She couldn't win.

This singular thought tore around her mind, bouncing off the inner hallways of her cranium to shoot like ice into every space of her body, chilling every fiber of her being. Her heart ached with that knowledge, feeling the unyielding need to be close to Gaucho, relishing the sensation of her skin coming into contact with his. Will this be the last time? she asked herself with a shocking grief. Unable to have him, unable to help him, unable to stop him. She couldn't win, he was too strong.

Pitifully her hooves coasted down his chest, sagging like the rest of her in the disastrous aftermath of their brokenness. She wanted to beat him, wanted to crush him to return every bit of hurt he had given to her, unknowing or otherwise, but she couldn't. She couldn't scrounge up even crumbs of resolve because instead she relished being next to him, coddled by the warmth that he embodied and radiated out like a personal sun. She fought back a sob, her breath instead holding tight in her throat, strangling free with a gasp as he pushed back into her, unwilling to submit, to leave, to give up.

Damnit Gaucho, just let her have this, just this once. If he would just leave, this would all be over, and it would be easy. It would be cold, but it would be over, wasn't that worth something?

Still transitioning back to the sands his forward momentum skewed her balance. She stumbled, the loose ground tripping her hooves as they fought for a hold, her wings fluttering to catch her, but she was tilted, and she just didn't care enough. The ground had felt nice before, it was soft, and warm, and hurt so much less than this. Her flesh rippled as muscles worked to hold her upright, hocks whispering over the dunes, but it wasn't enough and she faltered back, sinking like a ship to her left. Her haunches gave way, her wings twirled in the air, reaching for something to grab onto but she had already ripped everything out from under herself and given it all to him. No! she thought in frigid desperation, a plea to stop this, to go back, to stay!

Her wings shot back to her sides, unable to help her and not worth sacrificing. Her neck slung to the right, slowing the inevitable thud of her body as she sprawled into the sand on her left side. A twinge ran along her left stifle, having taken the brunt of her weight as she tipped over, but nothing hurt so bad as the wall of flame that kissed her skin in light of his lips. At first she smiled, thinking that he had come to her, that he had pushed past her defenses and sunken back into her heart, pooling her with that same inner fire that had always excited her.

Quickly though it hurt, and like watching a photograph burn at the edges, distorting a favorite memory, so too did his assault ruin her fantasy. Her face contorted with pain and she cried out in pure agony. Blisters rose over the right slope of her shoulder, the skin raw and angry and exposed, just like her. The acrid smell of burning hair choked her as she sucked in another breath to scream. Somewhere in the midst of it all tears sprung to her eyes, dripping dark rivers down an already shadowed face. She felt she was dying, that the absence of his love, the failure of her crusade, the weakness of herself, was all enough to bring her demise. She was eerily okay with it.

NO! some stronger part of her hollered, enraged. She twitched in the sands, writhing with torture of body, mind and soul. Dust stirred with her flopping defeat, and in the entropy of it all her steely stubbornness summoned the last shreds of her might. Blue light sparked into existence, shifting the organic matter into its true form. Lightning swirled like a shield around her, while bone and metal shot from the depths of her wings, seemingly born from her body. They hummed quietly with electric energy, guided by the emotional hand that Ampere so often worked her life with.

The two daggers hurtled towards Gaucho, their honed points the manifestation of Ampere as they aimed to drive into Gaucho's chest, right where his heart should lay. Each came from a different, though frontward direction. Meanwhile Ampere scrabbled to her feet, cocooned in a maelstrom of energy, breaths ragged and heavy as she grit through the unyielding torment of his touch. She stood before him, barely, feeling his fire in honesty for the first time.

She still wanted it.

---

A: 2/3
D: 0/1
W: 798/800