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The sun shined brightly overhead, uncaring of all the awful things going on in the world below it.
Lizzie sat on the walls of the Shadow Fort. She’d tied her long pink hair up with a red ribbon Jimmy had given her, and her iron armor was dull from so long sitting in a chest. The smudges of red-brown dirt looked almost like blood.
She heard soft footsteps. Her red, red, red eyes landed on him, walking up to the wall.
Ren’s green, green, green gaze was wary. “My lady,” he greeted. “You shouldn’t be here.”
She shrugged. “I can be where I like.”
“I suppose so.” He leaned against the wall. Lizzie was a little surprised at him turning his back to her, but she didn’t mention it.
There was a quiet pause.
“Why are you here?” he asked, finally.
“I’m… not quite sure,” she admitted. “I don’t really know what to do, now. Jimmy wants me to team up with him and the other reds, but…”
“I wish you could stay with us,” Ren said. “I wish… I wish things weren’t the way that they are.”
“I do too,” she said softly.
“Do you…” He exhaled. “I have a life to spare. Do you want it? I do owe you.”
“You- you don’t need to do that,” she told him. “I don’t want to be yellow again. Now that I’m red… now that I’m red, I don’t think I can be anything else.”
“You want blood, my lady, don’t you?” he asked. It wasn’t really a question.
“Of course I do,” she laughed. “Bigb, Cleo, Jimmy… I want this whole damn world to bleed.”
“Am I included in that?” he asked curiously.
“…No,” she admitted. “No, you aren’t.”
“I would bleed for you,” he told her. “I would bleed for you, if you asked me to.”
She laughed lightly. “As loyal as a dog, you are.”
Lizzie pushed off from the wall. Ren caught her instinctively, setting her gently on her feet.
“If we’re being honest, Ren,” she started, “which, you know I never am with anyone but you. If we’re being honest, I’d rather it was everyone else losing blood, rather than you. I’d rather you were the one making everyone else bleed.”
“Is this a proposition of some kind, my lady?” He grinned at her.
She snickered. “I suppose it is. I want you to go red with me, Ren. I’m never going to be your enemy, but I would quite like you as my ally.”
“And I want to go red with you,” he said earnestly. “I can think of no greater honor.”
“Excellent!” Lizzie bounced on the balls of her feet. “How do you want to do this?”
Ren pulled out his communicator and quickly typed something out. “Bigb’s been a good friend. I understand that he’s probably going to get a lot of your attention, so I’ll give him this one last gift.”
“That’s fair.” She watched as the green bled out of his eyes, turning them a golden yellow color.
“Now.” He pocketed his comm. “Would you like to do the honors, my lady?”
“Oh, I would love to,” she said breathlessly.
He pulled out his sword and offered it to her, hilt first. She took it, testing the sharpness against her palm. Then she struck, so fast he got dizzy.
It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t quite painless. But Ren didn’t flinch from her. That was his lady, and he would take all the pain in the world for her.
Ren knelt on the stone altar. Martyn stood above him, shifting from foot to foot, uneasy.
“My lord, are you sure…?”
“I wouldn’t have asked you if I wasn’t sure, Martyn,” Ren told him gently.
The blade of the Red Winter ax gleamed in the lantern light. Martyn gripped the handle, his knuckles white.
Ren let him gather his thoughts. Martyn exhaled, then swung the ax down.
When Ren came to, underneath Dogwarts, he took a moment to breathe through the bloodlust.
Then he was stumbling out of bed, running towards the doors, towards the blood stained altar. Towards Martyn.
Ren came to in his bed in the tower. He pushed back the bloodlust, shoving himself out of bed and falling on the floor. He stumbled to his feet, running down the stairs.
He ran all the way back to Lizzie, slowing down a little as he approached her.
“There he is!” she said cheerfully. “Oh, you look so lovely in red.”
“As do you, my lady.” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She laughed.
“I’m going to miss the Shadow Fort,” she said wistfully.
“As will I,” he agreed. “But we’ll find somewhere new. Make somewhere new.”
She smiled at him, then stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.
There were footsteps in the dirt behind them. They both turned to see Bigb, his eyes a dark emerald green and his brow furrowed.
“Guess I’m on my own now,” he said sadly.
Ren’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry, B.”
“I don’t blame you,” Bigb said quickly. “I know how you are with the people you love.”
“If you hadn’t done what you did to Cleo-“
“I know, Lizzie.”
“You’ll do alright, Bigb,” Ren said. “You always do.”
Bigb chuckled. “Thanks, Ren. Good luck, you two.”
“You as well, Bigb.” Lizzie grinned, all teeth. Bigb put his hands up, inching backward.
Lizzie pulled Ren out of the gates. He followed after her, grabbing a few bunches of sugarcane and slipping them into his inventory.
They were quiet as they left, picking up conversation once they were further away from the Shadow Fort.
“Are we planning on working with the reds?” he asked her.
She hummed. “I don’t see why we would. I think you and I will be just fine on our own.”
“I think you’re right about that.”
She grinned at him. “I bet you they’re all terrified right now.”
“If they aren’t, then they should be,” he laughed.
She took his hand in hers. “We’re going to make them afraid,” she said softly. “We’re going to make them scared, and we’re going to make them hurt.”
“We’re going to make them bleed,” he said gleefully. “My lady, we’re going to make this whole world bloody.”