Ahhh! I fixed some things and deleted this whole message! Well anyways long nervous ramble short, the cover picture and plot were made by the amazing Maplevogel. If you're reading this Maplevogel I just want to say that you and P0ck3tf0x both inspire me to write and draw, two things I thought I was terrible at and look where I am now! So thank you for lending me this AU and thank you for doing what you do. I can now say with confidence that both my senpai have noticed me. I'm sorry if there are still mistakes, grammar and format are my worst areas but I'm getting better. I appreciate critique from anyone, that's how I improve!
It was dying.
That much he could tell as he watched it struggle deeper and deeper into his home. It whimpered and shivered and cried and it was just so weak.
But it limped along anyways.
This human marched to its death with so much fear yet even more courage to keep going further into the dark woods, rotting faster than its natural pace yet continuing on...
It seemed all the more delicious.
"So hungry…" it whimpered pitifully, and he could feel his own insides twisting in agreement at its words causing his tail to twitch in eagerness.
"Way to go Gilbert…I wonder if there are search parties looking for me…" it continued weakly as it stopped to slump against a mossy green tree.
"I want to go home…"
It stopped making noise for a while.
"I wonder if Gilbird will ever come back…" It pondered aloud before sliding all the way down the rough trunk to sit on the moist earth and leaned its back against the tree. It had a strange habit of calling every bird it saw that. Once the woodland creatures realized the pale thing's fate they quickly fled away from the heart of the forest. "No…he knows better than that…" it mumbled dejectedly.
It gingerly moved its injured leg before cringing at both the grotesque sight and intense pain radiating from it. "I should clean this…"
Yet it made no movement to follow through.
"I don't want to die like this…alone…" it whimpered breathily with such vulnerability as it closed its eyes and sagged further onto the tree.
The need to lure it in at that instant was much stronger than any other he felt over the past two days he had stalked his 'prey' for lack of better word, because now he wasn't quite sure if he just wanted to devour this human or continue to observe indefinitely.
"Help…me…help me…" He called hoarsely with his vocal cords accustomed to simple chatters. Yet it was enough for the human to reopen its eyes with the same frantic energy it used whenever it heard the trees hiss with involuntary movement.
It glanced around desperately and he knew he had it captured without a doubt.
"Help me…help me…"he recited the phrase he heard prey scream so often.
And he watched interestedly as it used its remaining strength the claw its way up the tree to stand upright again in order to limp hurriedly towards the sound of his voice, dragging along its lame leg in the mud and fallen foliage as it came.
"P-please! I'm here too, don't be scared!" It called hysterically looking far more frightened then it seemed to think he was. And before it could catch sight of his softly glowing violet eyes he slid them closed and turned away from it to remain hidden a few moments longer.
"Hey!" it cried with relief using its overused voice to try to gain his attention.
But when he opened his wide eyes and slowly turned to study it up close, its feature displayed an expression of horrified acceptance.
Very quickly, it instinctually realized it made a grave error.
Yet rather than scream or scramble back the way it came with the same blindly panicked speed it used to arrive it simply collapsed to the ground with a grim sense of defeat and let out a strange barking noise that sounded as if his teeth were already clamped around its throat.
He pounced on it.
But he restrained rather than bite. He curiously gazed into its dazed red eyes – so unique – before choosing to dig into its soft abdomen first to grab a handful of nutritious organs, disregarding the screams it caused. The pale being tasted so different from any other human, he wasn't sure if it was due to its colouration but it tasted so much more exquisite than any other yet it had such a bitter after taste that if he weren't perpetually hungry he would have left it for nature to finish devouring.
As much as he wanted to know how its eyes tasted or what treat was hidden in its cranium for some strange reason as he stared at its temporarily frozen face he couldn't bear to mar it. Suddenly its every pained moan and scream grated on his ears so he grabbed it by its silver fur and forcefully exposed its neck to tear into it. It futilely thrashed around for only a few seconds longer before going familiarly still as warm blood filled his mouth and stomach pleasantly.
He ate with less ferocity than he could ever remember carefully stripping meat from bone with his claws and teeth rather than ravenously crunching down on marrow and pilled them to the side along with its carefully detached and untouched head.
He was truly baffled as to what he did once he pried open its rib cage though.
Rather than shred the rich muscle in his mouth with vigor he carefully slipped a blood slicked hand underneath its heart as he used the other to precisely cut away every major artery and vain to free it from its protective resting place. Mindful of his strength he cradled the tough meat that held the heat of an overused machine and examined it. Only to be surprised by a warbled grumble that rose up from deep within him like the bile from the human's stomach. No longer wishing to gaze upon it at the moment, he set it to rest among the picked clean bones before continuing to feast.
When he finished a strange new sensation seemed to rip open his stomach, not the well known sharp gnawing of hunger pains but a different yet just as familiar sort of stabbing emptiness. He sucked in a rattling breath reminiscent of a dying man from the shock of it.
But the only way he knew how to deal with pain was to eat.
Slowly he picked up the head and studied it with intensity as he carefully decided what part to eat first, but to his pleasure he didn't have to damage any of its delicate features. Something about its eyes seemed to sooth the pain.
The red orbs were so different yet similar to his somehow.
And they both started to cry.
It's eyes slowly leaking congealing blood and his an unknown transparent liquid, both slowly cascading down their faces.
He couldn't just leave those other pieces there either.
For reasons even he didn't know, he gathered the remains with such unnecessary tenderness and took them home.
For days they merely sat there, slowly decomposing and releasing a stench that he never found foul. Even if they held no further purpose than to be looked at and held at night he almost worshiped the scraps as he lavished them with offering of the furs of various forest carnivores. Going as far as to take the antlers of a moose and resting them by the rotting head so its image held a likeness to his in some gesture even he didn't know the meaning of.
Ever since he started to try to fill this new void the old one seemed to fade to the background. Still present, but no longer screaming for immediate attention his every waking second.
And one night when he curled around his treasure, gathering all the pieces and his gifts to it in his arms it started to shift. Parts binding together to take on a familiar pale form.
For just a moment he felt…full…as cold arms wrapped around him and the soft glow of red eyes coloured his pale skin.