Could things have turned out differently?

It was by some incredible play of fate that he was even still alive. There were many moments where his life could have been snuffed out if not for some unlikely probability or outside forces. That or he was to serve an entirely different purpose.

Was he not supposed to die? That was foolish thinking...but the fact that he was still here only proved that the world wanted something from him. Yes...everyone wants something from him. They all want that "love" he held in his eyes before, spreading the smile of assurance to everyone.

But...

But now...he doesn't feel it anymore. That "love"...it's gone...as though one day he awakened and it was simply gone. He remembers how it felt to have it, to know someone was looking out for you, that they loved you too and would protect you...So innocent, he realizes.

The world took it from him. Toyed with his emotions, ravished his body and left cold and unknowing. He was a fool...an innocent, childish fool. It was his own fault for being so trusting. To think every man was decent. But that just simply isn't true. He has been awakened, eyes opened anew. He can't go back to how he was, it's been much too long for that.

The world is cruel and to live in it, so should he.

Jonas had taught him that. The emotion doesn't matter...what does is the needs of the flesh. The simple things...the needs, urges...the satisfactions. It was only unfortunate that he had been the one to fulfill those things for Jonas, but a valuable lesson had been taught. And he had accomplished it those sweet moments in the passageway with blood stained hands. That had been a need.

What else does he need?

There's nothing he needs...but the thirst for more. No. That wasn't it. There's something else he couldn't begin to explain. A feeling swelling within him, causing him to clutch his fists and pant in anticipation.

When Jonas had taken him in that cellar, the same feeling had begun to emerge increasingly. With tear-stained eyes he wondered why all these things were happening to him, how others kept taking from him when he had nothing to give. They took everything he was....everything.

And now...now it was his turn to want something...to take it by force if he needed to. An eye for an eye.

Yes, that was it. Justice...for everything that they took from him. He wanted that satisfaction.

If he had to hurt someone to obtain it, then so be it. Violence can be used for good.

Aidan stopped scratching his hands together as he blinked, drawing himself out of these thoughts to his final conclusion. Many hours since Antonis and Murdoc have left passed and the autumn skies were darkening. Debalora had come to try and feed him, the plate full of food still sitting on the table untouched. He hasn't eaten in a long while and he was certain that soon they would take measures to aid his nourishment.

His stomach was caving in dangerously too. He was well aware of it but still couldn't bring himself to take a bite. He wasn't hungry...he didn't want to be at that. It made him think about the bar. That bartender said he looked thin...was it so noticeable?

The sudden memory of the two muggers caused Aidan to frown distastefully. They threatened to kill him if he didn't give them money and the reason why Voltrick found him. Aidan clutched his fists tightly. The one day he wanted to be at some peace and they came demanding from him. Couldn't they see he was at his limit? They were just like Jonas. Wanting more, more, more, more...!

Aidan narrowed his eyes hatefully as he gazed up to the door. There were more like them in the world. They would continue hurting innocent people for their own selfishness. It has to be stopped. He can't ignore it anymore...people like him will be hurt!

Aidan stood suddenly from the table, filled with hatred and restlessness as he rushed to the drawers on the other side of the room, whipping them open as he searched through an assortment until his hands lied on a long dagger, the blade sheathed in a scabbard. Aidan lifted it, pulling the blade out and examined the thin silver steel that had so many possibilities. He saw himself reflected against the blade, seeing glimpses of his sullen features and offered himself a small smile, reassuring that he will get what he wanted soon enough.

Standing, he sheathed the blade back and tucked the dagger into his pants securely, closing the drawers afterward. He found his jacket and pulled it on, hurriedly exiting his room and soon the inn with no one stopping him, set on his mission.

--------

The town was eerily quiet for the late afternoon. Word of the 'large animal' that was spread throughout must have sent the townsfolk inside. Safe and secure. Aidan could laugh at that. It was so strange how he personally knew both the ones responsible. In fact, he wasn't even afraid that Darcia might come for him again. Antonis and Murdoc must have sent him away.

