✯ — BABY, YOU'RE SO CLASSIC

Things hadn't been the same, some things had changed, and some had gone completely wrong. The woman could not find herself to be at peace anywhere within the bounds of the land that she now called home, her heart aching with a resonance that she had long felt. Her paws brought her along the edge of the coast, sand digging into the webbing between her toes, claws leaving pricks in the crushed dust, steps heavy. Her head was down, still as she was lost in thought, the scars across her shoulders aching from the breeze coming off the ocean. War was a constant here in this land, and it tired the mercenary, far past what it should have. These days it was much the same thing, the aching in her chest and the echoing emptiness within her ears, everything too quiet and too loud simultaneously. She had needed to take a leave, try to escape, wander somewhere, calm the violence boiling up in her mind. Jaws spread, she felt smoke roll up her throat, rolling down her tongue and through her teeth, the moon cold and heavy above.

Coming to a stop, her gaze locked out on the lapping waters of the sea, a desolate loneliness in her gaze, body still and stiff against the sea's whispering beckons. She could taste the salt of the sea in the air, her eyes closing as her memories took her back to a long ago time, where very few had been alive. Swallowing, she raised a paw to rub at her muzzle and the stinging pain there. She realised belatedly that she was crying, pain lancing through her chest. Well, this wasn't exactly new, nor was it old, she had been holding onto her emotions for so long that it made sense. She hadn't let anyone see her heart in the longest time and the one that had, she'd left behind without a spoken word, too tired to remain around anyone else for the longest time. She could only hope that Playerone would forgive her.

Long lasting were the memories of sweet summer sun cast down upon their fur, the tender memories of laying with her lover and grooming her fur, purrs rumbling from her chest. Those days were the ones she missed the most, the soft and sweet times where war hadn't beckoned to either of them, where they had a chance to sit down and share time with one another, times where they could be together without fearing it was stolen active time. They had worked so hard for those moments together and they'd become more and more rare as time progressed.

Now she was returning, broken and full of more scars, rage rippling through her mind like a seductive siren's tempting lures, threatening to draw her under, to remember the memories she dared not let rest upon her mind. They were fringed and fragmented, burying into her mind like shards of glass so sharp that it severed through. Breath choking in her throat, acrid smoke swallowing down deep into her stomach, tears burning tracks down her face, leaving dark sooty stains across her orange and white fur. Gasping out for some sort of salvation, she gave a keen from the depths of her chest, sobs welling up and choking themselves out through the cracks in her teeth. Her flanks heaved with the raw emotions ripping through her heart and mind before she could recover, her paws sliding forward to the edge of the water as her legs slowly gave out, bringing the huntress to her belly, stumpy tail sagging. She found a brief reprieve as a set of dark paws quickly drew to her side, a cold wet nose pressing against her ear, the sweet scent of her long lost comrade soothing the woman as she lost the war to her emotions yet again. Slowly, the sobs and gasps would ease into soft whimpers and trembles, black, orange and white dulled coloured fur pressing into her own, tresses blending together.

Without the other mercenary, she surely would have been lost and given up any hope of returning to the lands she knew as home. Watching the waves soak through her fur, she closed her eyes, resting her head on her paws, Chinami's warmth a welcome presence at her side compared to the icy chill rolling from the waters. Raising her head, she turned her head to look at her friend, touching her nose to her friend's forehead with a shaken breath. She didn't dare speak, the two mercenaries seeking comfort in the presence of one another, unshakeable in their faith in believing that some day, things would get better.

Restlessness kept her moving, and after time spent at the water's lip soaking her to the bone, she let the fire burning in her core to spread through her veins, warming her coat and in extension her companion. They had met on a dark dreary and drizzly day, much like the day had been that they had encountered each other outside of Elysium. She had been hunting for materials to melt down and forge, Chinami looking for her own things and reasons. Her fire had been what kept them both warm on those cold nights. Now their entwined path had led them far and wide, Kade's body sore and her heart broken. There was little of her conscious left, instincts guiding the smilodon as she went through her travels, numbed to others around her save for the shiba inu that traveled at her side.

Exhaling as she came to a stop, low growls and snarls leaving the smilodon, her gaze cast deep into the shadows of a coastal forest, panting heavily from pain and hunger, her jaws slavering as she swallowed, watching a hare dart across the moonlit beach. She didn't dare chase it, though her stomach screamed to - she had been hurt recently by a hare, and it had caused this listless restlessness in her. She knew that her time was racing, faster and faster as old and buried memories resurfaced and drove her insane. The damned hare woke the beast she had long fought to tie up and bury within herself, a beast that had frightened her so much. Imperium was waking up and there was nothing she could do to stop the memories from returning her to that feral state, a state in which she killed and killed mercilessly. There was no reasoning with Imperium, she was Kade in full, the original version who knew no morals, no love, and certainly no kindness. Gods help whoever crossed her path, for she was a godkiller, out to gain revenge on the gods of her own, and to wreak havoc wherever she went.

Standing on the beach, the smilodon would let out an ear-splitting roar, sending the birds in the trees scattering as smoke rolled from her pelt, Imperium's eyes gleaming blue suns of hatred and rage, lost to the madness that she was. As she had appeared, she would disappear, leaving behind glass paw prints, her paws smouldering and burning the sand into a roughly hewn shape, something to gleam in the coming daylight, or to be forgotten to the ocean. Imperium was gone, hunting an end she would not find, searching for her next kill. Once a legacy, now a monster.

✯ — FEMALE. TRAVELING. MODERATE-HIGH. REF. BIO. — ✯