It was dark that night. The commotion caused by the Infestare had finally settled, and there was not a soul to witness the exchange of two Psions. Ivy slid across the mud, using her hand to slow her momentum. The heiress's dress was already a mess by then. But in a battle for life or death, she had no choice but to ignore her discomfort.
"You," Ivy snarled, landing on her feet.
A dark figure stood before her, what remained of the Aerie's light reflecting off her gold accessories.
"Me," Alia smirked, gesturing with her finger for Ivy to come closer.
A sudden portal appeared behind the dancer, flickering with mischievous luminescence. Ivy couldn't chance another surprise attack and dove towards the dancer as a silver aura enveloped her body. Such was her speed that not even Alia could anticipate it.
The pair locked arms again, tumbling into the portal before emerging far beyond the Aerie's premises. Ivy soon found herself in another spat of dirt and grass, using her graceful acrobatics to correct her posture with a quick flip. Alia proved just as nimble.
"You just couldn't let it go, could you?" Alia sighed, snapping her fingers as a pair of ribbons appeared around her bare forearms, their tips fastened around two silver knives. "Just one life. One girl, the same one who threw you in the dirt, and all our problems go away."
"She's my friend," Ivy hissed. "Something you wouldn't understand."
The dancer seemed angered by that comment, posing for battle as the light in her eyes began to fade. She had killed before. And Ivy knew it.
The heiress responded with her own flourish, summoning her staff as its familiar cold surface leapt into her hands. By then, she could feel Lila's distant anguish. But the Earthling was far from danger.
Ivy wouldn't have it any other way.
"She won't even hear you scream," Alia taunted. "But she'll know."
It didn't take much to see her angle. The dancer's shroud had blotted out the other Psion's ability to track Ivy. Save for Yrix, who no doubt relished the moment, she was alone.
"Shut the fuck up and fight me already," the heiress snarled.
A fair fight wasn't expected. And true to her name, Alia began to circle the heiress, using her Psionic ambience to obscure her own frame in a swirl of color. She only needed one opening.
Ivy remained composed, using her enhanced vision to capture the moment in which Alia sprang off her feet. Deflection was simple enough, and soon the minutes dragged on. Her staff was more than enough to fend off a simple blade.
The dancer made sure to sprinkle in her fair share of acrobatics, kicking and weaving through the heiress's defense before attempting a grapple with two strong legs. She intended to lock her thighs around Ivy's neck, but a quick pinch from the heiress's mechanical hands changed her mind. She had barely enough time to re-strategize before Ivy hurled her into the mud.
"You always were brutes," the dancer scoffed. "Dead-eyed machines."
"And you're so much better?" Ivy retorted. "Killing one of the only humans here."
Alia smiled. She knew agility alone wouldn't cut it. The dancer was merely testing the waters.
She launched herself forward again, making contact with Ivy's staff before clutching it with a free hand. A sudden jolt of Psionic energy engulfed the pair, forcing Ivy to back away. She stared at Alia in disbelief as the mist began to dissipate, revealing a blackened reflection of her surroundings. It was the perfect camouflage.
"Having trouble?" Alia taunted through a disembodied voice. "Not even you can see through this."
"See this!" Ivy raised her middle finger, exuding the same doggish energy of her partner.
She was, as Lila would call it, locked in. None of the self-doubt that clouded her mind during her confrontation with Sonera remained. And although she couldn't see in the literal sense, Ivy felt strangely at home in Alia's domain.
The dancer moved in from behind, tossing her roped knife at Ivy's nape. The reflective edge burrowed deep into an invisible hand, held firm by Ivy's Psionic grasp. But before she could smirk, the heiress felt the ground beneath her slip as Alia tugged on her purple ribbon with all her might, the knife still attached to its smooth fabric.
Ivy searched for something - anything to grab onto, knowing full well another blade would meet her at the end of her trip. A series of silver hexagons appeared just in time, giving the heiress a wall to plant her feet on as she began to tug. Soon, it was Alia who gave way, the ribbon slipping from her hands as she fell to the ground. She huffed angrily before clenching her fist.
