“Careful now, don’t go breaking anything again already.”

  “Yeah yeah, y off. I can… nngh… I can handle walking on my own, thanks.”

  Alice grumbled back at them, a shoulder braced against the side of the doorway as she leaned heavily into it, panting loudly just from the exertion of walking from the cell to the exit.

  “You sure everything is thrown back together right in there? Because fucking hell, nothing feels like it’s in the right spot.”

  “There remain some… minor outstanding issues with your physiology at this time, yes. But it’s nothing that shouldn’t be easier to tend to ter, once you’ve gotten back on your feet for a bit longer.”

  She sheepishly attempted another step forward, her left knee buckling in three different directions, none of which was the correct way for it to bend, as soon as she pced any weight upon the limb.

  A grunt of pain accompanied a clumsy fall forwards, stumbling to the far end of the hallway before smming into the other wall there, hands tching onto tiny bits of the molding as she scrambled to keep herself from colpsing yet again already.

  “…y’know, I think you might’ve missed a couple spots.”

  “I was certain I fixed that knee already, did I not…? Or, wait, is it supposed to… ah, that’s the issue there! Here we are, give me but a moment--”

  Almost instantly, the joint in her knee started twisting and snapping back and forth, Alice digging her fingernails into the wall as her left leg convulsed violently from Sclera’s ministrations, barely managing to keep the rest of her from falling into a heap on the cold, tiled floor.

  “Fucking shit, don’t-- none of that shit while I’m trying to stand up, jackass! Cut it the fuck out!”

  She loudly stamped her thrashing limb against the floor, earning a pained grunt on each stomp as she bit down hard on her lip, not ceasing until the joint stopped writhing beneath her skin.

  “Ah, right, possibly not the best time to see to repair work. Will you be able to walk with it still twisted about like that, though…?”

  “Yeah… yeah, I’ve managed plenty worse already, don’t you worry.”

  Forcing a weak smirk onto her face, she took a few shaky steps forward, still leaning heavily against the wall for support as she walked.

  “…see? N-Never better…!”

  “…the sheer bullheadedness you are capable of is… certainly impressive.”

  “Damn, you should really try complimenting me more often…!”

  “That wasn’t meant as a… ugh, nevermind, just focus on not re-breaking that leg, yes?”

  “Yes dad, I’m already working on it, I don’t need you fucking nagging me about it the whole time.”

  Despite how well how mouth was clearly still working, she still advanced down the hall at a snail’s pace, all but dragging herself along the wall, grunting and swearing the whole way as she bickered with the voice in her head the whole way.

  “…Ms. Decaras? I… was not informed you’d finally woken up.”

  Alice did her best to twist her head to the side, instead ending up rolling onto her back against the wall, panting heavily as she turned towards the voice behind her.

  “Eh? Oh, you’re, uh… it was Paige, yeah?”

  The secretary pushed her gsses up with a single finger, clutching bundles of paperwork under one arm as she cautiously maneuvered around the obviously still wounded magical girl, taking care not to step into any of the tiny bloodstains Alice was leaving in her wake, her attire wholly spotless as she looked over the other woman’s decidedly grimier clothes.

  “Rita Paige, Library Magus Grace branch head of security and administrative assistant, yes.”

  “Right, that’s the one. Look, I ain’t really in any kind of position to be breaking my arms right now, so I’d appreciate you not kicking my teeth in again this time, yeah?”

  “…accosting our members is not a standard aspect of my duties, Ms. Decaras.”

  “Damn, could’ve fooled me after that first visit.”

  “You were not a member of the Library at that time, and detaining intruders to Library premises is a standard aspect of my duties.”

  “I wasn’t a fucking… ugh, whatever, I ain’t conscious enough to argue with both of you right now.”

  “Both…?”

  Alice made no attempts at crifying the comment to the bewildered secretary, instead resuming her bloody forward march in direct opposition to the compints the rest of her body was making to being moved about.

  “…judging from you being awake again and clearly still injured to some degree, I assume you’re looking for Ms. Lapin?”

  “Eh? Wait, how’d you know that?”

  Paige managed the slightest of smiles at Alice’s genuine confusion at having her destination deduced so easily.

