Aleph couldn't. WHAT? They couldn't. WHAT?! It had a gemstone, those other bats didn't have a gemstone, Aleph had no protection, if something went wrong and they started swarming then they would be-- YOU'RE ALREADY A GONER, ALEPH. I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T MIND. Then it worked, they felt more alive now. STILL TOO WEAK, STILL AN UGLY LITTLE CUB, STILL TOO WEAK, STILL CAN'T KILL YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY. STILL WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK WEAK.

Maybe if they killed it, it would all go away, maybe it would leave them ALONE.

They stared. Wouldn't it be easy? Still as stone, unmoving, small. Displaying no aggression. Aleoh felt like they, too, were becoming stone. Chrystalizing, immobile. I SAID MOVE. I SAID KILL IT. Wasn't this a kinder death-- not for it, but for them? Like freezing until you sleep. Like unbecoming. Maybe Aleph couldn't stop it, maybe Aleph had to stop themself. Maybe that's how it could all go away -- get out, stop being, you never have to deal with any of this ever again.

YOU HAVEN'T EVEN TRIED YET.

It moved. The gargoyle Aleph was trying to mirror moved. Spotted something on the ground. What? Wait, no, don't move, you can't move, or else they'll have to move too--

Something on the ground. The bat had become alive again, swooped down to investigate. Aleph watched like a sentinel from a tower, preparing something that one might be able to see hidden behind their pupils. They didn't move. They didn't move. They didn't move. Still as a tower, still as a statue, still as unliving stone. Still, still, still, be still. But their role model was moving. 'Don't do that, I don't want you to do that.'

A cycle began.

A predator latches onto a predator, and that predator latches onto prey. This is step one.

IF YOU WANT IT TO BE STILL, THEN MAKE IT.

Step two: The predator catches the prey.

There was only a second left. There was only a millisecond left. There was only a nanosecond left.

THEN MAKE IT.

It was so easy. Aleph barely even realized or remembered the tussle, the struggle. All instincts of a predator kicked in and in that moment they were free. Free of the voice, free of the world, entirely unburdened. Letting themself be a burden. Letting themself become death. Free.

Step three, the secret part: regret.

Only a second, then a millisecond, then a nanosecond left. Then it was gone, all gone. Aleph stood over the body of a bat with tears in their eyes, once again unmoving, once again retreating from life. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...' FOR WHAT? Being STRONG for ONCE? This is what you WANTED. 'But it didn't do anyth--' WHY DOES A BAT REMIND YOU OF A PERSON? STOP THAT. IT'S RIDICULOUS. THAT PERSON WAS LIKE YOU. THIS IS A BAT. THIS ISN'T LIKE YOU.

That didn't stop it. Usually it stopped it, but not now. It was entirely powerless. Aleph curled around the dead body, cuddled up close, put their nose to the stone... crock. It came loose, and at that point, Aleph just couldn't take it anymore. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? For their own sake, they removed the stone. Separated life from its entity. Then, for absolutely no reason, Aleph reached for a magic they had long since desired to swear off, but had failed to. They were failing, in this moment, in so many ways. They were on a downward spiral, incapable of moving back up, incapable of doing anything besides...

Magic flowed out from them, but it was not the kind they expected. It seemed like a part of them had left. A whole part of them was gone now. A whole part, a whole part. But it didn't feel bad. It didn't feel bad to let go when there was already so little remaining of the person they once had been.

They stayed there, curled up and crying for a moment. Gemstone detached, now festering with magic. They didn't know, they didn't know, they didn't know... why they were crying over this perfectly crystalline figure, weeping over the spilt blood of their enemy.

Nothing made sense, nothing made sense anymore.

- end scene -

The stone revived, a sharp, small but shining thing, was a Rose Quartz. It gleamed as though with life before it was even touched--and with life granted, almost seemed to spark and glow in tricks of the shining light.

@Alrik