How could they have done this!?

Hawthorne breathed through gritted teeth as she made her way through the village, the anger gripping her body not letting her internalize anything from the Serperior’s lesson she had just received. Yet another repetition of protective moves didn’t matter, couldn’t matter.

Not when the Elders had put everyone here at such a risk.

The Espurr’s thrashing aura left gashes in the loose snow around her as she tried not to scream. It was one thing for them all to allow THAT THING to live, but—THIS!? They let IT stay here and keep hurting them all; how—how—

HOW COULD THEY!?

Her paws gripped the sides of her forehead. The extended claws drew the tiniest bit of blood as she stared into the muddy snow in front of her, straining all that was left of her composure. She’d never even come close to losing it in her life, but. But THAT THING was here now, putting them all at risk, able and willing to hurt them all, especially her dad!

Her dad was lying to her, too. The thought thawed her from her almost-outburst, getting her going again through tears. She hadn’t been up for that long; the sun wasn’t even close to setting yet, but she still felt exhausted. By the BETRAYAL, by her concerns being dismissed, by being so angry about it all and yet unable to do anything about it.

The one person she expected to stand up for her, or even for himself, didn’t.

It baffled her more than anything else, baffled and infuriated. He’d told her what THESE THINGS had put him through, how much THEY had hurt him, but he kept trying to downplay it now. She remembered his tears, his pain, every single night when she’d wake up only to see him wide awake, shaking beside the hearth.

But apparently, none of that mattered now! All it took was the Elders saying a word, and he bent to their whims and pretended nothing had happened! That one of THESE THINGS hadn’t scarred him in mind and body, that IT hadn’t trapped him and kept him as a pet for years,

That THEY weren’t all MONSTERS.

She wasn’t sure which hurt her more, the lies or the betrayal. All the Espurr knew was that she hurt, and she didn’t want to be hurting. She just wanted to be safe. And for them all to be safe too, especially her dad.

Maybe it wasn’t too late?

Freezing tears stung through her fur as Hawthorne perked up and upped her pace. It couldn’t have been too late; the Elders had only made their mistake last night. And ARIA must’ve influenced them, too! Yes, of course, it all made sense now!

She just had to shake sense into her dad, had to use her meager psychics to break him from that EVIL GARDEVOIR’S control, and make them all safe again! It would be difficult, but she could do it; everyone depended on her! She would be the hero; they’d all thank her, praise her and be sorry for all the times they dismissed her concerns, especially Autumn—

kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill THAT THING was here. kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill

Hawthorne stared down the street, pink eyes only able to focus on HER TARGET. She knew she had no chance against everyone standing beside IT, not all taken together, but it didn’t matter. Just had to strike when Autumn and Marco were distracted; before that wimp—no, that TRAITOR Ember could react.

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Nobody else mattered, nobody else could stop her.

kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill It was time. kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill

Her eyes lit up with a flare as she raised her ears. Aura thrashed in her mental grasp, pushed so far beyond its usual intensity she could only barely control it. Didn’t matter. THESE THINGS were pathetic, all she had to do was get one good hit while IT was distracted, break IT in half. She could do it, she’d be a hero, she’d rid them all of this MONSTER, make them all safe—

die die die DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

!!!

Her aura tried to jolt forward, to maim THAT THING where IT stood, but it couldn’t, forcibly held still. It hurt, so intense a gasp of pain caught in her throat as she strained against whatever force was keeping her bound—

“^Don’t.^”

Cinder’s voice filled her mind, a simple command amplified to deafening volume by the intensity of their combined psychics. Had Hawthorne any more control of herself, she would’ve screamed in fear and ran off—but couldn’t, the Delphox’s mental grasp holding her like a vice. The Espurr shrieked, pushing through her turbulent aura, “^LET ME GO!^”

The firefox didn’t answer. Instead, the kitten felt her built-up energy slowly dissolve, defusing her almost-attack. It hurt less, but it also meant she wouldn’t be able to attack IT anymore, making Hawthorne thrash even harder in her teacher’s unassailable aura. As she was about to cry out to be let go once more, though, she heard another voice, one that made her freeze in something worse than fear.

“Hawthorne!” Max cried out, aghast at what he’d just ran into. “What—what are you doing...”

His daughter kept thrashing in Cinder’s grasp to no use, soon crying out, “^Protecting you!^”

The scene was overwhelming for the Meowstic, both in the intensity of the psychic auras being wielded against one another, in there being a human just a few dozen feet away, and in how much malice dripped from his daughter. She didn’t even make any sense! “What—what do you mean, we are safe!”

“^But there’s a HUMAN in the village and it will hurt you and everyone else is too afraid to do anything about it!^” Hawthorne shrieked through more and more tears, her fear as genuine as can be. “^ARIA poisoned your mind, I know it, the elders’ too, we need to kill IT before IT hurts us all—^”

“HAWTHORNE!” her dad cried, trying the only thing he could to cut his daughter’s terrible words off.

“^DAD PLEASE, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE SOMEWHERE!^”

“HAWTHORNE! I BEG YOU, STOP!” Max pleaded, stopping the Espurr’s rambling for but a moment. “WHY DON’T YOU BELIEVE ME!?”

“^B-because THESE THINGS hurt you! THEY will hurt you again if we let them—^”

“And is your way of keeping us safe hurting them back!?”

Hawthorne stared at him, terrified and confused, “^What else!?^”

“Wouldn’t they have an excuse to hurt us too then!? And so on and so on; bloodshed solves nothing! HATRED SOLVES NOTHING!” He cried out, wounds in his mind clawed open once more. His daughter tried to speak up once more, but he continued first, “No, Hawthorne! I am hurt, it hurts so much, but it is MY pain to bear! I’m so sorry I’ve exposed you to so much more of it than I should have. I—I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that.”

Max’s paws gripped his temples as his tears peppered the snow and dirt below him. He didn’t want to do any of this; he didn’t want to be anywhere near a human any more than his daughter did, but he had to. All this was his fault; he had to make up for what he had done in whatever way he could.

“Please, understand, this human is a child! She’s just like you, she’s done nothing wrong!” He begged, heart racing as he turned toward the girl his daughter hated so much. He took a step closer, then another, using all his courage to not run away, and continued, “She—she just wants to be safe, just like us. Keep your wrath for those that actually hurt us, be they humans or our fellow mons, I beg you...”

As Max was about to turn back towards the Espurr, he noticed the human move. He didn’t want to be here, to see them, but if it meant they’d be safe, if it meant his daughter might ever heal from all the ways he’d unintentionally hurt her, then he’d bear through this. He lifted his paw and returned Anne’s waves, only barely keeping the fight-or-flight response at bay.

“I’m sorry, Hawthorne.”

After catching his breath, he looked up at the stone-faced Delphox, keeping his gaze away from his weeping, rage-filled daughter. He asked, “Cinder, could you carry her to our dwelling?”

The firefox answered wordlessly, levitating the thrashing Espurr around the corner before following in tow. As he watched them leave and eventually followed in their steps, the Meowstic feared.

Feared that just like his physical wounds, his daughter’s mental scars would never heal.