Aidan headed for the outskirts where the buildings were worn and old, being led by a strange force to his destination.


--------

"What...What do you think it was, Leon?" Carl asked, seated at a creaky table, assorted with different bottles on top. The cabin was one roomed, torn curtains covering the windows and an old dust smell filling the air. A few candles on the table lit the room, the orange glow giving some comfort to Carl.

"How many times do I have to say it?! It must have been a monster! Now will you stop asking, you deserter!" Leon snapped, taking a quick drink for himself as he paced the room.

Carl frowned, tucking his head between his shoulders in a guilty way, rubbing an arm. "There's a rumor going around that it was a large animal. But it spoke....and--"

A loud crash shut Carl up as wide eyes stared up to Leon, who had thrown down the bottle in anger.

"I swear to God, Carl..." Leon hissed, turning his head towards the rabbit. "I DON'T want to hear about it! It's all because of that STUPID feline!" His voice yelled, stomping towards near the door to pull the curtain at a window to hide themselves. Inside he feared whether that thing would come back for them.

"S-Sorry, Leon."

The badger frowned to himself, glaring at nothing as he walked away from the door and past Carl, calming his nerves down. "Yeah, yeah. It's not your fault."

Carl grinned as he was forgiven.

------

Aidan heard the sound of glass smashing to his left, tilting his head to spot a cabin set between a few trees, the windows gleaming with faint light. As he stood to listen, he heard a familiar voice yelling within. The badger...

Without any hesitation, Aidan turned and began heading towards the cabin, stepping over discarded tools scattered across the ground. Leaning against the wall was a large rusted shovel, dirt from a long time ago still caked in it. Aidan briskly took hold of it with a hand just before he stopped at the door, his features emotionless as to what he prepared to do next.

A sneer appeared as he lifted his leg, clutching the shovel with both hands as his boot came to slam against the door near the knob. The wood frail from the years, the door gave way with a loud snap, pieces of splinters scattering into the air.

The metal end of the shovel was lifted beyond Aidan's right shoulder as he stepped inside. He saw the rabbit just beginning to turn towards him, still in his seat, in the motion of standing before Aidan swung the shovel like a bat. The thin edge lodged into the rabbit's neck, just under the jaw. Blood pooled into the dipped part of the metal as Carl slammed against the ground, Aidan still holding onto the shovel with a hunched back.

It felt as though time were slowing down for him, the shovel in his hands light as he pulled it out of the still rabbit. He heard a yell, lifting his eyes and saw the badger running towards him in rage, a dagger drawn within his hand. Rising the shovel over his shoulder, Aidan swung the flat end of it just as Leon came nearer, throwing the badger off guard as his body fell against the ground.

Time became normal again as Aidan threw the shovel to the floor, his eyes set on Leon to see whether the badger would get up again. But his eyes were closed as a deep moan sounded from his throat. Aidan took that moment to kick the door closed behind him, eyes half-lidded as he saw the table full of bottles. Walking towards it, he slowly began to choose which he would drink.

Leon grunted, bearing his teeth in a grimace as an eye peeked open. His vision was blurred, the strike to the head questionably strong. It didn't take long for him to find Aidan standing at the table, lifting a bottle to his lips casually. Next he searched for Carl, seeing him lying on the floor with a small pool of red beginning near his head. Biting his lip, Leon pushed himself up, leaning himself against the wall for support as his hand moved across the floor searching for his dagger. He found it a few feet away near Carl. He must have dropped it after being hit so suddenly.

"Y-You..." Leon growled as his eyes rose back up to Aidan, who was now glancing down at him from where he stood. "You little shit...You're from the alley."

Twirling the bottle with a hand, Aidan turned his body towards Leon, glancing at it as the badger started to work himself into a stand. He took another long, deep drink as he took a few steps towards his victim.

