Flowers

Texas wakes up.

Well, this is surprising.

Her last memory was diving off of a roof and hitting the ground, and she was feeling surprisingly fine (if you ignore the fact that her muscles and bones were so sore that she felt limbless and the pinching feeling on her left arm she could barely feel), which is weird because when she dived off the building she was sure she would turn into a splatter on the pavement. 

Not that she’s complaining. She prefers to be alive, thank you very much. 

Pushing aside her soreness, Texas listened carefully for sounds that would indicate someone else was in the room with her, and when she found nothing but her own and a rhythmic beeping noise, deemed it safe to open her eyes. 

She was greeted with the sight of a black roof with a white Penguin Logistics symbol proudly displayed across its surface. Two white lights on both of the symbol’s sides attacked Texas’s eyes.

Either Sora buffed up and managed to carry me to PL or I have very competent kidnappers. Well, that or I’m in hell and this is all some big joke.

Texas turned her head to the left and came face to face with a heart monitor. The little display was showing the rhythmic beating of her heart, and Texas could trace the wires from the machine to under her pale blue hospital gown. 

That explains the beeping noise.

To the right of the heart monitor and up against the black wall was an IV drip. The tube led to her left arm, and Texas finally noticed that it was in there. Texas sluggishly raised her right arm, which was free of any needles and contraptions, brought it over to her left arm, and slowly began to take out the IV. She would have loved to go faster, but she didn’t want to damage her vein when she pulled it out.

With a slightly pained grunt, Texas freed her arm of the IV, and cast the IV off to the side. She lightly rubbed the spot where the IV had previously been, before looking up and taking a better look at her surroundings. 

I am truly in hell.

When Texas had looked up, she was greeted with a sight she wished to never see. The black walls of the room she was in were covered with posters of lupos in… well let’s just say compromising positions. They filled up the two walls adjacent to the bed she laid in, and the wall directly in front of her. You could barely see the walls. Texas would turn around to avoid looking at them, but she didn’t want to chance encountering more of these… interesting posters. 

Texas gagged and quickly looked back to the heart monitor, which had spiked. Maybe if she was lucky she would die of a heart attack. 

Well, at least I know whose room this is. Though I wish I didn’t. I also wish that I was in a hospital room instead of here.

Now that Texas was sadly aware of her surroundings, she deemed it safe enough to begin her usual ritual after a battle. Which would be to check for any wounds. She didn’t want to die from an infected cut.

I may appear to be fully healed, but it would feel wrong to not check for anything. But first, I better remove these electrodes.

In one swift movement, Texas grabs the wires attached to her chest and yanks them out from under her gown. Immediately after, an alarm rings out from the heart monitor, and Texas instinctively punches where the sound is coming from without thinking. The monitor tips over and falls onto the floor, the display breaking into shards of glass on impact, and the alarm cutting out, leaving the room silent once again. The electrodes were ripped out of Texas’s hand and followed the heart monitor's lead.

Texas rubbed her smarting fist and looked down at the mess sheepishly.

At least the noise is gone.

Texas looked away and prepared to resume her task by taking off her gown, only to remember whose room she was in, and what she was surrounded by. 

You know, on second thought, I think I’ll go find a bathroom to do this in. Or just anywhere else in general.

Texas manipulated her sore body to get up and off the bed, step over the mess she made, and begin walking towards the door she had spotted earlier, whilst avoiding eye contact with any of the walls. Just as Texas was about to reach forward and grab onto the doorknob, the door was suddenly flung open. Texas quickly leaped backwards and instinctively moved into a fighting stance, only to immediately drop it after seeing who was at the door. 

It was Sora, who was looking at her in shock.

“Oh, hey Sora. You have an… interesting room.” Texas managed to murmur out at her, before being tackled by Sora. 

Texas let out an “Oof”, catching herself before she fell on her ass. 

“You’re alive!” Sora cried, clinging to Texas with such surprising force that Texas was sure she’d get to experience having every bone in her body breaking again, except this time she’d be conscious for it, and not falling off a building. Tears began to pool out of Sora’s eyes, and Texas began to internally panic. 

“Sora I’m fine. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” Texas reached her arms out to hug Sora back, and Sora began crying harder. 

I said don’t cry!

“You-you- you stupid id-idiot!” Sora yelled up at her, face flushed and tears trailing down her face. “Why, why would you do something so stupid?!”

“Sora-” Texas tried to cut in, but Sora was demanding the spotlight right now.

“You jumped off a building Texas!” Sora continued yelling at her. “You jumped off a building like a- like an idiot!” Texas’s gown was getting soaked.

“Sora I’m fine now. I’m alive. I know I’m an idiot for doing that but I’m fine now.” Texas tightened her hold on Sora.

“That’s the thing! You weren’t alive! You d-died Texas!” Sora’s eyes were filled with so much grief and anger. “Almost every bone in your body was shattered, and you were bleeding out! Your heart stopped three times! Three! The only reason you’re alive right now is because one of the Rhodes Island operators with us kept restarting your heart with her arts every time it stopped!”

“Sora please-”

“Why would you do that?! Why why why!?” Sora’s grip around her tightened. “You’re smart Texas! You’re so smart but you decided that jumping off a building with Crownslayer was the best plan! So why?! Just why!?”

“Sora you don’t understand. She would have gone for you guys.”

“So jumping off a building was supposed to help!?”

Sora’s voice could probably shatter glass right now with how loud and high it was.

“Yes?” She replied hesitantly. It appeared to be the wrong answer as Sora’s crying managed to get worse. “Wait - wait I mean no no it’s not please don’t cry more.” She rushed out, but it was already too late. Sora’s grip on her tightened and she started producing even more tears. 

At this rate, Sora will drown her.

Despite how it may seem, Texas did want to live. 

“I’m sorry Sora, so, so, sorry.” She was truly sorry. She didn’t want to cause her friend grief like this. But if it came down to it again, Texas would grab Crownslayer and leap off the building. She’d rather be dead than let her friends die instead.

“I should be apologizing too.” Sora sobbed into her. “It’s all my fault that you had to take that risk.”

What.

“If I hadn’t- hadn’t gotten so close to the fight, if I had stayed with you and Croissant, we wouldn’t have gotten into that mess. Nobody would have gotten hurt! No one would have almost died! And if I wasn’t such a disappointment… we would all be fine! “

Oh Sora…

“I don’t usually let myself get hung up on this type of stuff but-” Sora sniffled, then continued. “I really did cause all of this. It's all my fault, I’m sorry Texas. I just cause pain for everyone around me. I’m such a… such a bad friend. Please… please forgive me. I’m so sorry. So sorry...” Sora finished, voice tapering off as her head lay against Texas’s shoulder, body shaking with sobs. 

Texas hugged her tighter.

“Sora-” Texas began, before cutting herself off, thinking for a second, and then starting again. “Sora, I won’t lie to you. Some of those situations we were in may have been influenced by your decisions.” Sora’s ears perked up a bit, letting Texas know she was listening. “But you can’t blame yourself completely for causing these events.” Sora’s teary face looked upwards at Texas.

“But-” Was all Sora got out before Texas interrupted her. 

“No. No buts. Tell me Sora, did you know that Reunion would suddenly invade Lungmen?” 

“N-no?” Sora replied, confused.

“Did you ask them to invade Lungmen?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Well good, because that proves that it's not your fault.”

Sora’s face scrunched up. 

“But-”

Texas sighed, and Sora cut herself off, which is good because Texas had started speaking again.

“Sora, unless you asked Reunion to attack us, it’s not completely your fault. I’m not saying some of it isn’t, but you can’t shoulder all the blame. Because if you do that, I'm going to blame myself entirely for Crownslayer attacking us.”

Sora gaped up at her. 

“But it’s not your fault!” Sora yelled up at her, tears temporarily forgotten. “If I hadn’t run off, she wouldn’t have attacked us in the first place!”

“Well yes, but I invited her over the second I used my arts. We were off her radar until I had shined a light on us. If it weren’t for me, we would never have been attacked by her.” Texas argued.

“But if I hadn’t run away-” Texas cut her off.

“You wouldn’t have gone off on your own if Croissant and I had been paying attention, so not only is it my fault, but also Croissant’s.” Sora was getting a bit angry now, face pulling into a frown.

“Texas-”

“Sora-”

They both cut each other off and simply stared at each other for a minute, unyielding in their staring contest, until Sora finally looked away. 

With a sigh, Texas moved one of her hands from the hug to ruffle Sora’s hair.

“Do you see what I’m getting at Sora?” She asked, retreating her hand from the idol’s hair. “We could play the blaming game all day. We could argue about who caused what for the next 60 minutes and we’d be in the exact same position as we are now. You have to understand that you can’t blame yourself this much for it. You can blame yourself a little bit, and use what you’ve experienced to do better next time, but you shouldn’t blame yourself so much that you’ll be dragged into a hole too deep for you to escape.” Texas lay a comforting hand onto Sora’s shoulder. “Do you understand?”

Sora sniffled, tears dried up or drying on Texas’s gown mixed up with mucus.

“Yeah. I understand.” She replied, clinging harder to Texas. “Thank you, Texas. I’m so glad you’re my friend.”

Texas wrapped her arms back around Sora. 

“I am too.” 

A peaceful silence took over, where Sora and Texas simply basked in each other's presence until Sora let out a wet chuckle. 

“So… what did the heart monitor do to you?”

“Shut up Sora. We’re having a moment.”

So apparently, Texas was not at PL. She was at Rhodes Island’s HQ. Which was a giant, fucking, landship. 

What the fuck. 

At least it was safer than PL.

According to Sora, instead of trying to flee to Penguin Logistics as Texas had told her, she had looted Exusiai’s pouches and found a walkie-talkie that she could use to contact the Rhodes Island squad the Sankta had been with. So while Texas had been trying not to die, Sora contacted them and brought them over since the Reunion squad they were fighting had been finished off. They had a medic, so Croissant and Sora were healed fairly easily. The bullet was taken out of Croissant’s leg and the wounds were closed, Sora’s throat was healed, and they were fine. 

The amazing power of healing arts.

Just as they were about to travel up the rooftop to give Texas a helping hand, they got to witness Texas’s brilliant plan to jump off the roof with Crownslayer in action. Yeah, not the best thing to witness. Crownslayer was killed on impact, so sucks to be her.

