The Wolf and the Natural ✔️

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ARLIS
Arlis was shifting back to a human, slowly. Agonizingly. He crumpled himself onto the ground, curled into a ball. His head was fighting against itself, two parts of him arguing and screaming. The monster beneath his skin and the angel in his head had two very different opinions.

He crawled to a blanket that was in there, laying on the ground. At least he got that. He felt bad for Everly, who was in the cell across from him. Her own boyfriend had betrayed her, giving her and her family up to Konrad. Konrad had been terrorizing her, destroying her mentally and physically.

Her boyfriend had come in, tried to defend himself and she wouldn't listen to any of it. Then... he told Arlis that Kate brought Konrad the notebook. The very notebook Arlis told her not to give him. But... that meant Kate was safe. Because she was safe, his Rogue side retreated back. He wasn't in danger anymore.

He tied the blanket around his waist and stood up, his eyes fearfully looking from side to side. His body was pale and his hair was grey. His skin was wrinkled and showing his age. And he was old. He felt old, useless.

He rolled his shoulders back, realizing he wasn't useless. "You're leaving." He whispered to Everly. She had to leave, she had to go. She could help take care of Kate. Everly didn't belong here.

Everly tilted her head. "Why me? Why not both of us?"

Arlis knew what he had to do. He knew, he had to be there to kill Konrad. If Arlis stayed... it meant that all the necessary things needed to kill Konrad were in the same area as Konrad. "I need to be here to kill Konrad. You don't need to be here at all." He wasn't chained considering... he was a thoughtless beast just moments ago who didn't require chains.

Arlis took a step to the cage and fell, but managed to catch himself. He growled inhumanly as he pulled the bars, the growl covering the sound of the metal bars bending. Alongside this, it covered the strange silence that would cause anyone to be suspicious.

He softly stepped over to Everly's cell. "I owe this to Kasparov. He saved my life in here once, I'll save his nieces's." And that was true. Arlis was dying the first time he was here, Konrad didn't care whether or not he had died. He was starving, lying in silver. Kasparov, her uncle, pulled Arlis out of that and fed him all those years ago. He owed it to the dead man to help his niece.

Arlis pulled the bars aside and crawled into her cell. She was still chained, but that doesn't matter. "He's not done with her yet." He said. In a couple cells over, Konrad was torturing a nineteen year old girl who wasn't even fully supernatural. She had been a double sided spy, working for Konrad and Everly. As if on cue, the girl a couple cells over released a high pitched scream. "You can leave. Nobody in here is going to stop you." Arlis assured.

Everly closed her eyes. "Colin. Clay. Becker." Colin, the boyfriend. Clay Gold, the boyfriend's Dad.

"Don't ever think anything bad about Becker." Arlis begged. He wasn't sure if he trying to convince himself or her. Arlis hates Becker for bringing him here but he wasn't... upset as to the reason why. Because Arlis was here, Constance wasn't. Because Arlis was here, they had a shot to kill Konrad. "Or Colin. That boy was right. Not everyone can watch their loved ones die like you. That's not a good thing to be able to do, Everly. Hunter or not." He referenced something Colin had said to her earlier, that she needed to stop worrying about when and why to sacrifice and just do what was right. Let the consequences matter later.

"But the world-"

"Will always go on. Always. With or without a person. Don't stop the monster by becoming one." He looked down at her chains. "I hope this works." He muttered and grabbed the chains, pulling and screaming.