.

Well, there was no point in lying about that. "Yeah. It should've been me alone from the beginning. I should've just struck out by myself without involving any of you."

"You wouldn't have lasted one week."

Kyoko shrugged. "Well, at least then you three would still be okay. And hey, at least now I have a better idea of what I'm up against! So when I am ready, I'll have a better chance."

"But you'll do it alone."

"Well, yeah."

Sayaka shook her head. "No, you won't."

Kyoko scowled at her. "What are you on about?"

Sayaka just stared right back. "Look, all that stuff you just said, about helping Mami and Charlotte restart their lives, find someplace safe from all those assholes that won't leave us alone? Great! Fantastic idea, we should totally do that. But you're not doing this alone. Because when you leave, I'm coming with you."

"What?" Kyoko let out a small laugh of disbelief. "No. No, you-"

"You heard me," Sayaka said, in a way that tolerated no disagreement. "Kyoko, I can basically fly now. I'm not helpless like I used to be. And I'm not letting you just vanish out of my life without warning. I'm not just going to sit around wondering if you're all right, if I'll ever see you again. I'm going. And if you try to slip out on me, then I'm go to find you."

A hundred different snide, snappy, and sarcastic quips bubbled up inside Kyoko, and not a single one made it past her lips. "Ah," she said. "Well. Thanks."

"Darn straight, you are," Sayaka said. And then she closed her eyes and let out a long, luxurious yawn.

Kyoko agreed with her. Now that things had finally slowed down, now that they had cleaned days off grime off their bodies and had somewhere that was warm and safe, a lot of restless nights were finally catching up to her.

A nap would be really good for her, help her rest her mind so she could think more clearly. She relaxed against the pillar and closed her eyes, and as the weariness rose up to consume, she felt Sayaka's warm hand lay over hers, the fingers slipping in between Kyoko's and holding them tight.

…

With one last soft moan, Mami rolled onto her back and stared up through the steam at the cavern's ceiling. She couldn't remember the last she had felt this good. For once, every part of her body felt relaxed, her breathing was deep and steady, and her mind…well, okay, it had only just been dissolved into a hundred blinking lights that had been set adrift on a sea of bliss, so coherent thought wasn't going to be a thing for a few minutes at least. But it was infinitely better than the mind-gnawing weariness, fretful fear, and looming shadow of depression that had been steadily growing larger and larger with each passing day. No, she would take mind-blowing pleasure to any of that.

"Wow," she murmured.

There was a pause, and then Charlotte said in a contemplative tone, "Y'know…I read somewhere that sex is best in colder temperatures. Something about how the body's attempts to warm itself making all of your senses sharper because of all the blood being sent to the skin or something like. And when it's warm, it just isn't as fun, because all the heat makes you sluggish so you can't enjoy it as much." She let out a throaty chuckle. "I mean, sure, we don't actually have blood, but the principle's pretty much the same."

"Wow," Mami said again.

"But y'know what? I don't know if it's something about this cave or just because we really, really needed that, but I think the heat in here actually made things better somehow. Sort of like melting into a hot bath after getting caught in a blizzard. Which…now that I think about it, is sort of what we literally just did, but shut up. My mind's fried. I can't be creative now."

Mami closed her eyes. Considering how much the aftereffects were still making her body tremble, she was finding it very hard to disagree.

Chuckling again, Charlotte rolled over so that her upper body was draped across Mami's. Her eyes still closed, Mami smiled as she felt a pair of soft lips lower onto her own. She responded, their mouths moving in a well-rehearsed dance, with just the slightest flicker of tongue moving across her teeth.

Then the kiss parted, but Charlotte didn't move off of her. Mami slid her left arm up her wife's smooth back under it was resting on her shoulder blades.

"Sorry about being a little rougher than normal," she said.

"Rough? You? Are you kidding? I was the one about to-"

"No, not that. I mean literally. God, it's been so long since I've been able to clean up, and everything's just getting so hairy…"

"Oh! That!" Charlotte laughed. "You're making a mountain out of a molehill. Seriously, it's not bad. Besides, a little extra friction kind never hurt anyone. Hell, if anything, it also made things better. Made me feel it a little bit more."

Mami sighed. "Oh, you charmer," she said dryly.

Charlotte let out a deep sigh but said nothing. Mami didn't either. They just lay there, basking in each other's warmth, enjoying a rare moment of peace and contentment.

Then Charlotte murmured, "Um…Mami?"

