When it all comes crashing down

"T-they're gone, Sara."

Avacyn's words snapped Saracyn's attention to her in a blink. His heart stopped beating, his body going numb and mind blanking out. The pups... their children... were gone...? He couldn't comprehend Ava's words. They didn't make sense to his brain. Their pups were gone? How could they be gone?! They had been healthy and growing, they had been blessed by the Ancients and spawned from two pure Mendacium souls! How could they be dead?! Avacyn must have been mistaken and Irilyth must have been wrong. There was no way, no imaginable way that this could be possible! Looking from Ava's pained expression to Irilyth's grim eyes, something in Sara snapped. "No. No no no, no you must be wrong. They can't be gone. They're of our blood. They're pure, true Mendaciums! They can't be gone! They can't-!" But Sara's rambling was cut off as Ava's labors hit her hard and fast. He looked to his mate in shock and alarm, holding her closer to try and comfort her as she whined and panted, her breathing ragged as her body was racked with unnatural pain.

Saracyn grit his teeth and bared the bleeding of her claws in his forearm, those sharp tiger claws rending his flesh until her white-tipped paws were stained red with his blood. Irilyth was saying something, coaching Avacyn through the process, but Sara didn't hear her. His senses were dulled out to a state of incredulous disassociation. He could see everything happening, could hear Ava's screams of agony, but he felt nothing. It was like living a nightmare. How long the process lasted was anyone's guess, but eventually he saw Avacyn collapse into him, hiding her face away in his fur. Blue eyes blinked rapidly as he snapped back into the present. The room stank of blood and afterbirth. The only sound in the room was crying—Avacyn's, but not their pups... Irilyth apologized to the couple, and then tried to protest as Avacyn moved, not wanting the Matriarch to see the visceral scene. Ava was a stubborn as he was though, and both twins looked back to see the gristly sight. Wrapped up in a swaddling fur were their children, still and lifeless and horrifically deformed. The sight turned Saracyn's stomach, his brain almost not registering them as their children despite what his eyes saw before them. The two were a perfect blend of their sire and dam, velvety violet and brilliant crimsons. But what truly broke his heart was seeing the partially formed white markings on the side of the smallest's face—a mixture of his flame's and her geometric diamonds.

No words came from the shellshocked Commander. His heartbeat pounded in his ears so loud he could scarcely hear what Avacyn and Irilyth were saying. He just kept staring at his dead children—his prince and princess. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be possible. Everything they had ever known about the Ancients and their beliefs... it had said their children should have been close to gods for being spawned from two pure souls of Soul Mates. How could this have happened...? Saracyn's heart ached, his breathing was short as his faith was called into question. The Ancients had allowed this to happen. Instead of being blessed, they had been cursed. Anger and bitter sorrow ate him up inside. But despite wanting to go outside and scream and tear something apart, Sara never let go of Avacyn, holding onto his mate like she was the last thing keeping him tethered to sanity.

Irilyth began to bundle up the remains of their children. Ava said she wanted to bury them with him. Saracyn simply lifted his own large paw to rest over the covered forms of their pups through the fur like she had done. "I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her in terse, hard tones. Were he to let any more emotion out into his voice, Saracyn feared the levy would break and he would come undone. Irilyth quietly looked between the grieving almost-parents and nodded her head to acknowledge their request. "I will prepare them for burial so you may have time to rest," Irilyth told Avacyn. "When your strength returns, they'll be ready for you." With a respectful and solemn dip of her head to the Matriarch and Commander, Iri silently lifted up the bundle and began to carry it away to preserve the bodies and prepare them for burial, and to give the heartbroken couple some privacy to mourn together.

"Saracyn Mendacium"