  “Consider it an… informed guess. She should still be in the infirmary ward, just ahead of here. Room 1737C, if I recall correctly.”

  “…thanks. I’ll, uh… yeah, I’ll head straight there.”

  With yet another grunt, Alice rolled herself back onto her left shoulder, dragging herself forwards slowly once more as she trudged towards the infirmary somewhere far ahead of her.

  “Are you quite sure you can manage the walk…? You don’t seem very--”

  “Christ, I don’t need everyone nagging over me all the time. I’m-- nngh --I’m perfectly fine, see? N-Never better…!”

  She weakly gave the woman behind her a thumbs up, nearly losing her bance in the process as she stumbled a half-step backwards.

  Paige sighed as she watched her resume forcing herself along, adjusting her gsses once again as she tucked her tucked her stacked paperwork more securely under her arm.

  “Thanks again for the directions, I’ll… shit, yeah, I’ll head straight over-- oy!”

  Alice had barely managed a single step forward before she found one of her arms being forcibly lifted, the noticeably taller secretary bracing the limb over her shoulder as she lifted, straightening Alice’s miserably poor posture as she began walking her forward at a significantly brisker pace.

  “Hey, I said I can walk just fine on my own here, I don’t-- guh --I don’t need the damn pity…!”

  “Correct, you can indeed manage walking there, hence why I have refrained from throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you all the way there. However, I can’t have you blocking the whole hallway here for the next few hours while you struggle to not bck out on the floor.”

  She grumbled as she was lectured by the older woman, grumpily muttering under her breath but letting her continue to act as something better to lean against than the wall.

  The duo made their way down the hall in retive silence, the sound of footsteps and the occasion pained groan the only noises echoing through the space around them, making significantly faster pace than Alice could have hoped to make on her own one and a half functioning legs.

  “…mmm. Thanks.”

  “Of course. I’ve held this position for long enough now to grow accustomed to how foolishly stubborn some of you girls can be. It wouldn’t hurt you to try asking for help a bit more often, you know?”

  “Yeah, right, after your dipshit of a boss gave me the whole ‘try to stay away from the rest of our employees’ spiel?”

  “…Mr. Willow simply wants what’s best for the Library. I understand he can be rather… grating to work with at times, but he means well.”

  Alice snorted, quickly followed by a sharp inhation of air as the sudden motion pulled something still sensitive.

  “I’ve done enough work for types like him before, he’s got his head shoved way too far up his own a--”

  “I would like to remind you that we are currently speaking about our mutual superior, Ms. Decaras.”

  “Yeah, and coworkers are supposed to sit around and shit-talk their boss, what’s your point?”

  There was a noise that sounded wholly alien and out-of-pce, Alice wincing for a moment before realizing the sound had been a restrained chuckle from Paige.

  “…well, I suppose I can’t quite argue with that. You would be far from the first to speak ill of him in the few years he and his sister have been here.”

  “Few…? What, he only recently get put in charge or something?”

  “Ah, right, I suppose you wouldn’t know yet. Yes, Mr. Willow and Ms. Ashley were appointed to council positions about three years ago. The decision was a bit of a shock, as appointing still-active magical girls so leadership positions was previously mostly unheard of. But the remainder of the council seemed impressed by the both of them.”

  “Three years… they sure don’t run the pce like they’re new to it, I guess.”

  The two of them walked in silence for a bit, Alice slowly getting some sembnce of bance back as she managed to lean into Paige just a bit less.

  “…he’s still a prick.”

  Paige ughed more clearly this time, the sound still barely fitting her image at all, the noise echoing in the otherwise empty hall around them.

  The pair continued to chat between themselves, the long forward march to the infirmary passing in a fsh as they kept one another company, Paige eventually slowing them to a stop in front of yet another identical door.

  “Right, 1737C, primary medical treatment and recuperation ward. I believe this was your stop, then?”

  “Yep, and I think I can probably manage a door on my own. Thanks for the taxi, though, my leg only kinda feels like shit now.”

  “Of course. Do try and refrain from injuring yourself such in the future, however. You girls don’t exactly grow on trees, you know?”

  “Yeah yeah, I’ve heard the whole speech a hundred times already, I got it.”

  Nodding politely and adjusting the payload of paperwork once more, Paige turned to leave, already speeding off towards the other end of the hall.

