Semper Fidelis

[Cicadan]

No take-backsies.

((Bridie Mossberg continued from The Lost Generation))

It was hard to find buildings without dead bodies, it was hard to find the time to handle those dead bodies, and Bridie sometimes remembered: they'd left at least several people unburied, left to... whatever it was, that happened when the corpse stayed under God's sun. Even dragged into the bathroom and the door closed Bridie swore there was some sort of odd smell following that one boy she didn't recognize whose face was stained red. It was like... the runny drip of strawberry syrup over pancakes.

Bridie liked pancakes, but her favorite place to get them had been this small cafe run by a big mustache Mexican guy, on the intersection of Smith and Adam in downtown, where her favorites had been the pancakes and especially the marble cake.

She found it harder to keep her thoughts organized now.

That kind of scared her, because she needed a clear head in combat, but all these strange ideas kept occurring to her. Things she hadn't done. People she hadn't seen. Where was Clay? He should have found her by now, what was taking him? She couldn't even be annoyed with him, this time, even though she was always annoyed with him when he always seemed to be slow and forgetful just when she needed him...

She just couldn't feel the same about it this time, for some reason. This was all too strange. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to keep thinking about the fight. The reason they were all here, their duty and their purpose. When she repeated that mantra to herself she'd at least feel a little better. Still, she kept thinking about the bodies. Sometimes when she closed her eyes she saw the faces of two boys she'd killed. She wondered about it, because really, she definitely was okay with those two, or rather she had been, but then she'd killed them both.

She'd done what she'd had to do.

She watched Damien, sprawled out on a bench, sleeping. She wondered what he was thinking.

He had yet to take a kill. It had almost been two days, the sun was just starting to set. Maybe he'd raised his weapon, but he'd never even taken a swing and drawn blood. Blood was always spilled, when you were an American. One of the many rules of honor in combat, expect the pain of the enemy.

[Primrosette]

((Damien Crossly continued from The Lost Generation))

Damien was muttering and mumbling in his sleep, feeling himself wanting to wake up. But he had been so exhausted that he had barely laid down onto the bench before his eyes drooped closed and he had dozed off without saying anything to Bridie. She must have thought that he was being dismissive of her and he hoped that that was not the case.

As he was sleeping, there was only one person that he could never get out of his head. No matter how hard he would try.

Bianca....

There was no escaping from it. He would be seen as a monster for killing someone in such a brutal way. Right?

[Cicadan]

He looked innocent.

The problem was that Bridie couldn't be sure. She'd liked Damien, he seemed honest, patriotic. Far from a troublemaker. Bridie knew she liked him, she also knew that didn't matter. It was supposed to matter, but it didn't.

She, by law, by birthright, was supposed to be a killer. Here and in this place. She couldn't imagine an alternative. She couldn't call herself an American if she tried anything else, and she couldn't imagine an alternative, to being an American.

She'd thought she'd been allying with Damien as the strategic decision. A perfectly honorable tactic in the dead of combat, in an active war zone it was best to acquire even a temporary gun hand you could trust. Everyone knew that. It was obvious. Bridie definitely knew such a thing by heart, but... Damien didn't seem to. It seemed, if you asked her, that he didn't have his heart into their alliance. That he didn't understand things the same way she did. She knew that ordinarily she'd be fine with that. Not everyone believed like she did.

But here, that didn't matter.

Bridie furrowed her brow. She forced a snarl, as she watched Damien's restless sleep to the quickening of her heart.

He was not an ally. He was her enemy, just like anyone else.

She lashed out. Her foot met his ribs and she stood at his side, suddenly livid, though it was something of a hollow feeling. She wasn't sure what that meant, but it didn't have real anger. Real anger, she'd cry, she'd gnash her teeth and bite at the air as emotions overwhelmed her. This wasn't that.

She wasn't angry on behalf of herself, she figured. She was so, on behalf of her country.

"This alliance is over, Damien. Get up." She coldly stared him down, holding the kama she'd stolen from his bag at her throat. "You listening?" She tried her best intimidating voice. It sounded pretty good, she liked to think.

[Primrosette]

Damien had felt the impact of something against his ribs and his eyes flew open in bewilderment. His side was hurting a bit from the blow against his side. He had to blink a few times out of confusion and disbelief as his hand touched his side. Then he heard Bridie's voice. He looked up to stare at her and he tensed up for a few seconds as he noticed his weapon in her hands.

What was going on? He didn't understand why Bridie was acting like this so soon. He knew that some point that their alliance would have come to an end, but Bridie reacting like this was not what he had suspected. Had he let his guard down too much for her? It looked like it since she had his kama and she was trying to be menacing to him.

He slowly sat up and he rubbed his side a little, trying to keep himself calm and to not lash out at her. "Bridie...?" He said her name more out of disbelief than anger or upset. "What are you talking about? What do you mean by that?"  

[Cicadan]

He looked helpless. On instinct, she wanted to help. Her stance softened, the hand without the kama went for him.

But no, this was exactly what she was supposed to be doing. Putting him in this position. Things hadn't changed, not since James, not since boy whose name she STILL didn't remember. After all this time that had maybe been a day or two or ten days, she was still supposed to be trying her best, fighting honorably. Any tool in her arsenal. She'd gunned down James. Like she should have. She'd throttled the other boy. Like she should have. This was supposed to be no different.

Her eyes danced, swum in uncertain waters. Maybe a tear, stinging down her cheek. Maybe she was frustrated, and she hated it when she was.

Her moment of slacking rebounded, the fist with the kama aggressively jutted forward until the wicked edge of the blade wobbled unsteadily in the air before Damien's nose.

"I mean this alliance is over. I don't trust you anymore..."

