Imara had been lying awake now for some time unable to shake the feeling that she needed to be doing something else. That she needed to be somewhere else. Though her eyes had been closed, she had yet to slip into the slumber than that man whose arms were wrapped around her seemed to drifted into so easily after their love making.

Rolling her head slightly to gaze over her shoulder, Imara had to wonder where it had all changed. When had things gone from sex for dominance to her even allowing him to cuddle after they made love? Now, she would never admit this but she almost looked forward to his embraced as they slept. However, trying to climb out of it was always a bit...tricky.

But somehow, she had managed it with only small groans coming from her sleeping lover.

As she stood watching him roll over to his other side, Imara couldn’t help but let lose a smile. How things had changed in such a short amount of time. And now, they needed to change again. Oh she knew he would have a FIT when he awoke to find her gone, especially once he read the note she left on his bedside table. But, this was something she needed to do...alone.

Scribbled on a piece of paper was simply:
I need to do this myself. Give me three days and if I don’t show up at your -other- office by midnight on the third, you can send in the rescue team….

For a moment, she had debated adding the word love but thought better of it. He might think she had really lost her mind then. Sometimes, Imara was pretty sure she had. Mathias had that effect on her after all.

But before she slipped out, Imara stopped and returned to add on the bottom.

Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.

Only then did she slip her form from that of Imara Mason to Stibnite, Captain of the Negaverse and use the front door to grab the small camping bag she kept in her car. One look back at the house and she disappeared.

It was only a few moments later that Stibnite stepped through the Hall of Shadows and out into the Rift. While it was not her first visit there, it was the first time she came alone and without really any prior planning. All she knew was that she had two goals. The first was simple: find and bond to a youma. The second...not die...might be a little trickier. But, this time, she was on her own. How much of her life had been spent in the woods or traveling the world on her own? Of course many of those times she had a gun. This time, all she had was a small needle like crossbow and her wits.

She liked the odds.

---
It was some time that passed before Stibnite leaned back against one of the dark rocks that appeared everywhere in the Rift. She had given some thought to the traits she was looking for in a youma and had thus set out more in the direction of cliffs and peaks than flat land and...graveyards. That had really felt like something out of The Lion King and she expected singing hyenas to appear at any moment whenever she was near it.

Gazing up at the sky, Stibs had to shake her head. She hadn’t seen hide nor hare or anything remotely like what she was after. Wings. She wanted a creature that possessed flight. She was, after all, a huntress. What better than a bird of prey when her hunting partner already possessed the retriever...sorry Iudicael.

Though it appeared the Rift had...other ideas. She had seen small creatures as she walked and slipped passed a few larger ones because she wasn’t in the mood to tango with something the size of an elephant, but so far, the skies had been empty.

“Really? Youma always seem to appear when you don’t want them to.” Stibnite groaned as she let her pack slip from her shoulder and slid down the side of the rock. Alright she could tell that she had been climbing in altitude as she walked. Especially when one moved about 5ft from where her legs rested and looked over at the sudden drop. But that didn’t bother the female. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out the water canteen she kept on hand. “How the heck did he spend a week here…” She mumbled to herself gazing forward at the vastness that was the Rift.

Absentmindedly, Stibnite pulled the gold chain out from under her cowl. Her engagement ring hung on the long chain and it was quickly becoming a mindless habit to mess with it. She had made it nearly a week before giving up trying to wear the piece of jewelry on her finger. Truth was, it just got in the way. Simple as it was, the stones caught on everything and if she tried to use her hand, she kept fretting it would catch and break. This was the compromise.

And that the wedding band was going to be nothing more than a simple ring if he wanted her to even consider wearing it. Punching something with a priceless stone on your finger was more trouble than it was worth! Even insurance on the rings wouldn’t cover that every time.

Maybe that was why she felt like she needed to do this on her own. To prove to herself that getting married didn’t mean she was losing herself. She was still a person. They were not one being even with a stupid legally binding…

“HEY!” Stibnite’s voice nearly screamed as something smacked her upside the head. Looking up, she saw nothing more than the rock she had been sitting on. Looking to the ground, her eyes saw a small stone that appeared to have been sliced off the larger being.

Looking in front of her, Stibnite saw the reason.

