Regulus

He was exhausted, disheartened, and very ready to return home. The journey had been fruitless; positively pointless, and he had no idea what was going on at home... if there even still was a home to go to. They had been gone, far too long.. a season? Two? The months and days had run together into what could easily be called a sort of nightmare. His mother was dead; her wasted body lay limp in the deer hide he and Kavdaya carried, lashed with strips of more hide to two long saplings that were, in turn, lashed to a sort of harness Kavdaya had fashioned out of even more strips. It would have been impossible to fasten the ties all on their own, but it made carrying their burden easier. As long as they went single file along their way, the going was generally smooth. They had made a final stop on the way home; a last request of Surreal's, and upon the still silver body was a lumpy pair of bundles that rattled slightly at any jostling. He led the way, accustomed by now to the weight that bore down across his back and shoulders, and the pull across his breast when they climbed a rise and the weight of their lifeless burden shifted back. He, being the stronger wolf here, was able to put his strength into pulling his cousin up after him, though it had taken a few times of trial and error before they'd figured out the right amount of pull to avoid dragging Kavdaya on her face. He understood death... That didn't mean he had to like it. He had seen his grandmother, a peaceful, almost beautiful death, and now he had seen his mother. Seen her wasting away, fighting a vicious sickness that refused to relinquish her from its claws. When they had found a small offshoot band of Nomads, there had been one experienced enough to tell them what ailed his mother. It was really several things, among them being cancer of the lung. It was already in its final stages. It was a small seed of dismal comfort that there was nothing they could have done to save her, whether it had been staying home, or taking this trek across the lands to find help. What had possessed him to take off, Kavdaya in tow, when he had an entire pack that needed him? His mother would have scolded him had she the strength left. It was one final moment of lucidity that she had used to make her last request, and to bid him to take care of the pack; go home, never let it go. Take them all home. Dry, brittle grass rustled around his paws. The weather had been dry, with little rain to replenish the grass. They had weathered many hard storms on their way back, and both wolves were thin, though Regulus maintained his muscular frame with the rigors of the hard travel. As he looked up, he began to spot familiar landmarks. A stone of a certain shape, a curve in the hills ahead, and finally, the plains, with their familiar scattered hillocks of small wooded niches. They looked so brown. He pressed on, encouraging Kavdaya with a soft bark, and felt through the liter the shiver of excitement as she realized they were nearly home. She had an even more urgent reason to return home. A litter of five children, and a loving mate. He regretted the time stolen from her by his actions. As they reached the borders, at long last, he lowered his head, taking a few sniffs, analyzing the news the scents left. Celestial still stood, Faite an active, strong stamp in the scent. There were a few unfamiliar smells among them, and a few missing. But something about his sister's scent struck him as odd... Funny.. Last time he'd smelled that, Kavdaya was... His head lifted, ears perking slightly. Pregnant? Faite was pregnant? And leading alone? Gods... What would the news of their mother do to her, and the unborn pups? He looked over his shoulder at the liter, and beyond that to Kavdaya, nodding as she twisted her head around to yank open her lashings, allowing the liter to become a travois as she shook free, before he turned his head back to face the pack lands. It was time to step back into his place, and give his sister a break. He raised his head and called out in a long, somber howl. He had news he wished he didn't have.

He always thought that the depression Surreal had found him in years ago would be his lowest point. Oh how wrong he was. He was a broken, shattered, shell of a man. He barely noticed the steps he was taking any more. He just followed the sound and scent of his son and Kavdaya, his head hanging toward the ground as he dragged along behind him. This was the only moment since he lost his sight that he was actually glad to be blind. At least now he didn't have to see Regulus dragging Surreal's body back home. He kept asking himself over and over why it wasn't him on that deer hide. Why couldn't he have been the one with cancer. Why couldn't he have just passed with her. He wanted to. He wished he would have had the balls to just ask one of the healers there to give him something that would kill him off as well. He knew they had to have something there that would do it. But he didn't. He just laid there with her till she passed and only stopped sobbing when Regulus made him leave. Falk stopped when he noticed that the dragging sound and the sound of paw steps stopped ahead of him. It wasn't till then that all the exhaustion in his muscles settled in and his hind legs collapsed under him, sitting him down on his haunches hard. "Why her? I was the useless one, the blind one. The children depended on her so much more than they ever did me. I'm just a burden to them. Why couldn't you have taken me?" he silently asked the heavens, feeling a mix of numbness and searing pain as he sat there and listened to Regulus' howl. They were home, for better or worse. Speech Thought Others

