𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀, 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘦

ᴛᴇɴ

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DΣᄂƬΛ

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THE UPTURN OF DUST AND GRAVEL BILLOWED OUT, DELTA'S BOOTS SLAMMING INTO THE DIRT BELOW AS HER BREATHS CAME OUT IN PANTS. Delta could feel the panic set into her bones– the boiling of fear and rage crawling beneath her skin. It felt like the sensations were alive. And, maybe, they were.

Silco's men yelled from behind, scratchy voices stark against the howls of the addicted. Delta spared one glance backwards and she had to swallow her despair: Silcos boot sunk into the side of Huck, the decrepit man's chapped lips opening in a haunting scream of agony. His purple eyes met the similar shade of Delta's, a tear slowly dropping down her cheek as Huck offered her a pained smile. The woman gave him a shaky one of her own before turning away and continuing her desperate sprint.

Hucks smile dropped as soon as she looked away and he held his tongue as his blood splattered the pavement below. He couldn't stand the idea of her seeing him like this– he hoped the woman remembered him by that smile. By the man she had grown up with so long ago. Huck prayed Delta wouldn't remember the corrupted monster shimmer had made him into. His eyes squeezed closed and he took a staggering breath, the image of Delta's tearful smile being burned on the backs of his eyelids as he took a blood-filled breath and Silcos heel came crashing down on his neck, the cracking of bone and the squelching of flesh the only sounds the addict made.

Silco, on the other hand, watched in grim satisfaction as the broken man below him succumbed to his wounds. He took a rag to his boots and wiped the sickly magenta blood off of the leather, turning to his men with a darkened glare. "Get them. Get them and kill them. Leave the scarred one barely breathing– she's mine." His voice grated out and the men complied. Silco would have Delta again, even if it was the last thing he'd do. She was like him: broken, lost, treated so cruelly by a world that didn't deserve her. Delta and Silco were two sides of the same coin.

He'd prove that to her. He knew he could.

Tears streamed down scarred cheeks as Delta ran beside Caitlyn and Vi, her hands shaky and clenched by her sides. How could this have happened? What had the woman done to deserve such punishment? Her girlfriend– no, fiance– had died in her arms. Her childhood lover was alive. The young girl she had practically raised has been her enemy for who knows how long. And now? Now Huck was gone too. It was too much but Delta knew that this was what the Undercity was. It was a cruel place. A place that sucked the life and happiness out of everything and everyone it touched. A place that broke Delta.

Caitlyn's blue eyes wandered to the woman beside her, her expression sinking into a deep frown at the look of despair on Delta's face. She had seen the woman in a new light today: Delta was brash and sinister but Delta was broken. She was broken but she was strong and Caitlyn wished she had met her earlier, met her before she was hurt deep enough to scar. Her hand reached out in the midst of the chaos and wrapped around Deltas, blue eyes boring into purple in a look of empathy. And, against Delta's better judgment, she allowed Caitlyn to stay.

Her lips pursed and she gave the dark-haired woman a bleak smile. "Welcome to the city of dust and ash, Cait." Said woman just gave a weak laugh as she squeezed Delta's hand. "What a welcome, I must say."

The two women looked at each other for a few seconds before their attention was interrupted by a gasp from Vi. Delta and Caitlyn looked to the woman before their eyes shifted to what Vi's were trained on. Delta felt her blood run cold at the sight; blue smoke. A flare. Vi's eyes welled with tears and she put a hand to her mouth, choking back a sob. Caitlyn looked at Delta in confusion before her eyes widened, Vi digging her toes into the dirt below as she took off in a dead sprint. Delta sighed shakily, swallowing back bile as she pulled Caitlyn and the two followed after their pink-haired friend.