Sand.

Dune sniffed the air, her scent strong.

You are here.

The sun had long set. The only light came from a beautiful moonless sky, where one of the Milky Way's spiral arms slashed through, leaving a smatter of beautiful stars in its wake. Even in such low light conditions, Dune was able to see with his big eyes. Velociraptor eyes were well adapted for seeing in the dark, much of hunting in fact was done at night. To Dune, time did not matter. When the opportunity to kill one of the traitors presented itself, he took it, whether it was light or dark.

Dune looked around silently, scanning the area. There was no sign of his victim anywhere- only her scent.

He heard the lightest of footsteps coming towards him. Quickly, he turned, and saw a blur of beige pounce at him, jaws open. They grabbed onto his throat, and he fell, pinned to the ground. He looked at the green eyes, recognising them instantly.

'Stand down,' she growled, his neck still in her jaws. Her hold on him was firm, but not painful. 'I have—'

Dune instantly thrust his claws into the side of her neck. She fell off of him and onto her side, somewhat dazed. She had no time to recover before Dune stabbed his toe-claw into her chest, narrowing his eyes at her.

Sand winced as she felt pain pulse in her torso. Her chest rose against Dune's weight, though she could feel his foot pressing strongly against her, trying to prevent her breathing. She grabbed his leg in her arms and pulled it away, snarling, while Dune tumbled down to the ground and fell against her. She pushed him away, and quickly put her arm around his neck in a chokehold.

Dune thrashed furiously, his tail whipping. Sand found herself unable to speak- she had to concentrate on subduing him first. Dune felt her arm like a bone crushing against his throat. His jaws opened slightly and he released a small wheeze. Desperately he tried to breathe, yet Sand tightened her grip and no air was sucked into his windpipe.

'I don't want to kill you,' Sand growled through gritted teeth, though Dune could not hear her. Blood rushed to his ears like a flash flood, overwhelming every other noise. He clutched her arm tightly, yet it barely budged.

With bulging eyes, his pupils darted around, frantic to find something to get him out of the hold.

Aha! There, within arms reach, lay a jagged stone he could use. Grimacing in pain, he stretched out, baring his teeth in determination. He grabbed it in his hand, and quickly, he smashed it against his attacker's face, snarling angrily. He heard her cry out in pain, and she let go of him instantaneously. The pressure around his throat lifted away.

He turned and jumped at her, satisfied by the blood running down her face and the chipped red teeth in her mouth. Using his muscular legs, he kicked her in the chest, his sickle claw stabbing her upper torso for just a moment before she fell backwards, blood spurting from her breast.

The surge of excitement consumed him. He had the upper hand now- heart racing, he smashed his foot down onto her soft stomach and pierced through her soft flesh with his talons. She cried out in pain, and he only pushed his claws in harder. There was a crack, and he realised that he had broken her spine.

Watching her stop and grimace in pain brought what was his equivalent to the feeling of satisfaction. She was utterly helpless now that her back was broken- she could not move anything below her torso. But what happened next made him, for the first time, stop and think and question if killing this victim was necessary.

'Dune!' She winced. 'I have information!'

He stopped for a moment. His eyes were on her, still and eerie. She saw that the dark raptor of hatred was listening.

Slowly, he growled, bringing his winged arms closer to his body. He narrowed his eyes, with what seemed to be a questioning look in them.

'You will not regret this. Please, listen to me. You can trust me, for I have changed and have many regrets.'

Trust? Dune snorted. Do not be such a fool. I will listen to you, but not because I trust you. I have no reason to do so- in fact, you could easily be stalling in an attempt to delay your impending death. No- I will listen purely because of the tiny chance that what you are saying could be the truth.

Dune removed his foot from her, and put it back on the ground, in a pool of blood which reflected the soft rays of the moon.

'Dune. I regret ever allowing the others to scheme against you. Because after you fell from your position, everything changed. I discovered the truth. Your sister, Dune- your sister Fern- she never cared about you. Blood told you we manipulated her- but the truth is, there was no need to manipulate.'

Dune stared at Sand in disbelief- he could feel a small bundle of emotions form inside him, and desperately, he grabbed it in his claws and tried everything in his power to SUPPRESS SUPPRESS SUPPRESS.

'She never loved you, Dune. Her friendship with you was nothing but a game. I'm so sorry, but she told us, Dune, before she left you for dead- she told us that the only reason she ever befriended you was because you were a source of entertainment for her. She was toying with you.'

Dune's eyelid twitched for a moment. He could feel the emotions whirl in his body, tearing at the sides, begging to be released into the world. But he could not allow that, no, because he had to SUPPRESS.

That can't be... Dune shook his head in disbelief. She was so kind to me before everything happened.

'The reason she turned against you was because she was growing bored of you. She wanted to move on to something else, and you were in the way. You were a detriment to her. This is the truth, Dune. I have no reason to lie to you.'

