Maisy led them, every inch of her domain known to her on a deep level. The two exploded into a clearing that was filled with creatures that may have been Scamperers once, but were now mutated and enlarged to a frightening degree. They were the size of boars, their long, cracked claws digging through the ground and trees with effortless ease as they searched for burrowing dinner.
They split, Tess running to the right and Maisy to the left. The first literally exploded in a cloud of bone and viscera at Tess's punch, the next sent flying through the air into a crowd of others when she grabbed its fur and hurled it in a spin. Within heartbeats the clearing was a charnel house of bodies too unrecognizable to be identified. Shimmering lights turned them into an array of items but Maisy's voice stalled her hand from picking one up.
"No. Pointless. Useless. Not needed."
Tess nodded silently and they ran on. The night stretched long as the predators stalked from beast to beast, leaving nothing behind but carnage. Depression slipped off Tess like the shedding of an oily skin. Need fell away to all but the need to hunt. Power flooded her, not just from the levels gained, but from something deep inside of her. Something she'd never allowed herself to admit, even in her brightest of moments.
She loved. She loved Zavier, she loved her children, and - on the rarest of occasions - she even loved herself. But need? Guilt began to well up in her at even the consideration that she might not need them. She needed them, there was no doubt about that - but did she need them? Did she need Luna and Cass to define her? Did she need Zavier to save her? He was her rock, but was the foundation of who she was so steeped in the fear of not having him there to pull her back from the brink that she'd forgotten how to do it herself?
Was he the strings on her marionette? Loving, supportive, always there to pick her up - but could she stand without them?
Her steps faltered at the wave of guilt that came with admitting she might not. Maisy caught the stumble and stopped, padding back to her slowly. No words were spoken, none needed to be.
"I don't know if I can, Maisy. I don't know if I need him like that. Maybe I do, maybe I don't - but I just don't know! There's never been a time since I met him that I had to find out on my own!"
There was a long pause. Cats held no need to rush an answer. Long moments passed, then Maisy turned around again, stopping at the edge of a clearing.
"Learn."
Tess stepped to the side of the clearing and her breath caught in her throat. Violent memories slammed into her brain with a deja vu that was all too real. There, in the middle of the clearing, was a massive bear. It made the one she'd faced the first time look like target practice, so mountainous was its size.
"Hey Fara, you awake?"
"Always!" came the cheerful response.
"How big is that thing?"
"Do you want mass or size?"
"Size will do just fine."
"It's difficult to accurately estimate considering I have never seen one of these before, and it is curled up, but my best guestimate," there was an internal giggling when she said that, "is that it is just over 30 feet long. Standing on its back legs I would guestimate that it could reach a third story window. Its jaws appear to be big enough to gobble you up in one bite!"
Tess's reply was wry. "Gee, thanks for that."
"No problem!"
"I'm sorry Maisy, I can't take that thing. It's massive and I don't have any weapons."
Maisy spun, her patience at an end. She slapped a heavy paw into Tess's chest, knocking her back. "YOU are weapon. YOU."
"This is ridiculous! I don't have claws like you! I don't have magical fur that can deflect blows. That thing has freaking swords on the tip of each paw and I have nothing that will kill it! Are you going to help me?"
"No."
"Then how in the hell am I supposed to kill it?"
"How? How kill? Does the kitten need to be taught how to kill? Is the kitten so weak it needs its mother to kill prey for it?" Cats didn't stomp, but Maisy certainly did as she brushed roughly past Tess.
"I was… incorrect," the word feeling bitter and distasteful across their bond. "You are not hunter. You are prey. Return home and sleep safely in your burrow, little kitten."
Rage filled Tess, blinding and pure. Safe? SAFE? When had she ever felt safe? When had this life given her a single FUCKING MOMENT of safety? Her life had been nothing but one unsafe moment to the next! Her life was nothing but danger and heartbreak! Just like… prey.
Cold water rushed through her veins. Prey. She'd been prey her entire life and she'd sought out safety wherever she could. She'd protected herself by avoiding danger. She'd been strong, had faced down her demons, had always been willing to do the work, but she realized that she had spent her life trying to avoid the situations that caused pain. It made sense before The System, but not now.
And then there was Zavier, the ultimate protector. He gave her a safe place to land, a safety net - a nest. He had kept her safe from everything. From the world, from those that would harm her, and even from herself. Only he wasn't here now. He fucking LEFT her in this unsafe world to be 'gobbled up in one bite' by the most dangerous creature she'd ever run across. THIS thing was the predator and anything would be prey to it. She was prey.
She didn't know if it was Indomitable working its magic or the resolve she'd kept buried, but her fear burned away with a cleansing fire.
Prey no more.
Dirt and leaves exploded around her as she launched herself into the clearing, her bare feet making not a whisper as she ran. The bear's musk reached her nose just before she reached it, pungent and deep. She was in the air a dozen feet away, soaring to land heavily on its head. It roared upwards instantly, her strong grip on its fur the only thing keeping her from being hurled across the clearing. She knifed her fingers downward into one eye, feeling it pop like a jelly balloon beneath them.
Its roar intensified from the pain and it swiped at her, each claw longer than Claw had been, coming at her with frightening speed. She vaulted straight up, her frame silhouetted by the moon - body stretched long, back arched, fists clenched together above her head. She fell like a meteorite, coming down hard on the swiping paw and forcing the claw into the bear's own face. It yowled as it raked deep gouges down its own snout.
She was batted aside, flying through the air in a loose tumble that turned into an acrobatic twist, hitting the ground deftly in a slide that sent her backwards dozens of feet. The bear turned faster than she expected and charged, taking not even a moment to consider. It, too, was a predator and there was no hesitation in its attack.
Rather than flee she stood her ground. You never showed your back to a predator. She met one massive swing with a balled up fist, the impact shaking her bones but rocketing the paw backwards, pieces within giving way with loud snaps. It swiped with the other paw, almost catching her off guard with its speed, but she ducked under it, twisting to force it into the ground.
Then she was inside its reach, fists and feet rippling its heavy body with each blow. Such were the speed and intensity of the attacks that the bear was forced upright. She couldn't reach the chest - could barely reach the stomach as it towered over her. Looking up she couldn't even see the damned thing's head behind the sheer volume that was its body.
With a quick kick she rolled through its legs as it came crashing back down in an attempt to flatten her under its bulk. She grabbed one leg and pulled, her body straining against the titanic weight. Leverage worked in her favor and it slipped onto its side as its leg was pulled out from under it.
A part of her kept trying to activate Bladestorm and she felt Weapons Mastery pinging hollowly for a weapon that wasn't there.
Why was that? Why did she need a weapon? She WAS the weapon. A primal part of her howled defiance at The System deciding that she was not deadly enough for it to consider a weapon. Her skills were reaching out, looking for something that was missing. She forced herself into that space and something clicked inside of her. She felt a change in her body. She felt sharp. Deadly. Right.