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Description

Set in Ice Empire, 25th of Decemeber, 40BC.

Summery
Malone has been on the decline for a while, behaving strangely, and Warrick has been picking up the slack the snow leopard had been leaving. But even the nicest animals has that one straw that breaks their back. The end of an era begins this day, and new paths are forged in a painful, firey blaze.

Characters
Warrick & Malone (Zincwolf )
Maryanne (MostlyMoose )

(Collab between the both of us. We welcome Whitney, Everest, Harper and Susitna to the world xx)
Rain847 Nyther-oh

Be on the look out for a very secret, very special surprise to be posted after this - see part one, the reveal, on MostlyMoose 's account. Link will be added soon.

Enjoy the Finale

---

Mary

Sunbathing wasn't what it used to be anymore. Maybe it was because the constant kicks to her ribs offset her mood, but more likely than not Mary chalked it up to be simply restlessness.

Up until about 2 weeks prior, everything was going smoothly... and no I'm not talking about her pregnancy. As far as Mia was concerned, this was a picture perfect... textbook quality pregnancy. Maryanne wasn't worried about the status of her cubs, she was concerned about Malone. Uncrossing her paws from the position they had been rested in, the lion mutt clocked her mate as he appeared from the Gladiators den. See, the thing was he always seemed fine.. from a distance. Malone was just, Malone to everyone else - but he wasn't Malone for her.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, or point out a particular reason as to why he didn't seem in his right mind when he was around her... Maybe it really was her hormones' playing tricks on her. She knew he was never an 'over the top' kind of excitement type. So why did this bother her so much?

Reeling back from her racing train of thoughts, Maryanne smiled gently at the passing snow leopard - Sliding into a sit before slithering off the boulder she'd planted herself on hours prior. "I didn't hear you leave this morning, where've you been off too all day?" She playfully inquired.

"Y'know, I got to talking with Warrick today and he had a really cool idea I've been tossing around. With all the stuff he says, I'm shocked his siblings don't have more keepsakes or accessories. He's really quite the natural when it comes to little ones" Not really minding where Mallow had to be this morning, Mary moved on - hopefully sparking the snowy to converse with her about their soon to be future.

Malone

Malone... barely seemed to acknowledge she was even there at first. He was trying his best to continue like everything was normal, so much so, that he'd blinkered out any and all sound and sights. He looked... out of it.

Very out of it, his eyes dazed.

But as she mentioned Warrick, Malone couldn't help but feel himself snap back to reality. A flare of anger ripped through his chest and irritably, he felt his fur along his spine start to stick up.

He'd just wanted to go talk to Shabeel about a new patrol route. He'd been out all morning, out all day. He didn't want to talk to Mary, and he didn't want to hear about Warrick.

He'd started to really dislike the sight of Warrick over the last few weeks. He was always... there. Interfering. Getting involved. He was all Mary ever wanted to talk about, always wanting to invite him to things, wanting to get his opinion.

He just wanted to be left alone. "Warrick should get his own mate then, shouldn't he."

Mary

Everything from his demeanor to the tone of his voice... it all just made Mary flinch. Her smile, although still present, faltered a little as he stood there. He was on edge and clearly not having a good day.

When did he have a good day tho..?

Clearing her throat, Mary laughed a little to herself... an awkward kinda chuckle.

"..Ha... Yeah- uhm... But we know War, I don't think he's gonna to settle down anytime soon.." She joked, keeping her mood lifted among everything else that seemed to crash down on their conversation.

"You've worked hard these past few days, why dont you come on a walk with me? Y'know, take some time to just relax and take in the peace and quiet-" Mary purred "- Get some peace and quiet while we still can."

Malone

Malone's already dark outlook on the world seemed to get just that ever so slightly more blinkered, black edging his vision, which was becoming more and more like a tunnel the longer it went on.

The more she spoke, the more she mentioned.

'Peace and quiet while we still can'

Right.

He'd have... no time to himself anymore when the kids were here. He felt like he was losing himself sometimes, thinking about it. He felt like he was losing himself anyway with being 'Mary's mate'. Thats who he was to the Empire now. He'd heard it metioned around. 'Malone, the blacksmith's mate'. 'Malone, Warrick's friend'.

