The rage that Beartooth showed from Achilles’s first life taken was enthralling, this feeling overriding the fact that the Sabertooth alpha had just taken the life of another father’s child. It was well deserved, given that Beartooth ordered Phobus to kill one of his children – Iris. He would not forgive, could not even. His steely eyes narrowed as he taunted Beartooth back. What Achilles didn’t expect was the soliloquy. ”You're wrong Achilles. I started a war with you for my children, where as you raised yours with such little respect and knowledge to keep from other unaffiliated packs - And their women. And that's the fool you want as your heir, ruling with his stolen bride and her half bastard children? Pitiful.” Achilles snarled in return to Beartooth’s words. He really knew nothing, huh? As much as the crimson, leather, and chocolate clad male wanted to explain, he knew it wouldn’t be heard. Rather, his steely grey eyes looked around just as Beartooth was – his children were being murdered. Alectrona and Apollo. Iris was dead. Hermes and Aeolus were in their own battles, Hermes with his co-father and Aeolus with a feline male of Tarben. Achilles launched further up into the sky, eyes shaking with fear as he looked around for Khione. Where was she? He couldn’t worry for long, however, because the heart-shattering scream from his mate redirected his attention.

Achilles ignored the taunt-command from Beartooth, starting to bolt down from his high vantage point, but he was too slow. The next movements would be ingrained in his brain forever – Beartooth bit into Pandora’s throat. ”NO!!!” Achilles called out, and not a moment later, he felt the sharp pain pang in his chest as the pink line between them faded. It stopped his flight for a moment, before he then gently continued his glide down to Pandora, sobbing all the while ignoring Beartooth. Achilles laid his head on top of his now deceased mate’s chest, just hoping to hear something. A heartbeat. A breath. Neither came. She was gone. He wanted to scream, to expel all this rage, all the despair, but only numbness flooded him. ”I’m so sorry, Pan’dra. I’m so so sorry.” He spoke incoherently between sobs, blocking out the cackle that was definitely coming from Beartooth. The fire on his body died down as the despair and grief took over – it shouldn’t have surprised the lad when his back leg, the one injured many many moons ago, was latched onto by Beartooth.

Achilles didn’t feel the need to retaliate when Beartooth was whipping his body around. If he died now, he would be reunited with Pandora. That’s all the crimson, leather, and chocolate clad lad wanted, to be with his soul mate. The heartbreak hurt more than the tendons in his leg being shredded. And after enough thrashing – Achilles’s leg was left in Beartooth’s maw, without his body attached. The Sabertooth alpha fell a few feet away from Pandora’s corpse, blood pooling around his missing leg. His eyes glanced up as he watched a pregnant maned wolf tackle the king with surprising ease, which caused his leg to drop from the Dane King’s maw. Achilles, trying to fight the shock, dragged his way over to the dead body of his soulmate, still sobbing. He didn’t listen to the words the female, Beartooth’s mate, had said, but his eyes and ears naturally directed to that brutal noise, his eyes widening with shock as the Dane Queen had bitten into Beartooth’s neck, killing him. A hiccup-sob left his maw. Did this mean it was over? The widower could barely make sense of the words that the lass was saying – the shock and blood loss made everything fuzzy.

Achilles’s ears perked at the sound of footsteps approaching his side – the paws were brindled with white, but otherwise, the coat was alike to his own. Aeolus looked down at his father, his face stoic as ever, but his navy flecked, steely eyes showing a mix of despair and hope, before his son looked up to Soraya. He began to speak…but what was he saying? Achilles felt his vision fade to black, even though his heart kept beating strong.

Aeolus

The words from a female calling out grabbed his attention as he was walking away from the corpse of Ares. ”Halt!” Who was this woman? Aeolus began to walk over, albeit slowly because of his injured shoulders. As he got closer and the combat had subsided slightly, at least from Sabertooth’s half, confused as well by the voice. His steely eyes flecked with navy landed on the four figures – the dead corpses of Beartooth and his mom, the sobbing form of his father, now missing a leg, that it seemed the Dane King had taken off, and the final form, a maned wolf, clearly pregnant, was the one to call out because she then continued to speak. ”This war ends now! We cannot continue down this path. Our children deserve peace, not the echoes of bloodshed!” Aeolus looked over her carefully as he approached the side of his father, a pile of sobs on top of Pandora. A quiet sigh left his maw, letting the realization of the situation kick in. He saw his remaining three siblings had been killed, spare Hermes, his mother, and several other members of Sabertooth, their corpses lying on the battlefield. The winged prince could tell that the damage made her emotional too, and if his suspicions were right, Beartooth was her soul mate, based on how broken she looked, but it seemed to be even more than Achilles. Did she kill the Dane king? Her next words rung out again. ”Each side must back down, relinquish power over one another. Let us tend to the wounded, heal the scars that mar our lands, and find a path to peace.” There was a moment of silence, broken momentarily by a sob from the Tarben queen.

