But for whom does the next bell toll?

*Ignatius*

Despite his pelt being slick with blood and rain, Ignatius found the sound of the steadily pouring rain didn't really register as he saw Souzan stir with what little energy remained in his withering body. Part of him wanted to encourage his brother to rest instead, to alter course and try to treat the numerous wounds but he knew it was nonsensical when the frosty giant's gaze turned and he called out, "Cen..." Ignatius' heart dropped lower than the muck his paws were sunk into when he saw who Sou was seeking with such purpose. A child.

Heavens above, how could this happen? The tiny pup came out from where Ignatius presumed she'd been hidden during the fray, and as she nestled close against her father's blood-soaked pelt Sou's final words to him repeated in Ig's mind. "Take care of her, please... Aurielle, auri-" While there was a familiarity to the name that Souzan rasped, the wolf attached to it evaded his recollection. Between the passage of time and the crash after all the adrenaline he'd just felt his brain wasn't in top shape at the moment but he did understand even before his brother instructed his tiny child what was about to happen - there was no one else right now, the little girl needed him. If he were asked under different circumstances if he were able to take in a kid the answer would have been a bemused no. Naturally, things were different here. This was the second litter-mate he was seeing fall to Lucien's selfish and outright evil ways. If Ignatius didn't at least give his brother peace of mind in his last moments he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. The details would just have to be figured out as they went.

"I want to stay with you!" Cendrillion cried, cracking Ignatius' heart into further pieces when he'd thought it was already torn beyond further disrepair. He'd hold back the sobs his body wanted to let out for the sake of his new charge, though his expression couldn't help but remain softened with the weight of the emotion on all of them. When they'd finally said their goodbyes Ignatius gently encouraged the girl to follow him, giving her a gently nudge with his nose and murmuring, "We'll see him again, okay? Right now we need to go." He hoped that Souzan was right and that they would see each other again - it just, wouldn't be in this lifetime... But the giant was right, there was still the possibility that Lucien twisted up some other wolves' minds and they could be out there angered by the disappearance of their leader. Ignatius didn't think Lucien was charismatic enough for that, no matter how hard he'd tried, but the risk remained and that was enough to spur him to move as quickly as his wounds and the short strides of the niece he'd met in the worst possible way would allow.

His companion lagged behind, glancing back as Souzan stilled and releasing a heavy breath. Wolves and their tragedies, so senseless. The gelada would keep a weary eye out as she followed the ragged pair of canines, anxious to get out of the rain. As for Ignatius, his mind was struggling to bounce through what he had to consider now. They needed to get out of this rain for certain - ideally somewhere where his new charge would not immediately go back and find her father's body. He wasn't totally positive if the child was entirely aware he wasn't coming back or would retain hope he'd come find her, but he didn't have the mental fortitude to face that conversation the very next day and much as it anguished him he had to plan ahead for her sake. Greif made him feel numb from nose to tail. He'd rather feel the full sting of his injuries than carry the weight of another life lost but that was out of his paws now.

Taking a shaky breath he glanced down towards the tiny girl. She looked as interesting and colorfully marked as any child of mixed lineage from their home, bearing a almost green oceanic base coat and eclectic fiery markings as well as a frosty eye marking that harkened back to her Grandmother. "I'm Ignatius," he finally said, "I promise I'll keep you safe as long as you're with me Cen." As he murmered the words his eyes slid across the junky landscape and landed on a vaguely familiar sight. Oh.

"No! Avis cannot be dead," Sephira sobbed, her face for once an open book in the heat of the emotion that told him she knew it was true and processing that fact was killing her. With a savage snarl she flung herself back out of the car and into the storm, which was now howling and faintly thundering, the strong winds whipping at her fur. Ig watched her, his chest pained as though he'd been stabbed in the heart. His brows knitted firmly into a pained scowl as he followed her out into the storm.

"If I ever see Kaius again, I'm going to skin him. I'm going to wear his pelt as a fucking cape. No. No!" His sister wailed, digging her claws into the sodden earth, her body suddenly sinking, the weight of the heart-shattering news shrinking her down. "He will more than pay for it," Ig choked out, swallowing the tears and the sobs that threatened to break loose again, pressing them firmly back down with the mountain of anger that had been building in him since the moment he laid eyes on his sweet sister's body. "We will find him eventually, and when we're ready, he will suffer for what he's done, and he will never know what it is to have the power he's killed to achieve."

While Ignatius wasn't sure that he'd kept any of his vows from that day, most obviously the fact that he'd gone onto swear they'd be ready - yeah that went swimmingly. Though, the relative destruction of their homeland ensured that Lucien never truly got the reign he sought, only the loyalty of a fraction of their wolves who'd remained nearby. And now, no one would be following him and he'd surely suffered as he breathed his last breaths, so that would have to do. 'If only you could have been here Seph,' he thought to himself, heart aching, stopping himself from thinking any further. If he kept returning to how this could have gone different, he'd never get any rest again. His new charge would need him to be fully functioning and that was asking a lot of him even on his better days lately. Walking on in search of shelter for the lot of them, the small procession disappeared from view of the blood-soaked scene.

-exit-

"When I speak" "You answer"
Memories "Your old words" "What I said"

The words you don't get to say

Are the ones that stick the longest

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