[private] swearing this'll be the last but it probably won't

[Mazikeen]

It is so easy to believe that he can see her fears because he speaks them in his taunts. It’s such an old fear - that she isn’t enough. The intensity of it is not what it once was, but here in this dream it tries to drown her as she fights desperately against it. Reassurances run like mantras through her mind, reminding her that she is stronger with those she loves, that she does not have to fight every battle alone. The glowing in her fur flickers with her uncertainty as Gale’s is displayed by the lightning in the sky around them. It’s so hard to know whether he is just needling her with her insecurities or if he’s right. If she is too soft now to be any use as a protector. And if she had been less soft, would she have tried harder to find a way to kill Gale before he had become what stands before her now? She doesn’t know the young pair of foals that appear with Sickle and Malik but she recognizes the colours, the golden eyes, and feels a small thrill that disappears with them - and fades completely at Gale’s words. Mazikeen feels as though she’s processing things in slow motion and her head seems to take forever to turn from where the apparitions of the children have faded and back to him. When she does, she feels… fine. Even though she is still actively crying. She likes being soft. Likes seeing her children smile at her and hearing their laughter. Even as broken as she feels, Mazikeen likes who she is now and the potential that it brings. And even if she has so much damage control to do still, she knows there are those she could reach out to for help. So she repeats what he had told her when he had said he’d come for Viszla, only this time there’s a small, knowing smile on her face. And though the words are quiet, she puts effort into filling them with steel (even if that confidence is mostly just wishful thinking). “No, you won’t.” And then she lunges for him, her wolf’s head morphing through every predator she can think of - each shape wanting the chance to tear blood from him. m a z i k e e n .

 

@Gale