[b][i]Diamond Frost vs. Amaranth Desire[/i][/b]

[i]Bright light...
Being marched outside...
Dark, narrow hallway...
Pain in her gut...
Two silhouettes against the sun...
Some liquid being forced down her throat…[/i]

Diamond awoke with a start in a puddle of her own sweat, panting heavily. Damn it, she shouldn’t drink that much. It might make memories go away while she was awake, but it brought them out when she went to sleep.

The thief silently crept to the bathroom, splashing some cold water onto her face. Checking herself in the mirror, she looked exactly like she felt - bags under her bloodshot eyes. It was still dark outside, but she didn’t dare to go to bed again out of fear that nightmare would just pick up where it left off. Not that one… she couldn’t… Not again...

Taking a fresh change of clothes, she gone for an early trip to the cafeteria and a smoke in her regular place before inevitably heading to classes and an impending talk she didn’t want to have. Oh, joy.

The universe had really morbid humor. But she should have seen it coming really - when did anything go her way? Sighing,  she resigned to her fate and went to find Amy in the crowd.

Amy took a deep breath, her eyes closing as she stood in the middle of the crowd, ignoring the occasional stares from those who had seen her… episode. She wasn’t going to do it again. She wasn’t. Not even if her opponent was–she shook her head, eyes opening again, looking through the crowd, her green eyes trying to pick out Diamond.

There was no reason to hate her, none at all…

The Fury was lying next to her on the floor. The twin sleeves hadn’t been touched since she’d fought Quina, and only the fact that she’d probably get bad marks for not bringing her weapon had inspired her to pick them up on the way out of the door. She didn’t need to have the weapon, not right now… And if Diamond would fight her without weapons she’d much, much rather do that.

Right there. Diamond paused mid-step. [i]Oh for the love of… It’s happening sometime. Let’s have it.[/i] she thought to herself. She approached from behind, coming to stop next to the hawk faunus. “Hey.” she greeted silently, eyes pointed to the ground guiltily. That’s when they fell upon Amy’s gear. “So… no weapons? Fair enough, I probably deserve to get hit.”

Amy’s feathers bristled, spiking up out of her hair as she sighed, shaking her head. “Maybe so, but you don’t deserve to get badly hurt.” Her right hand made its way up to her forehead, Amy rubbing her eyes with her thumb and index finger before letting it fall again. “I can’t… I just feel safer with myself if we don’t use weapons… I’ve already nearly badly hurt a close friend once this week, I don’t want to do it again…”

Nodding with an affirming grunt, the two wordlessly waited out until it was their turn. When they were summoned and walked into the arena. Once there and further from prying ears, Diamond took a breath and dropped to combat stance. “Look, I’m sorry for… No, I’m not sorry for not showing. I’m sorry for not letting you know.” she said, trying to put her feelings into words as she began circling the hawk.
“And I’m sorry for letting it hurt me,” Amy bit out, shifting to her own combat stance, her hands balling into fists inside her black, fingerless gloves. She was wearing her athletic outfit for PE--Uniform still hadn’t come in yet. She was keeping her weight on the balls of her feet, carefully watching Diamond’s actions. Reaction time and speed was the only advantage she had, and Diamond wasn’t likely to let her take advantage of those.

Before more could be said, Diamond pressed on to test Amy’s defense. It could have gone two ways, either her anger would make her act rashly or it would make her really determined. She aimed her strike low sending a punch into her gut, ready to pull away if she went for a grab.

Amy jumped back, tempted to grab Diamond's arm but not doing it- not yet. Until she was sure the other girl wasn't using her semblance or any of her magic, touching her expectedly was not a good idea. She went back to circling, looking for an opening.

Determined it was then. She’d have to do something soon though, Goodwitch didn’t seem amused by the means they chose to fight with. At the same time though, she didn’t want to let loose. Maybe she could fake an opening? Nah, too risky. Amy grown on the same streets, she would know how to fight dirty. Her usual hit and run wouldn’t work either. That left one thing. Power on through.

In the middle of a sidestep she suddenly changed her footing and lurched forward, starting an assault of punches and kicks intended more to put amy on defense and to distract her than to connect and hurt. Being so close, she could drop her voice so only the faunus would hear - this was no one else’s business.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” she grunted in between strikes, “But I can’t build on… what’d you call it, business relationship? It brings out memories, too many bad ones. I’m really sorry if you end up hating me for it, but if i could forget or undo all of my past… I would.” With that off of her chest, her mind turned it’s focus on the fight. She dropped down and spun, trying to sweep Amy’s legs from under her.

