Perse's arms were going to be so sore the next morning.
Lowering herself by her string sounded like an amazing concept on paper. Maybe she could make herself fly? Do impossible acrobatics with its help? In practice, it involved a lot of stiff muscles and controlled breathing so that she didn't accidentally slice a tendon or snap her neck. It made her feel like a puppet, jerkily dancing to and fro in her far too fragile body.
She carefully lowered herself down, having escaped the initial falling. Right now she hung five or so feet above some rubble, staring down at Mirajane who now looked up at her. To her left she spotted two more figures. One was Gilda, transformed as well, and the other a lanky man, who oddly was wearing a cloth over his face and…were those her nice dishes in pieces on the ground? She was going to have someone's head after this!
Perse forced herself to take a deep breath. No, getting upset now over the damage was silly. She'd caved in the ceiling for goodness sake. A few plates didn't matter. The whole house could crumble and she doubted she'd bat an eye. As long as Gilda and Sir were safe.
Mirajane's eyes also drifted over, lingering for just a moment before snapping back to Perse. Her pitying gaze still annoyed her, but the steel from before was there again.
"Perse, there's another reason why I think we're so similar."
Perse almost groaned. Did she really have another reason or was she just stalling? Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught Gilda crouching, preparing to pounce. The man hadn't noticed, still too busy staring at Mirajane. Wait. If he went down, then the two of them could tag-team Mirajane, which wasn't guaranteed to succeed but boosted their chances significantly. Yes…if she just…
"I can't help but think it's going to be something along the lines of 'is very stubborn.'"
Mirajane shook her head. "No, although it might be applicable. I was thinking in how we fool ourselves. How I fooled myself into thinking I wasn't worthy of magic anymore, and how you're fooling yourself when you say it's just a job to you."
"It is just a job."
"See," she jumped up, wings working again. She was perhaps a few feet from Perse's face, eyes level with her own. "I might have believed you…if I hadn't seen the look in your eyes that day, and if I didn't see how they looked now. It's not too late Perse. We can help him if he needs help."
"…You'll kill him." The admission, frighteningly honest, made her body sag beneath the strings. Mirajane pulled closer.
"We won't kill him. Well, Cobra might, but I'll reign him in, I pro–"
A knitting needle flew out of her bag and into Mirajane's chest.
She bent over, crying out, and falling to the ground, clutching her side. Perse dropped the rest of the way to the floor, releasing her strings. She stood right in front of the trembling demon, shaking her head. Why was it that people kept doing the same things over and over, expecting the other party to react differently? It never worked.
"For the record, I wasn't talking about a physical death. Not that it will matter soon, I suspect. Now that me and Gilda…" Perse glanced to the side. She'd been too wrapped up in her fight to see how Gilda was. It appeared that she…stood on all four legs, confusedly looking around? Hadn't she been about to attack that man? He stood in the same position as before, this time a little…stiller than was normal. A sense of unease took over her, and she thought to call out to Gilda in warning. That was when something grabbed her leg.
She glanced down to see Mirajane holding on while her other hand covered her front. "I…assumed again…but this time…it seems I was right."
Perse tried to shift her leg, but Mirajane's grip was titanium. Her panic rose.
"I thought that whatever you threw at me…I could catch." Unfurling her body, she revealed the needle she was holding. The needle that barely grazed her skin. She smiled at her. A look that only barely didn't qualify for her nightmares. "Now I hope he saw what I wanted to do."
"What you wanted to…"
Suddenly a large animal came hurtling toward them. A furry animal, roughly the same size as…Gilda. Perse screamed, but her leg wasn't free until the very last second and by then, it was too late. Her friend crashed into her, sending both of them flying off into the wall at the back of the house. The last thing she thought of before impact was the quiet sigh uttered by Mirajane before she let go.