i've been sacrificed - battle priv

[emberstar]

HANGING ONTO HOPE​

Today felt like the longest day of Ember's life. She stumbled away from her latest victory, blinked away the blood that dripped into her eyes. There was no telling if it was hers or not. Every part of her body ached from injuries she could hardly remember. Especially her shoulder, torn when she had first thrown herself into the fray, had begun to take its toll on her. For the moment she tried to keep her weight off it, but she knew that she would need to stress it more once she got back into the fight. Because she was going back in.

Her most recent scuffle had taken her away from the bulk of the action, but in the distance she could still see it raging. Could hear the cries of her friends on the wind. She wondered how many more bodies had fallen while she was away. Maybe she should have stayed in the midst of the chaos, not strayed off for the sake of a single marsh cat. That was the sort of thought that would have driven thorns into her heart any other day, but in this moment it was dull, emotionless.

It was beginning to feel like it didn't matter.

Still, she limped forward, following the scent of blood. Even if this wasn't working, she had to try. She would throw herself at these invaders again and again until they stopped hurting her friends. If she just kept winning, there had to be an end to them eventually. She couldn't give up. The thought of that hurt so much worse.

Her steps halted suddenly. An ear twitched. There was someone nearby, she was certain of it. She lowered herself into a crouch - ignoring the sting in her shoulder - and turned slowly, carefully. Her gaze found a familiar face. Though not a friendly one. Not one of her groupmates. She did not lower her guard as she offered an exhausted smile. A shadow of her usual joy. "Well," she croaked through her haze of fatigue and adrenaline. "Funny seeing you here."

// @ember ​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

---

╰☆☆ She's wandered away, and although she's not walking on marshy ground, her paws are squelching and wet. Not with water or mud, but with the blood of another, a cat who had dirtied his own claws by taking everything away from her.

Her normally fiery-coal eyes are dim with both exhaustion and grief. Skinny flanks heave with the efforts to continue breathing, continue walking a path she does not care to finish. Her tail hangs limp in the dust and the scattered leaves.

I might as well have killed you. There's a bone in her throat, and she can barely swallow around it. Moth had begged her to leave with her, to go somewhere safe where they wouldn't have to fight for meager prey.

And Flicker had laughed. Flicker had called her a coward. She'd called the cat who gave everything up for her a coward and she killed her.

There's a snap of twigs behind her. A cat who is not hiding its presence. Flicker turns slowly, her neck creaking as though it's made of stone. Reddish eyes find dimmed gray-blue ones.

"Well. Funny seeing you here."

Flicker's gaze sweeps over Ember's body, catches the scent of blood and adrenaline like a miasma that hangs between them. She only stares at the pine cat for a moment, as though she's struggling to fit her into the new world she's been thrust into. A world where she has lost everything. Where she gave it away.

"Don't you have someone else to bother," she says, and her voice is husky with her anger and grief. "Come any closer and I'll make you regret it."

She unsheathes her claws. They slither and sink into the earth. There's no pleasure in it anymore. This battle has brought her nothing but pain. She has brought herself nothing but pain.

And part of her is still dying to return the favor.​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[emberstar]

HANGING ONTO HOPE​

Stormy eyes examined the molly opposite them warily. Glancing down for only a moment as her claws unsheathed. It should be the sign for her to attack, to make the first move before its made for her. But she doesn't. It was easier to fight the nameless marsh cats that were descending upon her friends. To throw herself at them with reckless abandon. This, however, was Flicker. Ember knew her. She had thought they were friends, or something close to it.

Part of her wanted to believe they still were. Though she didn't believe it.

She didn't know what they were anymore. Neither of them had attacked yet, that was something, at least. Even as they both prepared themselves for a fight that felt inevitable. But there was a bitterness in that voice that she didn't know how to parse. Wasn't certain that it wasn't hostility. Tinged with worry, her gaze wandered back to the battle. She couldn't waste time figuring out if Flicker was friend or foe. Her groupmates were dying. Though, turning her back on a potential opponent could be a death sentence.

