[There it is up ahead. The edge of the forest. They're almost home free from the clutches of the darkness, and she can hear Eustace right behind her, and his little orbs of light help to illuminate the thick trees and their roots as she winds through them, leading their way back. The air here feels thick with nightmare energy, and she gives a low growl as if hoping to stave some of it off, but no...
Just a little further.
They can do it...]
We're almost the—
[She calls it back to him over her shoulder, but her words are interrupted by the sound of a yelp, and a small body hitting the ground. Growls soon follow, and then she hears the slam of a larger body—or two—as they tumble through the dirt, and then a whine and a skid before whatever's been thrown hits a tree.
Tifa paws come to a grinding halt, her sharp claws digging into the earth to help stop her, and she's immediately spinning around. The lights around her help to illuminate some of it. There is Eustace on the ground, his beautiful white fur covered in mud, and the pup whining at his side. She can see what she thinks is blood oozing from a wound on his shoulder before her eyes move to the noctaser recovering from the throw, shaking itself off before its eyes are on Eustace again.]
No no no no... Not again...
[There's a deep sinking feeling of dread in her stomach as she sees him lying there. It takes her back to the day she'd heard the awful news. This... this is what she had been afraid of happening. That she would be there with him, at his side, and not able to protect or save him. His words echo in her head again—him telling her that she may have to run, to take care of other things—and her eyes do move to the pup as it desperately licks at Eustace's wound.
She can imagine him telling her to take the pup and go...]
I'm not leaving you.
[From where she stands, there's a growl followed by a loud bark to draw the noctaser's attention to her. Her sharpened teeth are bared, and she looks as if she's grown in size even as she crouches low to the ground. Her tail bushes out, her paws spread open, and her eyes are burning with a flame so wild that she can feel it pulsing in her blood. She barks again, and then again, the sound of them echoing through the trees, and from the ground, hot embers begin to flutter up, surrounding her in their fiery red glow.
They were so close. They had almost made it out. Just a few more steps and they could have gotten this pup home to safety and had been done with all of this. But no...
He's had to save her so many times. Even tonight, here in this very forest, he'd risked himself to get the noctaser out of her and the pup's path. For all the times he's saved her, there are five of them that she failed to protect him. Today would be different.
Amber eyes flick to Eustace's body on the ground before they fix on the noctaser again, her growls surging louder and louder. The noctaser screeches back, all of its attention now on her as it turns its body, preparing to lunge at Tifa instead.
Good. She's going to tear this thing limb from limb for laying one of those ugly claws on Eustace.
She leaps at the noctaser and as soon as she reaches it, her jaw clamps down on whatever extremity she can reach. It turns out that it's one of its legs, and she can feel the nightmare energy seeping from its shadowy skin. Eustace will hear more growls and snarls as she attempts to tear it off, her claws digging into its body to hold it still so that she can. Only glimpses of her can be seen, but the embers that have been following her up until now have started to burn the things around them, leaving trails of fire in her wake as she tosses and tears at it.
Tifa hurls the beast at a tree, and it hits before she's rushing at it again, but partway through her jump, she transforms out of her wolf form, and by the time she reaches it, her hands are able to catch it by the throat. Fists rain down on it in a combination of punches and kicks, that she ends it with a fiery Starshower and Somersault. Her dreamotion fire catches it as she hurls it several feet away where it screeches in pain, writhing and crawling and clawing as it tries to fight off the flames.
She's wasting no time in rushing to Eustace's side, brushing past the flaming trees and bushes without bothering to check if the noctaser is dead or still breathing.]
Eustace!? [Her voice calls out to him, but the second time she does, it's weaker.] Eustace...?
[But as she's running, she feels her knees give out from underneath her first, followed by her feet, and then she tumbles forward to the ground. She reaches her arm out as she hits the forest floor, his paw just out of her reach...]
no subject
Just a little further.
They can do it...]
We're almost the—
[She calls it back to him over her shoulder, but her words are interrupted by the sound of a yelp, and a small body hitting the ground. Growls soon follow, and then she hears the slam of a larger body—or two—as they tumble through the dirt, and then a whine and a skid before whatever's been thrown hits a tree.
Tifa paws come to a grinding halt, her sharp claws digging into the earth to help stop her, and she's immediately spinning around. The lights around her help to illuminate some of it. There is Eustace on the ground, his beautiful white fur covered in mud, and the pup whining at his side. She can see what she thinks is blood oozing from a wound on his shoulder before her eyes move to the noctaser recovering from the throw, shaking itself off before its eyes are on Eustace again.]
No no no no... Not again...
[There's a deep sinking feeling of dread in her stomach as she sees him lying there. It takes her back to the day she'd heard the awful news. This... this is what she had been afraid of happening. That she would be there with him, at his side, and not able to protect or save him. His words echo in her head again—him telling her that she may have to run, to take care of other things—and her eyes do move to the pup as it desperately licks at Eustace's wound.
She can imagine him telling her to take the pup and go...]
I'm not leaving you.
[From where she stands, there's a growl followed by a loud bark to draw the noctaser's attention to her. Her sharpened teeth are bared, and she looks as if she's grown in size even as she crouches low to the ground. Her tail bushes out, her paws spread open, and her eyes are burning with a flame so wild that she can feel it pulsing in her blood. She barks again, and then again, the sound of them echoing through the trees, and from the ground, hot embers begin to flutter up, surrounding her in their fiery red glow.
They were so close. They had almost made it out. Just a few more steps and they could have gotten this pup home to safety and had been done with all of this. But no...
He's had to save her so many times. Even tonight, here in this very forest, he'd risked himself to get the noctaser out of her and the pup's path. For all the times he's saved her, there are five of them that she failed to protect him. Today would be different.
Amber eyes flick to Eustace's body on the ground before they fix on the noctaser again, her growls surging louder and louder. The noctaser screeches back, all of its attention now on her as it turns its body, preparing to lunge at Tifa instead.
Good. She's going to tear this thing limb from limb for laying one of those ugly claws on Eustace.
She leaps at the noctaser and as soon as she reaches it, her jaw clamps down on whatever extremity she can reach. It turns out that it's one of its legs, and she can feel the nightmare energy seeping from its shadowy skin. Eustace will hear more growls and snarls as she attempts to tear it off, her claws digging into its body to hold it still so that she can. Only glimpses of her can be seen, but the embers that have been following her up until now have started to burn the things around them, leaving trails of fire in her wake as she tosses and tears at it.
Tifa hurls the beast at a tree, and it hits before she's rushing at it again, but partway through her jump, she transforms out of her wolf form, and by the time she reaches it, her hands are able to catch it by the throat. Fists rain down on it in a combination of punches and kicks, that she ends it with a fiery Starshower and Somersault. Her dreamotion fire catches it as she hurls it several feet away where it screeches in pain, writhing and crawling and clawing as it tries to fight off the flames.
She's wasting no time in rushing to Eustace's side, brushing past the flaming trees and bushes without bothering to check if the noctaser is dead or still breathing.]
Eustace!? [Her voice calls out to him, but the second time she does, it's weaker.] Eustace...?
[But as she's running, she feels her knees give out from underneath her first, followed by her feet, and then she tumbles forward to the ground. She reaches her arm out as she hits the forest floor, his paw just out of her reach...]