Texas miraculously hit the ground without dying. 

She’s now responsible for traumatizing a fair amount of operators and introducing them to the sound of every bone in your body breaking at once.

The squad had picked her up and hastily escorted her and PL to Rhodes Island. On the way, Texas’s heart had stopped on three separate occasions, and luckily for her, one of the operators had electricity arts. So the operator had used her arts to restart Texas’s heart whenever it stopped. Texas would need to make a mental note to track them down and thank them. 

Once they arrived at Rhodes Island, Texas was rushed to the medical wing, where a team of medics had spent hours stabilizing Texas, piecing back the broken fragments of her bones, transfusing blood into her body as most of it had escaped, checking her wounds for remnants of metal or poison, checking for any internal problems, doing surgery if needed, and finally closing her wounds. 

The extent of her injuries had been 10 pairs of broken or cracked ribs, shattered ulna and radius for both her arms, cracked humerus, seven counts of internal bleeding, two cracked femurs, one broken fibula and one cracked fibula, both of her hands had been broken completely, a giant stab wound on her left side that had almost got her left lung, multiple small cuts all over her body, multiple muscle strains, and finally, severe exhaustion. 

This is of course excluding all the other injuries Sora left out. There were too many on the chart for her to remember.

Texas didn’t need to know more anyways. 

The only thing that remained undamaged was Texas’s brain, which is good because she kind of needed that. She was very lucky to still be alive. Most people don’t survive a fall off a building. But then again, most people don’t have access to the best medical care in all of Terra.

Anyways, Texas had learned that they had planned to shove her in a hospital room that they had prepared for her, only to find out that a little pyromaniac had set it ablaze due to a temper tantrum. The fire was put out, but not without casualties. The bed was burnt to a crisp, the air conditioning was damaged, and two of the walls were almost non-existent. With that option off the list, Sora had come in at the perfect time and suggested that they use her old civilian room for her. There would be a better bed, the medical wing was pretty close, and Texas would wake up in a familiar room. 

She wished they had just put her in the burnt room.

The medical staff agreed with Sora and dragged the luckily unscathed medical equipment out of the burnt room to Sora’s old civilian room that she no longer used since she had joined PL. 

This is why Texas woke up in a room filled with Lupo posters after staying knocked out for a week. Which she would rather not have to stay in for the duration of her stay on the airship. Yeah, that’s not happening. 

Exusiai, who Texas had got to finally meet properly, (and who knew the sun was a person?) had come in like the angel she was and offered Texas a spare bunk in the Penguin Logistics dormitory. 

Exusiai is perhaps the only angel Texas would ever consider worshipping. 

Texas had said yes in an instant. Any place was better than Sora’s old room.

The dormitory is nice. It’s located in the operator wing and is decorated in the style of Penguin Logistics. The walls are a mixture of black and a checkered pattern of red. There’s a steel desk with a black laptop adorned with the PL symbol on it. The bunks are twin-sized beds tucked away in the farthest part of the room. There are 4 separate bunks, 2 on one side and two directly opposite of them, meaning 8 beds in total. They’re actually pretty comfortable, especially the PL-styled blankets. A couch and TV are also included in the room. It’s beside the bunks. 

Then there are the personal touches Texas could spot in the room. There’s the microphone and speaker combo set under one of the beds. Or the coffee table in front of the couch covered with coins and bullet casings. A beautiful hourglass made of gold that sits on the same desk as the computer. A CD player with Sora’s latest hits stacked beside it. Books littered across the room with titles that range from ‘Bargaining With Nitwits’ to ‘101 Ways to Make Apple Pie’. A giant stuffed Penguin resting beside the CD player. An indent in the wall that looks like it may have come from a hammer. And finally, the last thing Texas can spot with a glance around the room is a billboard with a sole picture on it. It’s a picture of PL, all smiling and huddled together. 

The only person Texas doesn’t recognize in the photo is the one with blue hair.

After dropping off her stuff in the dorm (meaning nothing, she just picked out a bed), Sora, Croissant, and Exusiai had dragged Texas to the medical wing, which she was apparently supposed to visit 4 hours ago when she woke up, but a certain singer had forgotten to tell her about it. 

Which brought her to her current situation. Sitting off to the side in an orange chair while Sora was whacked with a staff and yelled at by a green-haired medic (“Call me Gavial” she was told, shortly before the medic started her onslaught against Sora) about the importance of checkups. Croissant and Exusiai had taken one look at what was happening in front of them and said that they would wait outside. Texas would give them a break. She wouldn’t want to be whacked with a staff either. Nor would she want to upset a medic. 

Hours of trying to get Lappland to rest and heal instead of doing dangerous shit had pissed Texas off beyond belief, and Texas had started to understand why so many doctors and nurses were tired and grumpy.

So Texas simply sat back and chuckled as Sora got lectured, idly wondering how long this would take.

Then something pricks at her instincts, causing her to cast a glance over to her left.

A teenage donkey is approaching her with a smile. Her hair is a light brown that reflects the lights in the room. Wide blue eyes filled with fire that stares ahead at some unknown objective in the distance. Metallic blue rings on each of her fingers, and a classic Rhodes Island jacket hanging over her shoulders, though it appears to be a few sizes too big. 

She stops right in front of her.

“Hello! Are you Mrs. Texas?” She asks her. 

Something about you is setting off my instincts and that is usually not a good thing.

“Yes, I am.” The teenager’s smile gets wider and she grabs one of her hands in a handshake. 

“Oh good! I have the right person. I’m Amiya! It’s nice to meet you!”

Amiya, Amiya, Amiya. She’s supposed to be the leader. But the leader is a rabbit, right?

“Nice to meet you too. Thank you for your hospitality.” She replies, but Amiya is already shaking her head at Texas.

“No, no! I should be thanking you! You helped one of our squads get the advantage against one of Reunion’s! If you hadn’t interfered, who knows what could have happened!” She bows her head at Texas, and Texas is instantly trying to get her to bend back up. “So the least we could do is heal you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!” 

This feels overboard. Texas would have been fine with just a thank you. 

“It was nothing. Now please stop bowing. It’s making me uncomfortable.” 

Amiya pops back up with a smile. 

“Sorry! Are you here to get a check-up right now or are you waiting for Dr. Gavial to finish up with operator Sora?” She glances over at the spectacle that Texas had been enjoying just a few moments ago and hides a giggle behind her arm. Texas let a small smirk come to her face.

“I’m here for a check-up. Sora just had prior arrangements.” Amiya doesn’t bother hiding the laugh that escapes her and sits down beside Texas in another chair. 

“So how long have you worked for PL, Mrs. Texas?” She asks her. “I haven’t seen you before on any other operations or at any of the meetings with PL. Are you like Ms. Mostima?”

Does she really think I work at Penguin Logistics? Maybe in another life yeah, but certainly not this one.

“You’ve got it all wrong, Amiya. I don’t work for Penguin Logistics.” The second those words escape her mouth, something glints in Amiya’s eyes. 

“So you’re unemployed and looking for work?” Amiya asks her innocently, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

And my instincts are flaring up again. 

“No, I own a flower shop in Lungmen.” Amiya turns her head to the opposite side and Texas swears she hears her say something about limited furniture under her breath before turning back to Texas.

“But with the current state of Lungmen, you’ll probably be out of business for a while, yes?” Amiya is staring at her with such intensity that Texas is starting to sweat slightly.

“Well I mean -'' Texas is cut off by a tackle from Sora, who had escaped Dr. Gavial’s assault, and is now clinging to her chest. 

“Texas! Please tell Dr. Gavial that you’d like to start your checkup.” She begs, and Texas sees her escape.

“That’s a good idea. It’s not wise to ignore your health.” She gets off her chair and removes Sora from her chest, before placing her beside Amiya. “Talk to Amiya for me, will you? I’ll come to you once I’m done.” She tells Sora, but Amiya is already getting out of her chair. 

“Sorry, I should probably get going now too. Doctor wanted to look over some battle records with me about our last operation.” She turns to look at Texas. “Also, before I forget, do you want to come with me to grab your swords later? Someone had retrieved them from Lungmen for you and they should be in one of the armouries.” 

That would be nice. I feel so naked without them.

“Sure, how about after my checkup then?” Amiya gives her a thumbs up. 

“Sounds good! I’ll get Dr. Gavial to message me when you’re done. I’ll see you two later!” Amiya waves goodbye to Sora and Texas before walking and disappearing around a corner. 

I feel like I’ve made a grave mistake somehow. 

Someone taps her shoulder. She turns around and meets Gavial’s eyes.

“So.” She hits the palm of her open hand with her staff. “Are you ready for your checkup?”

Sora whimpers from behind her. 

“So remind me again why they put my swords in there?” Texas asked, turning towards the donkey - the rabbit as they walked through the halls, heading in the direction Texas assumed the armoury must be in.

Amiya looked up at her with a somewhat sheepish smile.

“Sorry Mrs. Texas. We usually only let operators keep weapons with them on the ship. Since you are a civilian, carrying your weapons around with you would unsettle some of the other civilians on board Rhodes Island.”

“But aren’t they around weapons all the time? They do see your operators right? Or are they usually kept separate from everyone else?” 

They walked past a blonde Ursus with a shield strapped to her back menacingly waving a frying pan at a black-haired Forte - who was also waving a frying pan…

It sounds like they’re arguing over a recipe.

Amiya giggles. 

“The civilians living on the airship are just more used to the operators carrying weapons since a good amount of them were saved and brought here by operators. They still aren’t around them as much though because of their antics.”

Texas glanced back at the frying pan duo behind them.

“I guess that somewhat makes sense.”

They continued walking in peaceful silence down the steel hallways. Texas and Amiya passed a few more operators, and Texas was starting to understand why operators and civilians tended to shy away from each other.

I’d want to avoid a scary child with a chainsaw too.

35 minutes later...

“Ah, we’re here!” Amiya cheered as they stopped in front of a plain, steel, door. The only things that stood out about it were the little title card that said ‘Armoury Three’ on the door, and the hand scanner that was in the place of a doorknob. Other than that, it looked like every other door they had passed so far. Metal and gray.

Texas looked the door up and down. 

“It’s a lot smaller than what I thought one of your armouries would be.” 