Slowly, she raised out of her crouch. A sign of good faith, she hoped. Her shoulder needed it anyway. "You should leave." Ember stated carefully, attempting to sound sympathetic and warm. She didn't think she succeeded. "Before you get hurt."​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

---

╰☆☆ Ember stares at Flicker, and the tortoiseshell cannot read her expression. The pine cat rises from her battle crouch, though, and says, "You should leave. Before you get hurt."

She's giving me a chance to run. Without it coming to blows. Flicker regards Ember with dull eyes. The gesture is a genuine one, she thinks, but Flicker feels nothing but the pounding of her twisted heart.

She says, tone curiously flat, "I've already been hurt. You couldn't possibly hurt me more." She starts to laugh, and it's a hiccupping sound that she doesn't mean to make. She makes a move to cover her mouth with a paw, but the stench of blood on it causes her to pause before it can quite reach.

Flicker lashes her tail. "There's no point in running now." She shakes her head, sets the paw back on the earth. Her breath quickens just a pace.

She leaps toward Ember without warning, but she lands in front of her without making another move. Her muscles are stiff, her breathing still, as though she's hiding in plain sight. "Should've finished me off when you had the chance," she whispers, and then she makes an attempt to hook her forepaw around Ember's leg. If successful, she will pull Ember to the ground.
​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[emberstar]

HANGING ONTO HOPE​

Flicker's laughter, hiccuping and hollow, cut over the din of battle about them. Her ears flattened against her head at the sound. With wide and nervous eyes, she searched the other molly's face. Hoping for some trace of the cat she'd met before to shine through. She didn't want to fight. They were supposed to be friends.

Ember stumbled back in alarm as tortie leapt toward her. Tried to drop into a crouch as the whispered words hit her ear, but it was too late. Her good faith was repaid by a forepaw taking her legs out from under her. She fell with a cry. A spike of pain shot through her shoulder. As quick as she could, she scrambled back to her paws, breaths quick and frantic, locking her gaze firmly on the orange-red orbs opposite her. A tangled mess of thoughts and feelings tumbled through her. She didn't know what to do. Then her eyes wandered, to the battle that still raged behind Flicker. Her friends, her real ones, were still in danger. They still needed her.

Her body stilled.

Her breathing slowed.

Her claws unsheathed.

"Fine! Fine." She spat, as anger bubbled up within her. Trying to spit the emotion down onto the dirt. She hated being angry. "Last time, ya told me not to take it easy on you? Well, it looks like today you're getting everything you wanted."

Her movement was quick, without warning. Charging straight toward Flicker. In an instant the gap she had created between them closed. She aimed a quick slash toward an exposed shoulder and danced away before knowing if the blow even landed. Her aim in this fight was to disable, not kill. Once Flicker couldn't fight anymore, she could go back to helping her groupmates.​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

---

╰☆☆ Flicker stands over Ember before taking two pawsteps back. There's nothing rational in her decision-making. She's not out for blood. She's simply fighting, fighting as she has always fought, as she convinced Moth to do on her behalf.

Ember has lost her patience, it seems. The goodnatured flame point spits at her, "Fine! Fine." Her eyes glow with her anger. She's upset. Flicker regards her curiously. "Looks like today you're getting everything you wanted."

The tortoiseshell does not have time to react as a cream-colored blur streaks for her. She simply watches as Ember's claws aim for her right shoulder and rip into the dappled fur there. Blood decorates the air in twisted scarlet ribbons before spattering the forest floor. Flicker stares at the wound, stumbles backwards. The pain does not come right away.

Ember has already evaded her. Flicker turns, gaze simmering as she registers the pain, the action. Ember has injured her for real. They are fighting for real.

"Everything I wanted," she repeats. She is, isn't she? She got her stupid battle. Her street cred. She's killed another cat. She's dirtied her claws with kittypet blood. She's lost her only real friend in this world.

Time to lose another.

She ignores the sting, the blood trickling from the wound in her shoulder like tree sap, and aims to full-body tackle Ember. She does nothing to protect herself, meaning only to take the other molly to the ground. If successful, she'll claw Ember's chest superficially.​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[emberstar]

HANGING ONTO HOPE​

Ember turns just in time to see a mass of dark fur hurtling toward her. However, she does not move. Does not even start. Just tensed to take the blow as Flicker slammed into her and bowled her over onto her back. Her shoulder collided with the ground sharply and she cried out. That much, she had not accounted for. Had not considered the toll her past battles would take on her in this maneuver. It was a price she was willing to pay, however.

