rise for the last time /sc vs np

M A U V E

~

"Mauve, do you ever regret doing it?" Her voice is a rasp of a whisper, eyes faded blue fail to hold her gaze. Mauve rolls over on the couch, tossing the magazine to the ground. She looks to her mother, her figure was fading away because she refused to eat only when needed, then to her sister, who was preserved in the corner. Her hair was tangled, and her warm blue eyes stared widely at the discoloured wall across from her.

Did she regret killing Beth? When she thought of her sister as dead she didn't feel a twist of pain in her stomach. She didn't feel any remorse, or guilt, or regret. Her sisters death had opened her mother's eyes to Mauve. She finally looked at her and actually saw her and not just her sister shadow. Even if when she looked at her looked at her with poorly hidden disgust. Mauve truly believed that one day the curtain would drop and she would realise why Mauve did it, and that disgust would be replaced with the affection, with the love that she so desperately needed.

"No," she finally says with a sigh, kicking her legs over the edge she leans forward, clasping her hands between her knees. "I don't regret it. I... I do wonder if it was the wrong way to get your attention," she pauses, looking at her mother thoughtfully. "Do you think one day you could actually forgive me? Love me?"

She doesn't realise she is holding her breath until she hears her mother give a breathy laugh, for the first time in weeks holding her gaze unwavering. "No, Mauve."

"I will never love you."

~

"Got it, Mauve. Don't worry." She could taste blood on her lips as she her gaze flicked to the boy from six. Robin continued to surprise, her, his unwavering loyalty was something that she had not expected to find in him. And maybe the seeds of the loyalty were messy, but as they sprouted and begin to grow steady and strong and Mauve had come to rely on Robin in a way that she had never expected.

And as her blood spilled from wounds that screamed at her to give up, she felt her first touch of fear since entering the arena.

Mauve Morgenstern was dying.

And she was terrified.

Taking a deep breath, she watches as her axe grazes the skin of the career from four, burying itself into a trunk of a tree behind her. Frustration surges through her, causing her to grunt out, muscles tensing painfully around the knife that was buried in her back. It hadn't occurred to her that she might die like this, die in this arena even, body being kissed by steel blades that only take little pieces of her with each teasing touch. With each breath she felt her body grow weaker, her muscles growing with reluctance with each painful breath.

Love looks at her with annoyance and Mauve feels her patience wearing thin. Maybe Mauve had read him wrong, and his true potential was to be a coward in the skin of a wolf. Maybe this charming bravo and witty words were just a cover for the boy he truly was. He wore the skin of a career, the title of a career, but he was nothing more than a coward playing the part of a monster. And like playing the part of a career, he was doing a terrible job.

He pushes Ariel to the side, whispering something to her that had Mauves eyes narrowing. It appeared he didn't have it in him to do what needed to be done, his axe aimed at the boy from Nine who had tried to taunt her away from the girl from Ten.

"Areto. Not pest." The career corrects, lashing out at her with her spear. Grunting, Mauve ducks out the way, the tip of the spear slicing into the tender skin of her bicep, the one that had been shredded by the wolf only a couple days back. "Leave your dogs, come deal with me." Mauve's eyes burn into hers, her lips pulled back into a smirk as she tries to hide the way her fingers tips felt so cold, the way the world seemed to spin ever so slightly, her brain becoming muddle and her thoughts messy.

"Don't worry, honey, your time will come." A threat that seemed to lose some of its bravado when she pulls her sword from her waist band, pressing the tip into the dirt using it to take some of her weight.

Turning her back to the career, a mistake that she might regret, holds her sword before her, eyes darting between Robin and Ariel. Stepping closer to Robin she whispers into his ear, "when I die, you need to run. Don't trust Love. Don't worry about me. Just get out of here, okay?" Swallowing, her arms shake as she changes her stance, stepping away from Robin she looks to Ariel. "Remember, you still owe me," she tosses over her shoulder, lunging towards the girl.