Queen to Queen

“Mm. That doesn’t work for me. What makes you think I want to talk to you?”

Always the difficult one, this girl.

Charlotte doesn’t bat an eye. If anyone should be used to how difficult Diana can be, it’s the Ice Queen of the First Years.

“What makes you think I care what you want?”

Fair.

Whatever. It isn’t worth the fight, right now. Or so Diana tells herself. She sucks her teeth and nods for the rest of her little mean girl brigade to take a walk. Clearly, this isn’t a problem that’s going away anytime soon. Especially as not a single one of them dares to draw Charlotte’s ire to themselves without Diana backing them up.

No. The power dynamic here is well established. Either they get on the worse of Charlotte’s bad side - not that she seems to have a good side - or they irritate Diana by disobeying. Failing that, the charged atmosphere between the two may very well just cook them all alive. Leaving is the best choice.

With them gone, Diana turns around, keeping her uppity little heiress face on for the time being as she turns her nose up and trots off as if simply Charlotte to follow. “Make it quick, ‘kay? I’ve got a party to-”

“Have you proven her wrong, yet?”

All movement from Diana comes to a total halt. It’s back. Again. Ever since the day of that fight. Over and over. Without relent. A rerun she wishes would have to decency to just end. How many times must she watch it back in her head? Damn Extra…

Charlotte folds her arms. “You just thought about Morioka, didn’t you?”

“Urk!” How?

“Do you blame her for saving you?”

How could you possibly-?!

Charlotte flips her hair. “She’s hardly what I’d call acceptable. But she’s made some marginal improvements and looked a bit more confident, lately. Of course, it’s my job as our team’s controller to notice these things. It’s strange that things have turned out this way when she hasn’t had any recent matches. In fact, the only one who’s had any matches in a while is you. It’s a safe assumption to make, wouldn’t you say?”

Diana bites her lip but doesn’t turn around. She doesn’t dare let this stuck-up bookworm see her face. Yet, once again, this girl is… too smart for her own good.

“Just get to the point. What is this about?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, by now. That girl… really has no intention of being the one dragging this alliance down.”

Such a small remark. Yet, all at once, it feels as though Diana’s entire chest cavity collapses in on itself, squeezing her heart. Crushing it.

That’s what it’d been about, right? That whole display during the battle?

Diana scoffs, trying her damnedest to relieve some of that amassing tension in her chest. Her grip on the strap of her bag may as well have the force of a hydraulic press.

“What are you getting at?”

“Getting at?” Charlotte strides on, not even bothering to look at Diana as she passes her by. “It isn’t like it really matters, anyway,” she mutters. For as plagued as the bee is with her own failings, of late, the butterfly hardly fares any better. That inhuman woman looms large in her own mind. Again and again the buzz of failure fills her head. Such a frustrating noise, grating at her eardrums even from pure memory.

“Nothing at all. Just an observation.”

Liar.

That does it. The facade crumbles away and Diana sneers, Honey Bee appearing just over her shoulder. “Cut the crap, already and say it directly. You’re calling me useless too, right? ‘Cause I don’t have a problem knocking that high horse out from under you just to show you who the useless one is.”

“Useless? Is that what you heard?” Spoken with the calm of a serene pond… and the bluntness of a boulder dropped into it. “I don’t think you’re useless. I think you’re pathetic.”

“Hah?!”

Charlotte doesn’t flinch. She turns back around without a shred of fear and approaches her counterpart with her head held as high as ever, stopping only when she’s right in front of the girl. She looks Diana in the eye, then turns her gaze in Honey Bee’s intense red lenses.

“By all means, show me where I’m wrong. Your ego was bruised, so you ran away. You tried to make yourself feel better, but that backfired. And now you’re challenging someone you think you can win against. It all sounds pretty pathetic to me.”

“If I’m so pathetic, then call out your Familiar. Let’s go a few rounds.”

Charlotte gives Diana a flat blink, then turns her head up, looking down her nose in the gesture that the girl loathes so much. That superior attitude, looking down on the entire world. “What benefit would I get out of that? Diana, you can’t beat me.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Frankly? No. You can’t lay a finger on me. Or a stinger, as the case so happens.” But before Diana can prepare a retort, Charlotte preempts her entirely. “And I can’t do any meaningful damage to you.”

W-what?

That sounds like some form of… admission. From Charlotte. At this point, Diana’s head is too balled up to even think it might be a trick. That one statement stops her from working entirely. What is this girl saying?

Charlotte reads the silence and walks off, talking loudly to… herself. “Ah. It’d seem I broke her. Whatever. She probably would’ve started a fight, otherwise. Idiot girl doesn’t get that we’re simply incompatible. Even with my training, any serious match between us would likely end in a draw.”

What the hell are you…?

“I suppose that’s a good thing for an alliance, though, covering the blindspots like that. Pathetic or not, even she has her uses.”

No way. Stop that. You’re not supposed to…

“We’ll have to make up for the lack of punching power now, though. As long as we all play to our roles… Honestly. Such a headache. Even I’d be willing to stomach working with her if she’d just cooperate.”

“Hey!”

“Oh. You were still awake.”

“W-w-what was all that about?!”

Charlotte stares, then shrugs. “Nothing in particular. Just thinking out loud.”

Diana gapes at that response before noticing. When had it happened? The tension. All of it is just… gone. Her body feels lighter. Her head untangles itself and she’s able to take a breath, putting her mask back on. “You’re playing games with me, now? Cute. I didn’t even think you had a sense of humor.”

Across from her, Charlotte glances down at her Link. “You’re free to think whatever you want. I don’t much care. Either way, this isn’t really going anywhere and I’m going to be late to training if I stick around to argue with you any longer. So I’ll be going. Enjoy your party.”

Charlotte nearly disappears around a corner when…

“Charlotte.”

She stops. Not a word, though. Only a casual glance in Diana’s direction.

“How… how much of that did you mean, for real?”

Charlotte continues on her way, leaving Diana to stew in that hall. “Who knows?”

---

This session begins the same as all the others. Some basic drills between the girls as Kelly observes their progress from the sidelines. But this time is… different. As the drills go on, each of the girls using holographic targets to train their precision, a bell chimes from the front. All eyes gravitate towards the door from the reception area, where Ortiz trots in, her hands in the pockets of her tracksuit.

She waves. “I brought in a stray. Can I keep it?”

Right then, Diana steps out from behind Ortiz, making every effort not to look at anyone present. Kelly raises an eyebrow at the sudden arrival of her student, but Ortiz snickers with a hand to her mouth. “By my guess, she was standing out there for a while, workin’ up the courage to come in.”

“I-I wasn’t!”

Not that Ortiz is listening. Rather, she gives Diana a pat on the back to shove her forward. Kelly levels a dim stare at the girl. “So? What are you doing back here?”

Diana takes a deep breath, then marches to the center of the dojo, stopping beside Charlotte, even as she looks Kelly square in the face. “I told you. I’m going to prove you wrong.” Then her head turns to an unmoved Charlotte. “Both of you.”

The same words. But her tone…

Charlotte dips her head. “We’ll see.”

Kelly, on the other hand, lowers her datapad and approaches the girls. She glances between both young ladies and removes her glasses. Her gaze settles on Diana. But what was once an intimidating lack of anything resembling a readable emotion turns welcoming in a heartbeat. A smile and an affirming nod greet Diana from what once had been the source of her ire. “Right. I look forward to it.”