No Choice [Finished]

[The Jenn]

Lior tried as best he could to keep himself in an upbeat mood, having a hell of a time when he knew what the end result of this 'trip' was going to be. He had convinced Amhal, Jak, and Dell that their siblings had gone with Rhi because he was taking them somewhere different. He didn't want any fights, so he had to make sure that he refrained from anything but calm or happiness around the children. Dell would be set off at the first sign sorrow or extreme guilt, and then Jak would feel compelled to tussle with her until he left and she calmed down, and it was all just a mess.

Besides, he didn't think his nerves could take Jak trying to 'cheer him up' anymore. He'd nearly had a heart attack the first time he found the half-Bog child floating 'dead' in a lake. After he'd been able to stand up, he was greeted with the laughter of all three kids and realized that the boy had been breathing through the tubes of his back. Of course. It was all a stunt to cheer him up. He'd felt like crying.

They'd been traveling for four days, the last two of which had been climbing somewhere around the border of the Sorgaire and Mid-Range. There were paths, but the incline was still murder on the legs and he had to deal alternately with whining and listening to Jak cheerfully mock the things around him to get his siblings to lighten up. Lior had been deliberately vague on where exactly they were going. The middle of nowhere, really, no towns anywhere nearby and only the occasional traveler on the roads. The children were all wearing some sort of covering, blankets they'd ripped and pinned to fit their desired purpose.

Close to sundown, they'd finally gone far enough that the feline could stop and take a few deep breaths. He slowly let his pack slide from his shoulders and sat down next to it, paws aching. Dell happily flopped next to the backpack, having alternately been hobbling and flying along. Jak just sat down and looked at him expectantly, as if to say 'well, now what?'

[Satra]

[DAMN YOU, JENN! WHY MUST YOU MAKE A THREAD SO TEMPTING?!?!?!?!?! ; ; )

From the continuous walking Amhalghaidh's neck was throbbing with pain. So much walking, and at that incline, it was very stressful on his weak neck. He was instantly relieved at the break. He walked over to the group and plopped down gently, panting. He groaned and stretched his aching neck miserably. When the throbbing subsided to a duller pain. He ambled slowly to Jak and straddled his front legs over his shoulders, being careful of his breathing tubes, and began weakly grooming him with as little neck movements as possible.

"Dad?" he asked. There was a desperate undertone in his voice. The Feline always caught on to the favoritism by is parents and was desperate for attention, even though he would never actually admit it. In a way he hoped that since the favorites weren't here, he would finally get the attention he wanted. He let his head rest on top of Jak's, tired of holding it up, "How much further is it? ....will you carry me? My neck hurts..."

[The Jenn]

Jak's eyes went half-lidded as his brother started to groom him, the gesture comforting and reassuring. Even though he tried not to let it show, he was uneasy about this trip and being separated from the others for so long. They'd never been anywhere besides their apartment home in their entire lives. The world was enormous. Where were they headed and when would they get to see the others again? The familiar feel of a feline tongue scratching over his fur helped to make the worries seem less important.

Wincing slightly at the address, Lior looked down at his deformed son - sons, really, since both of them were so close - and tried not to whimper. The question, why couldn't he just love the kids and be done with it, haunted him at night. He resolved some mornings to try and 'get over himself', but then he took one look at Jak's bizarre gait and curling grin, and Amhal's fleshy flaps of skin and exposed muscle, and Dell's eyeless strangeness... and he knew that he never could. Maybe it was shallow. Maybe it was cruel. Maybe it meant he was a bad person. Those were things that he would have to live with from now on, tenfold.

"Actually... we're here," he said in reply to the kitten's question. One glance around would prove yet again that 'here' was the middle of nowhere. Jak looked at him, grinning a little, as if waiting for the punchline of the joke. "You'll remember that it gets cold at night, so there are extra blankets in the pack, and of course there's some food. And..." His voice started to hitch a little bit as the boys' eyes continued to look up at him.

