Lotus Blossom

@TheRavenHasLanded @Ancient Elantrian @Edema Rue

@TheRavenHasLanded

As she turns her head to block the fist, her spin lands the knife again into her bloodied shoulder. Her hand snapped to his wrist which held the knife and wrenched it away, powering it to his chest.

"YOU'LL DIE" Jane screamed at last, over the din, cutting them off. @TheRavenHasLanded @justice magician She was exasperated by the conversation of false hopes. Face cracked with pain, just as they were. Lava, burning them. Choking them. This. This was a life worse than death. A life not worth fighting for. Perhaps the problem was never that she couldn't be enough for this world. Perhaps the problem was that the world could never be enough for her.

The dagger sliced into her shoulder, and now that Kaza was in front of her (how else would he have stabbed her in the chest), she realized that he was in between her and Po, who was only a few inches away (how else would Jane have stabbed him in the chest), so she slammed into his side, knocking them into each other to lose their balance.

Her eyes blackened for a moment, and flashed bright again with the lava of the arena. She wasn't making it out alive. None of them were. Her face cracked, then. She had to keep the façade of the assassin. The twisted person everyone told her she was. As she tried to save the world, they accused her of demons. Each of her siblings blood, on her hands. No, she couldn't break now. She had to keep going. Fighting for herself. It was almost ironic. Jane laughed a little, bitterly. "My only regret is never seeing Aspen’s face when he receives that cursed telegram." she said to herself, using the palm of her hand to wipe blood off her cheek. Telegram sent from Miss Jane Cora Rae to Mister Aspen Leo Rae: Thank you for your trust, Aspen. It really helped me as I eliminated the Rae family from the capital. Delilah, as you know, has been murdered, as well as our parents. So who could have hated our siblings so much to have killed them? You would've, if you had the courage to do so. I know you would've. But you're simply too cowardly. You'll never admit it, but we felt the same way, you and I. Someone had to do it. I suppose this is my greatest accomplishment, killing the Rae family. The hunger games will be dangerous. Thrilling. I suppose I'll die, too, isn't that funny? No one will suspect it. Oh don't worry, they won't suspect you, either. Yet before I send this telegram, I would truly like to assure you that your support has been essential to me as I carried out such necessary murders. And now? It seems you’re the only one left. The poison. It takes a long time for it to go into effect, unfortunately. Almost weeks before the victim truly dies. Rarely used. Never really needed. Except in cases such as this. Here, it was just perfect. Jane smiled weakly as she clasped her fist around the antidote. Poor Aspen, the doctors just wouldn't get to him quick enough. The telegram will be the last thing her twin reads. If the world is twisted, the only way to defend yourself is by twisting with it. This was not how it was supposed to end. Jane's mind swamped with heat, shame, and frustration. She had tried so, so hard to fix this world. Killing all the twisted. Screaming her message in silence. No one could ever hear her. She would never be enough. The society. The world. The games we play. The binds we break, the trust we make- the chains we shake. Everyone aching for everything at stake. Enough of it all. She was tired of these people. These games. She could never wash the blood of her family off her hands. Just as much as she could never wash her own. Why must the world be so twisted? Why must she fracture a burden no one asked her to bear? This was not how it was supposed to end. Yet here she stood- Jane Cora Rae- alongside two others, just like her. Young. Injured. Bleeding. They don't even know what they're fighting for. None of us do. We just keep on, every day, fighting the same battles, convincing ourselves that we won. Cracking under guilt, secrets, promises, and pressure. Cracking even though no one told us to. No one cares. What is it we're fighting for? Our lives? Because that's long gone. What value has it now? How do you put a price on darkened souls? Why must we insist on doing so? Always? How much are we willing to sacrifice. How much blood are we willing to spill. How long until our sweat and tears drown us in our own tombs? How long? That was when Jane Cora Rae realized, sometimes starting fires is easier than putting them out. Jane said nothing as another wave of pain shot up her ribs. She simply defended herself, tears falling one after another as she fought back, digging her dagger into Sharpo's chest.

Jane choked a little, "I know someone who did." It was more to herself than anything. She lowered her gaze, though her soul screamed. No- I'm not dead- how could I be- I killed them all- just for my life- I killed my sisters- my brother- a four year old girl- how could I be dead if I did that all for them- for myself- for this life! She had just kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting. Focused on one goal. One dream. Killing them. Breaking society. And freeing herself. From all of it. But could it have been? That as she fought and bled and screamed and killed... She may have died herself? Jane instinctively flashed her arm up over her face in defense, but she bit down hard on her lip as the knife seared her forearm, right in the middle of her elbow and her wrist. Though her face and body had been protected, her arm burned with pain that stung farther up her bones. "We're all already dead. This world. These people." she laughed, though it sounded more like a stifled cry, "It's all dead. And no one can bring it back." With emphasis on the last word, she threw herself at Kaza, knife aimed at his neck.

"You'll have to kill each other," Jane closed her eyes, cursing again as she wiped more blood off her forehead with her palm. "And the one who wins, will die too." She laughed bitterly, kicking some sand, "Look at you. Look at how injured you are." She opened her eyes, making eye contact with them and furrowing her eyebrows with anger at the society she tried so hard to break, "Bloodied. Bruised. None of us are surviving." She scoffed, her eyes shattering with tears of pain, relief, anger, or understanding. "None of us are winning." She shook her head. "We've lost."