She was restless, irritable, impatient, and most of all tired. She found it increasingly difficult to sleep as anxious thoughts penetrated her brain. Her talk with crying Fable had only made it worse. What if the kid was right? What if they didn't come back? She didn't want to have to explain to Creed and his family that Kavdaya wasn't coming back. Fable already believed he wasn't good enough for his mother's attention and that she really had left forever. How did you explain that to an already heart broken child? To add to all her fears and worries she was most anxious about the children growing steadily in her womb. She hadn't had the chance to really tell anyone yet and she was more than nervous to. Kalliope knew, but only because she'd helped Faite deduct what was wrong with her when she'd gone to see her for the nausea and sleepless nights. It left an empty aching worrying feeling deep within her gut. She hated it. The day was halfway gone by the time she dragged herself from her den. She'd given up on the idea of a nap. She'd patrolled the borders earlier than morning, for a lack of better things to do while sleep evaded her, so there was no reason to patrol them again. She was half tempted to seek out Fortune again to distract herself. She was just on her way to go see if she could find her cousin when a call rang out. Her ears perked up at the sound and for a moment she thought she was imagining it in her tired and sleep deprived state. Were they really back? Her exhaustion was forgotten as she raced towards the borders with a relieved grin on her face. Oh they were finally back! Regulus could help ease some of the stress lately. Had they managed to find a cure for what ailed their parents? She hoped so! The grim faces that met her soon wiped the smile off of her face. Her pace slowed down and she frowned and her face creased with worry once more. Something was wrong. She noticed Regulus looking thinner than usual and it was impossible to miss the litter that was behind him. She noted Kavdaya as well and her eyes rested on her father collapsed halfway on the ground. Her gaze shifted between all of them as she came to a standstill. She felt her heart shattering into tinier more broken pieces then before. Where is she? and yet in her heart she already knew the answer. "What happened?" She whispered and she couldn't stop her voice from wavering. It wasn't fair - she was supposed to have been cured while she was away. She wasn't supposed to die! She struggled to keep her emotions in check. She wanted to hear what had happened. Why had it all gone wrong? Walk, "Talk" Think

The boy had always been worried about his parents. Since he was born his mother had come down with an illness that she couldn't seem to shake. She grew weak, tired, and had been bed ridden in her den since he was a pup. The boy was now full grown and would soon be entering into his second year and his mother was still sick. What even worried him more was when Reg, Kav, and Falk disappeared without warning and taking Surreal with them. He had never really had the chance to ask anyone why they had left or where they were going to go instead he tried to keep himself busy with training. The last meeting Faite had given him the idea to work towards the Legionary position and the boy had set his sights on the position and wanted to work harder then ever to try and earn it. Part of him felt heartbroken and at times even jealous. He had never had his parents see him grow, see him become more intelligent, but his older siblings had gotten all of that. The absence of his parents made the boy feel rather off at times, but he tried to shove it aside. Faite had been more busy since she was now in charge of the pack so he had lost a good training partner and didn't feel like he should bother her to train with him. The rest of the pack seemed rather quiet and he was thinking about expending his search for someone to spar with. He was old enough now that it shouldn't harm him to go out of the borders for some outside of the pack training and anymore he felt like he should be doing that so he could expand his knowledge of how to fight. He needed to get moving with his training, he hadn't even been in a real spar yet. Sighing the boy stretched out his limbs and decided to get moving, until a familiar call rang through the lands. Could it be? His older brother had returned and surely the rest of them was fallowing. His tail began to wag uncontrollably before he raced to the borders to greet them. When he arrived his heart dropped as he felt the odd amount of depression, grief, and exhaustion in the air. It made him skid to a stop unsure of how to act or if he even wanted to approach. He whined lightly as he looked over the faces of everyone, trying to read what was going on. He immediately noted that mother was not with the group. Where in the world was she? Then he noticed his brother dragging something behind him and he felt ill to the gut. He slowly moved forward, coming to stand beside Faite as she asked what happened. His ears were pinned to his head wondering what was going on. "Talk" || Think