Amiya stepped up to the door and pressed her right hand against the hand scanner, turning to look at Texas over her shoulder as her fingerprints were scanned. 

“Believe it or not, but we don’t have that many weapons onboard besides the operator’s weapons.” The fingerprint scanner chirped and turned green, allowing Amiya to remove her hand before the door split down the middle, and began retracting into both the left and right side of the wall.. 

“The armouries are pretty much filled with either ammo, items for weapon maintenance, or the few weapons civilians brought on board. So we only need small storage rooms like this for them.” 

The door finished retracting open and Amiya beckoned Texas inside. They both stepped into the room, and the contents were almost exactly what Amiya said they would be. 

The small room was lit up by a single white light, which was bright enough that it was the equivalent of six lights. The left and right sides of the room were lined with tables and ammo crates. Bullets and weapon cleaning supplies were haphazardly strewn across the tables. Texas could see a whetstone or two in the corners of the room as well. The back of the room had a wall mount made of chains with various guns mounted on them. Notably, they all looked like the kind you could buy in a regular gun store. There were knives of varying lengths and dimensions tucked in the corner of the mount as well. It was a nice room. Texas would admit that. It just seemed to be missing one thing.

Where are my swords?

“Amiya. Are you sure my swords are in here?” Texas turned to her companion, who was hunched over one of the tables and peering at a pile of mixed bullets. She turned to face Texas. 

“Yep! They were placed on the mount on the back wall.” Amiya moved to Texas’s left so she could see the chain mount behind her. “Though I see that they’re no longer there. Strange.” Amiya scratched her head, slowly turning in a circle to get another look at the room. “I guess another operator could have taken them. They have access to these rooms too, though they’re supposed to leave the other weapons alone since they have their own, and we don’t want them to steal the civilians' weapons.”

Texas’s mood soured at the mention of someone stealing her swords. They’d been in her family for generations. Every heir of the Texas family had at some period in their life held and used those swords. For someone to work up the nerve to pilfer them from her hands… 

Those swords better have been misplaced. Because if they’re not, Rhodes Island is going to be down one operator. 

Amiya continued talking, either ignorant to the small downturn of Texas’s mouth and the little furrow of her eyebrows that signalled her current mood, or choosing to not mention it.

“Your swords could be in one of the other armouries I guess. But it’s not like the operator who put it in here to get the rooms mixed up. They have a really good memory!”

Amiya cast another look around the room before turning to look up at Texas. 

“Do you want to go check the other armouries, Mrs. Texas? I’m sure we’ll find your swords in one of them!”

Stay calm Texas. Don’t snap at the adorable bunny trying to help you.

Texas pushed away her agitation and forced her face to smooth out into its usual state of blankness. 

“Sure, as long as you don’t mind.”

They walked out of the armoury and Amiya turned around to lock it.  

“I’d be happy to help Mrs. Texas! I like helping you much more than I like doing paperwork!” Amiya giggled as that last part escaped her, and turned around from the now locked and closed door. Texas snorted. 

“So how many other armouries do you have?” Texas asked as Amiya started leading her down the hallway. Amiya adopted a thoughtful expression. 

“Besides this one? I think 74? Or was it 740? I can’t remember what Doctor said it was.” She threw her hands up in the air and smiled cheerfully. “Oh well! I guess we’ll find out, Mrs. Texas!”

Texas’s face twitched.

I never should have dropped my swords.

Seven hours later...

Thankfully for Texas’s sanity and patience, there were only 74 other armouries. Amiya had said 740 to mess with her. That little shit. Sadly, Texas’s swords were not found in any of them. Meaning she spent seven hours traipsing around the entirety of the landship with Amiya for virtually no reason. 

On the plus side, she got to know more about the leader of Rhodes Island. That didn’t really help alleviate her mood though.

They sat in the 74th armoury against a pile of gun crates. Texas was visibly murderous, and Amiya stupefied and sympathetic.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Texas. It’s not like the other operators to steal people’s weapons like this. I’ll track down whoever stole your swords and reprimand them.” Amiya said from Texas’s side, fidgeting with one of her rings. 

Texas lets out a menacing growl.

“It’s fine Amiya. You don’t need to apologize. You also don’t need to bother tracking down the thief.”

Texas’s fists clench.

“I’ll do it.”

Amiya gives Texas a look. 

“For the wellbeing of the other operators, I think it’s best if I do it, Mrs. Texas.” 

Texas huffed at that and let out a yawn. Amiya glanced at the clock hanging in the armoury. 

“Wow! Time sure flies when you’re looking for stolen swords!”

Texas glanced at the clock as well.

“Yeah. It’s already midnight.” Texas replied, standing up. “I guess we should call it a night then.” 

Amiya copied Texas. 

“We better. Kal’tsit and Doctor weren’t happy with me when I stayed up until five in the morning to do paperwork last time. They forced me to go to bed and fretted over me for an hour.”

Texas snorted as they walked out of the armoury, bringing them out to the training room it was located in.

“Parents are like that sometimes,” Texas told her, and Amiya suddenly started spluttering.

“Wha-what!?” Amiya turned around from locking the door, face red. “They’re-they’re not my parents! What would give you that idea?!” 

Texas simply raises an eyebrow at her in response, and Amiya pouts up at her. 

“They’re not!”

“If you say so.” The countless stories she had told Texas beforehand on their quest to find her swords had her thinking otherwise, but she could let it slide just this once.

Amiya’s face got redder, and Texas chuckled, before reaching a hand out to pat her on the head.

“You’re a good kid Amiya. Now go to bed. You’ve already wasted seven hours of your time helping me, and I’m thankful for that, but I doubt you want your parents to pester you about sleep again.” 

“True… but what about you though Mrs. Texas? Are you heading back to the PL dorms?”

Hah, didn’t even deny it this time.

“I think I might borrow your training room for a bit if you don’t mind. Work out some pent-up anger.”

And plan how to get away with murdering the asshole who stole my swords. 

She must have said that last part out loud because Amiya levelled a light glare at her. 

“Please don’t kill any of the operators. They’re good people! Well… mostly. But please, don’t kill anyone tonight Mrs. Texas.”

Texas sighed. 

“I promise not to commit or plot murder tonight.” She grumbled out, internally wondering when tonight specifically ended.

12:00 am or later?

Amiya’s glare went away, and she smiled at Texas. 

“Thank you! Goodnight Mrs. Texas! Don’t stay out too long! Everyone needs to get a proper night of sleep!”

Texas waved as Amiya turned around and sped out of the room, the metal door shutting behind her.

She sighed, before walking towards a punching bag placed near one of the corners. 

This training room was located farther down in the airship than the others. Its walls were black panels and the floor was a nice, cool red. Various exercise equipment was strewn across the room, ranging from treadmills to dumbbells. Lights hung from the ceiling similar to how a spider hangs from a string. Some chairs were pushed against the wall, and the armoury door was just to the right of it. A water cooler was to the left of the chairs. Then there was a fan above the door, currently turned off, and the fan switch was beside the light switch.

All in all, it was a decently sized room to train in. You could probably fit about eight people in here.

Texas stopped in front of the punching bag. She took a deep breath, and let all of her anger come up to the surface. Everything that had pissed her off this past week or so. Her nostrils widened, her upper lip rose, and she let out a growl as her fist flew at the bag. It met the rough surface of dyed leather and the bag was sent back. It reversed once it reached a certain point and went back to hit Texas, only to meet her other fist and get knocked backwards once more. She kept up a steady rhythm of punches, too lost in her thoughts to notice how her knuckles started to bruise.

Her shop is in ruins. Masked bodies littered both inside and outside the store. Glass windows shattered. Blood splattered across the floor and ruining the pristine state of her white tiled floor. Door in splinters and crushing pots of flowers, causing dirt, terracotta, and pieces of wood to decorate the floor. Bell embedded into the wall, cracks surrounding it. Apron dyed blood red.

Texas gritted her teeth, pace increasing.

Sharp blades cutting through the air. Sweat pouring down her face. Gentle yet urgent singing from behind. A sea of masked faces slowly closing in. The smell of blood taking up the atmosphere. Steel meeting steel. Projectiles seeking flesh. Screams from the dying. A drain of energy. The familiar sight of golden swords of light bringing judgement down upon her foes. The sensation of being picked up and carried. Swords clattering to the ground. A stumble and cry of pain. The smell of trash. Muscles screaming in protest.

A hiss that signified the door to the room opening came from behind her, but she didn’t hear it. Someone entered the training room.

A hooded figure unlike the others. Sora clutching her throat in pain and shock. A dangerous deal. A potential goodbye. Anger and resolve flowing through her veins. Muscles straining, the texture of bricks and metal in her hands as she climbed up. An exchange of words, reasons, and the start of a deadly duel. 

Grey eyes stared at Texas’s back, admiring her from behind, before turning and bending down to place two sheathed swords gently against the wall. They came back up, smiling at her with fondness and sadness. They turned around, fully intent on leaving the room, before they hesitated, glancing back at Texas’s oblivious form. The stranger turned back around to face Texas’s back.

A hesitant step forward was taken.

She remained oblivious to the intruder.

Another step forward, and another, and another. Step after step they made their way to her.

The rhythmic sound of flesh meeting leather never stopped. Texas’s ears were deaf to the sound of footsteps.

A hand stretched out, black nails getting closer to Texas’s back. They were mere centimetres away from making contact and alerting the Lupo of their presence. Their hand got closer, and closer, seconds away from touching what it had lost so long ago-

And the hand withdrew at the last millisecond. 

They turned back around and walked towards the entrance. The fan was flipped on, and after shooting one last sad glance at Texas, they were gone.

Texas continued beating the bag, none the wiser, and time continued to pass.

A vicious battle of speed and grit. Blades flashing through the air almost faster than the eye could track. The sharp edges teasing skin. Quick intakes of breath. Growls that never quite reached the open air. A blade shoved into her side, and her knife taking out an eye. A fatal mistake that leads to the sudden move to the side of the building.

Her knuckles finally caught her attention, and she stopped punching to take a look at them.

A drop. Regrets coming up to meet her. Then nothing.

The skin was a bit bruised and torn. A few droplets of blood had come from the torn areas. She rubbed her right hand gingerly with her left hand, regretting not wrapping her fists or wearing gloves. 

