Sonera held onto Lunae with a tight grasp as she barreled through the woods, keeping both her pace and her breathing steady. She had never in her life seen so much foliage, and had to hide her bewilderment. Indeed, the dusty planes of Mars, which were never properly terraformed, rarely contained more than a single acre of greenery.
"This way." Lunae projected a stream of energy that only Sonera could see as she struggled to keep up. "Trust me."
Sonera didn't wish to be too skeptical. But frankly, it was hard not to question Lunae. She was a girl with seemingly no experience in combat or evasion, while also having a keen eye for traversing the woods.
"Hold on," Sonera muttered as she came across a field of jagged rocks.
Before Lunae could explain herself, Sonera had hoisted her up into her arms, cradling her by her waist and legs. She had half the mind to protest, but her uncontrollable blush held her tongue.
"I-it's a path. To a stream." Lunae blathered with a tinge of shame, pointing her trail of energy towards the floor, illuminating a tiny trickle of water that could be seen between the cracks and crevices. "That stream leads to a rocky mouth. Hiding there should buy us a bit of time."
Sonera nodded in silent approval. She understood the strategy perfectly well. At some point, the girls would be flushed out and have to fight. But if they could delay that expenditure of energy, then the trial would be far easier.
She couldn't help her next words as they slid into Lunae's mind like daggers. "How would you know?"
"I...I grew up in a garden world. Not a lot of running or figthing there...but I do know my tarpography." Lunae explained as fervently as she could.
Lunae could tell without a shadow of a doubt that her newfound friend was lying through her teeth. For the same reason she could trust Lila's honesty, she had become certain of Lunae's deception. It was all in the eyes.
Lunae shriveled up in fear. It was one thing to be cradled by a girl she admired and desired. But it was another thing entirely to be questioned by that same warrior as if she were an enemy.
Lunae opened her mouth sheepishly before resorting to her Psionic whisper after a moment of reconsideration. "Do you trust me, Sonera?"
Sonera didn't answer. She was far too concentrated on the path ahead, as the occasional burst of air and dirt reminded her of the carrier's looming presence. It was also a rather difficult question to even approach.
"Listen..." Lunae sighed. "I know I haven't told you everything about me. Just know...I have my reasons, and they don't change how I feel about you."
"I understand," Sonera replied in a frigid voice.
"No, you don't."
"Not right now, Lunae."
The blue-haired girl suddenly fought her way out of Sonera's grasp with fury, crumpling onto the rough floor beneath. Apparently, she wasn't worried in the slightest about the looming danger. Instead, she was determined to force the words she wanted out of Sonera's mouth.
"You can always ask me." Lunae placed a heartfelt hand onto her chest, closing her fist in the process. "About...your friend."
"We need to keep moving." Sonera barked.
"Not until we talk about this!"
"I don't know how you feel, Lunae. I don't...want to know."
The words slipped out. Whatever the girls might have felt for each other paled in comparison to the fear of another bond. Sonera simply couldn't risk that, not after her promise to Yrix. All that mattered was the protection of her friends and the death of her mortal enemy.
"I won't let you deny yourself!" Lunae pushed Sonera back as she rose to her feet. "I know you feel something!"
Sonera's eyes were darting around, half expecting a Consortium assassin to come out laughing at the girl's slow escape. She was outstanding at hiding her frustration. If Lunae delayed any longer, there was no telling what Sonera would do.
"I want to protect you, Lunae. Why you refuse to fight...who you are...what you are...can wait. I have to focus."
"Bullshit," Lunae swore. "You fight like a monster when you are entirely distracted. You're just hiding from this. Hiding from me."
Sonera couldn't help but recall her last encounter with Lunae, wherein her gaze had, for the briefest of moments, wandered away from Yrix's throat. But in the end, all those memories did was remind her of what she feared to become.
She enjoyed the cold. It was familiar. It was safe. Far safer than the warm feelings in her heart whenever she gazed into Lunae's eyes and scanned her supple body.
"I know what you're doing." Lunae pleaded, stretching out a hand towards Sonera's face. "Burying yourself beneath the weight of your guilt. Burying your heart. But you know what you want, Sonera, you always have."
Sonera growled violently before she snatched Lunae's hand out of the air, clutching it with a steely grip.
