#belote

"If you want to fight for him, this is your last chance."

"Your last chance." she says.

"Either you fight to try to save your son, and my abuser's, life, or I take it from you with no remorse. This is the only chance I will give you to pick what you think is the right path."

"Everytime I fight for something it is taken away a part of my life" Madiao responds.

"There is no right path that I've chosen all this time Samba."

"Yet all I ever wanted was a happy family, but I guess its my fault I have failed at that." She looks at the mechanical arm.

"My son's life is raised, fought for, and protected with that arm."

She pauses.

"This is what you're taking."

The stern look in Samba's gaze softens slightly as she listens to the plight of her grandmother. Sighing, she kneels down to be eye level with Madiao, and puts the mechanical arm back in Madiao's hand. After that, she puts her hands on her shoulders, staring her right in the eyes.

"I'm not heartless." She says softly.

"You won't want to have him leave you without a chance to say goodbye. If you care about him that much, go tell him that you love him."

Her teeth are grit slightly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the emotions of the older woman in front of her.

"Make it count. So you won't have anything you regret not telling him."

⚔

She makes sure he feels every last ounce of pain that she and her family felt growing up.

Making sure he screams loud enough to be heard.

And that he screams long enough that he grows too tired to make any more sounds.

Gripping his heart within his chest until it cracks, beating his stomach until he coughs up blood.

Just sheer unfiltered brutality. And catharsis on her end as she finally does unto him what he did to her and her family.

Eventually when he's too weak to move, speak, cough, or even breathe, she slams him against the wall spine-first and stares into his eyes - for the first time in her life, full of fear. Full of terror at her. At what she's done to him.

And she grips his core, and slowly crushes it in her hand until it shatters to pieces. Black, inky tears dripping from her eyes, her teeth sharper than usual and her fur bristling like hackles on a bear. She can hear a distinct crunch from within his chest, and when she pulls her hand out it is covered in yellow shards, digging deep into her palms, her own blood dripping out from her skin and mixing with the blood of her father.

She drops him, having been holding him by his neck, and he remains limp on the ground. all life slowly fading from his body.

💎

When she comes home, she comes home covered in her father's blood, her hand still dripping with fresh wounds. The first thing her mother does is rapidly come to her daughter's aid, wrapping what clean wounds she can find and cleaning off the blood encrusting her fur. As much as she cleans, it still leaves behind thick rusty stains on her white fur.

That can't be him. Can it? It's his color. It's his smell. His blood is staining her hands. My daughter killed the man who brought us so much suffering. And we have the shards of his heart to prove it. But why don't I feel happy? Why don't I feel relieved? I don't feel anything.

As she continues pulling out the shards, her expression doesn't change. Samba's eyes are dark, and she's not really looking at anything other than her hand.

I feel nothing.

She doesn't ask any questions. Everything is already answered just by how Samba looks. It's been so long since Klaver had been a pain in her life and holding her back, she had no idea her girl had so much malice toward him even still. And Samba didn't look entirely relieved either.

Was it really worth all of that?

They both wondered. But it's been done now. They just have to deal with what she's done.

Samba feels numb. She says nothing to her mother, only sitting as she lets Belote tend to her wounds. Eventually she calls for her boyfriend, messaging him that she wants to see him. He comes to visit, and he hugs her as Belote continues to tend to Samba's wounds.

Samba is very quiet, appreciating the comfort from Gabo but not saying much. Belote eventually breaks the silence.

"...did you know she was going to do this?"

"....yes."

"Do... you know what sparked it?"

"I'm not actually sure..."

"...Samba?"

Samba barely jerks to attention as she puts her bloodstained hand on Gabo's back, rubbing the tips of her fingers over his mossy skin as a self-soothing gesture.

"she… I. I don't know. I went there to visit family but Madiao seemed really upset. I don't really remember anything that happened after that."

Her fingers twitch.

"Just anger. And pain. And screaming. And something crunching in my hand."