I guess I’ve had enough anyway. I better head back to the dorms.

She wiped a bead of sweat travelling down her forehead. A pleasant current of air continued to ruffle her hair.

At least the fan is on. Though I don’t remember turning it on…

At that thought, she whipped around, paranoia encouraging her to scan the room for any other occupants. 

There was no other living being inside except her. She relaxed slightly. Perhaps Amiya had turned it on before she left and it had simply taken time to activate. That was the only reasonable explanation she could think of. Very few people would travel down to this training room without a purpose. After all, there are plenty of training rooms much closer to the surface and dormitories. 

Her eyes caught onto the sheathed swords by the door. They were attached by a strip of black leather and a metal buckle, forming a sword belt.

Were those swords always there?

She padded over to them and grabbed one of them off the ground. She let one of her fingers trace over the simple black sheath. 

It’s the same shape as mine. What are the chances of that?

She stopped tracing the sheath and reached for the handle. 

Even the handle is the same. It’s almost like this is one of my swords. I wonder who left these here though?

In one smooth motion, Texas grasped the handle and pulled it out, coming face to face with… with her sword. Her eyes widened as they gazed upon the familiar and unique sun-like colors of her blade. It was freshly sharpened, blood-free, and cleaned exactly how she liked it. 

She dropped the sheath she was holding in disbelief and fumbled for the other sheathed sword laying against the wall, grasping the handle and pulling it out from the sheath still touching the floor. She raised it and her second sword greeted her, almost exactly the same as the first. Texas shifted into her familiar fighting stance and took a few swings, trying to see if anything was off about the swords. 

Nothing was, and her blades simply sliced through the air exactly how she remembered they would. No extra weight or weird properties.

She shifted her stance and channelled a bit of energy into them, a smile coming to her face as they lit up their familiar reddish-orange hue that signified her arts were successfully being contained in her swords. Excess energy wafted off of them in the form of heat, bringing a pleasant warmth to her slightly injured hands.

These really were her swords. If they were fakes, they probably would have shattered under the force of her arts. 

But who had taken them in the first place and brought them to her?

Texas cut off the energy she was supplying to the swords. The glow disappeared, and her swords returned to normal. She brought one up to her nose. She could just track down whoever had placed them here. She took a deep breath in through her nose - and nearly dropped the swords in shock.

It smelled like what you would expect Rhodes Island to smell like. Medicine, cleaning supplies, originium, and the sick. Underneath that all, however, was the underlying scent of wolves, death, smoke, pine trees, earth, and blood. 

The scents of a Siracusin. 

Most of Siracusa hated her, but that was to be expected when you kill mafia for a living. Very few people in Siracusa liked her, seeing how most of the inhabitants were related to the mafia in one way or another. This means that there’s only person Texas could confidently say dropped off her swords.

Lappland.

Her brain instantly denies it and tells her otherwise. Lappland was probably still in Siracusa, slaying gangsters and dancing in puddles of blood. Laughing as she ended the lives of many poor souls. Rhodes Island would be crazy to accept a wild Lupo like Lappland onto the ship. 

But that sounds just like Rhodes Island. Giving a hand to those driven mad by infection.

Well, there was one sure-fire way of proving whether or not Lappland was here. 

Texas brought her left sword up to eye level and eyed the top of the hilt where a tiny, almost invisible crack made itself known. So insignificant and small that anybody else would just pass over it, and even if they didn’t, wouldn’t bother to clean any of the dirt in between it just because of how annoying it was to scrape it out. 

As the owner of these swords, Texas took the time to do it, despite the painstakingly long process. She didn’t want that little bit of dirt causing her problems in the future, no matter how unlikely it was.

Lappland was the only other person who cleaned her swords, and the only other person to know about how dirt built up in the crack. She always cleared out the dirt.

She angled her sword so that the training room’s light shines onto the crack, moves her head forward, and squints into the crack.

The crack was spotless. Not a single speck of dirt was present in it. Just the usual black of the handle.

But that would mean Lappland is here. That she came into the room and-

Texas let the steel door slide open and darted out into the hallway, quickly checking down both sides. 

“Lappland!” The name came unbidden from her throat. Unable to resist the want and need to be said. To be heard by its owner and responded to in kind.

She waited.

Nobody responded.

There was no one else in the halls. Just her and a lone camera lazily turning left and right. She couldn’t even get a whiff of anyone’s scent out here. Vents and fans blowing and sucking it away. Her eyes travelled back to the swords clutched in her hands. Her hands were shaking.

The fact that Lappland was here. That she knew Texas was here and left without saying anything or alerting her of her presence. It implied that she didn’t want to see her. That Lappland no longer wanted her.

Her heart felt like it might rupture. 

Robotically, she stepped back into the training room to grab the sword belt her swords had been placed in and slid the swords into their respective sheaths. She strapped it to her waist and walked out of the room, heading towards the elevator. Her brain tried to deny that Lappland was here, and argued that it could have just been thoroughly cleaned by someone else.

It was a weak argument. 

Her swords were back, but their familiar weight didn’t help her feel any better.

If Lappland no longer wants me, why did she do this for me?

She wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight. 

“Hey. Hey Texas. Texas~. Wakey Wakey. We’re going to go eat! So wake up! Texas. Hey Texas. Texas. TEXAS!” 

Groggily, Texas opened her eyes and turned her head to give what she hoped was a glare at Sora, who was unaffected by it and simply gave her a bright smile. “You’re finally awake!” She cheered, sounding way too happy for someone who probably just got up. “Get up so we can go to the cafeteria and have breakfast!” 

With a groan, Texas buried her head back into her pillow. She barely slept a wink. Her thoughts were filled with Lappland the entire night. An internal debate of whether Lappland still loved her or not took place during the time she should have spent sleeping, as well as a debate about whether or not she should seek out the white wolf. 

It wasn’t clear who won the argument. 

“I’m still tired. Go eat without me.” She said, words muffled by the pillow. 

Sora started whining and shaking her. “No! You’re coming too! You haven’t had actual food in a week!” 

I am pretty hungry.

“They have coffee too!”

I could use a coffee right now.

“Fine, fine. Just stop shaking me and give me a moment.” She stopped shaking her and retracted her hands. Texas pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed, yawning, and finally standing up. She stretched a bit, hearing the pleasant sound of bones cracking. Looking around the room she noticed that Croissant and Exusiai were gone.

Sora was looking at her expectantly with a cheerful smile.

“Are you ready now Texas?” She asked her as she practically vibrated on the spot. “Croissant and Exusiai already went ahead of us. If we hurry, we can pass them and beat them to the cafeteria!” 

Texas grabbed her swords from their place against the side of her bunk and had just barely finished buckling the sword belt to her waist when Sora had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the door. She stumbled, but quickly recovered and glared at Sora, who just laughed and kept pulling her along even once they got out the door.

You little shit.

To Sora’s disappointment, they did not manage to beat Croissant and Exusiai to the cafeteria, which may or may not have been Texas’s fault because she kept going in the opposite direction that Sora wanted to go in, claiming that she wanted to memorize the floor before they got to the cafeteria.

(That was a lie. She had memorized a map that Amiya had given her of the landship yesterday while they were hunting down her swords.)

Exusiai waved at them from behind a stack of pancakes. Her eyes were barely visible.

“Sora! Texas! There you guys are! Come over here! Croissant and I got you breakfast since you were taking so long!” She yelled from the table they sat at. Croissant stopped stuffing her face with pancakes once she heard her name and looked up, waving at them energetically with syrup dribbling down her face and pancake still stuffed in her mouth.

She could tell both of them were smiling despite the pancakes mostly covering their faces.

Sora dragged her over to the table, finally letting go of her arm so the idol could sit down and start scarfing down pancakes. 

It doesn’t even look like she was chewing her food. In fact, it seemed as if the entire PL group was just cheerfully and energetically swallowing them whole. 

This isn’t intimidating in any way.

Texas sat down and eyed her own food. She really didn’t feel like eating right now. Lappland was still heavy on her mind. But if she skipped breakfast, Sora would give her an earful. 

Skip breakfast and get yelled at, or eat breakfast when I really don’t feel up to it?

In the end, she decided to eat breakfast. She already skipped a night of full sleep. Skipping breakfast would leave her with even less energy. Besides, with the unhealthy amount of syrup soaking into her pancakes and a coffee overdosed with enough sugar to give someone medical complications, it would probably make up for her missed sleep.

Maybe a bit more than that.

She’d be fine.

Probably.

At least Lappland was no longer the only thing on her mind.

After an extremely unhealthy healthy pancake breakfast and one coffee later, Texas was wide awake and full of more energy than she could remember ever having. Yet somehow she was still unable to reach the energy levels of Penguin Logistics.

She isn’t sure if she should be worried or not.

Gavial had wanted to do another checkup on her. Just to ensure everything was in good condition and Texas wasn’t about to drop dead. The Penguin Logistics group stayed away, making what she assumed was an excuse about contacting their boss, and that they would meet up with her at the dorm once Texas was done.

Thankfully, there was no encounter with Red at the infirmary today. Her tail was safe, and Gavial had quickly cleared her after making her perform various exercises and looking at fresh X-rays of her body. She was in perfect health. 

(If you ignore the comment Gavial made about her suddenly high blood sugar levels.)

When she arrived back at PL’s dorms and opened the door, she was surprised to find out that they weren’t lying about the meeting. The TV displayed Emperor, the rumoured immortal penguin and boss of PL. Exusiai had noticed Texas come in, gave her an apologetic smile, mouthed a sorry to her, then made a shooting motion with her hands.

So Texas had gone to the library as a way to distract herself from the Lappland situation. That’s right, Rhodes Island has a library. Though it wasn’t like your usual library. Almost every book on the plastic shelves pertained to the medical world. Texas probably should have expected that, seeing how Rhodes Island’s whole thing was curing Oripathy and caring for the sick. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t hold other books, and Texas had one book on her mind ever since learning about this library's existence. 

Her fingers brushed past book after book, eyes tracing the titles of each one.

Her eyes finally found their target. She gripped the spine of her prize and pulled it out from its place.

Lungmen Insurance: What is and Isn’t Insured by The City State.

Lungmen had many problems with it. That was an undeniable fact. The harsh treatment of the Infected, shady figures in dark raincoats that watch from the shadows, the criminal underworld that half of the city appears to be oblivious to despite how obvious it is, and many others that Texas could name but didn’t want to.

