"Sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀs" ʙʏ Hᴀʟsᴇʏ ғᴛ. Lᴀᴜʀᴇɴ Jᴀᴜʀᴇɢᴜɪ

      This was never how Selina Kyle wanted this to go down. She didn't want to be fighting with her friend, trying to kill each other. But Ivy Pepper had lost her damn mind. Ivy, a dear friend of hers whom she may or may not have feelings for, was trying to kill everyone in Gotham with her freaky plants. She had no choice but to try and stop her.

      But now Selina had just shattered the last of the Lazarus Water, preventing Ivy from making more monstrous flowers. And so the redhead lunged toward her and wrapped her hands around the smaller girl's throat. "You're going to regret that...and now, you're going to die!" Ivy hissed at her, but Selina didn't let her fear show.

      "Ivy, look down." The younger girl said simply. And so the redhead did, to see that Selina had her switchblade pointed right at her stomach, both of them not moving.

      Ivy paused, looking at the knife and then at the younger woman she was pinning to the table. "...well."

      "Yeah." Selina didn't move. She didn't press her knife closer to her abdomen or anything. She just stared right back into Ivy's anger-filled eyes.

      "So what happens now? We kill each other?" Ivy asked her.

      Selina had to bite down a scoff. That'd be an interesting twist in Romeo and Juliet. "That's an option."

      Slowly, the rage in Ivy's grew eyes slowly turned into disappointment and...maybe sadness? "You always did think you were better than me—"

      Selina cut her off quick. "That's not true. I was your friend. We were friends, Ivy, you said so yourself."

      Right there, everything began to rush back to Selina. She remembered them being young, fooling around and making jokes, stealing together. She had taken Ivy under her wing, held her when she had nightmares, cried when she thought Ivy died. They were so young...why did everything have to shatter?

      For a long moment, Ivy didn't say anything. "That was a long time ago. I'm a different person now."

      When those words came out of her mouth, Selina felt a piece of her break. Her heart felt like it was being clenched, not her throat. That's when she remembered something else. She remembered little Ivy, wanting to know how it felt to kiss someone. And Selina decided to teach her how to kiss...by kissing her. It was only once...but the spark was there. The warm, glowing feeling she felt had been there. But the spark was gone now...disintegrated. Nothing would be the same again.

      "This isn't what I want." Selina's voice was soft and everything hurt. She missed everything, everything they were together. She missed the thought of her and Ivy together...but that was gone now. They weren't lovers...never even made it that far. But just strangers. That's when she dropped her switchblade. It clanked to the floor loudly, the catlike thief's eyes never leaving from the plant obsessed woman.

      Ivy's grip on her neck tightened slightly but Selina didn't move to stop her. She just stood there, waiting for her next move. The redhead woman leaned in a bit closer, Selina's breath hitching for a moment in her throat. She could feel her heart begin to race, they were so close...so close.

      Suddenly, she slammed her lips on Selina's.

      The curly haired girl froze for a split second before kissing her back. Her mind flickered back to their first kiss when they were just children. It was soft, gentle, and hesitant. This one, however, was the complete opposite. It was rough, passionate, and filled with sexual desire. There was a slight taste on Ivy's tongue that fought for dominance with hers, a taste that resembled an earthly taste. Not like dirt, but something sweeter.

      Selina to this day will never know why there was some sort of attraction between them. Maybe it was because of a hunger they both shared. A hunger to be touched and to be loved...just to feel anything at all.

      After a good minute, Ivy pulled away, both of them breathing heavily from the intense kiss they just committed. They stared down at each other, both their green eyes filled with lust and passion. Finally, the taller woman spoke. "Don't get in my way again." Her voice was low, almost threatening and seductive at the same time, before she released her hold on Selina and left.

      Selina stood there, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened. The spark hadn't left...it was still there. Hiding, but there. And it seemed that Ivy poured more gasoline into that spark when they kissed, because the desire she felt wasn't leaving. But being alone...she couldn't help but to still feel like they lost something.

      And because of that, Selina didn't feel whole.

      If only she knew that Ivy felt the exact same way.