Her opinions of shadows have changed plenty of times in her life. She's wanted to have less shadow, more shadow, she's dreamed of them, she's had nightmares where her shadow reached from the wall to kill her.
But tonight she was one of them.
Fire flickered around her in burning buildings, sirens blaring and people crying and screaming, in fear and pain alike.
There's a gun in her hands, a hood over her head, and she doesn't recognize what's around her but the ground under her feet whispers to her, so she knows it must be her home. She can't hear people she knows, she can't smell anything but burning garbage.
Yes, this must be home, she realises, dropping the angle of her gun slightly and straightening up. Why does she have a gun out? She's not quite sure, but she shifts, pressing herself to a building that has yet to catch, and blackness envelopes her, her shadow of the firelight winding around everything not already clothed in black.
This is like a game. Her lips curve into a smirk, and her shadow whispers into her ear to move. So she moves, setting off down the street. There are piles of trash at the door to every home, and here and there she sees another shadow darting between piles, a small device she knows to be a lighter in their hands.
She feels no pain. She realizes this with a jolt, halting in her path. No pain at all. She feels... She feels human. So human it almost hurts, and she realizes that it's becoming hard to breathe. Move. Someone's following.
She lurches forward again, raising her gun. She doesn't know what to do, now. Is she a nation? Or is she human? Will too much smoke and ash kill her? Will it hurt if she gets shot, herself?
The shadow stretches her fingers to cover Catalina's nose and mouth. Don't breathe right now. The woman obeys, and find her lungs don't scream for air, yet. Maybe she is still a nation. The shadow tucks her hair behind her ear, and Catalina finds herself wishing her shadow would always do this, this whispering in her ear and keeping her hidden.
"What am I doing?" You're staying alive. Oh. Fantastic. "Where am I going?" is next. The port. You have to leave, Neapolis. "What are they doing?" They're, ah... Purging you. "Of what?"
She's turned toward the port, now. There's a tunnel of smoke stretching from her city's tunnels, and she pauses. "They set my tunnels on fire?" The shadow hisses, covering her mouth again. Shut up! They're going to catch you! Catalina gets quiet. "Why are they setting me on fire?"
The shadow is quiet, and Catalina snaps. "Tell me!" ... They're trying to find you. Ah, cioe... Kill you. They've found you again and want to get rid of you. For real, this time. Oh.
Not Catalina's friends, for sure. There was a group who thought the nations were demons. Of course, there were likely many people who knew of the nations that had to think they were demons, and that had been the problem with telling humans, back in the day.
In short, Catalina had to run fast, no matter how much it hurt.
In fact, it was a rather quiet witch hunt, so to speak, the only thing to be heard now being the roar of fire and the clicks of lighters as more were lit.
Oh, lord. It reeked of garbage.
She got to the port quickly, though, and her shadow directed her to a boat she was supposed to take, to go across the water. It whispered quickly that it had everything she'd need to last up to somewhere safe.
Catalina turned and looked at the city, then assessed the sky, gray and black with smoke. The moon really was trying to shine, but... Nothing else shone. There should have been helicopters, jets, fire trucks, police cars, all the emergency vehicles. This wasn't a small town like Venice where water could be everywhere at once, but at this point, her city should have been a national emergency. International, even. Humans liked to keep history, and if there was a historical city on this planet it would be hers. Starting the engine of the boat, she frowned deeply.
The shadow was silent.
The water was gloomy.
The sky was ominous.
"It's Pompeii again," she muttered, shaking her head and rolling her shoulders. "Okay." The whole world might have turned on her.
Or she was the last one left. That was possible, too. But Catalina was calm, boating it the hell out of her harbor. She noted the crate at her feet, frowning and fishing a flashlight from the bottom of the boat and switching it on.
"Shadow what the hell is crack doing in the bottom of my boat. I can't live on that shit." The shadow smirked, unwinding herself so a shaded copy of Catalina stood (shakily) on the other side of the crate.
Never trust a shadow if she knows exactly what's going on.
Catalina cut the engine and lunged forward, immediately enraged as the Shadow decided to take her form.
Oh, yes. Shadow was apparently her "second player" self.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder, smirking and settling her hand on her hip before Catalina's hands were at her throat. Or, one hand, really, as the other had out her gun again in a flash and dug it into Shadow's temple. "You."
"Yes, it's me," she giggled, but her violet eyes flashed, and in her hand was Catalina's knife of preference. The point of the tip was at Catalina's throat. "Didn't you like my help?"
"You disgusting little whore," she hissed. "It's your fault." It was in the shadow's grin. So obvious. "You're ridiculous. They kill me, they kill you too."
"Ah, ah- But this is a game." Shadow twisted the knife a bit, breaking the tender skin of Catalina's throat. Not a sound. "See, in games, there's a 'player one', and there's a 'player two'; You're player one, and I'm player two." She laughs presumptuously. "Player one dies, game over for her. Player two goes on." Catalina fires, and Shadow digs her knife into her throat.
Catalina chokes and falls to the bottom of the boat, struggling to breathe as pain suddenly screams through her whole body.
Shadow stands up and wipes the blood from her knife.
"Didn't I tell you you were out of ammo?" A ragged breath from player one, dropping the gun and fumbling with the knife, starting to cough up blood the second she manages to pull it out.
Player two tsks disapprovingly. "Oh, love. You're bleeding all over the boat. I need to sit there, silly girl." Picking Catalina up, she hoists her up-
And throws her over the side.
"Now you can be like the rest of the crates of coke you've tossed overboard," she huffs, watching the woman sink down in the harbor. "Game over."