Without realising, Dune's lips arose and he bore his teeth. This was not out of aggression or intimidation- this was out of raw emotion. He could feel it all within, seeping from his pores for everyone to see. A part of him wanted to disappear so the world did not witness his vulnerability. He could do nothing to stop the emotions now- they were building up in his soul, ripping him apart.

'I'm sorry, Dune, but there's more...'

Dune sighed, and nodded his head a tiny amount, ready to hear what else she had to tell him. He did not want to believe it- but, in his gut, he just had a feeling- a feeling that what she was saying held some kind of truth. She also was not showing any physical signs that she was lying either.

'She went through with her decision to forbid any mention of you in the pack. She exiled three of your supporters who spoke up about you, though if I or Blood, Bone and Shadow bring it up, she merely asks us to stop. You know, this kind of unfairness in her rule truly made me regret having anything to do with them,' Sand said the final line with venom in her voice. 'I thought they were my friends, but... Blood blindly believed in everything Fern said, and Shadow just followed along. Bone started doing all the dirty work for your sister. Fern has become popular, everyone seems to love her- everyone but me and you.'

Dune felt himself tremble, and he tensed his muscles in response.

'I'm telling you all of this because I myself am sick of everything. Your sister is hypocritical and untrustworthy, always doing what the popular opinion dictates. The fact is, I never planned on returning to the pack when we were separated by the sandstorm. I became aware of your survival a few hours ago, and seeing the skulls attached to your body made me understand what you planned to do. I wanted to join you, but I guess that will not be a possibility.'

Dune looked at her, unmoving. Even if he had not mortally wounded her, he would never have allowed her to join him. This was a journey which he and he alone would complete.

'One more thing,' She crowed weakly. 'About you being a runt- though that doesn't seem to be the case anymore,' She chuckled, though winced slightly as she felt pain throb in her upper ribs. 'You know very well that it is the alpha's job to kill them.'

Dune nodded. He knew that all too well.

'Your sister refuses to get her jaws dirty, and she gets Bone to do it. And, knowing Bone, she does a damn messy job of it.'

Sand watched Dune for some kind of an emotional reaction over the cruelty or injustice, though he showed none.

He truly has changed, She thought.

'But there was one time where she insisted to do it herself. Only one. Fern had laid a clutch of eggs. And when they hatched, some of us noticed something rather peculiar. Two of the babies had something a little off about them- one looked just like Fern. She was big and strong, healthy too. The other was small and weak- a runt. It looked just like you. No one said it, of course, but you could see it on their faces. And when Fern saw it, it looked like she had seen the most disgusting thing imaginable. Bone offered to end its life, but Fern refused and tore her own child apart, limb from limb. She has never brought it up since that day, and neither has anyone else. That happened six months ago or so. And everyone still loves her.'

Dune shuddered as he realised that he was feeling. It seemed to have been becoming more and more common for him to feel. This particular emotion seemed stronger than the others- it felt like a mix between anger, disappointment and sadness. And, no matter how hard he seemed to try, he could not suppress it. He stood there, pondering, intrigued as to whether Sand was able to read it off him.

'The only reason I ever befriended those wretched individuals was because I had no one else- I didn't want to question them, for fear of losing them. But I regret it all now. I had never really been too fond of the rule we have on killing runts. I had never really thought Fern would be a better alpha than you.'

The wind whistled while Sand closed her jaws. A small rivulet of blood trickled from them, and her large, helpless eyes shut.

Dune, realising that Sand had told him everything he needed to know, slowly looked away from her, out to the horizon. He had only two opponents left- Bone, the largest of them all, and Fern, the strongest. Both would fall victim to his teeth and his claws.

He took a step away from Sand.

'Wait,' She said, without opening her eyes. Dune did not stop, but nevertheless, she spoke;

'Please... I don't want to suffer. End my life here. I would much rather that than to die slowly.'

Dune paused for a moment. Despite everything, she was still one of them, right?

But she had changed. And she had given him information- information which seemed to have fuelled him with yet more emotion. Whether that was going to turn out good or bad, he did not know, but...

(To leave her like this would be cruel and unnecessary.)

He wrinkled his snout as that thought slithered its way into his mind, contaminating everything. Compassion and mercy were not his traits- they were for the weak.

And he must not be weak.

He sighed. He wanted to leave her to die, to leave her to suffer, yet a tiny little part of him objected. He knew that, if he just left her, he would regret it later on.

He turned back and walked towards her.

He could feel every cell in his body scream at him to stop, tearing at his ears with high-pitched cries of objection. But he did not stop.

This was not compassion. This was not mercy. He was doing this for one reason, and one reason only- to make sure that she stayed dead.

(You keep telling yourself those lies.)

He put his foot on her neck. She opened her green eyes and looked up at him.

'...Thank you...' She whispered, smiling gently. 'I wish you luck on the rest of your journey. If we ever meet again in the stars, tell me the story. I want to hear how it ends.'

Dune nodded his head once, and she shut her eyes. She was ready.

Quickly, he applied pressure, and snapped her neck. The moon watched on, silently observing the scene.

-----

(By opening myself up to others, I am asking to be hit, over and over and over. It will be as if I never learned.)