:T'Larc!:

T'Priel saw her companion fall and felt fury surge through her limbs. With a massive leap, she jumped from the small rock shelf and landed on the concrete of the facility entrance. The solid rock beneath her shattered as a spiderweb of cracks spread from her clawed feet under the impact.

She snarled, leaping into the air again and landing on the bonnet of the vehicle, and picked the Human up like a rag doll, flinging him onto the ground where he remained, dazed. She hopped down from the bonnet with a massive crash and placed a huge clawed foot on the Human's soft body. She felt his bones snap satisfyingly as he screamed in pain. She leaned over her right foot harder and heard the satisfying crack of his skull as it crumbled like an eggshell. She stepped off the rushed body of the Human, giving her foot three shakes that spotted the concrete with red blood.

:T'Larc:

The crumpled Hunter's form only twitched slightly. T'Priel turned her massive head towards the trees menacingly, hearing the frenzied chatter of the Humans as they struggled to determine a defense.

T'Priel fired her cannon into the trees again, though knew that she'd missed the Humans. A round object bounced down the hill and stopped next to a rock directly in front of her. She grunted in confusion for a moment then took a step backwards when she realised what it was.

Too late.

The Frag Grenade exploded, peppering the Hunter with metal and shredding her thick skin. She roared in fury and staggered back, her normally green vision bleeding to red, then fading to black. She felt blood trickle from her ruined eyes and stumbled around blindly, activating her shield and firing her cannon blindly into the darkness.

:T'Larc… I can't see! Where are you?:

She could feel him, but had no idea where he was. Everything was dark… empty... the icy clamp of aloneness started to tighten around her chest. She felt the Humans cease their fire, realizing that she was helpless. They chattered at her in their meaningless high-pitched voices as she wildly swung her head left and right.

:T'Larc! You swore I wouldn't die alone!:

She heard the familiar charge of a Fuel Cannon and an explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet, followed by the cries of Humans dying.

:…and you won't.: T'Larc's presence in her mind shattered the darkness like glass. The feeling of being alone subsided, though still ate at the back of her mind.

She paused. For a moment, all she could hear was the beating of her hearts… and the ragged breathing of the Humans.

Her head swung around blindly and she sniffed the air. It was tainted with the metallic stench of the red Human body fluid. She hissed and swung her head around again, following the scent of her Bond-Brother. She took a step forward, slamming her foot into the ground. Sure enough, the Humans moved – betraying their positions. The battlefield suddenly drew itself in T'Priel's mind.

With a roar, she fired her Fuel Cannon – this battle was far from over.

When T'Larc's eyes sparked back to life, the valley was still. What had happened? The memories suddenly rushed back to him, and he was made painfully aware of his ruined legs.

"Sshk Taa…" He swore in pain and hissed. Dragging himself to his arms, he looked up and saw T'Priel crumpled on the ground in a pool of orange blood not three lengths away from him. He crawled over to her, even as his vision rocked from side to side, the blood from his injured legs leaving orange smears on the ground. Her breathing was shallow… two of her lungs had already collapsed.

:T'Priel…: T'Larc rolled picked her up with his claws… as awkward as that was with his long claws and her spines. He felt a pang of sadness when he saw that her eyes – her beautiful green eyes – were ruined. Shredded by the frag grenade.

"Did I… get… them all…?" T'Priel rattled weakly.

"Of course you did, Bond-sister."

Her spines drooped sickly,

"You kept… your… promise,… T'Larc." She gently bumped her blue forehead with his – between Hunters, a sign of intimate respect. "A Hunter never dies alone."

She shuddered again, her spines shivering with the movement. T'Larc gently lay his head on her chest, feeling the numbness in his right side spread across his chest like icy fingers. T'Priel drew one last rattling breath then was still. T'Larc felt their Bond sever, the feeling of emptiness making his stomachs shudder. He closed his huge eyes, feeling her spines under his claws shift and fall slack as her massive heart stilled.

With one last effort, he pulled the cannon off his arm and threw a look at their Bond Tattoos. Weakly, he clasped their claws together and fell back down to die. He felt the sense of being alone start to crush him, making his chest tighten… but he wasn't afraid.

He was a Hunter… he would never be alone.