//------------------------------//
// B2-0 The Last 
// Story: Renegade 
// by Slendy 
//------------------------------//

The end of the world, how could one describe that? The feelings and surroundings before the end are seemingly lifeless. An absence of life itself, the wind was all that remained before it would become the dominant sound, no more cries or screams of war, the color that filled the world felt empty and drained. For W, it was all she could ask for.

Her feet kicked through uprooted soil and gravel, not a single building remained intact, ruins and rubble scarred the world, the land marred with fires and corpses. The ponies that despised her lay in broken, charred heaps of flesh. The mercenary could still hear them screaming for the hope that would never arrive, desperately clinging to loved ones and children as their worlds turned dark and numb. Worst of all was the stench in the air, rot, and decay turned the clean air acrid and still.

W was alone in this world, no Merchant, no ponies, nothing to bother or harm her. So why did she search the kingdom she let burn, her satisfaction at the sight of the Royal Guard unable to suppress the endless masses of Infected like her? In due time her feet found that answer. Her blood was like ice, locking her muscles and causing her grip on a burnt grenade launcher to slip, hearing it clatter to the road.

This world could rot, she wanted nothing to do with it so once she arrived at the next town she cut her ties entirely. Leaving Astra in Sora's care, they weren't a part of her problems so they had no reason to follow a madwoman on some hopeless vendetta. She made the right call, didn't she? I mean, the two of them were smart, they could handle themselves without some deranged Sarkaz dragging them along, right? Right?

Two swords lay shattered by her feet, bloody and smeared with ashes. By her sunken eyes was Sora, complexion ghostly pale compared to when she last crossed eyes with him. He was crushed under a fallen wall, his legs utterly smashed to pieces, his blood had dried under him, face staring for eternity into the sky. He wasn't breathing and his eyes lost that aqua glow she missed.

"Sora... hey..." Kneeling down she tried to invoke some reply but nothing came. She shoved harder and all that did was tilt his head away from her. W didn't realize it at first but tears were crawling down her face, moving his shoulder roughly. "Hey! W-wake up, you idiot! Wake up!" Nothing... he... wasn't here anymore. "Sora?" Her voice croaked, looking around frantically. "Astra! Astra!?!"

Not even a stir in the rubble, only... her breath hitched so sharply she thought someone slit her throat. There wasn't much to investigate, not far from Sora's body was... the tattered cloth familiar to W's own scarf, the same cursed object that bound her to this body. It was torn and caked in blood, nothing but blood staining the wall of a building and pathway, and a few clumps of charcoal fur. 

"No... no-no-no-no-no..." She started to hyperventilate. "Why... they did nothing wrong... they... they!" Her tears kept flooding, hysterical hiccups coughing up from her throat. Falling to her knees again by Sora she gently adjusted his head, closing his eyes so that he could rest against her lap, biting her lip while her forehead rested against his colder skin as her sobbing grew louder until she screamed for all of Equestria to hear if any were still alive. 

There was no one. W got what she wanted. She was alone with only the remains of the two that trusted her most of all.





"Hah!" W jolted upright from her sleep, a freezing sweat shivering across her skin as she panted heavily. Swiveling around with her launcher instinctively held in her hand she scanned her surroundings. She was in a forest, the one near the hot spring. To her heartfelt relief, the raven-haired idiot and Astra were sleeping soundly. "...what did I...?" Looking down at her hand she could see herself trembling. "Would that really happen? Will I... kill them?"

Licking her dry lips she leaned back into her makeshift pillow, tugging the sheet over her shivering form, curling up so tight her tail wrapped around her arms. Her horrific nightmare kept her awake, staring at the lingering flames in the campfire, afraid that they'll go out if she blinked. They were safe, they were alive and well and that was all that mattered.

"I won't leave you guys... I promise." It wasn't just out of pity, rather, she couldn't bear the idea of being alone anymore.

To Be Continued...