Sènkha 's face is flushed with fever under her bruises, her hair damp with sweat. She is muttering to herself under her breath, but it's nothing but nonsense.
Ariadine eyes Senkha warily. She doesn't look too well herself. "Not so cocky at the end of the week." A slight smile returns to her face.
Sènkha 's eyes flutter open; she grins lazily. "I was never c--" She cuts herself off with a coughing jag. "--was never cocky. I just understand things better than you do, little girl. B-but judging by how tired you look, you're starting to get it."
Ariadine snorts, "I was hoping that mouth of yours would be running off less when you couldn't even hold up your head from exhaustion. Slowly, she tilts her head and her hand twitches. "There is nothing from you I need to understand."
Sènkha says: Ah, p-perhaps I was mistaken. What a disappointment you m-must be to them.
Ariadine sighs softly, she seems almost resigned to it. "I have the time to grow. Head injuries and torn psyches never made recovery to full strength easy."
Sènkha chuckles weakly; the chuckle falls into another cough. "Th-that's just it. You haven't go that time. You think that you do, but now that I am here, how long do you think they'll w-wait?" Her grin widens. "Dizzy wasn't the retard, Ariadine. -You- were."
Ariadine says: ... N-no sense in disposing of a useful resour-- I'm not here to listen to sleep deprived rants.
Sènkha laughs again, sounding somewhat stronger. "If it's so meaningless, why is your voice shaking? You know I speak the truth, don't you."
Ariadine says: I know you are fighting a losing war. I know your time is limited. I know Senkha MacGlynn is lost and whatever truly spurs your darker desires is gaining control.
Sènkha shakes her head, still laughing. "Little fool. Just like a--" Another coughing fit. "--just like a useless little girl, to spout off as if she knows everything, when in truth, she hasn't a clue."
Sènkha says: You speak to Senkha MacGlynn now. I'm no more lost than Dizzy MacGlynn and neither of us are in danger from the nothing before me.
Ariadine says: Oh, but she is lost. Lost and bound just like her own pathetic guardian. I bound and imprisoned them both. And if I am the weakling in this then how I keep them down is a mystery left to the Gods.
Sènkha says: You're nothing but a memory, Ariadine. An imprint, if you'd like to be called that. Your birth mother created you with her torment, with a specific purpose.
Sènkha says: That is the only thing that gives you any strength.
Sènkha says: And it is why you are running on borrowed time.
Ariadine hisses furiously, "We -both- only have borrowed time. You, me, and the girl. But I can use my borrowed time to fix this mess. You will just become a slave."
Sènkha says: And you're anything better? Did they ever give you a choice in what you did? Or were you simply told?
Ariadine says: I -follow- because I know what I do is righteous.
Sènkha says: Answer the question.
Sènkha says: Did Radok ever give you a choice? Did your whore of a mother?
Ariadine says: You know nothing of my mother. And I did have a choice. The minute I regained control of this body I had the choice to stay with you or return.
Sènkha says: No you didn't. You knew they were looking for you. You knew that if you ran, you would be killed.
Sènkha coughs again, blood dripping from her lips. "And I have seen your mother. You look just like her, little imprint."
Ariadine says: So you and Oliver and your legion of friends would not of been enough? ... I suppose not, considering they haven't been able to reach you yet.
Ariadine 's eyes narrow, but she doesn't ask how she has seen her mother.
Sènkha says: We're realistic.
Sènkha says: And you were brainwashed.
Sènkha says: Well. You couldn't be anything else, little nothing.
Ariadine says: What do you want, Senkha?
To Macglynn: Her voice, which has been fading quickly over the past several days, comes loud and fast, as if they are the last words she'll ever speak: "I love you."
Macglynn whispers: "--Senkha?"
Sènkha laughs again. "Nothing. Nothing at all." She closes her eyes; Ariadine would feel a sharp, excruciating pain through the very center of her mind, unstoppable and unblockable. It's over in an instant, and when it ends, Senkha's head drops, lifeless.
To Macglynn: The connection remains but the other side is silent and dark; not even Itzhal is responding.
Ariadine staggers back, bringing a gloved hand to cover her face as she shrieks in pain. She looks back up at Senkha before her other hand grabs her dagger. "What did you-" her high pitched voice is cut off at the sight of the woman's drooping head.
Sènkha is only just barely breathing; to all intents and purposes, she may as well be dead.
Ariadine looks behind her back. No one else was there. No one saw. She hurries out of the room before anyone else could wander in. Deep down, she sure as hell wished the woman was dead.
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