Anyway! I just wanted to offer it up here and get a few thoughts on it before I find out if I won or not. sweatdrop As I have little confidence in my writing against others [*hangs head*] I doubt I'll win, but it was fun to develope my character! ^~^ I luff him. *huggles said character* Since he has no name in here, I won't give you his name. *nod* But anyway! On to the story!
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--White, fluffy clouds moved slowly, leisurely in the faint morning sky as I gazed up at them. In the near distance, thunder rumbled, rolling across the plains until it disappeared into the faint mist that still drifted in the valleys and hung from the small groves of trees like a sheer cloth. “There is only one person that can melt away the ice that’s become caked around my heart,” I murmured to the clouds in response to why I was just standing there with no tears in my eyes, “but that person can’t do anything if she’s dead, can she?” Silence met my question and I sighed. “What was the point, again, of asking the clouds? It isn’t as if they can answer.” I slowly tilted my head down and stopped contemplating life and the unfairness of it, at least for the moment.
--After everything that had happened, one would think that instead of trying to philosophize I would be able to just move on. Ah… but Dahlia, sweet Dahlia. One would think that with my reputation it shouldn’t be hard to keep my face just as cold as it had been before her, that it shouldn’t be hard for me to just turn around and continue my run from the bounty hunters. But my sweet, beautiful- I shook my head; honestly I’d have to stop thinking about her if I wanted to survive. She was dead, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it, now was there?
--She’d want you to survive… The words were whispered to me from some unknown source, and they were right.
--Well then, that’s just what I’d have to go and do then, wasn’t it? Survive. I looked out across the windswept plains and saw the beginnings of the grumbling storm I had heard as it billowed and rolled in from the mountains, and I wondered just how easy surviving would be. At least with her I had a purpose, with her there was life and reason and pleasure as well as the thrill of running from what I knew awaited me if I stepped wrong. The thrill of protecting someone I knew couldn’t protect herself, as she was a mere human, and I a powerful creature with all the strength of perhaps twenty or more human males. Ah, I’ll be bold; fifty. She always did tell me that though I had a cold nature I was modest, and I’ll be damned if she didn’t tease me for it.
--“How many years, sweet Dahlia, should pass before you let yourself rest from my mind?” I whispered, but the wind snatched the words away, tearing the sound from me and tossing it carelessly to the slowly bruising sky. The storm was beginning to look dangerous; purple and black, laced over with flashes of lightning that were anything but delicate. I let the wind whip at my body and thought of how ironic it was that nature’s storm should arise just as my own was churning darkly inside. Mine had been a slow storm, but had taken a turn for the worst as the air around me suddenly prickled in suspense of the storm nature was brewing over the mountains. My own energy, though unseen, danced across my skin in mimicry of the lightning in the clouds that were furiously thrown towards me.
--Rage, bitter-sweet and so cold it burned, ripped into my stomach, leaving nothing but bloody and painful emotions as I bared my fangs to the billowed forms of darkness now swirling in front of me. I stood and let the wind whip my hair around my face, let it try to tear the strands from my scalp and only sneered as it merely ripped off the long white cloth that I bound my hair back in. They took my Dahlia, and I would take them. I could sense the bounty hunters approaching with the storm, remaining low as they tried to sneak up on my lone figure. Did they take me for a fool? Or did they count on it? I could, would, take them as I was, in this human shell of a body. Let them feel the humiliation of getting defeated by a mercenary who didn’t even bother to fight them in his true form. Even as they approached the world suddenly got quiet, as if holding its breath before the storm unleashed its final and great fury. There wasn’t a sound until the grass suddenly shivered beside me, parting to let a shadowed body through its tall stalks.
--I’d attack first. Let the others blunder upon a scene of crimson and terror. With this thought in mind I whirled, claws ready, eyes narrowed, my body taut and then released as I shot towards the lone figure. Muscles bunched and rippled, then suddenly tensed as I came to an abrupt halt, nearly losing my balance in the process. The figure wasn’t one of them. Several other figures stepped out in astonishment when the first one fell over in shock and fear, and I realized my mistake. Lightning bolted and struck a place nearby, brightening the area briefly and leaving the air hot and static as thunder crashed to the ground. They were humans. I had mistaken simple humans for my mortal enemy.
--It was then the storm broke, and rain suddenly rushed down in fast torrents, immediately drenching everything in sight. My own storm broke in silent tears instead of hot anger. Humans… just like Dahlia. The group of humans tried to remain still even as they jumped in fright of the summer storm. Dahlia, I looked up at the bruised sky as it poured its regrets with rain, even the sky mourns you.
--Glancing towards the humans, I noticed how pathetic they looked, slipping and sliding as they were on the wet ground, trying to gain some dignity in their faults. I nearly chuckled then, but my sorrow held me motionless until a small memory slithered into my mind of another time, many years ago, when I had first seen Dahlia. It had been a similar situation, with rain and thunder and her looking so timid and frightened. This situation was too close, much too close to the time I had met her for it to be just a simple coincidence. You’ve found me companions, haven’t you Dahlia? Sweet, sweet Dahlia, didn’t I tell you that I loathe humans? With the rain washing over me, I lost track of my tears and found myself laughing.
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On a side note, the prompt could only be three pages long double spaced, so I must say that this is the shortest peice of writing that I've ever done... and I had to take so much out and do so much tweaking... I hope it's as good as I think it is... sweatdrop
