Seraphim and Masane: Old wounds

White Gale, just the thought of it brought an anxious swelling in Seraphim's heart. She felt great about starting this, knowing deep down, she has the potential to change the AFW around and make it a better place, especially safe from the Era of Hell, and followers like them. However, the thought of also leading it, carrying such responsibility, and all of these changes she had been experiancing and events that unfolded, she was feeling overwhelmed. Seraphim had been quite used to putting a heavy burdon on her shoulders, carrying the weight of the world on her consciousness, but she still had her doubts occasionally. So, with a clustered mind-set that carried too many thoughts and pitting her in confusion, Seraphim dealt with it all the only way she knew how: violence.

It was one of her bad habits, aside from smoking, that she never had been able to break. Whenever she was suffering a headache, confusion, or conflicting thoughts, she took it out through a sparring, training, or anything of the like. And after two hours at the sandbag, practicing bare knuckled until they bled, she was at the locker room, shedding her sweat-covered shirt, currently in a black-sports bra and her black leather pants, as well as her black eyepatch and metal bracers around her wrists, standing in front of her locker, and wiping down with a towel, heaving a long, heavy sigh of mixed releif and exhaustion. What she didn't realize though was how someone else was on their way, and it would resurface her conflicted feelings again, opening up something she thought she burried long ago...

Masane stepped into the gym, having recovered from her last fiasco. She seemed quiet, a stern expression across her face. She walked past the aisle of lockers that Seraphim was in before walking on. She was still dressed in her gi and the white pants that came with it. She was heading towards the gym, planning on practicing on the punching bag that Seraphim just finished with. As she approached it, she noticed a little blood on it. She stared at it for a moment. Whoever was here last was working at this thing hard...

Just the feeling of a cool, moist towel against her forehead and wiping up the blood from her knuckles felt heavenly. It was the little things in life like this that she started to learn to enjoy, always finding the smaller things to be the best, even if it was just a temporary releif. It certainly helped clear her head, and she als felt like her skill had been improving, almost near the peak of human ability as a boxer, still even deciding to restrain herself with the training weighted bracers she had on, even during her matches.

Very faintly, she had a smile on her face, her previous anxiety fading somewhat as she disposed of the towel, and closed her locker. Just as she did though, she saw someone from the corner of her good eye, tensing up as she did.

'...Masane...?' It made her feel like she had just seen a ghost, her whole body getting a slight chill as the memories of what happened between the two of them instantly flooded through her mind. The way she abused Masane, broke her down, and sent her to the hospital. She felt guilt fill her like a poison through her viens, and just as quick as her anxiety left, it washed back over her. Seraphim couldn't shake it off, even as she tried to, and then, regaining some of her revolve, she left the locker room towards the gym, jogging over to catch up with the girl, and stopping just short as she stood behind her, silently looking at Masane as she was about five feet away from her. Seraphim parted her lips to say something, but just as she did, the girl clammed up, her single eye shifting away, tempted to just turn around before Masane saw her, but unable to move, like she was rooted in place, her own conciousness conflicting her deeply right now.

Masane felt the punching bag for a moment, and wiped away a little of the blood before looking down at it. She remained unresponsive to it, and wiped it on a fold of the ring apron nearby her. As she did, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hm?" She looked up to see a familiar face. She blinked at her for a moment, recalling the foul deeds she did to her, but then remembered her trying to make up for it as well. The experience.. was not a pleasant one for her, but she didn't exactly give her a cold look either. She then looked down at her knuckles, and saw they were raw. She gestured towards the punching bag. "Is this your blood?"

This entire moment felt awkward to Seraphim, biting the edge of her lip somewhat nervously, still shifting uncomfortably as she tried to find something to say, her conscious struggling right now, and the indecision driving her nuts. For someone so strong and resiliant, it was the emotional weakness like this that showed her biggest flaw, uncomfortable shifting a little as she placed her hands into her pockets, not even caring that she was just in her sports bra, since it still covered her quite well enough to make people think it was just a sport-top for training rather than her actual bra. Soon, her gaze shifted to the ground, trying to figure out just what to do or say, until suddenly, she heard Masane's voice, and noticed the girl was looking right at her.

