Don't Let Me Down // [Feast Day 4]

Blind leading the blind, we are. Reese's hand in mind and Pillar up ahead and Sacha following suit, they claw at the girl from Six and I watch her fall. (That should could be me.)

My hands don't shake anymore. Heart beat manic like my thoughts. (They did something to me.) Calm before the storm washes over me and I fall into my usual lull, wandering aimlessly in to chaos, dragging Reese in with me because I am selfish and still want him close to me. My lucky charm, my broken-boned boy, I cling to him and inhale.

Exhale.

Let him go.

"Stay here," I whisper in his ear, hand squeeze, falling back to his side. Back soon, I promise, only temporary. (He can't see me clench my jaw and look to the sky for another saviour.) My hands don't shake anymore. Maybe that's because of him.

Maybe I'm an addict and I've found salvation in his arms.

Withdrawals kicking in, I step forward -

Silver against my vision, I stop breathing. I fall to the ground and so does Reese.

Turn to look at him, don't breathe, can't breathe. Shock, terror, agony - there's a knife in his chest.

I scream.

(Fighter.)

He grits his teeth and lives.

(Survivor.)

"Where? Where is he?"

"LEFT!" I think, I don't know, it's getting hard to breathe, "Ten o'clock!"

Silver in my veins again and I bloom, swerving from death, a dance with the devil my body calls second-nature. Pain licks at my skin, wanting more, but I've done these steps a thousand times.

Scared little children dressed in silver and scarlet, they all wait to take my hand and dance to the song of death.

Get in line, I think - and swing.

She watches from a distance as two of her allies are targeted, gasping when a knife plunges itself deep into Reese’s chest. A gloved hand flies up to her mouth, and although she's physically shaken at the sight, the sudden jolt of fear starts to fade when she sees that the boy from Seven is fighting against his pain. When he asks Samira for directions and goes after his attacker, she nods in approval of his bravery. But the inclining of her head is stopped when the boy from Ten comes into the picture, slashing at Samira’s turned neck with his spear and bringing Pillar back down to the harsh reality of the feast.

She parts her lips to call out to her ally, but a javelin flies past her and causes her to take a quick step back with a grunt. It crashes near Samira with a  clumsy thud, and she looks over to find the girl from Six supporting herself on the stone wall that surrounds them, a trail of blood leading to where she’s standing. She realizes in that moment that the girl's intended target wasn't Sam — it was her. And suddenly the wolf snarls in offense when the lamb kicks out in an attempt of defending itself. 

A hand runs itself through her hair as she stops to catch her breath among the chaos, and she stands with her sword held limply at her side. She looks down at the severed limb that rests near her feet. She stares at the drying blood and the cracked bone, and there's a part of her wishes that she was more shaken by the image. But she's been seeing nothing but red for the last four days — watching skin swell with blisters and bodies twitching in their last moments. It's not the mangled foot that bothers her. It's only when she hears the older girl speak that she feels blindsided, lifting her head with wide eyes. It's the first time that someone she's attacked has spoken to her, and it suddenly makes the young woman seem so much more human.

She wants to ignore the fierce will to live that flashes behind Maye's watering eyes, but she can't bring herself to dismiss it. She has that same fire within herself, and a corner of her lip pulls up in approval at the sight of their shared inferno. 'Good,' Pillar thinks to herself with a weak laugh. 'That's going to keep you alive longer.' She sighs, the cold breath burning her throat as it exits, and she grips her sword and weighs it in her hand with a biting of her lip. She tosses blonde strands out of her face with a jerk of her head, clenching her jaw and squaring her shoulders as if she's something to be feared.

“I don’t want anything of yours,” she says as she kicks away the bloody foot in her path, walking over to where Maye stands on a shaking leg. The words are sharp and vicious, but her voice is surprisingly soft — the way a child consoles a dying bird before they crush it between their palms. “And the only person who can decide if you’re an easy target is yourself

— so prove to me that you’re not.”

---

[ pillar attacks maye with her sword ]
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[ Deep Gash on Neck -- 10.0 damage ]