"This war never ended, did it? Not for us." // O/O // Closed

Winter shook his head slightly. "No thanks. Not leaving." he was being hunted too, though for different reasons. Because he was an abomination. He was possessed by a demon-like entity. He rasped the daggers along each other, taking a step forward.

The assassin laughed, though they still didn't move forward. Mycah guessed they were waiting for the rest of the assassins. After all, it was the group that was known as being deadly, not a single person. Why they'd split up in the first place, Mycah had no idea. They were just setting themselves up for failure.
"It's your death," The assassin said casually, shrugging. Mycah sighed heavily and raised their arm towards the assassin. Black ink slithered around their fingers, and a black bolt shot towards the assassin. They slashed it out of the air and laughed again.
"You're going to try harder than that, Mycah. We know all your tricks."

Winter blinked at the magic, then smiled a little bit. "Right. You know his." he replied with a deadly little smile. And, outlined by the firelight with the dried and drying blood all over him…he looked terrifying. He reached into a pocket, and threw a small throwing knife towards the assassin.

The assassin looked towards Winter. They tried to block the knife as they'd done with Mycah, but they missed and the knife embedded itself in their shoulder. "Lucky." The assassin sneered at Winter, though it looked a little shaky. Mycah smiled slightly at Winter, approving of him a bit more than they had before.

Winter smirked slightly at that. "Lucky? No, that was skill, I assure you." he replied. He should know. He had trained for years to master weaponry. He had had to. Now, it was an advantage. A good skill to have.

The assassin growled, seeming torn between waiting and attacking Winter right then.
"Do it," Mycah said. "Either you attack him now or he keeps sticking knives into you." The assassin looked from Mycah to Winter, then leapt forward, slashing at Winter's side with their sword.

Winter grinned wolfishly, bringing up his daggers in an X to protect himself from the sword, moving back, away, leading the assassin away from Mycah. The tall, pale-haired male looked like a wraith, looked like something from a nightmare. Grinning, blood stained, and obviously not too worried for his own safety.

The assassin followed Winter, though they kept an eye on Mycah until they were behind them. The assassin lunged at Winter again, trying to stab him. Mycah watched, moving silently to behind the assassin. They'd let Winter handle it, but if something went wrong, they were ready.

Winter was grinning in a feral manner as he blocked the strike with one dagger, spinning the other around to jab at the assassin. His head was cocked just slightly, the firelight glinting off the blades as they met and clashed.

The assassin managed to block Winter's dagger and backed away. It appeared like it was dawning on them that this was a bad idea.
"It's two against one and your friends aren't here," Mycah said, holding their hands towards the assassin. The assassin turned slightly, though not enough that Winter had a clear attack opportunity. "Give up now, and I can guarantee your death will be quick. Resist, and… well, what happens to you will be up to him." Mycah nodded towards Winter.

Winter gave another wolfish smile when Mycah finished speaking, his blue eyes bright in the darkness. "Nine hells, this isn't a fair fight for you, bud." he said with a laugh. "I mean…that gives you two choices. Die, or run like hell."

The assassin looked from Winter to Mycah, the first traces of fear appearing in their eyes. Mycah gave a short, harsh laugh– it was obvious they didn't do it very often– and took a step towards the assassin.
"My new friend is only half right. You don't get the choice of running away. You might tell someone where we are." The assassin swallowed, then turned and sprinted into the forest. Mycah sighed heavily and pointed after the assassin. Even though the assassin's path was quite irregular, they knew they could take them down. A bolt of black flew from their finger, whistling through the air and hitting the assassin in the back of the head.
"There we go." Mycah lowered their arm and looked at Winter. "We should probably leave."

Winter nodded, retrieving his throwing knife and putting it and the daggers away. "Right." he responded. He didn't seem bothered by the death of the assassin. "Let's go." he ran his fingers through his hair, looking around the campsite. He started to put out the fire.

Mycah nodded and walked over to their backpack. They retrieved the water bottle and stuffed it in their backpack, then slung the backpack over their shoulder. They paused to make sure Winter was ready, then started into the woods. It was starting to get lighter, the first traces of dawn starting to color the sky.

