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77

Ander's mind reeled. He couldn't have heard her right, he just couldn't have. He had stared death in the face several times before tonight. It was something he understood, perhaps not completely - For who but the dead could ever fully understand something as final as death? - but certainly better than most. It was something he could wrap his head around, even if only in concept.

But the thought of Kiana dying, of their baby dying, of being eaten out of their mother's womb... that was something he simply could not think of as 'real', or even possible, the same way Banno thought of his own death as something that was not 'real' or even possible. It was something that could not be thought about. To even try was to slam into a mental wall.

Banno dropped to his knees, forcing Ander down with him, until they were level with Kiana's stomach.

"Look at that, little brother. Just look at what you've done. You've taken a little piece of yourself and put it right in there..." Kiana flinched as Banno poked her stomach with a crimson claw, leaving a red smear in her fur the shape of a crescent moon.

"Don't touch her!" Ander bellowed. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Banno kept going as if he didn't hear. "And a little piece of that little piece you planted in her came from Father. Our Father. And if I came from Father, too, then that means a little piece of what makes me 'me', must also be in you, which means that a little piece of me is inside your Foxy, and inside your baby, too. I am her uncle, after all. Big Uncle Banno."

"If you touch her, I will kill you. I will tear your head off!"

"You should be grateful, Ander. I am about to give your daughter the greatest gift any living thing has ever received. The bliss of becoming a part of me before she even has a chance to -"

Earn a name...

"- be dulled and tainted by this fake, empty world. Could there be anything more beautiful than that?"

"You're insane!"

"Watch closely, Ander. I want you to drink in every second." Banno seized Kiana's dress and pulled on it, making the tear yawn wide.

The little girl with the yellow fur thrashed and flailed against her bindings, tears standing out in the corners of her eyes.

Paying her no heed, Banno ripped a long strip of fabric away from Kiana's stomach as if he were peeling an apple, and let it drift down to the floor in loose curls of green. The sounds coming out of Kiana's mouth were neither words nor whimpers, but a fusion of both, a mixture of desperate pleas and hateful curses, all blown apart by explosive sobs.

Banno edged closer, pulling Ander along with him, until they were close enough to count the individual hairs of her pelt. "I wonder which one will die first?" he asked pensively, taking on that dreamy, far-off look again, the same look he had worn when speaking of Vallah's murder. "Your baby or your mate?"

"Banno, I swear..."

"Let's find out." He stuck out his tongue and dragged it along Kiana's stomach in a tightening spiral, slicking her fur with a mixture of blood, drool, pus, and vomit.

She screamed, and that was the last straw.

The. Last. One.

Ander ripped his claws out of Banno's forearm and struck him in the mouth. It was weak at such a short distance, but enough to knock his jaws away.

"Really, Ander?" Banno said. "I knew you were selfish, but really?"

Ander lashed out again, moving his fist in a very inefficient manner, striking Banno's face with blow after blow, desperate just to keep those teeth away from Kiana.

Banno tightened his arm and the pressure around Ander's neck increased. He could feel the crook of Banno's elbow pressing against his throat, closing his windpipe down to a slit. He gasped for air, pawing at Banno's face, a hideous mask of blood and teeth.

"You tried to end this world by ending me, and now you will watch me end your mate!" he roared, showering Ander's face with spit. "You will watch every damn moment!"

Banno positioned his maw across her midsection. Blood and drool hung from his teeth in ropes, swinging back and forth as his breath washed over her pregnant belly.

No more teasing, no more licking, he was going for the kill.

Banno started to close his jaws, his incisors poking dimples into Kiana's flesh. She writhed and screamed, trying to suck in her stomach as far as she could, but it didn't make any difference. Four long, thin lines of blood slowly began to run down her stomach, staining the white of her fur the dark red of roses, and Banno's eye rolled back in its socket, the absolute picture of bliss.

No!

Ander twisted his body to the side and drove his elbow deep into Banno's ribs as hard as he could, pushing off the floor with his good foot. It connected with a meaty thud and Banno's jaws were ripped free of Kiana's stomach, leaving four crimson puncture marks in their absence.

"Why do you have to make this so difficult!?" Banno screamed. It was the yell of a petulant child who couldn't get his way.

Ander's response to that question was to drive his elbow into Banno's ribs yet again, even harder and faster, putting all his anger behind it, and this time the blow didn't simply bounce off. It sunk into Banno's flesh with a deep, hard cracking sound, like two flattened rocks slamming into each other at the bottom of a river. A gout of blood shot out of Banno's mouth and splattered over Kiana's shoes.

"All right, that is IT!!" Banno roared and slammed Ander's face into the floor.

He heard a terrible crunch as bits of broken bone and cartilage drove themselves deeper into his muzzle. He had enough time to gasp for air, but before he could let it out as a tremendous scream of pain, Banno slammed him down again, grinding his face against the wooden planks.

"Ander!" Kiana screamed. He could see her bloody feet struggling against the ropes, but that was all. Banno had grabbed hold of his hair, and he couldn't raise his head any higher.

"I try my best, you little bastard!" Banno pulled his head up, "I walked through a white hell to get here!" and slammed it down. "It was COLD! You hear me!?" Jerked it up again. "My whole life I waited for this moment!" Slammed it down. "My whole life I've been alone! Surrounded by empty shells wearing shoddy meatskins and fake smiles!"

Ander's world had become drastically simplified. There was the dizzying rush of being yanked upwards, a faint sting in his scalp, and then Kiana's face, looking down at him, screaming his name. And then the blinding blur as his face was slammed into the floor in an explosion of blood and pain. He couldn't breathe. Every time he tried he'd only snuffle up a gurgling mess of blood through his nose.

"Stay! Down! And watch! Every! Single! Moment! You worthless! Piece! Of! Trash!" Each word was accentuated by a blast of pain as Ander's face was driven down into the floor again and again. The wet, cracking, breaking sound of his muzzle was like thunder inside his head. But then he became aware of something else, a rapid thudding. He at first mistook it for the frantic beating of his heart, but that couldn't be it. He could feel it through the floorboards, coming closer.

The next moment something sailed over his head. It cast a shadow over Banno's face and his single eye widened in shock. It kicked out, striking him hard enough to crack his jaw, and Banno staggered backwards, reeling from the impact.

The figure landed lithely in a crouched position, one hand down on the floor and the other held out for balance.

Ander recognised that back.

Nilia...?

She looked back over her shoulder, and the expression on her face was one Ander had never seen before. It was calm, just as always. Focussed and collected, just as always. But underneath all that, underneath the gentle waters, was something he couldn't quite place, something buried, but not very deep. He could feel it baking off of her like the heat of a furnace.

She stood up, curling her fingers into fists hard enough to make her knuckles crackle, and positioned herself between Banno and his would-be victims, still as a statue.

Banno got back to his feet and pushed against his chin, wrenching his dislocated jaw back into place with a sickening crack. "Nilia, it's been a while. You look nice. Almost good enough to eat."

Nilia lowered her head, ever so slightly, and a soft growl vibrated through the shadows. Had Ander ever heard her growl before? He wasn't sure. But then again, his thoughts weren't exactly clear right now. He could barely keep his eye open.

"Oh, come on now!" Banno said, spreading his arms wide. "What's with that look?"

Nilia's growl slowly turned into a snarl. Her lips peeled back far enough to actually show her teeth. Even her fur was standing up in untidy spikes. "I see you've been having fun torturing little Fox girls and a Wolf with such a gentle heart he wouldn't even harm a fly."

"And your point is?"

Nilia slammed her fist into her open palm and cracked her knuckles. "Let's see how well you fare against someone who actually knows how to fight."