i met you in the dark

The black and purple splattered male hid away against one of the larger trees in this place, the sound of the running water from the waterfalls near by filling his ears while he used a bit of horsetail he had found to bind together a split in one of his toe pads. He winced as he did, but he was going to have to do something if he was going to keep going and at this point he didn’t really have much choice. There certainly wasn’t any going back. He had made sure of that. He worried for his sisters, for the woman he had come to think of as his mother. He worried about his brothers too, but at least the boys had been allowed to hunt. They could at least feed themselves. That fact didn’t really explain the state he was currently in, but it allowed him a bit of comfort at least when he thought about that portion of his siblings. And his sisters… His poor sisters that might still be carrying his pups…

A little shudder went through him at the thought and he tried to push it away as he finished sealing up his worn and torn paws. There was nothing that could be done about it now. The moment they heard what he had done they had scattered like dandelion fluffs in the wind, leaving him alone even though he had cared for them so constantly as soon as he understood that was what his path in life should be. That abandonment stung more than he wanted to admit, though he also understood. He had murdered the monster and now in turn he was the monster reincarnate. He wouldn’t want to be around himself either. Now he was lost in a land he didn’t recognize, every rib visible along his sides, cuts and brambles marring his pelt. He was so tired from constantly moving and running, but he felt like he couldn’t stop. He wasn’t going to stop until he had worn his paws down to the bone.

A clap of thunder overhead made him jump and he looked up toward the stormy sky. His ears fell back against his head as he watched the clouds churning and building, darkening the sky at a worrying rate. And yet the first thought that went through his head wasn’t that he should find some shelter to protect himself - it was that he needed to protect the work he had done on his paws so he wouldn’t have to redo it later. He got to his sore paws, hobbling a bit as he slowly made his way around the falls just as the rain really began to fall, immediately soaking him and making his fur lay flat to his thin frame. Silver eyes scanned the rock and spotted what looked like an opening to a cave and moved toward it even though he was sure his work was for nothing now. He figured he might as well take advantage of the cave for a while at least since he went through the trouble of finding it.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the downpouring rain and into the shelter of the cave his pale gaze lifted and landed on the form of a massive male, nearly solid purple in coloring with subtle yet striking red markings and blue eyes that immediately caught his attention. Segin froze in place, eyeing the stranger uncertainly, realizing a bit too late that he was the intruder in this situation. “I’m… I’m sorry, I can go,” he said quickly, immediately beginning to turn to go back out into the storm.