TRENCH

My Blood

December 7th, 3000
When everyone.
You thought you knew.
Deserts your fight.
I'll go with you.
You're facing down.
A dark hall.
I'll grab my light.
And go with you.
If you find yourself.
In a lion's den.
I'll jump right in.
And pull my pin.
And go with you.
Surrounded and.
Up against a wall.
I'll shred them all.
And go with you.
When choices end.
You must defend.
I'll grab my bat.
And go with you.

Josh came away with a bad wound on his shoulder, Ruby treated it with some herbs she found in the forest, and we were able to continue on our way trough the vast expanse of trees.
"At least your gonna have a sick scar." I told Josh as we let the chilly morning air fill our lungs.
His walking was slower now, so we both lingered at the back, engrossed in eachothers thoughts.
I loved everything about him, the fear we had lost eachother just made our bond stronger.
Having a person that you deeply care about that isn't just yourself is an amazing feeling.
I looked up at the sky, dark swirling clouds passed ominously overhead.
"Those rain clouds don't look good" I told Josh.
"No... It's too cold for rain." he replied.
I felt the fist flakes of snow fall on my back.
I shook them off my pelt and looked around.
The snow was falling gently all around us, beautiful, delicate flakes of ice, landed on our eyelashes and ears.
In Dema, the snow always melted the moment it hit the ground, but here, it blanketed the forest floor with a beautiful white suger frosting.
It would continue to snow for the rest of our journey.

December 8th, 3000
If there comes a day.
People posted up at the end of your driveway.
They're calling for your head and they're calling for your name.
I'll bomb down on them, I'm coming through.
Do they know I was grown with you?
If they're here to smoke, know I'll go with you. Just keep it outside.
Keep it outside.

The next day left a thick layer of snow on the ground.
In the forest, the snow brought new life to the dark landscape, the white lighting up the whole place.
But as we made our way out of the forest, the snow become colder and less inviting with every step we took.
The snow made the barren mountains even more scarce and lifeless.
Hunting had been easy in the forest, but in the mountains we had to rely heavily on supplies, and the hungry vultures hounded us from the skies.
There was a snowstorm that night, and without the protection of the trees we found it difficult to find somwhere safe to sleep.
We eventually found a small cave on the side of slope, and we all tucked in there for the night.
That night was one of whorst nights of my entire life.

A snowstorm raged outside, howling cold winds tearing up the ground.
I was curled up, my tail tucked around me to keep me warm.
Sleep grabbed me and pulled me under into a cavern of darkness.
I looked around me, I was in a dark void.
I stood naked, in my human form.
BlurryFace stood in front of me, his red eyes periced trough my soul.
"What do you want?" I asked him.
He started luaghing.
"I don't want anything except for what is best for you my dear!" he cackled.
He approached me, and put one hand my shoulder, and the other around my throat.
I was choking, breathing becoming more and more difficult with every inhale.
"Just relax Clancy, good boy, don't make a sound."
His voice echoed through my brain, I knew it was coming from inside my head.
I awoke, and I knew what I had to do.
I was going to set this cave on fire.
The Banditos would burn.
I carefully grabbed the pile of dried leaves that lay around the floor and sticks and pulled them into the middle of the cavern, making sure not to wake the others.
I bit onto a stick, and it burst into flames.
I watched the flame burning, it was so warm, so unlike the neon glow of Dema, this was trench fire.
The warmth of the fire must have gotten trough to me because I snapped out of BlurryFaces trance.
What was I doing?
Why was I trying to kill my friends?
I could feel BlurryFace fighting to get back in, and I didn't know how long I could hold him off for.
I ran for it, taking the burning stick with me, I needed to get as far away from the others as possible.
I couldn't risk hurting them.
I ran down the side of the mountain, the night had cleared, and the sky looked beautiful, all the stars were bright and twinkling, splashed across the swirling ceiling.
You could never see the stars in Dema.
I tripped in the snow, tumbling down the hill until I stopped myself right in front of a frozen lake.
I morph into a human and stamp out the flame of the stick.
BlurryFace appeared in front of me.
"Oh Clancy... Look what you tried to do... You would really kill the only freinds you've got? You must be a cold soul."
"I'm not the one who tried to kill them! It was you!"
BlurryFace luaghed, "When does the line between me and you end my boy? I am you... And you are me."
"I'm not going to let you control me!"
BlurryFace luaghed again, I was a joke to him, "I can see what you see my dear... My darling Clancy, I know where you are, and as long as I know where you are...i know where your freinds are!"
"what do you mean?"
"Nicolas bourbaki knows where you are, and will always know where you are, because we can see trough your eyes."
I didn't know how to reply, visions of Nico finding and killing us flashed trough my mind.
I was almost acting as a vessel for Nico, that's what BlurryFace is, a way for him to keep an eye on me... And now he's trying to control what I do.
BlurryFace smiled at me, before whispering in my ear, "Why don't you just take yourself out of the equation?"
I knew what he meant... Was it really the only way?
I would rather die myself then be the person to kill Josh and the others.
I looked around, BlurryFace was gone, he must have hid back inside my head.
In the moments that followed I do not rembember weather it was me or him that was in control.
The lines were blurry.
I walked out onto the frozen ice, my heart racing with fear.
I pushed at it with my boot, it wasn't very sturdy.
I took a few heavy steps, and the ice collapsed from under me.
I fell into the cold water, I could feel my body going into shock.
Everything was pitch black, all I could feel was the cold swallowing me and dragging me deeper and deeper.
The world went quiet.

I could feel arms grabbing me, pulling me upwards.
We broke the surface, and I was pulled onto land, gasping desperately for every breath.
Josh cradled me in his arms, "Clancy your alive! Oh thank the stars! Just breath... Breath."
I sat up and hugged him tight.
"I'm sorry" I told him.
"sorry for what?"
"for everything..."
"Clancy what's going on with you... Why did you try to drown yourself?"
"I am vessel for Nico!"
"what!? How!?"
"He can see trough my eyes, and hear trough my ears... and he can talk to me and control me... He's been doing it ever since we got back from stealing the compass but he's getting better and better at it."
"Seizing somone who's still alive... I never herd the likes of it."
"I'm dangerous Josh."
Josh looked at me and hugged me again.
"Your not dangerous Clancy... Nico is."
I clung to him, I never wanted to let go.
Somthing about how broad he was, was comferting, and I buried my head in his shoulder and burst into tears.
"I'm scared Josh... I'm scared of myself, I'm scared I'll hurt you."
"everything will be alright Clancy, I won't let you do that, I've got you here, safe."
"I'm so glad we found eachother."
"before I met you Clancy... I felt a peice of my life was missing... Unanswered, now that void has been filled."
"I felt we were always connected somehow... Like the way we shared dreams."
Josh nodded, and he looked at me.
Somthing about the way he looked at me made my heart feel like it could seize up.
He leaned in closer, his breath was warm against my face.
I wish that moment could have lasted forever, but I felt a sharp pain in my head, it was BlurryFace, Nico was close.
"The bishops are coming" I told Josh.
"We need to get out of here then."
I handed Josh the compass.
"They'll expect me to have it" I tell him.
We run towards the cave to warn the others.
Nothing from the past hour felt real.

Stay with me.
No, you don't need to run.
Stay with me, my blood.
You don't need to run.