A/N: Time for the boss level.


"Okay..." a voice spoke from overhead as Luka and Miku fought against the ferocious beast. They were doing a pretty good job, but it was an extremely difficult level, especially since they had practically flown up multiple skill levels during training.

"And what if your partner is out?" continued the voice. Luka had been about to deal a blow in mid air when she fell limp. No longer using her powers to suspend herself, she dropped like a rock. Without thinking, Miku launched herself into the other woman and curled into a protective ball around her, using her powers to let her roll onto her feet on the ground without causing any damage to either of them. Setting Luka delicately against a wall of the arena, she covered her with a light shield before throwing herself into the air and using a blade of energy to tear through the tall beast's humungous eyes, landing on the opposing end of the arena. It swung an arm blindly and she used the momentum to teleport herself back to Luka before sending a false blast of energy through the portal to convince the monster that she was still on the other side. Thinking quickly, she grabbed Luka's hand and held it, searching for but not extracting any energy. What she felt was dormant, signifying that the other woman was simply asleep under a very simple spell. Throwing two more false blasts at the beast to keep it occupied, she used her pointer finger to carefully send a tiny dagger of energy into the sleep-field that was trapping Luka's powers. Once she pierced through it, careful not to hurt Luka, she channeled her energy into the other woman freely, feeling the rest of the sleep spell leave and seep into the air before dissipating entirely. Luka awoke with a start, eyes flying open to survey the scene around her even though she could see through Miku's.

Once she realized that she wasn't about to die, she felt relief that was immediately replaced with vigor as she got to her feet, squeezing Miku's hand once before going to attack the beast head-on. Creating a humungous blade out of shadows, Luka tore through the beast's flesh, trying to behead it to no avail. Its skin was thick, and it would be difficult to cut through the bone. She landed on the other side, about to get hit by one of the beast's many large hands before Miku appeared above her, took her, and pulled her through a portal just as Luka had trusted her to do. Miku held onto her before taking both of her arms in her own from behind and hastily channeling herself onto both so that she created an elaborate rune, seemingly made out of pure light. Luka was fully awake as she felt the other woman's power mix with hers and instantly knew how to use it to her advantage. Bending down onto the ground with a shared idea, she pushed an incredibly strong wave of energy from her fingertips. Focusing incredibly as she felt Miku pushing with her, they focused their mixed energy into waves of burning, freezing dark light that seemed to consume the creature from the ground up before it fell, prompting Luka to dive out of the way as Miku gave her a speed-boost and mild teleportation. The beast's body when down took up almost the entire arena. Miku was about to split off, but Luka reminded her that the beast couldn't be killed unless they shared their energy, and she felt her understanding. Miku tossed them into the air and Luka produced two humungous blades, trying to drill them into the creature's stomach but barely getting anywhere before losing momentum.

Miku remembered something and shared her idea with Luka, who launched herself into the air, formed another blade, and tried to send it through the monster's eyes to fracture its skull. The monster's head broke before it disintegrated into pixels and the partners became two people again, giving one another very faint smiles of exhaustion. Briefly, Miku thought that they actually weren't supposed to beat that, seeing as some exams were only meant to test how far you could go. Luka considered it for a moment, liking her partner's confidence in their ability but suspecting otherwise. Miku thought that Luka was right, but they still did an amazing job in the fight, and Luka agreed that they were really awesome. Eventually, the voice came over the overhead speaker again, dismissing them, and they left to sit in a room full of partners who had finished their exams.


"Don't worry!" Len rushed up to them before either could do so much as make an expression, "I know you're a perfectionist, but you weren't supposed to actually beat the boss. Please don't feel bad!" Miku smirked at Luka, who shook her head, admitting the fact that the other woman had been right despite it being originally intended as a tease.

"Oh." Len continued, noticing Luka. He glanced to Miku before looking at Rin, who had materialized beside him to inspect the partners. Miku smiled awkwardly.

"This is Luka." she introduced. "We were wrong... she's actually really nice." she explained, knowing full well that Luka could feel concern radiating from her in waves.

"Really?" Len appeared really curious, forgetting boundaries and going to look at the pink-haired woman closer.

"That's great!" Rin appeared less sure, rolling her eyes at her brother's behavior. Luka, for her part, was frozen. She was reminded for the first time in a while that she and Miku had been enemies once, and it made her feel unhappy. Luka nodded, seeing as what she was feeling could only be described as 'unhappy' because it wasn't mild displeasure nor intense sadness. It just startled her for a moment and made her slightly concerned, nervous, and outcast. Miku could feel this, and wondered if it would be alright to squeeze her hand outside of the arena. Luka thought that she really would like that, and Miku almost died because she forgot that they could still vaguely feel one another's thoughts. Regardless, she subtly took Luka's hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to reassure her that she was not an outcast. Miku thought that it was truly her fault, and that Rin and Len easily started to like new people, so Luka shouldn't be worried even though emotions don't follow logic. Luka felt slightly more relaxed, but understandably, the feeling from before took a moment to fade away despite her partner's hand and kind thoughts.

