Daughter of Mine

Crusade had always been the sort to wear her heart on her sleeve. No matter how many times it'd been ripped. No matter how many times it been torn. So long as it kept pumping, she kept feeling, kept loving. She'd had an adopted daughter once before, a beautiful grey sweetheart with lavender eyes. Little Animi. They'd snuggled up in their forest down and gone for walks along Starlite's beach. Animi loved to chase the gulls.

But Xy had killed. And left a message to Crusade in a most horrible way.

But Crusade still loved. She still tried hard for a family. And she ended up adopting two more girls - Maka and Keki. She loved them more than she could saw. They helped to warm her scarred heart. She'd never wanted to see them in pain or upset, but of course the world was as dangerous a place now as it had been when she was their age. Keki had been raped, and when Crusade had sought for justice she'd been laughed out by one wolf and declined by another. The second being Gargoyle and she had been more angered by him then than she had ever been before. She was too old to deal out justice herself. She was made to watch others bear pain and struggle through. It wasn't easy. If she could she would've taken it all away. But in the end, Keki had done well and came to love the pups that a twist of fate had given her.

And Maka... well now Crusade was realize that Maka had her share of problems too. When the levy broke, the Timber cross was left standing, staring, silently listening as Maka pulled out her heart. It was terrible, and heart breaking, but Crusade remained standing strong, and in the end, when her poor baby called for help, she was there. She padded forward at once, offering a pale chest of fur for Maka to bury her head in, and unless she pulled away, Crusade shifted to tuck her head around the girl's quaking shoulders - to try to pull her close, as though by squeezing her tight she could stop the sobs and the pain that came with them. She wasn't the sort of wolf who had a weakness for jealousy. She didn't understand the path that certain flaws lead some wolves down. But she didn't care about any of that right now. She just wanted Maka to know she was loved. To know that she was important. She would always be. "Maka..." she murmured, her old voice soft but quickly thickening with emotion. "My Maka..." There was much more to be said, but in this moment, those words were the only ones that came.