The opportunity for Ember came in four days. During that time, she had her first experiences with the arena and the people of it. The two battles she participated in weren’t particularly difficult. She used them as a way to stretch her muscles and exercise. It felt nice to fight and let her magic run free after quite a few days with her mana suppressed in a small room.

As for her fellow fighters, they weren’t quite as pleasant. They rarely talked among each other and treated Ember with a sort of odd suspicion that she didn’t understand. She did know, however, why they wouldn’t want to interact with one another. Growing attached to someone that could disappear in a day wasn’t a pleasant idea. 

She did find a few odd groups of people here and there. Not everyone was so wary of developing relationships with their fellow fighters. Ember even found a few romances. One couple she took particular interest in. Their names were Alex and Karie, and the three of them became fast friends. 

‘I don’t understand how someone could just stand to be by themselves in such a place like this,’ Ember thought as she laid back in her bed waiting for her roommate to return from her bath. ‘Sure, they might disappear one day and die, but everyone dies. I would much rather try and make this experience as pleasant as I possibly could.’

Now that she had some down time, she prepared for what the night was to bring. Today, the silver lady had a battle. She would be at her lowest in terms of emotional volatility and it was going to be the earliest opportunity Ember had. Ember didn’t want to wait any longer. She couldn’t risk the lady falling into madness. 

Luckily for Ember, today’s match wasn’t quite as easy for the lady as the first match Ember watched. Instead of ending instantaneously, it took around thirty seconds to wrap up. That meant that the lady had relieved a lot more anger than she had during the first day that Ember had met her. 

‘I hope she doesn’t try to kill me.’

In order for what Ember was going to do to work, she needed the lady to be as calm as possible so that Ember could focus. She would try to put the lady to sleep once again, but such an intrusion would inevitably arouse the silver woman. Ember would be surprised if it didn’t.

Still, she had to do it. Even if the woman resisted, it should still work. It’ll just be harder for Ember to pull off safely. All she needed to do was touch the woman and open herself up. The rest would happen naturally.

When the woman returned, she went straight to bed and began her daily routine of whatever she was doing. Ember hadn’t quite figured out what it was the lady was doing, but it seemed to be some form of training. 

Ember continued to wait until night came. The silver woman was as quiet as ever, her body as still as a rock and her breaths coming at a steady pace. It was time for Ember to get to work. 

Like she did the other night, she readied a sleeping spell and prepared herself before she leaped towards the woman. Right when her hand touched the woman’s head, she activated the spell and held her breath as she waited for the woman to fall asleep. 

The woman fell asleep without a problem. She slumped forward and Ember grabbed her before she fell. Ember made sure not to touch her skin. She didn’t want to accidentally start before she was ready. 

‘Alright,’ she thought. ‘Let’s do this, Ember. You’ve done this before. Just, you know, with more calm people.’

She parted the woman’s hair to expose the woman’s forehead. With a deep breath, Ember leaned forward to press her own forehead against the silver lady’s. 

‘Let me help you.’

---

 

Yuki had an odd dream. The first oddity was that she was asleep. She wasn’t quite sure why or how she had fallen asleep, just that she was now in a lucid dream of sorts. She looked around her surroundings, but found only white. All around her was a bright white. It was like she was floating in light. 

The other oddity was that she felt calmer than she had in weeks or even months. She wasn’t quite sure how long. But the fire within her had dimmed to a low burn. What caused the change, Yuki didn’t know. 

She tried to remember the events of the past month or so, but couldn’t quite recall anything. Everything was a blur. Her mind failed to latch onto one solid memory. All she could remember was anger and sadness.

The earliest memory she could remember with clarity was the battle with Ghost. More specifically, the moment Sophie disappeared. The memory roused up those dimming flames once more as sadness washed over her.

‘If only I was good enough,’ she thought. ‘If only I could have mastered it faster. Then she would still be here.’

“Who’s she?” a soft voice asked. It sounded youthful and curious. 

Yuki turned her head toward the source of that voice. A young woman stared back, crimson red hair coming down to her jaw and fiery eyes that almost seemed to glow. She was pretty in a wild sort of way with her tanned skin and light scars. 