Dell's head slowly rose as she heard it, the beginnings of anger licking at her gut. What was wrong with him? Was he going to have one of his little episodes again? It had been so much fun this trip with all of them happy, or at least calm. Was he about to ruin it? Stupid dad! Her mouth opened the sliver it was able to and she tried to control her breathing.

Seeing this, Lior's wings unfurled and he stood, taking an inadvertent step back from the girl. He was scared of his own daughter, yes, and had been injured by her on more than one occasion. His moods just made her so angry and none of them could understand it. Even Rhi had become scared of the girl and her fits and rages. "A- and this is goodbye. I'm sorry. We can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. Hate me, fine, but just stay away from people. You won't be safe around others. Try to look out for each other." As the guilt became more evident in his voice and he could see the bat starting to work herself up, he took a few steps to the side uneasily and then just threw himself off the side of trail, his wings catching the updraft and carrying him away. Dell's wings weren't strong enough to sustain flight for long at this point, not as cooped up as she'd been, and neither of the other two would have a chance at following him.

Jak stared after his father, grin slowly turning into an expression of confusion. "Diiiid I miss something?" he asked after a moment.

[Satra]

At being told they were where they were headed, Amhalghaidh brought his head up from resting on his brother's and looked around. It was an amazing place, yes, so different and refreshing (and yet, so completely overwhelming) compared to the apartment they'd spent his entire life in, but what was so special about here? After a while all the trees and parts of the path looked the same. Where were they?

His confused expression turned to one of horror. Why was he telling them these things in advanced? Wouldn't Father just take care of them when the time came? He was so focused on his confusion that he was oblivious to the rising anger in Endellion.

...goodbye... That one word felt like a punch to the gut. What did he mean by that? He and Mommy said it when they went to the market and would come back later or the other parent was home with them... but he would be gone so long that they would need blankets and food...?

His heart sank as he flew off. He slid off Jakoli and watched, speechless, as the shape of Lior became nothing more than a spec in the distance. The empty feeling in his chest was suddenly filled with a choking pain. Tears welled up in his eyes quickly and her made a strangled noise.

"He--he abandoned us..." he choked, beginning to shake with rage, "He... I... WHY?!" he screamed suddenly, tears spilling from his eyes, fur puffed up and claws extended in his anger. A little voice inside his head only fueled his anger more by informing him he should have seen this coming. He'd always vied for his parents' attention, and though he was embarrassed to admit it, he craved it.... it made him unbearably sick.

[bleh, just got of work, sorry if it's a little wonky. ]

[The Jenn]

Jak watched the speck of their father as he flew further and further away, not even moving when his brother slid off of him. Abandoned? What exactly did Amhal mean, abandoned? He'd be back, wouldn't he? Or would Mom come and get them instead? Were they supposed to wait for her? Was this a joke? Dad wasn't very funny. "What...?" His tone was a touch confused, a touch panicked, and a touched whimpering.

Unlike her brother, Dell didn't take the time to reflect. For once, she actually registered the words mixed in with Lior's sorrowful tone and nearly exploded when he left. Then her brothers both started acting like pathetic little idiots and she snapped. "I cannot believe what just happened. Did... he just leave us? He did! That... augh!" As a six-year-old, she didn't have all the words she wanted or needed. She didn't even know what words she should have, but what she was saying didn't express the depth of her emotion and all she could do was make little screamy noises that came out muted and muffled because of her partially closed mouth. She stood and half-lost her balance, one of her feet on an uneven patch of ground, which made her snarl. Her empty sockets started to leak a small trickle of blood, one of the things that had scared Lior half to death.

"Well. Fine! See if I care. You never liked me anyway. You never liked any of us. You were a bad father." What fueled her anger more was the fact that she felt sorrow and loss prickling at her own mind, and that was just unacceptable. It fanned her anger into an inferno.

