"NO!" 

too fast, it happened too bloody fast. jaws had snapped uselessly shut upon taut air as the force of west tyree slammed into her side and sent her flailing helter skelter away from the monstrosity bearing down on them, only able to loose that desperate scream as she slammed into the snow and saw the glint of those wicked claws strike upon his figure. a hoarse cry hiccuped from the tightness of her throat as she scrabbled to her paws- too slow, she was moving too slow. yet she had managed to take a whole of two staggered steps when the force of his shout stopped her in her tracks;

"RUN DAMMNIT." 

her eyes widened, knowing - the second she noticed that his gaze did not so much as try to seek her out she knew-- and even as she hissed and launched herself forward obviously not even considering the idea of heeding his command, she was not quick enough. a strangled screech forced itself out into the frigid breeze as he pushed towards the throat of the beast and connected just as it too grabbed him in a soul crushing, fatal embrace. 

'please, no' her legs felt like they were going to give out, trembling with a force like no other as she grit her teeth and pushed them harder 'please, i can't lose you too you stupid, stupid, brave, loyal, idiot' she collided with the side of the bear in what truly were only a matter of seconds but in this hazy midst she'd come to realise the jarring damage seconds could inflict-- and that she'd let too many slither by in which west faced the bear alone. she grabbed and tore at anything, trying to be enough of a pest that it might swing that terrifying head away from him, tears and snot mixing with any blood that sprung free from the tears she sought to inflict. 

there had been a moment, when it had spoken their tongue and stopped the franctic dash of her heart, where polaris had fallen victim to two very conflicting emotions. foolishly, oh so foolishly she had found fragile hope in the knowledge of its awareness- thinking maybe, just maybe it would hear reason, that empathy occupied some shadowed chamber in that thumping heart. the other, more rational part of her mind had recoiled in an entirely newfound terror, at the knowledge that this was not just a frenzied attack of a mindless ruffian. that it was in fact, a creature who believed this slaughter was within reason- that it knew what agony it inflicted and continued on regardless. now she might have laughed at the moronity of harbouring such pathetic hope mere minutes ago, this was in fact-- a fight to the death, there was no other way in which this could end. 

she seen him, out of the corner of her eye there he was-- her jaw fell slack, hopping backwards and feeling the entire process of her mind still as he slumped to the ground...and did not get back up. 

she didn't remember moving but then she was there, panting frantically and trying so hard to ignore all the blood sneering up at her from its stark position eddying with the snow. "west" she gasped, unable to even make the time to offer him the entirety of his name as her heart stumbled along a path of borderline hysteria and she pushed him as hard as she could with her head. "west please...get up" her voice cracked, a sob hitching forth as she pushed against him with all her might "you need to move please west, get up!! you have to run"

she didn't want to look behind her, see how close the bear might be as she slipped on his blood and slumped into a crouch. "i had it handled you idiot why would you...you cant do this to me please you can't leave me, get up i....i love you west please, please dont leave me here we can run we-- you just need to get up!" 

she didn't even notice the progression osiris made towards leta's side, didn't notice the life depart from him with his final call- there was nothing else right now but her and west and all this blood. "please" she whimpered.

They fought mercilessly. The wolf protected its ugly, foul kin. The bear sought to start the land anew, resetting it from the pure origins where all was in balance. Yakwahe knew suffering, and he knew pain. But these were not animals fully capable of it. They were but rodents, picking away at the life of the planet, feigning sentience in the way their human-loving relatives did. They were one and the same with what was wrong, and Yakwahe felt nothing as he tore their lives apart one by one.

He felt the female biting at his side and shoulder, yet paid little mind to her aggression. When the monster's teeth found their target, he crunched down as hard as he could, pulling the wolf from his hold the way one might extract a tick that's found its way deep into the skin. Yakwahe shook the little beast briefly before tossing him into the snow, and wanted to swipe the female, but she was gone.