Her crimson eye perked, her whole body tensing for a moment like she was startled, and she gave the most nervous, awkward smile one ever could expect from Seraphim. She then stuttered, Seraphim actually having trouble speaking, before nodding slowly, realizing what Masane was pointing out, trying to gather herself and answer, finally composing herself just a little at the end.

"Y-..Yea. I um.. saw you come in and was just... er... s-saying hi I guess." Feeling incredably awkward right now, the guilt enough now to break the girl down, Seraphim couldn't even make eye contact with Masane, looking back down at her feet like the floor was the most interesting thing right now, half expecting a punch right here and now. And if that was the case, Seraphim would allow it and not even fight back, getting a single punch was no where near enough to make up for what she did to Masane that day...

Masane raised an eyebrow at Seraphim's reply. She was.. nervous? No.. it wasn't that... remorse? Possibly. The thought of that caused her to have a small smile on her face.

"You're acting like a scared kitten." She grinned. It was in good nature, but her expression still had somewhat of a serious expression across it. "Also.. I doubt you need to work up that much courage to say 'hi' to me. What's on your mind?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the ring while still watching her.

Seraphim was rarely this nervous, only being this way once in a blue-moon, but when she was, Seraphim could be read like an open book, and Masane seemed to hit the nail on the head when she thought the one-eyed fighter had something else on her mind. Trying to compose herself a little, Seraphim rubbed the back of her head a little, taking a slow breath, and shaking her head a little. "I'm just... I'm not good at this sort of thing, but I wanted to um... apol.... er... say I..."

'Damnit! Just out with it you pussy, stop making a fool of yourself!'

"Well you see I.... the last time we um..." Seraphim didn't know where to start, her crimson eye seeming to lose a bit of it's normal flare, shifting away again as she rubbed her head a little again, having trouble making eye contact with the karate-girl, finishing with a slow sigh. "How the Hell do I say this...? I..."

'Oh come ooooon... just tell her.'

"When we met... here in the gym before I...." A stuttering mess, Seraphim's words didn't sound as reserved and shy, but she stuttered a lot, like she was just too embarressed or unable to speak her mind, getting tongue tied with herself and making someone as serious as herself seem more vulnerable. It actually made Seraphim a bit more... human to see a flaw like this in her, certainly giving Masane a different view of the one who abused her so horribly before.

Masane grinned a little as she watched Seraphim stutter and stammer nervously. She shook her head slowly, having her arms crossed under her chest. "I'll give you ten seconds to spit it out, or I'm just going to leave." She said with a small smile. "What about when we met in the gym. If you're trying to apologize, you've already done that, and I've already forgiven you. Hm... didn't think you'd try to get in contact with me again though... to be honest, I thought we had some unspoken agreement with each other to avoid each other as much as we could. So what is it?"

The moment Masane gave that ten second rule, Seraphim imediattly clammed up, standing stern, swallowing hard, and taking a slow, long breath. She did this to attempt to compose herself, finding it working for now, as she tensed her hands into fists slowly, and released them just as quickly, nodding slowly, feeling like she could finally state her mind now. "I.. I know I did, I just... it still doesn't sit well with me. I've... changed a lot since then, but even if you forgave me, I still haven't forgiven myself." Her nervous tone fading by now, Seraphim's crimson eye finally locked on Masane's, still a little upset and nervous, but a sterness in her look as well. "I just wanted to set things right, even if that means letting you punish me and break me apart... because if that's the case, I'll let you." Seraphim always was a bit of a masochist, and was very black and white in the field of her personal guilts, finding that they were impossible to forgive until not only did the other person forgive her, but she felt she was punished for it as well. And so, Seraphim offered Masane the oppurtunity, allowing the girl the chance to beat Seraphim down if it made her feel any better.

Masane smiled when Seraphim finally started to speak. She listened to her quietly, then frowned a little. "Beating you down for something that happened in the past will not make either of us feel any better. It's over with. Lets just move on, ok?" She said.