The Birth of Madness

She retrieved her scabbard from the hall, and went into her bedroom. She wiped the rapier clean on the bedspread – already ruined beyond repair – before sheathing it and putting it all back on her hip. That was step one.

Next, she went to the closet and got her gray backpack. Looking it over, it would probably hold everything she wanted to keep. She took off her jacket and, carefully folding it so only the bloodless inner side would touch the backpack walls, placed it inside. Next, she grabbed some of her near identical gray shirts and pants, and put them in as well. Finally, she took from the closet her older black jacket, which was a little tighter but still fit well enough. She slipped it on, grateful that the familiar weight would be staying with her even now.

Leaving from the bedroom she went to the kitchen, stepping over the two bodies in the hallway. Unfortunately, she'd been putting off shopping, so she didn't have much of anything. A few cans of corn were all she had. Why had she even bought these? Hopefully they were edible without warming. She put them into her pack, nestled among the clothes so they wouldn't roll around and make noise.

Finally, the step she'd been dreading. She went over to the bathroom and looked at herself.

Despite the relatively normal look she could force onto most of her face, her eyes still looked wide, her pupil now being uncharacteristically large. Still, there was little she could do about it, and instead worked on getting as much blood off as possible. The blood on the face was easy enough, as was the bit on her hands, but her hair proved distressingly stubborn in keeping the few dots of blood that had landed across it. Knowing time was too limited for this, she just tried to ruffle her hair around slightly so it was less obvious.

As her last step, she looked through the stabbed hole in the cloth to see the wound in her arm, only to be met with a pleasant surprise: though it was red and angry, it was barely bleeding. She contemplated that for a moment, before deciding it could wait.

With that, she was done. Not only with her preparations, but, it seemed, with her life in Jipon. She realized she wouldn't miss it, and that almost made her sad.

Nothing for it, though. She opened her bedroom window and boosted herself out of the house, before making her way down the alleyways at a quick pace. Just as she suspected, she now no longer made noise when her feet impacted the dirt, no matter how hard she landed – though the boots constantly shaking around her feet wasn't the most pleasant. She'd really need to get an insole.

As she began moving in earnest, between houses she saw some police moving towards her home at a brisk run. She began moving faster. If she wasn't quick, they'd probably manage to lock down the city, and then she'd be stuck. And now that she had begun running away, getting caught wasn't an option.

The early hour didn't help disguise her, since the city was just waking up, and most people were eating breakfast. Meaning the streets were largely empty except for the occasional gaggle of late-night clubbers who had accidentally clubbed too long and too hard.

She ran with purpose. Statistically, it was likely that wherever Indigo were located was to the north, as there's more space in that direction. With that in mind, she ran south, hoping if there were any immediate attempts to get her they'd assume she was heading north instead. Unless, she reflected, if they actually were to the south. Then she'd be going the way they'd probably expect, right into any trap they might lay. She wished again that she'd paid more attention to geography. Though all of this supposed that they'd assume she would run towards them. If they assumed otherwise, them being to the south would be more convenient for her. She briefly considered going west instead, straight inland, but that was the biggest gate with the most eyes. And to go north now would lead her back past her home, which seemed unwise. She continued south.

She burst out onto a main road, dodging around a few people and went back into an alleyway.

Of course, she mused, maybe they were more likely to be south. Unless they had settled in the Wastes or the Empire, which the letter made sound unlikely. They could be in Holimon, though that also seemed unlikely. Was that even north? Time for this later, she scolded herself, then realized she was about to run into a wall. She skidded to a pause, and went to turn around, when a group of barely dressed people walked of the side-alleys to this alley. She considered pushing through them, but they all had drawn weapons – many knives, some clubs. And on all of their clothes, somewhere, was a blue triangle.

Ashi grimaced to herself. Just her luck, it looked like she'd run into the Triblue's headquarters. Or, at least, where they liked to hang out. Doing a quick headcount, it looked like there were twenty-one of them.

Of course, she reasoned, there was no way they would know who she was, so as long as she was courteous they should let her go.

