The courtyard was silent except for the crackle of dying embers. Once, cherry blossoms had danced here in the warm winds of spring; now they hung as blackened bones against the gray sky, skeletal fingers scratching at the air. The ground was broken, paved stones split and scattered, their edges still warm from the battle that had just ended.
Kotori watched as Scarlet turned around, still soaked in blood. She was confused at what the Grimm girl said, why was seeing her defenseless good? Kotori's voice was still sore and scratchy, from the air she inhaled. "What was....what was that just now? Why are you glad?"
A few steps away lay Meninas McAllon, her body laying in a pool of her own blood as her severed head was on the ground by her body. Scarlet turned her head to the head, raising her foot up. She stomped down on the Quincy's sliced head. Crushing it under her foot, a wicked grin played at her lips, she turned her gaze back to Kotori. Staying silent and not answering her question.
The Quincy's blood dripped from Scarlet's fingers, her eyes looking into Kotori's. The Flame spirit felt sick from all the acrid haze she took into her lungs, it curled into her lungs, scraping at her throat still. "Why aren't you answering...."
Scarlet chuckled and took another step towards the spirit. "You're weakened, Spirit. The perfect time…" She tapped the side of her forehead. "Your friend, if you want to call her that. She's trapped in her own mind. I've taken over."
Kotori stepped back again, she wanted to vomit from the sick feeling, but who was this? If this wasn't Scarlet she was talking to, then who? "W-Who?"
"Who am I? I'm the part of her she keeps locked away, the part she only lets out once in a great while." Scarlet spoke. "But if you want to know what to call me..."
The air had gotten colder, Kotori stepped back once more, her heart pounding in her chest. The tick ash and black smoke blew and swirled around Scarlet, Kotori could only see her eyes through the thick black smoke. Then, stepping out from it, Scarlet stood there. Her hair long, once half red, the other half silver. Kotori recognized the Nevermore wing and the horn on her head. But this wasn't the form she's seen, this was different. A Grimm mask covered Scarlet's face, well. Almost all of it, the only thing peeking out from the mask was Scarlet's single crimson eye.
"There, that's better...now then, as I was saying. You may call me... Primal." Primal spoke with a dark and cold tone. "You can say, I'm her inner Grimm. But look at me now, I'm in the pilots seat this time."
"Primal?" Kotori asked, her voice still scratchy. "What is this, some sort of joke?" Kotori asked getting a bit angry. "Stop fooling around."
"Ah, but I'm not fooling around." Primal purred, she took one step. She vanished from Kotori's sight and then a hard blow to the spirit's gut caused Kotori to cough up blood. Primal stood there, fist balled and in Kotor's stomach. "She may have hesitated if she was still here, but she would've also made sure you recovered before going into battle again...I on the other hand."
The sky above trembled with distant rumbles — perhaps another battle in the Soul Society raged nearby — but here, all was eerily still.
Kotori winched in pain as she clutched her stomach. Primal stood over her as she watched the spirit kneel over in pain. "The Quincy race and the Soul Reapers are nothing but noise. But you… your existence is power. And I can use that to my advantage."
Kotori covered her mouth with her other hand as she coughed and puked. She glanced up at Primal, her face pale from all the acrid smoke she took in. In Kotori's chest, something caved in. Not just fear, not just exhaustion — but betrayal. That warm, desperate gratitude she had felt only moments ago curdled into something far blacker. "I-I have to....I have to..."
"Have to what?" Primal asked with a glare in her eye. "Save her? I'd like to see you try...And who's going to help you hm? Certainly not Tohka, nor Shido...not any of your spirit comrades...oh wait, don't tell me. You're going to try to slap some sense into me, to make her come back." She reached down and cupped Kotori's chin in her hand. Her black nails tapping against Kotori's skin. "I'm not going to leave that easily. You can forget about it."
Kotori, needed to think of something quick and fast, or she would be in the same situation as she was before, she stumbled back and took notice at how Primal went in for another attack. Kotori barely rolled clear, Primal's fist hitting deep into the stone where Kotori had been. Shards flew, some cutting into her cheek. Pain shot up her legs as she scrambled to her feet.
Kotori tried to speak, to demand an answer, to understand, but no words came. Maybe she didn't want to hear more. Maybe it didn't matter. Her attacker came again, faster this time, Primal's movements almost casual — as if she were not fighting but playing. Every swing of fists and kick of her leg was precise, forcing Kotori to twist and stumble, pushing her toward the charred trunks of the dead cherry blossoms. Their skeletal branches reached over her like a cage.
Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred. She could smell her own blood mixing with the smoke. Somewhere deep inside, the part of her that was still a spirit of flame screamed, Burn. Burn everything. But her body answered only with a cough and a flicker of heat too. But she noticed one thing, where was the scythe? Where was Black Rose? Did Primal not need the scythe? No...that wasn't it. Maybe she couldn't find it...that had to be it...
~~~
The courtyard seemed to constrict. The remains of the trees loomed inward, casting claw-like shadows over them both. She backpedaled clumsily, her boots scraping stone, her breaths coming in short, panicked bursts.
Each step Primal took was deliberate, unhurried — the predator already certain of victory. Her presence pressed against her like the oppressive heat before a wildfire, suffocating and inevitable.
Kotori stumbled over an uneven stone, collapsed to one knee. A cough seized her lungs, the taste of ash filling her mouth. Her mind frantically searched for escape — but the broken courtyard was enclosed on all sides by collapsed walls, jagged with scorch marks and Quincy arrows embedded in them like splinters. The only opening was behind Primal.