Heavy, rattled breathing filled his lungs. Exhaustion. The threat of death looming overhead in the form of a great eagle. He stood there, heaving on all fours, saliva and blood dripping in ugly globs from his tongue and lips into the clean white below.

When he stepped forward to follow the white one, he found that his front limb carried a heavy limp. With his great bulk, the injury had worsened as he'd continued putting weight on it. The brief pause in the combat found Yakwahe weakened. But he would not lose this fight for purity. His cause was greater than theirs, for they were pests in the fields of paradise, and he would not allow them to sully it further.

The bear lumbered toward the grieving she-wolf registering such emotion as but a mere illusion. When he was close, he lurched forward and moved to strike her down with a heavy paw and a bite tuned to her shoulder.

You will die. He thought.

I'll change my ways if you would stay
And all your tears that you have cried will go away

He desperately wanted her to run, but he knew by now Polaris Tonrar was never one to listen to reason, not when her family was involved. The blur of white went unnoticed to him however as he was slammed into the ground. She was fighting for him, she would always fight for him. The sounds of the bear seemed to drown out as a ringing filled his head. Somewhere amongst the noise, he could have sworn he heard Polaris. Had she seen him fall? Was she running?

Oh, just grant me one more day
Oh, my love, please don't give up

He needed to reach her, he needed to run too, though as he lifted his head to search he found his dove pressing against him. What are you d—doing? We have to go! His voice was raspy, a slight waver hinting the worst had yet to come though he tried to hide it with a cough. However, as he shouldered himself to try and sit up the weight in his body only brought him back to the cold embrace of snow, a pain ricocheting through him from his neck down to his flank. It was then that the realization dawned on him he wouldn't be able to keep up. She had to go without him.

See the Devil at my door
I see the future of the ones that I've ignored

A tightness squeezed his chest as West tried to keep the tears that pricked his eyes from showing. He couldn't cry now, Polaris would never go. She was begging him to get up though at this point his blood had visibly stained the snow around him. G-Go, I'll catch up. He did all he could to try and prove it, from the look he gave her to the slight shuffling of his legs though it was obvious how labored his breath had become, I just...I need a second— 

Despite the strain, really West got nowhere. It was as if someone had replaced his bones and flesh with bricks...had he always been this heavy? Some movement behind Polaris caught his eye, though when he tore his attention from his love it wasn't the bear he saw. It was @Leta with @Osiris trailing at her side. He blinked, confused for a moment until a familiar hulking figure followed just a few steps behind. @Greyback . They were waiting for him.

I guess I was born to be at war
And, my love, I won't give up

​Whatever self-control he had before was now gone. A sob choked him as he pressed his head against the snow, tears freely pouring down his cheeks. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to live their lives together. He needed to get up, he told her he loved her so they wouldn't lose each other. How could he be the one to leave her? Just one more day, one more chance to run, to live, to love. Pol—aris. I'm so sorry.

I love— you—

p-please, go—

The words barely made it out of his mouth before he stilled, a pathetic smile given quickly before fading away. It was his last request, that if anything, she could at least have what he could not. Even if it meant waiting a lifetime to have her by his side again, he needed her to live for them both.

So, my love, please don't give up

how dare her heart leap with such treacherous hope, how dare it have the sheer audacity to be so foolish as to cling onto that raspy exclamation- to even consider that there might be any truth to his breathy words. not when guttering eyes could clearly see that crimson liquid blossoming out beneath her, spreading forth like a terrible, unfurling flower; could see the glassy edges of his scintillating gaze. and yet it still lingered, that incautious hope, whispering its taunts. her chest hitched, rational part of her mind prompting it forth with that locked up realisation; even as the girl with eyes fever bright in their denial only nodded along eagerly, appearing unaware of the tears she dropped upon him as an exhaled "yes" stumbled out, "you're right, we have to go we do, you're right let's...let's go let's get out of here west" 

yet even as those words shuddered from the tremble of her jaw, the dove found herself slinking closer to the ground- closer to him even as he tried to move, a different kind of agony spearing her own chest at the recognition tickling her mind at his state. she didn't want it, didn't want that awareness-- didn't want to know. but she did, oh she did and there was no stopping the frantic sobs to commence as he slumped to the ground once more, paws scooting her closer and closer until her muzzle was buried in his neck.