If she was pinned, that would be the end. She would lose the fight, and maybe more. Ember wasn't going to try and kill Flicker, but she wasn't certain the favor was going to be returned. Her good faith had more than run out. Still, this was a way to end the fight quickly, and that risk was worth it.

Her hind legs swung up into her attackers chest, attempting to catch her as she landed. Normally, she wouldn't be strong enough to throw the larger molly off, she knew that. But the momentum of the tackle was her ally. Pushing up and in, she aimed to throw Flicker over her. Sending her tumbling into the dirt beyond them. Giving her a chance to leap to her paws. If successful, she would race over to attempt to pin her for before she had a chance to recover. ​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

---

╰☆☆ Flicker does not expect Ember to stand her ground and take her tackle, but she does. The tortoiseshell pins her to her back, sees her wince as her shoulder slams into the earth. She takes no satisfaction from this. In fact, something doesn't feel right about the situation at all. There's a dullness in her stomach that's spreading like sickness.

Ember takes her shot, using her powerful hind legs to pummel Flicker in her ribs. She falters back; the momentum causes her to land awkwardly. Ember wastes no time in pinning her down.

"Kill me, then," she hisses. She sounds like a snake who's been caught in a fox trap. "It doesn't matter anymore. You've all got what you wanted."

Briar had wanted this, though. Flicker herself had wanted this. She reminds herself of this, even if she doesn't share it aloud with Ember. She goes limp, giving Ember permission to kill her.​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[emberstar]

HANGING ONTO HOPE​

Flicker goes limp underneath her and Ember lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The fight had been as short as she had hoped it to be. Still, she kept her hold tight, even though she made no move to kill the molly beneath her. "Stay. down." She hissed through clenched teeth. "Ya stay down until I'm gone then ya get up and ya get outta here. If ya don't, then we repeat this until you get it right." Eyes alight with flame stared down into the orange gaze beneath her, trying to reinforce the message.

Even if they weren't friends anymore, she didn't want to kill someone who once was. She didn't want to kill anyone at all. So, as long as Flicker didn't make her, she wasn't going to. She'd show as much mercy as she could even if it was a mistake. Even if there was a chance it got her killed. That was a risk she was willing to take.

She took a moment to catch her breath.

Then she got up, pulled herself off of Flicker and turned, racing with as much speed as she could muster toward the battle that still raged in the distance. Her fight was not here. It was with her friends, fighting at their side to keep as many of them safe as she still could. Her ears stayed perked to hear if her foe would come racing after her, ready to turn and face her in a moment. ​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Flicker lies beneath Ember and stares at her, but she isn't seeing her. Her eyes are unfocused, glassy, and they are seeing what has been. Ember isn't a flame point, but a gray and white she-cat, telling her to get her act together. Stop bothering her before she smacks her upside the head.

"Moth," she chokes. "I'm sorry." She's talking to a ghost, someone who isn't there, and after a moment, the molly becomes Ember again. The pine cat with the damned optimism that Flicker has wanted to beat in battle since she met her.

But it doesn't matter anymore. There isn't anything she cares to fight for. The marsh is not a home without Moth. Without her mother, her sister. Her cowardice cost Flicker her blood kin. Her foolish bravado cost Flicker her friend.

She exhales. Ember bares her teeth at her, hisses. "Ya stay down until I'm gone then get up and get outta here." Flicker only looks at the other she-cat, looks at her and really sees her for a moment.

"I don't know why you bothered sparin' me," she said. Her voice is raspy with tears she refuses to shed. "One of us will kill the other. Someday."

If she doesn't die before then. If Ember isn't mauled before then.

She stays where she is and watches Ember go. She does not move until she can't see the golden femme any longer. And then she still doesn't move. She lies as Moth does somewhere, eyes blank and unseeing and staring at a cold and brutal sky that chills her despite the sweltering heat.​

✦ PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​