She’s given the ultimatum of weakness (to throw the crown at the blue’s hooves, to give up) or shame (to fight and bleed ever further, and lose even so). There’s no eternity of triumph, no way to traverse life – even as a queen – without losing to a more formidable opponent. And here, she has no power to rely upon. Here, she's a caged animal. She’s broken and beaten long before the fight begins. But as she throws herself forward in her fury, as her horn slices satisfyingly through something solid and resistant, she’s fierce with the taste of satisfaction on her tongue. Ampere could call her weak or stupid, pretend to offer politics…but she could never say that Hotaru walked away from this fight. She revels in it, just as she revels in the satisfaction of hot blood against her forehead. The horns of the armor are too short to have been useful in penetrating Ampere’s flesh, but she doesn’t care because her body created this wound. Even in her weakness she’s strong enough to do this. Even alone and without her pack to support her, she’s still standing.
 
Except she’s not alone.
 
Alice snarls as the shield descends before her, spraying her with snow as it embeds itself into the ground. She twists to instead crash upon it with her shoulder, rebounds stiltedly and whirls to find Hotaru and a new target. Meanwhile Hotaru wrenches her head away from Ampere’s crest, her head pounding with impact even as the beast inside her howls with satisfaction to have drawn first blood. Do you still see a coward, Ampere?
 
She hisses as blood drips from the base of her horn into her left eye, blinding her as she shuts it tight. Even in her triumph she hates; hates Ampere for attacking while she’s beaten, for her solitude, for Tingal ruining her so thoroughly. And she takes it out on the mare before her, a convenient scapegoat for her fury. She doesn’t retreat as her horn is freed. Her teeth lunge for any dark shape she can see out of her right eye, Ampere luckily stark against the white backdrop. Blunt fangs seek to grab hold of left shoulder or withers, wanting to wrestle Ampere down like the wolf Hotaru was, until the blue was screaming like a dying elk and her legs kicked uselessly at the skies. Until the wolf queen drank down her blood and pulverized her jugular to silence her, make it known that while she’d lost everything else, she wouldn’t lose this.
 
It doesn’t change the fact that Ampere has every advantage. Hotaru has never fought someone shorter than herself, nor anyone with weapons. Hotaru had only ever towered over others in her rightful imperiousness, had always developed her strategies from the leverage point of smaller stature. But she knew not to linger at least, to let Ampere’s teeth seek revenge. Goes to wrench away, whether teeth land or not, when –
 
RU! It shatters in her head and she jerks automatically to the right, fearing Ampere is trying to bite at her and that she can’t see it through the blackness of her left eye. But Alice has no such impairments, and she sees the dagger lurch out of the snow, her emotions making the image flicker against Hotaru’s lids. But magic moves faster than Hotaru can, and it slots neatly – mockingly – in the one open space between the gaps of her armor between her seventh and eighth ribs. Hotaru jolts, the pain so pervasive that she stumbles in the snow, catching herself on her fractured right leg and howling as the real agony of the stab finally hits her. The pain follows her, the blade caught momentarily by her traitorous body as both punctured and broken ribs cry out on either side of her. Immediately she reaches for Alice, swamped by this agony that threatens to tear her apart. She calls for her wordlessly, and Alice comes.
 
With acid burning her mouth as strong as her hatred, the beast lunges from the earth, determined to protect her Alpha. She remembers her coordination with Hotaru against Sialia, the way they’d killed the elk with Deimos, and tries the same maneuver. She lunges from the earth in a shower of snow, teeth aiming for Ampere’s lower throat, hoping her advancement from where Ampere’s right shoulder had been would keep her from getting kicked. Blesses Ampere’s shortness too, for Alice can reach vital parts easier that way. Blind with blood and pain, Hotaru thrusts her magic forth in aid, a ball of lightning arcing towards Ampere’s left wing joint and exploding loudly. She needs distance for her cyclone magic to work, to shred Ampere like she’d lacerated Ashamin and grounded Shadow…and to avoid injuries she can’t weather. 

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Attack: {2/4}
Words: {800/800}

DON'T WORRY BLU I HAD TO CUT OUT A LOT TOO