Thankfully, insurance was not one of those problems. The city-state actually offered a ridiculously good insurance plan. It’s so good that nobody else dared to try their hand in the insurance business. So many of the citizens of Lungmen bought into it that the branch of government running the insurance part of it published a book detailing everything that could be covered by the plan. 

Texas sat at one of the tables decorating the library and cracked open the book. There was only one thing she remotely cared about finding in this book. It wasn’t the broken windows of her shop. Or the destroyed pots and plants littering its floor. Not even the door that had been blown off its hinges.

It was her bell. 

She wasn’t paying another 500 LMD for a single bell. Hell no. So she began reading through it earnestly. 

After finding out her bell was in fact insured, she decided to find what else would be fully covered. She made the mistake of turning to a page talking about shared insurance with a partner and suddenly, Lappland was at the forefront of her mind.

I can ignore my problems. I just need to keep reading about insurance. 

Croissant found her there two hours later, pretending to read through the book while she was really thinking of Lappland.

Two weeks later, and Texas was still stuck on the damn Landship. 

Really, it wasn’t a bad place to be all things considered. She had three friends now, which is a lot more than she had in Siracusa. Everyone on the ship had some weird quirks but was nice, or at least polite. The food was delicious and plentiful. She had access to arguably the best medical care in all of Terra. Every day was a day off for her, and she didn’t have to pay for anything!

Wait, I can’t pay my taxes from here, and they’re due today. Oh fuck I’m about to commit tax fraud holy shit- 

Texas had tried to leave the ship about four times now. Each time Sora would foil her plans with her illegal puppy eyes and some minor begging. Sure she brought up some good points. Like how Reunion might be waiting to ambush her somewhere to get revenge, or how roused some of the Infected citizens have got, or how she would be living in a building filled with rotting corpses and no secure entrances, but Texas would always refute with an ‘I can handle myself,’ and start leaving. 

Sora would start crying and Texas would find herself staying for a bit longer. 

She definitely wasn’t trying to run from anything. Texas just really wanted to fix up her shop and resume her normal life. She definitely wasn’t trying to forget that Lappland was here and run away from her problems again. Of course not.

…

Texas was conflicted. 

One part of her wanted to seek Lappland out. Apologize for leaving her when she needed her the most. For being scared of what her Oripathy was doing to her. To beg for her forgiveness. Tell her that she was an idiot and that she didn’t deserve her, but to please take her back anyway. 

Another part of her just wanted to flee. Crack under the pressure and leave. Accept that Lappland no longer wanted her. She could go back to her relatively normal life of selling flowers, wait for Sora’s occasional visits, and shove Lappland to the back of her mind like she’d been doing the past few years. Well, what she had been doing before Croissant had brought her back up to the surface with just a few words. Just the fact that she had asked Texas on a date had been enough to dredge up the memory of her and Lappland’s first date.

“Go out on a date with me Texas and I’ll-”

“-Ok.”

Lappland sputtered to a halt and whirled around to stare at Texas.

“What? Just like that? Where’s the fight? The scalding no? The usual death threat? I’ve asked you out multiple times before and you’ve always said no! What’s changed?!”

Texas stared at her.

“This is the first time you’ve asked me out.” 

“No this isn’t! I’ve asked you out so many times!”

“Saying the words out loud in front of the mirror doesn't count, Lappland.” 

Lappland flicked her nose.

“That’s not what I meant! Just yesterday I asked you and you said no!”

“... You mean when you asked if I wanted to go to a club with you?”

“Yes!”

“I assumed you wanted to drag me along so I could be your wing woman and help you score a date that’ll let you get into their pants. It’s something plenty of people do for their friends.”

Lappland scoffed.

“Well, you assumed wrong.” Lappland suddenly reached out and tugged Texas over to her. A smirk came onto her face as she leaned up to one of Texas’s ears. “The only pants I want to get into, are yours~.” 

Texas pushes her away as her face catches on fire and she tries to desperately smother her blush in her hands.

“You can’t just say that all of a sudden!” She screeched, ignoring how the sound of Lappland’s laughter filling her ears warmed her core. Once Texas’s blush died down and Lappland’s laughter ran out, Lappland held out her hand to her.

“So what do you say? Wanna help me score a date with a pretty girl called Texas?” She gave her that brilliant and charming smile that made Texas want to melt into a puddle right there.

Texas grabbed her hand with her own and wondered if her rapidly beating heart was audible to Lappland. 

“Why not. I’m sure it’ll be fun.” They started walking again. “And- and maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get into her pants…” Texas’s voice died down to a whisper at that last part, but Lappland had obviously heard it if her smile widening was any indication. 

That one memory caused the dam to crack, and the others began flowing out. Each day she would inexplicably be thinking about Lappland for no apparent reason. When she was smelling her flowers, she would think of Lappland’s wild scent. So similar to any Siracusins, but always accompanied by a forest. When she glanced at the sun peeking through her shop’s windows, all she could see was her smile. 

Before she knew it, she was wondering why she had left her in the first place. Why did she give up what made her world so much brighter? The old Texas; the one that lived in Siracusa, would say that Lappland had changed for the worse. That she made her leave because of her sudden bloodlust and craze. How she was like the snapped string of a guitar.

The new Texas; the one that had lived in Lungmen for a few years and had thought this through like a rational person, had come to realize how stupid that was. How her younger self had blamed Lappland for changing to her new self when in reality, it was Oripathy’s fault. Oripathy causes drastic changes like this. You can’t just fight them off and continue on like nothing happened. It wasn’t Lappland’s fault that she had lost it. 

And now she was here. Pondering if she deserved a second chance and if Lappland would even take her back if she confronted her.

What if we’re too different now? What if she resents me? What if- 

So lost in her mind, Texas had failed to notice the person she was about to collide with. Texas bumped into them and stumbled backwards, snapping out of her thoughts.

That’s what I get for not paying attention.

Texas looked up and apologized absentmindedly, mouth moving before she fully registered who was in front of her. 

“Sorry about that, Lappland ” 

“Ha, it’s fine, Partner.“ It seems the other person wasn’t paying too much attention either.

They both froze.

“Lappland?” She breathed out. Lappland stared back at her. Her grey eyes were wide with surprise. No trace of a smile on her face.

“Texas?” 

Oh fuck I’m not ready for this. This is too soon. Fuck fuck fuck fuck-

Time slowed to a crawl. Tension immediately permeated the air. The low groans of Rhodes Island’s many machines at work and the distant chatter that filled the halls faded into the background. Texas’s surroundings blurred, vision tunnelling and locking onto Lappland. 

Her hand started stretching out to Lappland. To do what, she didn’t know. But she did it anyway.

Lappland flinched away from her hand. Lappland flinched.

How different have we become?

Never in her life has Texas ever seen Lappland flinch. Not when bullets were flying past her face, not when sharp blades kissed her skin, and definitely not from Texas reaching for her. The sight was so alien that it had taken a second for her to realize that Lappland had turned around and started to run away.

Before she could stop herself, she began to run after her. 

What am I even doing?

“Lappland! Wait up!” Texas yelled from behind. She watched her ears twitch as they registered Texas’s voice before she started to speed up. Texas forced herself to match her. She still had no clue as to what she would do when she caught up, but Lappland had managed to hide from her for two whole weeks. This could be her only chance!

They raced down the halls of the landship, the other occupants but whispers in the wind as they blurred past them. People were shoved aside, hasty apologies were given, and angry yells were thrown at their backs.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going, you idiots!”

“What the fuck are you doing!”

“Slow down!”

Texas could apologize properly later. For now, they’ll have to accept the hasty sorry she throws over her shoulder. Lappland shoulder checks a door and dashes inside, with Texas doing the same only seconds later. The second she makes it through the doorway, she’s forced to duck under a hastily thrown chair, and then has to stop to catch the dumbbell whipped at her chest. 

She’s in a training room. A much bigger and better training room than the one she was in before. There’s a gun range about 20 steps to her left, water coolers and chairs scattered all around, multiple fans hanging from the roof, treadmills, exercise bikes, weights, etc. There are also operators in this one, but they haven’t noticed her and Lappland yet.

A yelp escapes her throat as she rolls to the left and avoids another dumbbell thrown at her by Lappland, dropping the one she caught just a moment before.

“Dammit! Can you stop for one second Lappland! I just want to talk!” Lappland replies with a water cooler. She ducks again and growls in frustration as Lappland bails out the exit, before following her once again. 

Lappland is farther ahead than before, but that’s not a problem. Out of the two of them, Texas has always been the more mobile one despite her smoking problem. She’ll catch up eventually.

I actually haven’t smoked for about two weeks. Am I going through withdrawal?

She turns a corner. They’re in the operator’s dorms now. It’s a dead end up ahead, with only a giant glass window as a reward to anyone who travels down the length of the hall. This might be her chance to finally catch Lappland. Texas picks up the pace, actively closing the distance between her and the white wolf now.

Lappland first, smoking problem later.

“Lappland!”

Lappland has slowed down now, but she’s still going towards the window. Texas can see the sweat glistening on her body. Even if Lappland wasn’t tiring, she should at least have started to stop once she saw the dead end with the window. Unless she was planning on jumping out the window without anything to cushion her fall. But surely Lappland wasn’t stupid enough to do that, right?

“Lappland, what are you doing?”

Lappland freezes at Texas’s question, one leg hooked over the windowsill and hands gripping the top like she was about to vault herself out.

“Uh… I’m stretching?” She smiles weakly at Texas, who eyes her position on the window.

“You’re stretching? On the windowsill?”

“... Yes?” Texas brings her hands up to massage her temple.

“So you’re not planning on jumping out the window to avoid dinner with my parents?” 

The immediate growl she receives from Lappland gives Texas her answer. 

“They’re assholes. Especially towards you, and it pisses me off so much!” Lappland slams a fist down on the windowsill in frustration. “Why can’t we just skip dinner and go eat somewhere without them? It’s always better when it’s just with you.” Texas’s eyes soften. 

“Because as much as I dislike their attitudes towards us, we have to pretend that we like them. Otherwise, they might catch on to the fact that we’ve been slowly taking care of their shadier operations. Like that human trafficking ring we took care of last week and blamed on some non-corrupt cop. Texas held out her hand. “Now come on. Don’t make me suffer through dinner alone, partner.” 

