[center][fancypost=borderwidth=0px; width: 450px; text-align: justify;][font=arial] [ i'll just put this warning here in case anyone isn't okay with gore. paragraphs with gore will be marked with a " *** " at the start so you can skip over them if you'd like. ]
"shiro!"
the royal had woken in a cold sweat, eyes wild and chest heaving. a dark sense of dread filled him, worse than the day shiro had gone missing, worse than the day that their connection had been severed. for years, the savannah had felt nothing but a silent void through the bond he'd shared with the black lion, and now everything had come rushing back, memories and feelings that didn't belong to him, pain that he wished did. something was wrong, shiro was hurt somehow, somewhere. lance had to get to him, had to save the man that had practically acted as a father to him. so he ran, left home in the dead of night, when no one was around to talk him out of it.
the pale-hued male was surprised to when the bond led him to the walled off jungle ruins, and was even more surprised to smell fresh scents, though what he could smell was worrying to say the least. shiro's smoky scent combined with that of fresh blood and infection. lance sped his pace, following the scent until he came across paw prints. and more blood. the scent was getting stronger now, and lance had to fight both his fear for shiro and his urge to vomit from the smell. it was too much, too many feelings, both his own and shiro's, scrambled his mind, making him dizzy. fear, helplessness, anger, sorrow, relief.
*** he found the lion half lying in a shallow, but fast flowing stream, and the sight alone made him want to wail. the muscular wildcat was not as he remembered, both physically and mentally. shiro had changed; whether it was by choice, lance didn't know. dark blue luminaries swept over the lion, tears struggling to escape as the severity of his wounds became apparent. blood-red metallic wings protruded grotesquely from the chancellors back, one splayed at an awkward angled, half ripped from the flesh as if he'd tried to remove it himself. the savannah's stomach filled with dread at that thought, but he pushed the feeling aside and continued to survey the other male, biting his lip as his eyes swept over the mess of sparking wires and ripped flesh that covered shiro's upper back. though, the worst part was what seemed to be the newest addition to the lion's torment; a messily attached plate of steel, shaped roughly to resemble a snarling beast was attached to the right side of the lion's face, bloodstained screws biting sharply into flesh and bone to hold the monstrosity in place. they'd also messily removed his left eye and replaced it with what appeared to be a glowing white-hot ball of energy. ***
it made lance sick, it made him want to punch something, want to rip the vermin who'd done this into shreds. but he pushed these thoughts out of his head as quickly as they'd arrived. right now he had to keep a cool head, he had to help shiro, he had to-
lance's stomach dropped. shiro wasn't breathing. the lion was deathly still, no warmth left in his abused body; all of the savannah's calm went out the window. he screamed, he wailed, tried to pick the lion up by the scruff and drag him but it was no use. "shiro! wake up, come on! we have to- have to get you somewhere safe, we've gotta get you patched up. come on shiro, please!" the savannah pleaded, his voice lowering to a hoarse whisper as he sank to his knees.
"let me fix you."
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