"No, you don't know. You can't even begin to know. And what makes you think you have that right?"
Sonera's eyes began to flicker with a vibrant orange hue. Amidst her passion, she was growing stronger yet again, a fact that amused Yrix just as much as it vexed Sonera. Having had enough wasteful talk, Sonera slung Lunae over her shoulder before resuming her trek.
"L-let me down!" Lunae flailed, striking Sonera's back with her pitiful fists. "I'm...not done talking!"
"Yes, you are."
A set of fiery bracers formed around Lunae's wrists and ankles, binding her with a tender yet unyielding force. She was completely helpless, unable to penetrate Sonera's mind and compel her to stop. Whatever strategy she had formulated a day ago was proving to be ineffective.
"S-stop! Hey!" Lunae struggled in vain, unable to free herself from Sonera's binds.
"Don't make me gag you." Sonera huffed as she walked onwards, tightening her hold over Lunae.
In her disheartened state, Lunae found herself unable to call upon her own powers. Quite a conundrum it was, for such a powerful Psion to be both useless in and out of combat. Lunae gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in rage, vowing silently to breach Sonera's stone-scaled heart.
"Fine," Lunae muttered in defeat.
Using what energy she could get her hands on, Lunae assisted Sonera's step, lightening the planet's gravitational pull on her legs and muscles using an invisible Psionic field. Helpful as her tricks could be, they didn't change how she felt. Nor did it alter her feral desire to break free and penetrate Sonera's defenses once and for all.
________________________________
"YOU FOLLOWED ME!" Ivy screamed at the top of her lungs. "At a time like this! With a ship tracking you! Are you a dunce!"
Lila sputtered about nervously, shaking her hands in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "I-I just thought...m-maybe you needed some he-."
"Help? Help from you!" Ivy snickered. "You mean a challenge, surely. Make things harder for me."
Lila's heart hardened in an instant. At some point, even she could lose patience. And Ivy was seemingly doing everything in her might to undo the progress the pair had made.
"Hey now, Missy!" Lila pointed with an accusing finger. "You're the one who got your ass handed to you! Why am I the loser now?"
Ivy seemed visibly offended, placing two hands on her hips as her staff collapsed onto the floor. "Excuse me? You didn't even fight me!"
"I didn't want to! You're the one who F'd around and found out! What makes you think you can take Rena? I'm trying to help you, you stupid brat!"
"Oh, there it is." Ivy snarled as she turned away from Lila in disgust. "Well, if we're going there, I might as well-."
Lila kicked her in the back of her shin before the words could even finish compiling in her mind. Ivy stumbled forward before spinning around with a red tint in her eyes. A firm baton then bonked Lila on the head in an almost cartoonish manner, its impact hardly comparable to the kind she would use in battle.
"Ow!" Lila rubbed her head before kicking a cloud of dirt at Ivy, staining her already worn attire. "What is up with you! First, you treat me horribly, then you cry like you need a friend, now you're being a snake again!"
"Well, I did say I'd tell you why I hate you, Lila, if I lost." Ivy glowered as her venomous words stuck to her tounge. "So why don't we go over it. So you can just leave me alone. Once and for all!"
Lila smiled like a gremlin. "And give you that pleasure? Heck no! I don't want your edgy monologue! I'm going to annoy you...and keep annoying you, tell you tell me what's REALLY going on."
"I was happy without you!"
"Good! Now I can ruin your day! Don't act like you didn't start this with that challenge BS!"
Ivy brandished her staff, summoning it to her hand with a Psionic grasp. "I'll hit you, Lila!
"Oh yeah, fight me, let's hear you moan like a cow again when you lose!" Lila jeered. "Because that was so damn amusing the first time! Glad I got to see you break down like a damsel!"
The girls continued to squabble, having become entirely unaware of their surroundings. But unbeknownst to them, something had changed in their demeanor.
They were both blushing a bright, unctuous red, as if their faces had turned into beets.
"I hate you!"
"I hate YOU!"
Only the sudden arrival of blistering air could stop the girls' endless bickering, as their hair blew into their faces. Unbeknownst to them, an entire company of dropships brandishing the Consortium's symbol had begun to land on the peak of the mountain. It was Omizen's artillery.