"You look like you need another drink..." Aidan said just before Leon before he gripped the bottle neck in a fist, slamming the heavy glass against the top of Leon's head, shattering the glass upon impact. Leon fell back on to his rear after a yell, squinting his eyes to the stinging pain.

Seeing how Leon sat back down obediently, Aidan crouched in front of him, a hand reaching behind him to pull his own dagger out. "Sorry about your friend..." he said quietly, glancing towards Carl. "You'll come next."

Standing, Aidan turned to walk towards Carl. Kneeling over the rabbit, he saw him struggling to breath, his throat almost gulping continuously the amount of blood as it seemed as though his neck were almost cut right through. Carl's eyes were widened as he stared forward until he sensed Aidan over him, turning wide pupils upwards to stare at his attacker. Aidan gazed back but his features held no sympathy. This man was just like Jonas...he would hurt an innocent person. Lucky Aidan was here to fix that.

Aidan's hand gripped Carl's neck, the rabbit wincing under the hold in pain as Aidan turned Carl's body until he was lying on his back. Carl's lips began to move, forming words that Aidan couldn't hear as he rose the dagger over Carl's chest, readying the final strike. Suddenly Aidan's eyes widened, lips parting as he felt a weight against his back, a dagger piercing into the left of his chest. Leon had fell upon Aidan, gritting his teeth as he held the dagger in Aidan's chest, arms wrapped around the feline to hold him.

The pain caused Aidan to clutch his teeth, a deep sound rumbling in his throat as slitted eyes turned to look back at Leon. The badger met the gaze, filling Aidan with a reborn anger. Pushing against his feet, Aidan sent both Leon and himself back away from Carl, landing on Leon and Leon against the floor. With the hold weakened, Aidan took hold of Leon's hand to try and pry the dagger from it as the other hand brought the dagger behind and into Leon's side.

The badger let out a pained yell, encouraging Aidan to stab there again and again until the badger's hold of the dagger loosened. Aidan felt the dagger pulled out of his chest, straining to hold back his own yell as Leon pushed against Aidan, causing the cat to fall onto the ground on his stomach. Clutching at his wound, Aidan glared up with pointed shoulders at Leon, who was still lying on his back, his side looking as though it were ripped open.

Aidan grunted as he rose himself, legs trembling under him from the exhaustion and the excitement. His green eyes stared at Leon, gleaming with certainty, dragging himself closer. The dagger was tight in his palm. A hand reached, clutching on top of Leon's chest, pulling himself just over Leon. The badger felt the cat on him, his right hand striking with the dagger towards Aidan, but he blocked the incoming attack with his forearm, Aidan using his other hand to stab his blade into Leon's shoulder. The badger yelled, the stab numbing his entire arm, dropping the dagger to the ground in reaction. Aidan swatted it away before continuing up on Leon, bringing his legs across Leon's waist until he sat on him.

Aidan's body was leaned over as he held the dagger in place in Leon's arm. He took the chance to use his free arm to grab hold of Aidan's neck, clutching tight as to choke him. Aidan groaned as his air was cut off, but twisted the dagger in Leon's shoulder, causing the hand to loosen around his neck. The fingers were still curled around Aidan's throat, but that didn't stop the feline from moving his head until he was face to face with Leon.

Here they stared at each other. Aidan saw Leon was drawing deep breaths, noticing now that he was also panting. His left hand began to trail up Leon's head, grabbing a chunk of the badger's black hair as Aidan pulled his head against him, his mouth near Leon's ear.

"You fought hard..." Aidan breathed. Leon furrowed his brows. What a cruel compliment. He winced as the dagger was slipped out of his shoulder, feeling the hand grabbing onto Aidan's neck slip down. His vision was beginning to blur, lightheaded as his side bled. Aidan's fingers felt through Leon's hair gently until he rose his upper body, moving both hands to clutch the dagger.

Just as their eyes met again, Aidan rose the dagger over his head, bringing it down pierce it through Leon's chest.

