I'm not leading you astray

Briar was ready to just fight and get this over with so she could stop struggling against her own thoughts and emotions - but of course Mortis wouldn't just make this easy on them. She gaped at her brother with a pleading look when he declared they would have to discuss strategy for five minutes, saying how she had fought him before so she would know how they should take him on. He wanted her to talk with Artorias? Fighting beside him felt difficult enough, but trying to talk and discuss things? She watched Mortis walk off while Artorias walked off in another direction, the two males leaving her in the middle of the ring for a moment. She swallowed hard around a lump in her throat and looked down at the thin bangle that hung around her ankle, her ears folding back against her head. She had taken it off after she forced him away, running away from any traces of him while she went crazy with her training, but when she returned from the Battlefield the night before she had broken down and put it back on, feeling like it was a reminder of what she was working toward.

Now that she could feel the furry radiating from Artorias the bracelet felt heavy on her leg and seeing it felt like a dagger was stabbing her in her chest. Drawing in a shaky breath she forced herself to turn toward Artorias and walk across the short distance where he was standing with his back to her, pointedly looking away from her, his voice hard and cold. Five minutes. She had five minutes. Her jaw tensed as she searched for words - about the fight they were supposed to prepare for or otherwise - and struggled to think of a single thing. Northing felt right. Nothing was going to make it right. She considered just sticking to the fight as she stood just behind his shoulder, watching the profile of his face while he refused to look at her, but she couldn't.

"Artorias," she said quietly, trying to keep the pained waver from her voice and ultimately failing. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean what I said. I was hurt and upset and... I shouldn't have said those things." Her gaze dropped to the sand in front of her feet, her jaw tensing as she struggled against herself, fighting to keep her emotions from running rampant, desperately trying to keep the pieces of herself together. The fight was long forgotten at this point, her eyes shifting to her bracelet again, trying to focus on how the light glinted off of the amber stones instead of how her heart was hammering with panic against her chest.

She still wasn't sure she deserved him. She still didn't feel like wolf that could be his equal. But she wanted to be. She wanted to be so fucking badly and she missed him like her lungs missed air. "I wanted better for you than me. I pushed you away because I wanted you to be with someone that could lead with you and support you because I... I..." she added, her voice breaking and her eyes blinking away frustrated tears. "But not being with you hurts so much. Please, can we just...? Is there any way...?" She wanted to forget it ever happened. She wanted to have a second chance. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. She wanted him to hold her again. A deep, painful fear formed in her heart, a fear that she might never get to have that chance. "Can I have another chance?" She didn't even ask for forgiveness, only a chance to earn it, for him to not ignore her like this.

"Briar Fatalis"