hewwo, corrupted xayah meeting sarah for the first time after death uwu
kylie asked for drabble prompts a while ago
ICE THREADED HER VEINS, taking over every inch of her being, spreading out from her core; a central hub to darkness, a void of eerie chill and ache where once nestled bright confidence and the desire to protect. She was succumbed, salt tasted upon her tongue and lips while dirt felt ENCRUSTED within every crack and wound upon her flesh. Tainted, angry... hatred spilled across her expression and throughout every pore. She radiated with sickened spirit and decaying splendor. When the Lhotlan had first been awoken, there had been fear and concern and confusion; all emotions that were drawn out and tied together by the orchestrator of each event, forming a k n o t within Xayah’s morals, disrupting the flow of her understanding, leaving her with nothing to her name but one desire.
Left to die. Replaced. Forgotten. How easy it was to sink every little possibility just beneath her skin. Her walls of self security were crumbled, she was alone, the agony of recollection overwhelming, still struggling to draw breath into her lungs after having not used them in some time. Days? Months? A year? Nothing made sense, but the truth stared like a reflection upon her. One that was twisted and curling, devious smile stretching wide, eventually appearing as Zoe, who reassured her she wasn’t alone in being betrayed by the people formally dubbed allies. Friends. F a m i l y.
A bit of an outcast in the group, the teen’s demeanor set her apart at times, yet the memories once held so fondly suddenly took forth a darker curtain over top. Where feelings of teasing formally rest, now she saw genuine hatred, taunting, torment. Fights were real, serious, and deep, failure was misplaced, shoved upon her shoulders.
Shoulders that now WEIGHED down beneath the newest expectations. Though not bound by good anymore, being in opposition wasn’t without its own drawbacks. Chaos, however natural, could always use a little helping hand, because people like the Star Guardians actively worked against was should be the state of things. The world needed to give up, to relent, to embrace what needed to be. After all, good was only a false belief, a temporary game of pretend until reality shattered it away, revealing those hidden beneath the smiles painted on their masks, revealing the liars. Pretenders. The First Star... the oath, the mission, the love.
All CRUMBLED, gone, obliterated, and Xayah felt she saw the true depths of their spirits. Only Rakan could be trusted, only him, he was on her side, he was there, he was supporting, he could see ( the truth, the visions, the future, the delight there was in destruction, in pain, in ending those who had caused them harm ). She would bring him with her into the ending, into the coming, into the storm where they would reign together... Zoe could go do whatever it was Zoe wanted. Once Xayah got what she craved, needed, and desired, there was little care for the woman who had both ended her and brought her back. Loyalty... loyalty was to herself, and it lingered upon Rakan. Because the battle for her own interests was also what she deemed best for him, as well.
The time of fruition had come; s e a r c h i n g and luring had led to this. To bringing the others out, to bring them to her. Warmth burst between long fingers, feathers nestling in the hold of them in a surge of magic. Saki reacted from her perch with ruffled feathers, puffing up twice her size if only briefly, eventually settling, gazing with a look to the guardian that seemed almost apologetic, though tucked away from allowing her vastayan counterpart to see. So lost, so incredibly lost, but even in her uncertainties and swelling anger, unbelievable pain, the avian woman would turn against those she deemed an enemy.
Those who deemed her an enemy. No matter WHAT their relationship had been prior. Her lover, her own familiar...
Despite a chill so endless in her muscles, fire suddenly split her being, ferocity swelling as snarl ripped from her throat. Nearly laughing, Xayah raised her arms to the side, allowing the f u l l view of herself to be seen, the darkened chroma pulsing with purple ripples, corruption glittered stardust along smooth skin and behind glowing, pink eyes. Limbs nearly began to tremble, the rage increasing by the second, unable to rip attention away from a former ally. Tongue glazed over dry lips, talons clicking along the ground as she dared a step or two near, pushing at the boundaries she had placed for herself even before life was stolen.
This is the one who you fought with the most, isn’t it? Sarah... Miss Fortune. Sing song voice echoed in her head, vibrating eagerness through her being to slam feathers into flesh, to spill crimson, rip forth her hurt and make someone pay.
Abandoned you just like Ahri. Abandoned Rakan. Even Neeko before she turned traitor, too. And now replaced you? Likes them better, too, probably. I mean, they’re not out being betrayed or used or left to die, yet, so that’s a good sign for them. But you? And after how close, how friendly even despite some bickering. Guess all those kind words, the good things that happened... lies. LIES. THE STAR GUARDIANS ARE LIES.
At some point or another, there was no difference between the voice of corruption and the voice of corrupted. One and the same after the intensity of her fall, and Xayah embraced the fuel it FED her with, adrenaline pulsing, magic humming like music to her ears, urging to be used so she could rain havoc. Destroy. Death. Exactly what Sarah deserved. Now the redhead would get to know what it felt like; get to experience what she made her old teammates endure all that time ago. The final breath would be captured in the pink warrior’s hold, and she would eagerly rip the spirit of the gunslinger to pieces if she could.
“Hello, Sarah...” Twisted tone coming from a twisted appearance, black corroded the air around her, life seemed to dim with her presence. Arms lowered, feathers sharpened in her hold. She canted her head, sending bangs tumbling across her features, half hiding the devilish look to the curve of her smile, the electricity to the pink saturation of her gaze. Scorn leaked from the depths of each way she responded, tucking away the TIRED desperation worn like a uniform. Heart pounded, fear and delight mixing together like a deadly poison, though with no victim other than the person who had brewed it within.
Laugh finally came forth, forced more so than when she had been expected to sit back and act like she shouldn’t have been the leader. The First Star only knew how to make mistakes... no wonder every damn guardian was pathetic. “Surprised? I was, too, but you’ll get used to it. If you live long enough, at least. Now hold still, it’ll make skewering you go faster. I’ve been w a i t i n g for the opportunity to destroy a couple of traitors I once called my friends. Speaking of lies and deception, where’s Ahri? Or did she and Neeko run off on you now? They’re both pretty good at that, aren’t they? Too bad you’re no better. Here’s to our reunion!”
She wouldn’t wait, she couldn’t wait. Too long she had waited.
Hunted.
Battled so much gripping her heart, her mind.
It turned out revenge was a hell of a motivator.
