I'll Give You Your Fight

Two weeks later, Mia was back to fighting and rushing up the street with Aimee keeping pace at her side, Rider's tendrils dipped in her veins; over the months she had grown familiar to her enhanced reactions & speed. They saw their female foe's whip hit the road ahead, but the two leaped over to the sidewalk in time to dodge hundreds of spikes bursting up from their road, still chasing after their foe running away 50ft away, small stores at their left as they pursued.

Ahead, the woman's whip hit the sidewalk; a swift bar of ice burst out from the wall beside Mia and she leaped up to grab it, spikes bursting out of the sidewalk below as Aimee blinked to the spikeless road. Hanging for a moment, Mia laughed, then swung onto another bar of ice, and another, and another; her foe had disappeared past the corner ahead, and Mia paused at the cafe before it as a ladder of ice brought her up to the roof. Rushing across it, she took a glance down before the roof began to shift, then glanced down to see miniature distortions forming in the roof, and in the next instant -

- hundreds of spikes burst up below -

- but a platform of ice formed and kept her from being cut; she shoved her flaming sword down into the roof as she rushed off to the side, and another pole of ice formed in midair as she leaped off the roof towards it, grabbing it in midair, then turning her body to crash through the cafe's window in a rain of glass. At the other end was her dominatrix foe standing over a barista's corpse; 30ft separated them, and Mia's blade was still poking in from the ceiling. Her foe's spiked whip cracked ahead, and out of it burst a dozen spikes that spun rapidly as they shot towards her -

- but the next scene was instant. A white-lined cloud of scarabs flew to meet them, then burst into a cloud of electricity whose lightning arcs pulled the spinning spikes into her ceiling blade, both exploding into pieces as her foe staggered back; no time to waste, Mia spun as a jet of water erupted from her hands, sending another electrical cloud into it -

- and laughing with a pause as she heard her foe shrieking, halting to watch her stumble out of the back door with her hair crispier than it had been before. By now, Mia had accepted the sadism towards enemy hosts most students carried; she rushed out after her foe, and as she came out the back door, dodged underneath a sweep of whip, yet as it hit the wall beside -

- mini-distortions coated the wall, a whirlpool seeking to pull her in as her foe made for a second hit -

- but a jet of superheated water burst through her eyes & out the back of her skull; the woman screamed in agony as she stumbled away, and Mia sidestepped the spikes coming out of the wall once more. Ahead, she saw her blinded foe's whip hit the sidewalk, yet a frozen platform kept Mia safe as she stepped carefully towards her. Once she was 20ft within, the woman's whip struck her ice, and as Mia readied to melt it -

- the woman fell headless in the next, still-beating heart already carved out as Aimee appeared behind her and the spikes disappeared.

A little confused, Mia stepped up.

"Um, she wasn't going to turn your ice spiked." winced Aimee. "She pulled it at the last second. Wasn't sure if you saw. S-Sorry."

Mia nodded, and as she often needed to, reassured Aimee. But this was no obstacle for her; she liked Aimee neither in spite nor because of her insecurities. "It's alright, Aimee. I'm not mad at you." She went over and hugged her. "Er, but I have been thinking of something else, lately. Do you think I'm a good fighter? Being- being as objective as possible."

"...u-uhm..."

Mia smirked. "As objective as possible."

"Can we talk about it over lunch? Um, you wanna try that Russian place again?"

"I'd prefer something trashy."

"Taco Bell?"

"Perfect."

Aimee grinned. A few minutes later they took their badges off and stepped inside, sitting for their meals they knew they would later regret. "U-Uhm, but yeah, as I was thinking. Your Revenant is really versatile, but something versatile needs a lot of practice. Lot of different combinations. Right? Something like Rider, I have a high floor but a low ceiling, because t-there isn't much else I can do, but it's enough."

Mia nodded. "I understand. I just wish I had more Revenants to practice against."

Aimee sensed this opportunity to further ingratiate herself; maybe that would quell her fear of abandonment some. "Well, I could run some... tournament-type thing with students. Do you think that would help?"

"When would that be?"

"I can get it up before the day." Aimee rubbed the back of her head. "With me being your girlfriend, uhm -- they might go easy on you, but still. Better to get a little more experience where you can, right?"

Mia nodded and ate through her meal some. "Dreadnought, soon, er, and then... I'm excited for you to meet my parents for Christmas." She smiled. "I haven't told them much about you yet, but- understandably, I haven't gotten the chance to visit my father much."

"Yeah, but you mentioned he had a lot of effect on you growing up."