Even with her Gift dialed to its minimum, Amy's reaction time was more than adequate to block Di's attacks, though the flurry meant she couldn't deliver an assault of her own-

"Diamond, my past-" Almost too late, Amy saw Diamond's sweeping kick. Almost. She jumped over it, then lanced upward with a kick toward Diamond's chest. Normally a heavy commitment move, but since Diamond was low to do the sweep... Not so hard to pull off.

Seeing Amy jump over her leg, Diamond had enough time to put her arms up to block the blow, although she was still sent onto her back. Swinging her legs backwards she used what momentum she had left from the hit and somersaulted back onto her feet, her eyes searching for her opponent.

Amy was already in motion, following her kick with an uppercut directed at Diamond's chin, trying to hit her again before she had time to recover.

A sliver of panic as she saw Amy too close to do anything about it broke Diamond’s focus. She didn’t have much further to go before she was out of the arena. Blinking, her eyes flashed white and she felt her aura drop a notch as the kinetic dust activated with enough force to stop amy in her tracks.

Amy saw Diamond’s eyes flash, instinct taking her body out of her control. She wasn’t exactly sure what Di’s upgrades did, but standing in front of her when she was looking downright demonic was a terrible idea. Her momentum was still carrying her forward, but she automatically swerved to her right, killing her velocity with a roll until she was even with Diamond’s side, sweeping her left leg outward and toward Diamond’s feet as she stood again.

[i]Huh...what? Oh not this again![/i] Diamond thought. She managed to keep her power from leaking out most of the time, but unlike distractions, panic was not so easily controlled. Fortunately it threw Amy’s attack off, giving her much needed reaction time. She spun away to her left to be positioned behind the Hawk, her arms flying up to catch her in a strangle lock, or at least by the hair.

Amy let the momentum of her sweep kick carry her into a spin so she faced Diamond, her eyes locking with her opponents as she held apart Diamond’s grab with her forearms, sending a knee toward Diamond’s stomach, trying to force the stronger girl to stop trying to get her arms around her neck.

Diamond wasn’t as far as she thought, as evidenced by the sudden pain in her gut. Amy has gotten a lot better since their last spar, that was for sure. Still, one blow like that wasn’t going to make the thief keel over, even though it was well played. A little shorter, a little closer and she would have been in trouble. Instead she made a grab for Amy’s forearms, intending to twist them outwards.

The hawk bit back a curse as Diamond’s fingers went around her forearms, starting to wrench them outward- she fought against it as hard as she could, but ultimately Diamond would beat her, so she sent another knee into the thief’s stomach, relying on the fact that her opponent had to spread her arms somewhat to twist Amy’s, thus letting her get closer and try to hit her harder this time.

“A worthy effort-” diamond growled through gritted teeth after amy’s knee hit close to where it did before. Fortunately Diamond noticed it for the second time and managed to turn away somewhat, but even still her grip on amy’s hands weakened significantly. “- but since when do you fight clean?” If people weren’t watching, the thief wouldn’t be above spitting to her opponent’s face. Instead she let go of one of the arms and spun along her length, trying to twist the arm and the rest of the faunus along.

"Since I've been on probation, jackass." Amy took advantage of Diamond's weakened grip to yank her wrist out of the other girl's hand, using her freed arms in an attempt to shove the other girl forward.

Stumbling forward for a bit, Diamond managed to steady herself and face Amy again. “Pah! Lucky bastard!” she barked back, though her tone wasn’t hostile. She wouldn’t wish for her worst enemy to do time, and she hoped she didn’t alienate the Hawk that much. Switching her tactics, Diamond wanted to go on the defense now and try to get a few counters on pressure points in, but the professor was running low on her already thin patience: “Students, need I remind you we are on time? You can practice your martial arts in your free time!”

Blinking her eyes so Goodwitch wouldn’t see her eyes rolling, she reached out with her arm and swung it back in. Amy’s weapons that so far lied outside of the arena came tumbling in front of the hawk’s feet.

Amy blinked twice, looking down at her weapons. “So… You want to swap to weapons? You sure?”

“You want to annoy [i]her[/i]?” Diamond said, subtly nodding towards the impatient professor. “Besides...” she said, stretching her fingers with audible pops, “I don’t think I’ll be losing.” she grinned and swung her arms forward. A couple of foot long spikes of ice appeared out of thin air in front of her and shot towards Amy.

"My existence at this school annoys her. Frankly," she said, sidestepping the hastily thrown and telegraphed attack, dropping her voice. "Bothering Glenda Good##### doesn't bother me at all. What does..." She glanced down at her weapons, then shook her head, the image of Quina on the ground running through her mind. "I can't do it... Can't use them. Not yet." 

She lowered her guard, taking a deep breath. "I'm not fighting this fight. Not now. Goodbye, Diamond."

Amy turned and walked away.