"The world around Claw blurred into a haze.
The familiar small eye froze him where he stood.
"He could almost hear Leila's voice echo through the silence.
Claw lunged for the eye, his fangs snapping shut around it before thought could stop him.
"Tch..." Vein's glare cut like venom before he turned away.
"So, where were we—Hey! Gash, that human is mine—"
Before Vein could finish, his figure faded into the smoke
"Wait!" Claw's voice cracked through the chaos.
Claw's heart pounded as the sound of laughter faded into the wind.
His claws scraped the earth, sparks of rage glinting in his eyes.
"Huh? What does this filthy beast want from me?" Vein turned, his silhouette half-swallowed by smoke.
"I... it's not over yet! We're not done!"
Every breath he took burned with fury and loss.In the haze, a shadow shifted, Vein's smirk, faint but unmistakable.Vein's voice echoed through the smoke, low and cruel:
"Go away... You're lucky we didn't kill you." Then, as the smoke folded over itself, he was gone.
Silence followed, broken only by the crunch of fangs and distant screams.But for Claw, the world had gone mute, drowned beneath the weight of his thoughts.Claw stood frozen, the echo of Vein's words gnawing at his mind."...Alive..." a small whisper escaped his lips.His claws eased, trembling, yet the fire in his chest burned on.
"What am I...? Why am I acting like this..."Somewhere beyond the haze, the world was still burning.
"VEIN!!!" Claw sprinted through the haze toward Vein, but before he could reach him, pain exploded across his cheek.
Thud!
A claw slashed across Claw's face.A low, venomous voice followed:
"What do you want now?"
His vision blurred for an instant, the world twisting with pain and rage.
"Your eyes... too weak. I knew you'd never strike me." Vein dragged his tongue across his paw, savoring the blood like a predator relishing victory.
"Tch... They trained you to be soft."
Claw's growl deepened, low and trembling between fury and shame.
"Those words... almost the same as what Grizzler once said."The voice echoed in his head, Grizzler's mocking tone, sharp as ever:
"You're just too polite, aren't you?" forcing his gaze down to the ground.
The echo of that voice tangled with Vein's, blurring past and present into one.
"But... it isn't wrong to be soft, is it?" Claw said softly.
"Huh?" Vein's smirk vanished into a deep frown.
"It isn't bad! Being soft! I... I really regret my past actions. I once swallowed a bird..."
Claw's voice trembled, each confession scraping his throat, heavy with something he hadn't felt in ages, remorse.
"But... I learned that all creatures deserve the same right to live! A human taught me that.. or maybe... trained me to understand it.
"A fleeting image , a robin gliding through the golden sky, softened his eyes.
The warmth of sunlight brushed against feathers long gone.For a heartbeat, he felt weightless again, before the smoke returned to steal it away. Vein's silence pressed against him like a storm waiting to break.
"So please... stop devouring those humans!!"Claw's paw brushed against Vein, the heat between them sharper than anger itself.Vein's stare hollowed into stillness, he couldn't tell if what he saw was madness or mercy.It felt both surreal and unreal to him.
Vein's jaw tightened, yet he didn't move, caught between instinct and something he couldn't name.
"For a moment, neither predator nor prey existed.... only two beasts divided by belief."
.....
"Ahahahahahahaa!!" Vein's laughter ripped through the smoke, sharp, broken, almost painful.Even Gash's clueless laughter turned the moment into a mockery of peace.
"W... what's so funny?" Claw's trembling voice cracked the laughter in two, fragile as glass.
It wasn't laughter anymore.. it was hysteria given voice.
Claw's ears flattened as unease crawled beneath his fur
"Stop?! Stop what?! Should I stop laughing, or would your words have done the killing already!! "
Vein spat between laughs.
"I.. I can't breathe!" Gash slammed his hooves into the dirt, choking on laughter that sounded too close to a scream.
Claw's gaze darted between them, disbelief clawing at his chest.
Was this madness... or was this what the wild truly meant?
Vein's laughter died, replaced by a heavy breath.
"Let me ask you something first, Claw... When was the last time you ate?"
"Y... yesterday," Claw answered, swallowing hard.
Gash's laughter faded into a quiet, uneasy frown.Vein's stare hardened, his eyes cold, unblinking.
"You don't really like humans, Claw... not the way you think you do."
His tone deepened, disturbingly sincere.
"Mercy?....."
"No, Claw... you were simply fed."