And Justice For All

Artorias lavished in the feeling of Bowen sinking into his embrace. Affection was freely given, pride in his sister's accomplishments and admiration for her bravado shining in fire-hued eyes. Bowen had impressed him before with her ability to survive and her ambition, but to go up against the wolf that had terrorized Gwyn and nearly murdered himself? Bowen was a badass well and truly worthy of the Carpathius name, and his heart swelled to be able to call her his sister. Bowen offered no resistance while he inspected her for any reasons to go after Oxx again, finding none beyond the cut on her lip. The moment he wiped away the blood from her mouth, Artorias felt the warm wetness of Bowen's tongue flick out and swipe over his paw pad, cleaning it of the liquid crimson. His pulse skipped and he stared at her in surprise for a moment, but otherwise gave no visible reaction other than a wry smirk when she mentioned Oxx having quite a grip.

"Yeah, no fucking kidding," he remarked with a husky chuckle while trying to keep his eyes from following Bowen's paw as it moved over her slender neck. He could still recall his vision starting to black out when the gargantuan beast had throttled him. "You did so good, Bo! You'd have worried me to death, but you did amazing." Their gazes met and held for what had to be the millionth time but still felt like the first. She called him Torias again, a little smirk of some unrecognized emotions twitching on his lips and a light of life blazing inside his eyes for the first time since his defeat. "We did, and you got it for us, Bo. Thank you."

The sound of bedsheets and furs stirring in the cot next to his drew Artorias' eyes up away from Bowen to spot Rudyard stirring in his bed. Art's breathing stopped, shock and amazement lighting up his eyes. "Rudy!" he exclaimed, instinctively going to rise from his bed again and groaning when his aching muscles protested, forcing him to sink back down to the bed. "Rudy, you're awake!" His brother was alive! Bowen was alive and had brought Resin home! The Carpathius family was whole once more.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Corbin" | "Argent"