Azure felt the precarious balance of their newly mended connection teeter on the edge of collapse. His immediate thoughts about Basilisk's choice in a mate threatened to undo all the progress they had made. He clenched his eyes shut, his mind racing to find the right words - ones that wouldn't ignite the delicate bridge they had just started to rebuild. He wondered fleetingly what Sirius would do in his place. His father, despite his recent betrayal, always seemed to have the right words for his children.

He remained silent for a few more moments, shifting his weight restlessly as he mulled over this new information. In the end, he chose to sidestep the issue of Hazel entirely. She might not have earned his respect, but the child she had carried was another story - a potential beacon of hope in the midst of all the turmoil. "When do I get to meet him?" Azure finally asked, breaking the silence. Despite the chaos that seemed to have enveloped his world and the deaths, departures, and betrayals their pack had seen since he'd left, the news of becoming a grandfather offered a sliver of something to hold onto, a flicker of something positive amidst the darkness.

"Speech"

Basilisk watched his father carefully, and noted any slight changes in the other wolf's expression or posture. No, he did not believe his sire approved. If he tried to get in the middle of it, he’d find that Basilisk would not bend easily. He had chosen this life, and he would not give it up easily now. He and Hazel had been through too much together.

“Well, I suppose that depends. Do you plan on returning to the Armada? And if so, when?” He asked his father coolly. He did wonder what fireworks were yet to come. How would the Warlord take this? And what beehives would Azure kick over in his coming home.


"Speech"

Azure observed the cautious manner in which Basilisk approached the conversation. There was a guardedness in his son's demeanor, a hint of underlying tension waiting to surface. Azure's response to this was instinctive, his powerful frame subtly tensing in anticipation, a silent but clear sign of his disapproval. He could sense the unspoken challenges in Basilisk’s probing eyes and measured tone. His son had expectations, ones that Azure knew he was about to subvert.

"No." The word was deliberate, falling from his mouth with a calm, assertive control. "I do not." It was the only question that had been directly posed, and so it was the only one he would address.

After his succinct reply, Azure allowed the conversation to fall back into silence. He remained patient, a stoic presence on the beach, waiting to hear what other conditions might dictate this supposed timeline. His eyes, steady and unwavering, stayed fixed on Basilisk, ready to hear his son's judgement.

"Speech"

Basilisk felt his mouth start to open in surprise. If he was about to speak, he couldn’t fathom what words he would use. After a moment, he closed his mouth again. After all Azure’s speak about walking away to get himself in order before he destroyed the Armada - his whole life's work had been the Armada. He had worked his way into position to lead it beside his own father. As far as Basilisk knew, that had been Azure’s greatest ambition in life. Now… now he was leaving it all behind?

He didn’t know what to think.

He had thought, fleetingly, that he had his father back. The relationship might be strained, and full of tension, but he thought he had been given the time to see it heal. To build something of it. Now to learn his father had no intention of coming back to them? He thought back over the other wolf's words. How, on hearing of the flood his first response had been ‘I should have been there’ So why? Why was he turning his back on them now? “I suppose your loyalty is no stronger than Dreads” He said, voice dry and humourless. “It doesn't matter. We survived the flood without you. We’ll rebuild without you too. Your loyalty to mum is probably just as flimsy, but try near the Whistling Willows if a bout of nostalgia happens to strike you.” His tone was angry, he couldn’t help it. It came to him as a second betrayal.


"Speech"

He watched the emotions cross his son's face, feeling each of them just as hard as Basilisk likely was. With a cautious step, he aimed to bridge the gap between them, moving with a careful deliberation that acknowledged his son's potentially fragile state. "I can't, Bas," he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper, laden with an uncharacteristic softness. "I can't." Seasons he'd been gone - nearly a year without his pack, his family, his purpose. This hiatus, meant to be healing, seemed only to lead him to the brink of breaking once more.

Gently, Azure moved closer, seeking a physical connection to communicate what words could not fully convey. He reached up - an unfamiliar and somewhat unsettling gesture - to press his cheek against Basilisk's. The contact was a silent plea, his low whisper meant for his son's ears alone. "I've lost children, I've lost my wife. I can't lose my father, too." The words were a raw admission of vulnerability, a rare glimpse into the depths of Az's fear and uncertainty. He knew the limits of his self-control. The prospect of confronting his father's new mate was a line he could not cross. It was a boundary that, once breached, would irreparably damage what little was left of the alpha pair's bond. The potential consequences of such a meeting loomed large in his mind - the Armada stained with blood, be it his, Sirius', or the newcomer bitch's. The exact outcome was uncertain, but the inevitability was clear. It would end in loss.