He was a patrol captain. He'd clawed his way to that position. He'd worked his tail off. He'd supported his friends, been a good gladiator- hell he'd even gone to war, for this Empire. And he was becoming a ghost.

It made his chest tighten and his paws tingle with a rush, his pupils shrinking into sharp slits.

Without answering her, he started to walk anyway. He needed to get away from her, even her presence becoming overbearing to him as his anxiety attack started to take hold. Every sound, every tiny sound felt like it spiked into his head like a roaring chorus. Every cat near him, near his general area - they were too close. Too closed in. Too... too close...

His nerves cast their net wide, and even the lingering from of Shabeel on the other end of the camp seemed far, far too close.

Mary was a glaring source of panic to him.

So he tried to get away, and to keep his walk calm, even if his claws slid out ever so slightly with each step as he tried not to grip onto the grass

Mary

It was almost as if he hadn't heard her the first time, as Malone proceeded to just keep walking ; Seemingly frustrated, tired or more believably both. Furrowing her brows, the lion mutt simply cleared her throat, trailing hesitantly at his heels if not a couple lengths back.

"Sweetheart?" She reminded him, "...was that a yes?"

Deciding to just go along with his drift, Maryanne picked up her pace a little as she trotted to his side once again. Any social cue the snowy might've put off seemingly became nonexistent. But she really wasn't sure what to take of the attitude if she were being honest.

The atmosphere by this point was dropping significantly as the sun started to set over the mountains. It was still light enough to take a walk tho.. so why was he acting out so strangely about it?

"I was thinking we could take that trail we used to sneak down as kids. Have a little trip down memory lane?" She brushed up against him for a moment, in attempts to snap him out of whatever thought coma he'd buried himself in. "C'mon - You need a break from your duties.."

Malone

To a normal cat, the little touch would have felt great. Affectionate. Loving. Warm.

But to Malone, right now...? To the misread ques, to the unanswered questions, to the overwhelming, suffocating, thought engulfing panic that seized Malone in that instance as Mary touched him.

It was pain. Pure pain. Every brush of her fur against his felt like needles racking across his ribs, piercing through his skin and out the otherside, making him want to writhe and worm away like a trapped rat struggling to free itself.

And he did just that.

His eyes clouded over slightly, out of focus, and he just... reacted.

He had no choice over his actions, no choice over what he did, no control. No control. Just the blazing fear, and pain, and anxiety, and he needed to breathe, he needed to breathe, he needed to-

Malone's paws were already against Mary's shoulder. He didn't know when they'd gotten there, or when he'd suddenly teleported a tail length away from her. His vision was in shuttered pictures, standing still and frozen one moment and the next, standing on his haunches, arching away from his mate, his paws on her shoulder.

And the next... he was pushing her. No, he was shoving her. Getting the threat away from him. Brain on autopilot. Completely, utterly, autopilot.

Mary

Tucked away in the part of camp not many cats had strolled , is exactly where Maryanne and Malone ended up by the end of this conversation.. and although it seemed to of just started - it had come to a screaming halt just minutes into it.

And although the interaction took place in the least populated region of Ice Empire, it was still the main hub... and it still gained a fair amount of attention.

Unable to react, Maryanne had found herself in a pile of snow then, stumbling to the ground in one swift shove. If anything was said, she wouldn’t have remembered because everything had blurred together in those last couple moments.

And the only thing that raced her mind was, “where did I go wrong?”. Standing before her wasnt the same cat she’d met 3 years ago... standing right at her paws wasnt the cat she fell in love with. Malone wasnt here anymore... and it frightened her. For the first time ever, Maryanne was speechless. She was trembling with uncertainty and the look on her face..? Mary was simply just defeated, with only traces of shock and fear to lace the rest of her expression.

She had no words. No yelling, or screaming - not even crying. Just shocked and scared of what was to come next.

Malone & Warrick

Malone stared at her, his brain and thoughts fizzling out into a blindingly white calm, a ringing in his ears, so loud and piercing he could barely hear it - he could feel it, though.

The rush of blood and adrenaline in his veins, the tingling, the prickling, but his head was empty. No thoughts, no feelings. His eyes reflected it.

His eyes were like the eyes of a doe or a wolf. Animalistic. Not intelligent, not himself. Like he didn't know how to talk anymore.

