Out of the corner of his eye, Hatame saw that Terri had done as he had pleaded for her to do and healed Sakkata's tortured body...and through his anger and despair, some small sense of peace permeated that mass of conflicting emotions and numbness. He didn't know why it was so important to him...but in that moment, that small act seemed as though it meant the world.

One small dignity...it was the least they could offer. She deserved so much more than this...she deserved better...

And then Torr laughed, and his words sent a small chill through him, momentarily slicing through the rampant hatred he felt and refocusing his attention. Damn him...wait. Cremate her? Like hell he woulâ€"!

Hatame hadn't the time to react. A split second later, and Torr was beside Terri and had sent her tumbling with a simple movement of his hand, to land in a daze feet away, and in the next instant, he had grasped Sakkata's corpse and heaved her off the ground. And Hatame didn't need to hear Terri's desperate cries to leap into action. No...there was no way in HELL he would let the bastard touch her! He was NOT taking her! Not again!

Without even thinking, Hatame tackled Torr roughly from behind, aiming to drag him down to the ground and, at the very least, make him lose both his focus and his grip on Sakkata. At the same time, he focused on his magic, focused on fire, focused on sending white-hot tendrils searing against, into, Torr's skin. Torr wanted to burn Sakkata? Two could play that game. Hatame would burn Torr as much as he possibly could, as long as he possibly could!

Fortunately for Hatame, Torr had seemed to ignore Hatame's presence, for he had landed right between he and Terri. And, after all, why would Torr pay him much mind, when he was physically weaker than even Terri and couldn't even weild magic without severe consequence? But none of that mattered; for now, not seeming a threat worked to Hatame's benefit. Well, hopefully.

"TERRI! Get Sakkata out of here!" he shouted, holding on, literally, for dear life.

--

Torr snarled in surprise, thrown slightly off balance by Hatame's sudden tackle. Torr was big though, and strong, and only stumbled a bit from the impact. But one surprise followed another as Torr felt his flesh begin to burn in white-hot flames.
"DAMN!"

Throwing Sakkata's dead body away, Torr reached around to heave Hatame off and away from him. Sharp nails dug into soft flesh as he grabbed the unfortunate man, and with abnormally high strength yanked him free. Torr haphazardly tossed Hatame away, so intent was he on stopping the magickal fire before it did too much damage.
"You will pay for that!!" He roared, bits of his back and waist now charred and painful.

Terri heard Hatame's order, but paid it no heed. She was going to make Torr pay for what he did...SHE WAS GOING TO MAKE HIM PAY!!!
"TORR!!"
She pulled on the very deepest reserves of her power, and it flared around her, from her. She could feel it well up, begging to break free of her body and spill out into the world.
And she would let it, too!

Dashing straight for Torr, Terri moved at an inhuman speed. So fast she was nothing but a blur. However, Torr was faster. In the blink of an eye his clawed hand protruded through the back of her cloak, having gone right through.

Well, right through the cloak anyway.

Terri was unharmed, crouching at Torr's feet, smirking dangerously. Such a simply trick...discard the cloak at the last minute, and that will be what he attacks.
Launching her small frame up, Terri latched onto the large Drygan male much as Hatame had.
"Take this, you BASTARD!!"

Terri's body exploded in white light, and the ground beneath them froze solid. And that was exactly what she was trying to do to Torr, too. Everywhere her flesh touched his, the skin began to freeze, sharp ice crystals rupturing delicate cells. His own immense power stopped him from being frozen solid, but it wouldn't stop frost bite at such a close, surprised range.

Yowling in pain, Torr wrenched Terri free of him, his grabbing hand beginning to freeze as well. Throwing her slight form with all his might, Terri flew in a high arc into the air.
She landed with a sickening crack, and lay still.

"I KNOW she's dead!" Hatame snapped, and that single, last word sent a painful shudder through him. Somehow...it just made everything more real, to actually say it. It made it more final, more...Gods, he didn't know anymore... "I'm not stupid, Terri! But...but...she was...Torr...just look at her! Terri, please, heal her...she deserves at least this ONE small dignity!"

