Mon cœur qui s'endurcit [Cecania/ Closed]

Quickly, at that.

She pretended she didn't see the gaping red-black space where an eye used to be.

All of them ran, a few got buried beneath the bricks, dust and bits of ice, others ended up between the Hollows powerful jaws, some had probably survived but the girl couldn't care less. As blood sprinkled the snow she smiled a crooked smile, she didn't even try to mask the laughter that erupted from her lips at this scene of pure horror that had unfolded in front of her. This was only happening because of the power that surged through her veins and leaked out of her pores. The feeling it brought was more than just intoxicating, it was oddly soothing to Kasumi's aching body and soul. In her hideous cackling she hadn't noticed the arrival of someone that might make a huge difference in whatever was about to happen till it was too late to hide. However, it was never too late to run.

Having thrown a glare into the woman's direction, Kasumi realized that her hair reminded her of cotton candy. The pink kind. On another day this might have been enough for the kid to inquire the woman for her name. Pure curiosity had always been Kasumi's strongest side, but today it was trampled by the hopelessness that consumed her and steadily fed her anger. By now she knew that the stranger wasn't one of those worthless meat bags which crowded the town over day, every day. Still, Kasumi believed herself to be strong. She believed herself to be fast, too.

To have the highest chances at succeeding in an assault, or any other action directed against your opponent, one always had to grab and seize the element of surprise in case that it was present. If Kasumi was correct, the woman had looked slightly shocked. That's why now was her chance. Gathering some energy, Kasumi forced it into the snow before pulling up a wall from out snow, creating a separation between her and the woman. It went from the building on her left all the way to the ruins on her right. A second their eyes met.

If you mix blue and yellow, you get that green of hers.

Hollow have yellow eyes.

Kasumi wasn't planning to mix anything with them, though.

With a light push she heard the snow crunch beneath her feet as she awkwardly stumbled through the street. This wouldn't do. The sizzling of the Shunko-like threads that melted the snow weren't currently helping her. They soon died out and green traces mixed with the red footprints she left in the snow before going up into the sky.

She tried quietly sit behind a heating tube, though her breath was coming out with growls of pain. Something growled back. They really were everywhere. Perhaps this day would clean the city from its citizens and could go into the history books as a magic purge of the unworthy ones. The beast bit into the icy hand and swallowed three of her fingers. A good thing she could grow them back. She grinned, then pushed her maimed hand deeper into the beast's maw, far enough for it to start to choke onto the ice. With her other hand she grabbed the snout and pulled. Usually there was more power in her grip but for such a small creature it would suffice. More ice, then a mewl and a sickening crack.

“Die.”

Her voice hoarsely demanded from the bleeding animal.

Wait.

This wasn't.

It wasn't disintegrating at all.

A dog.

“H-?”

How could it be on a roof? This was-?

Turning her eyes met the image of a madman. It was him! Those eyes! Hadn't his eyes looked like that? Hadn't the one who took her arm grinned the same way? The same wicked smile with fresh blood still dripping down his chin?

Slamming her icy fist into the window she only realized that it had been her own image when a piece of flying glass cut her cheek. It cut her deep. And as the warmth spread across her face she knew that her couldn't feel her limbs at all. The contrast of them being gone and her cheek burning was enormous. Stepping back she clumsily stumbled over the dogs dead body just to realize that she had somehow ended up on the street instead of the roof she had aimed at.

Was her vision that blurred?

“Stay away from me!”

Kasumi furiously demanded, knowing that the woman was somewhere near. She could feel her presence unlike her frozen toes. The only thing that didn't seem to fade was reiatsu. Her own allowed her to control her body more or less, the others' kept her aware of them. It was the source of life and stream o-

“My window! You brat! Y-.”

The man never got to finish his sentence as Kasumi cold fingers dug into the tender sides of his throat. Silvery white energy tightened around her arm before doing the same with his body. Unlike her arm, that bled with both blood and light, his body seemed to take her energy in a less.. fortunate way. With every gush of wind the smell of scorched flesh traveled further and further down the snowy streets. Then she dropped the body.

“Hungry?”

She viciously spit at the taller woman unsure whether the question would make any sense to her. Her eyes darted back and forth as Hebi faded.

“Because they are.”

Them, being Hollows, they certainly were. Three small ones crawling up towards the weakest of them. And Kasumi dragged her legs away from the future Hollow feast. Hungry dogs were aggressive ones. This should somewhat please them. The dead man wouldn't struggle when their teeth would sink into him, which would leave Kasumi enough time to leave this mess. If the woman would back off that is. Otherwise they might stick around enough for the soul to come out. Does it come out, or do the Hollows suck it out of the corpse?