Instincts, and nothing else.

But he didn't move from where he'd pushed her. Just stood, feeling the ringing, feeling his fur shift over his skin as he breathed, deep in and shallow out. Like he'd been close to tears for a moment in all the madness.

He stayed there, staring, for what must have been a full minute to Mary. But to him was barely a second.

Like his memory had blacked out.

He suddenly felt very, very real though, as an unfamiliar and yet terrifyingly loud roar echoed from the trees just outside of camp. In full view of them, but invisible to them, a shape had stood. Had seen.

Had been the only one to see the shove. To see what Malone had done. To see something even he hadn't fully processed had happened yet, spotted legs numb and trembling slightly, teeth bared very slightly, not in aggression - but fear.

But thats not what it looked like... to Warrick.

Warrick hadn't seen the build up. Hadn't seen the fear, or the blankness, or the way he trembled and stared like a dull animal rather then a cat.

To Warrick, who had bared the burdeon of Mary's worries and concerns, seen him snap at her time and time again and had said nothing because Mary had begged him to. Had begged him not to say anything.

Begged him not to do anything. To just... be there for her.

'Its not his fault, he's not well'

'Please Warrick, I'm fine, look. He's just a grumpy gills lately. We'll be fine'

Well now Malone had crossed the very fine line the tiger mutt had drawn in the snow - he touched. Mary.

And that broke Warrick's calm and peace and resolve. It broke and snapped every line and tether Warrick had to his own morality, to see her fall and land hard in the snow. To know how close she was to having those cubs. And he'd snapped at her, and then pushed her - a pregnant cat. His mate. Warrick's best friend, he had pushed her. And that was that.

The last straw.

And for the first time in his life, for the first time in the three years he'd been alive. Warrick had honest and truely had ever wanted to hurt someone. To dig his claws in, and rip and bite make them feel pain. And the feeling was overwhelming, like some floodgate had been opened and it had crashed down into the young male- no. Now Adult male's bones, his muscles, his head, and it was so powerful, it had his equally powerful body moving.

He'd been coming back with a catch for Mary. Having gone hunting, just to kill some time. The deer he'd caught lay abandoned and still in the trees, forgotten, as he charged down the small decline like a freight train, feet barely touching the floor, and leapt, claws out, teeth bared.

Malone barely had time to breathe, to turn his head more then an inch to face him, before his once close friend came down upon him like he was nothing more then prey beneath his claws.

The air was crushed from Malone as Warrick's full weight was dropped on him from a height. Warrick knew exactly what he was doing, as well. He wanted to hurt him. He wanted to kill him. The anger, it infused every cell in his body.

And he did some damage. His claws raked across his side, his flanks, his chest. His teeth clamped down on Malone's paw as his body reacted without permission, trying to shove Warrick too, to kick at him, but it was useless. His gasped breaths and cries, and Warrick's aggression were the only sounds in the clearing for a short time.

And finally, it was over as soon as it had began it seemed. Warrick's large muscular body was over Malone's thinner, scruffier one.

His cream and now red smudged paw at his throat, claws sinking in through his fur to pierce his skin, and he held him there. Pinning him. Claws at his jugular, and his weight against his throat, making Malone scrabble and snatch any air he could.

If it weren't for the snow... Warrick may well have broken Malone's neck in that instant by pure accident.

Both boys stayed there, Warrick's broad face inches from the snow leopards, hate in his eyes. It scared Malone. In that instance, in the pause, in his black rimmed vision, he saw Mary. Realized what he'd done. And Warrick let him have that moment to think about what he'd done. To stew in it.

And in that same moment... Malone really hoped Warrick would kill him. Would just... end it.

"You..." Warrick hissed, inching closer to Malone's face. His voice was cracked. Raw, with both emotion and strain. That roar from before... it had come from him. That was obvious now."Are very... very lucky... that you are who you are, Malone. Because if you weren't. Empire mate or not. I would kill you for you you've done"

And he meant it.

And Malone knew it.

Malone gave him a look that Warrick, unknowingly, would have burned into his minds eye forever more after this day - a look of acceptance. Of pleading.

'Do it. Please.'