Jak turned to stare at her with eyes that were a touch too wide, watching her start her tirade. None of them... none of them were happy. Not even him. He didn't understand. Abandoned? He wouldn't be coming back? Then what were they supposed to do? "Dell, stop it. Just stop. You aren't helping anything! We just need to figure out what he meant, and when he or Mom is coming back to get us, and-"

"NO!" she screamed at him, the word again muted due to her mouth condition but the blast of it headed straight through the small gap hitting his ears hard. They flipped back as she continued. "You don't get it! He's gone! This isn't one of your stupid jokes, it's him leaving us here. To die! Didn't you hear it in his voice?! I hate him so much. I hate him ssssooo much." She half-hissed and half-sobbed the words, her emotion only escalating.

The Joker took a half-hop towards his brother to stand between Amhal and Dell in case she decided to take things physical. It wouldn't be the first time.

- - - - -

For his part, Lior's flight was unsteady and his wings felt almost rubbery as he tried to breathe properly. It was hard when tears were streaming down your face and whipping into your eyes.

[Satra]

He knew he wasn't the favorite of the children. Fine, he could deal with that, but did Mother and Father actually hate him and Jak and Dell so much that he would... A sob burst out of him unexpectedly and he couldn't stop himself from crying. He desperately wanted to, not wanting to invoke the wrath of his sister, but he couldn't help it. He was being punished, left for dead, for something he couldn't understand.

He knew he wasn't pretty. He'd spent parts of days peeking out a crack in the curtains watching the people of the capitol from inside the apartment, then looking at himself in the mirror afterward, wondering what was wrong with him, but.... was that why he was being left here? Him and Jak and Dell? If he could change, he would've...

Amhal began purring out of fear when Dell started getting very worked up. It hurt so very, very much when she attacked him, especially when those thorns scratched his skinflaps, and Jak would defend him, but with his awkwardness he was not as fast as Dell was. He shakily walked to Jak and touched his head to Jak's blank chest.

"Sh-sh-she's right, J-Jak..." he whispered though sobs, tears streaming down his face, "H-he's gone. It's j-just us now..." Then he broke down. He fell to the ground and covered his head with his paws. His pathetic attempts to calm himself with purring mixed oddly with the pained crying.

[The Jenn]

Jak was torn between slight panic at their situation, extreme concern at Dell's mounting rage, worry at his brother's sobbing, and an odd hollow feeling that he got whenever he wasn't happy. It was an awful feeling. He hated it and it made something in his mind twist and bend in terrifying ways. Why couldn't everyone just be happy?!

The broken sobbing made Dell shriek with anger, her own grief like gasoline on a fire, and she lunged for her brothers to make them stop being so stupid! Jak saw her move and his eyes widened before he shifted, body blocking her from Amhal. She hissed through her partly-closed mouth, the sound forcing its way past a hitch in her throat. Her one brother wasn't happy, but her other one was sobbing and that was just unacceptable. She wanted to hurt him, to make him bleed so he would have something else to think about and stop being so stupid! But the Joker was in her way. "Mooooove."

Shaking his head, Jak grunted as she pushed against him to get at their brother, her wing-arms beating at his sides. "Nuh-uh. Ain't gonna happen, Dellie. Just calm down!" She shrieked in his ear and the muted but forceful blast of sound nearly made his eyes cross as he winced. He pushed her back but she was having none of that, lunging at him because he was in the way and biting down on one of his breathing tubes as it slipped through one of the openings to her mouth. The Joker yelped in surprise and jumped back, trying to shake her off, but she'd latched on with her back feet and wings, yanking and jerking at the hard tube with her mouth. He cried out in pain and tried jumping backwards, falling awkwardly on her to get her to let go. The jarring sideways movement managed to actually bend the hard tube and he screamed, muscles tensing in pain.

She let go with a grunt and a whimper, standing shakily and glaring daggers at the feline's tear-streaked face. "Amhal, come," she hissed, activating her control ability. She was a Ten... he was an Eight... he would come to her and let her hurt him.

[Satra]

Any and all sounds Amhalghaidh was making before came to a halt as she stared, horrified, as Dell began attacking Jak. He remained frozen to the spot, heart pounding. He wanted to help Jak, but was terrified to get anywhere near Dell. He popped up to his feet once, but then was frozen again.

