Pain flashed through Sky's body like a bolt of lightning, and she screamed as she went down on one knee.

It wasn't Miguel's fist, it was the bullet that hit her. Once again it tore through skin and flesh and bone. Blood splattered. Sky tasted copper on her lips, the darkness surrounded her, the dark spiral that would fucking drown her—

No! No, I'm not gonna fall!

Drawing in a shaky breath, Sky opened her eyes, just to see Miguel's outstretched hand in front of her.

"Asshole," she breathed through her teeth, but took the hand and let Miguel help her up.

"Sorry," Miguel said, but he didn't really look like he was sorry at all. "I just wanna win."

As soon as she was back on her feet, Sky pulled her hand back. "By any means necessary, huh? Even if it means fighting dirty?"

"Nothing dirty about winning," Miguel shrugged, but didn't meet her eyes. He turned his back on her and walked back to his side of the mat, and as he turned to face her again, his eyes were black as night.

Sky rolled her shoulder, and the pain made her wince, but she chose not to care about it. Nothing was broken, it was just sore and swollen and there was nothing new there. She wasn't going to give up now - this fight would be over soon enough, anyway.

"Fight!" came the sharp command, and again Miguel launched himself at her, and Sky only barely managed to dodge the kick aimed at her shoulder. She began to panic, to fear the pain, to fear what might happen if he hit her shoulder again. She had been so close to falling into a flashback, and she could still feel it lingering on her. Suddenly she was scared of her opponent, that strange, angry boy with black eyes, and she retreated, blocking and ducking punch and kick after another, until—

A roundhouse kick to the same damn shoulder, and again she went down, a wail of pain escaped her lips and she couldn't stop the tears as she hit the mat hard.

And it isn't the mat anymore, it is the cold, tiled floor of her old school. There is blood on her lips and her shoulder is hurting so much that she wants to die - and then it hits her - she is dying. Her life is gushing out of her with all that blood, and it is harder and harder to draw in a breath, to keep her eyes open.

The gun lies on the floor next to Matt's feet, and someone is screaming, but all Sky can think about is Kat. She struggles to stay conscious, fixates her gaze on Kat's face as if it is the only thing that exists in the world. Her lifeless eyes. The blood that's spilling down her chin.

But what is the point of fighting the darkness? If Kat is gone, she has nothing worth living for. Nothing.

Tears fall to her cheeks and mix with the blood, and she lets the darkness in. It calls to her, and it is soft, it feels like home and Sky knows this will all be over soon. She knows she's going to see Kat again. When her heart stops, she's not scared anymore.

"It's not real!" Sky heard someone shouting. "It's not real! Snap out of it!"

Hawk's voice. And with a jolt, Sky remembered she did have things worth living for, things worth fighting for, things that would kickstart her heart over and over and over again as sure as the defibrillator the paramedics had used on her. As many fucking times as necessary.

And then, a hand on her shoulder - but it wasn't Hawk, it was Sensei Lawrence, and his ice blue eyes were wide, alert, and full of worry.

"Ginger, you okay?" he asked in a low voice.

Sky pushed herself up to a sitting position and took a shaky breath, then another.

Four counts in, six out. Again. Again. Again.

"You need the medic?" Sensei asked. "You don't have to continue—"

"I'm fine," Sky replied with a trembling voice. "And yeah, I have to continue."

Something flashed in Sensei's eyes - a mix of pride and worry - and he held out a hand for her. Sky gripped it, palm against palm, his strong big hand against her own smaller one, and let him help her up on her shaky legs.

Drawing in a couple of more deep breaths, Sky glanced around. She saw Hawk at the edge of the mat, wide-eyed, his cheeks burning, staring at her as if he wanted to drag her away from the mat and carry her to safety. Sky forced herself to give him a small smile and a nod.

She didn't want to find out what Hawk would do to Miguel afterward, in the finals—

It would get ugly like no fight ever.

"It's okay," She said. "Don't worry."

As the fight started again, Sky instantly knew it would be over soon. Miguel was just as good and ruthless as she had always suspected he would be. He had two points, she had zero, and on top of that she was hurting, her mind was still lingering in that place where silence and darkness had claimed her and called her home.

She met Miguel's eyes, took a wide stance, and tilted up her chin.

"You want to win?" she breathed. "Then come and get those points."

Miguel looked like he wanted to say something, his throat bobbed - but he pushed down the emotion, took the fighting stance, and let out a loud 'Kiai!'

He attacked her with all he got, and Sky blocked, ducked, retreated—

"What's wrong with you?" cried a voice she would have recognized anywhere, and Sky drew in a shocked breath. "Are you gonna just give up? Kick him in the face already!"

Kat!

Sky's eyes teared up, she tasted blood and sweat and the salt of tears, and she blocked one strike after another, felt her arms bruising, her legs burning, her shoulder aching. Her mind was slipping big time.

This wasn't real. Kat couldn't be here. She was dead, and—

"Come on Phoenix! Sweep his legs, you rock at that move!"

"Would you shut up, I'm trying to fight here!" Sky cried, backing away from Miguel, whose eyes widened, clearly confused about the fact Sky was talking to herself.

"I'll shut up when you start fighting and stop losing, bitch." Kat said clear and loud as if she was standing right next to her. "Stop being a pussy and kick his stupid ass already! A leg sweep, now!"

With a frustrated cry Sky went low and swept Miguel off his feet. Miguel hit the mat hard, and before he had time to get back up, Sky punched him on the sternum scoring a point.

