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Izzy gave a growled sigh when Cerasus finished, and ran a hand through her hair. He didn’t know anything about Guillotine Cutter’s fighting, which meant she was going in blinder than she had with the other two. He was a human, and did more damage than those with some sort of vampiric ability.
“Great.” She pulled her hand from her hair. “So, pretty much just keep doing what I’ve been doing, and learn in the process.”
When Riley left and Cerasus headed to bed, Izzy slowly made her way to her claimed classroom. She rummaged through her backpack, which was now filled with the clean clothes Trevor had kindly brought, while the plastic bags had her dirtied outfits shoved in them. Finding her pair of spare sneakers, she pulled them out, placed them on the floor, and shoved a pair of socks inside one.
She sat on a set of desks she had put together, their tops fairly cleaned from days spent using them as the world’s hardest mattress. She placed one foot on a knee and brushed off some of the layer of dirt that had coated her sole. She glanced to the closed door, then back to her foot. After a couple moments of trying to use matter generation, she sighed in defeat, and laid back on the desks.
After a while, her mind racing with everything from the night, she fell into a fitful slumber.



Izzy had overslept. By the time her nightmares abated, allowing her to truly fall asleep, it had been late. Unsure what time it was, consciousness had just decided to return to her when Trevor's familiar footfalls greeted her.
Her eyes sprung open, and she sat upright with a yawn. She could feel her hair sticking out at odd angles, and quickly jumped from the desks, pulled her hair tie out, and brushed her hair with the brush she had left on another desk near her pack.
“Evening, Trevor,” she returned his greeting lightly and smiled at him as she replaced her hair tie. She blinked in the light of Trevor's flashlight as he sat it down. She looked him over, searching for any sign of his injury from the previous evening. But even his clothes were just as semi-formal as when she had last seen him. Part of her still could not believe he was here, alive, his presence sending a flood of relief through her. The image of his torn body flashed through her mind, making her shut her eyes and push the thought aside with a shake of her head.
“How... How’re you feeling?” she asked as casually as she could, tossing the hairbrush onto her backpack.

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Izzy cleared her throat, then nodded. “Good. I didn’t know if there’d be any side effects...” Her voice dropped off. She looked at him, her head cocked slightly. “You know, you're oddly calm about that.” She gave him a half-smile, wishing she could be as nonchalant about it as he seemed. Perhaps that was one of the joys of not remembering what happened.
When the sound of Cerasus’ steps echoed down the hall, she glanced to the door a moment before he looked in. Amidst the nightmares of the day, she had all but forgotten he had changed to appear around her and Trevor’s age, and her gaze lingered on him until he left.
Izzy shrugged at Trevor’s comment about almost being jealous. “Sure, he’s handsome. But there’s nothing to be even almost jealous about, if you ask me.” She went to a desk and sat atop it, crossing her legs beneath her. “Oh, do you still have my phone?”

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Izzy shrugged and looked to the floor at Trevor’s musings. “He spared me by turning me,” she said quietly, reaching up to place a palm against where Cerasus had bit her what felt an eternity ago. “But the guy’s infuriating.” She placed her hand to the desk and looked to Trevor as he dug around in his backpack. “You try living with him for a week!” Even so, she gave Trevor a small smile. “Yeah, there’s always that.”
She easily caught her phone when he tossed it. “Thanks.” She quickly unlocked her phone, checked the charge, then placed it in her pocket. When he pulled out two soda bottles, she grinned. It felt like ages since she had had a soda.
“Coke.” She wrapped her ankles around the legs of the desk.

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Again, Izzy caught the bottle of Coke easily. “Thanks, Trevor.” She pulled her legs onto the desk, crossed them beneath her, and turned to better face Trevor as he sat on another desk. At his question, she held the bottle in front of her, looking at the familiar red-and-white label. “You know, I haven't thought about that. I’d imagine so. What I wonder, is if it’ll taste the same.”
She carefully twisted the cap. The satisfying fizzzt of the release of pressure inside echoed in the room, accompanied by the sweet, syrupy smell of the drink.
“One way to find out!” With that, she removed the cap, held it up a moment in a cheers motion, then placed the opening to her lips.