Distant knocking echoes through the apartment, and Lappland’s eyes go wide for a split second before she smiles wolfishly at Texas. 

“I’d never leave my partner to suffer alone.” Lappland grabs her hand with her own, and slips out the window, dragging a surprised Texas with her.

“Lappland what the hellllllll” Lappland’s laughter fills the air as the windows of their apartment building fall past them, and Texas clings to Lappland for dear life. “We’re going to die!”

“Oh calm down Tex! We’re not going to die, and we’re not going to suffer through a terrible dinner with your parents!”

“Lappland we’re falling from a five-story building! I think we’re as good as dead!”

“Relax! I put like seven mattresses down there earlier to land on! We’ll be fine!”

“You mean the mattresses that those homeless people took earlier?”

Lappland meets her eyes. 

“Were they blue mattresses?” Texas nods and Lappland twists her head to look below them. “Well, look on the bright side, Texas. We have a good excuse for not attending dinner now!”

“Wait! Lappland, don't jump!” Her plea falls on deaf ears and Lappland jumps, bursting through the glass. Texas swears under her breath and dives after her, somehow managing to avoid the jagged pieces of glass that threatened to dig into her. Then gravity takes over, and she falls-

-only to immediately hit the ground. 

Oh. It’s one of these windows. 

Texas pushes herself up to stare at the tree seven feet away from her. She didn’t even see the garden they had crashed into through the window. She really does have tunnel vision when it comes to Lappland. Speaking of Lappland… Texas stands up and immediately tackles her before she can fully pick herself up from the ground.

“Lappland, just stop moving-” Texas is cut off by an elbow to the face and launched off the other wolf, who stumbles to her feet and turns around to face her. Texas gets back off the ground and gets her first good look at the panting wolf.

Dark circles are prominent under her grey eyes. A thin line of originium crystals are climbing up her neck. The tiny patch of crystals that decorated her right leg so long ago has expanded to wrap itself around like some messed-up leg band. Her swords are still strapped to her waist as they usually are, but Texas can tell just by glancing at them that they haven’t been cleaned in a while. There’s a new scar on her left eye that she’s never had before, and Texas suppresses the urge to hunt down the one who caused it.

The one thing that bothers Texas the most, however, is Lappland’s mouth. 

There’s no smile. 

Lappland was always smiling. Through sadness, pain, anger, rage, craziness, her smile was there. 

Except for now. Now, there’s just a thin line. Her ever-present grin is missing.

To sum it up, Lappland looks like shit. 

How much of this is my fault? How much pain have I inflicted upon her?

Lappland meets her eyes, and Texas unconsciously shivers. There’s not a hint of fire left in them.

“You know, this kinda makes me want to laugh. I always thought I’d be the one chasing after you.” She says to her, voice heavy. “Yet here we are.” 

Texas swallows. 

“Here we are.” She echoes.

Lappland takes a step forward, seemingly done playing cat and mouse now.

“So what do you want, Partner?” Lappland drawls mockingly. “I thought you had made your opinion on me quite clear after you disappeared all those years ago, and personally, I never planned on speaking to you again.” Texas tries to brush off the figurative sucker punch Lappland just gave her and thinks. 

What do I want? To apologize? Ask for forgiveness? Finally abandon my past and move on? Ask if she hates me?”

Lappland tsks at her silence. 

“Well? You dived through a window to talk to me. So what do you want to talk about?”

Texas forces the words out of her throat. 

“Why did you clean my swords for me?” Her mouth clacks shut.

That’s not what I meant to say.

Lappland raises an eyebrow at her question. “I think we both know that wasn’t what you wanted to say, so I’ll give you time to come over your cowardice to put it into words.” 

You could at least answer the question.

Texas tries again. 

“Why… I want to…I still… ” The words are caught in her throat again, unable to escape the confines of her mouth.

Lappland sighs at her display. 

“I suppose it’s hard to brush off years of cowardice just like that, but lucky for both of us, I happen to be excellent at making people talk.” Lappland draws her swords silently from her sheaths and points them at Texas. “So, you better start talking before I make sure you can’t talk anymore!.”

That’s Texas’s only warning before Lappland is sprinting at her, a smile finally covering her face, but not the type of smile Texas wants. It’s all teeth and crazy mirth, the type Lappland would wear when facing opponents. 

It’s not what she wants.

Lappland slashes at Texas’s face, and it’s only because of years of fighting alongside her that Texas instinctively knows it’s a feint and allows it to sail harmlessly through the spot where she would have dodged if it was an actual strike, before leaping back to avoid the actual strike aimed at her midsection. 

Lappland’s fighting style is based around deception and explosive offensiveness, and Texas was sure that anyone else would likely be dead or injured if they were to fight her. 

Texas was not anyone. 

Lappland continues advancing on her, not giving her enough time to draw her own swords and respond in kind to her strikes. Texas hisses as one of Lappland’s swords eventually gets too close and cuts her cheek. She sees Lappland’s mask slip for a second as her eyes widen in surprise before she shuts herself down and her crazed smile returns to her face.

Texas jumps away and Lappland doesn’t follow. 

“Well well well, Partner. It seems you’ve gotten weaker.” Lappland's smile is smug now. “I can’t say I’m surprised.

You liar.

Lappland continues. “So can you speak now? Or do you need some more encouragement?” She flicks the blood off her sword. “Because I am happy to help.”

That’s not a lie…

Lappland actually wants to hurt her. That’s mildly concerning.

Does she hate me? 

Texas is afraid to know the answer to that.

“-have to spill your guts for you!” The tail end of Lappland’s sentence reaches her ears, and Texas bolts back to focus.

The white wolf is almost directly in front of her, sword thrust aimed at her neck and Texas can tell this one isn’t a feint. It’s too late for her to dodge and can’t draw her swords in time to block it. 

This could finally be the end of her. How fitting that Lappland would be the one to end her life. 

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Texas was about to die, or maybe it was something else entirely, but her throat unclogs, and she’s finally able to say what she’s been meaning to say for the whole fight. 

“I love you.” Lappland’s sword stops a centimetre away from her throat. She can almost feel the cool iron of the blade touching her.

Lappland takes a deep breath and stares directly into her eyes.

“What. Did. You. Just. Say?” She asks her, voice stilted and daring her to repeat her words.

“I love you.” Texas said it. She finally managed to say it. Somehow, this makes her feel just a bit lighter. Like the words had lifted a weight she never knew she carried off her shoulders.

Lappland just stares at her, eyes flashing with disbelief and a little bit of something that looks like hope, before turning away and exploding into a violent volley of broken laughter. Her swords dig into the dirt beneath them and Texas takes a step back now that she isn’t about to lose her head and draws her own swords.

She hopes that this laughing fit of Lapplands will mark the end of their fight. Of all the things she wanted to do in life, having an actual fight with Lappland was not one of them.

Too bad for her, that’s exactly what she was getting. 

Lappland turns back around, a hand covering her mouth as she tries to muffle the laughter pouring out.

“You - hahahaha - you love me? That’s - hehehe - that’s hilarious!” 

Texas frowns. Lappland doesn’t believe her. 

Of course she doesn’t. What proof has Texas given her to show her love? Years of absence and an almost non-existent trail to follow?

She continues talking, still trying to suppress her laughter. 

“Of all people I would expect to make such a shitty joke, you weren’t one of them. But, I guess people change over time. Especially you.” She gestures to her. “I mean, you have the gall to claim that you still love me, when we both know, that you’re fucking that rabbit.” Her laughter spills out again like an endless wave. “Hahahaha! I’m sorry - haha! It’s just - it’s just too fucking funny! Hahahahahaha!” Her laughter echoes around the empty garden, taunting Texas from every side.

Her frown deepens. 

What could possibly give her that idea?

“It’s not like that. We’re just friends.” Texas says to her, grip on her swords tightening at every little twitch Lappland makes. “You’re the only person I could love like that.”

Lappland snorts at her. 

“Oh please, Texas. Spare us of your blatant lying. I can smell her all over you.

“I said it’s not like that. Sora just hugs her friends a lot.” She defends. 

Maybe too much. It certainly wasn’t helping her in her current situation.

“Yeah?. Well, what about that lovestruck expression she wears every time she enters your shop? Care to explain that to me?” Texas almost misses those two words because of what Lappland keeps insinuating. 

Your shop.

Your shop.

Your shop.

How?

“You… you know about my shop?” She asks in shock, swords sinking into the earth as she releases her grip on the handles. 

“Of course I do. You think I wouldn’t track you down to the ends of the earth?” Lappland puts a hand to her chest like Texas just offended her. “Of course, I only learned about it a couple of months ago. You covered your tracks well. You had me thinking for a while that someone decided to kill you, and that I’d have to find them instead. Turns out, I just wasn’t using the right method to track you down.” Her smile becomes jagged around the edges, more cruel and savage. “Ask me how I found you, Texas.”

Unease pools in her gut. She had negotiated with some of the bigger mafia organizations to cover her trail so that Lappland couldn’t find her. If Lappland’s smile was any indication…

“How did you find me?” She asks, her stomach twisting. 

Lappland’s hand moves into the inside of her jacket without warning, and Texas tenses automatically, body ready to dodge a non-existent attack. Lappland pauses to laugh at her again.

“Haha! Oh please. You really think I’m pulling out a gun? Much less use one?” She digs deeper into her pocket and pulls something out in her closed hand. “You know me better than that. It’s much funner to kill someone up close.” Her hand opens, and she tosses seven pieces of tiny metal onto the grass in front of Texas. Eyes still trained on Lappland, she bends down and scoops them into her hand, before standing up and glancing at them. 

Her eyes widen in a mix of shock and disbelief as she registers what she holds.

“This - This is!” 

“Yeah, it is,” Lappland confirms, a cruel smile still fixed on her face. “The bloodstained escutcheons of several major famiglie in Siracusa. Well, former major famiglie that is. They’re more minor famiglie now.” She barks out a laugh as Texas continues staring at the escutcheons in her hand. “You see, at first I thought you were kidnapped, so I hunted down the bosses of major trafficking rings and ‘bargained’ with them for you. But when the trail went cold and all signs pointed towards you leaving the country, I remembered something.” 

