The air was faintly chilly, carrying the promise of Fall along the gentle breeze that swept in across the cobblestone roads.

“...Cold.” A faint voice, white breath lifting into the air and disappearing into the sky as two-toned eyes watched from below.

He never did like the cold, feeling the chill settling into his body as he stepped outside a set of large doors, rolling around small, metallic cylinders in his hand. Bullets, oddly colored, glinted under the bright, low risen sun. The reason he had to part ways with his white haired companion. Traveling without a fresh batch of these simply wouldn’t do, after all.

Having left his knapsack at home, Eon sighed, stuffing the little bullets into the pockets of his jeans before making his way down the ascending staircase.

Almost subconsciously, he cast a small glance over his shoulder, half expecting that little, white form to be trailing not far behind him...But he was strangely disappointed when he recalled that he had already sent Max ahead of him. His tail swished somewhat restlessly in return, his gaze returning ahead of him, feeling oddly agitated with himself.

...Since when had he become so attached…? It was a waste of energy to deny that he had. Even Eon himself knew that. He supposed by now...Max’s presence had just become so natural to him, as though he simply expected nothing less than having Max nearby, trailing that tiny distance behind him.

For Eon, he wondered if this was because he had never spent prolonged contact around anyone other than Max...If it were someone else, would he think differently?? Even now, he didn’t find this arrangement unpleasant in the slightest. Not by any means.

...Was this what companionship felt like? Eon couldn’t find a definitive label for this feeling, or the reasoning behind it.

How silly. Eon didn’t get what exactly he was trying to understand here. How unlike him to waste his energy trying to grasp straws at meaningless things.

Max was waiting for him, and if Eon took too long, surely, he would start to think something had happened again...That seemed like a very Max-like thing for him to do. So, he went on his way, past the noisiest parts of the cities, and into the residential district. Soon enough, he would have been able to see his little home in the distance, but he...Paused when a strong, pungent scent choked his senses.

Blood. Eon’s heart lurched in his chest when he realized this scent dominating his senses came from the direction of his house...Where Max was supposed to be. Naturally, Eon’s immediate instinct was to rush inside to make sure Max was safe, but...It was just before he reached the door, open wide in the distance, that he came to a halt, freezing on the spot.

Don’t go in there. A voice warned him strongly from within. Every fiber of his being told him to get away. To run as far as he could from this place. A sense not unlike fear overtook him, settling in the pit of his stomach, his legs feeling as though they were made of lead, and a cold sweat breaking out along the palms of his hands.

Something terrible was in there. Just beyond that doorway.

Still, Eon swallowed down on his inexplicable fear, taking a step, and another...And another, until, he could finally peer through the doorway, and inside the room within.

The scene displayed before him was ripped straight out of a nightmare.

Red dominated his vision. Along the hardwood floor, the walls, the ceiling...All was painted in a deep crimson.

In the corner between the entryway and the bathroom door, a lifeless form laid sprawled about the floor, in pieces. Eon could barely make out the blackened hide past the flayed flesh, the exposed bones and organs. So horribly mangled, it was difficult to discern what the creature could have been.

And standing just before the corpse, was a single, small form. Scarcely, white fur could be seen past the deep red, a ghastly contrast in color, only making that red seem even more horrendously vivid.

Eon comprehended who that form was, but given the moment, he felt as though his eyes betrayed him. That form’s back faced him, pale arms dyed in a cancerous, spreading black. Blue markings crawling across the skin as though they were a living, writhing creature. Strangely mesmerizing and beautiful...Eon only realized, just then, that cold, emerald eyes met his own before Max’s form seemingly vanished...Only to appear right before him.