Dave swallowed, breathing hard on the ground, his lungs tasting of copper.
Mia. What a fucking thing to say.
He dragged himself to his feet, made a stumbling attempt to follow where Brisa'd gone, but he could barely walk. How the fuck would he even find her, when she'd already disappeared between the trees? And even if he somehow
did, she didn't want him there. Talking with him made everything
worse, she'd said. She'd called him
pa.
Fuck. Why wasn't there anywhere to get a goddamn drink here.
The blood still soaking down the side of his neck was cold and crusting and unpleasant. He turned, and his eyes fell on... another Poochyena, curled tightly into a ball, eyes squeezed shut.
He'd been there the whole time, hadn't he. Just fucking
cowering.
"Yeah, thanks for nothing," Dave said.
Shadow looked up at him, ears flat, eyes pleading and miserable. Dave's paws curled on the ground, clenching and unclenching.
"What, aren't you going to start going off again?" Nausea crawled up his throat, his voice shaking.
"Let me guess. Some shit about how she hates you now? How nobody likes you? How you can never keep anyone safe? What, just like when the fucking kids went off and got killed, is that it? You just love fucking talking about that one, don't you. Yap-yap-yap about my dead fucking kids."
Shadow flinched, but didn't say anything. Dave took a step closer.
"Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone? I'm dead, what what the fuck do I have to do to make you go away?"
He advanced on Shadow, wobbling. The other Poochyena shook his head frantically, backing away, shaking like a fucking leaf in the wind, and
God, Dave just wanted to obliterate him off the face of the Earth. He snarled, pushed all his energy into a Shadow Charge to close the distance between them, tackled him down in a tumble.
He hadn't expected it to
work. Normally Shadow couldn't be
hurt - he'd tried once and just gone through him, like a cloud of smoke, like he was only tangible when he wanted to be. But this time the other Poochyena was solid, fur and bone and soft, shivering flesh. Shadow yelped at the impact, and Dave felt it too, a sudden phantom shock that made his injuries sting with pain.
He had to catch his breath.
"Hah. I'm..." Dave slugged him across the face with a paw, drew blood, felt the sting of claws slicing into his own cheek.
"I guess being here has one advantage."
Shadow stared at him, all glowing yellow innocent eyes. Dave gritted his teeth.
"Stop that, stop that, fuck you."
With a snarl, he lunged again. Claws, teeth,
anything, met with meek, pathetic unresistance, only the automatic echo of each blow on his own skin. Maybe this was the chance he needed, a chance to finally just
get rid of him--
He tore into Shadow's side with his teeth, and the pain was blinding, his vision swimming, a raw scream ripping out of his throat. He stumbled back a step, breathing raggedly, blinking hard, fighting to stay on his feet. The battle instinct told him urgently to recover
quickly, expect an attack, but he shouldn't, should he. Shadow wasn't doing
anything. The only attacks he was getting hit with were his own.
Colorful patches unblurred slowly. The other Poochyena was lying there, battered and bruised and bloody, eyes pleading for him to stop, those fucking
puppy eyes, like...
In a curious freefall moment, all he could see was sad Jean looking up at him. Hurt. He'd hurt her.
Fuck. That sickening image of slamming her into a wall filled everything again, and his insides twisted. No,
no, how dare the fucker somehow look like her--
He drew back to hit him again, and Shadow flinched, shivering. His own body tensed automatically along with him, braced for pain, too
he just looked like a scared animal, like scared Jean--
And he stopped, his paw trembling in the air, his gut roiling with nausea.
What the fuck was he even doing? What the fuck was the
point of this, just literally fucking
hitting himself? What was his endgame here? What, did he actually think he could somehow
kill him, without killing himself in the process? Did he?
His vision blurred again, with tears this time. He blinked hard again, gritting his teeth, trying to stop it, but the pain and exhaustion was getting the better of him, and the tears wouldn't stop coming. He turned away from Shadow before collapsing on the ground, shaking with shuddering sobs.
(You fucking idiot, what's the point in turning around.)
He lay there, waiting for it to pass, mind a roiling murky cloud of hollow emptiness, until as it was clearing there was a nudge on his paw. His eyes snapped open, dread shooting through him, but it was only Shadow.
"I know you don't like me," the other Poochyena murmured.
"You're in a lot of pain. I'm sorry."
Dave took a deep breath through his nose. Why'd Shadow have to be a
better person than him. Send Shadow to help Brisa deal with her shit, maybe he wouldn't fuck it up.
"I am you," Shadow pointed out.
"Yeah. I know."
He started to pull himself to his feet, only for Shadow to suddenly wrap his paws around him in a tight hug.
He felt it both directly and indirectly, warm and soothing and he
needed it, and as he felt his eyes water again, before he could think better of it he put his paws around Shadow too, pulled him close and breathed into his fur as he cried.
And somehow, then, everything went white, his surroundings melted,
power ran through him and healed and restored him, his body strengthening, growing--
When he blinked down at his paws, everything felt smaller, further away. He was a Mightyena. What the fuck. A fucking
hug was what it took?
He looked around. Shadow wasn't there anymore - not physically, anyway. The paralysis had faded, his injuries healed; he was
fine, his new body full of energy, he could--
He could go find Brisa.
Picking up her scent was no problem. With newfound energy, he sprinted between the trees to follow her trail.
He better not have wasted too much time.
