Leave a light on

Saracyn offered no resistance to his twin's embrace when her slender forelegs lifted to wrap around his sides. He didn't have the strength to fight or rage against this world so cold anymore. It felt like the cold that numbed his body had sapped away all of his strength, physical and emotional, and just left him with this boundless grief. He didn't even have his faith to fall back on anymore. The Ancients had scorned them, forsaken them, and left him a hollow husk of what had once been unfettered belief in his family and their power. After all, how could such all-powerful beings have made such a mistake when they made him? Unless... he was made to cause ruin and bring pain to his family. What if he was the instrument of waning sent to bring his family back down from their high and punish them for their hubris? Maybe he wasn't a mistake... maybe he was a curse.

He felt Avacyn crying along with him, the twins just silently holding each other while they sobbed over their children's graves in the cold and the snow. Avacyn was the first to stop crying, and eventually she began to lift her head from his chest and look for him. Saracyn couldn't meet her gaze though. He couldn't stand to see the pain he'd inflicted on the wolf he loved so much with his greed and jealousy and heedless ambition. She apologized to him and Sara grimaced as if he'd been struck by her words. "No, this was all my fault. I'm sorry, Avacyn..." His words drifted off for a moment, hanging in the air like his hot breath hung in a cloud on the chilled air. "I thought... I thought I was doing the right thing for us. But I was only hurting you for my own selfishness... And now..." Again Sara grimaced as he spoke the words that had been whirling around in his brain since the incident. This was his first time ever admitting fault for the incestuous love he held for his sister, and the first time he ever felt true regret around disobeying their family's laws. If he hadn't stolen Ava away... none of this would have happened.

Avacyn whined and nuzzled at his cheek, right below the softly glowing marking around his eye. She begged him to go back to their den to get him out of the snow, but Sara didn't want to. He wanted to stay right here with their children until he succumbed to the elements. It was what he deserved for all this mess he'd created. But as weak-willed as he was to his sister's demands, all the larger brute could do was give a weak nod of his head and rise to his paws. His frozen muscles protested the movement, but he didn't care. He took one last lingering look at the modest gravesite before resigning himself to following Avacyn back up to their den. He owed her his attention to see what she had been working on. It was the least he could do to show her how sorry he was for ruining her life.

"Avacyn & Saracyn"