Just a little Pickup (For Cirno)

"Eh..you're right...you're right.." Heather would say as she kept talking of it taking time to become champion. She would see the girl sit up straight, looking up to the ceiling as she would say her next words. "Yeah...It will be..I'll take it back..." She would say, nodding her head, though still slightly unsure of herself. It was all too hard and it came out all too quickly. The fact that one day she felt on top of the world and the next feeling like she was overthrown and sent to the bottom, it was crushing.

"No..you're right.." Heather would let out, sighing. When it came down to it, the concept of having friends support her has been incredibly new for her, not even knowing of such a thing before she came to AFW. With the short amount of time of her life that she actually remembered, it was all about bettering herself with assistance from her brother. "I...need as much help as I can get...I really do.."

" You know what they say.. What comes up must come down.. " She would ease herself up off the bench and turned to lean her back against the lockers instead, looking down at Heather while she crossed her arms against her chest. " No exceptions, so don't think about what can happen to Sarah Gatt, because it will. You just need to be ready when it happens. " She tried to comfort Heather by assuring her that her biggest problem will be dealt with. " Nothing in this world worth having comes easy.. "

As she spoke that out, her gaze diverted to the side, keeping her eyes on everything except Heather. " Make sure you're worthy to get it. "

"Right..." Heather would let out, nodding her head again at Karina's words. She would watch as the girl would get up and lean against the lockers. She would stare at her as she talked, her worries fading just slightly at her words as she would let out a sigh. "Yeah...you know..you're right.." She would let out.

"Ah..Karina.." Heather would let out, seeing that she was looking everywhere but at her. She would smile just slightly, standing up and going to hug Karina. "Thank you..seriously.." She would say. She was still really feeling down inside, but with all that Karina was saying she was feeling quite a bit better.

Just when Karina tilted her head to look at Heather, did the girl came to hug her. At first Karina didn't react, but then she started to blush brightly, which was definitely unlike her. " Don't.. Mention it. I'm just helping you out because I expect a good challenge next time we fight. " Though not completely honest because she would rather see a hard working fighter like Heather happy then sad, she figured it was enough to make Heather believe it.

" Make sure you keep your eye on the prize. " She would still add, still leaning back against the locker, though the hug did feel nice, it had been over a year since she last had one.

"Ah heh, of course." Heather would let out as she would let go of the hug, stepping back and sitting back down on the bench as she would keep her eyes up at Karina. With everything that Karina has said, she didn't have to do anything at all. Heather greatly appreciated the girl's attempts at cheering her up, and regardless of the girl's reasoning, it felt quite good.

"Right..of course. Heather would say, nodding her head. "I'm GOING to beat Gatt...I know it.." Heather would let out, reassuring herself more than being confident in what she was saying. Knowing that she had Cecilia, and now even Karina backing her, it was slowly starting to make her feel much better about her whole situation.

Karina thought back about some of the things she had done in the past and if given the same speech she had just given Heather, would have kept her from going down that violent path. She couldn't help but frown, realizing the things she have done, and the new friends she had met along the way that tried to stop her, even gaining a crush on two of them.. She grumbled softly to herself, whispering out. " Megumi.. " That girl had inflicted the most ' damage ' to her. Karina had been stopped only after her fight against Eclipse, where she had used her guitar against Tomomi, yet in the end she still ended up in a hospital bed and eventually, a night with Megumi she could never forget..

That alone made her cheeks flush slightly, resting back aganst the locker and quickly shook away those thoughts, it was for the best that she had abandoned her friends, not for the sake of being alone, but to keep them safe while she had her own personal vendetta, that had come to an end. Now she had returned and hoped that she wouldn't attract them, but for now, that didn't matter, she was here to cheer up Heather, who seemed alot more spirited then before, which only made her feel like she was going to have one great match ahead of her against this girl, her new riva.

