Run away with me, Lost souls and reverie,
Running wild and running free, Two kids, you and me

The world seemed to scream around her, enveloping her in a violent white noise she couldn't tear herself from. Ragged breaths. Searing ribs. Pounding heart. Hooves upon frozen earth. Even the smells stifled her. The smell of blood and sweat was thick, and hung heavy around the velvet rim of each nostril. She gasped for clean air, prayed for it to be over. In their desperation, there could be no victor. Both would be engulfed in the flames they had kindled. She couldn't last much longer. The end was nearly upon them.

Only, the end didn't come silently like a spring lamb. It came in a grotesque wave of crimson as her horn met his hide. Iron and heat and blood, so much blood, splashed across the cobalt plane of her face. It blurred her vision, stained the white pinpricks that dazzled her hide. She shook her head, her forelock sticking slick to her face, spraying droplets of red to pepper the earth. She couldn't get away. She couldn't see. His scream, a primal animalistic howl, shook her to her bones.

"Ashamin!" she cried, reaching out for him. Sparks leapt at her, burned her skin, buried themselves into her muscles. But she didn't care. She couldn't care. She blinked furiously, trying to clear her vision enough to see the buck. She moved blindly, heaving herself forward towards him. She was done. She couldn't continue whatever this had become. She was no longer a corporal. She was terrified and vulnerable, split wide open to the core, knowing she had done this.

There was too much blood.

She closed the space between them, and his jaws clamped hard onto the smooth curve of her neck. It burned, and her muscle tensed and twisted as ruby red bubbled to the surface, oozing from a neat arch of teeth marks.

"Ashamin, stop!" she gasped, eyes brimming with tears. "Ashamin, it's over. Oh, my darling, what have I done?" Her voice was broken and weak. How could she have done this? She didn't mean for this to happen."Your leg, oh my god, your leg."  She pushed past him, trying desperately to ignore the tingling in her legs from the sparks, and the soreness of everything else. The blue pressed her nose against his wound. The smell and taste and warmth of his blood became embedded into her senses, latching on and fueling the guilt that welled up deep inside."I don't know what to do. It was an accident, I'm so sorry." She tried to hold pressure, tried to do anything. Was this even right? She began to cry, salty tears mixing with the vivid splashes that cascaded down her face.

They were dancing. They were spinning beneath the Tallsun sky, two souls tangled together, letting the world fall apart around them. But if the world disappeared, who would be there to help them put their pieces back together? Who would be there to fix this mess?

She wheezed with every breath, and each inhale grew sharper and more labored. Her head swam, and everything hurt. What could she do? How could she begin to fix this? What he needed was help. He didn't need her. He didn't need the product of a violent upbringing. He didn't need someone sharp and dangerous, without enough skill to calculate the damage of her blade. Her beautiful Ashamin needed someone who woundn't tear him open to bleed out beneath the summer sun, or force him to walk with an awful limp. Her heart was breaking, shattering under the weight of her burdens and decisions. She was imploding.

They were lost to the world in the corner of the valley, surrounded by trees and rock and ice. Her place of refuge was marred by this horrifically display. She was anchored to her spot, with no idea what would happen if she pulled away and retreated to the heart of the Basin for help. She couldn't leave him here. She couldn't abandon him. What if the bleeding didn't stop? She couldn't turn her silver gaze to his black pools. She couldn't bear to look him in the eyes, and know she had inflicted such an injury one the one she lov--

She stopped herself, trying to steady her breathing between muted sobs. Her mind raced, the last of her adrenaline burying the blanket of exhaustion that hovered close by. She was crumbling when she needed to be a sturdy foundation. Even if she wasn't what he needed, she could try her hardest to be a placeholder. She took one deep breath, as deep as she could bear, before speaking again. "It's going to be okay," she murmured. Who was she trying to convince?

"I promise, everything is going to be okay."

Speech
WC:: 798/800
Closing Defense
Summary: Sparks from his coil shock and burn her forelegs. His bite lands on her neck and draws blood. She freaks out over the whole thing.