“Just g-go away.”

More annoyance.

She had planned to add quite a few ugly words but the coughing prevented her from doing so. With air came blood. Where did that come from? Amazed Kasumi stared at her stomach, it was sticky but it should be uninjured. Carefully she poked it with her icy hand.

“Strange..”

As quickly as her attention had shifted to her stomach it jumped back to the new threat in form of a .. Quincy? Was this a Quincy? Kasumi desperately tried to ball her fingers into a fist. She would never be one of them; the bitter thought cut her up from the inside.

This feeling she loathed so much.

A child's frustration and despair within a too hoarse shout.

Wasn't even her child, but--

Sensation of running out of time.

Once again Kasumi was put in a position where she would need to make a choice. Life was all about choosing, about making decisions, about picking some things above others because you find them more important, better. It was about letting the people you choose to care about in, about trying to realize your dreams and so much more. Warmth coated the woman's words and once they were spoken hot tears stained Kasumi's pale cheeks. The furious blinking turned into a blur of white as the salty liquid clung to Kasumi's white eyelashes and she angrily shook her head from side to side. The girl's blue gaze was one and all torture, because it hurt to see the woman reach out towards her. This Quincy was awfully close, painfully within the grasp of Kasumi's fingertips. And she felt her hands ache, they burned to grab the stranger, to dig those numb, clumsy fingers into her clothes and bury her face in her neck; hiding from all the bad things, from all the horror. Perhaps being carried away from these chilly streets, being healed. The numbness, the pain, the blood and dirt. This one promised to help. She would make all of it go away.

Cautiously she started to extend her hand.

           But-

People always seemed to take pity on her, they offered her their hands, wrapped their fingers around her and once they felt the huge contrast between their warm skin and her icy touch they let go. It didn't matter how soothing their voices were, how strong their hugs felt or how sweet their words sounded. Everyone always left in the end. All that remained with her was the cold. And cold was so much worse once you've felt real warmth. Whether it had been in the form of a cozy fire burning brightly at home during a winter night, a sweater handed to protect you from wind or rain, or the presence of another next to you when you were sad. It hurt equally when gone.

Every time that things derailed into something she hadn't expected, Kasumi always told herself that it didn't matter, that the ice would protect her.

The little crawling creature in the back of the girl's mind that still ached for love and devotion was bleeding, it was exhausted, it was dying. Its twitching a mere shade from the cheerful motions that had brought Kasumi this far.

This safety and promised affection were a lie.

A lie this woman might believe in, but Kasumi didn't.

More tears flowed and the child jerked her icy arm to the side in order to slap the stranger's pity away. As her fingers made contact with the woman's hand she watched the icy prosthesis scatter, leaving her for what she truly was: a girl without an arm.

The bits of ice landed in the snow near their feet and Kasumi stumbled back a few steps, uncertain of what to do now. She wanted to scream, to cry, to beg?

But all she did was crack.

“Are all the Quincy Germans?”

In an attempt to keep herself together, even while bloodied and emotionally scarred, Kasumi mumbled the question as she continued to back off, distancing herself from her savior. Somehow her tongue felt too thick in her mouth when she spoke. It had cost her too much effort to bring out these words, and she hoped that the woman had heard them because repeating wasn't an option. Another step back, more stumbling, a short slide and she fell backwards. With the snow still piling up the fall was broken and her own creation hugged her tightly. White crystals were swirling stark against the night sky above them. Never before has she been this drained, had she felt this weak.

There were so many things that she wanted to do. Hitting the Quincy in the face for being one of Weylins kind was only the tip of the iceberg. Strangling the Hollows still lurking was amongst her top five. But it appeared too late for that.

It wasn't fair, she had just started to crawl.

“It hurts..

Letting out a deep shivering breath she finished her sentence.

Inside.”

The fluffy flakes became rarer, her power was at its limit. Some of the snow and ice was already melting; thin streams of water were forming on the greyish pavement beneath the piles of Kasumi's beloved softness. Water soaked her messy hair, her stained clothes. It was slowly washing away the filth.

“Help me?”

Suddenly she felt so small. Vulnerable. Alone. Trusting only herself had kept her safe, but it had also wrecked her beyond recognition. Eyes that didn't want to understand widened with the realization that she needed someone to hold onto. Just for this last time, until it got better. Till she got stronger. Then, she would rise up and bloom, fiercer than ever before.

“Cold..?”

That was a first time.

Reaching out to nothing in particular with the hand she still had left, Kasumi blinked in confusion. Her vision slowly started to narrow as less and less light got through to her brain, it shrunk to the image of pink hair that soon turned white.

The illusion was real.

              “Mom?”