He had slipped back to Ludicael lands easily, already the sun had set and the moon had replaced it in the sky. Even though it was only a sliver it still cast a bright enough light for him to move through the hot springs with ease. Massive paws made squelching noises as they pressed against the wet stones but as he drew closer to the den he would pause, already seeing from a distance that Vi was home and she was curled up protectively in front of the den but away from his children. He couldn't help but chuckle, crown lowering as he shook it, the chuckle shaking his shoulders before he simply sat down where he was. It couldn't hurt to take a nap where he was? He was oddly still awake where he was and he was enjoying the heat and moisture that came with this small territory. Forepaws slid forward, jaws gaping as he yawned. He hadn't slept well since Jupiter had left and he had followed her. Hips flopped lazily to the side and skull would lower to his paws gently. For a moment eyes would focus on the moon but it was not long before they slipped closed and sleep drifted over him. For a long time it was blank but as he drifted further and further into sleep things became far too familiar. He was sitting, right in front of her grave? He had been here recently but why was he here now?

Speech!

Who will be there to take my place when I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face This place was hell. She had encountered no one. She was left to roam the endless lands of this dreadful place. As petite paws kissed the earth, the scene before her began to change. Things slowly became more and more familiar. Hauntingly familiar. Panic flared in her chest, icy eyes widened with memories. Pain shot through her gut forcing her to suck in air. She was back here. She had hoped to never see this place again. Her death bed. The place she had been murdered. The dark woman was frozen in her place, sapphire eyes shifting to rest upon a familiar figure. His back was to her, but she could not mistake him. Kylar. She remained silent, unsure whether she should approach or leave. It was tempting, he was the first wolf she had seen in months, years even. As she stood, the woman stood in her prime. All alignments gone. Her pelt once against was flawless ebony that clung to her curves. Not a scar marred her pelt. Eyes were bright with awareness, the richest of blues. And still as petite as ever. And yet, as she stood there, she could feel the blood matting her fur, the ripping of her flesh. It was a terrible thing to relive, ones death. Could you make it on your own? "Talk here."

How many times had he visited this spot both in his dreams and in his day to day life. Whenever he could he had always found himself drawn to this place, maybe it was the need to still have her around and protect her that had drew him back to her. Maybe it was some small bit of guilt that drew him back here. He couldn't pin point it but many a nights had been sent sitting at the now overgrown grave site staring at the place where he had kicked her slowly stiffening body into the hole he had dug for her. She was lucky he had bothered to bury her rather then tossing her off the mountainside like he had so desired. Something about the idea of her crumpled and mangled body on the side of the cliff brought a bit of a smile to his lips. But the image of her standing before him did not. For a long moment he simply stared at her, looking so much like the woman he had met when he had first came to Alacritis before the volcano eruption. She was still quite beautiful and yet all he could do was smile a bittersweet smile. "So this is how my subconscious is going to torture me today hey?" He asked, expecting completely to be talking to himself. He couldn't help it, a broken laugh broke through his jaws, head tipping back almost hysterically. "Of course this would happen. I would kick your ass in a hole and you would come back to haunt me." He said easily after getting his laughter under control, tipping his head over to turn sickly green gaze to the woman's frozen form. "La de fricken da?." He said oddly cheerfully, a strange almost pained smile still pulling at the edges of his lips. He remained seated. This was just a dream after all? What was the worst his subconscious could do to him?

Speech!

Who will be there to take my place when I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face His reaction was not what she expected as his eyes landed on her. He burst into laugher, spitting words of amusement as though he didn't she was really here. He would slowly regain control of himself, his next words igniting a flame in her tiny body. Eyes turned to icy daggers, lips threatened to curl back in a snarl. But could she really blame him? She couldn't bring herself to, but that didn't mean that she couldn't be angry with him. "Damn right, would you expect any less?" Her body would remember how to move, tension leaving her frame as she moved closer with silent grace. Hips swayed, shoulders rolled, her eyes never left his, waiting for the moment when he figured out this was real. He wasn't crazy, entirely. "Now do tell, have you been watching out for our children?" She was desperate to know that they were okay, yet she needed something to make him believe this was real. Her mind would begin to steal itself against the words he was bound to spit at her. She would see the pain in his smile, the anger in his eyes. He hated her, there was no doubt. She had called on the man who had tormented her for years with her dying breath. The woman did not expect him to understand, to care, or even to forgive her. She didn't know what made her do it, despite all the torment, she was drawn to Kaios in ways she couldn't explain. Like star-crossed lovers. And it took her death to make them both see that. But in the wake of her murder, she left Kylar. A man she grown to care for so deeply, without an explanation for her actions. Could you make it on your own? "Talk here."

