Amara clenched her fists, watching them closely as blackened, chitinous plates grew from her knuckles. Once covered, she smashed them together, sparks of hellfire jumping up her wrists. She skipped from side to side, moving faster with each step to force her heart rate up. With a heavy, guttural scream, she charged at Vee, who leaned forward and braced for impact.
She threw her entire body into her first punch, grunting as the strike landed. Vee slid backwards, muttered something under her breath, and a burst of angelic magic washed over Amara. Her skin prickled, though she barely noticed.
Another shout, another strike.
Chloé shrieked as flickering, ghastly chains wrapped around her legs and pulled her towards the portal.
Amara lost focus, her body seizing as uncomfortable emotions tried to bubble up. She forced them down, slapping herself before charging Vee again. This time she jumped before striking, her fist sinking deep into the punching bag suspended between the two of them. Despite Vee's angelic strength, Amara's aggression still forced her backward.
With a step backwards, Amara spun and lashed out with her tail. Its tip was thick and blackened, a makeshift club that slammed into the bag before she moved in for another punch.
"Amara! It hurts!!"
Amara's legs shook, threatening to buckle, but she kept fighting. She threw countless blows at the punching bag, her gauntlets growing more jagged with each passing second. She forced them deeper into the fake leather, and it was only a matter of seconds before they were sharp enough to puncture.
Chloé's body flickered briefly, pulsing with energy as the planes tried to close around her. She screamed even louder, her pained wails joining together with the shrill magic. An unnatural glow took over her body as the tear in reality grew even more volatile.
Her target weak, Amara pushed the advantage. She focused everything she had on the small tear, hammering into it with everything she had. Her fury grew, hellfire leaping from her fists as she continued her assault. Fire burst from each impact as her gauntlets sank deeper with every strike, and soon the bag began breaking apart. Her prey bled thick, colorful scraps of cloth, and she wanted to see it obliterated.
The portal shrieked, and everything grew to a terrible zenith before there was nothing left to give.
Amara screamed, flames leaping from her mouth as she grabbed the punching bag. She pulled it from Vee's hands, yanking hard enough to break the chains that held it aloft. Her wings held her steady as she spun, throwing the bag high into the air. She watched as it flew higher and higher, suspended dozens of feet above the floor of the Gymnastics building, then launched a beam of light from her hands.
Chloé pulsed with light, then shattered.
The bag exploded, scattering into a thousand pieces of leather and cloth. Many of the pieces were on fire, but Amara didn't care. Her emotions finally bubbled to the surface, and she screamed before falling to her knees. She slammed a fist into the floor, the impact reverberating through her hand, then repeated herself. Each impact stung worse than the last, and she shouted until her voice threatened to collapse. The hard floor began chipping away at her chitinous gauntlets, but she wanted the pain, needed it.
Vee spoke, though her words were distant and muted. A hand found her shoulder, silently asking her to stop, and it broke her concentration. She slumped over, leaning against Vee in defeat; there was nothing left to distract herself with. Tears poured down her cheeks, the hellfire vanishing as her fury faded. She turned to Vee, wrapped her arms around her waist, and buried her face in her shoulder as she wept.
---
Amara was drained. Not physically--she'd been taking every available opportunity to make a Nick-sized dent in her mattress--but emotionally. Despite the power thrumming underneath her skin, the hellfire that had turned her into an otherworldly monster, she felt utterly broken.
Five days had passed since Brandon had been defeated, sent back to Purgatory and ripped to pieces by the very creatures he'd tried to subjugate. Five days since Chloé had single-handedly saved everyone's lives, proving that she was just as capable as her friends, even without any magic backing her up.
Five days since she--
No.
She shook her head. She desperately wanted to avoid thinking it, saying it. That one, fateful word that awaited everyone and everything in the end.
Instead, she threw her covers off and got dressed. Her movements were mechanical, she moved without passion as she pulled clothes from her closet. What she wore didn't matter, so long as it wasn't pajamas. Ever since spending a week in Purgatory with nothing but her sleepwear, she'd developed a heavy distaste for it. She spent her nights completely nude now, and dressed herself only out of spite for the outfit she'd been stuck in for so long.
Her clothes felt so restrictive now. Just before their fateful battle with Brandon, she'd burned her pajamas to a crisp and simply walked around in her chitinous exoskeleton, and the freedom had felt wonderful. In the years and months prior, clothing had been Amara's favorite way to express herself, but that joy had slowly diminished as her new body had developed.
She longed to be free, to explore the campus and the world in her true form. She hated hiding away her tail, she loved how her horns sat on her head, and she adored the feeling of wrapping her wings around herself. At the moment, everyone on campus knew her identity, but Nick encouraged her to keep her demonic attributes hidden to appear less intimidating. He'd helped Chloé talk with many of the students after Brandon's initial invasion, and quite a few of them had expressed concerns about Amara.
So what if I'm "terrifying" and "able to blow shit up with my mind", I've been the one busting my ass to keep them all safe. They don't fucking know what I've been through.
Once Amara was mostly dressed, she began shuffling to the kitchen. She'd left her jeans unbuttoned, sitting lower than usual so she could keep her tail out. As she rinsed out her coffee pot, her tail opened a nearby cabinet to grab her travel mug. She forced down a breakfast bar while the coffee brewed, and after she'd screwed the lid on her thermos, her eyes flared. She superheated the coffee until it boiled, then demanifested her tail in a burst of hellfire and buttoned her pants. With a heavy sigh of frustration, she locked up her apartment and walked outside.
Winter was in full swing for Aurelius University. Tree branches hung barren and lifeless, and a brisk wind scattered what few leaves remained on the ground. Light snowflakes fell from the sky, melting before they had a chance to land on Amara's skin. She scowled, took another sip of coffee, then started walking.
