Chapter Text
Dusk coughed, followed by a strained wheeze, struggling to get any air into her most likely bruised lungs. She panted hard, cobblestone pavement feeling cold against her non-feather-covered skin. Some guards had gotten the drop on her, way before she could even pull any of her usual stunts. Typically, she could’ve just flown away but every time she had attempted to do so, one of the three guards terrorizing her would slam or tackle her.
She looked upwards, struggling to even sit up as her eyes were bleary, straining to make out what was in front of her in the poor lighting of the alleyway.
“I…. I didn’t even… do anything….” She wheezed, eyes struggling to focus on the one guard looking down on her, metaphorically and literally. The guard scoffed, eyes filled with disdain as he lifted his leg, not kicking but rather shoving her back down onto the ground, in a rather harsh manner too.
The chaos harbinger wasn’t exactly living up to her name, in fact she was looking rather pathetic, struggling to breathe, failing at escaping, enough injuries to make Viridia scold her for an elf’s lifetime or two- at least her wings were okay, she just needed a slip up, a small window of time- a blunder- anything and she’d be flying back home.
“You really think we’re falling for that? There’s a reason the king hates your-” “He’s always hated my guts- it’s got nothing to do with what I-” That time the guard did kick her- knocking whatever air she’d gotten in right back out, prompting a painful coughing fit, bruised lungs and ribcage straining to breathe as the other two guards chuckled mockingly.
“Do not cut me off you vermin.” He hissed, his temper as short as his patience, if either of them even existed in the first place. “Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine-” The bird wheezed, propping herself up on her elbow, looking delirious as she slowly regained her breath.
“Tell you what-” Dusk strained, while lifting herself up, struggling to get her legs to lock under her. She cautiously displayed her hands in a placating manner, legs wobbly as she staggered while getting up. “What if- hear me out- this is gonna sound crazy-” she chuckled halfheartedly as she regained her footing, delirious look still on her face.
“What if, I told all of you to eat shit.”
Before the rage could even manifest on the mouthy guard’s face, he felt his tunic being grabbed- yanked actually- as he was thrown at one of his fellow guards.
Dusk took the opportunity to extend and stretch their wings- ignoring some of the minor pain from the bruising as she crouched, before launching herself upwards, talons scraping against the narrow walls, propelling herself higher- higher- freedom right there-
CRACK
Weirdly enough, the pain didn’t even register at first, yeah she felt something wrap around her right leg but it surprisingly didn’t hurt, the first unpleasant feeling being that of disorientation as she wasn’t aware of what was happening- all she knew was that somehow she was being pulled back down.
Oh right.
There were three guards, she had only taken care of two.
She forgot one.
The pain of her hitting the ground again registered faster than whatever pain she was supposed to be feeling in her leg- actually- it manifested in that very leg as she heard something snap- Fuck. Was that her bone? She kind of needed that. The burning pain and feeling of running blood finally registered in the leg afterwards, leaving her in agony.
Her mouth opened, air getting knocked out of her a second time as the rest of her made contact with the cold hard ground again. Her mouth was gaping, lungs briefly not working before she finally gasped, lungs taking in all the air they could get, desperately trying but it wasn’t helping-
Her leg was on fire.
Dusk forcefully turned her head, eyes landing on her right leg, taking in the sight- of a whip tied tightly around it, cutting into her skin and making her bleed- all the while it was bending the wrong fucking way.
She gasped again, the air barely making it past her throat before she gasped again, brain screaming at her to breathe as if it would fucking help.
Her hand was shaking- more than she ever remembered it doing, as she barely graced her injured her mess of a leg- immediately hissing and pulling it back as that was all it took to send a jolt of excruciating pain through her leg and upwards.
Breathe, breathe, it wasn’t helping but she couldn’t think of anything else while her mind was wailing in agony, as her beaten lungs tried to soothe them both with all it had to give, air.
Ironic, isn’t it? She wanted the air, the open sky, to feel the wind, to soar through the clouds and over the trees. She wanted to feel the air, but not like this.
She shuddered, feeling too cold and too hot simultaneously, the cobblestone cooling her injured leg while it was heating itself up, causing a very uncomfortable sensation she wasn’t all too fond of honestly.
“Fucking bird- you thought you could get away that easy-?”
Dusk yelped as the pain got worse- a painful tug as the forgotten guard yanked at her leg, whip in hand as it cut deeper.
She felt the honestly rare sensation of her stomach dropping- as she looked up and saw she was surrounded; the other two guards having recovered and were now twice if not thrice as agitated.
“These stupid avians are all the same-” Dusk hesitated to look towards the source of the beratement, her heart hammering in her throat. “Think they can just avoid responsibility because of those fancy fucking wings.” Unsurprisingly it was all coming from the mouthy guard.
She forced a chuckle, voice obviously wavering as she felt something foreign, she’d felt it before, but it was rare and she couldn’t quite place it as she felt her head swimming.
“Jealous?” She cracked a grin despite it all, because who was she if she didn’t look danger dead in the eyes and poked it with a stick.
Dusk might have actually seen the thread snap behind the guard’s eyes, but she wasn’t sure, her head hurt, a lot.
She flinched as she suddenly felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. “You like those wings so much huh?” The mouthy one spit, getting closer- much much closer than preferred-
The confusion hit first, might’ve even hit before she processed the feeling of hands on her left wing- but after that the foreign feeling hit her again, much harder this time-
“W-Wait- what’re you-”
“What’s that saying the falconry love to use again? “A downed bird is a dead bird”? Something like that right?” He grinned, crooked teeth on display as he glared into her wide eyes.
She winced- sudden pressure followed by pain becoming evident faster than she could react-
“Wait no-” her voice quivered- before forcing what strength she had left into it- desperately pleading “DON’T! PLEASE-”
Oh.
That’s what that feeling was.
Fear.
C R A C K-