OOC:This is the final dated thread for Cairo. You all know how much this means to me, how much impact comes with his death. Those of you that have been worried about crying while reading this, I hope that I've put enough of my heart into this for you to feel the raw emotion. There is also a player on here with music, if it isn't showing, just refresh a time or two, and hit play. Here we go...Also, the first person to respond to this, would be able to hear Cairo's final words. Also, this is not as long as i had wanted it to be due to my laptop issues, but here it is.

it stopped. Time. Time so elusive so controlling and so thinkably unstoppable, it froze. It cut him off, and his eyes jolted open. It was here. He knew what this was. Too clear. The beginning of the end.

"Alpha? Of Starlight? You want me to take your spot... a rogue you don't know?" It was the beggining of a story he had no idea how to tell. The beginning seemed to change every single time something came up. Could he be blamed? He had lived nothing short of a long life, a hard life, and the rewards were eternal and strong. There was no doubt in his mind that the beginning steps of his journey would lead to immortality. He would be strong, he had to be. For everyone. So clear, lay his first failure. Flair. A wolf in his pack, so full of fire, her name fitting her so well. Independent and powerful, raw and filled with adrenaline. She would be his promise, her actions meeting him with something he had never known he would have to be true to. It was the first test, the first time, he would be tasked with protecting his family. And though, he would fail. He had support, he had the love, of a young woman, of a powerful leader, Crusade. When Xylinthian beat down the doors, demanding claim to his child, birthed not out of love, but out of his ravenous wanton lust, of rape, he would deafen the crowd. Seeking blood from each and every single wolf there. Cairo, he would face him, attempting, thriving, and trying. His attempts at war would be met with his falling, with his body braced, thrown into stone, and he would watch idly, as the black beast rendered those around him useless and strode off with the young child. With Lucifer. Crusade, she stood by him, so powerful, so ready. She wanted to be strong, not just for him, not just to show off, but because she was so strong. Her love for him, was something he would allow to go unnoticed, though, as he lay, breathing, heavy, ready to go, he had to wonder, what life would have been had he realized her love then. Foolish and young, he would take another as a wife. Sweet, militant, Alice. So perfect, so raw, so elegant. She would become his bride his true love, and without a second though she would leave, shattering his broken mind. Crusade, she was still there! She had to love him! Though, when asked, when begged with, when pleaded for. She would deny him. She would turn him away, demand that he shake off the feelings he held. Then, she would leave Starlight, she would go to find a home in the North, and yet, she would not leave him alone, she would return, come to him when Alice found him yet again. When their relationship were sanctified. Though, even as she carried his children, his breath and life, she would not allow him to be free and happy, she would dance off, erasing her scent, her notes, her loving self from the Earth. She was not for him. She never would be. How...how could he find some way in this life? Where was the love he had so longingly yearned for? Stripped away...dangerous...empty.

He had a single thought, a daring mindset. Guinevere did she ever understand, how deep, how pure, their devotion was. How much he loved her. How perfect she had been. Beautiful, an elegant mother to his children, a perfect ruler, a perfect everything. His world. What hurt the most was being so close, having so much to say, and standing idly by as her life was ripped from her. Fingers daring to rip her apart, daring to threaten his happiness, their happiness. In the end, she would lose, and o the pain. O the immortal turmoil. No amount of drowning his sorrows. No amount of closeness. Nothing, it would never be enough. He felt as though, the day she passed, was like watching her walk away. Though, he knew, had it been in life, she would have thrown herself into his arms, she would have smothered him with the everlasting love in her breast. Never, had he felt so strong for a woman as he felt for her. She was the only exception. She made the meaning of star-crossed loveres go away, she made the whispers and talks of being alone forever disappear. She was the light in his dark world, she had fixed him. The most prominent memory he had, was the day he asked her to take Collision, to nurture him, to love him. He hadn't realized that in asking her to do that, he would witness something so flawless and beautiful, something so perfect. He hadn't realized that watching her mother something that wasn't hers, would lead to something so magnificent. She would be the creation that sparked something empirical in him. She would give him the breath, the power, to do whatever he needed. To love, as she loved. A smile, dancing across their children's face, a tear falling from their eyes, in every single action, he could see her. In Epiphron, her playful vivaciousness and charming personality. In Chrysanthe, there lay the ability to lead, to be strong around when no others could be. In Syrinx, there was the attitude, to do what he needed to get done; the blatant ambition. Even in Eos, his estranged daughter, he saw Guinevere. He saw her fire, her independence. It was unique to him how a piece of her would live on in each of their children. How she would be immortal just so much as he. In the afterlife, he prayed that she stood waiting for him. Waiting and watching, so that even in his mistakes, in his trespassing, she was forgiving and accepting, so that he could lay with her for eternity and then more.

They would all be his final thoughts, his children, his loves, his ultimate sacrifices. Every single wolf of Valhalla that he had ever trusted, old, new, remaining and passed. A smile would gleam over his lips at the thought of the many; Flair, Omi, Crusade, her chilren, clash, drake, aislyn, alice, his sisters, his brothers, Rose, Aphrodite. The evil in his life was cast out, denied, it was a shame they had existed, but here he would not let them taint him, not any longer. Everyone had become a part of his history and the list it was far too wide to name. Silently, he bid his lineage, his blood, and anyone who had anything to do with him good luck.


