Get up, Get up, Get up [aw]

[I L Y I C H]

Five days after black and red collide.
The motion sickness past, I’ll be the first to stand.
Behind that weathered door, I thought it would be safest

Silence was a cage that caught up the unobservant. No noise sounded in any ear, no single movement caught in his eyes. This was the end. This was it. The finally time, and my fangs almost ached in utter pleasure. This was the end of every horrid dream, and every bloody nightmare. My mind ran in furious circles seeing nothing but the tired white man and his maroon eyes. Babylon's precious brother. The ring master in Beloveds death. Tonight he would not die like the others. He would pray and beg and moan under my seething hatred until he was far worse then dead. The end of his life would come as slowly and as painstakingly as possible.

I would not allow anything else.

This was my path and now in the very end I could not diverge from it. My pack, the family I had thought to come to love was in shambles. I had no idea where I stood in relation to my little birds heart. Every ounce of anxiety and utter loathing in my body was focused on that man, that childish vicious hateful man. I would murder him tonight. I would kill him, and finally after so very long in my well of shadows be able to claw into the skin of vengeance. Finally it would be over. Finally everything could stop, and I could rest in peace.

But what did that mean now?

At one time I had planned to simply die. By suicide or any other means I had yet to decide. I was not a big enough coward to try to tell myself I had enough worth to live. But now? What happened now? After this ended. My mind curled around the questions forcing them back in a haze of utter hatred.

I would not taint this with trivial things.

His form was so perfect, pale and almost handsome. I couldn't see that now, everything about him was ugly. Everything tinted ever so slightly red. If I am a monster then he is the creator. He placed the pulsing hatred in my heart. Every ounce of pain in me was because of him, be it childish cruelty or cold blooded murder. And it was my turn. It was my god damn turn to make him shudder and sob in agony. He had no woman that he loved enough to make this as painful as it could be, he was far too narcissistic for that.

So I would simply destroy him.

He was facing away from me. A thing in any other victim would have been perfect. Hamond must watch me as I gored him. My paws scooted purposefully a bit harshly against the ground. He turned, so painfully slowly, eyes curious and annoyed. My eyes widened ever so slightly, pupils constricting. Every muscle in my body stiffened, and air slid out of my lungs in one low near inaudible sigh and in a furious lash of utter power I was on him.

No sound came, I had crushed his lungs flat with the square blow. He hit the ground hard enough for my weight to crack a rib, and he felt it good and well. Air rushed from between the rivulets in his teeth as he stared up at me in utter confusion. A bully sense the day he was born the sight of a monster flying at him was one he had never seen, and for now had no reason to fear. But he could see me now, and as awareness lit in his eyes fear did too. My jaws almost cracked with the smile that pulled across my face.

I was going to hell for this and God? I didn't give a shit.

"Hello, Hamond" I struck in lightening formation, as habit, teeth sinking into his back as he rolled in an attempt to move. The small crack that greeted my timed blow rewarded me greatly. His hind legs fell useless to the dirt, and the remained of his body slammed down after them in confusion. Pain garbled his speech, pain from the upper side of the bite wound.

"Back- legs, what?" I slid away from the pathetic creature, eyes narrowing. Whats wrong darling, have you finally understood? I've been after you the entire time, Hamond. My steps drew me in an ever tightening circle around the monster, around the true monster. He drove me to this. He made this possible. He was the maker of monsters, and he should know that those people generally died. I turned my head, watching slowly circling closer ever closer. Hamond lifted his body, blood welling and drooling down useless hind legs. His eyes followed me, terror there now. Yes he'd heard of all the others. The ones who had died. But they all died quickly. The loners had said so.

"You, Hamond. You are going to find out what it felt like." My voice was ice, dead and cold. Fierce hatred reigned. His mouth went slack. He knew exactly what I spoke of, I could see it flickering in his eyes. My eyes promised murder. He drug himself furiously away from me, a line of red following his shifty slow progress. I paused, sickly enjoying watching him try to escape. I had won, that much was evident. His back was broken just before his hips, the jagged wound revealed the crushed vertebrae. "She was taken apart piece by piece." I felt the need to remind him, as I stood still watching him in his terrified bid for a nonexistent freedom.

Moving after him now, I dropped my skull, brushing my snout up his spine with absolute gentleness. Blue met maroon, as his eyes rolled their whites to look away from me. Look away little boy look away. With one sudden furious lash I ripped his cheek down to the bone.