"...and I really just can't wait to see!" Len finished. Neither woman had been listening to whatever it was he had been ranting about, but Miku assured her that he would probably reiterate the idea a few hundred times. With that thought, their connection's slowly fading strength prevented them from any more mental communication. Instead, Miku just squeezed Luka's hand again and smiled slightly in reassurance while keeping her eyes on the twins. Rin still looked skeptical, but she kept her mouth shut for the time being. She didn't trust the other woman not to hurt her friend, and yet having had a partner since birth, she could easily tell that they had a remarkably clean mental communication. Despite herself, she kept quiet, watching the way that they interacted. Eventually, Len finished talking, and they all went to sit down on a couch. After twenty minutes had passed in light conversation, the door opened and allowed a familiar blue-haired young man to enter the room, quickly followed by a brown-haired woman. They noted Luka and the blue-haired man waved before he saw Miku and almost choked. Sensing the predicament, the woman had pulled him back a step just before he would have choked, successfully startling him out of it. They approached the partners confusedly and looked down at them.

"Hey Luka." said Meiko. Luka greeted her, wearing the awkward smile that Miku had worn just minutes before.

"Hello Meiko." she responded.

"Nice partner you got there." Meiko got straight to the point. She was Rin's level of protective, and unlike the twin, she hadn't witnessed the partners interact nor had enough experience with partnership to notice mutuality.

"Meiko..." Luka began awkwardly, "we made a... considerably sizable mistake."

"Looks like it." Meiko snorted, "What, did she stop you from saying no during the ceremony, or were you not thinking at the time?" Luka felt Miku freeze up considerably and tightened her grip on the other woman's hand, feeling her extreme shame. She subtly rubbed the back of her hand with her thumb in an attempt to reassure her before continuing.

"No, Meiko, I mean we made a mistake." she said again, motioning with her free hand to herself and the brown-haired woman. "Miku's actually... really, really nice." Meiko gazed at the teal-haired woman skeptically as she stared holes into the couch, clutching the hem of her skirt with her free hand.

"It was all my fault." she said. Luka noticed with surprise that she could hear tears on her voice, realizing that the emotion-sharing feature was becoming muted as their link faded. She had no idea why such a tiny event could make the teal-haired woman break into tears, and yet there she was. "I really didn't mean to hurt or outcast Luka at all..." she continued. "I misinterpreted something that happened on the first day, and it all went downhill from there... I really didn't mean it, I'm so sorry!" somehow she managed not to stutter, embarrassedly wiping away her tears with her free hand. Suddenly, Luka felt a strong connection once again despite no energy being exchanged. She could hear Miku's thoughts loud and clear. The other woman's mind was moving so quickly and she was so humiliated by the fact that she couldn't stop herself from crying in front of a stranger and her partner. She kept calling herself deficient over and over again. Luka wanted nothing more than to hug her, but thought that the action would be inappropriate given the fact that there were many new people around, and it would make Miku appear lesser than she was. Instead, Luka just took her second hand and entirely covered Miku's, uncertain of what to do. Evidently, Meiko was more experienced in those kind of situations. She ruffled the younger woman's hair, smiling a little.

"Hmm... What do you think, Kaito? I like her already." she said confidently. The blue-haired man was looking at her, scandalized.

"That was not nice!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands out so that they fell by his sides, fingers still partially extended.

"I had to give her 'the test.'" she responded simply, waving her hand in a dismissive motion. During their play-fight, Miku had had the time to compose herself and was sitting up fully, with nothing but a slight blush as evidence of her previous state. Luka looked at the other woman's hair, briefly wanting to ruffle it in the same manner as Meiko had moments before. She returned her attention to Meiko and Kaito, who were still arguing.

"But it's what I do, see, she's fine now." Meiko finished explaining, motioning to Miku, who waved shyly. Kaito paused in his argument and turned to her more fully, slightly embarrassed for not introducing himself.

"Wow that was a horrible way to introduce ourselves..." he mumbled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "I'm Kaito, and that joker is Meiko. She's very kind, but... 'playful' with new acquaintances."

"Standing right here." said Meiko. She broke into a warm smile. "Wow, though. That's second place. Always pictured her as an aloof, stone-hearted rogue, but... I like this one better." Miku didn't know whether or not that was an insult or a compliment, but she tried to take it as the latter. Luka had somehow managed to edge closer to her and get her arm slightly behind Miku's back, not that the other woman was complaining. Kaito helped Meiko pick up a smaller couch and bring it to sit across from the four people who took up the large one, effectively cutting off the rest of the partners in the room from their conversation. They all spoke for a while, with Luka and Meiko growing increasingly annoyed by the shyness of their partners when faced with one another. Miku could still faintly feel her partner's emotions, and asked about the annoyance through curiosity, but received a gentle shrug.

Eventually, two hours after the final partners had finished their exam, the scores were announced publicly. Luka nudged Miku and nodded her head towards their score, smiling. They had scored exceptionally, and evidently they were the only people to actually kill their monster. Miku smiled confidently back at her before Meiko and Kaito approached, and her confidence was replaced with shyness since she still felt as if she owed them something. Meiko petted her head again and Kaito quietly told them that they did a really good job. Len and Rin had not held anything back when they had gone to congratulate them, and Miku smiled, glad to see that they weren't treating Luka unfairly. Suddenly extremely tired, Miku realized that it was a while after her clock had gone off, and that they should get to sleep. She fell into bed with Luka and ate a hasty dinner before cleansing herself and falling almost immediately asleep beside her partner.


A/N: I think I'm glad that I finally decided to post this! ^-^ As per usual, feel free to leave thoughts and comments for me in the reviews, I love to hear what you have to say and input is always welcome!