Lissa knew that she had to keep running, she couldn't stop, just in case everything went wrong, never stop moving. That's what Kate always told her. 

'You stop moving you're dead, if you keep running, you'll live longer.' 

And Lissa wanted to live, by Vladimir did she want to live. She wanted to explore the world, she wanted to be free, she wanted to live, so she kept running, even as she heard growling, yelling and sound of fighting, even if her heart begged her to turn around and fight alongside Kate.

Kate, on the other hand, never felt more alive, she moved and attacked as she could, dancing with the psi-hound as it attempted to kill her so that it could go after Lissa. And Kate loved every step of the dance.

It felt like she already knew it, the dance of life and death - and in a way she already did- but it made her feel alive, alight with purpose and need, alight with responsibility. She skillfully evaded each jaw snap that the animal made her way, and dealt her own damage by kicking it away.

She could deal with one psi-hound without issues, she trained herself to do so, even if she didn't like injuring animals. 

It didn't take long before both the psi-hound and the girl to draw blood from the other, as Kate was now supporting a bite-mark on her leg, just about the end of the hiking boot, that was already beginning to heal, and the psi-hound now could only use one eye as Kate had stabbed the other while trying to get away.

Still the deadly dance continues as both of them know that only one can leave with their life.

Lissa had started to divulge more information about the world that both girls belonged to, its history, its important locations, animals that usually had more loyalty to Moroi. So Kate had began to do her research, always having an excuse ready if they couldn't go somewhere, learning about the animals and their natural instincts.

And while psi-hounds were natural to the Moroi world, they still mostly functioned as wolves did, running in packs and having the same mannerisms, which was how and why Kate knew that she had to kill the psi-hound she was dancing with before their backup arrived.

The psi-hound, potentially annoyed with the fight that Kate was putting up, tilted its head up and began to let out a howl, one that Kate ended swiftly with hefty, forceful and quick stabs to the throat and thorax, effectively killing the psi-hound while leaving her covered in the animal's blood.

It didn't feel right taking the life of an animal, even if it was a literal case of life-or-death. But before Kate could apologize or say a prayer for the animal, she was thrown to the side with a jaw clamping down on her right shoulder painfully, breaking through thick clothing, skin, and around her shoulderblade, making her let out a pained and terrified scream.

She tried to break free, tried to fight back but the more she did, the more the new psi-hound bit down around her bone. Tears filled her eyes, tears that she was unable to wipe as she fought for her life. 

Kate refused to die, she refused to day each day she woke up. She was a fighter, and no matter the pain, no matter the injury she would fight for life.

Kate didn't know how long it took her to be able to free herself from the muzzle of the psi-hound, all she knew was that she was pressed against the stump of a tree with a non-funtional right arm, and feeling dizzier than she had when Lissa fed from her.

A weak curse fell from her lips, and her eyes struggled to keep open, there was no way that the beast hadn't nicked an artery during the time it had its hold on Kate. But Kate was stubborn, and she was a fighter, and perhaps that would one day be her downfall, but she refused to let it be then, right there at 16 at the hands of an animal that wanted her best friend dead.

So, despite the pain, despite the dizziness, despite not being able to use her right arm, Kate pushed herself onto her feet, clutching her bloody stake in her left hand as she stumbled slightly, her vision blurring.

She wasn't given a chance to fight for herself however as the ground beneath her feet began to shake, violently, which forced her onto her hands and knees as she fell.

Lissa stood not far from the scene, having decided to run back when her heart finally won over her heart, she was going to fight, she wasn't going to let death take another friend from her, another person that she cared deeply about.

She tried to focus only on the earth beneath her, beneath the psi-hound but due to her racing heart, she was unable to focus on only it. The wind kissed her skin coldly, colder with each passing second as she imagined the ground swallowing the psi-hound whole, and then it became hot, almost suffocating as she stared at the animal being swallowed by the ground beneath it, hearing the sicking crunch of breaking bones and the canine-like cries of pain.

But Lissa couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop, all the anger, all the fear, all the panic that she'd been feeling since the car crash came crushing down on her, consummed her and her thoughts, she let her emotions rule her and the result was death.

The blonde Moroi fell onto her knees exhausted, empty as if she'd run the marathon but even then she could feel death breathing down her neck, much in the same way that she had after the car crash. Slowly and almost in a daze, Lissa pushed herself up, forced herself to rush to Kate's side, all but jumping over the body of the the psi-hound that Kate had killed.

She instantly craddled Kate's head to her lap, tears that Lissa hadn't noticed had fallen from her eyes dropped down to Kate's dirty face.

"I'm okay." Kate insisted, smiling up at Lissa, trying to hide her pain from her face, from her eyes, she was good at doing so.

Lissa didn't believe her, not after she heard Kate's scream, not when Kate's blood was staining her hands. A need to save Kate filled her as she applied pressure on the wound, a need to keep Kate alive burned through her so much so that Lissa suddenly felt as she if she was pushed out of her body for a moment.

The air around them shifted once more, from battle filled to impactful and heavy, almost as if a darkness had surrounded them, and Lissa welcomed it, she welcomed the darkness, like she'd tried to do when she tried to save Rose. She allowed the darkness to fill her, to pass through her and into Kate.

Only for it to be met with resistance.

Lissa didn't let it deter her, she forced her racing heart to be still, forced herself to be calm, forced herself to be nothing but a conduit for the darkness despite the feeling of Kate's body growing heavier.

The resistance faltered, and the darkness began to seep into Kate, entering through the cracks of the resistance, creating cracks in itself where the resistance was able to seep in return. If omeone asked either of the girl to describe what they were feeling, they wouldn't be able to describe it to them, but the closest that they could put into words was that it felt like they were giving part of themselves and getting a part of the other in return.

And in a way that's what was happening, siddenly all that Lissa could feel burn through her was pain on her right shoulder and leg, and all that Kate could feel seeping into her bones was a sense of calmness.

And unbeknowns to either girl, who was focused on what they were feeling instead of what they were seeing, their eyes were glowing a bright shade of red, as was Lissa's hand that still rested on Kate's injured shoulder.

Author's note:

-> This is the end of part 0, the official start of the start and how their bond came to be. Hope you've enjoyed their journey until now. ❤️