Crushing Weight of Paradise

When Relm retracted her paw from beneath his, she may as well have slapped him across the face. Alastor looked up with a start at Relm as she started crying for him to get out, hot tears streaming down her face while she glared at him and demanded he leave her to do this on her own. Her words and rejection of his attempts to provide her comfort and support ripped him apart. He couldn't look away from her as she grimaced in pain, yet staunchly refuted him, even as Irilyth attempted to keep her calm. "Perhaps it'd be best if you wait outside," Irilyth spoke to Alastor in an attempt to mediate and placate her patient. "This won't be pleasant, and if she won't be calm around you, I may have to sedate her." Alastor leered at Irilyth, an unreadable expression on his face. The turmoil on his visage was painful and present. For once, the dire brute did not know what to do with himself. Every part of him, every fatherly instinct and emotional drive of a lover demanded he stay here with Relm—with the mother of his children—and be there for her. But what did he do when he was being given an order against what he felt was right?

In the end, it was Irilyth's paw on his with the gentle pleading look in her eyes that broke him. "Please, for her sake." Alastor opened his mouth to refuse—but no words came out. Instead, he simply looked down at Relm once more. The thought of her in pain crushed him, but the thought of making this more difficult on her because he was here was unbearable. Without so much as a word, Alastor rose to his paws and slowly made his way out of the den. He didn't know where else to go, so the giant wolf ended up just slumping against a pine tree just outside, far enough away that he wouldn't be seen, but close enough to hear every awful sound happening behind him and knowing he was powerless to help. With his weight against the tree trunk, Alastor slid down to his belly, gazing down into space while a million thoughts raced through his head. Hopefully Relm made it through this all right. If she didn't... he didn't know how many lives would be lost on this island tonight.

"Alastor"