Two rebel guards stood by either side of Nikolai, who had been savagely beaten. Blood dripped down his swelled shut black eye and a particularly nasty pair of gashes were carved into his ribcage.

They accompanied him into the murkiness of Lejden's cave, where he stood before him-his eyes were filled with sadness but his fangs were bared in frustration.

"My own brother, nothing more than a cowardly traitor," Leiden hissed, his long forked tongue flickering with rage as he eyed Nikolai.

"What are the charges?".

"Killing a rebel, freeing demons and attempting to flee the camp, sir," one the rebels barked.

"Send him to the prison chambers, I'll be there shortly," Leiden commanded, the two rebels nodded and lead Nikolai away.

As Leiden retreated into the recesses of his cave he lifted an arm, striking out at the wall and scratching the stone it was made of.

After all he done for Nikolai. Taking him in when he was bleeding to death after being attacked by the royal guards, appointing him to his right hand man so he could enjoy all the rebellion had to offer. After all he'd done, absolutely everything, this was how he was repaid? Betrayal.

Nikolai had to pay for his crime. And Leiden would make damn sure that he did.

Slowly he stalked his way over to the prison chambers, where Nikolai was shackled to a bloodied, rushed floor.

"Release him. I have something I wish to show him," Leiden commanded, the prison keeper nodded and released Nikolai, who carefully stepped out of his cage, hobbling awkwardly due to the shackles till around his legs-his eyes fixed down at the floor.

"Can't you even look at me Nikolai? Is that how repulsed you are by my actions?" Leiden asked, a twinge of despair creeping into his otherwise monotone voice. A tiny part of him was hurt, his heart was broken the moment he heard the news.

"Come with me," Leiden instructed, leading Nikolai out of the chambers, out of the camp, and into the forest of pine trees that surrounded them all. Nikolai would've enjoyed the lovely smell of pine trees, the lovely feel of soft leaves underfoot, the lovely sound of birds chirping and bees buzzing.

But he had a feeling this would be the last time he saw them.

Still, he showed no fear. He wasn't afraid to die.

"Here is good," Leiden said as he paused in front of a ditch, he unshackled Nikolai completely before circling him.

And then, without warning, mercy or hesitation, his jaws clamped around Nikolai's throat.

Meanwhile, from the opposite direction, Halone was running back to the rebellion. As she arrived, panting from running miles in the moonlight, she found Leiden, blood dripping from his muzzle.

"Leiden, are you okay?" she asked immediately as she bounded up to him, licking at the blood in case there were any cuts, when she found none she stepped back, awaiting an answer with perked ears and a furrowed brow.

"If you think this is bad you should see the other guy," he only half joked as a morbid laugh ushered from his lips, "now if you'll excuse me I have things to attend too. Glad to have you back," Leiden said before walking past Halone, who continued on her way.

She hadn't been gone long but the deterioration was shocking. Demons were lonely being tortured, left to starve as they were impaled on crosses as warning signs to any conspirators. It was like she'd heard before: 'the war that was fought till the soil oozed red'.

Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder, she spun on her heel to see a rebel was behind her.

"Miss Halone, you're a tough girl to find," the rebel explained.

"What do you want?" she asked rather abruptly.

"Leiden himself has personally tasked you with the disposal of two conspirators."

"Lead the way."

She followed the rebel to the prison chambers, immediately Halone caught Nikolai's faint scent within it squatters. A smile played across her lips, hopefully she could get drunk with him tonight if he was in the mood for sharing his vodka.

"Here they are," the rebel said as they approached a steel door with a one way window, "I'll leave you to it now," they explained before walking back into the bustle of the encampment.

Halone dared to peer through the glass and saw the two conspirators. The male had deep, dark amber eyes and black markings on brown fur just like Shadow, he even had a little diamond on his forehead like her boy. He looked so innocent, so helpless. Like he wouldn't harm a fly.

The female was an almost pure white wolf except for her black toes just like her mother had. The mother who looked after her for months when she didn't have to. The mother that was trying to make amends. The mother that she loved dearly.

When she looked at this two supposed traitors of the rebellion she didn't see the degenerate scum she once did, but people who were out of their depth and had their reasons. They may have done wrong by the rebellion but they didn't deserve to die.

And she couldn't kill them.

Suddenly she heard Chi's wispy, breathy and high pitched voice inside her head. She was waking up.

Don't hurt them, they're already sad, Chi explained.

Halone stood, paralysed, as Chi took over.

It was all too much for little Chi, from the razor shark hanging hooks to the stench of blood and death and finally the prisoners awaiting execution.

Before Halone knew it she was running away for Chi's sake. The crushing fear at the sight of torture as she rushed through the camp was raw, primal and deeply compelling. She shoved past rebels, unable to stop as adrenaline consumed her burning muscles.

All the while Chi was seeing flashbacks to her own murder as she began to cry. It only sent Halone more distressed and hysterical, tears were flowing now as nausea gripped her. She felt empty and unreal, sick to her stomach as she too felt the pain of futilely begging for mercy, of being ripped to pieces by Ash.

Why? Why? Why?, was all Chi was asking now as both of her and Halone were regressed back to nothing more than beaten children.

Halone found herself back at the lake where she threw up into the water, when the ripples stopped it was Chi that was looking through Halone's eyes and she didn't recognise her own feral form reflection.

Chi had black ears, Halone had dark brown.
Chi has a brown nose, Halone had a black one.
Chi had brown and blue eyes, Halone had amber ones.

This was not her.

She began to cry even harder from the confusion, her tears falling into the lake as she collapsed and began to hyperventilate, instinctively putting her hands over her head and curling into a ball to protect herself from Ash's fangs.

She didn't hear the sound of approaching paws padding along the dirt until a cold blueish-greyish shadow was cast down upon her.

"Be calm, I'm here now," he soothed as he sat besides her, he held her hand gently before placing it over the warmth thud of his beating heart, "breathe slower, it's okay, take a deep breath in," he said in a slow, controlled manner that instantly took the edge off of her panic attack.

"And out," he said as he mimicked his own words.

After a few minutes of sitting together she slowly began to calm down; the adrenaline rush subsiding.

And they sat together for a few more minutes, Halone rested her head on his broad shoulder and continued to copy the slow beat of his heart, as they watched the water float on by.

After that Leiden walked besides Chi back into the encampment.

And when she saw the flames of the funeral pyre licking she heard Ash's voice echo in her head.

Throw yourself in it. It's what you deserve. Do it.

And so, terrified, she did.

_________________

Sorry this chapter is a bit short, but I'm so close to finishing this damn thing after like two years. It's been a massive project for me and I've had a lot of fun and a lot of frustration writing this.

After this story is finished I plan to finish my Twilight fanfic, start my story Toxic (about my OC's life) and start the sequel to this story called The Light. After that I might do a call of duty fan fic, I used to write those and they were very popular (around 100k reads on them).

Oh and I'll also be working on turning my werewolf RP into a story but I'll only update that every now and then.

But yeah, The Light will be my next big project.

I've also gotten some years old drafted stories that I might revamp, I'm not too sure.