Leave a light on

Through all of the time since the loss of their children and all of the work she had done to distract herself and reintegrate back into her daily life, the one thing she had struggled to do was look Sara in the eye or speak to him about anything beyond their work for the pack. There was always a heaviness and a weight she felt on her chest when she was around him. When she was alone or with anyone else she could let herself pretend that it never happened, that she had simply been sick and now she was feeling physically better, but when she was with Sara there was no way to avoid the grief and the guilt. She couldn't seem to get past the feeling that she had let him down, that she had failed to give him the one thing that they had both wanted so badly. Maybe it would be easier if she was willing to try again and chalk up this loss as a freak accident, but she wasn't. The idea of potentially going through all of this again broke her more than enduring it once had which meant she could never give him the family he had been so excited for.

But today the deep and nagging loneliness finally outweighed the ache of grief. In her workshop she had been working on something in secret, steadily and slowly chipping away at a marker or tombstone of sorts for their children's grave. It had been a difficult project to undertake, but these pups that could have been deserved the world and the neat stack of stones that had been placed on their grave felt insufficient. She had been working on it quietly over the last couple of weeks until she finally reached a point where she felt like it was finished. Stepping back from the intricately carved stone that was wide and flat and covered with carved designs that matched hers and Saracyn's markings, she was suddenly struck by the absence of her brother at her side. The void she had felt over these long, difficult days had felt impossible to fill, but now the only thing she thought that could fill it was him.

She walked out of her workshop and slowly as she stepped out of their den and began to follow his scent across the island her pace began to pick up more and more until she was nearly running across the island, her paws crunching through the freshly fallen snow. Then, as Saracyn's ruby and onyx form came into view, she slowed until she was able to ease to a stop in front of him, her ebony gaze finding the familiar blues of his. She attempted to find something to say only to come up short and instead just managed a soft whine before she stepped into him, curling into his chest and pressing her face into his neck to breathe in his scent that was more comforting than anything else had been as of late.

"Avacyn & Saracyn"