'Kill me'

Warrick stepped back, looking towards the crumpled, confused snowleopard. Blood oozing from the scratches on both of them. Warrick more so then Malone, it seemed. Somehow. Even in his anger, Warrick hadn't hurt Malone as much as Malone seemed to think he was going to. Bruised severely, maybe - but not broken him. Not like Warrick had wanted to.

"Take a good look at your mate, and the cubs she bares. Because this is the closest you'll ever get to any of them again." Warrick snarled. "You even try - And I swear on all the gods above and below, I will end what I started here."

Mary

Frozen in shock, suddenly the calm before the storm was over.

3 years worth of memories flashed through her mind then. How her and Warrick would sneak out together into a small clearing behind the empire… and how Malone would always trail at her paws no matter where she went. How the two of them, despite their differences grew up beside one another like brothers - bickering and all… and yet? It was all over in under 5 minutes.

”Warrick!” She screamed among the chaos, fear striking her core as their fight began. He was crushing him. ”Warrick PLEASE!” she pleaded. But it wasn’t loud enough.

And thats when it hit. That dull ache that had burdened her all afternoon .. it was back - but much worse. Unable to focus on the situation before her, Maryanne curled herself up as a contraction wracked her body - Tensing and bracing herself as it came in waves, throbbing.

”…I need help-“ She managed to spit out , silenced by her pains. These cubs were coming , and they were coming fast.

Malone & Warrick

Warrick glared down at Malone for a moment longer, before he turned and quickly made his way back to Mary, panic lancing through him as he seemed to realize what was going on.

Malone stayed there in a stunned, awful, thick silence. Flaked out and raw on the snow, listening to Mary's cries.

Warrick's soothing, deep voice.

And slowly, when he managed to get feeling back in his paws, he rolled onto his belly and looked. Truly looked at them.

... He didn't deserve her. He'd never, deserved her. He didn't deserve anything.

Its why he was abandoned in the first place - he deserved, nothing. He was... nothing.

Not after what he'd done.

With barely a glance back towards them, Malone turned and sprinted away from them, further into ice territory, leaving nothing behind in his wake besides a flurry of red-stained pawprints in the freshly disturbed snow.

Description

Set in Ice Empire, 25th of Decemeber, 40BC.

Summery
Malone has been on the decline for a while, behaving strangely, and Warrick has been picking up the slack the snow leopard had been leaving. But even the nicest animals has that one straw that breaks their back. The end of an era begins this day, and new paths are forged in a painful, firey blaze.

Characters
Warrick & Malone (Zincwolf )
Maryanne (MostlyMoose )

(Collab between the both of us. We welcome Whitney, Everest, Harper and Susitna to the world xx)
Rain847 Nyther-oh

Be on the look out for a very secret, very special surprise to be posted after this - see part one, the reveal, on MostlyMoose 's account. Link will be added soon.

Enjoy the Finale

---

Mary

Sunbathing wasn't what it used to be anymore. Maybe it was because the constant kicks to her ribs offset her mood, but more likely than not Mary chalked it up to be simply restlessness.

Up until about 2 weeks prior, everything was going smoothly... and no I'm not talking about her pregnancy. As far as Mia was concerned, this was a picture perfect... textbook quality pregnancy. Maryanne wasn't worried about the status of her cubs, she was concerned about Malone. Uncrossing her paws from the position they had been rested in, the lion mutt clocked her mate as he appeared from the Gladiators den. See, the thing was he always seemed fine.. from a distance. Malone was just, Malone to everyone else - but he wasn't Malone for her.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, or point out a particular reason as to why he didn't seem in his right mind when he was around her... Maybe it really was her hormones' playing tricks on her. She knew he was never an 'over the top' kind of excitement type. So why did this bother her so much?

Reeling back from her racing train of thoughts, Maryanne smiled gently at the passing snow leopard - Sliding into a sit before slithering off the boulder she'd planted herself on hours prior. "I didn't hear you leave this morning, where've you been off too all day?" She playfully inquired.

"Y'know, I got to talking with Warrick today and he had a really cool idea I've been tossing around. With all the stuff he says, I'm shocked his siblings don't have more keepsakes or accessories. He's really quite the natural when it comes to little ones" Not really minding where Mallow had to be this morning, Mary moved on - hopefully sparking the snowy to converse with her about their soon to be future.