"And him being arrested." muttered Mia. "But yes, in terms of politics and... er, temperament, a little bit."

Aimee nodded, though her eyes seemed elsewhen as she continued to eat.

"Are you alright?"

"Um, yeah. Just don't want to be a downer. You're not gonna get to meet my parents."

Mia frowned, and the assumption that they were dead was on her mind before homophobia; female hosts generally do not encounter it, both from their own ability to wield violence without consequence and that they are already assumed as freaks who happen to be irrevocably lesbian.

"They're ultra-conservative religious freaks. Christian lawyers." said Aimee. "If conversion camps still existed, they would have sent me to one."

"At least students saw to that." frowned Mia. "I'm sorry, Aimee. I didn't know. I know you've mentioned having a few... issues around your sexuality, I just didn't..."

"...yeah. Bit of that still lives in my skull. I'm sorry." Aimee glanced off. "Um, do you mind if we talk about something else?"

Mia nodded and moved on, though privately Mia wondered if her submissiveness in relationships was another element of the corrosive effect religion had on her sexuality: that she could convince herself she had done nothing wrong so long as it was what was done for others than what she actively desired. In her early years at Urasaria, Aimee's thoughts were couched through a hallway of groping hands that interrogated her movement. Lacking the ability to cast God out in thought, then, had repeated use of her Revenant needed to suffice: He became nothing before Revenants.

+++

Taking Marisa's advice, Mia split her next few weeks between her girlfriend & her mentor. Mornings she hunted with Marisa, and evenings with Aimee, though the two hadn't slept in the same bed yet. She reassured Aimee that this was for their relationship's pace and not its intensity.

With the need for accelerated training, her & Marisa took every call they could, and at the end of Sunday, Marisa scanned and got a notification her protege had hit rank #50 & two-star. Clueless, Mia asked Marisa what that meant if they were already living together, and after finding out it entitled her to a costume & hero name & weapon, she went with Marisa to the second-year building, slightly less clueless. One of the doors had a plaque beside it that read 'THE GRAND COUTURIER', and in smaller text: 'and assistant'.

Marisa knocked and stepped inside a few seconds later. A short blonde wearing a mechanical eyepatch was cutting some fabric at a corner table. As they came closer, Mia realized she wasn't using scissors; her nails were unnaturally long & sharp.

"Hey, Nuiko." said Marisa.

Nuiko looked up and recognized Mia as Aimee's girlfriend; instinctively she suppressed some bitterness. "Hey. Did you need a costume for your protege?"

"Yeah." chimed Marisa. "For Mia Schultz. Is your assistant, like, in today?"

"No, she's in another coma." Nuiko sighed. "Go ahead. Do you have something in mind?"

Mia handed her a folded note. Nuiko winced before opening it, then sighed relieved. "Er, everything alright?"

"Your handwriting is good." said Nuiko. "Everybody else looks like they're writing with broken glass. You can go."

"Thank you."

The two left and Mia whispered to Marisa. "What was with her nails?"

"Her Revenant is Shrink & Swell." said Marisa. "...uh. Do I need to say what it…?"

Mia shook her head.

===

Urasaria's blacksmith typically wore samurai garb and a stone expression, but he was not in today (nor will be for the entirety of this novel), so instead Mia dealt with his first-year blue-haired lab-coated assistant Yuruko, who generally hated when students came in minutes before she was about to leave, hated when students came in an hour before she was about to leave, hated when students came in a few hours before she was about to leave, and hated when students came in.

"Hello, Yuruko." Mia smiled. "How are you?"

"Okay."

Mia nodded, waited, no response, then spoke. "Er, I need you to... forge a sword for my elements? Fire, ice, and electricity?"

"Do you know your measurements for temperature and voltage?"

"Er, no."

Yuruko scrunched her hands. "Okay. I mean, I probably can't test it as good as you can, but I'll try to make something to get your tri-element sword thing working."

Mia felt she had already overstayed her welcome here, so nodded and excused herself. (In actuality Yuruko had no dislike of her: it was simply that she had never given a shit about social situations and usually the standing to choose not to.)

===

A week later, Marisa waited outside of their bathroom, listening to Mia generally complain about her new mask being slightly tight, until the door opened and out stepped the new woman. She was wearing an obsidian & beaked mask; her sword had a blue & red helix down the hilt, two scarab-shaped carvings within. The blade shimmered, coated in an liquid that flowed but did not drip.

"Worldwide: fire."

The blade erupted in to orange flames.

"Worldwide: ice."

Ice stalactites jutted from the blade.

And on her badge, her new name.

'Swarm.'

"…oh." blinked Marisa. "Huh."

