The Appalled One (On Hiatus)

8

"Scorpion... Scorpion.." Is all that was heard deep within Scorpion's mind. Scorpion's body twitched, his ears twitching as well. 

"5 more minutes.." Scorpion mentally mumbled, trying to get as much sleep as he could. 

"SCORPION!" The voice yelled, causing Scorpion to jolt awake and be greeted by a splitting headache. He opened his mouth to say something, but flashbacks of what had occurred yesterday came to mind. He turned to his side, seeing his bloody tongue on the floor. Right. 

"About time you wake up. It took you ages."  Arachnid grumbled, turning his attention towards a small fire. Scorpion sat up, examining the cave they were in. Scorpion rubbed his head, wincing quietly. He looked at his paw, the green liquid along with his blood being present. "Ay, don't mess with that. Let it do its job. Now, hurry up and eat. We still have to get our grounds." Arachnid huffed, poking at some flesh that was sizzling. Scorpion grumbled, standing up and stretching, squinting at the meat and looking over at his tongue. 

"How am I supposed to eat without a damn tongue?" Scorpion questioned stubbornly, shaking his fur. Arachnid turned towards him, sighing heavily. 

"I forgot that I had taken your tongue. Well, bear with me for a minute." Arachnid stated, opening himself up and eating the meat himself. Scorpion shuddered as the taste of the meat lingered on the remnants of his tongue. Arachnid continued to feast on the meat, halting when he heard cries coming within the deeper parts of the cave. Scorpion looked over, tilting his head. Instinctively, he went over to the source, being greeted by a litter of 6 lion cubs. The cubs looked to be not even a few hours old. They were fresh from the womb. Arachnid snarled a bit, opening himself up and getting ready to attack the cubs out of pure instinct, but Scorpion lashed at him, pinning his tail down. 

"They're just cubs, no reason to take their lives." Scorpion sternly pondered, huffing. 

"They're cubs alright, but once they grow up they will eat you without hesitation. It'd be better to end them now before it's too late." Arachnid sighed, shaking himself. Scorpion scoffed, looking at the cubs. The cubs crawled around, whining as if they were hungry. Scorpion squinted, examining the cubs before gasping as flashbacks hit him, specifically flashbacks of the mountain lion that had attacked him. Scorpion hung his head low, remorse along with guilt flooding through him. He looked over at Arachnid, discreetly baring his canines. Damn parasite had to go 'round making the lives of others miserable as well. 

Arachnid hovered over the cubs, licking his lips. He was still hungry, but he looked over at Scorpion, grumbling. He knew the kid would stop him from doing anything to the cubs, so he restrained himself for now. Arachnid noticed the sudden change in atmosphere radiating off of Scorpion, tilting himself a bit. "What? What's got you all upset?" 

"You killed their mother. That mountain lion was just protecting her den. Perhaps hunting. If I had known, I would've offered myself to her. At least I knew I'd go off having fed the next generation of her kind."  Scorpion thought out of melancholy, his ears lowering. Arachnid rolled his eyes subconsciously, waving himself in front of Scorpion.

"You would've, but I wouldn't have let you. Remember why we're still here kid."  Arachnid said with a slight hint of sincerity, shaking himself. Scorpion huffed, sitting down as he examined the cubs. 

They were obviously hungry, but the question is, how would he feed them? To start off the issue, he was a male, so he couldn't produce milk. Secondly, their only source of food was massacred, so there was no question. However, he replayed the situation he had with the doe, remembering what Arachnid had done-despite the emotions he had felt- and how the doe remained alive. Maybe, just maybe Arachnid could-