It was irrational, he was being irrational. He knew it, but he didn't care. She was dead...you couldn't bring back the dead...no matter what; no one could, and he knew it. And he didn't mean to try differently. It was done. There was nothing he or anyone else could do. But, for some reason, it just felt really important to him. He couldn't stand to see her like this...no one deserved to go through what she had gone through...no one...

They'd failed her...

He turned his head away so she wouldn't see his own tears, even though his voice easily gave it away. And he only nodded vaguely when she mentioned Torr, though his posture stiffened defiantly. Torr. No...actually, he could think of one person who deserved to go through what she had. And much, much more...

And then came that voice...

"FUCKING BASTARD!" Hatame was on his feet in a second, even as his magic battered him from within as he held onto it, making him sway slightly, blood from his previous attack staining his lips. But rage and pain such as he had never felt before had made him numb to it; all he could think about was Sakkata...and killing Torr. Everything else simply ceased to be...

The only thing that kept him from attacking right then and there was the thought that if he was careless, they would be killed and not Torr. Hatame wasn't worried about dying; he had nothing to lose, especially not anymore. The only thought that worried him was dying without knowing for certain that Torr had, too.

--

She flashed her teeth at Torr, snarling deep in her throat. She would do what Hatame asked! Sakkata would not be put to rest holding the scars of Torr's torture!
Whipping around, Terri scooped Sakkata up and hugged her bloody form close. She rocked lightly with grief, but through the fuzz of despair, she focused her energies on Sakkata's cold and limp body.

Slowly but surely, Sakkata's deadly wounds closed themselves, re-knitting carefully. Her hair did not grow back, nor did her ears or tail. Those were things no magick could bring back, as Terri knew all too well. Her own hair, ears, and tail were cropped, just like Sakkata's now were...
"Damn you Torr..."

Torr simply laughed. "Call me all the names in the world, spit out the worst terms you know. It changes nothing. But I will do one thing in the Chosen's honor. I think I'll cremate her myself."
With that, he was beside Terri in the blink of an eye. Even she had been able to sense his movement, let alone see it.
Blue eyes widening in surprise, she was sent tumbling by a swift and simple backhand from Torr.

Rolling to a stop a good ten feet away, Terri was too dazed to rise at first. "No...H...Hatame! Don't let Torr burn her body!"
It had blinked right into her head. The only true way to put a Drygan to rest was to burn them with the flames from a dragon, their ancient ancestor. Drygan bodies didn't rot, so to bury them was pointless.
That was it! That was it!!
She had to keep Sakkata's body intact!
"Hatame!"
She still couldn't rise enough to try and stop Torr herself.

Torr, on the other hand, had gruffly heaved Sakkata's corpse off the ground by her head, his free hand summoning an intense heat. Power pulsed from his body, and the shear amount of it was scary. Just standing there he put off energy, enough to make into a hundred simple attacks with so much more to spare.
"Goodbye, Sakkata." He hissed, just inches from lighting her body and watching it go up in smoke.

[Thread continued from <a>HERE</a>. Authors, in order of posting: Blue-chan as Terri, Sakkata, and Torr. Rhi-Rhi as Hatame]

It had taken a good day of quick traveling to actually bring the Mountains within range. Terri's durable muscles were burning, but she was not yet exhausted, thankfully. Dropping gracefully from the treetops, she awaited Hatame's approach. He was stuck in human form, and could not travel nearly as fast as she could with her lithe draconic form.

Terri was still carefully hidden within the folds of a dark brown cloak, the hood pulled up to cover her inuman form. From what one could see of her face, she was relatively young, perhaps 17 or 18. However, her skin was pure white. Well, until the sun hit it that is. Once the light touched and bounced off the color, it exploded in a dazzling array of colors that changed as she shifted. The color prism was all there, thanks to the odd properties of her skin. It was rare even among Drygans.
Eyes of ice blue were sharp and wary as she waited for her companion to appear.

Not too much further, and they'd be near Sakkata's still-stationary form...

