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Beings carrying humane emotions were all so delightfully weak. Were all so easily to be destroyed by words and promises that might rip out from sullied ground feeblest strings of life desperate to hold onto what should be rotten ( just to realize horror when agreement would be kept! ). 

Like a child that had been promised the biggest surprise, eyes formerly glazed with fear and anger, would now shine at him as if he was a ‘savior’ in the darkest, coldest corner of nightmare haunting frail youth’s dream. Astonishing, how it repeated itself again and again, like making a pact with a devil, would desire overthrown perturbation ( while he still held it for the strongest emotion! ). 

“I can do that~”

Ah! Jumbled thoughts, for he had only suggested, but not picked out. Yet the pup’s thoughts were too easy to follow, too easy to make out what was appropriate for juvenile optimism to indulge himself in. “But of course I can!~ It is so easy to fulfill~” Might the mortician just impersonate dastardly friend, ready to devour what little courage and trust the other held, for just to offer himself up so willingly before the one that had been about tear him into two. 

Should he guess?~ Continue to spin and mime the omniscient being? Now, perhaps - and the Death God would return to let fingers glide almost too gentle against tender skin, as if marking him up to be his in a pact with blood still coating ice-cold hands ( for he was Death, after all! ). 

“Revenge is what you yearn after, but of course I can give you that! I merely need some names, that is all it takes for me to carry out such wish for you~” ( The one you are unable to fulfill yourself! ) “How does that sound, hm~? I will lend you my power for that~” But why? Why would he even?! It was nothing more than a moment’s notice, a little snap of the fingers, to play and see cravings unfold in a way that the powerless may become powerful! Done the Shinigami had such in the past just a few more times, if only because boredom might grasp after him, like little chains he should and could break with the wave of his hand.

Should the child just help him with that - he wanted to see him being torn apart by realization that gamble with supreme entity could bring not only fortune but sorrow a well. 

“As for what I want from you~” 

What would he want from a powerless pup just like this one? What would even be enough to have him bring demise onto those unknown and - likely - by terms of the world ‘not important’ ( innocent! ) enough to be spared by harsh grasp of death? A mere smirk, for he was a vile man, a cruel man, an arrogant man. “I will keep you, for that is enough for me~”

     Despite the excitement that was now pulsing through him in waves (those traitors..! Murderers!! They would finally die, after all this time!!) Emil’s expression faltered as he continued to listen to the Reaper before him. With strength such as that -- far greater than even his father’s or the elders’ themselves -- the pack would stand no chance of survival, and yet he stood silent, faltering.

     A shuddered exhale parted the wolf’s lips, hands that trembled at his sides curling into loose fists as he thought. He could practically imagine it, the blood that would cover the grounds he had once adored with everything he had. From the ground to the grass to the trees... They would be cleansed of the presence that had poisoned those memories for Emil into thoughts of pure loss and despair, and yet...

     He was hesitating.

     Emil was standing before Death himself -- before the Devil, who was treating him with a sudden gentleness that had taken him off guard, and at the very same time had put him at ease. There was absolutely no reason for him to trust those words, but he did, merely because desperation had deemed him unable to ignore the possibility. Strength was not his strong suit -- far from it. And this was... this was his chance to use someone else’s strength to fulfill his goals! Was Emil willing to sell his soul for something like that?

     Absolutely.

     Blood wiped at his cheek wasn’t minded and instead Emil allowed his gaze to shift upward once more into the yellow-green of the Death God. He appeared serious and swallowed the growing lump in his throat that had been the accumulation of his nerves and doubts. No more. No more running from his past -- from the elders -- from the memory of Annelise -- from his weaknesses.

     “My...” he started, then clenched his jaw before continuing. His resolve before a monster as great as this needed steeling. “... My family. All of them. The Fenrisson pack in the northern forests of East Norway... near the border of Sweden -- please.”