"Speech"

The heartbreak in his fathers voice, and the unexpected gesture as the older wolf moved forward was so alien that tears sprung unbidden to Bas’s eyes. He didn’t cry in front of Azure. He didn’t. He hadn’t, not since he was old enough to speak, to understand. To know the type of wolf his father was. He had spent his whole life working to make his father proud. He closed his eyes and rested his own cheek against his fathers. He breathed a soft, shaky breath.

When Azure spoke again, the words were so soft that he would have missed them if they hadn’t been cheek to cheek as they were. He thought he immediately understood what Azure was saying. He didn’t want to see how old his father had become. Wolves only lived to ten years of age. No one was saying it, but it was there for everyone to see. The Warlord had reached his tenth birthday “I know. He’s in his last year. But wouldn’t you regret it more if you didn’t spend that last year with him? I know seeing him… go would be hard. But which would you regret more? I would regret squandering it.” He said, thinking perhaps rather obviously, of losing Azure. Again.


"Speech"

Azure's reaction to Basilisk's words was as sudden as it was uncontrollable — a bark of laughter, tinged with a hysteria that betrayed the pressure he had been under. It was an odd response (even inappropriate given the gravity of their conversation) yet, for Azure, it was as if a dam had burst within him. This release, this unguarded moment of near absurdity, proved more cathartic than even the physical clash they'd had earlier.

Regaining some semblance of control, he pulled away from his son, tilting his head back to gaze at the moon above. A deep, steadying sigh escaped him as he tried to recompose himself. "You think my fear is about watching him die?" Azure's voice was tinged with a cold amusement. "No, my son. I'm more afraid that I might be the one to kill him."

Recognizing the need to soften the bluntness of his previous statement, Azure’s tone shifted once more. "I know it's hard for you to understand, but Sirius... he's replaced her. My mother. With someone else. And I... I just can't stand to see that."

Azure's gaze drifted away, lost in the painful thoughts he was about to share. "I can't imagine it, Bas. I can't imagine sitting next to him in the pack meetings, watching some other wolf cozy up to him. Seeing her nuzzle into the fur where my mother used to lay." His voice was tinged with a palpable sense of betrayal, a hurt that went deeper than just the loss of Zee. It was the erasure of her presence, her memory, that cut him so deeply.

"I can't step into his den and be suffocated by her scent where my mother's used to be." The words came out slowly, each one a struggle. "It feels like a betrayal, not just to your grandmother's memory, but to everything I've ever known about loyalty." Azure paused, a deep breath steadying his voice as he added another layer to his confession. "You know me, you know how I am. If I go back and see that... see her in my mother's place...." He shook his head, a rueful acknowledgement of his own shortcomings. "My father is possessive, fiercely so. He wouldn't tolerate any disrespect towards her, not even from me. It would be a disaster waiting to happen." Azure's gaze returned to Basilisk's, seeking understanding. "Staying away is a kindness to them both. I can't be there, not without risking everything we've built. I already wish her dead, and I've yet to even learn her name."

"Speech"

Basilisk blinked in surprise, pulling back slightly from Azure. Was he… laughing? He squinted at his father, confused and surprised by the reaction. Talking about his dad’s coming death wasn’t something he expected levity in response to. But shortly, Azure explained himself. Ahhh. of course, he hadn’t been there for most of Seer’s suffering. It was no secret in the pack how badly Sirius had taken it. As far as Basilisk understood it, Sirius and Isa had hated each other at first. He didn’t really know what had changed, but he had introduced the pack to Isa officially not that long ago. How would he have felt, if Hana had come home with another man? Angry. It would have boiled over, and he knew it. “I understand. If Hana... I hate that it’s happened, that it’ll keep you away, but I understand.”

A few other emotions passed over Basilisk’s face then. Now that he understood why his father wasn’t coming back. It… changed things. He had to make a choice, and it wasn’t a pretty one. Extracting himself would be no easy feat, but he wouldn’t intend for it to be forever. Just for a time. A few months, perhaps. He could already feel his loyalty dividing. Where would it leave him in the end? “So what’s our next move? Where are we going from here?”


"Speech"

In response to Basilisk's unexpected query about their next move, Azure's initial reaction was one of bewilderment. His mind raced to catch up with the implications of his son's words. "Where are we going from here?" The question echoed in Azure's mind.

He studied Basilisk intently, trying to decipher the deeper meaning behind the question. Azure's confusion was evident, his brow furrowing as he processed the implications. "Are you... suggesting what I think you are?" he asked cautiously, the idea that Basilisk, the heir to the Armada, might consider leaving alongside him was both startling and significant.

Azure hesitated, weighing his words carefully. "Bas, you're the heir. Your place is with the pack, with the Armada. This decision... it's not to be taken lightly." His voice carried a note of caution, reflecting his own surprise and the gravity of the situation. "You're young, still full of promise. You have a family now, responsibilities. Leaving the pack... it’s a choice that affects them too."