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

His sibling was quick to respond, and he could feel his heart squeeze painfully as he spotted her relieved grin, and how it fell away as she saw their expressions, and the despair of their father, and the absence of their mother's living presence. His haunches lowered slowly to the ground and fought the tears that welled in his eyes. How do you tell your family that there was a death? His youngest brother arrived, and he had to clear his throat of the sudden blockage. In mute answer to Faite's question, his eyes drifted to the liter still strapped to his harness, ears falling back. It was several moments worth of struggling to steady himself before he answered, voice thick. "It was too late. We found someone, a band of Nomads that had chosen to leave the main Pack, and the eldest of them could tell us what it was. She had cancer, and it was already so late in its stages that there was nothing we could have done, stay or go." A pause to steady his breathing, swallow the agony. "She died not long after. But she had a lucid moment just before. Long enough to pass on a message. She loves us all, and we are to live on. She doesn't want the family to fall apart. And I'm to return here and reclaim the Pack as Archangel. There was more. She wanted Grandmother to be laid to final rest beside Cairo, like she wanted before but couldn't... And for great Uncle Cormalin to be with the rest of the family. So... I brought them, too. What's left..." He trailed off, fighting the swell of emotions. Remain strong, wait until his mother and grandmother, and great uncle were laid to rest in peace, and then he could let go and grieve the rest of the way. He would have to track down all of his siblings, let them know. And there would be the duties of the Archangel to reclaim, but that would be the easiest part of everything. His eyes lifted from the liter to find Faite's. had it been any other time, without the grief of the loss, he'd have been pelting his sister with excited questions about the upcoming litter she carried. But right now, he was too numb. "I'll be reclaiming my place, starting now. Don't worry about patrols. I'll handle them after... after the burials." Kavdaya had departed by now, trusting Falk to stick with his offspring, desperate to find her own children and her mate. Her could hear her howl for them. At least there would be that one stroke of comfort. There was still new life to replace the lost life.

Castiel wasn’t sure what to make of the scene he’d come across. He saw Regulus and could smell Kavdaya… see Falk… but not his sister. Faite was there, as well as one of Surreal’s youngest. Cas felt his ears flick back to his skull, a low whine escaping him as he approached the others just in time to hear what Regulus had to say. He’d been hoping for good news… they all had. He’d hoped to share the news of his bonding with Kalliope, to potentially talk of their wedding… but this… this was not what Castiel had been prepared for. Never would he have thought that his sister wasn’t going to pull through… and it made his heart ache terribly seeing that she had succumbed to her sickness. “Regulus…” The older man said in a soft tone, fighting with the emotions that raged wars in both his heart and brought tears to his eyes. “If you wish it, I will help you with the burials.” There could be time to talk of other things later… right now… Cas wasn’t sure how to feel. He felt so hurt, so broken… but no doubt Falk and Surreal’s children felt even worse than he did. He needed to try and be strong… to help the rest of them through this. "Speak"

Shortly after Regulus howled, he smelled Faite's scent and Laisrén's and heard his daughter's voice. He knew Surreal would want him to be strong for them now and to comfort them, but he just didn't know how. How did he help them grieve when he didn't know how to grieve himself. He listened to Regulus speak, so to the point and so informative. So down to business. He sounded so much like his mother. Falk struggled to pull himself to his paws, but he did it, and padded forward to walk past Regulus. He noticed that Kavdaya had gone and moments later he heard her howl for her own family. That was good. He hated that she had come with them. He carefully came over Faite and Laisrén, clenching his teeth to keep his own emotions in check. He pressed his nose to Faite's shoulder. What could he say? What could he possibly say? He went to do the same to Laisrén, wishing he had some sort of comfort to give his children. He knew he must look like hell. He felt like it anyway. He sat back on his haunches again next to Faite. He barely noticed Castiel as he came and offered to help Regulus with the burials. "I'm sorry," he finally said to her softly even though he wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for. He just felt like it needed to be said. He was so tired. So, so tired. Speech Thought Others