Heavy steps could be heard rapidly approaching before a large hand tightly gripped around Aidan's wrist. Before Aidan could thrust the dagger down, the large hand pulled Aidan's arm back and continued to throw Aidan's entire form off of Leon and toward the door of the cabin with somewhat relative ease.

Loud, rumbled growls emitted from the large figure as they turned around to follow where Aidan was thrown. It wouldn't take long to notice or realize who it was as Voltrick's snarling face was revealed with the sunlight.

A vicious snarl was on the tiger's face as he approached Aidan, the fur at the back of his neck stood on end with his shoulders stiffened. "What the HELL is wrong with you?!" Voltrick roared out

Aidan's eyes had widened in surprise as his wrist was taken hold of. Was it Carl?! Before Aidan could react, he was slammed against the door, causing a few picture frames to fall to the ground near him. The impact caused him to see a flash of white but he quickly recovered, eyes lifting up to see a large figure approaching him. Aidan bent his legs towards him, clutching the dagger in his palm until he realized it was Voltrick, especially as his face came nearer and roared out.

Aidan pressed his head against the wall as Voltrick shouted out, his features shocked to even see him here. His lips parted but no words came through to answer Voltrick's question, staring up at him strangely as though Aidan couldn't believe Voltrick was in front of him.

Voltrick growled again with Aidan's speechless response. He acts maliciously towards these men, ABOUT TO KILL the man he loomed over, and now he goes silent?! With the way Aidan left the inn, he should have ASSUMED anyone could have followed him. Voltrick, himself, was surprised no one else did.

"You were trying to kill these men! KILL them! ...WHY?!" he demanded as he threw his left hand to the side, hitting one of the chairs to crash against the floor away from himself.

Aidan began to furrow his brows tightly together. Was Voltrick questioning his motives?! His justice!!?

He quickly came to a stand, something triggering inside of him like it did when he left the inn, standing before Voltrick bravely with hate-filled eyes.

"WHY?! What about the ones who tortured you?! What did you do to THEM?! Do you think what I've done is ANY DIFFERENT?!" he yelled, the hand gripping the dagger trembling at his side.

Voltrick's head lowered to come face to face with Aidan with the same snarl from before. "These men did NOTHING to torture you. They are simple-minded muggers who were scarred off before anything even happened. Their crime was undeserving of this... false sense of judgement!"

"And what if you didn't save the day?!" Aidan spat, craning his neck up to match Voltrick's gaze. "You know what they would have done! Don't call this false judgment!"

Aidan turned his head to glare down to Leon's body, seeing the badger was still alive. Filled with frustration and rage at the sight, Aidan pushed a hand against Voltrick as he moved himself towards Leon. "Get out of my way! He needs to die!" he yelled, lifting the dagger as he stepped up to the body.

Voltrick's shoulder and side were pushed out of the way as Aidan forced his way past, but Voltrick growled sharply and quickly grabbed the back of Aidan's collar. Before Aidan could struggled, Voltrick kicked forward and forced the door open and dragged Aidan outside. After exiting, he forced Aidan infront of him and let go.

If Aidan was this desperate to kill these men, it was better to force him outside before he managed to succeed in this foolish urgency of his.

"I don't care about them or what they could have done!" Voltrick shouted. "They DIDN'T do anything to deserve this! ..All they wanted was your money. That's what a mugger does, but YOU are trying to MURDER THEM! You think this is some kind of justice?! This is cold hearted murder and YOU KNOW IT!"

Aidan fell against the ground on his shoulder, fingers clutching into the dirt as he lifted himself a bit, glaring as Voltrick came outside with him. This wasn't fair. It's not FAIR! This hypocrite is telling HIM this was cold murder where HE had killed so many! To think that he-- ....Perhaps...Voltrick had said Aidan would turn into him. Someone like him. Was Voltrick keeping Aidan from murdering because he was scared that he would become like Voltrick?

