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Botan hissed through gritted and bloodied teeth, heavy and shallow breathing, vision swimming and head light. She really should"ve known better. She really should have.
Now without the need to look down she knew she was bleeding out, prompting her to press harder against the open wound, trying and failing to stop the blood. The stab was her worse wound but definitely wasn"t the only one, torn and dirty clothes could the story of how hard she had fought if the scars covering her body weren"t enough.
Trying to move hurt, but she was buried in debris, she had fallen from a high height and she needed help, fast. Whoever said cat always landed on their feet was terribly wrong, that or she was a very bad cat, well she wasn"t exactly a cat, maybe that was the reason.
She would have chuckled but the sound barely came out and with her ending up coughing, battered ribs taking more damage.
Digging painfully through the debris until she was able to make an opening, black claws broken or bleeding, she looked up to the sky, it was dark and there was no moon, which only enightened the natural darknedd of the night, which meant she had definitely passed out after the falling, not surprising but worrisome altogether.
Her brain went back to the altercate, feeling guilty about what had transversed.
They had gotten into a gang fight, some old acquitences from Botan, they... Polka....
Right, Polka had accompanied her to Gangtown, where was she? Has she gotten caught by them again? Did she went to get help? Was she fine?
Worriness bubbled up inside and a rush of adrenaline made her not only crawl out of her hole but stand upright and try to walk, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
Her walk was slowly and painful, breath hitching now and then and feeling the diziness come back.
This was bad, but if Polka hadn"t come to her aid it only meant she could be in trouble, Polka would never abandon anyone. Swallowing the pain she continue walking, the alley felt so long and sooner than later she succumbed to her wounds.
She fell, hitting her head hard as one of her hands was still trying to contain the stab wound, the other too tired to even react to the fall, dust floating around her in the dark and for the first time in a while the lioness could feel tears prickle her eyes, tears of impotence.
She couldn"t help but blame herself, Polka and Towa had been wanting to come visit Gangtown as none of them had been there before and if she was honest, Botan wanted to show the place where she had grown too. It was a nice place to tourist and the surrounding were truly nice places to visit, Ganstown was like the black sheep of the family.
It was bad timing that Towa had plans for the same week Botan has requested as some break time, as such only Polka would go with her with the promise of taking both of them the next time.
That is, if there"s next time.
Botan tried hard to get up but failed miserably, falling again. She whined.
They had arrived in the afternoon and Botan had decided to show some of her favourite stores and places around, having in all meaning of the word, a date.
And it was such a good date, Polka had enjoyed everything, especially the stories and reminiscences Botan would talk of, childhood times, messing with friends and altercates with her family, Botan talked about everything and nothing and Polka listened intently as the sun slowly began to set.
It wasn"t dark yet when Botan decided to take Polka to her family home, it was were they would be staying for the week and the lioness was anxiously waiting to present her to her family, her mother and sister especifically.
She wouldn"t present her as her girlfriend of course. Let future Botan the problem of explaining polyrelationships to her family.
Though she had a hunch her sister would find out anywyas, the disadvantages of being the youngest....
Except that future Botan was currently dying in a dark alley. Would they be okay if she died? Would they cry?
She berated herself, of course they would cry and mourn.
Was she worth it? Of someone who died in a gang quarrel?Just like another gangster....
They were strong, everyone in Hololive was strong and they would be okay, they had each other.
Towa would be devastated, but she would heal, she had an eternity for it, might even find another lover, life was funny like that, especially for an immortal being.
And Polka would be okay too, she knew she never let go of that small crush on Lamy.
Polka...
She had to find her. Make sure she was fine.
She frowned and bit her lip, heaving her options. On one hand she was alone, Polka had either ran away or was in trouble or worse, hurt, possibly in a similar situation to hers. She did told the fennec to run while she made time, but had that been really enough?
She needed to get help and that wasn"t a choice, on the other hand she was bleeding out, head light again and black dots swimming on her vision, worse she couldn"t even get up or breath properly, chest hurting constantly.
She couldn"t get help like this and god knows how long would it be before someone found her, it could be Polka, maybe she went to get help, it could be her sister or a friend, it could be anyone, even the rival gang...
She hissed, blood splattering on the ground and a metallic taste spread through her tongue. It had been a mistake, and it was costing her greatly.
She shouldn"t have brought Polka to Gangtown, she shouldn"t have stayed out until late, she shouldn"t have joined a gang as small as it was and she shouldn"t have brought up the idea of hiding on the roofs, she shouldn"t have...
Botan could feel the tears start to roll down her face, too tired to control her cry. Thinking of what should have happened wasn"t going to help, painfully and slowly she calmed herself, feeling the darkness slip closer and closer.
She couldn"t go out and get help, but she could still call someone.
Using one trembling hand soaked in blood she started to draw on the ground, it was dirty, shaky and a poor work overall but it will have to do.
Towa would definitely not be happy about it but this was her only option.
With her blood she drew what could only be guessed as a summoning circle, and with effort she put both of her hand down on it.
Her head was so heavy now and was barely conscious but with her last efforts she muttered some words.
If she was really going to die at least she would get help for Polka, wherever she was.
"Oi! What"s the deal?!" She hear her pretty much snarl, still not aware of the situation.
"I told you I was busy! Must be something very Important to call me with blood of all things! I-"
There was a sharp gasp.
She smiled as she heard Towas familiar voice, distantly noting the change of tone from annoyed to panicked and scared, vaguely aware of Towa rushing to her side, probably asking questions she wouldn"t be able to answer, hand roaming around her body with would definitely hurt had she not been numb from the lack of blood.
The lioness started to feel the darkness take a hold of her.
She passed out.