  “Oy, before you go.”

  She paused in pce, having only gotten a few feet away, turning back around with a mildly confused expression.

  “…yes?”

  Alice was already slumped down to the ground, catching her breath as she sat with her back pressed against the wall, head leaned back and turned just enough to look at the other woman with her good eye.

  “…you have a good one, Rita. Don’t work yourself to death in here, yeah?”

  Paige shifted in pce a bit before turning back around, the barest hint of a smile visible on her face before she was speeding off again already.

  “And the same to you, Ms… Alice.”

  And with that she swiftly vanished from sight, leaving Alice alone outside the infirmary door, still breathing heavily as even the heavily assisted walk here took nearly every ounce of energy she had.

  Eventually, after some long few minutes of regaining her strength, she managed to shakily rise back to her feet, bracing against the wall at her back, testingly pcing the barest bit of pressure on her warped left knee to find it vaguely better at holding her upright from the short time she and Sclera had taken to patch the malformed joint up.

  Rolling herself along the wall to the side, she weakly took hold of the door handle, pushing down on it slowly as she eased the door open--

  --only for it to be yanked open from the other side, yanking Alice along after it as she clutched the handle for bance, leaving the smaller girl stumbling into the room, crashing face first into someone significantly taller and noticeably less malnourished than herself.

  “Hell…! Watch where you’re fucking walking, you little--”

  “…Alice?!”

  “…Gwyn!”

  Every drop of annoyed malice in her voice drained away in an instant as she identified the body she’d crashed headlong into, both arms immediately shooting forwards to wrap around the taller girl, partially to catch her bance but mostly just from how worried she’d been about her ever since she’d regained consciousness.

  “I-I had no idea you were awake already, I was j-just about to see if I could visit you, ehehe…”

  Gwyn eagerly returned the hug, clinging to her friend as tightly as she could with one arm, the other still held up by a sling, braced against the bunched up medical bandages and padding covering the side of her torso.

  “--guh--”

  Even with how weak she was from her own significantly slower recovery, the excited squeeze was enough to cause several loud pops from withing Alice, earning a grunt as she felt the meager bit of strength she’d regained already pouring back out of her.

  “…o-oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…!”

  She frantically loosens her grip on the poor girl, still hugging her close to her chest while trying her best not to completely crush her ft.

  “Are… A-Are you good enough to be moving around already…? Y-You, um… you don’t look like you’re d-doing too great still…”

  “Nah… nah, I’m right as rain already, promise. Just need to… need to stretch my legs a bit, is all, aha…”

  The girl can’t even attempt to hide the pain dripping from her voice as she tries to wave off yet another barrage of concerns about her current state, her clothes splotched with her own blood and wrinkled from the pained writhing she’d be doing in them for the better part of a week now, bits of malformed anatomy still clearly bulging out here and there from underneath the fabric.

  “More importantly, though…”

  Alice leans back a bit, Gwyn instinctively squeezing her tighter again as she assumes she’s starting to fall to the floor, leaning in closer…

  ...only to be met with her head swinging back forward again with all the strength she could manage, the top of Alice’s skull torpedoing into Gwyn faster than she could even think to react, the smaller girl headbutting her hard enough to send her reeling backwards.

  “Gah…! H-Hey, why--”

  “That’s for running off to py hero and worrying me to death, asshole!”

  Alice barely manages to keep herself standing in the doorway as Gwyn shakes her head to clear her vision, still in shock from the sudden attack first thing on seeing her friend again.

  “You got-- nngh --any idea how fucking worried I was about you, dumbass?! Look, you even got the shit kicked out of yourself, and now--”

  Alice’s own worried lecture was cut short, Gwyn having taken advantage of her vastly more intact means of mobility, already back on top of the other girl.

  Her good hand grabbing a handful of the ragged tank top under her jacket, Gwyn yanked her back forwards again, Alice’s headbutt being returned twice as hard as the two women’s skulls cracked against one another once more.

  “Gnngh… t-then that’s for making me worry about you this whole time…! And for g-getting yourself hurt constantly, and… and… ugh, that r-really hurt, actually…”

  Gwyn clutched at her sore forehead as she whined, taking her own turn leaning against the doorway for support.