What next, her mind didn't know, what next? Words tumbled out, but she wasn't sure who'd said them. Maybe her, but maybe she couldn't control her own tongue as a bit of spit bubbled like foam at the corner of her mouth.

"All that's left is someone dying. It's in the rules, Damien. It's lawful."

[Primrosette]

Rules? Lawful? Damien felt himself winced in disgust at those words and he just stayed where he was. Staying quiet as Bridie spoke to him and he felt more disappointed. But also angry at himself for letting his guard down so easily. She was basically admitting that she was betraying him. But it seemed like they never really trusted each other that well to begin with.

"How sad...." He muttered under his breath and then he glanced up at her with a frown forming on his face. Why did it have to end up like this? "I guess we never really thought that this alliance was going to work. The thing is, I found it hard to trust you as well, Bridie. So we are on the same level of that."

"But...." He paused, thinking about what he was going to say next and he wondered how Bridie would react. "....What you are doing right now is not very honourable, is it..?"

[Cicadan]

She watched his frown begin to deepen. It actually made her feel a little better, or more comfortable, in her intent. She guessed. It was because it meant he was finally getting some kind of response. She didn't like it when things were vague. When she could see his emotion, it made things clearer.

"Alliances never last, Damien. You've watched the tapes." Who hadn't? It was mandatory to be up to snuff with all these details, and it was hard, but Bridie had always done her best to pour over things like Program footage, dossiers. Just like with all her forms from camp, and all her schoolwork, all her elder's advice. It was the formative part of being an all-American girl. Knowledge, even if that thing sometimes evaded her.

It was quiet for a second.

"When did I ever say honor? Honor isn't part of combat. That's basics."

She watched him carefully. Right, that's how this was supposed to go. If Damien didn't find a way to fight back, she killed him. He could speak, he could have his last words... She guessed.

Really, she was just supposed to kill him and have done with it. She had a feel for the weight of the weapon in her hand. It'd be an easy swing to slice at his flesh.

She didn't know. She felt a nervous hesitation about striking. It was a poor mentality for a combatant. She hated it.

[Primrosette]

".....Give it back, Bridie. Give it back!"

Damien had noticed her moment of hesitation and it was more than enough for him to move. He felt himself leaping up to his feet and then he did the one thing that he knew was dangerous and that it could end his life.

He then lunged himself at Bridie, letting out a raging cry of anger.

[Cicadan]

This, at least. This made more sense. Bridie didn't have to think about it.

The duller outside part of the blade whistled as it chopped through the air. Down into the path of Damien's shoulder, Bridie falling back to one side. A simple sidestep. Instinct, as she pivoted on her hip. One foot drawn back.

Easy, for once.

[Primrosette]

Damien felt his cry of rage suddenly turn into a sound that made him felt like he was choking on his own tongue. He felt the kama strike his shoulder and he felt a strong stinging pain in that area. Bridie had actually done it. He wanted her to pay for what she had just done.

"Y-You...!" He couldn't even get his words out right and he didn't even want to waste any more words on her.

He tried to come at her once again, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and he just wanted to make Bridie pay for attacking him like that.

[Cicadan]

Bridie nodded. She wasn't satisfied, or at least she wasn't sure she had the time to be sure. But she was definitely in the zone.

Focus. She felt an awareness of every muscle. They were heavy, they were tense. Coiled like springs, alive.

Coldly, she merely noticed the blood shining her blade.

A truncated grunt. Damien caught her with his head butting into the flat of her collarbone. She hadn't twisted quite in time. So he charged into her, they collided. And then, momentum rushed them both against the wall behind Bridie. She lacked for air in her lungs.

Still, she focused. She hurt, but she could sink a fist into his face. She needed him off her, and she struggled for position.

[Primrosette]

Damien couldn't even think clearly as he had collided into Bridie and now she was against a wall, trapped by him being so close to her. He noticed the fist that was coming for his face in just a second and he reacted to it by raising his hand to block it. She caught his arm and he hissed from the still aching shoulder that respond to her striking him. His own hand had caught the side of his face and he closed his eyes for a moment.

That was a mistake.

"Nnngh...."

[Cicadan]

He was still on her. She had a fist against his face, with only his hand stuck between. But she pushed, with chest, with arms. Tension shifted, mutated. But she couldn't get him off.

"Get..." The fingers of her fist tried to dig around, through his hand and, claw at his face.

"Off!" More. She struggled, hissed. Air leaked out of her lungs in impotent huffing and puffing. Her face glowed a mauve shade of red as her heart beat so hard she swore it'd break.

Still, she couldn't get him to budge. And in her free hand, awkwardly pinned by the splay of his tackle... she'd forgotten she still had his weapon.

[Primrosette]

Bridie was clawing at the side of his face, digging her nails into his skin's flesh, leaving scratches on his cheek. He had opened his eyes again and he realised that she wasn't even trying to kill him with his weapon. This was his chance to get it back. His focus was solely on the Kama now.

He used his free hand and he tried to reach for it carefully.

[Cicadan]

Frustration, but no time to feel it. Bridie growled like a slavering mutt. Her nails gunked up with inky red, and the chunky bits of another person's face.

Suddenly, a hand on her weapon.

Bridie realized, too late, what she'd done. A hot tear streaked from her eye, haphazardly staining a trail down her cheek. But mostly, she resisted. Thrashed as she never had before, her palm engulfed by Damien's bigger, stronger one. Unrestrained. She struggled for control, with every muscle firing at full capacity.

Desperation. She didn't even consciously understand the few steps remaining between her and that nebulous terror of defeat.

Her skinny arms twisted this way, that. Her forehead cracked against Damien's chin as she felt the echo of a headache jolt through skull bone.