A stranger in my skin.

[Azzy]

I look down at you, a soft carmine fills my vision. A single laugh, and I extinguish my lightsaber, kicking you to the floor but a moment later. I turn away, and it’s  easy to hear you scrambling to your feet. I look around the space we occupy and… We’ve been here before. Metal barriers stood before benches, the walls beyond them lined with sword racks, a doorless arched exit in the space between.. Rain pours outside, intense and unrelenting as ever, the noise dulled by the walls. I can hear it if I try to - it's been a natural accompaniment to everything, my mind well accustomed to its rhythm.  


I hear the low thrum of your lightsaber spring to life, and turn over my shoulder to see you leaping towards me. I chuckle softly, and offer a playful smirk as I bring a pair of my own to life, and push you away. I spin round, expecting to see you and your blade inches from my face.


You’re not there.


I look down at you... A single laugh... I kick you to the floor... I turn away... I hear the rain...


I hear your lightsaber... I turn over my shoulder... I shoot you a smile... I push you aside... I prepare to strike...


You’re not there...


I look. I laugh. I kick. I turn. It rains.


An ignition. I turn. I smirk. I push. I strike.


You. Aren’t. There.


Look. Laugh. Kick. Turn. Listen.


Listen. Turn. Look. Bat. Strike.


Nothing.


I look down at you, an intense carmine dominating my vision. A single cold laugh, and I extinguish my lightsaber, kicking you to the floor but a moment later. I turn away, but it’s all too easy to hear you scrambling back to your feet once again. I look around the space we occupy and… There's an air of familiarity about the place. Metal barriers stood before benches, the walls beyond them lined with sword racks, a doorless arched exit in the space between.. Rain pours outside, intense and unrelenting as ever, the noise dulled by the walls. I can hear it if I try, but I stopped listening to it ages ago. It's always been far too incessant to put time into caring for.


I hear the low thrum of a lightsaber spring to life, and turn over my shoulder to see you leaping towards me. I roll my eyes at you as I bring a pair of my own to life. I prepare to push you aside, but there's a moment of hesitation, a moment of thought. I sidestep away from your lightsaber, and drive two swords of intense crimson through the side of your ribcage.


The scene changes.


I look down at you, a deep scarlet fills my vision. I shake my head and kick you down to the ground. I turn away and just listen to you scrambling to your feet. It's almost... Pathetic. The rain is falling outside like it always does, hammering away at the floor with a noise long since forgotten about in its perpetuity. By the tall windows that expose the flooded balcony, stood racks upon racks of vibroswords, most of which looked like they'd not seen use in a long time. A closed door to the right hid a pair of living chambers, a quaint imitation of a more familiar meditation room between them.


I hear your weapon spring to life once more, I turn to see you charging towards me, everything about the way you hold yourself screaming imminent attack. I sigh, and meet your blade with two of my own, pushing it to the side. My right hand shoots out in your direction, crackling cyan lightning firing out towards you. It’s too easy to exploit that opening.


It all happens again.


I see you at my feet, and see you hit the ground. I hear the scuffle of your movement as I take a look around. The rain hammers a balcony seldom used, just a few feet out of reach, and I clock racks of swords that at this point are little more than decorative pieces.


I hear you make your move, see you run at me with a blade. I counter with mine the way you've seen me do to you hundreds of times before. Yet again you fall for it. Yet again, you hit the ground as I find my opening, and exploit it like a second nature.


It all happens again.


And again.


And again.


I look down at you, a deep scarlet fills my vision. I shake my head and kick you down to the ground. I turn away and just listen to you scrambling to your feet. You’re pathetic. The rain thunders down outside like it always does, battering the floor with a noise long since forgotten about in its perpetuity. By the tall windows that expose the drowning balcony - racks upon racks of unblooded vibroswords. A weak attempt at decoration. A closed door stood on the right. Clearly of some importance, but I don’t care to remember.


I hear your weapon surge to life once more, and I turn to see you charge towards me. Everything about how you hold yourself screams you think you can attack. I sigh, and strike your blade with two of my own, throwing you aside. I step forward, and I can hear my voice ringing out... But I'm not saying anything.


"I made you better than this! I pushed you to be more!" 


I feel my arms moving, but I'm not in control. I lash out, strikes rain upon you, but all I see is a red blur. Every step I take forward, you scramble back, your blade coming up to whisper a defence.


Step. Strike.


Step. Strike.


"I build you up to break you down! I make you strong to give myself some semblance of challenge!"


Our surroundings warp around us. Black tiled floor, dark walls, racks of swords to our far left and rights, the backdrop of space behind me. Our cadence stays the same.


Step. Strike.


Step. Strike.


Foreign words carried by my voice echo off the walls, each one heard two, three, four times over. I can't control what they say.


"My best days are the ones I get to see you suffer!”


The surroundings warp once more. We're out in the rain, we feel it in our hair, our skin, against our armour. A tall rock structure behind my back, we stand in secluded woods, old scorched wounds marring the landscape.


Step. Strike.


Step. Strike.


The stranger in my skin snarls, "My best days are the ones that have you kneeling at my feet!" A blade eats into your shoulder, it makes you cry. A blade that I am all too helpless to stop.


We find ourselves by a waterfall. Neither of us can see it, but the overwhelming crash of water means we don't need to, to know.


Step. Strike.


Step. Strike.


I feel my hand reach out, and drag itself backwards. I see your legs falter, stolen from you by an invisible hand. You fall to the floor, clutching your weapon as a final defence, a last hope at life. The stranger doesn't care. 


All I can do is watch on as I see my arm reach up and throw itself back down, your lightsaber being wrenched from your grasp. I step forward, further still. You're helpless to stop my blade being thrust into your arm, and you're helpless against the other being placed in the ground beside your throat. I feel the air leave your lungs as I kneel down onto your chest, and lean down to whisper into your ear.


"I am at my best, ki aki, when I prove to you over, and over, and over again, that you are so little compared to me."


I never felt my knife come into my hand, but I felt you go limp underneath me. I see the knife in your neck, the bloodstained point out through the other side. I see your crimson hair grow dark beneath your neck. I can feel my body return to me, and I sink even further. Senseless mutterings, begging you to come back. My hands darken with your blood.



Faelice wakes up, already seated, and covered in cold sweat. Tears stream down her face, and she sobs, inconsolable, unable to quiet herself. She holds a knife in her hand, the same as she had in her dream... Her nightmare.

She spoke quiet, barely comprehensible words in between tears. "I killed her... She's dead... I killed her..."

She goes on for what seems like hours, her voice becoming quieter, more hoarse. The time between her words growing longer as time passes. Eventually, she falls back into restless slumber as exhaustion claims another victim.



I look down at you, a soft carmine fills my vision. A single laugh, and I extinguish my lightsaber, kicking you to the floor but a moment later. I turn away, and it’s  easy to hear you scrambling to your feet. I look around the space we occupy and… We’ve been here before. Metal barriers stood before benches, the walls beyond them lined with sword racks, a doorless arched exit in the space between.. Rain pours outside, intense and unrelenting as ever, the noise dulled by the walls. I can hear it if I try to - it's been a natural accompaniment to everything, my mind well accustomed to its rhythm.  


I hear the low thrum of your lightsaber spring to life, and turn over my shoulder to see you leaping towards me. I chuckle softly, and offer a playful smirk as I bring a pair of my own to life, and push you away. I spin round, expecting to see you and your blade inches from my face.


You’re not there.