__________________________________________________________

Hamond's long ranged shrieks and childish screams had died. So had he, as a matter of fact. And as I sat watching him, like a mother watching a sick child, I wondered if I should have made it last longer. The sick smile remained on my face. Blood spattered my entire form. Inky drops slid from my lips, pooling amongst the leaf litter and dead grass. Piercing blue eyes watched as the last drools of blood welled and stopped in his horrific wounds. I thought idly if I should have tried to keep him silent.

My eyes turned back to counting the injuries, to seeing as deep into his body as I could. His head twisted almost all the way around, the injury hadn't killed him. His neck compressed by the position his neck slowly ever so slowly snapped apart. His back were ribbons of white and ruby fur. Muscle and skin lay in tatters behind him, mutilated tears ran along him from ears to tail. My claws were wicked sharp and utterly unrelenting under his bellows of agony.

Both ears had been removed, neatly almost surgically, as had his tail. One of his legs was as good as amputated, though that was anything but neat. Forcing him to watch I'd ravaged the limbs he could no longer feel. Blood had poured form him and in every whimper I took pleasure. He got what he deserved under my merciless fangs. Every ounce of blood had pooled form his body, and sadly that was what ultimately killed him.

God damn blood loss.

His body lay, broken tiny and helpless against the stark dead landscape. And in a sudden moment of clarity in the haze of blood lust and utter victory I realized something I had been thinking in the back of my mind the entire time. "And now, Paradox" I whispered, speaking to myself. "Can you go through with your little suicide plan? No, I can't. Can't do it." My body jerked, spasm turning it almost all the way around. I couldn't do it. There was nothing left, absolutely nothing. A single blinding light glowed in my blackness. "Ayita... Ayita. What did I do, Ayita?" wicked child that I was, now that my game was finished I broke down and cried for my only comfort.

A sob broke through, my eyes filling with tears locked on Hamond. And utter fury broke into the ravaging confusion. I launched myself at his tattered body in fury. Teeth sinking into cold unyielding flesh I tugged and kicked his body as I cried out. "Wake up dammit! Wake up! Don't die yet, Why are you dead! Im not finished! Get up!" My body shook as I jerked and shoved his body about his death clearing. What happened now. "I don't want to die you, you mother fucker! Wake up!" In my mind his death had always coincided with mine. Always. And now here he lay, cold as a stone, and my mind told me it was my turn to die.

Terror woke in every cell in my body. "I dont want to"

[/size]

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Ayita
It takes a sick person to kill, a sicker one to watch and do nothing.

My flaming paws lay motionless beneath my crouched position in the brambles. Golden eyes caught every morbid act and nose sniffing every cell of blood. Somewhere in the distant section of my former self, I was fearful and repulsed. The mutilation of the dog was something I had onced frowned upon and avoided. But here I sat, taking pleasure in knowing that the deed was almost done. The world would begin to spin again. Paradox would have his vengence and it can finally just be me and him.

I was a sick, selfish monster.

The white canine was dead, his blood having escaped and thus ending his own bloodpaved existance. But Paradox stared and then attacked again, my name being spoken, as well as him trying to wake the dead murderer. It took more strength than I had expected to convince myself to come slithering from my hiding place. In a crevice deep in my brain cavity, I had some logic left. Paradox did call my name, but he had the taste of dog blood on his lips. It could be a dangerous situations. More logic piled one against such conclusions, though. One simple point that over-rode the others; I trusted him.

"All these years, and it is finally ended." My voice was gentle as I crept from my cover and approached my blood soaked man. "Pity he was so weak as to die so quick." It was not in my being to be as cruel as to enjoy a man's suffering, but it was in my nature to put one above all others. Paradox was suffering now, and I would end his pain at the cost of a thousand lives. Coming closer, I gave a reasurring smile, one eye still on the corpse only a few feet away. After all the enemy had been through, somehow I was still uneasy in his presence. He was a killer. The bad guy always seems to come back to life to kill again. "You did good, Paradox. He constructed a merciless kill against Beloved." I hid any sort of pain that brought me. I knew my Paradox still loved the dead one, though I was grateful he had some feelings left over to give me to nibble on--even if they were to be scraps, I'd take them.