“Who are you?” Yuki asked. The woman smiled, showing her spotless teeth that had canines that were sharper than normal. 

“I’m someone that wants to help,” she replied. “I know you’ve gone through a lot. I just want to talk to you about it.”

“Help?”

“Yup. So tell me. Who is she? The one that you grieve for so much.”

“Are you my therapist?” 

“If you want to think about it that way,” the fiery woman laughed. “Tell me.”

“Her name’s Sophie,” Yuki said. It wouldn’t hurt to tell someone. If the woman could enter her dreams, then there wasn’t much to hide that the woman couldn’t find with some digging. “She was both a partner and a mentor. She’s the one that accompanied me in that Coliseum. She’s the one that sacrificed herself for me.”

‘Because I was too weak,’ she thought.

“Weak, huh?” the woman said. “I don’t believe that one bit.”

“It’s true,” Yuki shrugged, looking down. “I couldn’t master a magic fast enough and she was forced to intervene.”

“Really?” 

The woman came closer and sat down on seemingly nothing. She patted the space next to her, looking up at Yuki expectantly. Yuki complied and sat as well, pulling her knees up as she propped her body up with her arms. 

“Tell me,” the woman started. She reached a hand out and rested it on top of Yuki’s. It was warmer than Yuki expected. Pleasantly so. “What is weighing you down so much? Angering you so much?”

“I’ve already said it,” Yuki replied. 

“That was only a part of many events. I know there’s more. I want to know.”

‘More?’ Yuki thought. 

She thought about it and realised that this fiery woman was right. Sophie was just the end of a long fuse that had lit long ago. The straw that broke the camel’s back. But when that fuse sparked, Yuki wasn’t sure.

“Then start from the beginning,” the woman said. “That’s always a good place to begin.”

“That’s a long time,” Yuki said. 

“We have as much time as you need.”

“It might bore you.”

“From someone like you, I’m sure it’ll be anything but,” the woman smiled. She scooted closer to Yuki and tightened her grip on Yuki’s hand. “I’m a good listener. Despite what some would say.”

That drew a small smile from Yuki and the woman laughed with her. A peculiar warmth radiated out from the woman. It felt like a soft blanket around Yuki, hugging her gently. It was comforting. 

“Then we’ll have it your way,” Yuki said. She collected her thoughts and cleared her throat with a small cough. “I guess it probably began when I was a child. When my parents died.”

Yuki spoke, retelling her entire life up until the present. It was slow going at first. She didn’t quite know the words to say and hesitated on some of the more personal details. The woman, however, proved her words to be true, listening to everything with attentive eyes and commenting here and there. As time went on, Yuki became more and more comfortable and the words began to spill out. 

The entire time, she felt that soft warmth the woman radiated enveloping her in a gentle embrace. As she spoke, her feelings would flare here and there, but the warmth would whisk it away, almost as if it was absorbing it from her.

However, it couldn’t carry everything away. By the time Yuki came to Sophie’s death, the overwhelming tide of sorrow had washed over her. Tears began to leak from her eyes as she spoke until her voice shook to the point where she couldn’t continue any longer. 

The woman pulled her closer, wrapping her arms around Yuki. Yuki let her, hugging her back. 

“You’ve lived a rough life, haven’t you,” the woman said, her voice shaking as well. “But you’ve had friends. Loves. They’ve pulled you through. You live on for them.”

“In the arena, they’re all gone,” Yuki muttered. “I’m all alone. Just me. I want to see them. I want to see them so much. But I can’t.”

“You’ll see them,” the woman said quietly. “I’ll make sure of it. Together, we’ll get you out of here.”

Yuki didn’t know what she did to deserve such kind words. She hugged the woman tighter, enjoying the warmth that she gave out. The woman responded in kind. A bond had formed between them. Yuki could tell. 

“You won’t disappear as well, will you?” Yuki whispered, her voice hesitant. 

“Never,” the woman replied, her voice defiant.

The world of light around Yuki vanished as she was jolted awake. Her eyes shot open and met fiery red eyes and stared back at her. Tears leaked from them as a determined look was set on the face of the woman that had been in Yuki’s dream. They were hugging even now, on top of Yuki’s bed. 

“I will never leave your side,” the woman whispered.