Rising Shards

Charmaine felt she’d gotten used to the physical changes pretty quickly, all things considered. It was a strange sensation to suddenly have a different skin tone, and one as loud as her new bright red skin was. She found herself liking the new look more than her old one.

It wasn’t all peachy, though. All of the devils had pretty regular headaches from the horns and fangs coming in, and they were all still learning how to use their tails, with the biggest issue coming from keeping them close when doors were shut.

One thing Charmaine really liked about her new self was how she felt in motion. She felt stronger in every way, more agile, more in tune with her actions.

There was a gym type space in the lab, reinforced with sound and power proof walls so they could really go nuts practicing what they could do. When the devils got to run around and let loose with their new abilities, it felt freeing. Like tapping into a side of herself that was untethered from her worries of the world. And one that could run up a wall, do a backflip off, and let loose a barrage of shadow blasts.

”Watch it!” Ash said, barely stepping out of the way in time.

”We’re sparring, you just need to keep up!” Charmaine said. ”I bet you can’t go up the wall like that.”

”I bet I can’t!” Ash said.

Myles took on the challenge in her sister’s stead, almost managing it but stumbling on a bolt and sliding back down. ”Damn it. I get a do over!”

”I never said it was a one and done,” Charmaine said.

Sai stood at the side of the gym, not really joining in. Esther tried to do the wall run trick too, convincing Ash to do the same, so Charmaine took a break to check in.

Charmaine stretched, leaning back as she stood by Sai.

”You know, in a way, it’s a relief,” she said.

”What is?” Sai asked.

”This whole you reset,” Charmaine said. ”We were not on great terms before.”

Sai still hadn’t gotten their memory back. They were having trouble joining the others for anything, but the other devils still did their best to keep Sai in the loop.

”We weren’t?” Sai said.

”I would’ve forgiven you eventually,” Charmaine said.

”What did I do?” Sai asked.

The look on Sai’s face was precious as they tried to think of what they could have done to make Charmaine upset.

Charmaine laughed. ”Ah, hell, I shouldn’t say anything like that, should I? Now you’re gonna think we were on really bad terms.”

”Did you just say we weren’t?” Sai asked.

”I said we weren’t on the best of terms, that’s not as bad as bad terms,” Charmaine said. ”We were close friends. We fought. Nothing world ending.”

”Oh,” Sai said.

“You’re still one of us, you know,” Charmaine said, patting Sai’s shoulder. “Always.”

“Thanks,” Sai said.

”Now, do you wanna join us and trying to run up this wall?” Charmaine asked. ”I bet I can touch the ceiling before anyone else can.”

Sai laughed. ”Sure.”