Alfred watched silently as the man approached them, his mind had gone blank in his panic and he was desperately trying to comprehend the situation. Should he make a run for it, or face him head on? Or should he try to make up some sort of lie or excuse and try to slip away? He felt the thing dash behind him, and it gripped tightly on the back of his shirt, pressing its face into his back.
He couldn't focus enough to get a good idea and soon found it was to late to do anything anyway. The man was now standing in front of him. He was tall, maybe an inch or so taller than Al was and he had somewhat messy dark reddish hair along with light stubble under his chin. His green eyes searched Al's threateningly as he puffed out some smoke from his cigarette, before he took it in his hand to speak. His voice was low with a heavy Scottish accent, clearly irritated and intimidating.
"It is made very clear that this area is out of bounds. I'm going to have to ask ye to leave right now, please."
"Y-yeah I was just… I was.. Just, going to-" Al stammered, not knowing what he was going to say and worriedly he noticed the mans gaze shift slowly from him, one of his eyebrows twitched as his expression darkened considerably.
"And why is that out of it's cage, aye?" warningly the man dropped the cigarette, stepping closer to Al when he had noticed it hiding behind him. Protectively Al put his arm out to his side to act as a barrier, preventing him from getting to it. Al stood up straighter, his chest puffing instinctively as he gazed levelly back at the man who was now much too close for his liking. He was trying to sound stern but his voice still came out a little uncertain.
"Sorry, but I'm taking him with me. What you're doing to him isn-" he cried out in shock, the man had suddenly grabbed him by the front of his shirt and violently slammed him into the side of the wooden tigers cage, he held him there forcefully, his feet only barely touching the ground. Al gasped for breath and he tried to pull the mans hands away from him, but he was feeling dizzy and weak from the sharp impact to the back of his head. Al heard the man speak into one of his ringing ears, his voice sounding strained from anger as he spoke through gritted teeth.
"Listen here ye stupid bastard, don't ye ever talk back ta me like that. As I said, this area is off limits. You are on my property. And that thing belongs to me, not you. Do ye understand? Now I am going to ask you nicely to leave, and if ye dare try something stupid with me again I'm going to break ya we-neck."
Alfred had managed to catch his breath and he could think more clearly now that the pain in his head had subsided more, though it was still a little difficult to breathe with the pressure against his chest, that and the strong smell of smoke and alcohol from his mouth was making him gag. Glaring full-force at the man, he could feel his anger rising. There was no way he was going to leave the fox guy with this man. No matter what he would save it, he would be its hero. At this thought Al felt his confidence grow and he grinned cheekily back at him… this man obviously didn't know just who he was messing with. Al spoke up again, this time his voice was calmer and relaxed.
"I'm taking him with me. He isn-" snorting the man grabbed a handful of Al's hair, painfully yanking his head to the side. He smiled evilly at him, licking his lips and Al could of sworn he saw the mans eyes flash yellow for a split-second. Sounding amused he hissed his next words into Al's ear again, gently tracing a hand across Al's face in an almost loving gesture.
"I guess ye must want to die, aye? Well needn't worry, I can do that for ye… but... I think you're the type who'd rather die slowly, aye?" Al winced and struggled as the man dug a sharp thumb nail into his cheek, causing blood to flow out of the puncture. The man chuckled giddily, dragging the nail down all the way to the corner of Al's mouth, a bright red line following behind it.
"Ye know, I'm glad you came here, I haven't had someone to play with for far too long… heh heh, how about I peel off your skin first?… starting from ya face I think… or... maybe you'd rather I cut your eyelids off first. That way ye can watch as-" suddenly the man howled out in agony, dropping Alfred who slid down to the floor in shock.
The thing had been watching the encounter from the side, it had been terrified at first, barely able think straight, it was terrified of that man. It had met Scott for the first time when it was still young, and only for a short space of time until he left and it had never seen him again until... one horrible night he had found it again, that was three years ago now. Even so, it had never been able to forget him once in that long amount of time without him. The man brought so much fear to it that it hadn't even been able to look directly at him since it was captured three years ago, the mere sound of his voice causing it to tremble.
But somehow watching Scott treat the other human like that, his anger had began to grow dangerously. The 'Alfred' guy was kindest thing he'd met, he was the first person to actually bother with him. He actually talked to him. Nobody had even spoken to him in three years (well, except Scott, but that didn't really count as 'talking'). Al had tried to help him… his ears twitched when he heard Alfred hiss in pain, focusing quickly he saw the bright red liquid slipping down Al' cheek. A surge of pure hatred washed through him, nearly chocking him. How dare he hurt Alfred... he couldn't let that happen. Alfred was his human.
Snarling it darted from where it was and pounced at Scott, its sharp teeth latching onto the arm that was holding Al's shirt. It heard Scott cry out loudly when it latched on and it felt his nails dig into the back of his neck, trying to rip him off of his arm. Determined it bit down harder, feeling hot blood fill its mouth and travel sickeningly down its throat. Eyes narrowed sadistically it started flailing wildly, its front paw and hand viciously trying to gorge the mans face into shreds, while its back legs were both lifted off the ground and scratching repeatedly at his stomach and legs. It had its eyes closed now as it felt itself being swung around and numerous punches and kicks that landed across its body, but it wouldn't let go. It had to protect Al. This time it wouldn't let Scott hurt something it cared about, even if it killed it.
Alfred watched them for a moment attacking each other, loud curses and growls filled the area with drops of blood and fur hitting the floor. He desperately wanted to help but with the way they were lashing out at each other he wouldn't be able to get close enough and he might end up hurting the fox guy. He stood up tensely, watching them intently for the change to punch that Scottish freak. It was then that Al noticed something strange… the freaks eyes really were flashing a yellow colour, it looked as if someone kept shining a flash-light in and out of them. Out of nowhere there was some sort of static sound (kind of like a broken t.v) followed by a sudden harsh yelp as the thing was thrown to the floor, landing painfully on its back, wobbly standing up and panting roughly, it glared daggers at the man wanting to kill him, though it was having a lot of trouble balancing by now. The man stood facing it holding the side of his face as blood poured thickly from between his fingers, a mixture of rage and amusement on his face. He was the first to speak up, his voice completely placid and unfazed.
"Well well, now, how un-like you to be so... violent… seems ye be needin more discipline… maybe I should teach ye respect… how about the same way as before, aye? …but since we can't be using poor little 'Fiver' this time, how about we use this guy over-"
"Fuck you!" it spat, cutting him off. It was bristling, teeth bared but it looked extremely scared now, tears threatening to spill from it eyes.
Scott smiled, leaning his head to the side looking curious as if about to do something. But before anything else could happen there was a loud cracking sound as Al suddenly appeared from nowhere, punching him full-force in the face and most likely breaking his noise. Scott flew back on impact, crashing loudly into some equipment a few feet away. He was still and didn't get up again. Al was trembling and pale, but he didn't hang around. Quickly he grabbed the things hand and started running as fast as he could in the direction of his apartment. Once they were a fair distance away he looked back at the thing he was dragging along and grinned at it reassuringly, squeezing its hand.
"Don't worry about anything, okay? I'm here now remember, so everything's gonna be okay. Promise."
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- end of the chapter, thankyou so much for reading! ^^ (sorry for making Scott kinda evil here, love him really but it needed a bad guy) …. Anyone still want the story to continue? (sorry for asking that a lot)