Mirajane almost hoped Perse would be stronger. Then fighting her would feel like a challenge. And she was strong. Mirajane was simply…a monster.
Seeing her slumped on the floor, eyes crossed in a daze, it reminded her of other times she'd kneed friends in the gut. Only, those people she still considered friends. Even thinking about how to feel about Perse was making her exhausted. A part of her wanted to continue smacking her around, another wanted to help her to her feet, dust her off, and tell her to break up with her terrible boss. That Percy, the one that made her smile so genuinely, yet also produced the most lonely expression she'd seen out of the woman. Did he realize what he could have? The depressing realization made Mirajane want to sigh. This is why she often preferred her fantasy to reality.
In the middle of her thoughts, she tried to lift her foot and found it wouldn't leave the ground. Then her wings felt heavy like they were tied up in something. She glanced at Perse, and a chill ran down her spine at the smile she received.
Then the floor gave out from under her.
She was almost too surprised to scream. Using a burst of strength, she decided to take care of her feet first and ripped her way out of whatever was attaching her to the floor. She did scream when that happened because it hurt. Her feet were not made of skin at the moment, but she swore she could feel the very scales being torn off. In leaping onto the ground, her feet gave a painful crack and she could tell walking would be trouble. She hurriedly tore the threads off her wings and sheltered in place, protecting her head from falling debris. In a moment, it was over, and as she peaked out, coughing from the dust, she had a horrifying thought that she was about to see Perse's broken body fall from above.
Instead, she saw her body…float down?
With her enhanced vision, it was easy to see what was truly going on; Perse had pulled strings around herself and was now cautiously lowering herself to the floor. She almost breathed a sigh of relief.
That was when she noted that they weren't alone.
To her right stood two other people. One was a wolf, or what looked like a wolf, groaning and pulling itself out of the rubble. The other…was Macbeth.
He looked drained, standing on top of the rubble, his eyes half open and scratches marring his body. He also, for some reason, already had a mask on, which must have been a lucky break with the dust. He glanced her way, and their eyes met. She belatedly realized that he'd never seen her looking like this before. She might have been inspired to feel embarrassed if the situation wasn't so precarious for the both of them. Still, she felt herself tensing, waiting for his reaction.
Slowly, she saw him study her, eyes gaining focus, then freezing. A few agonizingly painful heartbeats passed and then…he relaxed. His eyes lost some of the annoyance she saw in them before. He seemed genuinely relieved at that moment. It was hard to tell with the mask, but she swore she could picture a smile underneath.
Others may have described it as creepy but…Mavis, she loved that smile.
She remembered what she had told Perse. That even though they did things for love, it didn't always make them the right things, or even the right reasons in the first place. Looking at Macbeth, she wondered briefly if she would have ever been tempted to go astray because of him. Maybe not currently, but in her younger days…that could have easily been the case. With how they were now, she resolved to never let her love turn her into a monster. Or the people she dared love in the first place. Her friends. Her family. Macbeth. Even Perse.
Because even if she didn't love her…she didn't want Perse to lose the ability to love in the first place.
Her resolve in the fight returned, she turned back to face Perse. Mirajane covertly put a hand behind her back and made a signal. She couldn't be sure if he saw it or not, she just had to pray he did.
She needed to end this, soon. For all their sakes.
"Perse, there's another reason why I think we're so similar."