Brat

“Move, brat,” Leo threatened.

“No,” Anissa defied her uncle, guarding Will’s body with a hunter’s ferocity.

“Still defying me?” he growled.

“You spoiled me, it was an expected outcome,” Anissa retorted.

“Don’t make me kill you,” Leo readied his bo staff.

Anissa laughed.

“You would’ve done it years ago if you meant that threat,” Anissa said.

“I won’t fail this time,” Leo said. “Beast Heart!”

Once again, the world seemed to come to life around Leo. The distant screams of citizens fleeing monsters seemed to bounce from every direction. The dark corners of the alley seemed to sharpen, becoming almost as bright as daylight. Each flicker of Anissa’s movements seemed slow and deliberate, leaving behind a faint after image as she readied her combat stance. Anissa’s eyes narrowed in resolve, her daggers ready to strike out.

“I warned you!” Leo moved with blinding speed, planting a foot right into Anissa’s abdomen.

She grunted, pushed back by the sudden force, before recovering, tumbling back onto her feet. Leo charged forward with a staff strike. Anissa danced out of the way, nicking his side with one of her daggers as she did so. Leo reacted quickly, swinging his staff about and bashing Anissa on the side of her head. She hissed in pain, tumbling against the stone street, a flick of blood pouring from her head wound. Anissa growled, barring her long canines, crouching low.

“Why couldn’t you have just stayed with the family,” Leo shook his head. “We wouldn’t have gotten into this mess if you had just stayed.”

“That was not the life I wanted to live!” Anissa responded. “I wanted to be free to be who I was, not defined by who my father is or what my bloodline meant.”

“That’s not how the world works, Anissa!” Leo pounced, shoving Anissa back with a powerful palm. Anissa gasped in pain, bouncing hard against a nearby wall, one of her daggers flying loose and clattering against the road a short distance away. “This very world is defined by what we’re given at birth! Not just the beastman, but every other race is defined by the skills the gods determined they are worthy to hold! Some are born with a destiny they cannot escape! We are born into whatever hovel the gods decide for us! We live and die by their will!”

“No!” Anissa flicked forward, swinging and missing with her dagger. “I refuse to believe that! Look at Will! He doesn’t have a skill! He was never chosen by the gods, and yet he defies destiny!”

Natalia lifted her head, barely conscious, listening to what Anissa had to say.

“And yet he keeps getting back up each time! He lives as he pleases!” Anissa yelled. “I admire that! Seeing him fight and nearly die against all kinds of monsters showed me that I too could live the way I please!”

“Is that, really possible…” Natalia pondered to herself.

“The idiot I took out in one shot?” Leo protested. “He could have all the grit and determination in the world, but even with that, he couldn’t stand up to Kagan.”

“Does it matter?” Anissa asked. “Isn’t it better to live and fight in spite of the overwhelming odds?”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Leo bit his lip. “In the end, he’ll reach his end, and beg and cry for it all to stop.”

“He never did.” Anissa said.

“He never did?” Natalia gasped. Her head stung, and she could feel herself fading back into the blackness.

“Anissa, brat, please stop,” Leo begged. “Please, stop.”

“No.” She refused.

“If you keep doing this, then,” Leo stammered. “What have I been living for? What was the point of my life!”

Leo threw aside his staff, readying his claws.

“I can’t accept that there was something I could’ve done,” Leo gasped, a single tear running down his face. “I can’t accept it.”

“Uncle,” Anissa readied her single dagger.

“I won’t!” Leo rushed forward, his everything thrown into a single attack.

Anissa rose to meet him, charging him with her dagger. He struck, screaming the as he thrust forward with all his power. He saw the frail little girl again. She was sitting in the hallway, playing with a cockroach.

“Brat, you’re here again?” Leo asked.

The little Anissa nodded. She had a bruise on her face.

“What happened there?” Leo asked, pointing to his face.

“One of my brothers, forgot his name, hit me,” she shrugged, lifting her cockroach. “Said I was too weak. Said it was better off if I was dead.”

“Oh yeah? You didn’t hit him back?” Leo asked, taking a seat next to her.

“I tried. I am too weak,” She muttered. “Mother says so too sometimes. Too small and too weak. A disgrace to our clan.”

“You don’t seem too bothered about it,” Leo noted.

Anissa shrugged.

“Doesn’t really matter to me,” she answered.

“Oh yeah?” Leo chuckled. “You’re stronger than me, brat, I’ll give you that. You’re a lot stronger than me.”

Leo looked down at where he impaled her. His clawed hand had gone clear through her chest.

“Uncle,” She coughed, spitting up blood as she collapsed.

“No!” Leo caught her as she fell. “What did I, I didn’t mean to,” he slowly lowered her to the floor. “Anissa, I didn’t mean to, I…”

“Uncle,” she rasped, her eyes getting glassy.

“Dammit!” Leo cursed. “It wasn’t supposed to go this way! Dammit brat, if only I, if only I was stronger…then I would’ve…”

“Uncle,” Anissa smiled. “Uncle, you were always the strongest to me. You were strong because you took care of me, because you accepted me. I love you, dad.”

“No! No, brat stay with me, please brat!” He cradled her, her blood pouring out onto the stones. “Anissa please!”

Her body went limp. Leo acted according to his nature, for once in his life. He killed someone who didn’t live up to the beastman ideals. He killed his daughter. The only one he ever loved. She bled out in his arms. The only thing he could do was scream out into the night. He could only curse his fate. Leo had proven he was the strongest.