there was nothing she could do. amongst the raucous howling and searching of her mind for something, anything that could save them, save him - this simple fact seemed to float to the foreground in mocking clarity. 

blood dripped down her chin from the strength in which her teeth had torn savagely at her lip, body begging for a release from the unbearable agitation building up within- it's desperate need to do something; unwilling to accept that this was it; refusing to partake in having to bid goodbye to someone she loved once more; someone she loved more than anyone else to have entered this cursed life of hers. 

but her mind, it had gone so uncharacteristically quiet. she could hear it, as if it were locked in a distant room; the screaming, clamouring, begging, cursing -- and oh how her body wished to leap and snarl in a frenzied dance of this agony, this unjust card dealt by this fucked up world. but polaris, for probably the first time in her life- did not fall victim to the selfish call of her emotions-- had the maturity to realise that she could not fight everything, that west tyree was dying and she could not spend her last minutes with him cursing the world. 

oh fuck, the earth seemed to sway and she grit her teeth harder- west, for west she had to...couldn't give into the need to block this sheer, burning PAIN that was eating away at her very soul, had to cling to clarity no matter the agony it inflicted. "i know you will" she hiccuped, forcing herself to pull back and look at him, cling to his gaze with all the adoration she'd let grow over this last year, fought the urge to wince against the rupturing of her chest. "it's okay, we have time it's...i-it'sokay west" a rapid blink to clear her water logged vision, lips quirking a smile that felt as difficult to muster as slaying that fucking bear. a terrified leap to her heart as his gaze drew momentarily distant, claws scraping the frigid earth as she fought the plead trying to force its way out of her throat, for him to ignore what it was he saw, for him to stay here with her. 

but she couldn't, could never ask him to suffer for her. she tucked herself tighter as he began to sob, not making any effort to hold back her own as she whispered "it's okay west, you don't need to worry about me i'll be okay it's....it's okay to go west tyree." even as her heart, how it wailed for him to stay, to not leave her here alone, she couldn't take it she couldn't bear it, this pain it...."i love you so much west tyree, i'll be okay i'll go in a moment just let me tell you, west i just need to..." 

he was gone. it was obvious the very second his life gave way, not from the stilling of his struggling chest, no it was his eyes, truly like some light had switched off. she choked, "n-no, west no please...no--" 

a cry ripped from her at the force of that heavy paw, some sickening pain ricocheting within her as she stumbled and felt a leg give way, plunging her into the sticky snow but she-- she had to move had to-- osiris. adrenaline was her saviour, managing to give her nimble figure the speed it needed to escape those jaws for the moment but, where was he? it was then she skidded to stop a few lengths from where he lay slumped over leta; dead.

she....she was utterly alone. 

she threw back her head and screamed, yelled with as vicious a potency as she could manage amongst the crumbling of her will "WHY, WHY DO THIS OVER AND OVER WHAT DO YOU EVER BENEFIT?? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED??? WAS THIS YOUR GRAND FUCKING PLAN???" her breath came in ragged pants as she fixed the frenzied glare on the bastard that did all of this- "AND YOU" she advanced now, teeth gritting against the sickening waves of pain radiating from the leg she limped on "i hope whatever sick pleasure you got from this is enough to make you happy in death, enough to give you something to hold onto when you're writhing in agony, im going to make you hurt, make you die" she spat and threw herself right at the wound on his throat that west had started at, desperate to tear and inflict as much damage as earthly possible before it killed her.

'i'm sorry west' was all she could think, she was ultimately selfish and could not bear the thought of living without him. so she would die here, but she'd do everything she could to bring this monster with her.

it made her feel oddly calm, she'd see them all again soon.

