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Of course Virgo went down; her grip on Chronos slipped, which was good because it meant the Princess could still escape. It was bad because she couldn't drag herself back up. Instead, she paused to catch her breath and rolled away from Chronos, and tried to kick out again at Fallon. She'd only just become human again, she didn't want to become a zombie already!

It didn't seem like there was anything she could do to stop it. She couldn't throw a tiara at someone!

Deep breath. Ignore the scent of decay. Grab for the wrist around her throat, try and pull it off. Kick out again. C'mon Virgo! You can do it!

When Virgo fell to the floor, Fallon scrambled forward, pushing herself off the ground in a runner's stance. The senshi was quick, and her thrown kick knocked Fallon in the chest, forcing her backward. Fallon snarled, but her new position took the wind out of the sails of Chronos staff swing. It clipped the side of Fallon's hand, but the pain was minimal -- more of a knock than a heavy blow.

Painted nails dug into the creases of the floor, nose wrinkling into a sneer. Her sheet of hair spilled over hunched shoulders, but it did not hang for long. She was moving quickly, muscles reacting with a crack of bone and limbs tensing with each twitch. "NO!" she screamed, her fleeting battle cry. Was it an objection to the fighting? Or to losing the upper hand? Fallon had no intention of losing, of being denied the blood that swam so sweetly just below the skin.

Again, she lunged, rebounding from the attack like a fox, diving and darting as fast as her bare feet could carry her. Fallon could have gone after Virgo, but her gut screamed for Chronos. On all fours, she pounced from the ground, reaching for the staff with her hands and swinging her legs to wrap around the Princess and drag her to the floor.

"Fallon, stop it!" Chronos yelled, panicked. Her eyes were focused on Virgo; she too thought that Fallon would go for the bluenette rather than herself. So it was entirely unexpected when something wrapped around her and she went down, head hitting the floor.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt one bit (was it this whole senshi thing?) and Chronos decided that she couldn't hold back anymore and reached for her tiara. "Equinox Tiara Magic!" With this, she flung it directly at Fallon and immediately looked away, eyes squeezed shut. She really didn't want to hurt anyone, but they had to survive. She and Virgo still had to find all the others so they could escape and call for help!

The first clue that her 'attack' had done something was when Virgo suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, followed by disorientation. That wasn't so bad; the princess seemed to be handling herself, and Virgo needed a minute for her brain to catch up to the rest of her body. Also, she found it an acceptable price to have a headache for no good reason when Chronos had taken a fall like that and was still straight-headed enough to throw her tiara at Fallon.

Now if only they could run!

She started to feel a little bit less sanguine about the whole thing when she distinctly felt a set of sharp monster teeth sink into her shoulder. With a shrill scream, Virgo clutched at her shoulder; something warm and slick greeted her hand and without preamble, she threw up and stepped backwards, head reeling. She couldn't quite concentrate, but she had to hold on to two things: Consciousness and whatever the hell she was doing that was keeping her Princess from getting hurt.

This kept her upright long enough that Fallon could tackle her; still gripping her injured shoulder, Virgo went down with another distressed cry. If the youma didn't move, Virgo would land right on top of her.

The scream made Fallon's heart race. It pounded against her rib cage like it was trying to break free. Of course, this only served to make her chest hurt quite a bit more, given the force with which she was hit by the tiara. No time to think about it. A dark sneer crossed Fallon's otherwise indifferent features, half out of blood lust and half out of chest pain. Her previous agility appeared to be a thing of the past, not so long as she had the thrumming ache in her chest from Chronos's attack.

But blood was in the air. (And vomit too, which was much less appealing.) Fallon had to keep going.

Falling toward Virgo, Fallon latched one hand on her wrist, mouth lunging toward her shoulder. The girl's weakened state allowed Fallon easy access. She more or less caught Virgo, one hand gripping her arm, the other wrapping around her waist. It was as if they were dancing in the middle of the darkened hallway. Darting her chin forward, Fallon lapped at the bloodied wound, tongue tracing pale pink smears. With a hiss, she parted her lips to take a bite, to feel the flesh sliding down her throat, to quiet the roaring hunger that banged its angry fists against the inside of her stomach.

(Food for thought: do senshi taste different than humans?
Fallon shall experiment.)

Her teeth were mere centimeters away when Chronos struck. The pain was sharp and hot, and Fallon heard a small crack underneath the thud of the staff. The movement pushed her face right into Virgo's neck, but with far too much force for Fallon to take advantage of it -- or to see straight. Her nose connected with collarbone, forehead pushing against the soft flesh of Virgo's neck. She made a sound like groaning and crumpled. Her grip on Virgo's wrist held at first, but as she fell, her hand slipped free and Fallon landed face-down on the floor, legs curled to one side of her body.

For a moment, she laid very still. The hit by the staff had been just as painful as the tiara. The two of them together threatened to knock Fallon out entirely. She felt darkness calling at the corners of her eyes, but she fought not to give in. No, this wasn't over. Virgo was still bleeding; Fallon could smell it and taste the lingering droplets on her lips. No, this was not over. She tried to move, but her body did not cooperate. Lifting her hands, she tried to push herself up, but her arms gave way and she fell again. On hands and knees, Fallon tried to crawl. She needed to find a way to keep attacking. She had to win, she had to eat. Didn't they understand that? Couldn't they see it in her eyes?

It was pathetic to watch, clearly futile. Fallon struggled to move, not resting for a moment. All the while blood trailed from the back of her head -- from the spot where Chronos had nearly cracked her skull wide open. If she was human, it would have knocked her out for sure, perhaps even killed her. As a zombie, it made her sleepy and sluggish, like someone had sucked all the adrenaline out of her veins. Fallon fought to keep striking out at them, like a snake that had been cut in half, both ends still flailing in defense.

Even as Chronos was determined to make Fallon stop hurting Virgo (oh god, oh god, Virgo was bleeding, Fallon wanted to eat her), she drew back in horror as she realized that she had hit the zombie pretty hard. Chronos didn't know where the strength had came from; she was what many including herself would consider a weak little girl. But seeing how she had managed to beat off a Captain (Who was that Nealite anyway? Why was she doing this?) and now, two zombies (Not that she actually bothered to keep count), Chronos was starting to seriously question her abilities as a senshi. She was still uncannily new to this, and the only other senshi on campus did not have any experience either.

Chronos trembled, cerise eyes fixated on Fallon's body until Virgo spoke and snapped her out of her reverie. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly, looking as though she was about to cry. She shuddered, blinking back tears as she turned to give Virgo a watery smile and a nod. "I don't think I can do that again either." Grasping Virgo's hand, they ran.

Again.