There are good storms. There [i]are[/i] good storms. Water is Mittens' most special friend, so how can it keep betraying her like this? In Feloria, at the Gala... some of her most miserable memories now are linked to storms. She takes a step and it takes all of her strength not to get blown back another three.

The wind tears at her sodden, heavy hair so hard it feels like her neck might come off. The sleeves of her precious suit are sopping and wrap tightly around her wrists as they soak well beyond their ability to cling comfortably. Each drop of rain hits her with the force of a hailstone that explodes against her skin. The air is filled with cruel cold knives that freeze her down to the blood and bone. The howling of the wind makes her ears pin themselves against her head just to catch a break from the noise. 

It's even worse when the Roc screams at her from the murky clouds above. Every blood curdling cry knocks her physically to her knees, clutching at her head and whimpering unintelligible pleas for it not to hurt her, please, she's sorry she's sorry so don't--!

Every so often, wing beats explode over top of her and whip the wind in a direction she's not expecting. That's when Mittens needs her dancer's grace more than ever, as she scrambles and twists and fights her way back onto the narrow land bridge. On either side of her is doom. Behind her is nothing, and impossibly far in front of her is a door to some new and probably worse form of punishment. This is a terrible game to be playing, but there's no choice but to play it. So take another step, Mittens. It's only the worst one in your entire life. 

Her lights are little help and none. Violet has all sorts of ideas, but none of the strength or wisdom to carry them through. It tries to wrap her in a protective bubble like Blue might, but the shape of the thing is very different from the reality and all it manages to do is make Mittens glow while she gets stung through to her core by icy whips. It tries to be a shield she can carry in her arm instead, but whatever way it lifts itself the rain turns to come from the other direction. Next it forms a parasol but the wind crushes it almost instantly. Finally, with an almost defeated looking little flash, it turns into a vibrant purple cloak and wraps itself around Mittens' shoulders so she can at least be warm. She supposes the stinging sensation across her body is a good thing, tiny warmth meeting elemental cold to make her body sting all over at least means that she hasn't gone too numb to function. She pulls the form of the cloak tighter around her, like a hug. She can do this. She [i]has[/i] to do this.

That's when the Roc attacks. The cry freezes her heart inside her chest and makes her legs feel broken, but it's nothing compared to sudden gale wind that smashes into her like a tornado balled up into a fist and knocks her straight off of her feet. She scrambles and flails her arms and legs as she careens through the air, but it's hopeless. She's not going to come near being able to grab the bridge again. This is how she dies. 

Her cloak melts away, returning the full lash of the cold as she falls. But it's the bravest thing little Violet could do, trusting Indigo to save their princess instead. The grappling hook digs into the wall behind her, and Mittens slams into that with a wet oof. As she desperately tries to pull herself back up to the bridge so she can keep running, a war cry like she's never heard in her life fills up her entire being. Mittens flinches, and stares into the hateful glowing eyes of the Roc.

Terror fills Mittens like it never has before. It crawls across her entire frozen body. It pumps through her blood, faster and faster until it finds the vein of ice still lodged in her heart. And it squeezes. It squeezes so hard it hurts her physically. She grits her teeth and strains to keep from crying out, to keep holding on to her rope of light, as cold and deadly fear tries to crush her shining heart into nothing.

"That's enough." she says quietly. Her voice is so small and tired. 

Her brain tells her fingers to let go, just fall, but they betray her. Her grip tightens. A second Violet beam leaps out to give Mittens another anchor and stabilize her long hang. Up above, the cliff face starts to crumble, sending bits of hard earth tumbling down on her face, but she shrugs it off without a flinch. The Roc screams again, and this close it feels like it's going to break her to pieces without even touching her. 

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" she screams right back.

Yellow eyes watch her with barely restrained fury. But they watch her.

"That's enough," she says a third time, voice growing stronger with every word, "I won't play this game anymore. I've carried you, no. The fear of you inside of me my entire life. It's not fair for either of us to-- hey! HEY! Don't you scream at me when I'm talking to you, mister! We're done, you and I. Fly out of my heart and never bother me again! I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't have room for you in here!"

Overhead, the bridge gives way at last. Mittens twin lights zip back to her and she starts to plummet with a fresh look of terror in her face. But then a miracle happens, of a sort. She's slammed against the wall again, pinned there not by her own strength, but by the black glass talon of the Nightmare Roc. It squeezes shut around her, tearing through the stone with absurd ease. 

"We are [i]not[/i] enemies! I've met you! The real you. You're not this twisted story Eupheria's trying to spin you into. You're the bringer of storms, the wind and the rain that makes life worth living! So what that you're scary? Even the biggest monsters have their part to play! So if you're gonna kill me, then... nnnggh! Get on with it! I can't stop you. But I, [i]nnnffff[/i], I'm done being afraid of you. I'll die loving this rain, I will NEVER let you ruin it for me again! Do you hear me?"

Mittens' crystal eyes are smaller than the Roc's by too much to measure. But the light inside them is, if it's anything at all, sharper than the yellow pools it's cutting into.

[Finish with Wisdom: [b]10[/b]]