Jane cursed, retreating back and holding her blouse against the gash down her back. She stumbled, the fatigue finally hitting her, and coughed up blood again. Her injured foot burned on some seeping lava, so she tripped, away from the lava edges. Sitting down on the sides of the arena in a crouched position, she took staggered breaths and looked up at Kaza and Po, a look of pure hatred burning in her eyes. "You'll die, all of you," she said in a low voice of hate, between struggling breaths for air, "It's a trick can't you see it?" She truly looked like a trembling, pained child again. No longer the secretive, dangerous assassin she had convinced herself she was. It was all catching up to her. She wasn't fighting against Kaza, Po, or any of the tributes. She was fighting against her chains. The chains that kept her in her place all this time. The binds of her enemies. Her friends. Debt. Trust. Secrets. Promises. She was fighting against this. Rejecting her place. Killing her family, one by one. All of them. Every. Last. One. Dead. What did it accomplish? Did she feel better about herself? Did the world get any less broken? Nothing. It all accomplished nothing. Their deaths accomplished nothing. Her pain accomplished nothing. She needed to make one last rejection of this world. Of her family. Her plan. Stick to the plan. Kill the society. Kill her chains. But now? It looked like those chains were winning.

Jane coughed out blood as she was hit in the gut, and was thrown back a few steps. She advanced in, though, closer than expected, until she was surprisingly a few inches from his bloodied face. There, she quickly sliced her knife across his mouth, holding her hand there trying to restrict breath.

"We're all supposed to die," Jane snarled, stabbing her dagger down onto his wrist and scratching it upwards on his arm. Jane shook her head, waving out her short hair. She just needed to keep fighting. She needed to stay alive. She needed to kill them. She could never fail. And the only way to fail was to kill herself. She couldn't. She wouldn't. She would win. The heat, the fatigue, the pain... She was just so tired. But the adrenaline kept her fighting. Her fear kept her fighting. Her determination kept her fighting. And her tears- her blood- kept her fighting on. Forever. Never stop. Prove yourself. She could never be enough for anyone. But now, she made a promise. I will be enough for myself.

Jane rolls with him, and gets up in a crouch, now turning her focus at Kaza @TheRavenHasLanded. Breathe. Advance. Breathe. Advance. Breathe. Attack. She gripped her knife, a mix of sweat and blood dripping from her leather hilt, and aimed for the center of Kaza's torso, advancing closer as she attempted to stab straight through his gut. Breathe. She was so tired. So, so tired. Was this how Hestia had felt? How Pheonix had felt? Their pain? Was it like Lily's? Or Delilah's? They haunted her still. What was the price for the path she had chosen? She couldn't justify herself anymore- no- she knew how twisted it all was. But she was caught. She was trapped. Caught between too many enemies, loose ends, lovers, debt, wavering allies, betrayals, conditional trust, prices... She couldn't go back. She could only keep slicing forward. Advancing forward. Attacking forward. When you're caught, you have nothing to lose. When you're caught, you only have one thing left to fight for. Yourself. The real question was. Was it worth it?

This is all I have left, she repeated in her mind. It terrified her. I am all I have left. The voice was almost loud enough to block out the screaming of her leg.

Jane used her free hand to clutch her calf, where the knife had made a, now less shallow, gash. The pain gave her the adrenaline to take her hand (non-broken) and lunge at Po, who was now fallen, just under his neck between his two collar bones.

Jane's motion as she spun back around Po allowed her to narrowly miss his knife, which grazed her shoulders causing a shallow scrape. The knife hits her rib, and she gasped quickly, eyes getting more determined and ablaze. She propelled herself downward, throwing herself to the ground and swinging at his feet, using one arm to grab his leg and try to trip him. This is all I have left. Myself. All I have left is myself. So you better bet I'm fighting for it.

Jane pulled her leg up, but her reflexes were just slightly too slow, and the knife sliced into her calf just above her already pained twisted ankle. She gasped as she felt her lower leg heating, biting her teeth together as she felt hot sticky blood spill a little at the side of her calf where the knife hit. With a scream, she swings her knife at Po's eyes, using her momentum to spin her behind him.

@justice magician

Kaza got up to run to the knife, and all of a sudden his weight lifted off from her back, so she was able to jump up and steady herself on her feet, parrying his knife and pulling her own knife out of Po's bloodied chest.

Jane can't find the air to scream as a massive weight slams down on her, but the force of Kaza's body pushes her own dagger deeper into Po's chest.

As Jane ran, she felt her ankle continuously buckle below her and blood seep through her toes. She was only a few feet away from where Po was laying. She glanced behind her, ensuring that her second knife was still lodged in the crevice underneath Kaza's ribs. That should restrict breath. Before she could tell whether it was still holding, rammed there, or if the knife had been removed, bleeding out, she came closer towards Po, scrambling away from Kaza with all her will left. No longer for the family. For myself. Myself. She came so close that she saw Po's eyes, but it was then that her ankle gave out, sending her crashing towards the ground. As she fell, screaming out in pain because of her ankle, she held out her dagger, falling with full force onto Po and aiming her dagger straight into the upper right of his chest, just below the collar bone. @justice magician