She seemed so real, all of this seemed so real and yet there was no way it could be. He didn't believe in heaven or hell or the afterlife. Plus even if there was one why would the goddess bother to save such a pathetic creature like this woman he had once cared so deeply for? Her voice shocked him a bit, eyes blinking as he realized that was in fact her voice even though she had died almost a year ago and he had long since forgotten the sound of her voice. She even moved the way he remembered he moving even though yesterday he had barely been able to remember her face. But here she was in absolute clarity. She asked about the kids and he laughed again, lifting himself to his full height and shaking out his pelt. "Oh darling why would you care? Your the stupid bitch who went off YET AGAIN and got herself attacked. THEN you dared to called the very guy I was trying to protect you from for how many years?" He almost giggled, an odd gargling sound as he turned and began to walk away, still laughing oddly as he went. But then again what would it hurt to talk to her? "If you must know your daughter is like you. Vi keeps in touch with Rune? I met his wife and they have 3 kids. Vixe joined a northern pack last time I saw him?" A bit of the sanity retuned to his tone even as his spoke. Family was his everything but since Secret's death he had felt a strong disconnect to his children.

Speech!

Who will be there to take my place when I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face His words stung, but they were true and for that reason alone she would not argue agains him. She still didn't understand his giddy behavior, his giggling and uncontrolled laughter. It was so unlike him. Eagerly she listened as his jaws parted again. He spoke of them all. Rune had a family, and Vixe belonged to a pack. She was so proud of her boys. She never expected Rune to have a family or mate so young, he had always been so reserved. But it brought a smile to her face. Your daughter is like you. Her smile would fade, contorting into something much darker. Maia had been the only one he stated nothing specific about. It could only mean one thing. He knew nothing. "You've abandoned her haven't you? Punishing her for my wrong doings?" Lips would curl back into a vicious snarl, her pelt would bristle as she closed the distance between. It didn't matter than he towered over her, that she was forced to look up at him. He had abandoned her daughter! "You fool." Words came out in a low hiss that dripped venom. Her tiny frame shook with rage. Up close, he was everything she remembered. His dark pelt that was decorated with gray patterns. His intoxicatingly masculine scent. His behemoth size that entirely encompassed her own. Memories assaulted her brain, stealing her vision. He had become a large part of her life since the day she had accepted him into Tortuga. So deeply she regretted having caused him so much pain, she would take it back if she could. Could you make it on your own? "Talk here."

Her words hit him like a slap in the face and suddenly muscles would tense to the point where he stilled, head craning to turn around and look at her with a deadly calm gaze. "Abandoned her like you abandoned us?" His words were deadly quiet, barely a whisper as his sickly green gaze so like his father stared deeply into her icy blue ones. Though blue eyes he had loved so much when she had been alive, those blue yes that were really the only thing he had ever really remembered of her. He didn't shake and tremble as she did, his rage was a tight ball holding his heart in a choke hold. "She didn't want me after you left. She was mad I didn't tell all the kids about your death right away. She was mad at me for trying to track down your FUCKING KILLER like a good friend would." It was the first time an rage worked it's way into his voice and slowly the massive male would turn. This was his dream, and he was done. He wanted to wake up now, he was done being scolded by his own imagination. He already knew he was an asshole for abandoning his kids. He already knew he should have been there for him but he couldn't. She had broken him, had left him so utterly broken that he hadn't been able to survive on his own for quite some time. Jupiter had cared for him, hunted for him for a number of weeks before he had gotten back on his paws. He wasn't strong enough to put on a mask for his children so it was better to just not be around them. "Your the fool? Leaving your family to chase a life of danger and adventure. You. Left. Us." He made sure to throw each of those words at her like a dagger, accentuating his words by spitting on the ground in front of her paws and curling his lips at her. He didn't give a fuck how sorry she was, how dare she blame him for any of this.

Speech!