  Alice, unched clear to the other side of the hall, had slid back down the wall, doing plenty of pained groaning herself as she sat in a heap on the floor outside the infirmary.

  “…oh, s-shit, I shouldn’t have… are you okay Alice?! Did I b-break anything, or--”

  Her instant onset of renewed worry was immediately drowned out, Alice’s head flopping backwards, ughing loud enough to wake the dead as the sound echoed in every direction, wholehearted guffaws ringing out from the thoroughly beaten corpse wadded up on the floor.

  “Shit, I really didn’t think anyone had a skull thicker than mine! That hurt like shit, y’know?!”

  “Yeah.. y-yeah, I noticed too, ehe…”

  Gwyn couldn’t hold back from ughing along with her, soft chuckles soon ringing out into full-force ughter, the two injured magical girls making a scene right in front of the medical ward as they were finally reunited.

  Eventually Gwyn managed to regain enough of her bance to step out into the hall after her, reaching down a hand to help the other girl back to her feet.

  Alice eagerly csped her hand, squeezing down on it tightly, still smiling from ear to ear as she yanked herself back upright and straight into another tight hug.

  “...yeah, yeah, I deserved that one. Sorry for worrying you, Gwyn.”

  “O-O-Oh, um… no, i-it’s okay, really… I should be the one apologizing for going off on my own, a-and…”

  “Nah, you did a hell of a good job, kid. Or, hell, I shouldn’t be calling you that, huh? You did great, dumbass.”

  Gwyn blushed as Alice clung tightly to her, meekly managing to return the hug, already feeling healed up again just from holding her close like this.

  “W-Well… I guess I had a pretty good role model… e-even if they’re a bigger dumbass than I am, ehehe…”

  “Oh, is that so? They the ones that made you lose all those fucking manners you had too, or you just figure that one out yourself?”

  “…well, I don’t think I have q-quite the same way with words they do… but I’ll get there, yeah?”

  Alice pulled her head back enough to look up at the other girl, still smiling like an idiot up at her.

  “Yeah, you’ll get there alright, if I have anything to fucking say about it.”

  She moved a hand up to the back of Gwyn’s head, pulling the taller girl down far enough to pnt a kiss on her forehead, the action briefly short-circuiting the girl’s recently impacted brain.

  “O-Oh, um, I… um… t-that’s… uh… r-right!”

  More red than she’d been even after butting skulls together with the other girl, Gwyn looked back up at her shyly, smiling happily back at her best friend as the two of them held on tight to one another.

  “Well, I don’t suppose you’re finally up for that practice session I promised you? Shake the dust out of your ears, clear that head of yours--”

  “A-Absolutely, unquestionably not!”

  “Aww, c’mon, we don’t have to push it that hard, just a little--”

  “You are going to rest, y-you little fists-for-brains h-hellion of a woman!”

  “What? Nah, I don’t need any, I’m… I’m perfectly fine to-- gah!”

  As if to prove a point, Gwyn weakly prodded a finger into Alice’s side, immediately earning a howl of pain from the still sorely injured woman, nearly colpsing again as she flopped limply forward against Gwyn’s arm.

  “Perfectly fine, hm?”

  “…ugh, point taken… fine, fine, I’ll rest for a bit, christ…”

  “G-Good! And since I can’t trust you to not g-get yourself into trouble the second I look away, I’m coming with you! J-Just to make sure you’re resting enough!”

  Alice peered up at her, smirking at her with half-lidded eye.

  “Oh yeah? And not just because you’re beaten to shit too, or just because you love my company sooooooo much?”

  “Of course not! It’s a-absolutely just to make sure you’re not off ripping yourself in half again when you should be r-rexing!”

  “Mmhmm, mmhmm, of course, I’m sure.”

  “It is!”

  “…y’know, if you wanted to take me out for a date that badly, you could just--”

  Another pained groan echoed out of her sore lungs as Gwyn’s finger jabbed back into her side swiftly enough to cut her off before she could finish, refusing to make eye contact as her face turned a shade of deep vermilion.

  Not even waiting for her to recover, the taller of the two all but dragged the both of them towards the exit, Alice snickering like the gremlin she was the whole way as Gwyn forcibly pulled her away for a quiet, peaceful date.