They would remain intertwined with one another, sharing each others warmth and mixing their somber tears. She would gasp when he told her the news, and as she began to cry harder and repeat the word no, tears would stream down his cheeks. She would cling to him tighter, pulling him closer to bury her face into the plush folds of his neck to sob. His front limbs would move to wrap around her waist, and he would cling to her tightly, terrified that if he released she would be gone forever. "No... There has to be something I can do. Please. You can't leave me too." A pained whine would seep from his clenched lips as he struggled to keep a grasp on reality. How was this even real, how was this even happening to him? Why did he have to fall in love with a girl meant to thrive while he was meant to perish? It was all so confusing and overwhelming he would feel his heart tighten within his chest, making it even harder for him to breath while speaking.
"Please, let me explain..." He would take a deep breath to gather his thoughts before attempting to explain the full extent of his illness, and what was to come this winter. "From a young age I felt it, an aching feeling in my hind legs that only amplified as I got older. At first it started in my tibia bone, but it spread into my ankles and my femur bone. In both legs mind you. When I was captured by Glaciem in the war, I don't know how I won my freedom- my legs were killing me that day!" He would chuckle lightheartedly between sobs, and ramble on for a moment before continuing. "Anyways, that's the bones in my legs by the way, sorry for using healer talk. This last year the disease has progressed a lot faster than the previous, and I can feel my life line is running very thin. It has spread into my hips, and will only spread further until it has consumed me entirely. Luckily for me, my body will shut down in about... four weeks. So I wont have to endure all that..." He would take a pause to allow this information to sink in before continuing again to conclude the explanation. An elder from my birth pack died the same way, and from his symptoms and the stories I have heard, I've concluded that I have the disease. It's called osteosarcoma, which is a fancy word for cancer. I'm not sure if you are familiar with it, but it is a terminal disease. We do not know why these things happen Twig, all we know is that they do, and there is always a purpose behind it." He would say softly, an attempt to not only comfort Twig, but himself.
~Themisto Mathias~
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