Chapter Text
Fire.
The flames licked against the last of the rubble- and what felt like the inside of the figure's skull- as they weakly pushed part of what was the ceiling off of their body.
*I say weakly, but the heavy debris lands almost a yard away. One of the many ‘gifts’ this place has given its inhabitants.
The building has been reduced to ash, any semblance of what it's purpose was would be buried or destroyed by now.
Good, the figure can't help but think. It's better this way.
She props herself up on her elbow, then immediately faceplants into the soil underneath her. After a quick self assessment, she finds she can barely even breathe correctly; much less stand up. Her lungs were filled with smoke and some kind of sour chemical. It was burning her inside out. If she was more than a year or two old, then maybe burning wouldn't have been a problem for her.
Despite herself, she rashly rolls onto her back; And wheezes from the effort, her rippling muscles apparently having no say in her current condition. As she coughs and hacks up what feels like the entirety of her lungs, her eyes dart around her surroundings. They burn from the movement but it doesn't seem to matter. Every direction was littered with the same sight of fire and broken walls.
With lungs slightly more clear, she lifts up her torso. She still feels that she can't walk, so army-crawling was probably her best shot at getting around right now.
Oh the irony. A weapon using a tactic made to retreat from battle. She would scoff- or maybe laugh- if she wasn’t squirming around on the ground. This would be humiliating if she could collect her thoughts enough to think so.
One arm in front of the other. Knee up. Other arm. Knee down. Each arm in front of the other. Repeat. Her already calloused hands were probably going through hell right now, but it wasn't like she could feel them. It was an agonizingly long time before her eyes locked onto something to her right (though it couldn't have been longer than a few minutes). She didn't realize that she was looking for something, but there it was. The sight made her suddenly desperate, though her mind wasn’t thinking clear enough to remember why.
The smoke was getting harder and harder to see through, but the little weapon made her way to the sphere as quickly as she could crawl. It was covered in pumice and ash like everything else- but unlike the others like it, this sphere was slightly dented but otherwise intact; the little trooper.
The weapon's wild eyes calmed as she flumped down with her body protecting the container. It would be better if they were both dead, she knew that- but she couldn't help but feel a sudden responsibility for it.
An abrupt pang of fear struck her chest and her head shot up. She would have gone into a protective stance right then and there, but her arms were busy moping on the floor. The smoke was the worst it had ever been, but she could barely see another shape through it. The shadowy figure was standing up straight, seemingly unaffected by the fires around it. She felt its gaze land heavily on her.
Those glowing yellow eyes cut through her like a knife, and she shuddered. The figure didn't attack or help. It didn't make a move- which was somehow worse. She couldn't tear her own eyes away as the yellow lights dimmed and silently disappeared into smoke.
The weapon was suddenly overwhelmed by herself. Unfamiliar feelings of disbelief, rage, and something new burned into her thoughts.
And despite herself, her body contorted and her mouth opened to let out a guttural scream that was heard only by the fire that reached her heart.