I nudged my emerald head against his own blood soaked skull, the crimson life making home on my pelt now. I did so not only to comfort him, though it was my intent for that to be the reasoning he fell back upon, but also to wipe some of the evidence onto my own fur. If the pack punished Paradox for the felony, I would step forward and claim to have assisted. Whatever punishment went to Paradox, must also be handed to me.

[I L Y I C H]

ooc:// i'm the moron that hits delete instead of modify DI sorry thank god this was saved on my computer >> Go paradox folder -wooooo-



My head lashed sideways, terror and fury igniting to protect myself from the monster Skoll had sent to grant the wish I no longer held dear. Snarl dying, I stood in silence and stared at the scarlet beauty that for some reason or another was presented as some sick award for the end of my days of vengeance. A single step in my direction was all it took. Overpowering self hatred took hold of me and I stepped back, head dropping.

"I've forgotten why It began in the first place." my voice hissed and groaned out from between blood clogged teeth. "I-I don't remember why I wanted to kill them all so much, Ayita... I don't remember why I wanted to die so badly" Why had I wanted to die so badly? I wanted to be with my dear Beloved again, but now that connection was gone. Any semblance of love I'd had left for the once all important figure had died. I was simply a defeated shell of a man. "I can't even remember her name" The words almost strangled me.

In the beginning this had been for her, for the woman who held no place any longer. In the end it was all me, all pleasure and furious hatred for creatures that had caused me pain. It was all one huge selfish plight to end the lives of monsters who had tormented me from the day I was born. My body shuddered, and I dropped lower as she came closer. Don't touch me, baby. I'm disgusting, can't you see that? I'm a disgusting man and I don't deserve anything. But I was still selfish enough to want it. I shook my head as she spoke the next line.

"Do you truly agree with those words, Ayita?" I refused to use that pet name. It was too symbolic. It was too attaching. My body shivered. I needed to know, despite her having answered a similar question before. Why had she come into my life when she should have run far far away. My poor beautiful little bird, I would clip her wings by accident some day, or in a horrible selfish purposeful manor. She smiled, but one view point remained on the bloody corpse of a man that had been closer to my heart then beloved for years. I flinched under her words. Like rockets they pounded into the already bloody crevasses of a heart forced to see light once again.

Turning my eyes from their shameful stare towards the ground I looked at her. I refused to fight to stay composed, I simply shattered. Falling into little pieces all around the bloody clearing. I opened my heart completely and utterly to her. "I fought so long, so very long for this day, and I can't take any joy in it. I did this for me, Ayita. My excuses for a dead woman I can't dredge into my mind any longer have been void for so very long." I shook my head, blatant confusion in my eyes as I forced them away from her. I couldn't look at her wile I made this confession, my shame was far too great. I was no better then any other man made monster.

I had no excuses for my heartless murder, for the cannibalism. I had repeated words engraved in my mind by countless speeches and delusions. I had existed as my mind said I should, as my mind said my heart felt. But I had never taken into consideration the fact that, under everything, my heart had felt nothing for a very long time. Oh yes I sobbed over my darlings death. I died a little with her, but that piece that died had been the man that loved her. Because I was weak. I was too weak to live without her, so I blanked it all out. Everything that had existed between us... it no longer existed at all.

Her touch was unexpected. My mind said she would run away, my heart cried for her to stay, I myself as a whole was fighting to pick which one was best for her. I could not be selfish about this, this was her life. I would not dismantle it. I would not harm it. Not my poor little bird. I wouldn't be able to shop her out of my mind so completely as that young foolish love of so long ago. It was too different. My love for Devoid had been one of devotion and awe more then anything else. Loyalty to a woman that had protected me from bullies and harshness my entire childhood. Compared to this scarlet angle who had drug me away from the damned pit Beloved was nothing more then a childhood crush.

A crush I had been willing to use as ammunition.

I could not help it, the way I curved into her touch. I longed to hide myself away in her body. I wanted to be her heart. I wanted to be a thing that would die with her if ever such a thing happened. My larger, blood stained and bruised body hid itself against hers. Compressing and shrinking I pressed tightly against her, snout burred in the thick fur around her throat. A remained, no matter how horrible, that I could never hurt her, even with life blood spattered across my form, I touch my snout to the single strongest vein in her body and hid there.