Malone

Malone... barely seemed to acknowledge she was even there at first. He was trying his best to continue like everything was normal, so much so, that he'd blinkered out any and all sound and sights. He looked... out of it.

Very out of it, his eyes dazed.

But as she mentioned Warrick, Malone couldn't help but feel himself snap back to reality. A flare of anger ripped through his chest and irritably, he felt his fur along his spine start to stick up.

He'd just wanted to go talk to Shabeel about a new patrol route. He'd been out all morning, out all day. He didn't want to talk to Mary, and he didn't want to hear about Warrick.

He'd started to really dislike the sight of Warrick over the last few weeks. He was always... there. Interfering. Getting involved. He was all Mary ever wanted to talk about, always wanting to invite him to things, wanting to get his opinion.

He just wanted to be left alone. "Warrick should get his own mate then, shouldn't he."

Mary

Everything from his demeanor to the tone of his voice... it all just made Mary flinch. Her smile, although still present, faltered a little as he stood there. He was on edge and clearly not having a good day.

When did he have a good day tho..?

Clearing her throat, Mary laughed a little to herself... an awkward kinda chuckle.

"..Ha... Yeah- uhm... But we know War, I don't think he's gonna to settle down anytime soon.." She joked, keeping her mood lifted among everything else that seemed to crash down on their conversation.

"You've worked hard these past few days, why dont you come on a walk with me? Y'know, take some time to just relax and take in the peace and quiet-" Mary purred "- Get some peace and quiet while we still can."

Malone

Malone's already dark outlook on the world seemed to get just that ever so slightly more blinkered, black edging his vision, which was becoming more and more like a tunnel the longer it went on.

The more she spoke, the more she mentioned.

'Peace and quiet while we still can'

Right.

He'd have... no time to himself anymore when the kids were here. He felt like he was losing himself sometimes, thinking about it. He felt like he was losing himself anyway with being 'Mary's mate'. Thats who he was to the Empire now. He'd heard it metioned around. 'Malone, the blacksmith's mate'. 'Malone, Warrick's friend'.

He was a patrol captain. He'd clawed his way to that position. He'd worked his tail off. He'd supported his friends, been a good gladiator- hell he'd even gone to war, for this Empire. And he was becoming a ghost.

It made his chest tighten and his paws tingle with a rush, his pupils shrinking into sharp slits.

Without answering her, he started to walk anyway. He needed to get away from her, even her presence becoming overbearing to him as his anxiety attack started to take hold. Every sound, every tiny sound felt like it spiked into his head like a roaring chorus. Every cat near him, near his general area - they were too close. Too closed in. Too... too close...

His nerves cast their net wide, and even the lingering from of Shabeel on the other end of the camp seemed far, far too close.

Mary was a glaring source of panic to him.

So he tried to get away, and to keep his walk calm, even if his claws slid out ever so slightly with each step as he tried not to grip onto the grass

Mary

It was almost as if he hadn't heard her the first time, as Malone proceeded to just keep walking ; Seemingly frustrated, tired or more believably both. Furrowing her brows, the lion mutt simply cleared her throat, trailing hesitantly at his heels if not a couple lengths back.

"Sweetheart?" She reminded him, "...was that a yes?"

Deciding to just go along with his drift, Maryanne picked up her pace a little as she trotted to his side once again. Any social cue the snowy might've put off seemingly became nonexistent. But she really wasn't sure what to take of the attitude if she were being honest.

The atmosphere by this point was dropping significantly as the sun started to set over the mountains. It was still light enough to take a walk tho.. so why was he acting out so strangely about it?

"I was thinking we could take that trail we used to sneak down as kids. Have a little trip down memory lane?" She brushed up against him for a moment, in attempts to snap him out of whatever thought coma he'd buried himself in. "C'mon - You need a break from your duties.."

Malone

To a normal cat, the little touch would have felt great. Affectionate. Loving. Warm.

But to Malone, right now...? To the misread ques, to the unanswered questions, to the overwhelming, suffocating, thought engulfing panic that seized Malone in that instance as Mary touched him.

It was pain. Pure pain. Every brush of her fur against his felt like needles racking across his ribs, piercing through his skin and out the otherside, making him want to writhe and worm away like a trapped rat struggling to free itself.

