No Fear: Amarant
Author's Note: HEY THERE! Are you enjoying my little vignettes? I certainly hope so. If you have any comments/criticisms/ideas/suggestions on how to improve my work, please let me know! Writing is my passion and I want to always be improving on my craft. Thanks for reading!
My claws; have they failed me?
Of course not; Weapons ever falter from their master's wishes. It's only the wielder that fails to use his armament to its highest potential.
My curved weapons are still strapped to my wrists and I'm just too exhausted to take them off. Maybe I really don't want to- after all if I gave them the opportunity, they could just up and abandon me.
Kind of like that bitch Lani.
Roughly half an hour ago I had all the energy in the world at my disposal; I was so obsessed with winning that stupid bet with Monkey Boy and his little group of brainless fools.
Look at where that got me.
My body feels so limp, curled against the floorboards in the fast-fading day. Floods of sunlight separate into radiant beams of providence as they pass through the ancient windowpanes. The rafters in this damned castle are so immense and ornate, one could get lost if their eyes traveled across the intricate patterns and symbols that adorned every molding and beam in the behemoth of an establishment.
This Ipsen guy really had a lot of time on his hands to create such an intangible maze.
I can remember burying the steel of my claws, glinting with a cold metallic sheen, into the flesh of an enraged beast. Torrents of blood poured unrelentingly from the dusky bristled fur of the creature as it lowed an immense roar of displeasure. Muscles straining, I was dealt a deathly blow from the brute's hulking paw. I tried the best I could to endure the resulting physical trauma and deflect the impact, but little could be done to mute the immense pain that coursed through my body.
I was able to get away, elbows and knees working succinctly in an effort to preserve what quality of life I had. My back and shoulders screamed in torment, but I beseeched them to cooperate, if only for a little while longer. Limbs pumping, thrusting, retreating, I found the safe haven I now reside in…if one could call it that.
My head pulses with pools of ache and anguish, trickling down in slow cascades of pain, dripping onto my back and extremities. My chest clenched and compressed as I inhaled the air made stale with centuries of primeval dust that congregated in thick clouds, lingering in the atmosphere and dancing in the gilded sunlight.
I exhale; my breath raspy and broken, reverberating across the vast cavernous expanse of the ancient chamber. My ears prick up at the barely audible sound of voices saturating through the walls kneaded and knotted with stone and mortar. The voices outside started to wane, getting fainter with the very passage of time.
I was cognizant of the fact that it was very likely no one would come across my wounded frame. I lay in my fragile state, unable to perpetuate enough movement to clamber out into the world.
How pitiful.
The bones in my ribcage cracked and clenched, constricting my lungs and compressing my throat. The rhythmic beating of my cardiac organ increased to a frantic degree, causing my eyes to widen in a mild state of shock.
The thought coursed through my mind like a well-aimed arrow, hitting its mark straight and true. What if no one came upon me in time? I'd have to spend the rest of my waking moments in utter solitude.
Honestly, the thought terrified me.
The resulting epiphany caused my mind to seemingly reel with intensity, searching through every conceivable avenue of though in order to contrive some sort of adequate plan of escape. I was determined not to be stranded here alone for the rest of my life, no matter what measures I had to take to accomplish this goal.
The energy required to follow through with this however, seemed wanting.
The culmination of my fear had been realized, and it seemed that I was sentenced to spending the rest of eternity in this hell-hole.
There was nothing I could do now, but anxiously await my body's expiration
"Ugh."
I released the last, tense, pocket of air within my aching chest; the resulting sound grew louder as it rose toward the vaulted ceiling, as though amplified by a futile hope that someone would hear. I turn my throbbing head to the side and close my eyes. This was darkness. This was the end.
Some tense moments of silence yielded faint, harried steps coming closer, making sharp staccato bursts of sound in my ears.
"Who's there?" a voice called out.
Damn. Of all the people to find me like this, why did it have to be him? I growled at the thought of Zidane mocking me, taunting me with his as-of-yet unspoken "I told you so's".
I would have made some effort to get up and look as though I was in less pain than I actually was if I had the strength to do it. My muscles quivered, making some exertion to obey my wishes, but they failed. What choice did I have at this point but to respond? In my mind I was screwed either way.
"Ugh."
"Who's there?"
My rescuer finally came into view, breathlessly rushing closer to where I lay. He slowly approached me, tail curled behind him like a streamer being tossed helplessly in gales of wind.
"Zidane?" I gathered what little strength I could muster to turn and look at him. "Why did you come back?"
Instead of answering my question, he decided to ask me one instead.
"Amarant! What happened to you?"
My face ran hot with hatred and embarrassment. The countenance that was usually painted with the same bright eyes and smug smile was now softened with strokes of concern.
"Answer my question...I told you we might be enemies next time we met...Or did you come back to mock me?"
Each word I spat at him seemed like acid boiling from the cauldron of my mouth, laced with bile indignation toward my "mighty hero".
"You say some strange things." he returned my sourness with a restrained tone of benevolence. "The guys outside told me you hadn't come out yet. That's why I came looking for you."
Another irritated growl rose up within my throat. Screw the guys! Screw them all! The residue of pain that oozes from my wounds don't make me some pathetic charity case.
"We don't have anything to do with each other anymore." I responded "You don't have anything to gain from this, or do you?"
I could imagine Zidane as a rather opportunistic person. He better not be thinking I owe him any favors because he came back to help me. I won't be bound by any debts, no matter the cost of the wages upon me.
I craned my neck in order to behold him with a clearer view. As my eyes locked onto his, there was something evident within him that was unknowable, even unfathomable to me.
"I don't understand you." I rumbled softly "I don't understand the way you think..."
"Who cares what I have to gain? You need help right now."
"You don't care?" I queried "You're willing to put yourself at risk to save me?"
I felt the veritable furnace of exasperation within me begin to slowly quell into glowing coals of acceptance.
"Come on" his lips curled into his trademark playful grin "We helped each other many times since we joined forces."
Indeed we have. As I reflected, I couldn't deny that he spoke the truth.
"You're a part of the team, and that's what matters" he assured me "I don't know why I'm doing this, but I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature."
He gently extended his hand toward me, his eyes glinting with that familiar childish sheen, and his tail curling about him in interest. I wanted to hate that hand, those eyes, and especially that tail, but I didn't have the strength or the heart to do so.
"And that's what being part of a team means…" I responded, as though I was finishing his thought for him.
The look on his face was encouraging, as though he was glad I was somewhat catching on.
"Isn't it? Come on, that's enough talk. Let's get outta here!"
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