She blinked, her sight momentarily going back to crystal clear as the tears that had been blurring her vision rolled down her cheeks. She stared at her blood-soaked claws until her eyes grew foggy again. The crimson stains really stood out against the shiny copper tone of her scales. Her heart was still pounding, her chest heaving, though she was not exhausted at all. The thrill, the rush, the absolute ruthlessness of the battle still surged through her in powerful waves. She blinked again.

Why am I crying?

In a sudden explosion of powerful emotion that she couldn't identify, much less control, she threw her head back and howled. Or roared. Or both. The sound of her own voice excited her as well as frightened her, and it was by far the most inhuman noise she had ever heard herself make. It was raw, naked, primal emotion.

She pulled in a quick, shaky breath while the scream still echoed around her and squeezed her eyes shut, but all that did was to make her augmented hearing even keener in picking up all the different layers of inhumanity, despair, exhilaration in the echoes of the howl. She fisted her hands against her chest, feeling the tips of her claws sink into the tough skin of her palms.

I killed them!

"You couldn't help it, Rima."

Her eyes flew open as she turned to face the voice, but even before she had seen the speaker's face, she had recognised the voice and identified the presence. It irked her a little that she had not felt it approach, but was, in all honesty, not very surprised. At the other end of the rooftop, balancing with not too much trouble, stood the one person that Rima felt she could handle right now. Eorann's tall, bright figure felt familiar and soothing, and for a moment a few of the muscles in her neck relaxed. Then a sudden, inexplicable wave of anger surged up through her, and she bared her fangs at the blond paladin in a fearsome growl almost as inhuman as the howl had been.

Unperturbed, Eorann slowly stepped a little closer, holding her hand out almost as if trying to greet a wary dog. Her voice dropped to a soothing murmur:

"It's okay, Rima. You couldn't help it."

"Shut UP!" The copper-haired girl growled, her claws, both hands and feet, digging into the thatch with little creaky noises. "I did it! I did it! I killed them!"

Eorann advanced yet a little further. "It was the dragon in you, Rima. You acted on rage and instinct and the dragon took over. You're not to blame. You couldn't help it."

Rima's snarl twisted into a wicked grin, yet she still felt the tears stream unabated down her face. Straightening up a little in her crouching position, she shook her head slowly, her blue-gray eyes mercilessly boring into Eorann's.

"No."

Eorann stopped, a confused and concerned little wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. Nothing gave her away, but Rima could tell that she wasn't too sure on how to handle this situation. Rima was behaving very strangely and she knew it, but then she felt... she felt... not like herself. At all. If she couldn't pin herself down right now, how could Eorann? The grin grew impossibly wider and her voice dropped to a quiet, distanced whisper.

"I did it. I killed them. Nobody told me to. Nobody forced me to. It was a choice I made, by my own heart, and I killed them. And I liked it." She felt as though she wanted to howl again, or laugh, or possibly cry, but she fought down the impulse with a little grimace and a quiet growl. "I still do."

The wrinkle between Eorann's eyes deepened into concerned contemplation, and the paladin took yet a step closer. "Rima..."

Rima's crouch dropped defensively, her muscles tensing as if in preparation of fight or flight, and Eorann stopped. "No," Rima hissed. "I did it! I regret nothing. Nothing! They were bad people, doing bad things, and the world is a better place without them! I am a warrior! I am a beast! I kill, and I am good at it!" Again her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "They never had a chance. I slaughtered them."

"Listen to me..."

"And they deserved it!" Rima roared, fiercely interrupting the bright paladin. "I did it," she added in a defensive growl.

Eorann gave her a very determined frown. "You are not a beast, Rima."

"I am!"

"It's the dragon in you...!"

"No! No, it's not! I am not two different people! I am not the human I once were, but I am not a dragon either! I am a hybrid, a magically crafted freak, but I am one! I do not have a 'human side' and a 'dragon side'. I was not taken over by some alien entity. I may have been blinded by rage, but the rage was mine, all mine!" Something was trembling inside of her, like a pillar that was slowly crumbling, and whatever powerful emotion it was that governed her right now, it grew stronger and fiercer in response. Rima felt like she wanted to howl again.

Eorann thought very intensively for a few moments - Rima could see it as well as feel it - and then, unexpectedly, relaxed. In a very gentle tone she berated Rima: "Yes, they were wicked people, but they should have been brought to justice. Punished and given a chance to repent."

"They wouldn't have!" Rima howled, surprised at the hysterical tremor in her voice. "Why do you always believe in people?! They won't repent! They won't give up their wicked ways! You can't save them from themselves! Humans are EVIL! They are MONSTERS! You know what they do to each other! You SAW it back there! And they think they're RIGHTEOUS! The only way to stop them is to DESTROY them!"

With a warm, gentle, sunny smile that made Rima's heart twist dangerously in her chest, Eorann dropped into a relaxed crouch, only a few feet away from her. "Wickedness is born from wickedness," she said quietly. "Hatred from hatred. Maybe I am wrong, maybe some people can't be helped, but at least, by helping them, offering them a chance to be something better, I am not perpetuating the circle of hatred and wickedness." Her smile changed into a very serious, very sad expression. "But sometimes, even I must kill to end the hatred. It's true. And even if I know it is the only way, and have no regrets, the mere fact that I am capable of doing so... frightens me."

Something snapped inside Rima. With a howl that was entirely human, she threw herself at the paladin and buried her face deep into the other's shoulder as tears streamed endlessly and uncontrollably from her eyes. Eorann was almost knocked back at this, but managed to steady herself, and wrapped her arms around the weeping, copper-skinned girl, rubbing her back with slow, gentle strokes.

"You are only a beast if you think you are, Rima," she whispered into the pointed ear. "You do have a heart. Don't ever forget that."