"Yeah!" She heard Hawk's voice from somewhere far away, the crowd was cheering, but as Sky glanced around to see the one face she wanted to see, the ebony skin, the onyx eyes, she realized—

Kat's gone and she's never coming back.

It took all Sky had not to start crying, and her breathing came shaky and uneven as she walked back to her side of the mat. She didn't bother to help Miguel up - for all she cared he could rot there till the end of time.

"What next?" she asked under her breath. "If you have any more good advice, now would be the time?"

"He's all offense and no defense. Use that."

"Right," Sky muttered. "Any way you could be more specific?"

But Miguel was attacking already and he was fierce, he was fast and he wanted this victory more than Sky did. It took every bit of her strength and concentration to stay in the fight, and even that wasn't enough. Miguel's fierce punch threw her to the mat, even if she managed to block it. "No point!" the referee shouted.

Without hesitation, Sky aimed a kick at Miguel's stomach - he managed to partly block it and didn't fall down, but as he struggled to find balance, Sky kicked again and felt her foot connecting with his chin.

Miguel sure wasn't expecting that.

The audience went wild, and as Miguel dropped to the mat, the cheering was so loud Sky could barely hear the cry he let out.

"Point!" The referee announced, and Sky crawled back to her feet.

From somewhere far away she heard familiar voices, Dad cheering for her, Paulo too, and Sky heard Aisha, Hawk and so many others, but she kept her eyes on Miguel.

His eyes were black and narrowed, as he clenched his fists and took a wide stance. They both had two points now, and Sky had no idea how much time was left - probably not much, though. The next point might be the winning one—

Do I really wanna win this fight? If I do, I'll have to fight Hawk, and I don't know if I can do it—

"Stop whining!" Kat's voice was back in her head. "What's the point of competing if you're not here to win? I'm ! I can't win anymore, but you fucking can so do it already!"

Sky laughed through tears and breathed in those words. She didn't even care that she was fucking losing her mind, that this was psychosis, probably the first signs of schizophrenia, that she was as crazy as a bag full of cats.

For a year now she had sent messages to Kat on her phone. She had screamed her name into the darkness of the night. She had dreamt of her, of hearing her voice one more time. She had played her voice mails thousand and one times and sent hundreds of her own. She had written a letter to Kat and put it in the mailbox with an address that simply said Heaven.

She had begged Kat to give her a sign, any kind of sign that she was still out there, that dying didn't mean that everything just stopped. For Sky couldn't believe that. She couldn't believe that all which had been Kat - the sound of her laughter, the depth of her eyes, her wisdom, her courage, her dirty jokes - all that was just gone, scattered into the universe as the atoms that had formed her strong, beautiful body were turned to nothing but ash and carbon dioxide. She had to believe that there was something more, that they would see each other again. She had prayed for Kat to haunt her, to come back in any form - a ghost, a spirit, an angel, a fucking zombie - she didn't care. She had bought a god damn ouija board - it had worked for Sam and Dean so why not for her and Kat? - and sat in front of it every night for weeks, her fingers trembling on the pointer.

And nothing.

Nothing.

Until the point had come where she had lost her faith, her courage, her everything. She had given up.

So hearing Kat's voice in her head now - Hell, if this was insanity, she would take it. With Kat on her side, she could do anything.

Her feet were light, and the free, constant movement of capoeira was in her muscle memory, even if her punches and kicks were pure karate. The fire within her soul burnt like a flame, and she breathed in it. She was strong. She was fast. She was not a girl anymore, she was a flame, she was a fucking Phoenix!

"No more leg sweeps, He's gonna expect that. You're faster than him, use that. Go straight at him!"

Bursting with energy, Sky attacked. Strike after strike after strike aimed at Miguel's chest, and he blocked them all, but he was the one backing away now. He was the one losing footing, he was the one on defense, and Sky didn't give up - a punch, a strike, a kick, again and again, and she was faster, she was fiercer, she had an angel on her shoulder—

— an angel who was laughing and cursing like a sailor, and telling her to fucking finish this already, but—

Miguel was too slow. Sky saw it in slow motion, her fist striking Miguel's chest with all the power of her body and soul behind it. The impact rattled the bones of her hand and arm, all the way to her injured shoulder, but she didn't give a shit about the pain.

Miguel flew back, all air leaving his lungs, and went down, gasping for air.

"A point!"

Sky looked up, her eyes widening. The clock had struck three minutes at the exact moment she had punched Miguel, earning the winning point.

"Kat—!" Sky breathed, suddenly tasting tears, as the hall exploded around her, the loud cheering of the crowd drowning even the voice of the referee who grabbed her hand and yanked her arm in the air announcing her the winner.

Tears blurring her vision, she blinked against the bright lights, and the only thing she could see was Hawk, who was rushing towards her. She barely had time to draw in a breath, before he pulled her into his arms, his strong, wiry arms that were trembling around her.

"Wow, your boyfriend is hot," said Kat, and Sky started crying and laughing at the same time as she buried her face into Hawk's shoulder.

"Shut up," she managed through sobs.

Hawk pulled back to take a look at her, cupping her face in his hands. "I didn't say anything,"

"I know."

"Are you okay?" he asked, and Sky nodded. He gently wiped off her tears with his thumbs, and Sky saw her own reflection in the pupils of his wide eyes.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Cause I have an angel on my shoulder."

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