She pauses for a second, likely remembering herself, before resuming her speech. “To get out of Siracusa, you’d have to travel through someone else’s territory. So, I travelled to the outer edges of the country, and politely asked some of the gangs if they had seen a Texas wolf enter their territory and leave, and well-” She looks at the pieces of metal occupying Texas’s hand. “As you can see, they weren’t very forthcoming at the start, so I had to do some convincing. Lucky for me, it only took a few tries until one of them started singing your whereabouts.”

Texas lets the escutcheons fall to the ground. 

“Why?” Texas asks. “Why would you do this just to find me? And if you knew where I was, why didn’t you approach me?”

Lappland’s cruel smile finally dulls at the edges.

“We both know why.” She pulls her swords out of the dirt they’re buried in, and Texas is instantly doing the same. “You know I’d do a lot of things for you. As for why I didn’t confront you the second I knew about your shop…” Lappland turns away from Texas to look at some unknown object. “Maybe it was because I was biding my time, waiting for you to lower your guard. Maybe I was just too busy at Rhodes Island and couldn’t bother with it, or maybe -” Lappland’s voice cracks. “Maybe some sane part of me realized you ran away for a reason. That you no longer wanted to be with me at all. Maybe that’s why I didn’t approach you, because I knew you didn’t want me anymore, and I was afraid of how I would react to the news.”

She reaches upward to brush away what looks like tears. “What a shitty joke this is, right?” Texas takes a step forward. “Then you told me an even shitter joke. That you still love me, and I just can’t help but want to hurt you for saying that.”

“Lappland-” Lappland shakes her head, turning back to face Texas. 

“No, I’ve had enough of your jokes, Texas. You’ve made your bed.” Lappland’s swords light up with brilliant crackling white light, and her legs bend in preparation to jump. “Nowsleep in it.” She lunges at her with renewed vigour, all traces of her previously deceptive fighting style gone, and brutal force taking its place. 

Texas knows that if she doesn’t force arts into her swords right this moment to aid in blocking, Lappland’s attack will cut straight through her blades and hit her. Texas’s own swords light up like duel thermal blades, and then Lappland’s meet them. 

Texas grunts under the sudden force bearing down on her. Sparks are flying everywhere, and the very air around them distorts under the force of their combined arts. Lappland’s smile is back in place, and Texas can practically smell her breath with how close they are. 

“What’s wrong Texas?” Lappland lands a kick on her stomach, forcing her shoes to dig back through the dirt before stopping her five feet away from the white wolf. “Have the years dulled your strength?”

Dammit! That hurt! 

She forgot how Lappland’s infection made her stronger. Oripathy really was a pain in her ass, and she wasn’t even the one it was crystalizing. 

Texas forces her guts to stop crawling their way up her throat and hastily deflects a swing that nearly knocks her sword out of her hand, before sidestepping another swing and leaping back. 

“Lappland! I don’t want to fight you!” She yells to her, bringing up her blades to block a wave of pure arts Lappland sends at her. “I truly do love you! I’m no-” Another wave of pure arts cuts her off as she rolls to avoid it.

“Shut up already Tex. Why do you keep insisting on your lie?” Lappland clashes with her once more, already forcing her backwards with her strength. “You don’t love me, and you never will.” Texas dodges the kick Lappland throws at her this time and knees her in the stomach, using Lappland’s small stumble to her advantage and disengages their blades. 

“Because it’s not a lie!” Texas finally swings her swords at Lappland, hissing as Lappland counters them almost instantly and sends her backpedalling. “I still love you!” 

“Oh really?” Lappland performs an overhead swing that causes Texas to dash to the side, avoiding the fate of the grass being vaporized by Lappland’s arts. “Then why did you leave me!” Lappland swings at her again, anger fueling her attack, and Texas feels a force pushing her back despite the swords never making contact with her own. “Why did you disappear one day without a word!” 

“Because I was an idiot!” Texas’s tight control on the arts flowing through her swords loosens, and a sword of pure arts appears in the sky and flies at Lappland. “And you were getting worse! You didn’t listen to me anymore! You sneaked out at night when you thought I was asleep! You became hostile at the drop at a hat when someone gave you even the tiniest of looks, and you kept defaulting to murder! You were going mad!” Lappland cuts through the arts sword with a wave of her own, and she blocks another swing by Texas at her face. 

They’re yelling at each other now, emotions leaking through them and permeating the air. 

“You swore you’d never leave me! And I was completing our mission! We swore to clean up Siracusa! To make it a better place for everyone to live!” Lappland growls as Texas dodges her blades. “I realized that beating up gangsters wouldn’t do shit to stop them! So of course I started killing them! It’s a dog-eat-dog world Texas! It was us or them! Either we live, or we die!” 

More arts flows through Texas’s blades, and she isn’t bothering to stop the swords that keep appearing in the sky. 

“What about those comments you started to make? We’ll swim in a sea of corpses? Nothing like a good bloodbath to start the day? And don’t try to play the us or them card! I mean you started killing them for no reason! Do you not remember when I had to drag you away from that bar after you killed some grunt for bumping into you?” Lappland is finally forced backwards to dodge the 17 swords that try to skewer her. 

“Shut up! What do you know! You abandoned me because of a few innocent comments!”

“You know that’s not why I left you! I left because you changed!” Texas jumps forwards and brings her swords down upon Lappland. 

“And evidently so did you!” Lappland slips through the cracks in Texas’s assault and nails her in the stomach with the back of the handle of one of her swords, sending her flying back. “You became a weak coward!” Texas catches herself in a roll and glares at Lappland. 

“And you became a bloodthirsty maniac!” Lappland snarls and dashes forward, and Texas meets her halfway. The air around them is distorting even more as the power of their arts collide. Texas pushes back against Lappland, ignoring the screaming of her muscles telling her to back off. 

“Just admit that you hate me!” Lappand hisses at her. 

“Never!” She hisses back in response.

They’re both pouring a stupid amount of arts into their blades now. More arts than they probably should be. Texas knows she’s straining her blades but she could care less right now. Sweat is pouring down both of their faces. The grass is scorched or vaporized. Swords are embedded in the ground. The temperature has shot through the roof, and they’re running low on energy. Yet they continue fighting and screaming at each other. 

Everytime they clash, swords rain from the heavens, and excess arts flies off their swords and hits some unlucky plant. If Texas wasn’t too focused on trying to kick Lappland’s ass, she would probably be having a breakdown at the flowers they were trampling as they ran at each other, or the ones they were erasing out of existence with their arts.

Texas spins around to try and land a kick on Lappland’s face, but it’s dodged and she has to scramble away from the counter slash that nearly chops off her foot. She twists back around to face Lappland, who stands panting across from her. 

“Let’s finish this.” Texas squints as Lappland’s swords somehow light up with even more energy, power moulding into a crackling white fire around her blades. The crystals wrapped around her leg begin to tremble, and Texas can see them start to grow. 

You idiot! Sacrificing your body for something so stupid as a fight!

Texas does the same, however, only seconds later, forcing more energy than she has into her blades so that they light up with a brilliant orange-red fire. She instantly feels her legs wobble beneath her, and how heavy her swords are in her hands, but she forces herself to stay standing.

She meets Lappland’s eyes.

“Bring it.” They blur forward one last time, blades meeting and- 

-They’re both blown back the instant their swords meet. The arts surrounding their swords too powerful to properly fight with, and as a result, hits them both with a strong wave of force.

Texas’s swords go flying out of her hands and her back meets a tree, which she breaks through and lands on the ground 20 feet away from it. Disoriented and tired, she tries to sit up, only to find herself without the energy to do so. Instead, she lays on the grass, breathing fast and heart beating 90 miles a minute.

Everything hurts, and I don’t think I was even cut once besides my cheek. At least I didn’t break a bone this time.

A sudden pain in her chest makes itself known to her at that moment. 

Nevermind. I know a broken rib when I feel one. Though it hurts a lot more than usual. Dammit Lappland.

Lappland’s strength wasn’t something to be trifled with. Adrenaline was probably the only thing that had kept her from noticing her broken rib earlier. But since she was calming down now…

Fuck. Gavels going to kill me. And Sora, and Croissant - wait no, Croissant will just laugh at me.

The air stunk of ozone and smoke. The area of the garden Lappland and Texas had been fighting in looks like the sore spot of the Garden of Eden. If there was anyone else in the garden beforehand, they definitely left by now. She thinks that she can see people looking out the window she and Lappland had crashed through, but that could just be her mind playing tricks on her. 

Is Lappland ok?

Lappland has always had a high pain tolerance. Texas can still remember that time a blade got shoved into her shoulder and she didn’t so much as flinch upon its entry and exit. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lappland barely noticed the pain her body was in.

An unknown amount of time passes before finally Texas hears someone walk towards her. Gait familiar but unsteady against the grass, or at least what remained of the grass. Lappland’s head pops into her field of view seconds later, not looking very injured, and a fanged smile somehow still on her face. 

“Hahaha. Guess I win, eh Texas?” She takes a step forward and falls flat on her face directly beside Texas, before immediately rolling to face upwards. “What a blast that was! Just like old times!” Texas manages to turn her head to look at her.

“Yeah, except this time you were trying to kill me.” She says blatantly. 

“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” Lappland defends herself, before turning to look at Texas with a smile. “Well, maybe I was trying to kill you just a bit.” Texas snorts.

“You sure suck at it. You only cut me once.”

“I was going easy on you! I mean, you didn’t even put a scratch on me. It would be unfair if I was to fight at my best when you couldn’t handle me at my worst.”

“If that’s what you want to believe, then go ahead. But we both know the truth.”

Texas has missed the banter she and Lappland would have after a sparring session. To do this again with her…

A full smile comes onto her face. Not the small ones she gave around her friends. Not the smirks or grins she occasionally wore, but a full and honest smile. 

How long has it been since I’ve smiled like this?

Lappland locks onto it instantly.

“Well would you look at that. The Lupo Ice Queen has finally decided to thaw out.” Lappland pokes her arm. “How’s it feel to be in the sun, your majesty?” Texas stares into her grey eyes, a fire sparking in them once again.

“It’s nice.” 

Speaking of nice, why are you being so nice all of a sudden? 