Oh~? He had triggered a memory, now spilling from the young boy ( from mouth as well as body, out of every pore! ) for him to watch, similarly as if gracing along the taunting record normally filling a soul and delivering whatever he desired to know. But! Truthfully, he could not regret having it driven so far to make him tremble and shiver - to make him forget who it was around and in reach for his life to be crushed with one grip of his hand. 

“Mhm~ Annelise? who might this person be~?” 

And the Death God had let him utter whatever words it were, had him become shaken up by sudden promise of eminent death if he just desired it to have ( what a pretence it was, he would keep the boy close and for him to toy with! ). ‘I don’t want to die…’ - so beautifully shakingly spoken as if a plea to the one who did not only promise demise but, underlining, suffocating power to be grasped in one’s hand. 

Behave - behave! Perhaps! He might just offer a bit more temptation, witnessing a tad more of the break promised by torn body and discouraged soul. He looked just like one of his dolls ( and it made him wonder how this boy would turn out to be? ) scrapping up the ground and digging into own flesh, to force upon own punishment that appeared needed and deserved, while the Death God would squat down and level this little playground of theirs just one time again. 

And with the hand who had treated him so maliciously—

—he would catch the child’s chin to lift it up and have him stare in the Shinigami’s eyes, with such a light touch, one might not assume it to have the same strength as the one nearly breaking his jaw and marring spinal cord to the point of having it break from sheer pressure alone. What the whole control over one’s ability could make someone do - could make others believe! It was utterly beautiful when he would watch those tears running down juvenile cheeks and get caught on still bloodied palm of his own hand, mixing so well ( as if it had to be like this! ).

“Then tell me what you want~”

Was it an offer? A possibility? A deal with the devil now so warmly providing consolation making head spin just as much as forceful break against the wall?

“Do you want strength? Or would you, rather, desire revenge~?”

     Who was she?

     That wasn’t a question that Emil could simply answer. Not in this state or another. Annelise had been his everything -- still is his everything. She had been the sunlight and the stars to his mere lonely planet, revolving around her completely and engulfed by the brightness of her life. Without her, Emil was... this.

     He was pathetic and angry and lifeless. He wandered, no longer kept on a solid path by the gravity of his sun to collide with any solid object in his path until the inevitability of breaking into a hundred thousand unrecognizable pieces. He had lived for her smile and the moment it had been taken away from him he had lived only with the purpose of one day being able to take theirs from them. Their lives and their reasons for living.

     “She...” Emil whispered, voice strained and rasping.

     Eyes closed tightly to avoid any tears from slipping down his cheeks, his entire expression pulled taunt with the stress of being forced to remember the painful details of his exile. Emil couldn’t even bring himself to finish -- from his reaction she was undoubtedly important. More important than anyone would have been able to understand simply because of the differences in which he was able to feel love and loss.

     It was any wonder that he was still alive after this long. His will was weak, but he could not yet join her in the embrace of death. Not yet...

      There was a touch to his chin, and Emil would have flinched away had it not been as gentle as it were. Was this really the same touch that had nearly torn him in two..? Muddy brown eyes blinked open in surprise as his face was tilted upward to stare at the face of his attacker (letting slip a tear that trailed down his cheek and drip to mingle with the blood still coating the Reaper’s hand), bright, yellow-green eyes and painful looking scars and all.

     A short, quiet gasp caught in his throat and his eyes widened the smallest amount. Revenge..? He could-- He would be able to be given such a thing? Emil cared little about his strength, only about the manner in which the family that had taken her from him died. There was a moment in which he paused, hands slowly pressing him upward to sit rightfully on the ground with wonder and hope in his stare.

     “You can-- You can do that..? Anything..! Anything, I’ll do anything! Just--...”

     “Well actually I don’t think I have anything to feed you in here…definitely no dog food.” Eir murmured as she looked through her bags before snapping her fingers.

     “Got it! Hold on for a minute.” She hoped the dog would understand her as she zipped to get they key into her lock. Dropping her grocery bags and purse on the counter she hurried for the fridge. Opening it she felt success chime in her as she pulled out the cold chicken she had cooked from last night.

