Wolf Fang Ayame sat down looking at her claws. They hadn’t returned to human hands ever since she saw that sight in the woods not too long ago. She gave shallow and shallow breaths as she spoke up. She began speaking in a low growling voice. 

“For all the posturing, for all the tut tutting. For all the lectures, what did any of you do when the chips were down? You were self absorbed in your own little fantasies. Self absorbed in your own little obsessions. That you couldn’t see the world around you. And for that a life was taken, a life put in effigy like some sick joke.” 

She looked over to the shallow grave of the wolf unmarked a senseless slaughter. No purpose. She slammed her fist into the snowy ground. After she was met with silence. 

“I know none of you will answer, it’s just a necessary cost of war. Some of you will all claim. And to an extent I can understand that, but what I will never be able to tolerate is the cost of someone’s idleness. At least when I get thrown around and choose my path. I do it with a proud booming voice. I don’t lower myself under the dirt for fear of the repercussions and declare myself as some hero. I set an example.”

She pauses and flops down in the snow crossing her hands over her knees. “And that’s what sucks… Arcadia, you sent me a letter not too long ago. It was a warning about my conduct. The fact of the matter is as much as I hate to say it. You’re not far off from the truth. You warned me that I would chase that taste of copper until it consumed me.”

She took a deep breath. “I’m not blind to that fact. I’m not blind to the fact that I rush into things. That being said, I ask you what am I supposed to do? Moving around is what has kept me from being a chained being. I reach out for help but I only hear the whispers of the darkness in response. And thus it has become wise to not trust” 

She got up and patted herself off. “It is my actions and demeanor that has stopped me from being in the position of Mighty Mighty, or beholden to so many like Red. If you have another way I would be very interested to hear it. I know you will be there in the middle of the ring to speak to me. You’ve done it twice before” 

She said “As for everyone else in that match. Take your own paths, just don’t stand on my own. If that means hiding and dealing in so many ways to make sure you escape with your lives, so be it. A wolf has to run free and hunt and for some that’s short but for others… There’s only one way forward. That’s my way. ”