--

Finally, finally, Terri came into his view, a figure in the distance, and Hatame picked up his pace to sprint the rest of the distance toward her. This whole time, he had been relying solely on their connection to follow herâ€"as she was far faster, and even if she wasn't, there was no way he could see her up in the trees from the groundâ€"and he had actually found the experience useful. It forced him to really concentrate and study how the connection worked, and to interpret what each sensation he got from their connection meant.

Being forced to do something could teach one quite a lot.

Slowing to a stop beside Terri, only then did he allow himself to rest, leaning against a tree to catch his breath and brushing his currently disheveled white hair from his dark-skinned face. Well...at least, his jaw-length bangs were white; the rest of his hair was coal-black and reached midway to his back. Like his companion, he was young, appearing maybe only a year or two older than her.

Under good conditions, and in good health, if he ran at a steady pace, he could go for hours. After all, he was in truth a Gryphon, and retained something of their endurance, even while in a human body. Of course, he wasn't exactly in good health anymore...his curse had sapped that a good deal, making his muscles burn and limbs ache whatever the case, but with Terri's healing, he was in as good a condition as he could get. And what with the current situation...that was incentive enough to keep him moving.

Aside from some breathlessness and achiness, he was hardly fatigued.

"She still hasn't moved, huh...?" he finally commented when he had regained his breath, green eyes looking toward the mountains that were now so close...

--

Terri waited for Hatame to catch his breath, able to feel his aches and pains due to her healing magick and the fact she had used it on him more than once. It was a nifty trick, to be able to search out and find what was wrong with a person by touch. Even more nifty if you had healed them before, because then you didn't need touch.
"I bet Sakkata could break that binding spell if she really tried." She started at length. Not the best thing to bring up, but it bothered her nothing had been done about the painful affliction yet. It zapped so much of his energy away...

With a sigh, Terri looked back towards Sakkata's signal. "No movement at all. I'm really worried Hatame." And it showed in her voice. Sakkata shouldn't have been so still for so long...
Damn it, what had happened to her??
"Are you ready to go yet?"

--

He grimaced slightly when Terri brought up his condition, and made a point to seem not to have heard. It was a touchy subject...and he didn't think Sakkata could break it. Hatame had confided in her about it, before, and the solution she had offered was ending his lifeâ€"which was the one solution he knew of, as well. He didn't know of any other solution...and it didn't seem like she would, either. But who knew? Maybe Terri was right. Maybe.

Not that any of that mattered, now. That wasn't what he was worried about. His sole focus was getting Sakkata back...everything else could wait.

"I'm really worried, too..." Hatame muttered, equally anxious, though he tried hard to reign that emotion in. Freaking out would do Sakkata no good. "But...yeah, let's go..."

Taking a deep breath, he set off again, a little quicker this time despite the pain that wanted to slow him. Try as he might to stay positive, this was really bothering him, and he wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

Please be alright...

--

Terri dashed after Hatame, a growing dread building in her stomach. Now more nervous than ever, she bolted ahead of Hatame, forgetting the earlier incident of getting blasted in the face.
This was just too important for her. So what if she got blasted again, at least she'd know Sakkata was alive and well!

After a few moments of Terri's disappearing from Hatame's view, her signal joined Sakkata's in the distance. It stopped then, and after a moment of silence, a piercing scream split the air.
And it was Terri's scream.

Right in front of her was what was left of Sakkata. Stripped of clothing, Sakkata hung from her ankles by a strip of rough rope which was in turn tied to a tree limb. It was more than likely she had been raped, and there were bruises all over her blue tinted flesh. Her face was battered so badly, and so swollen from it, that she hardly looked like Sakkata anymore. Her hair had been cruelly chopped from her head, and her ears were masses of flesh. Her tail lay in a bloody curl at the base of the tree, no longer attached to her body. Blood was smeared all along her frame, large claw gouges evident.
And her throat and wrists had been slit, now gaping red mouths of the grizzliest kind. She had been violated in every possible way...

