Bean’s muscles swelled at the combat, but still he was no match for the Beast’s blind bloodlust. Kid stumbled back, falling to the ground like a frightened amateur. She couldn’t believe that within the night, all of her brothers and sisters in arms would be dead. She swallowed the stiff, hard pit that had formed in her throat, and was on her feet again. Calming herself, she took a step towards the man and Beast, to come to Bean’s aid just as he had moved so quickly to protect her. A guilty, sour feeling crept up on Kid’s spine, thinking that if she hadn’t been there that night, perhaps Bean wouldn’t have moved so feverishly, so thoughtlessly…perhaps he would have had a fighting chance.<br/>The great Wolf growled out more threateningly, terrifying promises to end them, and Bean took a crushing blow to the trunk of a tree. Even the tree seemed to ache under the hit, but still the Wolf approached him. Kid cried out, her hand moving quickly as if she could reach out and save Bean just by plucking him up and running back to the city. But that was not what happened next.<br/><br/>Bean’s large figure was silhouetted by the milky moon as the Beast held him by his thick throat. Kid ran swiftly, trying to get the jump on the Wolf, but he was too swift, too set on ending Bean then and there. Kid was knocked back once more, hitting the ground hard as she could only stare up and watch as the Beast finished off her last remaining clan member.<br/>At the request of a final word, Bean choked out one more phrase, his dying wish. “Burn in hell, Wolf. Kid…run.” He gurgled under the Beast’s crushing grip, and then there was blood. It was as if the world was in technicolor again, as his crimson cherry lifeblood flowed through the air to the ground. The white moonlight caught it, creating the only colour Kid had witnessed that dark night. The red blood, so thick yet draining like a stormflow.<br/><br/>When Bean’s corpse finally dropped, there was a clean hole through his chest, surely where his heart had been. Ribcage and spine sparkled with the cherry gore.<br/>Kid gnashed her teeth, standing and setting her feet shoulder width apart. She had four knives left. Only four? That would have to do.<br/>“Alright, you monster.” She whispered, her hood falling to reveal her face as she stared down the Wolf. “One of us is still kicking, and I’m not going down without a fi-” Her words were cut short as she screamed out, a deafening gunshot sounding through the air.<br/>Pepper’s limp, mangled head raised for a second, eyes closed, his hand still holding the shotgun. With his dying breath, the thin man’s head fell.<br/>Kid cursed under her breath, looking to her left bicep where the shot had barely grazed her flesh, but still bled sure enough.<br/>“Couldn’t get any worse, could it?” She muttered, the pain making her feel diamond-strong as she pulled out two long blades. “Kill me too then, Wolf!” She cried out, eyes becoming feverish as she ran forward, towards the dark creature.