She noticed the shifting behind the rocks immediately, glancing over. Someone was trying to sneak up behind her. Whatever. She didn't care. Huckleberry was here, that's all that mattered. And it was time to die. If it was going to be by them, it didn't matter. It was all pointless.

She stared at her son with the eyes of the walking dead. She knew it. Of course. She didn't deserve to call him her son anymore. Not after hurting him so much. Her eyes traced the scar that stretched across his face. She'd done that, and all the other scars on him...she'd done those too, hadn't she? She was really and truly a monster. "I know," she rasped, her voice barely a whisper. "Nothing I ever say...or do...will ever change what I did to you and to everyone else. I should never have..."

The voice behind her surprised her. She thought they'd stay behind her, waiting, cutting off her escape. Her eyes widened with surprise at this new revelation. The respect in her voice, the arrogance, the entitlement...it was almost too much. And when Huckleberry confirmed it...that she wasn't going to die, she wasn't going to reunite with one of her only blood children left...

Crack!

Her gaze warped. The change was subtle but, suddenly, she wasn't the broken creature anymore but rather a monster of glass, cracks spidering across her psyche. "Whaaaat?" she hissed. "Who the hell are you? Who the hell do you think you are, giving orders to me? Rift? I thought I killed that piece of shit. He doesn't own me. I'll do whatever the fuck I want and if you take one step towards me, kitty, I'll rip you up stripe by stripe."

She whipped around towards Huckleberry, a smile slowly spreading through her expression. "Oh, Huckleberry, my precious child. How could I ever hurt you? I love you so much it hurts me to be apart from you! I'll protect you, don't worry, they won't kill you like they killed Elderberry! They won't imprison you like they did Baneberry! They won't ever hurt you like they hurt Jayberry! I'll kill everyone in the world to keep you safe, don't worry! I'll die again and again and I'll come back and keep you safe again! Please, Huckleberry. Please. Come back to me. Please. I'm begging you. Come back. Come back. I love you, COME BACK!" Her voice had raised to hysterics and she staggered forward, a crooked wing reaching forward to touch him, her son, her only son left. Her eyes were bulging and her whole body was shivering out of control.

She was reaching, stretching. And then the tiger was talking and that moment was over. Crack! She turned back around, eyes almost bulging out of her head and a loud hiss rising in her throat. The insolence, the presumption, the oh so annoying entitlement! Her claws flexed as the water appeared. She'd break this kitten in. She'd whet their appetite for real and true violence, if that's what she wanted. She'd see blood fly again, she'd taste it sweet on her tongue. Oh, it would be wonderful, glorious, like the time she and Blueberry took on a lion, a dragon, and all those other victims that fell beneath her claw...

She was looking back through the trees, a glance really. There was a terrible screech. A single point of darkness had opened. Pain blossomed in her backside as her whole tail was wrenched from her body. But she didn't care. She saw him. With a face like hers, ears like the one she loved. Pulled back, screeching. Blood was flying through the air and then pulled right back. Bones were crunching as he was smashed into nothing. Terror gleamed in his eyes as every nerve was ripped apart, crushed to dust. And then the scream was cut as the rest of his head was torn off and completely obliterated.

She was staring ahead with shock, the anger blown away like the flame of a candle. She weakened again, deflated, just as Huckleberry's arm came out to catch the spray. A whimper of pain came from the hybrid and it stabbed through her heart like a spike of quartz.

Everyone was hurting. She couldn't protect anyone. She couldn't save them. Not worthy. She wasn't worthy of them. She couldn't be a mother, she didn't deserve, ever, to call herself as such.

Without hesitation, she bolted. She ran. Away from Huckleberry, from that annoying tiger that'd broken her again, words rippling in her head. A speed she never knew she'd had before, aiming for the river. She'd jump in, perhaps, and escape that way as long as they didn't catch up. Where she was running, she didn't know, but she couldn't be near them.

*attempt to exit

Blackberry thought she was gone free. But then a weight came crashing down onto her, right onto her broken wings. She screeched and tumbled down, the heavy weight smashing her into the rocks, the teeth on her stomach clacking painfully against the hard ground. She struggled furiously, but she couldn't ever hope to contend with the strength of a tiger. She could scratch and tear at her paws, of course, but the thought of shedding blood right now....no, she couldn't. She couldn't do that!

"LET ME GO," she honked, futilely trying to free herself from Orlaith's grip. It occurred to her a moment later that she could very well die right here. Right in the tiger's grip. This tiger that she'd done no wrong to, that she'd never met before. Not to Kera or Rift or even Huckleberry...a random tiger.

And she was oddly okay with that.

It meant she would never have to deal with Jayberry's bullshit attempts at restarting the family. She wouldn't have to deal with the horrible weight of guilt on her back or the rising madness that threatened to sweep her away again. It meant she'd never have to suffer anymore.

It meant she'd see Blueberry again.

She suddenly went limp, her eyes glazing and staring out to nothing. She said nothing. She did nothing. If Orlaith let her go, she'd stand but not run. She'd go quietly because she didn't care anymore.