Chapter Text
It was horrible. The screaming, the shouting. The cries of agony. The wails of the dying.
There no more sounds of fighting though. No. Not when every last Pooka warrior had long been defeated, slain by the horrors from every nightmare. The shadow men. The fearlings. All that was dark and evil that had long thought to be locked away by the greatest man in all of history.
The greatest man of all history who was now leading the genocide of their race.
Emma buried her muzzle deeper into her brother’s ruff, trying-- and failing-- to be brave. To unafraid of the monsters lurking outside of their quickly dug tunnel. Jack pulled her even closer, the siblings holding onto each other in the face of what seemed to be inevitable death.
Or worse. Emma hadn’t seen, but Jack did. One of their many cousins, who hadn’t been fast enough to reach the relative safety of the earth, had been devoured by the fearlings. Only... something of her had remained. Something dark and terrifying. Jack refused to allow himself to think more of it.
“You’re going to be fine Em. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He whispered, nuzzling the top of his sister’s brown head.
“Jack, how can you say that?!” Emma whispered harshly, defeat and terror clawing their way through her throat. “Mama and Papa are--!! And everyone else--!!“ Her body shook violently, and breathed with short, sharp gasps.
“Hey, hey breathe.” Jack combed through her fur. “You’re alright, okay? And you’ll stay that way. Just trust me, okay? I’ll think of something.”
The words rang through the lightless tunnel with a final air of a promise.
“Ja--”
“Hey, would I trick you?”
“Yes! You always play tricks!”
“Well, not this time okay? You just have to believe--”
There was a series of vibrations in the earth. Violent ones, made from paws and feet pounding at the dirt walls that were meant to be the safe haven of all the kits. Jack and Emma’s ear stood to attention, both making the same horrified looks in the direction the vibrations were coming from. Their large ears, with a high hearing range which were normally a blessing, were a curse now, both clearly hearing the terrified screaming of another set of siblings as though there was no barrier between no.
They swiveled they other way when more sounds of struggling occurred in yet another tunnel.
The two sat there, scarcely breathing, as more and more of their friends and family met the same fate of the adults.
It was horrible. They could hear everything. Everyone that was screaming. Everyone that was crying. Every scream that was cut short. Every heartbeat that just vanished.
And then it was quiet. So. Quiet. But they didn’t dare to break the silence in fear that it would draw attention to them. The wait and anticipation was maddening.
It was almost a relief when in the distance, the entrance to their tunnel was forced open.
Emma whined low in her throat. “Jack, I’m scared!!”
Something was inside with them now. Both Pooka could feel it.
“Emma! You trust me right?!”
“What?! JACK!”
“DO YOU TRUST ME?!”
“YES!” Emma voice broke over that single word.
“Then trust me to get you out of this, okay?”
The air suddenly turned cold and sharp, biting through her summer fur and deep into her bones.
“I love you sis,” were the last words Emma heard before everything went dark.
She wished she could have seen her brother’s face at least one more time. Because...
When she woke up, he was dead. And Emma was alone.
~
Part One End