"No wonder you needed to strike when she was down," Ivy taunted, twirling Alia's knife around her finger. "Sonera's way out of your league."
Alia brushed a bit of mud off her forearm, her irises narrowing.
Come on then.
Fall into place.
Like taking candy from a baby.
Ivy thrusted her arm forward, hurling a baton towards the dancer with her Psionic grasp. Yet instead of crashing into the dancer's small figure, it simply clattered against the floor where Alia once stood. The dancer was gone.
She was never there.
The purple ribbon, however, which Ivy so proudly held onto as a trophy, began to coil itself around her wrists. She tore at the fabric, expecting an attack at any moment while her staff floated in the air like a sentry. A single laugh came suddenly from the shadows.
There.
Ivy poised herself only to be struck from behind by her own baton. Collapsing to the ground face-first, she felt the ribbon bind her hands together as a second came for her neck. The dancer was all over her by then, having landed on Ivy's shoulders like a hawk swooping down on its prey.
"Ah!" Ivy struggled, realizing she was duped.
"You're not Sonera," Alia's voice hitched. "No bugs here to save you now."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Ivy?" Lila panicked. "Ivy!"
Everyone had heard the glass shatter. But only Lila knew how grave the heiress's situation had become. Yet no matter how hard she tried to utilize their bond, Ivy's location remained unknown.
"Tracks fade here," Sonera pointed outside, leaning against the window frame as Luna began to support her. "I...I don't know what to do. It's like they disappeared"
"W-we can ask Yrix!" Lila tried not to cry. "M-maybe she can-."
"It's Alia," Lunae frowned. "Which means Yrix won't interfere. She wants this."
"Can't she help us find her!"
"Lila-." Lunae hesitated. She didn't want to tell the Earthling to give up.
Whatever advice she could have given would have fallen on deaf ears. By then, Lila was already halfway out the window, using her speed to give chase in whichever direction she hoped Ivy went. It was Sonera who screamed after her.
"Lila, no!" Her voice was ragged before it trailed off. "No..."
The Earthling panted across the grassy courtyard, tripping over a few potholes left over from the Infestare attack. But there was nothing to see. She bumped into a Daregen a few searches later before zipping away in another blip of speed.
"Where are you?" Lila whimpered to herself. "Ivy!"
A few guards on the outer wall muttered to themselves, speaking in garbled voices as if genuinely confused. Lila took notice, and only then did she grasp the situation. Ivy had well and truly disappeared.
"Think, Lila, use your noggin." The Earthling's breathing became more frantic. "Uh, um. She's probably in some space. Some more trippy mind B.S. How do I get in?"
She hated herself in that moment more than she ever had. It was her duty, and her greatest hope, to protect Ivy. But she had failed.
"Fuck!"
Lila continued her search around the Aerie, nearly matching her old foe Omizen in speed. For that was the extent of her panic.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Gaah!"
"That's it, keep screaming."
Ivy could feel the knife's edge cut into her bare shoulder, struggling in vain to keep the second from leaping out of her hand and into her face. She had nothing but her own Psionic grasp at that moment, restrained by all sides by Alia's clever trap. And her strength was waning.
"Has anyone ever told you?" Alia cocked her head with a smile. "The sounds you make when losing are kind of hot."
"Fuck off," Ivy ground her teeth, realizing she would have to make a sacrifice to break free. "And speak...for yourself!"
She chose her shoulder to take the hit, releasing her grasp on the knife as it buried itself deep. Ivy howled loudly, but wasted no time in reallocating her efforts. Twirling her staff remotely, she managed to catch Alia off guard as the spiked tip came sailing towards the dancer, scratching Ivy's cheek in the process.
Her assailant raised her hands and deflected the staff before releasing a gasp.
Ivy had managed to free her hands and, with strength befitting her true form, grabbed onto Alia's hind legs. The dancer produced a quick, albeit sharp, little squeal before colliding with a nearby tree, its surface still devoid of light and color. Both girls lay panting for a moment before picking themselves up.
"One way or the other," Alia rattled her own head. "Somebody dies here."
Ivy rubbed her shoulder with a wince, responding as bluntly as she could.
"No."