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Izzy swished a gulp the soda around in her mouth at Trevor’s comment about his readings, then swallowed the sugary drink. Though it was less refreshing than she remembered, thankfully, it still tasted about the same. “Still tastes like Coke,” she confirmed. “Darn.” She snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. “I was looking forward to finding out what ash tastes like.”
She cocked her head as he mentioned another “myth,” his familiar grin making her smile back. “Oh, gee. Thanks a lot!” she said sarcastically.
She looked at him for a moment, the mirth that glittered in her eyes fading. His smile, his jesting, the life in his eyes had all nearly been snuffed out scarcely a day ago. Had been snuffed out, if only for a short time. Because she had brought him into this side of the world. A world of monsters, where even she could pose a danger to his life.
Izzy held the soda bottle in her lap and looked down at it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a short moment.
“Listen,” she began quietly, opening her eyes. “You’ve gone above and beyond, and I appreciate your help to no end. But what happened last night...” She shook her head. “This life isn’t made for humans. The more time you spend around all this,” she gestured to the classroom, indicating to not just the building, but everything it had come to stand for. She lowered her hand and looked back to her soda bottle, “around me, the more danger you’re in. I don’t know when I’ll...” she faltered, “I’ll need to drink blood, but if you’re the only one around...” She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.” She took another breath, then looked to him, her face hard and gaze pleading for him to not argue. “After tonight, we shouldn’t meet anymore. Not until I get this mess straightened out.”

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Izzy held her breath, watching Trevor lean back and waiting for his response. When he paused, Izzy looked back to her lap, rolling the half-full soda bottle in her hands as he continued speaking. She shook her head at his comment about himself.
“From what I have seen of you, I doubt it.” She looked up as he moved from the desk, watching him put away his already emptied bottle then head toward the door. Part of her did not want him to leave, wanted to invite him to stay a little longer, that their last meeting, even if just for a short while before they could hang out again, did not have to end yet.
But, “Thank you, Trevor,” was what she said instead, reminding herself that the sooner he was away, the better. “For everything. You’re... a really good friend.”
When he paused and turned back toward her, she stood as he spoke.
“After everything you’ve done for me, just name it.” Her gaze met his as he stepped toward her and gave his request. She nodded, her expression resolute. When he held out a fist, she raised her own, putting as little force behind their fist-bump as she could. She only nodded again in thanks to his well-wishes, and watched him leave, listening to his footsteps receding through the halls.
For nearly the next three hours, she tried to stay busy, though there was little for her to do in the school. After trying to read a couple more comics she had difficulties investing her full intention into, she had even considered stalking Cerasus for a short while if for no other reason than to keep herself occupied. Instead, she decided to explore the school, to see what she could find that looters and vandals had not already staked claim to. She passed Cerasus a couple times in her search, but offered only a nod in acknowledgement.
In a storage room in the basement level, she found a filing cabinet that someone had forgotten to empty. Though the files and pages inside were weathered and many sported water damage, it was here, rummaging through pages in various stages of decay and trying--but failing--to not think about Trevor or the last battle standing between her and humanity, that Riley found her.
Torn between irritation, dread, and the anxiety that he had come to declare the date of her final fight, she looked up from the file she held, its contents consisting mostly of childishly scribbled essays. When she registered Riley’s appearance and expression, she inhaled and quickly sat the file down. A knot formed in her stomach.
“Riley? What’s wrong?” She held her breath.
Izzy stared at Riley for a moment in shock as his answer sunk in. She felt suddenly sick.
“He’s...what?” The hunters. It had to have been the hunters. Her hands clenched, and her nose and lips rose in a snarl. “How?” she snapped. “When? Where’d those foul, loathsome beasts take him?!” She stormed toward the door, then stopped in the doorway and faced him. "I swear, if they so much as touch one hair on his head..." she finished the statement with a seething snort. She had sent Trevor away, and he ended up getting kidnapped. If Episode had no issue with killing him, there was no telling what the three would do now.