Hid where I could hear ever beat of a heart I wanted to cling to so very badly.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

OOC//: Should they be discovered, their felony exposed? Lucifer could punish them by banning them...then when Bidziil returns and Carska leaves with her group, she has enough sympathy and understanding to accept them back into her new pack?

I watched my boy fall, my own heart dropping at the sight. A man of brute strength should not shatter over murder, should he? As words came spilling from his mouth, I pushed closer, only half listening to the sounds. I needed to comfort him, to stop this journey of pain he had embarked on. I needed to be his black winged angel.

He claimed he did this for himself, not for Beloved. Those were the first words to enter my focus. A strange sense of comfort came with them, though I dare not let it overcome me. No matter what he spoke, I knew Beloved was there in his heart. I knew Beloved was his oxygen. She had to be, because I sure could not be. I was simply his little bird, his toy and comforter. And I was fine with that. He was my everything, and I was willing to just be his something.

"Do you truly agree with those words, Ayita?"

It took a long while for those words to barge in with no invitation. I had not wanted to hear them, for I knew I could not lie when Paradox questioned. I had convinced myself of my own cruelty, twisted my mind to try and surcome to his. But the truth was, the honest truth that I had tried to hide, I was a good girl. I hated the pain Paradox inflicted on his victims, even if they did deserve it. No. It was worse than that. I did not believe anyone deserved murder. It was not in my nature to encourage the eye for and eye belief. I had played along, knowing it would eventually be over. But now I was faced with a choice; lie and say I did agree, which was hard because I dislike the idea of lying to the face of my saint. Or I could be honest, at the risk Paradox would fall further into self-hate, having gone against my wishes.

I decided to risk it, when I recalled my own hurt when I had discovered Paradox's first lie to me. It had been his name, and I had tore myself apart in pain at the discovery. I could not make another feel that sense of distrust, or the shame I had had mixed with it. I had hated that he lied to me, but had hated it more that I had not presented myself as a trustworthy individual.

"Paradox," I cooed it gently, letting the man hide himself in my fur, "I am not a killer, but I do not believe you are either. Just because someone kills, it does not mean they are a killer. You're above that, my love. If there is a Skoll above, he has forgiven you. You are mortal. You can sin, but that does not make you a sinner." I pushed myself closer, wanting to be one with my most precious man.

OOC//: I am braindead; that is why I sort of want them to be found by Lucy or one of his loyals

[I L Y I C H]

"It dose however make you a traitor"

The man did not respond, he remained pressed into his whore's pretty little breast. My lip curled. "Killing by itself would be a wonderful addition to my pack, but this" I sighed, eyes pulling boredom over the tattered corpse. I didn't care for the man, didn't care that he was dead. I had no problem with the killing, even if it was a supposedly sinful act. This was just a chance for political power.

Two less players in my game of chess.

"Little girl why do you stand beside such a monster like you do? Come back to the proper side and nothing will be fall your pretty little skull" Ah these words brought up the mans head, twisted it around to stare. Emotion was void. Nothing was there beside a singular want for murder. Oh yes this was a monster. He would do so much to protect this omega, and yet he sobbed into her like a child come home from brutal war.

Men don't cry. Folami don't cry. It was wrong and sick, that show of adultery towards our race. Towards our masters! My golden eyes narrowed in anger. The red ruff along my spine lifted and twitched with my anger and triumph. Two less chess pieces for my dear darling Carska to push about. There would be no protecting that damn queen now!

"I'm afraid there is no forgiveness here, darlings." I did not need these two to fill up my pack. They could both be easily destroyed, if not now then at some other date. Besides Hati had informed me that I had apparently sired some new spawn of bastards. How utterly grand. But at least it meant no ill will towards myself due to lack of pack members.

Besides that white pelted woman was a whore, who knew the true father of those pups!

Paradox pulled back, not reacting to the scarlet woman's words. His head hung, eyes hidden for a moment before he looked up. "Touch her and Ill dismantle you." I smiled at the threat. Bold even in your state of defeat boy?

"You would kill me and leave yourself injured with her to hide from my loyals?" he twitched, ice blue eyes narrowing. Apparently he hadn't seen how chummy Babylon alone was being with his new alpha. He stepped forward, one huge black paw rested in front of his woman, the bulk of his body stretching around her in some disturbing embrace. "Move, little boy!" My teeth snapped together, ears and tail arching high in dominance. his own teeth bared themselves.

