Growing more and more desperate with every passing second, Malin flung himself at the gaggle of squirrels and began trying to physically pull them off of Life. Shoe growled loudly and jumped at him, teeth bared. With a roar, Malin turned and shoved her back with a surprising amount of strength.
"Whose world?!" Malin demanded furiously, returning to his attempts to pry the squirrels away. "Yours? Death's? Dad's? These humans need her! What makes their lives so much more worthless than ours?!"
As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Malin suddenly reached into the pile of squirming animals and attempted to yank Life out, moving as if to shield her with his own body. "Just...just leave her alone! Why don't you get it?! You and Dad don't understand, you don't understand that everything Life has created is beautiful and Life is beautiful and there is nothing that'll get me to change my mind in that!"
Shoe returned to Ludovica's side and nuzzled against her leg, as if sympathetic. She growled accusingly at Malin, but at least the young wolf pup seemed to have abandoned her direct fight with Malin for the time being.
Dunno what I expected.
Bennie couldn't say she was surprised by her son's words. He wasn't completely wrong, admittedly--which was probably the worst part. Still, Bennie wasn't sure how she could explain she really did care about him without having to also explain that she had basically just given birth to him to see what it felt like and had then decided having kids was the actual worst.
"Your father cares," she assured. "Probably more than anyone else in this messed-up web of a family. That's why we've got to find her, okay? And I...I care too, kiddo. It's just...complicated. It's not that I don't love you..."
What is his name?
She bit her lip, then nodded confidently, a sudden spark igniting in her mind.
"Kelly."