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As surprising as Riley’s tone was, Izzy’s gaze darkened as he spoke, as if, had he not modified their deal, Trevor’s kidnapping would be just as tragic to him as the boy’s death had been. The expression intensified at his statement of Episode’s actions being nothing more than “part of combat.” But there was a far more important issue to expend time on than his listless attitude toward the well being and involvement of “regular people.” She did not want his explanations. She wanted to take action.
“Guillotine Cutter,” she said through her teeth. She squared her jaw and looked Riley in the eye for a moment. "You saw him." She turned again and headed into the hall beyond the large storage closet, her steps clipping furiously on the cracked tiles, her hands still clenched. She headed to the stairs leading to the main level. “Where’d he take Trevor?”

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Izzy faltered near the top of the staircase at the thought of Guillotine Cutter watching her, unseen, but the action was nearly unperceivable. On the main floor, when Riley placed a hand on her shoulder, she stopped and turned around with an irritated snort. He still had not answered her question. Her gaze bore into his, annoyance mingling with the rest of the emotions on her face.
Her nails dug into her palms at the thought of Trevor being used as a weapon against her. Fear flashed through her eyes at the request to fight tonight, but only for a moment. After all, that was exactly what she had planned on doing, officially or otherwise. Whatever it took to get Trevor away from the hunter, away from this wretched world.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” she growled. When she continued, her words were rushed as she turned from him to head to the front door. “You said you misjudged him. Did you see what he could do? What am I going up against?”

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Izzy turned to Riley once more when he offered another “hint,” a frown pulling at her mouth. Still, she listened intently, not wanting to waste any time on arguments. If it could help her save Trevor, she would take it. She nodded slightly at the first, but inhaled sharply at the second. Slowly, stiffly, she nodded again.
“For the record,” she said a few minutes later before she embarked on her mission, standing in the doorway with her back to Riley, “it wasn’t just your mistake.”
With that, she rushed to the school, the road leading to the athletic-turned-battlefield all too familiar. Only this time, she traveled it for more reasons than just to retrieve Cerasus’ remaining limbs. Now, she had a life to save. No matter what she had to do, she would get Trevor to safety.
Reaching the field, she slowed to a stop and sauntered the remaining few yards to where Guillotine Cutter waited, Trevor with him. She only glared at the man when he spoke, her chin lowering slightly and back perfectly straight.
She looked to Trevor when he called out to her and held her breath, trying to keep her expression hard and unreadable. Her muscles were tight, and she just managed to keep herself back, to not lunge at Guillotine Cutter. Her face twisted with fury when the man cut off Trevor’s words, and her hands clenched. She tried to wipe the expression from her face, her neck twitching with the effort.
“Nice to see you again, too, Guillotine Cutter,” she said stiffly, then crossed her arms. “Though, from the last time, I didn’t think you needed to stoop so low.” She nodded toward Trevor though her eyes stayed on Cutter, every ounce of willpower going toward keeping her cool. “Are you that afraid?”

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Izzy’s glare darkened as Cutter moved Trevor. Holding her breath, she watched for any sign the action hurt her friend, the desire to attack Cutter resonating through her with a vengeance. But she had to be smart about this. Trevor’s life--and, ultimately, her own as well as Cerasus’--depended on it. She only hoped what she and Riley had shortly discussed before her departure would work. She closed her eyes for a short moment as he continued speaking, taking a couple deep breaths and forcing her hands to unclench.
“Poor, pitiful little Guillotine Cutter,” she began, her voice stiff despite her efforts to sound sarcastically sympathetic. “Abandoned by your companions. Sent on a suicide mission by your church. So desperate without your aberration bodyguards, so heartless as to capture an innocent human.” Anger made her tone sharp as she said the last. “If it wasn’t for Theurge and Episode keeping Damocles’ attention, I’m betting you’d have been the easiest one for him to take down!” She smirked at him, her gaze locked with Cutter's and trying to avoid looking directly at Trevor.
She took a slight step forward. “Tell me, Guillotine Cutter,” she spat his name, “what is it you gain from all this?” She gestured to the field around her without taking her eyes from him. “Fame? Fortune? Or do you just get to continue to live in your little world of denial?”