Destructoras, Interrupted

The door clicks shut as Peregrina Loca slips onto the balcony of her temporary lodging, leaving behind the fitfully-slumbering Guadalupe, to take a breath of cool night air. She lingers a moment, then reaches into the pocket of her sweatpants, palming the slender form of a cigarillo. While smoothing it out thoughtfully, she's interrupted by a familiar mumble.

"Those will kill you, you know..."

Pera looks up with a gentle smile, espying the form of Araña Oscura perched in a nearby chair, knees drawn up, blinking as she wakes from a nap. Candlelight flickers off the younger woman's face as her mentor tucks away the cigarillo and efficiently retrieves a thick blanket from the neighboring shelf.

"Not as quickly as the cold will kill you."

A twinkle of mirth in her eye, Pera tucks the blanket around the rookie and takes a seat.

"I didn't know you were here, pollita. Congratulations on your first win."

"Third..."

The veteran shakes her head.

"No, you will always remember this one. It's your first, alone. You've grown."

"Thanks to you."

Pera frowns.

"For the last time; thanks to you. And, as much as we may not like it, Craneo did her part. You stood up to her, because she tried to make you in her image - like Basa--"

"You don't have to talk about that."

It's a hasty interjection. Araña sits forward, concerned.

"No... I do. That maleducada is why we're all here, and in two weeks we're going back there. Where this all began. You mustn't look past Fire Sale, but I have to. Araña, you must understand, you were lucky to be trained by Craneo."

She's spent weeks demonizing her adoptive sister, and this news sits poorly with Oscura. Confusion, anger, and doubt creep into a frown, and then - resignation. She draws a sigh, as across town, a similar conversation is unfolding between the much-maligned Craneo, and Araña's real sister, Calavera. The latter's massaging her recovering injury as Craneo sits, outwardly regal, reserved. Dealing with her own emotions, her own way.

"She doesn't know how lucky she was."

Calavera quirks a brow and huffs, stolidly indignant.

"I don't disagree, but so what? She's moved on. We should move on."

"We don't run away, not like her. Do you know what I've been through? What it's cost me, to keep us together?"

The titanic woman rolls her shoulders, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

"Some scars, some bruises?"

That draws a bark of laughter from Craneo, rage and audacity striking the fire back into icy features.

"Scars! Calavera, estúpida, it's not the pain we feel on the outside - it's what we carry with us, the scars we cannot see. You both saw none of it, felt none of it. The things that man put me through...!"

She curtails her rant with a hiss, and Calavera squirms, side-eyeing her.

"Since when do you--"

"Have feelings? Feel pain? I'm losing everything, Calavera, and I can't-- I won't. Your hermana is coming home."

"The things he did to us-- to her."

Pera stops herself, forcing a smile as she sees the concern deepen in Araña.

"But, Craneo--"

"Is a victim. She was made the way she is, and submitted to it because she felt like she had no choice. And I did the same thing, Araña. Until I saw a way out, and sacrificed my body and my freedom because I thought he would be merciful to a pregnant woman."

"Lupe? She's--?"

"The daughter of a man who kept us in line. I seduced him, pretended to love him, and when that didn't work, when I was forced back into training - it was Craneo that Basa used as a weapon against me. Forcing her to hurt me, believing she'd be able to kill the life I carried. That's the family he forced her to believe in. That was our home."

"That's why you ran away."

"Sí."

"No!"

Calavera jolts upright, as Craneo swats away her heavy hand - a weak attempt at comfort.

"This is what I do. I walk into that ring, and I take what's ours. It began in Mexico, and it's going to end there. That treachorous perra is going to break like I should have broken her years ago, when he asked me to. He was right about her."

This language the Destructora's powerhouse can speak. She smirks.

"No mercy."

"None! Never again! Their little winning streak is over. Her experiment is over. I'll dangle the carrot, she'll be forced to face me, and I'll use the stick to break every bone in her body."

Calavera grins.

"And I'll--"

"I don't need you. I'm Craneo, the greatest student of Horado Basa. I have this."

Her fist striking the table between them, Craneo leans forward with a sneer, and on that pleasant balcony, Peregrina does the same. Seizing both of her protégé's hands, staring intently.

"Basa will have a plan, Araña. Craneo will have a plan, and I have one too. Keep your mind on Regan and Francis, remember everything we've gone over. Focus on the match, and that gold I promised you. It will come."

"Okay."

"Trust me. Everything I'm doing is to right those wrongs done to she and I, to make sure nobody gets hurt like that again. This began in Mexico, and it will end there. You'll have the family you deserve. You'll be safe."

Araña laughs, a disarmingly genuine explosion that has her shaking her head.

"Pera, I trust you. I do. But did it ever occur to you, that perhaps I never needed you to replace my family, to be my mamá?"

The older woman blinks, and flashes a lopsided grin, as Araña slips a hand free and boops her on the nose, then reaches to her wrist and quickly unsnaps one of two beautifully-homemade, identical bands only recently placed there. She presses the friendship bracelet onto Peregrina's wrist, snapping the clasp closed with a soft nod.

"I just needed you to be my friend. We've got this."