Sylvia had her claws in your heart, didn't she now?
Of course, you didn't know that then. Oh, if you had only known that way back when, before all of. . . this went down.
You thought you knew what you were doing, didn't you now, Flicker? It was a simple choice back then. You had your mind set.
You were going to go with them, you were going to fight.
"They have stood for too long! They think we are just ants, easily squished beneath their paws! And for once they may be right!" You were one of those voices, Flicker, one of the many indignant yowls that followed Jasper's admittance to your own weakness.
"BUT!" The ebony tom stood up straighter, digging his razor claws into the wood where they glinted and shone a dazzling white against his dark fur. "We will show them! We may be ants, but you mess with one of us, and you mess with us all! The hive is strong! We are many! We are a swarm and WE WILL TAKE BACK WHAT IS OURS!"
The cats below were in a frenzy, screeching promises of death into the night. You were one of those cats, Flicker, couldn't you see the lies in your heart? Couldn't you see, then, the blip that stuck in your throat as you swore to kill as many of the foul M'wa as your claws would find?
No, you didn't.
You raced on, your claws only a small part of a larger, very much living being that was the Hive. Cats pushed into your sides, pulling you farther and farther away from home, closer and closer to the magic-pawed M'wa that had kept cats fearful of the night and the evil that dwells within.
Inky tendrils of darkness caressed your sides, cold to the touch. You flinched away with the others from the probing strands of shadows. Don't let the M'wa know how many you are. Don't let them have an advantage over you.
Didn't you even think about Sylvia, Flicker? Didn't you realize she would be there too?
No, Flicker, you didn't, swept into the Hive as you were.
"ATTACK!" The screech came from several mouths, echoed throughout the swarm as you raced onward with a renewed fervor. Light flashed through the night, searing your eyes as you blindly wedged deeper into the throng of M'wa. Crashes and booms accompanied the noises of battle, the smell of burning fur and flesh swirling with blood to an unbearable rancor.
Yet still you pushed on. One part. Only a single fur on the hide of the Swarm.
You screeched, throwing yourself into the gap as the cats before you fell limply to the ground. Your claws met fur as you thrust a cat on the other side to the ground. They fought back, but the claws in your fur were weak.
The M'wa never had to fight with their paws, their magic well enough to keep them safe.
But that was then, and this is now. That's what you thought, Flicker, that once you were past the line of magic it would be slaughter.
A bolt of lightning pierced the inky dark, and a pale face, scrunched with fear seared into your eyes.
You didn't think of Sylvia, did you now, Flicker? You didn't even prepare for the chance that she may be one of the cats you were to fight. . . and kill.
Perhaps that is why you were caught so off guard when she was the first you were to take down.
"Flicker," she whispered, her voice lost within the echoes of battle, but not within your mind. "What are you doing? Why are you here?" She was sobbing now, her breath hitching under your claws. You quickly step away, helping her to stand.
But yet you didn't answer. Were you lost for words, Flicker, did you not know what you were to say?
You knew how you felt now, you knew that Sylvia was the one you loved. That unexplainable feeling that tugged at your heart when she was near, when she talked, when she laughed, when she cried.
You should have said something, Flicker.
"You shouldn't have come, Flicker. You should not have come." A tear hovered at the corner of her eye, a glimmering diamond in the flashes of light. You had to step nearer to hear her next words, shaky with more tears. "We're losing, Flicker, my kind are dying." She groaned, and some piece within you withered and died, seeing her in pain. "I . . . must. I must save them, Flicker.
"Flicker, I'm sorry."
Your eyes went wide as she seemed to radiate light. At first, a faint glow, but then a white fire that burned and seared at your face the longer you stared at it. Silver light spilled out, shooting past in a bright ring, outlining each cat in a sharp line of white against the dark night.
Sound stopped. Smells stopped. Movement stopped.
Then went time.
Then sight.
Then life.
{{ : Hey... been a while since I roamed this site. Well here's a little short written for inspiration's sake late at night. I love second person. Sorry, can't help it. Feedback is great if you have a couple seconds to type something. Maybe more later I really don't know. Keep looking out, I guess. }}