The white wolf flew out of the way with an agility he had never possessed. Three little insects now lay about, their lives ended with what seemed a handful of swooping gestures in the span of minutes. The breath of the monster remained heavy and looming. The screaming and shouting of the little white one rattled in a mind focused on exactly one goal. As she spoke, Yakwahe released but two foul words in her own language: Wretched insects.

The little bitch was too fast for him. A second swing of his paw found him stumbling as she latched onto an open wound on his neck. She surprised him with the sheer amount of rage and power that a tiny insect could have. The sounds she made, the throw of her neck, the pulls were bear-like in nature. The rage was palpable.

Yakwahe struggled with her, clamped onto his neck like a terrible vice. Blood spilled down her coat as the bear stumbled forward, desperately trying to grab at her. He lost steam with every movement. Dizzy. Wavering.

He shook himself as though trying to free water droplets from his fur, wailing in what started as a furious roar and morphed into something small that dropped off at the end in a vague, terrible moan.

At last he found himself again. Yakwahe, a beast among legends, balled the pain and suffering into a weapon. As saliva dripped from his lip and the she-wolf tore away like a terrier on the throat of a bull, the bear finally made contact with some part of her. Just like the rest of them, he pulled the moment he felt it, and when he did he felt her tear him open, and felt his teeth tear her too.

He tried to throw her, but managed only to release her weakly in the air before his weight collapsed over his injured front leg. He moved immediately to rise, growling, moaning, dredging himself up onto shaky, horrible legs with claws that had torn away the souls of many wolf beasts that dark day.

she had never felt anything like it, such a potent inferno of purely carved fury and with that...such blinding power. it was all a little surreal, as if her conscience had retreated into some safe place deep within her mind and handed the controls to this blind, primal instinct. let the beast, the wolf, completely take over. for she felt a smug satisfaction that was not her own radiate through her as the bear staggered and the blood, so much blood; it filled her mouth- painted her pallid fur, so unnaturally bright outside in this world where it did not belong. 

if she could step back; observe the monster that was so absurdly compared to a dove, eyes crazed with that desire to wound and kill, drenched in sticky blood and speaking in the enraged language of snarls and growls- she would likely blanch and succumb to some great horror. especially as her target loosed a rippling groan with yet another treacherous sway and the girl seemed to only dig in further, as if invigorated by such an expression of pain and discomfort. but this was life, no? she had denied it for so long, refusing to so much as hunt the doe eyed deer and melodic birds they shared these vast lands with and yet as if to scorn her for trying to hide from the violence her body was built to inflict- the world had delivered its final present in the form of what was a predator even to them. ultimately forcing her to unleash that feral instinct when it was but a fruitless prolonging of her own demise. 

it was all kind of funny, in some sickly twisted way and when the fiend finally dislodged her with the contact of those teeth and their humbling amount of strength even in its state of weakening just as she felt that tear, the one some deep part of her had known it needed to achieve before the ground claimed her- a breathy laugh huffed from the tremble of wearied jaws. 

her body slammed the snow with a soft gasp, dazed stare making a sluggish climb to where the bear staggered; in a state but still, alive...standing. she should do something about that but....oh she was cold, and so very tired.....this didn't have to be her problem anymore. her mind swam, vision growing spotty as she trembled, she could just...sleep now...

yet some part of her mind that was still so desperately fighting dragged up the face of sweet @Rosewood , or @Valette and @Zephyr...and @Lainie wherever she may be, all wolves she'd cared so dearly about and had had to endure such pain over and over again. how could she be so willing to force upon them that same agony that she herself had barely recovered from? she could not leave them here with this monster still breathing before her, could not do that to those who might remain of osiris' pack, or to the mystical eyed moonspear man who had spoken to her of fireflies and wanderlust and the rest of his packmates...she had to....fight.

