"Atbash?"

Atbash had been resting in the neutral lands whenever she received Caesar's telepathic message. She was resting under a tree, shielding herself from the sun to cool herself down, and was jolted awake at the sound of her brother's voice in her head. At first she thought she had been imagining it due to the heat but Caesar reached out to her again, "Atbash, can you hear me?" Her heart fluttered at the voice of her younger brother, the worry in his voice alarming her.
"I can hear you!" Atbash responded to him back through her own telepathy, lowering her head on her paws to relax once more. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as she continued on, "Are you okay? What's going on?" Caesar sounded upset, afraid, and worried; had Corruption already caught up to him? It can't... Atbash mentally whined to herself, biting her lip slightly at the mere thought of her brother succumbing to the effects of Corruption. His silence was deafening and Atbash waited anxiously for Caesar's response, having half the mind to call out to him again.

"Atbash, I want to apologize." Those words coming from Caesar shocked her. Atbash blinked, trying to comprehend what he had just said. Apologize? She echoed in her mind, but not towards Caesar. The former leader was conflicted, several emotions running through her as those words hit her mind. Caesar had betrayed her, betrayed Vigenere, hurt her multiple times - scarred her, attempted to drown her... He killed their parents, slaughtered the King and Athena, without a second thought. Did he truly deserve a second chance?

"Atbash, please. I want to apologize, please let me come see you." The pain in Caesar's voice made Atbash's throat tighten and she felt herself starting to feel bad for her littermate. Maybe he's on the verge of Corruption and he's trying to make amends before he... She didn't want to finish that thought, she couldn't finish that thought. If Caesar was already going through Corruption, he wouldn't be able to save himself, but maybe trying to make amends before he passed would help ease the pain.
"I believe you, Caesar." Atbash finally responded back to him. "Where do you want to meet?"

--------------------------

The sound of the ocean was, admittedly, soothing. Atbash inhaled, letting the salty tang in the air relax her and exhaled the breath, staring ahead of her and admiring how far the sea seemed to stretch. Caesar asked her to meet in the neutral lands close to The Typhoon's territory, but not in their territory. It was strange, considering the last time she had seen Caesar, he had been apart of The Typhoon - but hey, it's been two years since then. He's probably left by now. Or worse, got exiled or something, considering how Pincher and other Typhooners didn't seem to appreciate how Caesar acted. But that was none of her business.

Of course, despite how excited Atbash was to see her littermate, the short-tailed savannah couldn't help but feel nervous; the last couple of times they had met, Caesar had destroyed her life - quite literally. Twice he had attacked her while he had been apart of The Typhoon, once to brand her with a triangle scar and the second was an attempt to drown her. Unfortunately for her, Atbash had no idea Caesar had been the one to burn down Snowbound.

Hearing the sound of rustling bushes made Atbash whip around in alarm, but quickly relaxed as she recognized the neon coat of Caesar. She cried out his name in happiness, rushing towards him and pressing herself against him. Atbash was aware of her own loud purring, but truthfully? She didn't care; this was her brother and despite everything, he was trying to make amends. The least she could do was be supportive, right? Caesar leaned against her in response and Atbash pulled back, frowning at him as she realized the amount of scars he had. "What happened to you? Are you okay?" Obviously a lot had happened... Maybe that was why he suddenly wanted to apologize? Maybe he's finally coming to terms with himself. She didn't see any of the signs of Corruption affecting Caesar, but what she did notice was how unkempt Caesar was - but that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for him.

"What happened to me doesn't matter." Caesar replied with a shrug and when Atbash opened her mouth to protest his statement, he quickly went on, "I heard about Snowbound. I'm so sorry you had to go through that." A short pause before he mumbled, "Again."
"Oh, it's, um." Atbash blinked in surprise to hear those words come from him. "It's fine. I'm fine. I was mostly worried about the tribe's well-being over myself honestly," She laughed. "I wish there had been more for me to do to protect them..." Truly, she wanted Snowbound to prosper but the mountainous tribe was far too small in order for it to survive. Either they were going to slowly fade out - which Atbash was experiencing first hand - or an enemy group would've taken them over or eradicated them; one of the two, that's for sure.

⸺ STRYKER, THE KINGPIN ⸺

pleasing everyone isn't like you, dancing jigs until i'm crippled

Oh how long had it been? Two years? Yeah, that sounded about right. Stryker had waited two years to take down this incessant feline, even after obliterating their little clan known as 'Snowbound.' To find that they were still alive and kicking in Elysium was quite a surprise too. With the help of Atbash's brother, Caesar, the lion eventually tracked down the girl and formed a plan.

Waiting in the shadows, the Kingpin listened as they talked. He couldn't help but cackle from underneath the underbrush at Caesar's smooth talk. Stryker was surprised she could not see through his lies by now, but maybe he had over estimated his old rival, especially in her old age. With an eye roll, he continued to listen. 'Vigenere,' rang within his ears and for a moment he lulled over the Tanglewood leader's name. Then a plan struck. So did his cue though.

Jolting out from the bushes, Stryker attempted to whack her onto the floor. With a smirk, he'd then pull her up from the ground with his claws digging into her scruff. "Miss me, Atbash?" he cooed bittersweetly. Instantly, he tried to slam her onto the ground with his large paw pressing on her chest. If enough pressure was applied, he'd potentially break her ribs and leave claw marks on her chest. "We need to talk."

At first, Caesar pressing himself against Atbash surprised her, and she flinched at first. Eventually she relaxed, briefly relishing in the moment; she remembered whenever Caesar did this a lot whenever they were younger, venting about how frustrated he was at the world. He did it often, especially after he was caught stealing things and he was lucky he wasn't whisked away for being a thug, and she tried to get him to understand that. But alas, her attempts were futile and obviously never worked.

That didn't mean she didn't wish things did though.

Whenever Caesar moved away from her, she blinked at him before wincing as he threw his arm in the air and released a fireball - the sight of the flames reminded her of the flames that burned both of her homes down, ironically caused by the same person beside her. Atbash opened her mouth to respond to her brother whenever she was suddenly knocked over. Claws dug into her scruff and she grit her teeth in pain, at first trying to squirm in Stryker's grasp. Her remaining eye snapped open at the sound of a familiar, bittersweet voice and both fear and anger filled her.

"We have nothing to-" Atbash was cut off in her response as Stryker slammed her back down, pressing against her chest. There was a snap as her ribs broke under his pressure, causing Atbash to inhale sharply - of course, making her pain worse as she did so. She tried to glare over at Caesar as much as she could, suddenly realizing why he was acting so sweetly before.

Of course. Why would he ever change? Maybe if she wasn't in pain, nor already feeling anger thanks to Stryker, Atbash would be hurt by Caesar's actions. But as of this moment? She was understandably angry at her younger littermate.