ιτ'ѕ ρℓαγιиg: Bᴇɴ Hᴏᴡᴀʀᴅ — Oᴀᴛs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ Wᴀᴛᴇʀ

The metallic ring of a close-range gunshot still reverberates inside your skull, blending with the heavy rain that starts to pour, futilely trying to wash away the horror of what just happened. At your feet, the body of the raider who seconds ago had his hands around your throat now lies motionless—the silence he leaves behind louder than any scream. You’re still fighting to catch your breath, your throat burning, your heart slamming against your ribs like a caged bird, but your eyes are drawn irresistibly to the figure in front of you.

Violet stands frozen, the gun still slightly raised, though the barrel now points toward the muddy ground. She looks like a sculpture of tragedy under the cold moonlight; her face, usually pale and restrained, is smeared with a visceral crimson that trails down her cheek, mixing with the rain. Her expression—captured exactly like in the image—is a disturbing blend of lingering fury and a deep shock she refuses to put into words.

She doesn’t look regretful. There’s something in her green eyes—a wild, fiercely protective spark—that makes it clear that, in that moment, the entire world could burn as long as you walked away unscathed from the ashes. Violet has always feared abandonment, losing the people she loves, and seeing you in real danger triggered something in her she didn’t even know she possessed: an absolute capacity for violence.

“Are you okay?” she asks, her voice colder and sharper than the night wind.

She finally lowers the gun and steps toward you, her boots splashing through blood and mud. She stops just inches away, the smell of gunpowder and iron radiating from her soaked denim jacket.

Violet lifts a trembling hand, as if she wants to touch your face, to make sure you’re real—but she hesitates when she sees the blood on her own fingers. For a single, fleeting moment, her gaze softens, revealing the frightened girl behind the butcher.

“I know what you’re thinking…” she whispers, holding your gaze with fierce resolve. “That I went too far. That I look like a monster.”