[ WP ] `` I 'm going to live forever or die trying . ''

a/n: I have about 500 more words for this and it's looking to be longer, but I'm not quite done with the second part! um, the beginning really is n't related to this prompt, but I hope to add to this as time goes on, where the prompt will tie in more with the story I have in mind ( it got longer and longer the more I thought about it... ) but this is all I have at the moment. anyways, here I go! 
 
. 
 
 Yilaena awoke with a start. Her eyes widened as she stared at the girl crouching over her. The girl ’ s expression was contorted, her eyes screwed up into slits, her mouth twisted into a snarl. Their foreheads were touching. Yilaena thought distantly that the girl ’ s skin was warm, and her fingers gently came to wrap around the girl ’ s fist, tight around the hilt of a blade. 
 
 She slid her hand down to the knife, and then over the blade. The metal was cold, but it did not pierce her flesh, even when she gripped it. 
 
 Yilaena shifted her eyes away from the silver knife and then looked back up. The girl, Yilaena realized, was holding back tears. Her teeth were digging into her bottom lip so harshly that Yilaena could see the blood beading, and her eyes shimmered in the faint moonlight. A tear curled over her lower lashes and fell right against the plane of Yilaena ’ s right cheek, and a drop of blood followed it to land on her jaw. Tears and blood. 
 
 Yilaena had only ever known tears. She wondered what it would be like to bleed. 
 
 “ No, ” the girl choked out suddenly, the word forced out between ragged breaths. “ No. No. No. ” 
 
 Yilaena sat up slowly, and the girl shifted back, now resting on Yilaena ’ s thighs. Her knuckles were bone-white. Gently, Yilaena loosened the girl ’ s fingers and took her knife, setting it between them. 
 
 “ What is your name? ” 
 
 “ Cae, ” the girl breathed out. The tears and blood now made gentle, shining arcs against the curves of her face before falling to stain her fingers. 
 
 Yilaena paused and wiped her face, gently pushing her teeth off her lips. Her thumb brushed over the wound, and Cae stifled a sob. Yilaena thought that she could remember what they had said in the spirit world, that to have a human come to your home meant that they were a sacrifice. Many of her peers had wished for it, and Yilaena wondered if they knew it would have been like this. 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry, ” Yilaena whispered, and Cae ’ s sobs cut the silence apart afterward.