yet despite the willing of what minute part of her mind wouldn't give up, it was when the twitch of quickly weakening forepaws were the only reaction that polaris let hazy eyes drift down to release a breathy "oh" 

she was too late it seemed, and she could only blink with a distant wonder at the ugly tear smiling bloodily up at her from her stomach. exposing things she should not be able to see as her body wept that crimson liquid out upon the dirtied snow. it looked sore but....a slow blink, she didn't feel it-- she didn't even feel cold anymore in fact she felt....warm. between the pants of a panicked and failing respiratory system she could only muse breathlessly betwixt bloodied lips "it's the exact same" unable to see where her blood finished and the bear's began; how absurd. 

she didn't remember her head hitting the ground but it was from there that she could see @RIP Kavik and alessia, tears slipping upon the frigid earth as her sluggish heart clenched at the sight of her parents. "mama, papa...i..." i missed you so much, im sorry..but, she felt calm. she was going to see them soon, she didn't have to live with the guilt anymore. and @Clay , as bright and blissful as he'd been when she'd first met him as a wondrous child, the weight she'd carried for not doing more to look out for him easing as she smiled. 

and there- brightest of all, @RIP Osiris, @Leta and of course, @West Tyree. her muscles twitched weakly again, haggard mind fruitlessly commanding them to pull her, drag her to his body one last time. needed to feel the touch of his fur, inhale his scent just one last time. but she'd made it mere few inches before she collapsed once more and knew that was the last of her strength, paws uselessly outstretched towards his empty vessel. a sniff as she sought out the image of him, hiccuping a bloodily bubbled "i'm...sorry i...cant..." 

her head slumped, sightless gaze fixed on the spot he'd been standing; the faintest of smiles curling along her jaws for in those final moments she could swear she'd felt the embrace of his woodsy scent just before the gentle darkness caressed her mind one final time.

Death.

Now, the eagle became a harbinger of it. Ever present, he saw their blood spill one by one. On and on he swept in a vague, slow circle, round and round, watching with apathy as the beast tore them each to bits. The ravens within the trees crowed. At least one was already moving to swoop in on the dead. So quickly did their kind turn on their fellow beasts. But the birds knew that all creatures were only flesh once dead. Though the wolves were of great use in life, they ceased to have purpose in death beyond the earthly one of fuel.
Waste not.

The warrior woman who had travelled with him to face the demon at last showed herself. With fury she struck. And with her strike, the eagle was awakened from his passivity in the skies.

With a glint, his sharp eyes turned. Marking the target was easy, for the wound glowed red and his eyes were keen. Silently he swooped, riding the river of wind in his descent. The sharpness of his body pierced the air. The only warning was the whirring sound of the wind against his dappled feathers.

He aimed to strike the open face of the bear, for it was the highest from ground.

Another down. Yet Yakwahe was oblivious to whatever cheering sounded forth from the earth unto him. All Mother was pleased, of that there could be no doubt, but her voice was absent. The wind was silent. For a moment, all that remained was the dripping sound of his blood in the snow. The dogs were vanquished. His sacred duty was complete. Yet still he felt empty, for the land was full of monsters, and the job could never be complete. The holy warrior stumbled forward, finding his vision buzzing and his head pulsating.

Breathing. Heavy.
He felt heavy.
He wanted sleep. The sleep that winter had promised and not brought. The wolves had warmed his homeland. Surely it was their doing, for their cousins with men had wrought gunfire and gasoline upon it.

The bear did not have time to move away as the red-eyed creature found her way to his thigh. She ripped, he roared. A huge bird of prey launched itself at his face and tore with sharp talons. It hurt, and he could not carry on fighting.

Snapping defensively, Yakwahe, an ancient warrior of old, ran from battle. This was not to be won, not now. Exhaustion and blood loss battered him beyond repair. He needed to find a place away from here to recuperate. They would all die, but not now. He had done enough for now.

He fled, lumbering, limping, hoping that the massacre would hold that red-eyed devil woman there for a moment long enough to allow his escape.