Who will be there to take my place when I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face She refused to flinch. She refused to give into her emotions and cave. What had been done was done. There was no changing it. His rage was relentless, as he spat his words at her, even going as far to spit at her feet. The woman would remain as still as stone, staring at him unblinkingly. What could she say? There was nothing she could say that would make this right. He was dangerously close, so much so that she could feel the heat radiating off him and yet, she was unable to focus on how good that felt. Turmoil took over, jumbling up her thoughts in ways she never imagined possible. She was lost for eternity, she was stuck here forever to live with her mistakes and the pain she had caused. Shoulders would sag wearily. Forever was a long time. Narrow jaws would part, wanting to speak, but not knowing what to say. She should have fled, she never should have let him see her. She should have stayed away, left him alone in his dreams. But she couldn't help. For the first time, she would admit it. To herself and him. "I-I- I love you." Audits would fall back against her skull, but she kept her hold on his gaze. She could only hope that he would believe her, or even just hear her. She would take a step back, wanting nothing more than to get out of here. But her moves were slow, clumsy. He had broken her, she had broken herself. The last years of her life, she had been unknowingly torn between two men. One who was her soul mate in some sick and twisted universe. And the other, a perfect choice by anyones standards, the one she should have chosen. It was to late now. The small woman would take another step back, all the while holding that sickly green gaze that stabbed her with daggers. Could you make it on your own? "Talk here."

She was starting to look borderline scared of him and it was just making the ball of hatred and rage inside of him grow and stretch further and further. How many times had he dreamed about being the one who had killed her? How many times had he dreamed about making her his once and for all? And yet something was different about this time, something about it made him want to lash out at her and rip her. Even as she grasped at words, struggling to find some he stared her down unblinking. It wasn't until she finally spoke that he did blink and for a long moment he looked down towards the ground, shifting his gaze between there and her over a solid minute. And then suddenly he was chuckling again as if the answer to everything had hit him all at once. "Oh I get it now?" He said, shaking his head slowly and falling back onto his haunches heavily even as she backed up. "You love me all of a sudden now because Kaios is dead. Is that your way of guilting me into taking care of the kids better?" He asked easily. But he became somber all of a sudden and eyes narrowed dangerously. "I loved you once. Thats gone now though." He said, words dropping like stones from his tongue as he stared her down. How dare she say something like that to him?

Speech!

Who will be there to take my place when I'm gone, you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face Silence. Tension. It could all be cut with a knife. When he spoke again, it would be with amusement. Brows would furrows with genuine confusion. Kaios was dead?? It wasn't a surprise, but if he was dead, he would be here. Right? "Don't be so full of yourself." She muttered it more to herself than to him. Thoughts rolled over in her mind. Her gaze would drift from his for a moment, a frown lightly tugging at her features. And then, her sapphire gaze would snap back to him. "I have to guilt you into taking care of our kids?" Tones were incredulous. He couldn't be serious? Just as quickly, his mood would change. His words stung like teeth. Gone. But it was there, at one time, and that was enough for her. She had no right to ask that of him again, and she never would. She would glare at him, not for his lost love, but for their kids. He was such an ass sometimes. It came back to her so clearly. All the times they had talked, played, fought. He could so easily be an ass, she could hit him for it. Quickly, she would regain her composure, settling herself strongly onto four limbs. "Its time for you to wake up Kylar." With that, she would step towards him, her tiny form brushing against his side as she passed. It was nothing like the living world, it was the softest of touches, light as a feather, yet all to real. Could you make it on your own? "Talk here."

Her rage and hurtful words could only get her so far before he simply rolled his eyes and began to tune her out. 'It's time for you to wake up,' the words echoed in his skull and for a moment his eyes grew heavy. He had to wake up. He barely noted the touch of her flesh as he dropped and then suddenly he was awake once more. He was laying in the hot springs and in his immediate field of view Vi was still sleeping in front of him. Slowly he would lift himself, pushing forepaws against the ground until he was seated. Well? He was officially done with sleep for a while? Hips flipped over and slowly he would lift himself completely. She had said she loved him. It was everything he had waited for her to say for forever and now only his imagination could come up with it. He was pathetic and slowly his nose wrinkled in disgust. Turning he moved away from his sister and her family before heading back to his new pack.

-end thread-

Speech!