His expression softened slightly, a rare glimpse of the fatherly concern beneath his normally cool exterior. "I've made my choices, and I'll live with them. You should be thinking of your family now, and of the future you want for them."

"Speech"

Basilisk looked at his father carefully. He understood the hesitation in Azure, he knew it was no easy thing. He… wasn’t sure that Spider or Hazel would forgive him. He wasn’t that worried about the Warlord's opinion. Of the two leaders, his loyalty had been to Azure.

“I am thinking of my family.” He said, perhaps a little heatedly. ”There's a reason I didn’t enter the competition for your rank.” Your rank. It was still hard for Basilisk to consider it any other way. “I was busy. Searching for you. I looked for months. I spent more time away than I was at home. If I thought I’d find you, I wouldn’t have stopped. I already lost you once, do you really think I intend to do so again?” He asked his father, his voice soft.

“The Warlord can get another heir. He has enough kids to pick from. As for my family… I don’t intend for it to be forever. But I want to see where this leads me. I want to reconnect with you Dad. My place is at your side. At least for now.”


"Speech"

Azure fixed Basilisk with a look that was both stern and incredulous, the weight of his son's words settling heavily upon him. "You're thinking of your family by leaving them? Or by dooming them to the life of a loner, with no warm den, no consistent source of food, no safety from predators nor enemies?" His questions were sharply spoken, his tone laced with skepticism. "Basilisk, you don't just walk away from a position like crown prince. It's not a role you can set down and pick back up when it suits you."

He acknowledged Basilisk's efforts to find him, but there was no softness in his response. "I understand you searched for me, and I won't disregard that effort. But don't confuse that sort of absence with what you're considering now. Leaving the pack, even temporarily, it's a decision that carries more weight than you seem to realize." Who else could take up the mantle? Basilisk was correct in the options available to replace him, but none of Azure's siblings had even begun to earn such a role. Sirius could have replaced Bas in title at anytime he wished - Bas was Azure's choice for heir, and with Azure gone (he didn't even want to acknowledge the fact that there was apparently a contest for his rank) there was no reason to not give the role to a Fatalis of any other generation. One closer in blood to Sirius then Basilisk was.  

He shook his head, a mix of frustration and concern in his eyes. "Just because I'm choosing a different path doesn't mean I'm lost to you, or to the pack. We can still meet, talk, share our lives. But you... you have the opportunity to lead, to shape the Armada's future. To one day pass that legacy to your child. As you've so clearly stated, Sirius is on borrowed time."

Azure stepped closer, his gaze intense. "Do you really understand what you'd be giving up? Your position, your influence, the respect you've earned - these aren't things you can easily regain. You can't just return in six months and expect to reclaim your birthright. The world doesn't pause for anyone, Bas."

"Speech"

“I’m thinking of my family, the one i’m looking at!” he said, voice rising a little now. “Hazel and Spider will be fine. As for Heir… do you really think I want to lead that pack without you? I was supposed to learn from you, to lead with you. That was the version of the Armada I believed in.” Basilisk explained, his voice sounding, if anything… tired. His world was thrown upside down. He had lost his father, he had found him. He had his childhood illusions shattered.

You couldn’t just pick up the pieces of the past, shake them off, and pretend nothing would ever change. Life was about change. If he had been asked merely an hour before, he would have laughed at anyone that suggested he leave Spider and Hazel, walk away from Heir. But he was seeing glimmers of his father in Azure. That man he had followed, that he had done everything to make proud of him. The idea of walking away from Azure now… it felt like it would wrench him in two. He wanted to find a way to keep everything. Spider, Hazel, and Azure. But he knew Hazel wouldn’t leave the Armada. Would Spider? Would Hazel forgive him if he both left, and took Spider with him? He couldn’t have everything, but his ties to Azure felt more fragile. He felt he would lose more if he didn’t seize this chance. “If leaving the Armada is truly your choice, then mine is to follow you. You are my Alpha, Azure.”


"Speech"

Azure sighed deeply, the weight of the moment evident in his posture. He looked at Basilisk squarely, his expression a blend of firmness and paternal concern. "If you truly still see me in that way, then hear my command. Go home. Talk to Hazel. Think about Spider. This isn't a decision to rush into."

He took a step back, giving Basilisk space to absorb his words. "I'm not disappearing on you, I promise. I’ll be in the Willows. You can find me there, once you've had time to really think this through." His tone was earnest, underlining the importance of careful consideration. "This is a big call, son. I want what's best for you, for your family. And sometimes, the best choice is the hardest one to make." Azure’s gaze lingered on his son. "Whatever you decide, I will support you. But make sure it's a choice you're ready to live with."

"Speech"