“Hey, I recognize you,” one near the back chimed, “you're the one who did in Jeremy and Jerome!”

Her tail swished in annoyance. Of course. Where had that one even been? They must have been watching from outside. Maybe they were on the lookout for if any police came by.

“So,” a lanky one with muscles that did not contain themselves to the tanktop he wore thumped the metal pipe he was holding into his other hand a few times, “you decided to mess with the Triblues.”

“Really, they were going to mess up the store,” Ashi tried. Considering what she'd already been through, she could probably fight her way past a gaggle of poorly armed and armored thugs, but almost certainly not without getting a few cuts or bruises, and some blood on her. And she didn't have time to wash it off now.

The lanky man, presumably their leader, or at least their spokesman, snorted. “I think you need to be put in your place.” And they all began advancing.

Ashi did not back up, unwilling to corner herself more than she already was. It seemed that all the gang members don't know when to not engage either. She drew her rapier, and pointed it towards their leader. “If you get too close, you die first.”

They paused, eyeing the blade, and Ashi gave them a wide smile.

A tall one standing near the leader spoke up, “I don't know, boss, she seems pretty dangerous. Look at her.”

The lanky man snorted again. “A short lady like that?” But he did not resume his advance.

Ashi took a step forward.

They all reflexively took a step back. Then they seemed to realize what they had done, and stepped forward again. Ashi's smile faded slightly at this. Progress was being made, but not fast enough.

The lanky man seemed conflicted. “If the other gangs hear we backed down from a short lady, we'll never be taken seriously again,” he murmured to himself.

“If you don't back down, you won't be able to hear them make fun of you,” Ashi returned, her patience running thin. The alleyway to the left only had one person between her and it, but she had no way of knowing whether it was a dead end or not. And if it was, they wouldn't hesitate to actually try and all swarm her, for revenge if nothing else.

This wasn't going to go anywhere, she realized with growing frustration. In all likelihood, they'd decide to attack her anyway, and even if they didn't, she couldn't wait for them to come to that decision by themselves.

Her eyes returned to the likely dead-end alleyway. One of the buildings was one story, the roof a gentle arch; her way out, perhaps. If she could make the jump.

It wasn't the best plan, but it's what she had.

“Yeah, how tough can you be?” the lanky leader seemed to come to a decision. “Just take your beating and you'll leave alive.”

There was no more time to deliberation. Ashi charged forward. The one in her way seemed surprised, and took a step back, readying her dagger, but the rapier once again had too great a range superiority and they had no chance to defend themselves from the foible piercing their leg. They fell to the ground and she kept going, turning into the rather narrow alleyway. Unfortunately, as she had expected, it dead-ended after only about thirty feet.

“After her!” she heard them all roar and begin to stampede. She tossed her rapier up onto the roof. No turning back.

She leapt up onto the left wall, a foot finding just enough purchase on it for her knee to flex and her to fly back across the gap, and her hands found their grip on the tiling. She found more upper-body strength than she realized she had, and pulled herself fully onto the roof.

She heard a maniacal laugh escape her lips, disbelieving her continued success, as she retrieved her rapier. Composing herself slightly, she looked back over the edge, grinning down at them. “I'd apologize for your friends, but really, they had it coming.”

Their leader's grip on his weapon of choice was so tight his hand was red, as he glared up at her. “You'll regret this.”

“Maybe,” she pulled back from the edge, “but I doubt it.”

However, she realized, looking at her weapon, she might regret bloodying it. She couldn't sheathe it like this, it would make a mess. And the gang members probably wouldn't offer her any rags.

Speaking of the gang members, she heard grunting from the alleyway, and then a face appeared over the edge of the rooftop. And a person attached to it, climbing up. They were lifting each other. Fantastic.

The rooftop across from them was only a few feet taller than this one, so Ashi moved over one building, trying to find how next to avoid having to kill these incredibly stubborn gang members. Though really, since her sword was already bloody... she shook the thought off. And, to emphasize the point, she quickly reached into her backpack, and found one of her shirts. Gripping near the bottom hem, she ripped a strip off, and quickly wiped off the blade before discarding the rag and sheathing the sword. There, no more temptation.