"Speaking to your elders so... its a wonder no one's disposed of you yet." It was a thread, but a weak and tired one. The boy sulked back, curling his now standing body about Ayita. Cold eyes watched me, waiting to see what I would pull. What a smart boy he was, and what a sad loss for his queen. He had been such a loyal knight.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Alaois

Slithering in behind my master, I eyed both opposers with a guarded challenge. That scarlet woman was not a fighter, thus she would be an easy defeat if this turned to a fight. However, I had never known her to be violent by any means--quite the opposite, actually-- so I did not taste battle in the air. I had simply tagged along out of boredom, being a lover of watching fools be brought forward. Paradox was a fool for going against the laws, and Ayita was a fool for thinking she could hide it. But now they were exposed, and they would pay for the disloyalties. I would watch in utter pleasure not because I particularly hated these two, but simply because it was entertainment.

The scarlet letter came slithering from behind her pimp, not willing to watch him fall for her security. Paradox had barked out threats, but the girl, Ayita, was obviously not intimidated by this new ruler. Well, her eyes showed a wild fear, but was not about to bow before him like he would want her too. Damn, and I had thought she was weak and would abandon her boy to save her own hide. I did not care, but it was a shock to me.

"You can skin me alive, imposter, and neither Paradox or I will ever bow before you. Our leader is Alphess Carska. I spit on you and your whore."

The words caught me off guard and I was quick for growl my disapproval. My heart was not in the threat, though, for I had a new respect for this girl. Under the gun she had shown some real courage. That respect washed down the drain, however, as she made her panic rush into her gaze and she looked to the side at Paradox as if to ask if what she said had been reasonable and correct. The pathetic girl would grovel if Paradox told her too, and she would fight if he demanded. She had become someone's slave.

The puppy within me wanted to get down and beg my leader for permission to rip apart this mongrel. I wanted to get low and chant, "Can I kill her boss? Please, can I kill her?" but I kept my stance and my head, standing tall and merely baring my teeth. I would wait for an order, and remain silent until such a time.

[I L Y I C H]

Paradox--

Well it would seem any semblance of normality I had claimed in the last few months had gone down in a single crash of fighter jets. My body stood in harsh outline beside that of Ayita, and though I did not wish her to move from the shelter of my flesh I could not help but growl in approval. How bold she was when her mind set itself to a task. How beautiful she was in her power, and when she looked at me in panic I nodded my skull to her.

My wonderful little bird.

The man did not find that amusing in the least. His own growl was the note of fury, and the rising red tide of hate. My body slumped forward, bloody chest extended to press against Ayita's body. "Darling, please come here where I can guard against their monstrosities... At my side please" I smiled softly at her, unable to hide or guard against it. So brave so bold. So very unlike the others, the folami held up by their pretty little spider web strings.

I wanted her at my side, as my equal. As the proud ruler of my heart. I wanted her in a position were we could protect each other, strive to guard each other. It was the only way I could think to show my love in such a moment. Tail lifting I gave the black man a look of guarded annoyance. My threats fell low and I smiled over them.

Lucifer's golden eyes narrowed in hate.

"How about this then" there was cruelty in the tone,and arrogance. He held his scepter above our heads and smiled cruelly as he slashed it down. "Alaois, my boy! You are my sole witness. These two, betrayers. They have until sundown to get out of my sight. Out of my lands." His eyes narrowed, gleaming with power and the arrogance it takes to wield it uncaringly. My body had frozen, I could feel the sentence hanging over my head, its razor edge ready to fall.

"If any of the pack see these bastards on my land again they are under orders to kill them. In fact let it be known they may openly hunt them"


ooc:// fail whale is heavily disappointed with this post.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Ayita

The boy stepped forward, his stagnant wings creating an ominous shadow upon his face. The arrogant snare he presented us was such that it took all my will to keep from being the blood-thirsty Folami the world wanted me to be--I was so close to attacking the goddess Evangeline's evil brother. There was nothing about him that was pleasant, and it made it plainly clear at this moment, all I had to do was observe. Pure pleasure was dancing around him, our misfortune being his fortune. Him and I had never been enemies, but we sure had never been friends. And now the puppet was trying to taunt me with his gaze. The teasings of my pairs and pleads of my elders came spinning back.

"Hey, Ayita, watch this!" That line meant an innocent kitten's blood was about to be shed.

