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Maika was leading a city to battle.
Crow is scared. She can feel it, and so can Zinn. Whether it's for the city, or scared of her, she doesn't know. She presumes both. The little fox is afraid as well. Maika should have left her with Seizi. But Kippa is, unfortunatelly, a lot like her. At least when it comes to stubborness. Kippa is still innocent, still pure. Maika is not. Kippa told her, months ago, that she was afraid of her. She still is, especially after Maika's show. And the Halfwolf can't blame her. She's afraid too. But fear was useless if it was not a weapon.
And into a weapon she did turn it.
The plan worked. She wished it was her own, but while she was an avid fighter - an avid killer - she wasn't a leader. She watched the people line up, and register for the battle. They were led inside, and to the armory. The adults, at least. The children were sent someplace else. Crow's orders. Perhaps if she had a hunger for power, it would bother her, that they listened to him and not her. But right now the only hunger she had was the one that was always present.
"People don't want friends. They want killers who will help them survive" she told Kippa. It was a lie. Tuya was not a killer, but she was the reason she survived. She had just enough will to go on and survive for the both of them. Maika was the killer. She was the monster. She liked to think that it's becasue fo the war. That she was forced to be that way. But that would be a lie as well. If it wasn't, she wouldn't dream of killing Tuya, and herself, and Kippa. She wouldn't accept her hunger, she wouldn't lead the city into a war they couldn't possibly win.
Mother, I wonder right now: would you be proud of me?
Zinn whispered into her mind, but he did needlessly so. The rogue soldier was loud, but his death louder. Zinn fed, they fed as the others, horrified, watched. With a glare sent their way they resumed their work.
I no longer want to die. I accepted my hunger. It is what the Old Man wanted for me.
Is it what you wanted, as well?
Maika could see some move ot leave the city. They preffered to die later, running, than in battle. Feeding off of them will be a mercy.
I'm changing the world. Like you always new I would.
People stood in long lines, waiting to register for the battle. Kippa was helping the fox refugees, loyal to the promise she made.
I payed for your mistakes. But now it's now it's my father's that I'm trying to fix.
Though I wonder, what will be the price this time?
The answer would be no. Moriko Halfwolf would never be proud of her daugther. But right now, Maika supposed, it did not matter.
Right now she wasn't her mother's wolf. She was her father's monster.