They lay there for a few seconds, just staring at each other in silence, before Lappland starts again. “You know, I don’t actually blame you for leaving me.” Texas wonders how shocked she must look because Lappland starts laughing at her again. “I’m serious! Ever since I’ve come to Rhodes Island, they’ve been giving me some medicine that helps a bit with my symptoms. Not a lot, mind you. I’m still crazy as can be, but enough that I can see why you left me.” 

“Oh.” Texas doesn’t quite know how to respond to that. “Does that mean you don’t plan on killing me?” She gets her answer when Lappland’s weight is suddenly on her chest and her arms wrap around her in a hug.

Now in any other situation, Texas would be thrilled and enthusiastically hugging back, probably even going in for a kiss. It’s just that she currently has a broken rib or two right now, so… Texas’s vision goes black for a split second, and she can’t stop the pained whimper that escapes her. 

Lappland peers down at her in panic and worry. 

“Oh fuck, Are you okay Texas?” She shifts on top of her and Texas hisses in pain. 

“Broken. Ribs.” She bites out, her breath coming out fast as Lappland unknowingly presses against her injury. Lappland rolls off her in record time, elbowing her in the stomach in the process and making her vision fill with black once more.

When her eyes adjust, Lappland is kneeling beside her, hands hovering hesitantly over her chest. 

“Do you know if it’s just your ribs?” She asks her, worry spilling out of her voice as she peers at her face.

Texas tries to mentally map out where her body is in pain, but all she can feel is the giant mountain of hurt at her chest. If only Lappland hadn’t aggravated it by flopping onto her chest.

“Don’t know. Chest hurts.” Lappland rips off her apron the second the words leave her mouth and lifts up her shirt. Texas can’t tell what she sees but whatever it is, it’s enough to make Lappland wince.

“Well Partner,” Lappland looks up to face Texas. “It seems I did cut into you after all.” She hesitantly chuckles. “At least the heat of our arts cauterized it?” 

If Texas wasn’t feeling so drained, she would probably sigh right now. 

Lappland turns her head to the side. “You definitely won’t die, but we should still take you to a doctor though - oh, nevermind. Here comes one now-” Her face pales, before turning to look back at Texas.. “It’s Doctor Kal’tsit.”

Darkness encroaches at the edges of her vision, but she still manages to shoot an amused smile at Lappland. 

“You do the talking, ok? I’m going to black out.”

Lappland’s panicked protests fall on deaf ears, and Texas let’s herself black out with one last thought.

Thank god I’m not talking to that psycho lynx. Her poker face was better than even Texas’s, and she intimidated Lappland. There was no way in hell she was putting up with her.

When Texas wakes, it’s to the steady beating of a heart monitor and the weight and comfort of a heavy blanket. With a yawn, she tries to shift it off to stretch her arms, only for the blanket to tighten its grip on her. 

What the hell?

She opens her eyes, and finds Lappland’s familiar grey staring right back at her. 

“Haha. Welcome to the world of the living, Partner.” Well the blanket wasn’t actually a blanket, but Texas couldn’t find it in herself to complain. She also couldn’t find what to say.

“Hey.” 

Smooth Texas. Real smooth. 

Lappland is undeterred by her nonchalant greeting, and simply gives her a smile that makes her blush.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Like I don’t have broken ribs and a fresh cut.” She knows that she should have given a better reply because something painful and guilty crosses over Lappland’s face. She presses her face into the crook of Texas’s neck. 

“Sorry.” She murmurs, and Texas sighs as she begins running her fingers through those familiar white-grey locks. 

“It’s fine. You should be the last person who should be apologizing anyways. She glances around the room and is pleasantly surprised to find that it’s not a hospital room, or worse, Sora’s room. It looks like a fairly standard dorm room, and it smells like Lappland. She glances down at the lupo, who is practically purring under her touch. 

Hah. She would hate being compared to a cat.

“Is this your room, Lappland?” Lappland presses further into her neck, arms still wrapped around Texas and a dopey smile hidden against Texas’s skin.

“Yeah. They let me set you up here once I told them I was your wife.” Her reply is slightly muffled and sends vibrations down her neck. 

“So we are married. Good to know.” Lappland’s head snaps up and moves away from her neck to stare at Texas. 

“Why do you say that like you don’t know we got married?” Texas really wishes Lappland wasn’t wrapped around her at this moment. 

“Um.” She starts to sweat bullets at Lappland’s inquisitive glare. “Uhhhhhhh.” 

Now would be a perfect time for Sora to bust in and cause some problems like usual.

To her disappointment, the door does not slam open, and Lappland’s gaze is still on her. 

“I-uh I love you?” Her mouth clacks shut, and Lappland just looks at her.

And looks at her. 

And looks at her.

And looks at her.

So this is how I die.

Before Texas can mentally finish her will, Lappland snorts and plants a kiss on her forehead.

“Don’t worry Tex. I’m just teasing you.” She promptly ignores Texas’s reddening face and spluttering. “I love you Texas, but we both know you’re terrible at social situations, much less recognizing them.” One of her hands leaves Texas’s side to trace the piercings on her ear. “That’s why I made it so simple. Though maybe not simple enough.” She lets out a laugh as Texas continues blushing. “But yeah, we’re married.” She wraps her arm back around Texas. “So legally, you’re mine.” 

Some part of Texas fervently agrees with that, but another part has to make sure.

“But do you want me?” Lappland’s smile dims a bit. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” She says it like it’s the simplest thing in the world. Like nothing bad has ever happened between them, but Texas can’t just bury the past like that. 

She reluctantly untangles Lappland from her sides and sits up, prompting her partner to do the same and face her. She tries to separate her hands from Lappland’s, but the other lupo stubbornly hangs onto them, and Texas isn’t strong enough to tell her to let go.

Texas takes in a deep breath, trying to settle her rising nerves. 

“Lappland, don’t play dumb. We both know what I’m talking about.”

Lappland chuckles. 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, so you’ll have to tell me.” She tries to gesture for Texas to start talking again, but she realizes their hands are still together and instead lets her smile get wider and she chuckles again.

Cute.

“Lappland, I ditched you after three months of infection. I made deals with our enemies so you couldn’t find me. I tried to abandon you - no, I did abandon you.” Texas swallows the guilt that threatens to rise up her throat. “So do you really want to be with-”

“Yes.” Lappland cuts her off, eyes still bright with affection and smile as wide as the sea.

“You didn’t even let me finish speaking. Really think about this.”

“I don’t need to.”

Texas groans. 

“You can’t just push it aside like it never happened.” 

Lappland keeps smiling at her. “Why can’t I?”

“Because it’s unfair to you.” 

“Life isn’t fair.” 

“Lappland-”

Lappland suddenly surges forward and pushes Texas backwards. She lands on her back and her arms are instantly pinned to the sheets of the bed. Texas barely has the time to realize what’s happening before Lappland’s lips crash into hers. 

The kiss is warm, fervent, seeking, pleasurable, and Texas can’t even bother to put up a fight against it. She melts into it, kissing back into the lips she had memorized so long ago, and doesn’t try to suppress the shivers of pleasure she feels as Lappland deepens the kiss. 

She can’t help but call her younger self stupid again. Why did she ever give this up? Was smoking really a better alternative to this? God she was stupid when she was young.

They break apart gasping for breath, a trail of saliva following their movements. 

“Texas, *huff* shut up.” Lappland’s hand reaches up to trace Texas cheek. “I don’t care that you left me. You still love me, and I still love you, so we’re good.” 

“But-” She protests, only for Lappland to drag her into another kiss. 

When they break apart again, Lappland speaks. 

“Everytime you try to find a reason for me not to forgive you, I’m going to shut you up by kissing you.” Lappland leans down. “So if you want me to stop interrupting you, shut up and enjoy the kiss.” 

“I-” Lappland kisses her again.

“Hold up-” and again.

“Lap-” and again.

Until finally, Texas feels her resistance crumble. 

“You give up yet?” Lappland smiles down at her, breathing in sync with Texas. “Cause I’m perfectly happy to keep going.” Lappland’s face is slightly red now, and her eyes are locked onto Texas’s, staring down into them like they are her own personal sunsets. 

Texas’s red face turns to the side, lightly bruised lips separating to talk. 

“I give.” She whispers, and Lappland’s face manages to light up even more.

“Finally!” She allows herself to fully drop onto Texas and releases her pinned arms to wrap her own around Texas. “Thank you, dear~” Texas raises her now free hand and smacks Lappland on the head.

“Sh-shut up!” Texas tells her and raises her now free hand to lightly smack Lappland on the head. Lappland shrugs it off like it’s nothing and laughs.

“Oh c'mon Texas! You know you like it.” Lappland teases her and Texas lets out a humph.

Of course I do, but I’ll never admit that. 

She snuggles closer into Lappland’s warm body, and stares up at her. 

“So now what?” She asks. “Are we just forgetting about all the horrible stuff we did and going back to normal?” Lappland plants a kiss on her nose.

“Yep.”

“Okay.”

I can work with this. 

They lay in comfortable silence, soaking in each other’s warm presence, before Lappland speaks again. 

“By the way, your friends are visiting in two hours.” Texas glances at the clock placed on Lappland’s nightstand, which reads 7:30 am. 

“Should we just sleep then?” She asks, and Lappland gives her wolfish grin.

“Well we could sleep. Or,” One of her hands come up to rub Texas’s chin. “We could have some fun.”

Texas knows exactly what she’s talking about. 

“I like that second option.” She tells her, and Lappland’s smile is blinding.

Epilogue

Texas looks at Sora, and then looks at Lappland, who is staring at the idol with amusement written all over her face.

“You okay there little rabbit?” Sora blushes when Lappland addresses her. 

“Y-Yes! Perfectly f-fine!” She stutters out, seemingly unable to stop looking at Lappland.   Texas looks over at Croissant and watches as the forte drags her hand down her face. She directs her gaze to Exusiai who similarly to Lappland, is looking at Sora with amusement. 

You know, this reminds me of when I thought Sora had a cold, but really she was lovesick. I wonder if I should drag her to the infirmary.

Texas looks at Sora again.

Wait a second. 

Lappland turns to Texas.

“Is your friend always like this, Partner?” She asks her, and Texas watches as Sora eyes Lappland’s tail, before moving to trace her… her… her-

Texas bristles.

"Sora!"