"Please conform, Ayita! Life would be so much safer for you if you would just learn to accept who you are." I had, no matter what the elders believed. I accepted myself at birth. I was no murderer, and that was all I would ever be.

"B-b-banned?" I did not regret my actions, but this was far from the turn-out I had ever expected. I had played in the middle of the highway so long that I had forgotten what a dangerous game I was in. Beatings were all I had ever considered. Maybe even death. But to be banned? I felt my eyes fall away from the hate they had been giving both Lucifer and Alaois. It wasn't shame that replaced it. No, it was fear, which quickly turned to a hate beyond measure. If I was so replaceable as to be banned, then this was not a family I wanted to be a part of.

Looking back up, I realized Alaois was about to speak in his foul tongue.

"Oh dear, poor little scarlet dancer has been kicked from her family. From what I hear, that is the worst of your nightmares, aye?" He spoke the words, but then bit his tongue as he caught my eyes.

"The worst of my nightmares? Oh, gracious no, little tiger. The worst of my nightmares are beyond that which you could ever imagine. The best of my dreams, though, are far more reachable. Ah, your blood will soon play with the soil, old friend. That is my promise to you." I turned then, starting to break away from what I had called home. The only thing I had ever known.

Wait, that is a lie. I wasn't leaving everything I knew and loved. I had been neglected and tossed aside, but allowed my one strand of sanity. "Paradox, I apologize for having tempted you into what I had once called a family." I didn't stop, nor glance over my shoulder. My mind was set on climbing my way from this Hell I had buryed myself into.

"It is my pleasure to share this declaration, Master Lucifer." The boy had been unphased, by no surprise to me. I heard the crunch of debrie as he carelessly took towards the camp. Lucifer could not be killed, Paradox and I more than enough muscle to end the sad little life. But I couldn't turn to take part. I couldn't.

If I stopped and faced my dear Paradox, he would see that I was crying.

[I L Y I C H]

Paradox--

I stared at the man, eyes a spot of hateful want. Those ironic little wings, they made my skin crawl. I wanted to tear them away, see just how connected they were to his scrawny being. My teeth clipped, together catching my tongue on the way down. Blood sweet and run through with iron slipped across the salmon muscle.

My own blood for once.

My eyes flitted to my little bird, to my darling Ayita. Pain for her rose up like gorge in my throat. I was never surprised by the cruelty or the anger in the world. She was. She had never known anything besides her slowly warming family. I had never known it at all. And here we were flung into the wilds with only one another and the death certificate stapled to our backs.

I could feel my face contort under his words. Teeth wet under the slick of saliva blood and flesh, I did nothing to simplify the terrible way my face twisted. Hate, murder, fury. I cared not for me, I had never cared much for me. I was a selfless obsessive beast. My Ayita held me completely in her paws, and I was putty under her emotions.

No words came from me, that would be wrong of me. I would not interrupt her brave exchange. This was her moment to take total control of her life. I would not ruin it with my acid like tones. Heart starting to burn under the flames, I huffed an lug full of heated air into the open sky.

"Don't apologize for their wrongs, darling, little bird." I turned my head after her, ignoring the lustful way the larger red maned man looked at my throat. My ears twitched back towards the sound of low anger from Lucifer. Turning back 'round I gave the man a long look. "Goodbye Lucy" The words chimed out of my mouth in an abrupt monotone. The shock on his face was unprecedented. I grinned, large cruel and intensely amused.

Slipping silently after my precious girl, I smiled against the harsh grating sound of my own insistent vile laughter. The man, dubbed Lucy turned with a huff, refusing to respond to my statement. Oh the throws of pride.

I had never been found by the original, good, pack. This Lucifer and his cronies would never find us. They would never kill us. I knew for a fact that none of Carska's loyals would hurt Ayita. I was another matter, but that did not mean shit at the moment. "Ayita, our dear Alphess has not abandoned us nor has our family.Mon amour..." My mouth froze, half out of shock half out of utter embarrassment. had I truly just let that slip from me? i the blood coated murderer. In french no less! My tail twitched, perhaps asserting that half of me hoped she understood the language.

"...Mon amour, we will see this thing fall to the dust and drown in its own tide, I swear it." My body shuddered, hurrying to catch up to her, to walk at her side. My eyes caught the tears, diamonds glistening on her cheeks, bu I said nothing. To try and stop them would be a horrid selfish act. Let her cry. Let my poor darling cry out her pain and sorrows. My own eyes closed as I walked beside her.

