her heels.

            Between Ari's pride and her father's, they were making quick work of Abel's forces. Everyone put in one hundred and ten percent of effort into their attacks. Lesedi was now with Kesi, defending her cubs, while Haruna continued to face off against Zareb; Jira, Kayin, and Eshe all teamed up against Ishonda, who now had Nunka at her side. Xolani and Samanya were a whirlwind of claws, each moving well in sync with one another; Sauda was helping Baako, who was now crushed underneath Yejide; and Judas and Jamil had made quick work of Ashiki.

            "RETREAT!" Abel's voice cried over the mass. "THIS BATTLE IS LOST!" 

            The retreat was quick - Abel and his forces left as fast as they come, leaving only behind the remains of their group who had come to fight. Ari was left shaking, blood now seeping onto her paws, as she watched the last of Abel's group disappear over the hill from which they had arrived. She wanted to collapse, to allow the tears that were beginning to gather in her eyes to roll down her face.

            "Ari?" Tamu had come up alongside her.

            Ari turned her head, and offered her mother a weak smile as Tamu set about cleaning her wound off her face. Looking beyond Tamu, Ari saw Rhaenys doing the same to Lutalo, who seemed to be on the same breaking point as Ari herself was feeling.

            Her father approached her, his head moving back and forth. "Is anyone hurt?" Judas called out. He too was not without his wounds, his blood mingling in his dull red mane. Beside him, Jamil was licking his paw.

            The group gathered around one another, where Ari could tally who was still standing, and who barely could move. She was glad to see her aunts were otherwise okay, though shaken, and that her siblings were roughly in the same shape. To her own pride, everyone was safe and sound. Bloodied, but everyone was almost present and accounted for.

            "Where's Maalik?" Ari managed to say.

            Everyone turned to one another, their eyes saying what they couldn't - they didn't know. Ari felt the glory of victory sink into the bottom of her stomach, and she unintentionally pushed past Judas and Tamu to find her mate.

            Oh please, oh please...

            "ARI!" Expecting Chari coming to her, Ari was surprised to see that it was Lesedi and Haruna who came to her. Lesedi's eyes were shrunken, and she was shaking so badly that, if Haruna wasn't beside her to give her support, she would've collapsed. "It's Maalik, he's-"

            Ari didn't need to hear more from her. She charged off in the direction the pair had come from.

            No no no no no no...

            She found him, almost in the exact place she had left him to fight Abel. He was on his side, and a pool of blood surrounded him. Ari felt her heart starting to crumble. "Maalik! Oh Maalik!" She rushed to her side and...

            And it was awful.

            Maalik was buried underneath so much blood that he was barely recognizable anymore. And his stomach... Ari couldn't bare the sight of it.

            One eye still open, it was gazing up at the sky. Ari settled next to Maalik, moving closely enough to hear his ragged breathing. Tears were now freely falling. Oh please, please Kayode...

            "A-Ari..?" he managed to croak out.

            She nodded her head, beginning to desperately lick away his wounds. "You'll be okay, Maalik! We'll get you cleaned up, and everything will be fine!"

            She felt his body give a slight jerk, then settle. His ragged breathing became silent. Ari peeled her body away briefly to see that the glint in Maalik's eye had disappeared, and all that was left was the reflection of a dull sky.

            "N-No, Maalik, stay with me! You'll be okay!" Now on her feet, Ari began circling her mate, trying to lick up his wounds. "See, it's nothing! We've been through worse!" To Lesedi and Haruna, and all the others who had now gathered and who could only helplessly watch, she snarled, "Don't just stand there! Help me! Help me please, he's dying!"

            "Oh Ari..." Tamu murmured.

            Ari shook her head wildly, tears falling onto Maalik's blood soaked body. No, he wasn't dead! He can't die on her! He can't! She already lost Kayode, there was no way she was going to lose Maalik too!

            "Ari." This time it was Judas. "He's dead, Ari."

            "N-No, he isn't! W-We can h-help him! G-Get Chari! Chari can help him!"

            But no one moved from their place.

            Ari snapped her head up at them, her eyes shrunken, and her nostrils flaring in aggravation. "Don't just stand there! He's dying!"

            Tamu stepped forward; Ari refused to move away. Her mother came alongside her, and placed a large paw on her backside, gently beckoning her to rest against her. Ari moved to her mother's paw, and buried her face in Tamu's shoulders, releasing the anguish that had bubbled inside her.

            Maalik, the love of her life. Her rock. Her soul mate. Taken away by Abel. An advocate of Zuri.

            Would Zuri ever just leave them be?

            Though she didn't dare gaze up, Ari felt her family beginning to surround her, offering their sympathies through light touches of their paws, and gentle strokes from their tongues. But she didn't want pity - she wanted Maalik, alive and smiling.

            "We won, Ari!" he would tell her. "How cool is that?"

            And she would laugh, and they would touch noses, and gather up their pride, and maybe go home where Ari would just sleep an eternal sleep alongside her mate, and never open her eyes.

            No, now her mate laid lifeless in front of her. All because of Zuri.

            She had killed Kayode. Now she also took Maalik's life as well.

            Ari choked down another sob, and finally pulled away from Tamu, not right away gazing into her mother's eyes. No, her attention went beyond the small group of family who had gathered around her. She saw Chari had finally joined them, but his side was completely vacant.

            Gently prying herself away from her family, Ari shakily made her way over to Chari, who barely seemed to register her presence. "Chari..?" she whispered.

            Chari refused to look at her, but he mumbled, "She's dead, Ari... R-Rena, s-she's..."

            Ari wrapped herself around Chari, her paw stroking her mourning friend's backside as he cried into her in the same manner that she had cried into Tamu. She should've cried over Rena's death too, should've risen up and just said 'damn the world, time for revenge'. But she couldn't muster the words, or anything even remotely close.

            The dull sky rumbled, and it began to rain.