     Outside again she removed the lid and peeked into the alleyway again. “Still there? I got just the treat for you.”

     He was more thankful than he should of been with the possibility of having anything other than dog food. Emil was grateful that the woman hadn’t recognized him as anything other than a seemingly very large mutt -- it had saved him the trouble of having to run from animal control.

     The wolf had sat this time waiting patiently for her return and when she had he immediately smelled something painfully close to cooked chicken.  Ears perked upward and he gave one involuntary wag of his tail that slapped the ground a little too hard for it to be an accident.

     Oh boy... It smelled good, but how was he going to get it without looking like a starved stray? Or maybe that was the route he should take -- gaining pity points seemed like a good idea...

    Walking down the familiar street Eir shifted her grocery bags to one arm while she reached for her keys when suddenly she hard a sudden clang from the alley way. Freezing in place she glanced down the dimly-lit alley and listening out for any sounds of distress or danger. When all she heard was some shuffling in the darkness she lit up the light on her phone and stepped closer to the source.

    What she saw had been far from her mind. An animal, a dog it looked like obviously lacking in weight was digging through the trash supposedly for something to eat. Eir was cautious in case the animal was rabid or feral, but the glance the dog gave her was quite tame so she let some of her guard down.

    “Hey there buddy. You look awfully thin, huh..?” Eir said softly feeling concern touch her as she took in the state of the stray. “We should get you some water and something good to eat.”

     Hunger had clenched at his gut for far too long -- Emil hadn’t eaten in days and resorting to digging through the trash wasn’t something he was below. So long as no one could recognize him as being, well... him. Furry ears twitched with the sounds of people walking down the street just yards away, nose capturing scents both near and far, interesting and... no so much.

     Still, that wasn’t going to stop him. A half eaten peanut butter and jelly from yesterday, a moldy steak from far too long ago. Rats. Dirty diapers Trash bags full of things that made his empty stomach churn horribly.

     However, he did pause with the sound of someone coming closer. A young woman, Emil had sensed. The wolf glanced over, intelligence and caution in his eyes more than hostility.

     She was used to stares like this. Used to being an outcast that was hated for who-knows-what, used to being told to leave and her body even tensed the slightest bit as she looked up at the man, only to stare back in the ground. It was if she was waiting for something – and honestly, she was. Waiting to be screamed at and called a monster, but… When it didn’t come, she blinked. 

     Maybe this person was… friendly? It was unlikely, but being herself she always had a spark of hope. And so she mustered up the courage to stand on all-fours instead of sitting back on her haunches, looking right back up at Emil. She’d talk to him, too, but… Maybe that would be pushing it for them to accept both her appearance and her speaking capability.

     Emil’s nose twitched as he gave a short sniff of the air. They certainly did smell like a dog would -- or something of the sort. Like... a dog who had spent a very long time with a human master. Too much time. But over thinking it would only make him question himself over and over again, and question what this creature really was.

     Honestly he didn’t want to know. The look he was getting was innocent enough.

     Puffing a small sigh, Emil crouched down on his haunches and reached a hand out to let himself be examined. If he was deemed worthy enough perhaps he would be allowed closer.

     This was.... Emil couldn’t place it, but it put his senses on edge and the urge to run was strong in the back of his mind. Without a doubt the creature smelled of both canine and homo sapien, but they were no were-animal and clearly neither dog nor human. The wolf swallowed thickly, brows knitting at the sight before him.

B)

     Aw, shit. He’d thought he had been sneaky upon stealing an apple from the market and slipping it into the pocket of his jacket. Emil was starving and he wasn’t about to get a paycheck any time soon... There was a pair of eyes watching him, but the wolf only returned the look with an angry glare -- almost as if saying, ‘Say something and you’re dead.’

It nearly looked like torture placed on the child’ back, serving for shining green eyes to widen at the sight and a low and nearly too dark chuckle to leave his lips, before he barely kept a laughter away at the display. Maybe his mind was a tad too gone from everything and the blood still pouring and dripping to the ground? Ah! He would need to heal that wound, but it was a mere scratch in comparison to all he had forced onto the child!