"Permettez à vos chagrins piscine où ils peuvent échapper" It was an old phrase, a thing my family said often, and my mother drew to her heart like a warm fluttering bird. "Let your sorrows pool where they may slip away" I repeated it in English, my voice low and hazy, it took on an almost hymn lit to it.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Ayita

I could not find it in me to smirk at the pet name my man gave the beast. A degrading term, feminine. And as both master and servant disapeared, I felt Paradox come to my side, matching my pace and uttering words of comfort. So the comforter had to now be comforted? No, I could not have this be so! My job was to reasure Paradox, not have him work his magic to bring me peace of mind. I would bottle it in...

I couldn't.

My pace slowing, I threw myself against the muscle of his shoulder. The sound that came from his lip was not of english origin, but it sounded beautiful and I found peace in its vibrations. He translated the longer of the two foreign statements and I wanted to thank him. But I could not. My family. Oh, my family. What could Carska do when she found out what Paradox and I have done? Maybe I did not care for the girl in my earlier age, but she was a changed woman. She was my motherer now. And I had failed her.

"Oh Paradox, Carska will never wish to see our--my face ever again. Her recent kindness has won over my heart and our bond has formed with tightly woven steel. Now I have broken that bond. I have left dear Carska with the tattered remains of our friendship. Finally someone of the pack appreciates me, and I destroy it." My wails were like a frightened pup as I burrowed further into his shoulder fur, working up to take refuge in the crevice of his throat. The feeling of his pulse against my face warmed me, but it could not stop the tears.

It came suddenly, that over-whelming sense of peace. The realization hit me that, despite all that was happening, I had no real reason to mourn. My life was not about the pack as it once had been. The pack was broken, I could not rely on their strength anymore. I had not been able to since Bidziil was taken. Since that time there had been only one thing keeping me alive; Paradox. And I still had him.

The tears ceased and I pulled away from my comforter with a smile. The orbs that had just been releasing their sorrow thick waterfalls were not full of an uncontained joy, brought on by a sudden epiphony. "Oh, Paradox, Paradox, Paradox! The strings have been cut!" I bounced away with a playful aura, dancing as my name suggests. "Oh Paradox, I can't believe I could not see, this is where we need to be. I could not give my life to you when I had my obligations to my famil--pack. Now that has been taken from me and I am left with a single focus; you, my friend." I pushed close once more, nudging into his neck. This time was not from sorrow, but simple affection. "And I couldn't be happier."

[I L Y I C H]

Paradox-

I caught her, holding her with the twist of my neck as I slowed our movement to a halt. I let her cry, as I should. As she had offered me comfort I would offer it to her. I could be the ballast sometimes, too. I could not always be the castle hidden away in its center moat. I stood quietly, touching her gently, trying to pretend I wasn't selfishly enjoying her sorrow.

It brought her so much closer to me...

I sat carefully under her wails, twisting myself to contort around her. Breathing slowly I shook my head against her shoulder. "No, moi amour. She dose not hate you, she will not. Your Carska, our Carska has become a mother to every folami in her pack. She would never hate you for something like this." I paused, breathing into her fur, taking in her scent. "She will know it was I who killed Hamond. And I doubt she will blame me. Carska in the short time I've known her has shown herself to be a woman who holds murder at a rank of consciousness."

I knew what I said beneath the words, Carska would not turn her nose up at murder that had a rightful cause. She wouldn't, because I think she had committed such things before, and had committed atrocities that could not be forgiven as well.

I stared down into those eyes, suddenly locked on mine. Euphoria. Shocking beautiful euphoria. Maybe it was delusional optimism but it still had my heart pounding. How rare a gift it was, this joy. How badly I wanted to drag her over into a pile of fur and never let her away from me.

A warm adoring smile pulled over my own features, a thing that happened so rarely for me. My heart and lungs squeezed with the heat of utter joy. I stood swiftly, prancing after her, pouncing playfully at her paws. Yes yes we were free here. Free as birds. Free as fucking birds. Her touch pulled my body about her once again. "Petit amour.Darling. Moi amour. My love." My tail beat behind me, french and English falling from my tongue in to fast a secession for me to truly differentiate what I was saying.

"Happy beyond belief"