There landed a creature that clearly has as much interest in the human woman as she did in it. The long neck turned slightly as yellow eyes gazed towards Stibnite’s face as if it was sizing her up. A tail much like that of a young peacock followed behind it and the way it moved caused the captain shift her legs out of striking distance. Even its beak and talons were clearly sharp. Which would explain the neat patterns on the rock she had just been smacked with. And yet, the creature neatly folded its wings and just stared at her.

“You know, that wasn’t very smart…” Stibnite spoke, her own eyes latching onto the bird’s. Red took on yellow as she capped the canteen and leaned forward. “If I was any other agent, I might make an example of you…” Stibnite found herself on her hands and knees as if now moving to challenge the bird. “And who knows...I might...What the…”

Words never formed. The black bird stuck out it’s neck, grabbed the ring around Stibnite’s neck and yanked. Feeling the chain break, Stibnite was on her feet as she lunged at the bird before it could take flight. “Oh no you don’t!” Arms wrapped around the beast as it tried to spread its wings. Even as she felt the blades on its tail hit her back, Stibnite didn’t let go. Instead she held harder, using the momentum to try and pin the creature. “Give that back!”

The bird did its best to thrash about in her arms, talons slicing against her chest and beak trying to jab down at anything attached to her. Out of the corner of her eyes, Stibnite saw that it had released her ring...she also saw that it was bouncing towards the edge

And...over.

“s**t!” She screamed, pushing off with her back foot, releasing the beast and made a dive for the chain before it disappeared.

Fingers closed around the chain just in time.

Stibnite gave a long, slow sigh of relief all before snapping her head back to see the youma trying to use its beak to get off its back. Turtle Bird. “You stupid youma. Do you know what you almost…” Stibnite had started to move again, headed to strike the creature before a sound made her stop. She knew that noise and looked down at the ground around her legs.

And then it was gone.
---

“Ugh...my head…” a glove covered hand rose up to rest against the top of her forehead. It was pulsing as if it had its own heartbeat under the skin. Based on the stinging, there was a nice slice over her forehead and the warm liquid of her life blood was starting to slip down her cheek. Running her tongue over the corner of her lip allowed her to taste the cooper and salt of the blood. Whoever decided teleportation couldn’t work in the rift could burn in it.

Sitting up slowly to not cause a blood rush, Stibnite felt the rubble began to fall off her into small dust piles. She could feel the bruises forming all over her body. Her shoulders, her hips, her back. Normally such a feeling would be welcomed but after a fall like that to tell her that nothing was forever damaged. This time it just made her want to get out of there and take a hot bath.

But not before she accomplished her goal. She had come to the rift for a reason after all.

As if on cue, Stibnite’s ears caught the sound of metal. It was coming from behind her and if she had to guess, it wasn’t human.

A stiff turn of her body proved that the thought was right. The Youma that had started this entire mess when it had tried to take her engagement ring was about 10ft away, tail and right wing pinned under a larger piece of the cliff. Every other breath, the creature would yank or twist to try and break free. One or two times, it spun it’s head around and poked at the rock breaking a piece off.

A smile came across Stibnite’s face as she stiffly rose from the ground and closed the distance between her and the youma, stopping only just out of reach of the peak that it sent towards her as a warning. “Oh stop it. I’m not going to hurt you anymore than you already are.” Stibnite hissed, squatting down before taking a sitting position. “Nope, you want out? You have to get out yourself. I’ve already seen that you can make a dent in the object stopping you so now you better beat it. Else I’ll just have to put you out of your misery.”

A long moment passed as yellow eyes held red. There was silence all around until the bird turned its head and started poking at the rock yet again.
---
Heels clicked along the stones of the barracks. Dirt, gravel, and what looked like might have been blood trailed behind her but Stibnite didn’t care. Her eyes were on a door at the end of the hallway where she knew she would find a man staring at the clock about ready to call out the calvary. God bless the man but he was overprotective at times.

Not that she blamed him when it came to dealing with the Rift. There was no joking around when it came to the place she had just stayed. But it was worth it.

Grabbing the door handle, Stibnite took a breath and threw it open.

Looking in on the General, the Captain shot him a look of exhaustion before extending her arm out. A second later, a form of a large bird of prey appeared on her arm, the metal tail clanking as the bird appeared to ruffle its ‘feathers’. Shifting the bird up her arm, Stibnite, covered in everything she could possibly have found in the rift, walked up the General, grabbed the front of his coat and yanked him toward into a heated kiss.

“How the ******** did you spend a week in that s**t hole?”

Word Count: 2044