One Word Prompts

Burn - Past Stains

"No! No. No, no, no!" she shouted, racing after the disappearing horses as fast as her legs could carry her.

"NO!" she screamed as she threw her bag to the ground behind her. She bent her head down, leaning forward full tilt. That she had no hope of catching Marik on their horses wasn't even a consideration.

Her foot caught a root as she charged after him, and she tumbled to the ground in a screaming mess. "No, no, no, no! NO!"

"AAGH!" Her fist slammed against the ground, her fire magic spewing with her outburst. She didn't get up. On her back she just kept pounding the ground.

"I'm gonna catch him," she promised.

"Calm down, Vee," Peter wheezed as he finally caught up. He leaned down to her, offering her his hand.

She slapped it away. "Calm down?"

She leapt to her feet, spinning to face the shorter man. "Are you frickin' serious, Peter? Marik just took off with the idol! THE IDOL! That was three months' worth of work, and you just let him run off with it."

"Vee, come on, it'll--"

"It'll what, Peter?" She leaned down into his face, her mouth a cruel snarl. "It'll what? Be okay? Marik. Just. Took. Everything. EVERYTHING! Our horses, our food, our bedding, our money. Oh, and what else? The idol! You know, the one we just spent the last three months -- count them Peter, three. As in a quarter of the year -- trying to get our hands on."

"Vee, --"

"Yes. Peter. Everything'll be just perfect." She spun away from him, pacing the path. "It'll be dark soon, you know. When the sun sets the monsters will be out in force again. Even with all our equipment, we hadn't intended to stay here over night. Even with Marik's wind magic to boost my fire, we didn't have a chance."

"We'll find a way out," Peter insisted.

"He left us to die, Peter."

She screamed into the sky again.

"We just risked everything to get it. Survived deadly traps and beat monsters to win it. Only for that rat to decide, what? That he should screw over the kingdom for a pouch or three of gold? That's--" She clenched her fist at her side a low growl escaping her lips.

She pivoted left, punching the tree with an explosion of rage and fire magic. "That's not fair!"

She pulled her fist out of the crater burned into the tree's bark, it was clenched no less tightly as it had been going in.

With long, slow steps, Peter walked up beside her.

"Vee." He put a hand on her shoulder.

"He took everything, Peter." She didn't shout this time, but the rage still burned in her tone. "Four years my partner. Four years, thick and thin. Four years, scamming every other pair of fools out there, and he does this to me."

She ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head in frustration. "Is this what I get for thinking that I could make a positive difference in this world for once? Is this what I get for thinking I could play for the good guys? Is this what I deserve, Peter?"

"Of course not, Vee," Peter said, pulling her a little closer to him.

She pushed him away, slinking to the ground. Hugging her knees, she said, "We're going to die here, you know that right, Peter?"

Peter shook his head. "We don't know that."

He dropped her bag next to her and plopped to the ground as well.

They sat there in silence, both painfully aware of the setting sun, but neither acting on it.

"Is this my punishment?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"Punishment?" Peter asked.

"I've lived my whole life as a thief and a crook. There wasn't a vault Marik and I hadn't broken into, not a noble man whose carriage we hadn't robbed. I was born into that kind of life, raised in it."

"But you didn't choose it."

"I reveled in it," she said, a perverted grin on her face. "Standing over the rich? Taking what I could, when I could, where I could? Just because I could? You've only ever fought for light and justice, Peter. You have no idea the depth of pleasure can be taken from fighting, stealing, killing just to exert your own strength in this world."

"Vee, you don't really feel like --"

"I don't think that? Are you really trying to dictate what I feel?" She laughed, holding her legs tighter. "You don't know the first thing about me, my lord. You don't know the first thing about life on the road or the street or how good power feels to someone who grew up without any."

"Just like," she sighed, shaking her head. "Just like how I had no idea what it meant to fight for the kingdom or the innocent. Just like how I had no idea there could be such sweet contentment in helping the weak."

Her hand went to the shell pendant at her neck. The one a child she had saved since joining Peter's quest to save the kingdom had given her. She closed her eyes, tracing the child's etching with her finger.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "But it was hubris to think I could live like this. You might have saved me from the gallows, but the world isn't going to just let me try and live in the light like this. Not while I'm so stained in my sins."

"Vee, you aren't that woman anymore."

"That doesn't change the past."

"But neither does dying here."

She put a hand to her forehead. He didn't get it. She was no better than Marik. She was just someone who brought pain and misery on others. Her dying here, it wasn't about improving the world or the past. She had no right to think any action she took could have any kind of beneficial effect. No, her dying would prevent further damage. Would keep others safe from her influence. Her dying...

"It's what I deserve."

"Damn it, Evetta Vincia!" Peter stood up, his arms crossed over his chest. Looking down at her, he wished that she could see what he could.

He wished she could see the strong woman before him. Wished she could see the growing light in her heart, the unyielding justice she now carried in her, the unwavering compassion. How he wished he could make her see. Could she doubt her worth if she knew what he saw? Or would she disregard it, claim this was nothing in light of her past crimes? How could she miss the good she could do for this world, he wondered? How could she not see it far outweighed the damage done in her past?

"I don't know what's running through your head right now," he said, "But this isn't your fault. You're here right now because you're not Marik. Because you've seen the light. Because you have changed. So, come on," he offered his hand to her again. "Get up. Together we can survive this. We'll stop Marik, get back the idol, save the kingdom. Together we'll burn away those stains of the past. Come on."

She shook her head. She wasn't worth it. She didn't deserve it.

But if Peter thought it was really possible. If it really only could be done together...

She took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet.

...Who was she to argue?