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Astrid emerged from the doorway, where she hadn’t been for very long. But, long enough. “We’ve given everything,” she snarled. “We—the seven that died gave everything they had.” The fading remnants of her radiance altered her voice slightly, but it was clearly a fraction of anything...

“Mhm. This is just a checkup,” Astrid clarified. Brisa was smiling, and that made her smile too. “…You were thinking?” Astrid’s eyes lit up. She had no idea what Brisa was talking about. It was perfect. “Yeah! I’d love that!” she said, flashing her friend a toothy smile. Sometime in their...

A moment of levity—Astrid couldn’t hold in a giggle at that. She’d forgotten all about the stupid tournament. Good grief. “Aha… yeah! Yeah, I’m doing the tournament. Of course.” I’m still recovering, Astrid immediately thought. She shoved it out of her mind just as quickly, though. She’d just...

Astrid turned her neck a few degrees to the left as they talked, glancing over at Starr’s side of the room for a fleeting moment. In that brief window, Astrid could not help but notice how outright exhausted Starr looked and sounded. Much more than those nights when she’d return from training...

Whose idea it had been to stick an extra bed in an oversized closet, Astrid wasn’t sure. If she had the strength, she’d have certainly sought words with them. It wasn’t quite that bad, for the most part…ish. There was room to breathe and move around. But with Starr in here with her, alone...

Astrid couldn’t bring herself to raise her head. Still, amidst her feelings, she could not lie. “…I would like that, yeah.” A long moment passed until her voice fell to a whisper. “You’re important to me too…” Silence hung in the room. Astrid raised her head—Brisa was gone. She’d probably...

Astrid balanced on four legs again with more success this time and took a step forward, voice breaking with each delicate syllable. “Then… then… I won’t do it anymore!” Again, energy sparked off her main, and again, and again, until it had manifested into a full current. It popped off her fur...

Only now had the sting of Brisa’s words fully set in. Yet, they were blurred further by what she’d said next. It didn’t add up. It didn’t make any sense. Astrid stared at the floor, fighting it all back. No. No more crying, she asserted. I can’t—I have to be strong. No more crying… She...

“W-we all risk our lives, Brisa! Every time we battle! I can’t just—” Astrid tilted her head tilted inquisitively, though the fire in her eyes remained. “…What do you mean?”

The east wing of the building was less populated than the front, leaving the hallways and rooms mostly empty of noise. Only the occasional flicker of a nearby monitor showed that time had not stopped altogether. Astrid rose. Her legs wobbled, and it seemed that her right forepaw couldn’t bear...

Something clicked. Astrid’s expression—previously a liquified mess of emotions—froze up like ice. “And right now what?” she pressed.

Astrid flinched. It was the same spiel that Cabot had given, but Brisa… She was animated. She was fierce. There was an edge to her voice—a lashing out that Mincinno would’ve surely identified as fear. And while Astrid surely would’ve chastised him for thinking such a thing out loud, would he...

Astrid didn’t plan to start breaking down this early. Or, at all, though she knew herself a bit better than that. “I, I—” she huffed, sniffling, “didn’t see you in time. And, it, I did the thing, the same thing I did with Starr at the arena, but with you instead, a-and I didn’t know how to...

Astrid’s lip quivered. Eye contact was suddenly impossible. “…Yeah.”

Astrid sat up quickly, stumbling a bit as blood rushed to her forelegs. “Brisa! Are you—um. Are you okay?” She swallowed. “…I just, there was, I don’t really remember anything, except…”

Minutes later, footsteps down the hall again caught Astrid’s attention. They were softer than Cabot’s or the occasional nurse’s, barely discernible at all. Astrid rested on her haunches and took a deep breath. “…Brisa? That you?”

And wait she did. For the sixth time—not that Astrid was counting—she shifted from her belly to her back, allowing her tails to fully stretch out. The blanket she’d been given was haphazardly discarded near the frame of the bed, where it had caught between the mattress and the cold metal. Both...

“Necessary sacrifices,” Astrid giggled. “But, I’ll try. I don’t think I’m as good with Shadows anyway…” From there, they exchanged small talk until it was time for Cabot to leave. After he was gone, Astrid laid on her back, wistfully sighing. …Now, I wait. <><><>

Astrid knew full well how volatile it was. It was what made it powerful. “I know,” she answered. “I know. I’ll… I’ll try to be careful. Small increments.” The fabric of the bed wrinkled in between her paws as she idly played with it. “Small increments…” Cabot was still standing there, still...

There it was. “I… I don’t know how to fight without it.” Why this admission hadn’t bothered her before now, she wasn’t sure. “And, I don’t know what to think about the God Squad, or Diyem, o-or whoever. But these corrupted elements let me do things I didn’t think were possible. In a way, when I...