//Retro Caesar's attack

Merlin was... more than a friend, if Atbash was honest. She hadn't felt this way towards another woman ever since Cry had disappeared, but it was a welcome feeling. One that the Shaderunner had missed, even if it made her awkward and stumbling over her own words. It was a flighty feeling, as if she was on clouds; it was a feeling that was much better than just being happy and was a major contrast from the sadness she had felt lately, with Aurum passing and her contemplating the whole reason she had joined Tanglewood. With Merlin here, the savannah now had another reason to stay - not that she wasn't friends with or didn't like anyone else, just that Merlin gave her hope that everything was going to be okay.

That was one of the reasons Atbash was looking for Merlin. She was just wanted to spend time with the calico she-cat, to have a couple of laughs or maybe she could take Merlin to where Snowbound used to be. When Atbash came to Merlin's house though, she noticed that she wasn't home - which, knowing Merlin, wasn't exactly a big deal. She was often out-and-about, doing her own thing. It wasn't that much of a surprise. So for a while, the Shaderunner didn't really think much of the situation until it slowly became hours before anyone had seen the pretty butterfly-winged she-cat. With worry piercing through her, Atbash decided to follow Merlin's alcohol-sprinkled scent trail, the breath catching in her throat as she noticed the blood on the ground and getting stronger as she followed the trail.

What was also heavily in the air was the scent of the Coalition and it made Atbash's heart stop for a moment. "Merlin!" The savannah cried out, panic slowly starting to set in. She pushed through, still following the scent trail as it got worse with bits of blood, until it went past the border. "Shit, shit, Merlin!" She couldn't go after Merlin on her own, she couldn't go to the Coalition by herself. Atbash collapsed where she stood, her body shaking as she tried to fight off her worries of Merlin being killed by the group that caused so much terror.

Things had grown quiet, a settling she supposed as time continued to drag on even if others didn't want it too. She found it strange, odd really, that she would be here now in the steps of someone else who knew so much more than she did about the places that were around. The traditions, the people, the other groups. She felt like she was just playing at being Luminary. That she would be remembered as one of the worst in the history that belonged to Tanglewood. Not to her. It was a feeling that had been steadily growing for days now. She didn't feel like she belonged here and yet she was still here. She didn't want to abandoned them and she had no true place she could go besides back home. And then she would be returning back home a failure. Her soul journey never completed. Adding shame to the Xiu family name.

She held on mostly because she hoped that things would settle for herself. She held on because she loved Arrow too much just to throw it all away. The king cheetah meant everything to her and she wasn't about to leave her. Especially not after everything they had been through. But the screams, the screams of those that were harmed lifted up into the air and silenced her own thoughts. Head whipping up as she turned and surged forward. A deadly goddess coming to pass judgment. Her tail lashed across the grass, igniting flames that slowly went out as she came toward the scene. The moment that the Coalition scent hit her nostrils she knew. She already knew! The fact that Atbash was here calling out for Merlin was the only evidence she needed.

"She's going to kill them!" All of them. She suddenly snapped violently as the fire along her neck blazed with hungry flames. They coiled and twisted as she looked at the scene. There would be no mercy she would end this. They would not get away with taking someone that did not belong to them. She swore it. "She will stop them Atbash. She will make them give Merlin back."