now there's no holding back, i'm making to attack
my blood is singing with your voice, i want to pour it out
the saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
i hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallow'd ground
- howl by florence+the machine
You stand on the hill, your eyes glazing over as you stare at the destruction surrounding you. Fires casting dark shadows over the charred corpses scattering the meadow, the houses now nothing more than smoking ruins, the smell of despair and loss in the air, and shivers run down your spine. The smoke is too low down to affect you, but even so you feel like you're choking, the smoke curling around your throat and eliminating your every hope and desire. It's exhilarating.
You did all this, and you do not regret it. You destroyed this village, and you can taste the thrill of eradication on your tongue.
You hear soft footsteps behind you, and then a cough, deliberate, familiar. When you turn around, you see her, tall and beautiful, her horns glinting in the light from the fires, one hand over the hilt of her sword.
"You did all this, Vriska," Kanaya says, "You massacred an entire town, for mere pleasure," she spits the word out, and you see horror and disgust in her every movement. And something else, in her eyes, beneath the cold anger; it looks like heartbreak. You wonder if your own emotions mirror her's.
"You knew I would," you say, and you smile, "I told you, didn't I, Kanaya? They didn't matter, those people. They never mattered. Death comes every day; I was only hastening it a little." Your smile grows wider.
"I envisaged you had changed,"
"People don't change, Kanaya." You love saying her name; you want to say it all the time, with the way it makes you feel; powerful and powerless at the same time, your mind conjuring up a million colours and tastes and shapes.
"I perceive that now," Kanaya says, and pulls out her sword as you do. You're duelling in an instant, the blows coming down sharp and heavy, Kanaya handling the blade lightly and with ease, yet she's stronger than you. Within a seconds, you're already wounded on your arm, the sword tearing through the fabric of your clothes, and though you're concentrating on Kanaya, you see your blood, cerulean and bright in the sun.
You fight back even harder, and you feint sideways and knick her on her right hand, making her gasp and waver for a moment. You have this down, she cannot beat you, and you smile, drawing closer and going for the final stab.
That's when you make your fatal mistake; you relax too much, because you think you've got this, it's inconceivable that she could take you down now. And then, before you register what's happening, Kanaya has knocked your sword out of your grasp and there's a sharp pain in your chest... and you're falling, and you're on the ground, gasping, the air knocked out of your lungs.
She stares down at you, and maybe it's just your vision blurring, but you think you see tears in her eyes. She kneels down, gently pushes back your hair from your forehead, and you swallow and try to speak, but it hurts.
"I'm sorry," Kanaya says, "This... I carried an obligation to restrain you, I could not allow you to continue."
"I would have done the same," you mutter, and oh, you don't want to leave her, you can't leave her. "And if... if our situations had been different.."
"I never wished to do you harm," Kanaya says, and she twines her fingers with yours, and kisses you. You hold on as tight as you can, and she holds you close, your blood staining her own chest. You have tears in your eyes now, but you will not leave her crying.
"If we see each other again..." you begin, and you can feel your strength filtering away, "Our ending might be different."
"Goodbye,"
"Goodbye, Kanaya,"