-Black Wolf POV-

A dozen men arrived after the first. Their eyes were hard; their fingers wrapped around knives. The narrow alley was stiflingly hot, filled with so many people that there was no room to breathe. The threat of violence hung in the air, digging its fingers into his throat.

The boy looked at the man with icy contempt, not a trace of fear to be found. The boy was never in any danger- he had been the bait, and the wolf had been caught in the trap.

"My- my men will be here soon!" Blue Eyes shouted. His eyes were wild with panic. "If you don't release me, I'll-"

One of the men laughed, tossing something at Blue Eyes. It hit him with a dull thump. A few of the men followed his lead. The things came tumbling to the ground, and-

Heads.

Blood trickled from their severed necks, mouths open in soundless scream. Their eyes weren't sunken in, marking them as a fresh kill.

The scent of piss filled the air, and the leader kicked the man away with a sound of disgust.

"Come on, now. You can do better than that. Even Ant makes better threats than you."

The boy- Ant, probably- glared at the leader.

"Those weren't threats, they were promises," Ant hissed, eyes flashing. His face was gaunt, cheekbones jutting out in sharp corners. "I don't break promises. Ever."

"Alright, alright," the leader said easily. "You did well, Ant."

Ant's lip curled into a sneer.

"Of course I did."

[Black Wolf: Can you get out?]

He clutched the bunny tight to his chest, doing his best to hide her from view. The men's eyes bore into him, and their expression did not look friendly.

[White Bunny: Shifting won't be enough. They'll stab you to death before you can get out.]

The bunny said evenly, somehow calm despite the situation.

[Black Wolf: Not me. You.]

The bunny went silent.

[Black Wolf: That means yes, right?]

If he threw her into the air, and she started flying- there was no way they could expect that, right? She was fast. She'd be gone before they could react.

[White Bunny: Don't do anything impulsive.]

The bunny said finally. Her voice was impossible to read.

"You can't kill me. You can't," Blue Eyes said pleadingly. "Hold on, I-"

Blue Eyes fumbled around in his pants, pulling some coin-shaped thing out. The thing was circular and flat, and there was something engraved on the front- a sheep of some kind. It had an odd gleam to it, not quite like metal.

The leader stilled, expression going perfectly blank. Seeing his reaction, Blue Eyes nodded feverishly.

"You- you know what this means, right? I've got friends in high places. High- higher than Televaer. If you kill me here, I'll-"

"Retrieve the token for me," the leader said calmly, stepping back.

"No! You can't!" Blue Eyes begged. He crawled forward through the blood and piss. He looked around from person to person, desperately searching for a sympathetic face.

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"Please, I- I'll do anything, anything! Don't kill me, don't-"

"Count," one of them men greeted, stepping forward. His eyes were sunken into his face, but he was smiling. "Thank you for the ring you sent back. I don't know how I could've afforded this knife if you hadn't returned her finger."

The wolf watched as the blood sprayed. The men took their turns, each stepping back with a new coat of blood on their knives. He forced him not to flinch when some of it splattered across his clothes, his face.

You must never turn away. It was what his mother had taught him. Whether it was his death or someone else's, its sanctity had to be preserved.

"You don't like him, do you?" The leader nodded at the only man still attacking the bloodied mess on the ground. The rest of the men were cleaning their blades off, looking somewhere between uneasy and impressed.

The leader smiled at a particularly brutal crunch of bone.

"I don't generally bring him out. But the kids are too young to hold the knife, and they'll sleep better if they know the Count dies screaming."

The wolf nodded blankly. He couldn't make sense of the calm words and the violent scene, but he didn't need to. The bunny could escape. He just needed to wait for the leader to be distracted.

"Can you keep your mouth shut on your own? Or should I hold on to your bunny to help you remember?"

The wolf tensed at the mention of the bunny. He didn't understand anything other than she was in danger. He crouched lower, preparing to shift at a moment's notice. Seeing his reaction, the leader-

The wolf didn't know what the leader should have done. It wasn't like he was hoping for a fight, but-

The leader patted him on the shoulder. He had dragged Blue Eyes' death out purely for the purpose of humiliating the man, yet his own knife remained relatively clean.

"It's your choice, really. Just know that if you do end up talking, I'll be back with my friend over there."

The leader smiled at the man still bent over Blue Eyes' twitching body.

"You might not like him now, but I can promise you this- you'll like him even less then."

"That's not what promises are for," Ant muttered. He was hunched over the bloodied dirt, drawing with a tiny knife clutched in his fist. He added a circle with arrows to represent the sun.

What a cruel representation, the wolf thought. The boy saw the world a little too clearly.

"He came running when I screamed," Ant added a few moments later. The men dragged the body away behind him, and Ant paused. "Faster than you came, actually."

The wolf held his breath. He didn't know if he could save the kid, but-

The leader sighed.

"You were two hours ahead of schedule, Ant,"

"You should let him keep his bunny," Ant said, not even looking up. Ant doodled a tree under the sun, adding scribbles in place of the leaves.

"I didn't say I wouldn't, Ant-"

"You'll keep your mouth shut, right?" Ant asked, glancing up at the wolf. The roundness of his cheeks was lost in the sharpness of his chin. His eyes were hard, not a spark of life in them.

The wolf nodded, and Ant scowled.

"Right. Well, I'll keep an eye on him," Ant decided. He stood up, dusting his hands off.

"Ant, you can't just-"

"Come on. Let's go."

Ant pushed his way through the gang of men, paying no attention the blood on their blades. The men parted for the boy, and the wolf didn't question it. He hurried after the boy.

Ant wove his way through the alleys, easily leaping over any crates in his way. His slender limbs lent to cutting the corners, swinging around any obstacles around him. The wolf ran after him, getting the sense that the boy was purposefully going slow so that he could keep up.

"Here you are. The Adventurer's Guild," Ant said, sweeping his hand out. His expression remained flat, not showing any of the enthusiasm of his grand gesture.

The wolf nodded in thanks. He started to turn away, then-

Ant shot his hand out, gripping his arm. His fingers were thin, but his grip was almost bruising in strength.

"You- aren't going to ask how I knew where you were going?" Ant asked. Something flickered across his face, too fast for the wolf to read.

The wolf looked at Ant, trying to guess what the boy was talking about. The girl who had given him the stone had been easier to understand.

"It's supposed to be a secret," Ant added. His eyes scanned the wolf's face, searching for something. His fingers clenched tighter around his knife, but it seemed more out of habit than anything.

The wolf nodded slowly.

"Since you saved me, I guess I can tell you," Ant said slowly, as if thinking it over in his mind. "My skill lets me see where you've been and where you're going. Pretty cool, huh?"

The wolf considered it, then he nodded. That did sound interesting. Excitement flashed across Ant's face, and he hid it quickly, schooling his expression back into cold indifference.

"So don't try to run away. No matter where you go, I can always find you," Ant said ominously, pointing his knife at the wolf.

It would've been scarier if there was thunder flashing above. Instead, the two of them stood in broad daylight. A fly buzzed up to Ant's face.

"Get out of my face, stupid bug!" Ant shouted, swatting at the fly. The fly flew around his head insistently, and Ant flailed at.

Once he finally managed to scare it away, he cleared his throat, turning back to the wolf.

"As I was saying... you can flee to the corners of the earth, but you can never hide from me," Ant said, doing his scary voice again. Imaginary thunder flashed above him.

"So you better- you better talk not, or I'll kill you in your sleep!" Ant shouted, then he ran away.