Megumi Mutoh had been watching the match between Heather and Cecilia, curious as to the strengths of a potential rival while wishing one of her friends luck in one of the biggest fights of her career. The match was a roller coaster of emotions; back and forth from the very beginning, to when the girls took it out of the ring and brawled all over the AFW premises. In the end Cecilia won and Heather lost, which made Megumi feel quite bad for her friend. They both fought with all they had. She knew how crushed Heather must be feeling, even though the girl took losses well she was going to take this to heart and let it hurt her. Megumi knew she couldn't let that happen to someone like Heather. She wouldn't be able to bear it.

So after the match, Megumi made her way to the AFW complex and went looking for Heather. She knew the girl would probably be hiding somewhere wallowing in her own self-pity. It didn't take long for Megumi to find where she was. Apparantly she entered the locker room and never left. Megumi pushed open the door to the locker room and walked inside. She was about to call out Heather's name when she heard some voices talking. One was unmistakably Heather's. The other was familiar, someone Megumi hadn't expected to hear.

She turned the corner and found Heather sitting down on the bench, and Karina leaning against the lockers. "I thought I heard someone talking," she said, "Hello Heather, not moping anymore I hope?" She then turned to Karina. "I hadn't expected to see you Karina... welcome back!" She stepped forward, holding open her arms, inviting Karina to come in and hug her, hoping that Karina would still remember that friendship they had and respond intimately.

Heather would let out a long sigh as she sat there in front of Karina. She had quite the flurry of different emotions in just the past couple minutes and now it seemed things were settling down. Heather still knew she had quite the fight ahead of her, but she was slightly more determined now to stay on that path of the fight, thanks to Karina's words. She would look up at the girl again who was grumbling to herself. She would see her whisper out something, but Heather couldn't quite make out what she said.

She would tilt her head a bit as she could see Karina's expressions, watching her as she shook her head. "Uh..hey..you alright?" She would let out, confused in the sudden expression change on Karina's face. She had just been getting a pep talk from the girl when suddenly it seemed she was dealing with her own inner problems. Heather would go to stand up before she would hear another voice, causing her to remain seated and turn herself towards the direction of the sound.

"Megumi??" Heather would let out as the girl would say what she did. "A-aah..I-I was not moping!" Heather would let out, crossing her arms before she would see Megumi address Karina, holding her arms out. "Ah..you...two know eachother?

Karina wondered what would happen if she would see her again. This wasn't the first time though, usually when she'd return they were straight in a match again, just thinking about it made her sigh out of frustration, along with Akashi, Megumi had been on of the few to actually reach her to this calmed state, she should really thank her properly when she actually had the courage to confront her again. Just when she was about to answer Heather with a rather usual answer, came the voice that she instantly recognized, tilting her head to the side and noticed the crimson warrior herself standing there.

At first she wondered what she was doing here, though that question was quickly answered since apparently she and Heather knew each other, then came to the invitation to a hug. Karina blushed off course, trying her best to hide one but it was too clear in view, looking away from Megumi and thinking to herself that she shouldn't.. Then again, she was finally done with all the stupidity, maybe it was time to open up more and Megumi basically deserved At least one hug. She sighed, coming in agreement with her thoughts, she would step towards Megumi. " Yeah, thanks. " She would actually move in and accept the invitation, wrapping her arms warmly around Megumi to hold her. " Sorry for not telling you, but it's good to be back. "

"It's good to see you," Megumi said, hugging Karina closely for a moment, before pulling back. She looked her old friend up and down, smiling when she saw Karina looking much happier than before, without all those dark thoughts and feelings inside her eyes that Megumi had gotten used to. "I'm glad to see you're doing well. We've got a lot of catching up to do. Don't just disappear on me like that again!"

She turned back to Heather. "I'm more surprised you two know each other," she said, "Didn't realize you were friends already! Karina and I go back a ways. We were friendly rivals once, kinda like the way we are now Heather. And yes, there was a bit of that too." She smiled and winked at Heather, knowing that the dark-haired beauty would know exactly what Megumi meant. "I was watching your match. You were great in there. I was rooting for you the whole time, you know."

She walked over to the bench and sat down next to Heather, putting an arm around the girl's shoulder and holding her. "I can tell Karina's already given you a pep talk, so I'll spare you mine," she continued, "Don't get discouraged from losing to Cecilia! You gave it your all, and that's more than good enough, ne?"