Aeolus looked once again at his father, who appeared to have blacked out now, but his breathing was still strong. Next, he looked over for Hermes, who was not in pretty shape either, but had approached with the icicles in his underside, quickly melting and dripping diluted blood, giving it a pinkish hue like his pelt. Odin really did him in. Aeolus glanced around to all the other wolves of Sabertooth, many now in the spirit realm. His eyes landed on Remus, injured. He’d need help with his children, who would likely not take the news of the passing of their mother well. The prince’s eyes then moved to Marius’s dead body – Cosette would be ruined with despair. The spirit aves male sighed, acknowledging that the grief from losing almost all his siblings would dig deep into him at some point. That could not be now though, a truce needed to be made. He turned to face his pack, calling out. ”Sabertooth! As my father is unable to speak for the pack currently, you are to listen to me. Cease, and those who can, please gather the wounded and take them back to Sabertooth, where Kiera, Nightingale’s theta, will aid in healing.” He waited for a few of his members to gather the wounded and head up the rocky hillside into Sabertooth before turning back to the maned wolf queen.

Aeolus sighed once again, before meeting the eyes of Soraya. ”On behalf of Sabertooth, I, Aeolus, the heir of the Sabertooth throne, want to right and clarify a few wrongs that triggered this war, since my father is not in a capable state of doing so.” The prince looked to his last living sibling, and Hermes gave a solemn nod, regret painting his face amidst pain. The skyborne male knew he had added a lot of kindling to this combat. Aeolus turned back to Soraya. ”Firstly, the children of Aurora and Odin will be handed over to Tarben, in a few days’ time.” His eyes flicked to Odin, who let a smirk onto his face. Aeolus was careful not to inflate his ego, and Aeolus left out an apology on purpose. Although Hermes’s actions were not well thought out, the skyborne male had the right intention, and Aeolus could not dismiss that. ”They are approaching adulthood, and we request that it is left up to them where they decide to go after they have stayed in tch’ya lands for a season.” Odin, who approached near Soraya’s side at this point, let out a small ‘hmph’, before averting his single-eyed gaze from Aeolus. ”Secondly, I overheard that my adoptive brother had essentially kidnapped one of tch’ya princesses, and they both passed. Shuu’s plans and actions were not shared with anyone in Sabertooth, and frankly, we barely saw him over the past few seasons.” Aeolus looked to the ground, sighing once again, before looking back up and speaking once more. ”Thirdly, Tarben is to keep tabs on Phobus. From my understanding, he was not supposed to leave tch’ya borders based off agreement with Hawthorne, Amberjorne, and Dawnshire from the last war, but he was clearly at Star Lake where he killed one of my sisters.”

The to-be-alpha of Sabertooth stepped forward, but still a respectful distance away from Soraya, before speaking once more. ”And finally, there must be a token of our treaty. I think a royal marriage would be fitting. Those details can be discussed at a later time, as I can safely assume we all want to take care of tch’ya wounded and deceased promptly.” Aeolus looked down at his father, still unconscious from the blood loss, then looked back towards the cliff, before once again returning his gaze to Soraya, not without quickly glancing at Beartooth’s corpse by her side. He took a deep breath – he had to be the better person. ”I’m sorry for your loss…es.” His words were soft, stepping tentatively closer, not wanting to spook Soraya or be attacked because he got close. However, his posture remained confident as he was the next in line for the throne. ”As a kindness, I’d like to extend forth my abilities to see in the spirit world, when tch’ya ready. For now, be well…” Aeolus trailed off, not knowing her name, but his ears perked and eyes misted over as a spirit shared her name, before he spoke again. ”…Soraya.” With that, the crimson, leather, and chocolate male’s white brindled legs turned around, directing Hermes to come collect their mother’s corpse, while Aeolus gathered their unconscious father into his paws before flying just high enough that he could gently place Achilles back down if Hermes needed help with Pandora. The two last siblings of the first litter then slowly made their way up the mountainside.