He lost it when he heard an actual cry of pain from Jak. His claws extended and his fear suddenly turned to rage. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" he screeched and raced at her, screaming, "YOU'RE JUST LIKE FATHER! YOU DON'T CAR--" however his ineloquent attempt at expressing a very complicated series of emotions, his mouth closed shut and his movement froze as she took control of him. He tried everything in his power to resist, but couldn't. Slowly, one paw in front of the other, he walked to her. His face was still streaked with tears, shining wet trails going from his eyes and as far down his skin flaps as they could go, but where there was a hopeless depression before now was rage.

Dell was no longer family to him. He held her in the same regard as Lior and Rhiannon after the sudden shift of thought came to him upon hearing Jak's scream of pain. They were no longer Sister, Father, and Mother; they were all enemies now, the very thought of them disgusted him.

[The Jenn]

While Jak tried to get over the pain enough to stand, Dell hissed and panted at her brother as he approached. She reached out one wing-claw to swipe at the skin of his face, and the ease and amount that it bled snapped her slightly out of the mindless rage. For one thing, it obscured the tears. For another, the way he looked at her wasn't sad.

...good.

"You're both pathetic," she panted. "All of you... all of you are! You, and them. You remind me of them. You're disgusting. I don't see why... no. No, I don't see anyway. I... gah!" Her own emotions kept the anger at a simmer and she couldn't let it go, shaking with it, almost consumed by it. She didn't just hate their father. She hated them all. All of them, it was all of their faults. "I hope you never see me again. I won't be seeing you!"

She turned, the control still on him to stay where he was. Crying tears of blood, she stumbled over to the edge of the path, the cliff edge their father had leapt from, and jumped from it herself. She wouldn't be able to keep up any kind of prolonged flight, but at least she could get away, somewhere they weren't and couldn't follow. The control ended when she jumped.

Jak watched this with a kind of detached horror. "W-wait!" he cried, stumbling to his feet and wheezing as he did so. The sound came oddly from the bent tube. "Dell, wait!" But she was gone. And his brother was bleeding. And they were all alone. He started shaking, staring at Amhal with wide, confused eyes. Then he started laughing, hysterically, and he couldn't stop, tears running down his face.

[Satra]

Rage bubbled in him as she continued to speak. He knew he and Jak were hideous by "normal Card" standards, but having no concept that Dell looked like to identifiable region, he'd always found her to be unspeakably beautiful save for the empty eye sockets. It was so obvious to him now: He and Jak were abandoned for being hideous freaks of nature and Dell for her rages. Obviously, she was attractive enough on the outside to fit in to normal society, but because she was a pure monster within...

Tear of pain streamed down his cheeks as her claw sliced through his skin with ease. He wanted to hurt her. He'd never been pushed this far with her rages, as there had always been someone bigger and stranger then both of them to step in, so he'd never desired to fight back before. Now he wanted to hurt her, make her suffer. He shook in rage as he was unable to move as she just walked away... jumping off the same cliff as father. Figures.

He let out a scream of rage as the control was taken off of him. He raced to the end of the cliff so he could get closer and attempt to use his pain ability on her. Let's see how well she flies now! Rage distracted him from pulling of the ability to its fullest extent, if it even worked at all.

Amhal's head whipped around and hissed viciously at the hysterical laughter of Jak. How could he laugh at a time like this?! Needing to take his anger out on something he sprinted to Jak and pinned him against the ground.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" he screamed, tears returning, "THIS ISN'T FUNNY! THIS. ISN'T. FUNNY." He began beating his brother with his paws, claws tucked away safely inside. However, he froze when in the moment there was suddenly a streak of red. He cried out in panic, then silenced as he realized he'd just smeared a small puddle of his own blood dripping from the wound she gave him. He just stood there, barely a foot away from his brother, frozen to the spot shaking with fear and horror. It all happened so fast...