And how realization crushed down on this little pup, with the cease of struggle and those stuttered words, explaining and showing just how much he finally understood. “Now~ now~”

“Do you fear I might kill you~?” Such a question, undeniably, spoken with a form of venom dripping from the sneer he gave while tilting his head ‘playfully’ to one side, might and should elicit the answer of: ‘yes!’ hastily responded as if in hope, that he might be let off with those scratches and bruises given by iron hand. Or maybe he might utter and stutter out a broken ‘no!’ to hope his abductor might show some - mercy?

Might spare him?

“You should not be so afraid, like I mentioned before, I desire to keep you~” And that also, of course, implied to keep him alive and in ( well, at least somewhat ) useful shape, was it not like this? But with the sound of ripping seams that also reached the Shinigami’s ear, would he shake one more time the weight in his hand, serving for a delightful searing noise to resound after his sentence had been spoken, and for the bundle of terror and fear to land once more on the ground. Like a mutt in the dirt? Only a bit more - deplorable~

“Weak, are you not~?” 

With the ragged and shredded piece of clothing in his hand, there was not much that child would have to shield himself from eyes that were nearly gleaming with entertainment upon such revelations. And there he thought for this little runt to just be a loudmouthed brat! Ah, what a bit of time and - dedication - put into someone would help for informations to come to light~ “My person aside, it seems, hm~ that those who attacked you, marked you up, are just like you~?”

One of his most useful traits was hypothesizing on an edge of knowledge: seen too much, experienced too much. Even if the mortician did not know, he was all the more aware that his words would hit the right spot; he could pride himself on abundant perception carried in hundreds of years. 

“As I will keep you as my pet, I might just want to train you better~ ha! Or would you prefer to vanish from this world~?”

     His feet had hit the ground first, but there was no hope of them being to hold the weight of his body up any longer. They merely scraped against the cement, collapsing for his knees to crumble underneath him. Even Emil’s hands were hardly enough to keep him upright as he made an attempt to catch himself from falling completely. Slipping onto one elbow was pathetic enough, but his eyes were wide and his lips were trembling.

     A quiet, otherwise calming breeze cascaded down the length of his back, tickling the marred and ripped skin that was there. It felt more like electricity than a simple caress of the air -- his mouth pulled taunt over his teeth as if in pain. Emil practically was. Every reminder of what was suddenly brought to light made the screams return. The heart wrenching, agony filled screams of her final moments and his cries of sorrow and loss as he was forced to watch. They scraped at the inside of his skull and there was nothing he could do about it.

    “Annie-- Annelise...”

    Emil stared at the featureless ground but all he saw was red -- he’d practically forgotten who it was that stood over him with enough power to send him into the afterlife.

     The remaining palm flat on the surface of the ground curled into a shaking fist, fingernails scraping painfully before pressing into the skin hard enough to draw blood. Words spoken around him were faintly registered, but the wolf could hardly bring himself to care any longer. He deserved whatever punishment this was, didn’t he? Whether it be death, humiliation or something worse. He deserved it, he deserved it!! He deserved it for letting her be murdered!

     Blurred and tear gaze landed on the childish bracelet stretched around his wrist. The beads were large and colorful, those ones that little kids always seemed to have when arts and crafts were involved. It had been hers in the past -- Annelise’s. And Emil had memorized every bead and every pattern with how often he looked at it.

     Vanish from this world.

     Emil suddenly began to still. The trembling in his extremities faded and his eyes slowly lifted to peer forward instead of down. Vanish? No, he... He still had things to do, he still had to show those murderers--!!

     “Annelise..!” he repeated again, stronger this time but yet still nothing over a whisper. “N--... No, I can’t..! I can’t, I--”

     What was he doing so suddenly? Begging for his life? First forced onto his knees like a broken animal and now he was lowering himself to this level? Of course. After everything -- to live had become his priority, no matter how much he wished for breath to be taken from his lungs permanently. After. After he could rest peacefully.