"What is it?" said Mia.

"I just thought you'd choose a different name." shrugged Marisa. "What about Queen of Scarabs?"

Mia paused, then frowned. "I'm not going to think about if that's better than Swarm."

"Uh, what about the electricity, too? On your sword?"

"They said they were still working on that."

"Neat. First-year two-star, then." chimed Marisa.

"How long does that normally take?"

"Uh… It took me, like - last April, so."

Mia frowned. For the next few days she wondered if she had only achieved her rank with Aimee's help, and was thinking of how to either win the tournament next week or have Aimee adjust her rank properly. She was walking down the hall of the first-year building when she heard a woman call her name, and turned to face Matoi standing too closely, her long black hair almost touching Mia's. "Er, excuse me? Do I know you?"

"You will." said Matoi. "You're competing in the tournament next week, correct?"

"…I am."

"Fortunate. Every student can see how little you deserve your rank. It's obvious you receive special treatment as Aimee's girlfriend."

Mia looked down, not wanting to show the barb had struck. "I… suppose we will see, then?"

Matoi sneered and walked past her. Matoi had been frustrated by her own lack of two-star yet, in part because she took it as an extension of her work ethic; yet she despised nepotism. As she usually admired Aimee, it had surprised her to see her allow it.

Mia went home and talked to Marisa about it, setting the fashionista a bit aghast. She rarely saw anger from Marisa: she heard it now.

"I have half a mind to go out there and - ugh." grunted Marisa. "That's really fucking shitty of her to do. And not true, either."

"It's alright, Marisa." mumbled Mia. "I can't help but wonder if she's… correct, in some way."

"Uh, no, no, she's not. Everything you've like, been through, and especially after last month -"

" - does not change the fact that - Aimee was only hunting with me because -"

" - you had to fight two hosts at once!" said Marisa. "You… you dealt with two Revenants at once, Mia-Mia."

"One of them was easy."

"Yeah, because you actually train. Like, way harder than I used to, too." said Marisa. "You deserve to be two-star. You definitely deserve to be two-star. I mean, you beat Jeanne, too, right? She used to be three-star."

"I suppose." muttered Mia. "…I still need to go practice."

Marisa put her hand on Mia's shoulder. "Don't let her get to you." (Mia felt it tense.) "…ugh. She's like this, too. She just judges people. She just like, stands above people and judges them."

+++

Mia trained with Aimee the rest of the week, and Matoi with her protege Samuel, whose neck had grown another three inches in the interim. If some of her liking of him was because he no longer gave any argument, she did realize it. She did not dislike him, but privately nothing irked her as much as the times he'd saved her life. If she was to fight Revenants for a living, better she do it by her own missiles & lasers.

These thoughts traveled with her on her way to Yuruko. As she knew Mia had electricity & fire & ice, she had the chemist create liquid nitrogen and bathed until her legs cracked, attempted to drop a toaster in with it (and found Urasaria's outlets suicide-safe), and she'd held her feet to fire until it was painful, then another half hour after. She hated training, but hated being weak more.

Monday morning, Mia passed her first matches, and felt slightly nervous over Matoi passing her's. As it wasn't any way to judge their opponent's strength, both went off to train again. Matoi knew her Revenant innately countered one of Worldwide's elements.

On Tuesday, both passed their matches; they would meet Thursday at this rate. On Wednesday, Mia watched Matoi's last replay in Aimee's mansion.

"Gonna be fighting her tomorrow." said Aimee, and Mia scrolled down her notes. "Feeling okay?"

"…er, yes."

"Do you want to know her Revenant -"

" - no - no, don't tell me that." said Mia and Aimee tensed.

"Uh, s-sorry. Just wasn't, um, w-wasn't sure."

"I - no, it's…" She reached over and squeezed Aimee's hand. "…I'm sorry, Aimee, I've just been thinking about something Matoi said to me." She sighed. "She approached me outside of class, and told me that I don't deserve to be two-star, because… because of how I attained my kills."

"What do you…? Oh." murmured Aimee. Mia saw her eyes wet. "…s-sorry. G-Guess I-I did do that, yeah. T-Thought it would help, but… s-sorry."

"It's alright, Aimee." Mia kissed her cheek. "I promise."

Aimee nodded, wiping her tears. "T-Thanks."

"When I return from… dreadnought, I think it would be best to readjust my ranking."

"I-I can do that, yeah." said Aimee. "…um. But I know you deserve to be two-star. You don't need to listen to her. You would've gotten it without me, anyway."

"And who would I have to kiss?" Mia grinned.

