thearena | [closed] it was not your fault but mine

Who| Anna and Starkiller
What| Starkiller dies. Anna may have something to do with it.
Where| The third-floor railing, and the area below it.
When| End of Week 4.
Warnings/Notes| Character death.

It hadn't been easy, when Anna had first discovered that being 'adopted' by Thor meant that she'd be spending time around Starkiller, too. They hadn't exactly gotten off to a great start, after all, and with his nebulous connection to Hans, the man scared her quite a bit. But she's been willing to put that aside, so far, in favor of her own continued survival. Her talk with Dave had lit a fire under her butt to do her best to stay out of trouble, and so far she's been doing okay at doing just that.

In fact, in a way, she's even been attempting to be nice to Starkiller, undeterred by how absolutely rude and repulsive he'd acted toward her when they'd met. Really, there has to be a way to make him like her...right? So when she spots him at a distance, peering over the railing that overlooks the lower two levels of the mall, she can't resist making a detour in her sock-sliding to go see what he's up to.

"Hey!"

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More and more, Starkiller is finding it easier to distance himself from the group by patrolling often. He enjoys Thor's company, but ever since he picked up the stray Arendelle sister, he's found staying with the group as a whole a bit intolerable. So he likes to patrol, even if he doesn't have anything to patrol for, necessarily.

The reaction he has when he hears her voice is instantaneous; he cringes and his hand tightens on the crowbar in his hand. He longs to just turn around and bury the end of it in her head, but he knows Thor would disapprove mightily of that. So he just rolls his eyes as he turns around. The look on his face makes it obvious what he's thinking.

A very exasperated what.

If Anna's picked up on any of Starkiller's annoyance and latent aggression (which she certainly has), she doesn't show it. She's choosing to kill him with kindness, an expression which is about to become extremely ironic.

She takes a running start, still at a bit of a distance from him, and then begins to slide on stocking feet, gaining momentum easily on the glossy tile floor.

And it's not until she's almost on him that she realizes that she can't stop. And there's nothing to grab onto to steady herself. She lets out a yelp as she goes crashing right into Starkiller.

For the first time in his life, he trusts her- in the sense that he trusts she's competent enough to actually stop sliding when she needs to. So when she doesn't and crashes into him hard, he isn't prepared for it and it sends him stumbling back against the railing. For one split second, he's nothing but annoyed, until he can feel the railing behind him give under his weight.

The next few seconds are a blur, but he manages to cling hold onto the edge just barely with one arm, and his face scrunches up in pain, because it's the arm that Sollux had bitten before and he can feel the scabs cracking and breaking, so that fresh blood soaks into his shirt sleeve. Beyond that, it makes it painful to hang on. The pain mixes with the anger, because this is her fault and he's hanging on by just a little and it feels like he's going to fall at any moment.

This can't be how it ends. This really can't, he's so beyond angry that he can feel himself shaking, which makes it even harder to hold on. With his other hand, he tries to reach up and gain some leverage, but it's hard to do and he can feel himself slipping already.

For a split second, Anna laughs--only because she doesn't realize what's happening. But in the motion of Starkiller falling, she's thrown to the ground. Thankfully, because it would have been all too easy for her to be sent over the edge, too. So when she gathers her wits and realizes what she's done--unwittingly, Anna gasps.

"No! I'm so sorry," she wails, reaching for his hand and trying to no avail to pull him upward. "I didn't mean to!" She's not nearly strong enough to help him back up, especially with her good arm wounded, and then it hits her that she's likely killed him. There's no way he'll survive that fall.

She's sorry.

If only she knew how much that doesn't make any of this better, but the bitter look he gives her when she does is probably enough to get her an idea. But sorry isn't pulling him up, sorry isn't making it any less likely that this is it, he's going to die and it's all her fault. Her apology means nothing to him.

In fact, it just pisses him off. Starkiller doesn't even want her to try pulling him up, because it's pointless and she's only making it worse. He bares his teeth and shakes his head, trying to get her to stop, trying to get a better grip with his other hand-

But it's pointless, because at that moment his fingers slip completely and no matter how hard he tries, he's suddenly grasping at air. The last look she'll get from him is complete and utter hatred. A second later, he's hitting the ground below and dying on impact.

The look on his face, the way he bares his teeth at her, make her draw her hand back, confused and despairing. He's going to fall, she can tell, and he'll die and it's all her fault. "I'm so sorry," she repeats again, barely a whisper, and as he falls she can't help but watch, bitterly. He hates her; she should be relieved that he's laying crumpled on the ground below, motionless. She should be relieved that the boom of the cannon means that there's one less person in here trying to kill her.

But she's not, and that's confusing as hell for the poor princess. She's not a murderess, she never wanted to kill anyone.

She needs to find Thor.

[closed] it was not your fault but mine

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