[Zasha]

#a91101
I'm from the future
That's the last thing they'll hear me say
As I begin to uncontrollably shake

The sky was a blaze of color, hues of bright yellow and orange, gripped by pink and purple clouds that blended up into an indigo sky as the red sun sank behind a mountain face. Alteron's dense vegetation was left behind so long ago, often one would miss these pretty sights. The trees towering above, with foliage that collapsed inward that only made it feel like it they were trying to suffocate their subjects.

His paws skimmed over the bridge in a brisk walk, and not long he was over the mote and leaving the sleepy kingdom to it's own devices. There was no work for him within Alteron, no, it was never a proper fit. In fact, even that hilly place didn't really compare. Nothing would ever be 100% home, his blood screamed Saboro. His face? Marked with the red of it's paint. This is what you'll always be, Saboran, Hawkeye, Brother.

Mind would drift to the sweet Katti, when the two had found each other in the dead of winter. He'd professed his love and devotion to her after all these years, and once more the two were apart. The beams of red-orange light bled onto the ground through the trees and painted the male's back in a reddish dark hue. He could find her, where she may be and stay by her side.

He'd been a way for an awfully long time, freedom felt just as overwhelming as when he and Blue Sister had escaped from Saboro. A crunch of leaves and the male would turn his head, his lone eye seeking out the source and head tilting as a figure slowly neared him. "WHAT!?" He yelled, tail wagging slightly.

[kroni]

She was gone. She was gone gone gone gone gone gONE Kroni slunk through the brush, something hot burning its way through her chest. She wasn’t sure where she was anymore - she kept a careful eye on the stars, doing her best to use them to guide her way, but that didn’t mean she knew where she was. But she couldn’t stop. She had to find her. She was goNE It hurt. It hurt like fire, like that hole in the ground, like claws in her throat. Gold eyes scoured the earth before her for just a hint of blue while she sucked air between her teeth, tasting the air on her tongue for that sweet scent of home. Kroni didn’t know when Fini had become home, didn’t think too much about it. But she was, she is, and Kroni couldn’t loose anyone else. She refused to. There - Blue. Kroni turns on a dime to push her way through the brush, and stops just as quickly when the voice calls out to her - because it's not her and its something like drowning, like being back in the abyss screaming for help - And the voice is wrong, but she knows the smell. Sulfur and blood, jungle mists and poison. It’s faint, but Kroni knows that scent, carries it herself, and the heat is back as Kroni calmly steps forward, head low. Were there more? Was he alone? Had they found them? Gold eyes blink slowly at the striped wolf, pausing a moment before asking point blank, “Are you alone?” She could take him if he was alone. [ooc: she has no chill]

[Zasha]

#a91101

He was a jagged reminder to all who had inhabited that old, terrible place. Like any who bore the intricate red marks around their eyes, they'd done horrible things. Unspeakable things. Kroni was in shambles, expecting to find solace in knowing she had found her loved one, but instead she was met with a hard pill to swallow. Saboro and all it's horrid little pets still roamed this earth. They were very much real and alive, despite what the mind loved to tell her or anyone else.

But this monster was old and tired, his face weary and scarred, the years had left little kindness for Zasha, freedom was it's own choke chain. His fragmented mind did well under the chaotic structure of Saboro's old ways. Where love was twisted into a weapon to tear down a most beloved brother's foes. But now, his mind and body could wander unhinged and without much purpose. It was a hell of a scary way to live, but it was a way.

Lone red eye trained on the girl, his mind buzzed, but he barely remembered her in a swarm of faces. But he knew she was from their home, his home. I'm not who you're looking for, and you're not who I'm looking for. We're both equally disappointed in each, darling. As she lowered her head, Zasha would hold his higher, looking down at her from his muzzle. A memory fluttered of his Harrier partner's children, Marou? But Kroni's words came soft and calmly, though Zasha merely quirked a brow at her. "Yeeees, yes. Alone." Came a shrill hiss, tail flicking behind him like an impatient cat.

Somewhere in the quiet woods a mother hid away in an old hollowed out willow, curled tightly around a brood of twelve. Somewhere she waited for him to return, his mind so far away and always with her. "Why, why? WHY." He croaked aloud, titling his head slightly that the setting sun caught the red of his eye and tattoos. He moved forward,  lumbering like a tired giant, closing whatever distance was between them.

It had been a long time since he'd fought anybody, ripping into Sappara had soured the need, The world was cruel, but not as cruel as what Saboro forced them to be. The girl before him was just another victim, one who knew of loss, but in a different way. Zasha had a home and a loved one to get back to, Kroni was only hoping that hers still existed. "Saboro." He said coolly, unsure and seemingly uncaring if the word triggered any sort of feelings from the girl. "From Saboro. ZASHA, ZASHA, ZASHA!! From SABORO!" He cried loudly, fur bristling slightly as he did so. Now that all of his cards were laid out so clearly for her, he'd ask again. "What, WHAT, WHAAAAAAAAT?!" The both of them probably thinking at this point, I didn't come this far, I didn't survive this long, for.... THIS.

Something old, yet familiar stirred in the ex-Hawkeye.

[kroni]

There wasn’t something right with him - what is a war dog without its handler? why are you so alone my dear? - and Kroni is on tip toes as he babbles, his tail a lithe snake in the grass. She doesn’t understand him except for the fact that he’s alone. That’s all she cares about. Gold stays focused on red as he lumbers forward, a giant in his own right as he towers over her smaller frame. But Kroni has always been the David against a world of Goliaths, and she is not afraid. She doesn’t move as he gets close, close enough to touch and still she waits, calm and patient - Fini, Fini, I’m coming Fini, it’s going to be okay - and it’s easy to shrink, coiling up beneath his shadow. I’m weak, her body shrieks, I’m afraid. The angler fish in the deep sea, bobbing it’s light in the dark. Kroni waits, and he talks but Kroni isn’t listening to him anymore, just watching. And it’s as he roars his question that she launches forward and up like a spring, jaws open wide to try and catch the throat or jaw and knock the larger male off balance. It’s calculated and direct. She has no time for anything else. He’s alone and that decides everything - Kroni is confident in her abilities. She was born for this, built for this, her blood sings and her teeth ache and the thrill is not so small as she throws herself at the male. She’s going to get her back. She has to.

[Zasha]

@Nova

#a91101

She stared and stared and stared, didn't say anything and that crimson eye narrowed. Venomous and agitated with her company, and though the world might think him beaten and old, as soon as the girl sprang to action he was as quick as a whip. Moving with a youthfulness that would put his younger years to shame, he was a crow cloaked in the blackest of feathers, a streak of lightning in a pitch black sky.

His origins were of Saboro, he was the ex-Hawkeye, he was of their best and one of their most fearsome. Years Zasha had lived out his life in peace outside of Saboro's borders, and now, it seemed like peace just couldn't last.

The large male slid to the left, ducking his head out of reach and spinning on her just as quickly to bash her down and into the ground with large, heavy paws. Hopefully with his paws pressing down upon her back, teeth glistening with saliva as drool spilled from his black lips.

Zasha had a family to return to, a life to get back to. Maybe his mistake right now was not finishing the job, in his younger years he wouldn't have hesitated, and yet maybe the years had worn him down. He'd shove his weight down onto her for good measure, and pull away a growl rising from his scarred throat. "Leave Zasha alone." It was a warning, as he turned away from her.

There was just something unappealing about killing little girls.