Mami had actually almost fallen asleep, and she was a little cranky that she hadn't been allowed to. "Hmmm?"

"We, uh, really do need to get up and get dressed. I think the kids are getting a little sick of having to plug their ears."

Mami sighed. "Right. Right. Fine."

It was very difficult to let go of each other and get up, but they managed. Once they were vertical, the pair made their way back to the main cavern.

What they saw there made them stop in their tracks.

"Wow, okay," Charlotte said. "That's freaking adorable."

As it turned out, Kyoko and Oktavia were not irritably waiting with their fingers in their ears for the Tomoes to finish up. Instead, they were both lying slumped against a stone pillar, towels wrapped around their torsos, fast asleep. They were leaning into one another, Oktavia's head snuggled against Kyoko's neck and shoulder, with Kyoko's cheek resting against the damp tangle of blue hair. Kyoko's left hand and Oktavia's right were both resting in the crevice between Kyoko's legs and Oktavia's tail, their fingers loosely entwined.

"Doomed," Charlotte said, a her mouth perking up into a mischievous grin. "They're doomed."

Mami shook her head, though not from disagreement. It was still kind of strange to think about. Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka Miki were from two very different times in her career as a Puella Magi, from two different backgrounds in two different cities. Though Kyoko had often been on her mind during her mentorship of Sayaka and her friend Madoka, it had never once occurred to her that Sayaka and Kyoko would ever meet, much less form the intense and turbulent relationship that they did. And she certainly would have never guessed that Sayaka would become to Kyoko what Charlotte was to her.

Charlotte was right. The two of them were doomed.

"Should we wake them?" she asked.

"Not on your life. In fact…" Charlotte yawned cavernously. "I think they've got the right idea."

Mami could feel her own head starting to nod. She blinked, and blinked again. Each time her eyelids felt heavier.

But still, they couldn't just lie down and surrender themselves to oblivion. "A watch," she murmured. "Someone needs to stand watch. Annabelle…Annabelle Lee could still be out there. We should…"

But Charlotte was already sitting down, claiming a spot against the pillar on the other side from their sleeping friends. She gently pulled Mami down with her, and despite her concerns, Mami couldn't find it within her to resist.

They both leaned back, side-by-side, arms wrapped around one another, Charlotte's tail slithering around Mami's waist. Though they were lying naked on hard stone, Mami couldn't remember ever feeling so comfortable. Her eyes closed of their own accord, and soon all four of them were sleeping soundly.

And then, one at time at first but then all at once, they began to dream.

…

Wow, okay, that was a lot…steamier than I usually do. But give me a break, I've been slow-burning this for years, so if I'm gonna come back, I'm giving things a much-needed push.

Anyway.

So…lot to go over. First things first: a reminder of the plan. From here on out, every Sunday I'll be posting a chapter of one of four stories: this one, Imperfect Metamorphosis, IM's newly debuted prequel Swiftly Descending Darkness, and this story's slice-of-life AU Walpurgis Nights, which is already completed and available to read on my tumblr, but I figure it's time to give it more exposure. And with the Magia Record anime just having dropped (how about that final episode?!), I figure this is the perfect time to do so.

Though do note for those who have already read it: I will be re-editing and redoing a lot of the earlier chapters to make them more new reader friendly, as well as adding new material to fill in the gaps, as they say. So it won't be just a repost.

Also! While Resonance Days and Imperfect Metamorphosis are remaining exclusive to this site for the time being, WN and SDD are going to also be cross-posted to Archive of Our Own. I'm long overdue to take advantage of that platform anyway.

Now, as for this chapter, this chapter is very important, because not only does it officially kick off this story's comeback, this is actually the very first scenario I envisioned for this story, almost a decade ago. Right after Kyoko and Sayaka died in the series and my heart was broken, I had this idea of them reuniting in the afterlife, and Sayaka's a fish, and they meet Mami, and the first idea was to have all of them relaxing in a hotspring when the doll form of Charlotte just sort of shows up.

Obviously, making Charlotte human and adding her as a main character scrapped that last part, but the hotspring thing remained, so…here we are.

And as for what this particular episode will be about…guys, I am super excited for this one. It's something I've been saving for literally years, working in the back of my head, and now I finally get to do it.

So give you a clue as to what's up, all I can say is that I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan.

Now take a look at what this chapter is called, and if that doesn't clue you in, do some googling.

Until next time, everyone!