There were three of them on the roof now, and despite their bravery in climbing up here, they seemed appropriately unwilling to approach more than a few steps until more of their allies rose as well.

Good, she decided. While they hesitated, she could put distance between them. Reequipping the backpack, she moved to the next rooftop, which was, at least, not directly north. She was painfully aware of the time slipping away. Every minute wasted here was potentially the last minute she had between being able to get through the gates or not. Next rooftop. The gang members followed, albeit slowly; five of them now. Six. Next rooftop. Eight. They were getting bolder. Was it their numbers, or her continued retreat, that bolstered their confidence? Next rooftop. Their stragglers were arriving, and Ashi found herself deciding that this game of roof tag wasn't going to get them anywhere. It was also too conspicuous, and she was too close to the wall now for that. Between two of the buildings, she could swear she could see the portcullis of the gate, still open. It couldn't be any more than a couple thousand feet away at best. So, with one final look back at the gang members, looking like they were ready to charge, she jumped off the second-story rooftop. Or third-story, she registered dimly as she fell.

She landed on her feet, though she instantly regretted it, as pain shot up through them, and she fell to her knees. She took a moment, before realizing she didn't have that luxury and forced herself back to her feet. So her legs weren't broken, she noted. Though it was somewhat unsteadily she resumed making her way. Hearing some cries of astonishment, she turned her head to see the gang members looked down at her, clearly shocked. Fair enough, she decided, since she herself also felt surprised to be alive. Her legs still begged to differ on the surviving part, however. Even if nothing was broken, something hadn't liked the force of the impact. Even though she didn't like it, she realized that she needed to take a moment to let her calves recover; leaning against a wall, she slid to the ground. She looked up at the gang members, who seemed stuck in place, staring at her. Their leader was among them.

“How are you able to walk?” he yelled down at her, a somewhat silly sounding question now that she was sitting. Though, he had a point, now that she could look she could see that it was indeed a three-story building she had jumped off. How reckless of her, she reflected with a grin. Though it had succeeded in her aim, she was no longer being actively pursued; but she wasn't progressing either. But if she walked up to the gate looking like her legs were recovering from a huge jump, they might pause her there. And that would be even worse.

She really was tired. Despite all the adrenaline she was still feeling, the rush of stabbing the one in her way, the response to hitting the pavement, she still hadn't had any rest for eight or nine hours. Maybe even ten. This must've been a new record for her. And now that she was no longer on her aching feet, her body felt the weight of that absence. Still, she ground her teeth and forced her eyes to stay open. After everything, she couldn't be defeated by being tired.

In her contemplation, she hadn't noticed the gang disappear, but when she looked back up to them, they were no longer on the rooftop. As nice as it would be if they had been so impressed by her ability to survive a fall to give up, they were likely just looping around the buildings. Which meant she had to resume moving as well.

Fortunately, as she stood back up, the pain was greatly lessened. Despite the urgency, she took a moment to look down at her legs. The pants still showed signs of hitting the ground, there was even a cut into the fabric. But her legs felt almost nothing, just a rapidly fading dull throb. She always had recovered from things quickly, she thought. Though, just like her arm, it seemed to be happened even more quickly today.

Whatever the reason, normal or abnormal, she took advantage to resume running. In fact, she realized, they probably thought she was largely incapable of movement. They'd be stuck searching near that area, trying to find where she'd hidden. She'd escaped.

She felt the urge to laugh again bubble up inside her, but covered her mouth and pushed it down. She made it to a main street, and at the end of it she could see a gate. Entering out into the crowd, she followed the gentle stream of people up that direction, but it slowly dried out as she was the only one heading out of this gate right now. She put on the best smile she could and nodded to the officer at the gate. He nodded back, and she walked past. She hadn't been too late.

She walked out the other side of the wall without even acknowledging the outside guards. She was a free woman, she realized, feeling the breeze caress her face, and the sun warm her hair.

As she kept walking away, she realized for safety she'd need to walk for a while before being able to rest.

The breeze ceased, and the sun threw fire into her eyes.