"Anyone you want?"

Mia pulled Aimee on to her lap and gave her a few kisses. "No. Just my Mad Dog."

"Doesn't sound very romantic." laughed Aimee, then glanced back the screen, Matoi still on it. "I can't wait to see you make her bleed."

+++

Next afternoon, Mia stepped past the enormous double doors of the building that had been constructed for the tournament. Matoi was on the other end. Wedding's veil & armor was on, her sword was drawn, and two tunnels were drilled in to Wedding's shoulders; two eyes burst out of the chest.

Mia raised her weapon, and Matoi her own.

"Mia Schultz." she said. "I've been waiting for you."

And their gaze left no more words to be shared. Haze claimed Mia's eyes as she & Matoi rushed forward, and for the spite filling her mind, she carried it through in a strike that met Matoi's steel, two combatants clashing with all their might against the other. Scarab swarming and chattering around her, her eyes twitched as their weapons smashed, and as a heat grew from Wedding's eyes -

- Mia swept to Matoi's back; a score of lasers lit aflame the spot where she'd just stood, but an ice scarab extinguished it, and as her sword sought Matoi's spine -

- it caught only air as Matoi swept with the speed of lightning away. Snarling to Mia, Wedding's shoulders vibrated as she ran back, and as Mia rushed in pursuit -

- a volley of missiles erupted from Wedding's shoulders and blast in to her path, wooden spikes shooting outward and slashing Mia; but sheets of ice formed at her feet as she slid underneath, smoke clouding seconds behind her position, more missiles soaring towards her -

- but a swift wall of ice blocked it -

- and in to a thousand shards it shattered, cloud of steam buying Mia time to reach Matoi again - their weapons clashed again. In a whirlwind of blows and scarlet tatters they revolved around the arena; Matoi's sword cleaved Mia's chest, and as her hilt smashed Mia's blade -

- crystals of ice burst from the steel and froze Matoi's grip, and as her electrical scarabs followed it -

- she was as unaffected by it as Mia. "Thirty degrees warning than I was expecting, Mia Schultz!" shouted Matoi, bashing Mia with her frozen sword back -

- and the clash began anew, Mia stumbling between lasers & sword again as she stepped back again, viciousness of Matoi's strikes growing; Mia swept back again, and as Matoi surged in pursuit -

- right in to a puddle of water; a second electrical swarm surrounded Matoi, and as the lightning surged through her body -

- her arms twitched, skin started to char, hairs standing at attention -

- but the lightning dispersed, one explosive shockwave throwing Mia back and against the wall, Matoi stomping forward still.

"Your electricity is the easiest to counter. A hundred pounds of insulated padding beneath Wedding's armor. Two swarms left, Mia Schultz!"

And she was among Mia again. Inch by inch, the pressure of Matoi's blows forced her further along the wall, and as the corner of the arena approached -

- a flash of fire scarabs melted Matoi's sword's hilt -

- and despite her agonized screams, the feral woman would never relent, her grip more decisive around her weapon than before as she fought. Mia's steel blunted the first and second strike, and as the third impaled through her chest -

- a set of icicles grew at the floor & impaled through Matoi's boots; the pain unclenched her grip as she staggered, Mia yanking out the blade from her own internals, discarding it aside as she ran back, more field of icicles growing behind as Matoi rushed in pursuit. As she turned, she saw with aghast eyes the white wedding still stomping with no care for the pain, red path behind as her feet were sliced, boots torn and gashed but rabid haze in her gaze.

"Half of your ice swarm left! Vermin - vermin - vermin!"

- their weapons clashed again, dodging and sweeping underneath sword and scarabs, clouds of ice freezing lasers & missiles still erupting even as Wedding came danger close. Mia's sword bashed Matoi's blade back -

" - Wedding -" grunted Matoi -

" - Worldwide -" grunted Mia; her ice scarabs flew to Wedding's eyes -

- and froze it solid, lasers swallowed and no movement coming -

- and one slash of her sword shattered Wedding's eyes to a dozen shards; Matoi shrieked as she staggered back, Mia's next flurry of strikes coming and hacking her chest, and as Mia swept underneath another explosive volley -

- an explosion hit the ceiling, and the storm of rubble smashed her skull down; she staggered back against another wall, Matoi having recovered ahead as she rushed forward, blade drawn as she breached Mia's guard -

- and Matoi's grip shot to her hair as it threw her to the wall, kicking down and stomping her spine - " - vermin - vermin - vermin!"