She was barely aware of Laisren approaching until she heard him next to her. She glanced at him briefly before letting her body sag against his. When had he gotten so big? She was grateful that he was there and yet the sense of foreboding she felt didn't make her feel any better. Something was wrong and she felt terrible. Were any of them ready for bad news? She briefly noticed that Castiel had arrived as well. It seemed this was going to be a family gathering. "It was too late." She felt her blood chill in her veins at his opening sentence. She forced herself to her haunches and once more was glad Laisren had come to stand beside her. She knot in her throat felt like it was expanding, choking her, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. So this was it. They'd all expected it, knew that it was coming, and yet she still wasn't prepared. She'd held out with a faint glimmer of hope that this journey would prove to save her. That they'd figure out something to make her better. Cancer. How could her strong, brave, wonderful mother have died before her time. What about her younger siblings? They were too young ... it wasn't fair. A sob left her at the mention of their grandmother and uncle Cormalin. So he'd dug them up? She would have been horrified at the thought if she didn't feel so achingly numb after the revelation that her mother was dead. She was briefly grateful that they'd all rest here, where the pack was, since it'd make visiting graves easier. Kavdaya left, no doubt to go see her mate and children, and she watched her go for a moment. She heard the howl and yet she didn't focus on it for long. It took her a moment to realize she had to say something, things to do, alpha things. She looked up at Regulus and nodded softly. It was his pack after all, she'd only taken over for his absence, so of course he could have it back. "Yeah of course, you can take over." She managed to choke out as Falk came and pressed a nose to her and her brother before he settling in next to her. She took the moment to lean against him now. She was hoping to comfort not only him but herself as well. She was thankful she didn't have to worry about patrols. A part of her just wanted to go curl up in her den and be miserable. She didn't even want to think about having to help with the burials. She would, of course, but she didn't think she could bear to look at her mother's lifeless corpse or the bones of her uncle and grandmother. Walk, "Talk" Think

Faite leaned into him and Laisren stood strong, despite all the mixed emotions running through him. What had really happened and where was mom? Briefly he looked towards his older sister to then realize that even though he was younger he was now bigger then her. It felt weird that he was bigger then her, it almost made him feel older then a year. The male returned his gaze to his older brother as it seemed he struggled to speak, the news had to be bad. Regulus was a strong male and Lais had never seen him act like this. It was too late. He whined as he felt his heart break at the news. Mom was dead and wouldn't be around anymore. Regulus went on to explain that she had cancer and there was nothing anything could have done. She was cursed to die before her time and to leave her family behind. This was his first time dealing with death and honestly the boy didn't know the proper way to act. He felt completely numb and didn't know what to say or what to do. He had also brought back the remains of relatives, ones he had never got to meet. The sob from his sister pulled his attention to her and gently he nosed her neck attempting to try and give her some sort of comfort. He didn't know if it would do anything, but to him it felt like the right thing to do. His eyes watched Kav leave, no doubt wanting to be with her family. Then his eyes went to his brother before his father rose. His exhausted father moved over to them. Pressing his nose into Faite's shoulder before doing the same to his own. Laisren returned it by nuzzling his father's neck. His father looked rather rough and Lais was also worried about him. His father took a seat on the other side of Faite and she shifted to lean on him. Regulus had mentioned burials and his Uncle Cas, who he never saw arrive, had said he would help. Laisren had never been apart of burials, but he assumed that it wouldn't hurt. The numb young boy looked to his brother again. "I would like to........ Like to help also" he replied finding a knot beginning to clog his throat. "Talk" || Think

Rasiel had heard her brother’s call and eagerly dropped what she was doing to join him. But upon arriving the somber mood… the fact her mother wasn’t present… Rasiel flicked her ears back, giving a soft whine. She had not heard Regulus announce the death… but she was there to hear Lais say he’d help with the burials. The young girl froze, putting two and two together. The sadness… the lack of her mother’s living form… so she had…

Rassie lowered her head, feeling her body begin to shake. No… this couldn’t be true! The young girl could feel a knot forming in her throat, her body ready to crumple to the earth. She just wanted to return to her den and wait to wake up from this nightmare. That’s all this really was, right? Her mother was going to be back… she had to be…

Rasiel lifted her head again, staggering over to her father and siblings. She looked up at Faite, tears already beginning to sting her eyes. “This… this isn’t right…” She whispered. She had gotten better… why couldn’t their mother? It wasn’t fair!