And he did just that.

His eyes clouded over slightly, out of focus, and he just... reacted.

He had no choice over his actions, no choice over what he did, no control. No control. Just the blazing fear, and pain, and anxiety, and he needed to breathe, he needed to breathe, he needed to-

Malone's paws were already against Mary's shoulder. He didn't know when they'd gotten there, or when he'd suddenly teleported a tail length away from her. His vision was in shuttered pictures, standing still and frozen one moment and the next, standing on his haunches, arching away from his mate, his paws on her shoulder.

And the next... he was pushing her. No, he was shoving her. Getting the threat away from him. Brain on autopilot. Completely, utterly, autopilot.

Mary

Tucked away in the part of camp not many cats had strolled , is exactly where Maryanne and Malone ended up by the end of this conversation.. and although it seemed to of just started - it had come to a screaming halt just minutes into it.

And although the interaction took place in the least populated region of Ice Empire, it was still the main hub... and it still gained a fair amount of attention.

Unable to react, Maryanne had found herself in a pile of snow then, stumbling to the ground in one swift shove. If anything was said, she wouldn’t have remembered because everything had blurred together in those last couple moments.

And the only thing that raced her mind was, “where did I go wrong?”. Standing before her wasnt the same cat she’d met 3 years ago... standing right at her paws wasnt the cat she fell in love with. Malone wasnt here anymore... and it frightened her. For the first time ever, Maryanne was speechless. She was trembling with uncertainty and the look on her face..? Mary was simply just defeated, with only traces of shock and fear to lace the rest of her expression.

She had no words. No yelling, or screaming - not even crying. Just shocked and scared of what was to come next.

Malone & Warrick

Malone stared at her, his brain and thoughts fizzling out into a blindingly white calm, a ringing in his ears, so loud and piercing he could barely hear it - he could feel it, though.

The rush of blood and adrenaline in his veins, the tingling, the prickling, but his head was empty. No thoughts, no feelings. His eyes reflected it.

His eyes were like the eyes of a doe or a wolf. Animalistic. Not intelligent, not himself. Like he didn't know how to talk anymore.

Instincts, and nothing else.

But he didn't move from where he'd pushed her. Just stood, feeling the ringing, feeling his fur shift over his skin as he breathed, deep in and shallow out. Like he'd been close to tears for a moment in all the madness.

He stayed there, staring, for what must have been a full minute to Mary. But to him was barely a second.

Like his memory had blacked out.

He suddenly felt very, very real though, as an unfamiliar and yet terrifyingly loud roar echoed from the trees just outside of camp. In full view of them, but invisible to them, a shape had stood. Had seen.

Had been the only one to see the shove. To see what Malone had done. To see something even he hadn't fully processed had happened yet, spotted legs numb and trembling slightly, teeth bared very slightly, not in aggression - but fear.

But thats not what it looked like... to Warrick.

Warrick hadn't seen the build up. Hadn't seen the fear, or the blankness, or the way he trembled and stared like a dull animal rather then a cat.

To Warrick, who had bared the burdeon of Mary's worries and concerns, seen him snap at her time and time again and had said nothing because Mary had begged him to. Had begged him not to say anything.

Begged him not to do anything. To just... be there for her.

'Its not his fault, he's not well'

'Please Warrick, I'm fine, look. He's just a grumpy gills lately. We'll be fine'

Well now Malone had crossed the very fine line the tiger mutt had drawn in the snow - he touched. Mary.

And that broke Warrick's calm and peace and resolve. It broke and snapped every line and tether Warrick had to his own morality, to see her fall and land hard in the snow. To know how close she was to having those cubs. And he'd snapped at her, and then pushed her - a pregnant cat. His mate. Warrick's best friend, he had pushed her. And that was that.

The last straw.

And for the first time in his life, for the first time in the three years he'd been alive. Warrick had honest and truely had ever wanted to hurt someone. To dig his claws in, and rip and bite make them feel pain. And the feeling was overwhelming, like some floodgate had been opened and it had crashed down into the young male- no. Now Adult male's bones, his muscles, his head, and it was so powerful, it had his equally powerful body moving.