Primal's expression remained unreadable behind the Grimm mask, but the rhythm of her approaching steps sent cold shivers down Kotori's spine. Shadows stretched, reaching for her wrists, her throat.
The question kept popping in her head however, why hand to hand combat, and no weapon? Taking a steady and trembling breath. Kotori asked that question. "Why are you not using a weapon? Where is Black Rose?"
Primal stopped in her tracks. "That old piece of crap? Tch, I'm more the hands on type. Unlike my other half."
Kotori understood now, the differences between the two. Both, Scarlet and Primal were two different sides of a coin, just like Tohka and her inverse form Tenka. Primal's shadow loomed over Kotori, her eye looking down upon the flame spirit. She raised her arm up over her head. "You were never meant to leave this place alive."
Those words struck Kotori hard, her heart aching. All that surviving she did to avoid being killed by Meninas, it was all for nothing? And now she was being told she wasn't meant to survive. She swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat, her throat dry and still scratchy.. burning with the sting of the air from her lungs. Then, before Primal could land a fatal blow onto Kotori. The two heard a soft padding of paws, which broke the tension.
Primal's head turned sharply toward the sound — a small black cat stepping lightly across the shattered stones. Its golden eyes glimmered with uncanny intelligence, a sliver of light in the suffocating gloom.
Kotori blinked. The cat's gaze met hers briefly — an unspoken reassurance in that small glint. Kotori knew this cat, she knew it was Yoruichi. Then, with an almost theatrical fluidity, the cat leapt onto a nearby piece of rubble.
Primal muttered something beneath her breath — irritation, perhaps. The cat's tail flicked once, twice, before the air shimmered around it.
Smoke and light wove around the small form, and in an instant, the feline silhouette stretched, reshaping into the tall, lithe figure of Yoruichi, clad in her black stealth fitting Onmitsukido uniform. Her dark hair framed a face calm but dangerous, and her amber eyes burned with clarity.
"I was wondering why the air smelled like betrayal," Yoruichi said smoothly, her voice slicing through the tension. "And now I know why....so what's the gig? New look....going Hollow? Or...."
Primal turned her gaze to Yoruichi, a small growl coming from her. Even before she could react, Yoruichi was already one step ahead of her. Standing right in front of her, Yoruichi's quickness brought her time. A cold metallic blade, was held up against Primal's throat.
Kotori spoke, her voice still scratchy. "Yoruichi....that isn't...that isn't Scarlet in there...this new persona or whatever...calls herself Primal..."
"Primal huh? Well now." Yoruichi spoke with interest, turning her gaze to Kotori and then back to Primal. "You've got nerve." Yoruichi continued, "turning on a defenseless spirit after playing the hero. That's the kind of thing that makes cats curious… and I'm very curious."
Kotori's breath trembled in relief — sensing the shift in balance was palpable. Her eyes found Yoruichi's, searching for something solid in the chaos.
Yoruichi glanced briefly at Kotori, then back at Primal "So… what's the game? And what's your end goal? Or are you perhaps, just addicted to the smell of fear?"
Primal said nothing, the feeling of the cold blade against her throat was enough to keep her quiet, but then....a small sliver of something broke out...Scarlet's voice, not Primal's cold tone..but Scarlet's actual voice. "Help.....help me."
Yoruichi's eyes and Kotori's eyes widened. Kotori's eyes showed pure terror, her crimson eyes shaking in fear. Yoruichi on the other hand, smirked and chuckled. "That's a nice parlor, trying to make me drop my guard...."
~~~
The faint crackle of reiryoku whispering along Yoruichi's frame flickered, waiting for the first strike to happen.
Primal moved first — a flash of steel in the gloom — but Yoruichi was already gone from her line of sight, a streak of motion blurring past Kotori. Stone shattered under the force of the clash, sparks erupting in short bursts.
Kotori crawled backward, her limbs shaking, watching the fight whirl around her like a storm she could no longer join. She hated the helplessness pressing against her ribs... The betrayal pulsed in her chest stronger than the pain in her exhausted body. She needed to rest, but she couldn't. Not when there was a battle happening before her.
"Kotori!" Yoruichi barked. "Get out of here, head back to Renji and the others, they can make sure you get the rest and recovery you need."
Her words fell on deaf ears, but this was also a distraction on Yoruichi's part. Primal smirked under her Grimm mask, and kneed Yoruichi in the gut. Knocking her down onto the broken stone walk way below. With a hard thud. Yoruichi landed on her back, the air from her lungs escaped as she gasped.
Kotori glanced over, seeing this. As things slowly fell into place. Scrambling to her feet the best she could, the flame spirit hurried towards clearing that was on the other side of the courtyard.
Primal took notice and went to chase after Kotori, but Yoruichi was once again quicker. Sparks from Yoruichi's strikes illuminated fragments of the courtyard — the twisted trees, the blackened walls, the skeletal remains of what had once been beautiful. In each flicker, Kotori saw only the truth, there was no safe ground in this war, no lasting sanctuary.
A powerful kick from Yoruichi sent Primal crashing down into the dried up pond that was once a beautiful scene. Primal cursed under her breath, she glanced around and noticed Kotori had gotten away. Growling with anger, Primal stood up. Her gaze locking onto Yoruichi. "You're pissing me off pussy cat. I think it's time to teach you who the real alpha predator is!"
Yoruichi smirked. "By all means, come at me. I'll knock some sense into you one way or another...."