Douleurs de Croissance

Her mind is a mess. The only constant in its disorder is the sound of Sophia screaming. Her body still remembered the motions it used to end a person's life clearly.

The worst part was how natural it felt.

[You Are Dying]

An unnatural calm washes over Maud as Athena's voice echoes in her head, cutting through the chaos like a knife. With it, she finally notices the rumbling of her stomach. Between her state of mental disarray and her body still functioning at 110%, it was easy to forget that she still needed to do things like. Or maybe she knew and desired to sabotage herself.

It had been over a week since she...yes, she ran. Everything happened so quickly, all she knew was that she couldn't stay. There was no way to explain what had happened — not to herself or the people who'd placed their trust in her.

But that was beside the point. Being in such a rush meant she had little than some equipment provided by the PRT on her which she discarded as soon as she was aware enough to do so. She hadn't even brought a change of clothes, though she shed and repurposes the outer layer of her costume to become less recognizable. This and unwillingness mean that meals weren't easy to come by.

"We- I can last a bit longer. I'll find something soon."

As shameful as she found the idea, there was only one course of action. With her nose crinkled in disgust, she reluctantly approaches the closest dumpster in the alley she was currently resting in. She brings down the piece of torn cloth she'd fashioned into a mask as her tired eyes scan inside, hoping to at least find something relatively fresh.

Her thoughts about food almost keep her from noticing the sound of explosions coming only a  few dozen or so feet away. Glass, bricks, and concrete come flying toward her as the dumpster is launched away and she's knocked down. She braces, preparing for the worst, but less debris than expected makes its mark. Still, the sight of red leaving her forearm and the sting of the wounds she received from Shadow Stalker tells her that some did.

A quick once-over reveals the reason as Maud's eyes catch sight of glimmering pieces of armor covering her body in seemingly random spots, not dissimilar to how scattered pieces of broken glass around her looked. They flicker away just as soon as they came.

[Focus]

Maud scrambles to her feet as a blade materializes in one hand and she repositions her mask with the other. Smoke stings her eyes as she rushes out of the alley and into the street where more rubble and fire greet her. It's as if the chaos in her mind manifested itself in the physical world.

Bodies litter the ground, some charred black and blown apart. The living trample over each other as they flee. At least, some are fleeing. Others take part in the destruction and disrupt the local PRT's attempt to intervene by assaulting them. Something appears on the edge of Maud's vision, causing her to instinctively drop to the ground and roll, narrowly avoiding being indiscriminately cut down as others in the beam's path are. The source, and presumably the cause of the brunt of the destruction, is a lanky man wearing a punkish-looking outfit and a protective vest. For the most part, his body is covered, except for his eyes which emit a visible glow even from a distance.

They lock eyes. The glow in his intensifies and Maud takes it as a signal to get out of the way. Even so, the blast causes an abandoned car behind her to explode in a fiery eruption. Again, it seems that she's taken less damage than she should have, but no attention is given to this as her feet push off the asphalt and she sprints forward.

The screams and cries of the injured and frightened. The roar and uncomfortable heat of the growing fires. The deranged chants of the mob. The sting of her wounds. Even the stench of death — it all melts away as her body again seems to move on its own, knowing where her attacker plans to shoot and dodging just as he's about to fire. However, it becomes more difficult the closer she gets. Rather than evading, she attempts to block a beam with her sword. Although she manages to stop it, the force knocks her back and allows him to follow up with a sweeping attack.

Her now half-formed armor keeps her from being sliced in half but the attack still leaves a gash in her side. All the pain comes back and she feels like she's drowning in it. She wants to close her eyes, to lie down and rest. Hoping things will be better when she wakes up.

'I tried my best, didn't I?'

She doesn't know the answer. She doesn't know why her eyes feel so wet. Her vision blurs more and more as the rise and fall of her chest slows. Nothing's made sense for so long. Long before she killed Sophia. But as her vision fades, she feels at peace.

[We Are Not Done]

Despite her wishes, her body springs to action and rolls out of the way just in time to see a crater blown into the spot she landed. Suddenly, she's aware of more than just her own pain. The world is on fire and its people cry out to her as they burn.

Maud feels disgusted with her herself, but those feelings are pushed down. She's already been selfish enough.

She picks herself up and charges again, no longer a reluctant puppet. Her body aches and she's fully aware of the chaos surrounding her, but they aren't distractions. They give her purpose.

Rather than attempting to evade or block, Maud meets the next blast head-on, leading it into an armored part of her body where it fizzles out. The poor visibility and glass-like nature of the armor make it appear like she's simply become immune to the effects of the beams, causing her attacker to panic. His aim suffers and he resorts to making easily evaded sweeps that only fill the arena with more smoke and dust and obscure his vision. He lets off a few more blasts into the smoke, unsure whether his target is still alive. The answer comes when a piece of rubble collides with his brow.

While he's dazed Maud uses the opening to make her final charge. She has the hilt of her sword in a death grip. Her body seems almost eager to go through the motions again. Her victim makes an unfocused sweep that she easily slides and uses the momentum to knock him off balance. As he falls, Maud catches him by the collar and slams him into the ground. Hard. There isn't any hesitation as she holds him down and her blade snuffs out the glow out of his eyes.

[You Saved Them]