- her steel impaled Mia's palm, and as Wedding's shoulders prepared for launch again -

- Mia's hand ripped up her blade and to the hilt; a spray of fire erupting from her wounded hand -

- and the madwoman dodged back as she yanked her blade out, retreating back as Mia rose to her feet staggering, swift fire scarab cauterizing her wound as she saw Matoi rush back across the arena -

- and leap to the opposite wall, zigzagging back and forth, missiles shooting from her shoulders and explosions hitting the wall -

- and Mia realized it then, fear touching her heart -

" - are you fucking crazy?!" she panted, one moment of lucidity in that tear -

"Come to me - or I'll demolish this entire building to rubble! They'll pull our crushed corpses out from the mountain of ashes!"

- the two rushed to each other again, and as their weapons clashed, Mia's sword burst in to white flames, metal starting to bend & warp, and in the next instant -

- it shattered open -

" - are you fucking -"

- and Matoi's blade was at her throat.

For all the arrogance in Matoi's eyes, Mia found her sword's failure worse, and didn't wait before waiting surrender and stomping out.

"Un-fucking-believable."

+++

After a brief argument with Yuruko about the supposed durability of her weapon, along with some scientific jargon from Yuruko that Mia knew not a fucking iota of, Mia had asked she simply be given a durable blade; she would not use her scarabs on them for now. To some comfort for Mia, Matoi won the tournament the next day, putting herself five ranks up & Mia back down to #51. Over the next weeks, she saw Matoi around campus occasionally, glancing at her if she was walking back with Aimee, but she paid it little mind. When it came to her girlfriend, she knew Aimee's mouth could scorch the bark off a tree from thirty feet away.

December 7th was the last day before her winter break, and on that day, she was already ready to leave before Marisa came in to the living room.

"Are you sure you don't want me to mention anything to her?" frowned Marisa. "Like, she's in my class, I might even see her on the way out…"

Mia shook her head. "It's alright, Marisa."

"Are you sure?" Marisa frowned. "I just, like - I hate that she's not getting punished for being a dick. Even if I have to do it myself."

Mia took that to be her asking for permission, if not approval. "No, I… it does bother me, but I need to think forward. I have Dreadnought in two weeks, and…"

Marisa nodded and hugged her. "You can do it, Mia-Mia. I know that I haven't… like, been that hands-on, but - you've got Aimee, too. If you want to train, like, just call me any time. Okay? Remember my family is near here, so, yeah."

"Thank you." Mia smiled and hugged back.

As Marisa pulled away, she gestured to her room, then went in & came back out with five bags lugged by five Boudoir strands.

"Good lord." murmured Mia and Marisa laughed.

"Yeaaaah. I made a bunch of clothes over the semester, though." She laughed. "Uh, speaking of. I gotta go steal some presents, so don't follow me out this time."

Marisa turned, and Mia watched as Boudoir turned purple, hands moving at her face. A full-mask glanced back at her.

"But if you require my aid, I will answer your call, my fellow lesbian!"

"…er, isn't that dangerous?" said Mia. "If a student -"

- her dress opened to reveal her Urasaria badge, and Mia saluted The Lavender Menace as she swung out.

===

Three days before December 20th, a sweating Mia slumped on to Aimee's couch, wiping an ice scarab on her forehead. Aimee sat down besides, unperturbed. "Doing alright?"

"I-I don't ever want to do that again."

"Same time next week?"

"Of course."

Trying to find some upside, she let her eyes travel down to Aimee's muscular thighs in her running shorts. She hadn't sweat at all, but that was alright: Mia was a woman with imagination. She suddenly shuddered to herself. "God, if there were a host with telepathy, they would be judging me for what I just thought."

"Oh, so when you don't grow up religious, you think it's telepaths." nodded Aimee.

Mia laughed, but her hungry eye was pulled over to the table by her phone vibrating. She checked it for a text from an unknown number.

(???) "Hello, Swarm! This is Saya with the infirmary. Can you please meet me at this location?"

Mia showed it to Aimee, who frowned. "Never known her to text a student. Want me to come with you?"

Mia nodded, and off the two went. Saya was waiting outside of a restaurant a few miles off-campus. As she saw Mia coming, she shouted "Swarm!" to her, smiled, then handed her a letter. "This is from Hirogane. He requested I give this to you off-campus, as he isn't allowed outside of campus without an escort."

"Why didn't he give it to me on campus?"

"I don't know. I haven't read it, of course."

Mia opened it. It was a small biography about a man named Magnus Egashira: his Revenant was Scourge, an implantable mind control with a trigger phase and no known counter. It was followed by a full description of Worldwide's abilities, and which ability she would next fight. "...tell him I said thank you." She burned it.