Aidan laughed to this developed arc, coming to a stand as he looked up at Voltrick with a testing gaze. "So..." he began, starting to walk up to Voltrick, coming very close as he craned his neck to look up to the tiger. "...What are you going to do about it? Are you going to hurt me?" he asked, his voice collected and his eyelids lowered slightly as he was when he first began to attack the other two.

Voltrick's ears tightened back as his eyes narrowed; glaring right back down to Aidan. Aidan was testing him, Voltrick immediately realized his. Is Aidan so insistant to push Voltrick out of his way to get to these men? Why? What would drive him to murder when these men did little against him?

"No..." Voltrick said in a quieter, but growled tone. "I told you I wouldn't and I wont. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. And I wont allow you to kill these men because you feel it necessary to murder them for a crime not even comparable to its punishment."

Aidan's gaze became narrowed as he came even nearer to Voltrick, as though he were being drawn back into the cabin, even if he had to pass straight through Voltrick to get through the door. His head lowered, looking past Voltrick's chest and arm, finding a slit that allowed him to see into the darkened room.

"I don't see how you'll stop me without hurting me, Voltrick..." he said quietly. "...And if I don't get this...then I'll just hurt someone else. And another if not...."

Slowly, the dagger Aidan held in his hand lifted, the edge pressing against Voltrick's stomach in warning. He turned his eyes upward to look at Voltrick. "Maybe I'll hurt you. What then?"

A heavy growled breath was released as he watched Aidan creep closer,speaking as if some other person had taken over Voltrick's young friend.

"Now you're finding an excuse to hurt anyone..." Voltrick's tone remained angered, but he desperately tried to calm himself. "You don't want justice on these men, you want vengence for something else. You know very well, this wont help you!"

Voltrick snarled. What was happening to Aidan? The one person who befriended Voltrick in the harshest times was now fighting against him to murder without cause. "If you kill them, there will be nothing to stop you from killing another."

Aidan kept a still gaze on Voltrick, narrowed and unwavering. The dagger to Voltrick's stomach was held there.

"Let...me...through." Aidan ordered lowly, his patience gone as he gave a final warning. Voltrick could never understand his reasons, so why explain it? He needed this. He felt that if he could inflict the final punishment, everything will go away. No more sleepless nights afraid of someone hurting him, no memories of the torturing or Jonas and no guilt. They'll be the price for all that. Aidan had been so close.

Voltrick growled as if to give his own warning. But... Voltrick wouldn't hurt him. He couldn't. Even if Aidan thrust that dagger into his abdomen, Voltrick wouldn't attack him.

Voltrick's head lowered as his features tightened. This wasn't Aidan, this was a man who has been pushed into so much pain and suffering that his only drive is to force that same pain onto others. He feels his own suffering will end if he inflicts it upon someone else. But it wont help, Voltrick is the perfect example of that.

Tiger's hand quickly moved to grab hold of Aidan's blade. But instead of grabbing Aidan's hand, Voltrick grabbed the actual blade.

Voltrick knew exactly what Aidan had been through. Some of it he witnessed, some he heard and saw, the rest.. Aidan told him in that dungeon after wrapping his hands around Voltrick's throat. Aidan didn't deserve it, but it happened. And now Aidan had to suffer the most for it. He was a completely different person now because of it.

And why? Why did Aidan have to endure all of it? ...The same reason Voltrick has been despising himself, regretting every decision he's made... even thoughts of ending his own life because of it. ...Voltrick could have saved him from this pain. Voltrick brought him back to the ministry to endure all of this. Voltrick never even apologized. And now Aidan has become the same kind of person who hurt him.

Voltrick's features softened and filled with sorrow. "You don't want to hurt them. You know they haven't done anything to deserve this. ...But you've become the same person who hurt you.. and I cant allow others to die because of it..."

After speaking in a quieter tone, Voltrick carefully lowered himself and kneeled down, still grasping the blade. "If anyone should die..." Voltrick forced the blade away from his stomach, but raised the tip placed it against the front of his throat. "Let it be the person who deserves it."