Terri stared in horrified shock, legs trembling until finally she collapsed. She...the Chosen...she was dead...dead!!
No...it couldn't be...it just...no...
"Sakkata..."

--

Terri's scream jolted through Hatame, and he picked up his pace, fear coursing through him like wildfire and making the everlasting pain he felt seem non-existant. Thoughts of what could have happened coursed through his mind, despite how he tried to reign them back. He had to stay calm...fight for calm. Panic would help no one...Gods, let them both be alright...let themâ€"

He stopped dead.

The scene he came upon wasn't one that existed in real life. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare, and all Hatame could do was stare blankly, unmoving and unblinking, at the violated figure that bled and hung from the tree limb, numbness coating him, even as a terrible, clenching nausea gripped him. No...that wasn't...it wasn't her. Things like this...they just didn't happen. It just...it wasn't real. He was still unconscious, and this was all a dream. One long, drawn out, horrible nightmare...the worst he'd ever had...

Sakkata wasn't...she just couldn't...

His body seemed to move automatically, as though without him even realizing, as he moved slowly toward the body with unnatural, cold calm, the only thing betraying that calm being the shakiness of his limbs. Standing beneath her, he glanced up at the branch she was tied to, and the only thought that came to mind was that it was too high for him to reach. Alright...

Pain raced through his limbs as he embraced the source of his magic, but it felt so distant. Someone else's pain. A second later, and fire had gnawed away at the rope that suspended her, and he caught her body mechanically as he released his hold on his magic's source, the force of her weight and the force of the magic's attack sending him crumpling. But he seemed not to notice, even as he coughed up blood. Instead, he worked on pulling the remainder of the rope off her, gently supporting her.

"Terri, heal her..." He said it calmly, not even looking up. He had gotten the rope off her, and was removing his overcoat, covering her battered body with it. God damnit...he'd KILL Torr for this... "Terri? God DAMMIT Terri, why aren't you healing her!? I can't heal her! I can't heal! You HAVE to heal her, Terri, I can't! Or just bloody tell me how to! Earth magic, right!? I have Earth magic! Just tell me, and I'll do it!"

Pain scored every inch of his body as he once again reached for his magic, creating a sensation akin to having ones insides shredded. But that agony had nothing to do with the moisture in his eyes, which he stubbornly blinked back. He didn't care...he didn't care if his magic killed him, he'd heal her if Terri wouldn't...somehow...

--

Terri had gone numb inside. There was nothing left. Nothing. One look, one good look at the scene before her had blasted everything away, and it had fallen like shards of broken glass.
There was nothing...

Turning her head painfully slow, Terri watched with clouded eyes as Hatame passed her and moved right up to the tree. What was he...? No...he was using magick...
Her body...it had to be...burned...and...
Terri trembled as she watched, tears finally breaking free and cascading down her face. It just wasn't right!! IT WASN'T RIGHT!!

She shook her head mechanically as Hatame shouted at her. His frustration and despair poured out with his words, and though she opened her mouth, no sound would come forth. Slowly, she crawled toward him and the corpse that was Sakkata.
"I...I can't Hatame." She hissed lightly as she felt him pulling up his magick. "Please...don't. She isn't...she can't be..." Terri clamped her teeth together and hung her head. "She's dead Hatame! Dead!! I can't bring the dead back to life, no matter how hard I try! And neither can you!"
Her head snapped back up and she stared straight at Hatame. "Don't kill yourself Hatame. We...we have to find Torr. We have to make him pay for this!"

"Make me pay? Whatever for?" The cold, cruel voice of Torr came from behind them. Standing calmly upon a tall, craggy rock, the demented Drygan looked down at them. His hair was completely white, and he had a maddened look of power in his eyes.
"Well, here I am, if you really need to 'make me pay'." He smirked, sharp teeth flashing. There were no traces of blood on him, but one knew he had drank Sakkata's blood in order to gain her power.
And just the thought made Terri shudder with fury, her pupils narrowing to tiny slits as energy shot from her small form. Damn him...DAMN HIM!!!