Winter was indeed ready. "Let's go. Do you have a destination in mind?" he asked, looking over at Mycah and raising his eyebrows at the other. He hoped that wherever they were going, there was a pond or something he could wash off in.

"No. I'm just trying to stay away from the assassins. And once they're all dead, I'll go after the Alumi." Mycah glanced back at Winter. "If you need me to point the way out, I can do that. If you want to join me… You can do that too." They shrugged and stepped over a log. Mycah had to admit, it would be nice to have a partner.

Winter thought for a long moment. "May as well join you. Gives me an excuse to destroy shit." he gave another off-kilter grin. It was becoming rather obvious that there was something…wrong…with Winter. Maybe nothing too terrible, but he definitely wasn't quite…right.

"Very well." Mycah nodded. They didn't fully trust Winter– they never fully trusted anyone– but he was all they had. He'd gotten points for attacking the assassin. But that might have just been because he wanted to "destroy shit". There was definitely something wrong with him, but at the moment, Mycah didn't care. "I think there's a small lake up ahead. You can wash the blood off of everywhere."

Winter looked down at himself, and nodded slightly. "Right. Thanks." he replied, walking with Mycah. He ran a hand through his pale hair, letting out a slow breath. "Thanks for your help earlier, by the way." he added, looking over at Mycah.

"Of course." Mycah gave Winter a quick nod. The look on their face was almost a smile as they pulled back their hair into a low ponytail. After about half an hour of walking, they pushed a branch out of the way and stepped to the edge of a valley. At the bottom, Mycah could see a lake. "There." They pointed at the lake, now glittering in the early morning sun.

Winter let out a sigh of relief when he saw the lake. "Oh, thank the gods." he replied with a faint laugh, speeding up a little bit. "I want to clean up." he wanted to wash off the dried blood that still coated his body.

"I guessed as much." Mycah started into the valley, glancing behind them every once in a while to make sure no one else was following them. They suspected that once the other assassins found the body, it wouldn't be long before they came after Mycah– and Winter.

As soon as Winter reached the lake, he started pulling his weapons out of his clothing, not wanting them to rust. He set the daggers down, along with a jagged knife and four twin throwing knives, setting them carefully to the side. Then he took off his boots, and waded into the water.

Mycah walked to a large rock at the edge of the lake and perched on it. Their clothes were just starting to get dry, and they had no intention of getting them wet all over again. They watched as Winter set aside all his weapons, then looked across the lake. It was quite beautiful at the moment, and peacefully quiet save for Winter splashing in the water. If they could forget all that had happened to them and all that was going to happen, Mycah might have been happy.

Winter walked out deep enough that he was up to his neck in the water, and started to scrub at his body and clothing. He was a little leery of stripping down right now, especially in front of Mycah, plus he didn't have a spare set with him, so this would have to do.

Mycah watched Winter for a little, then decided he was boring and glanced over their shoulder again. There was still no one there, which was good. It would be very awkward if the assassins came when Winter was neck-deep in water. Mycah listened closely, but it was still quiet.

Winter kept scrubbing at his clothes, the blood blooming out of them, into the water. He felt his breathing becoming harsher as the reality of everything that was going on sank into him, and he submerged into the water, letting the water enter his mouth, though not his lungs, trying to calm down.

Mycah glanced back at Winter, the blood in the water strangely mesmerizing. Then Winter disappeared under the water. It didn't bother Mycah too much since it was probably just Winter getting the blood off of his face. They turned back to the forest behind them. With the sun rising, it was getting easier to see beyond the trees. Mycah still didn't see anyone. With luck, they would both be long gone before the assassins arrived.

Winter stayed under until his lungs were screaming, and then surfaced again with a gasp, sucking in air into his oxygen-deprived body. His blue eyes were careful, and he scrubbed at the blood again, trying to get out any remnants. He knew his clothes were probably irreparably stained.

Mycah glanced back at the water, their eyes narrowed when Winter still didn't surface. Was he trying to drown? When he finally burst to the surface, Mycah sighed and shook their head. They didn't know what Winter was doing, but at least he wasn't dying. "Are you almost ready?"