He'd been coming back with a catch for Mary. Having gone hunting, just to kill some time. The deer he'd caught lay abandoned and still in the trees, forgotten, as he charged down the small decline like a freight train, feet barely touching the floor, and leapt, claws out, teeth bared.

Malone barely had time to breathe, to turn his head more then an inch to face him, before his once close friend came down upon him like he was nothing more then prey beneath his claws.

The air was crushed from Malone as Warrick's full weight was dropped on him from a height. Warrick knew exactly what he was doing, as well. He wanted to hurt him. He wanted to kill him. The anger, it infused every cell in his body.

And he did some damage. His claws raked across his side, his flanks, his chest. His teeth clamped down on Malone's paw as his body reacted without permission, trying to shove Warrick too, to kick at him, but it was useless. His gasped breaths and cries, and Warrick's aggression were the only sounds in the clearing for a short time.

And finally, it was over as soon as it had began it seemed. Warrick's large muscular body was over Malone's thinner, scruffier one.

His cream and now red smudged paw at his throat, claws sinking in through his fur to pierce his skin, and he held him there. Pinning him. Claws at his jugular, and his weight against his throat, making Malone scrabble and snatch any air he could.

If it weren't for the snow... Warrick may well have broken Malone's neck in that instant by pure accident.

Both boys stayed there, Warrick's broad face inches from the snow leopards, hate in his eyes. It scared Malone. In that instance, in the pause, in his black rimmed vision, he saw Mary. Realized what he'd done. And Warrick let him have that moment to think about what he'd done. To stew in it.

And in that same moment... Malone really hoped Warrick would kill him. Would just... end it.

"You..." Warrick hissed, inching closer to Malone's face. His voice was cracked. Raw, with both emotion and strain. That roar from before... it had come from him. That was obvious now."Are very... very lucky... that you are who you are, Malone. Because if you weren't. Empire mate or not. I would kill you for you you've done"

And he meant it.

And Malone knew it.

Malone gave him a look that Warrick, unknowingly, would have burned into his minds eye forever more after this day - a look of acceptance. Of pleading.

'Do it. Please.'

'Kill me'

Warrick stepped back, looking towards the crumpled, confused snowleopard. Blood oozing from the scratches on both of them. Warrick more so then Malone, it seemed. Somehow. Even in his anger, Warrick hadn't hurt Malone as much as Malone seemed to think he was going to. Bruised severely, maybe - but not broken him. Not like Warrick had wanted to.

"Take a good look at your mate, and the cubs she bares. Because this is the closest you'll ever get to any of them again." Warrick snarled. "You even try - And I swear on all the gods above and below, I will end what I started here."

Mary

Frozen in shock, suddenly the calm before the storm was over.

3 years worth of memories flashed through her mind then. How her and Warrick would sneak out together into a small clearing behind the empire… and how Malone would always trail at her paws no matter where she went. How the two of them, despite their differences grew up beside one another like brothers - bickering and all… and yet? It was all over in under 5 minutes.

”Warrick!” She screamed among the chaos, fear striking her core as their fight began. He was crushing him. ”Warrick PLEASE!” she pleaded. But it wasn’t loud enough.

And thats when it hit. That dull ache that had burdened her all afternoon .. it was back - but much worse. Unable to focus on the situation before her, Maryanne curled herself up as a contraction wracked her body - Tensing and bracing herself as it came in waves, throbbing.

”…I need help-“ She managed to spit out , silenced by her pains. These cubs were coming , and they were coming fast.

Malone & Warrick

Warrick glared down at Malone for a moment longer, before he turned and quickly made his way back to Mary, panic lancing through him as he seemed to realize what was going on.

Malone stayed there in a stunned, awful, thick silence. Flaked out and raw on the snow, listening to Mary's cries.

Warrick's soothing, deep voice.

And slowly, when he managed to get feeling back in his paws, he rolled onto his belly and looked. Truly looked at them.

... He didn't deserve her. He'd never, deserved her. He didn't deserve anything.

Its why he was abandoned in the first place - he deserved, nothing. He was... nothing.

Not after what he'd done.

With barely a glance back towards them, Malone turned and sprinted away from them, further into ice territory, leaving nothing behind in his wake besides a flurry of red-stained pawprints in the freshly disturbed snow.