Silence surrounded him with the final thoughts of his friends, of his loved ones and it wouldn't be long before a crack of lightning would drop across the sky, as the male would grip for the Earth, clambering and desperate to grab at the dirt, to find them to see what they had. He had to say goodbye, he had to know that in his final moments they would know that he loved them, that they were everything to him. His breath draws sharp and stopping, he can feel his heart tighten and it is without hardly more than a moment that the alpha explodes from his den at a crawl, his limbs reaching, pulling, and he can feel the rain fall on his body, he can feel every drop clash against him, he can feel the cold he succumbs to and he can feel the tears well in his eyes. A sharp howl rumbles from his larynx and the man falls, his head thundering against the ground, his eye fluttering for a long moment. he has fallen blind and incapable, he has fallen to the mortality that becomes him, and as a figure approaches, coming to his side, he utters a single line, a single whisper, I love you all," It is then that his eyes slam shut and everything around him fades into blackness, declaring the end of the great warrior, of the strong man. Was his life worth it? His thoughts were no more.

Ears perked swiftly forward as an odd noise swept across the stormy darkness. It sounded oddly familiar...Cairo? She instantly stood within her den, legs pushing her forward as she came to the entrance, nose peaking out every so slightly so the rain could drip down her muzzle. She listened carefully, but nothing else came besides the rolling thunder. She knew that man was getting old, and ever since his scene at the meeting, she had been very worried about him. In a way, she had given him her heart, from the very beginning, from the day he had accepted her into his pack, he had been her keeper, her savior. She had always wandered in the shadows and had never had a purpose in life. But Cairo.. he took her in with open arms, gave her something great, and had turned her into something she had never dreamed of becoming. Because of him she had a home, a forever home. She had been promoted beta, even alpha at one point, and because of Cairo she had devoted her life to Valhalla. She would remain loyal to him, and their home, until death came knocking at her door, and even when those baby blue eyes closed for the last time she would have a smile on her face from all the memories Cairo had created for her. Though she had never told him he was her keeper, he had stolen her heart from the moment she had laid eyes on him. He had shown her nothing but kindness, and everything he had done for her would never go forgotten. She needed to get to him. Now. Without a second thought she took off toward the heart wrenching sound, leaving Friction and her family behind. It echoed through her mind, and even through the storm and the darkness around her, it was already haunting her. Was this it? The kings last fall? No, it couldn't be. Cairo was too strong for that. No, he couldn't, he wouldn't die. She just couldn't imagine her life without him, especially not after the sensual intimacy they had shared together. He was her first lover, and she was more than grateful to have give herself to him, despite his past wives. If he would have been a single man when she had met him she would have completely given herself to him, no questions asked. He deserved it, he deserved anything and everything she could, and would have given him. He deserved the love of a devoted, strong woman. He deserved everything he had ever worked for, including Valhalla, his family, his home. He was one of the most intriguing men she had ever met. He deserved everything. Mud splashed along her ivory legs, but she ignored it, along with the rain and rolling thunder. It was hard to see due to the darkness, but her determination kept her going. "Cairo? Cairo is that you?" She looked around frantically, spinning in pointless circles as she tried to find him. "Please.. say something" She thought uneasily to herself. "God don't let it be Cairo. Please.." She kept moving, the thought of standing still sickened her. She needed to find him, or whoever it was that had made that sound. She made an odd noise of her own. It was very distressed, a noise stuck some where between a yip and a whine. Lighting burst across the sky, lighting up the forest around her drastically. She frantically turned toward the right, and at that moment is when she saw him. Cairo. "Cairo!" She screamed, the o in his name turning into a sickening bubbling noise as she took off toward him. At that moment he had fallen, his head smacking violently against the earth, and his body making a "thud" noise as he went down. Time and space seemed to stop around her as she kept running. He seemed so close, yet so far. She opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing came out. She had gone into shock from the terror, but she didn't know it yet. Finally she had reached him, and as she came closer she dropped to the ground, sorta sliding into the mud as she scooted toward him. She went to speak again, but the lord whispered his own set of lyrics. "I love you all." His eyes slowly closed, and she could tell by the heavy expression on his face, this was it. His words rang in her head over and over and she stared blankly at the man who had give her everything. They trailed from his face to his ribs, and from his ribs to the very tip of his tail. She saw no movement, no rising and falling of his side, no twitch of his tail. Nothing. He was completely limp. Tears swelled up heavily in her eyes as she nudged his cheek with her nose. She wouldn't let him die alone. She pushed herself against him, placing her head on the top of his, her tail wrapping around his rump, and her front paws laying on his. Though the breath had already left his body, she wouldn't let his spirit pass alone. She would remain with him until she was ripped away from his body. "I love you too Cairo. Please remember me wherever you go..." She whimpered as she licked his ear soothingly, tears streaming down her cheeks. She had never voluntarily cried in front of someone, but right now she didn't care. As long as her true lord was safe in her arms she would cry for all of Valhalla to see. Australian Accent Speech

He was back now, finally back in Valhalla, in his true home. He was done with his days of wandering, done being away from his family, from his parents and siblings. Valhalla was where he belonged or at least where he thought he belonged. He wasn't too sure how well he would be received back into the ranks. Would he be given a position or would he just be another member? He was happy either way, just wanting to be accepted back into his family. The young Adravendi had spent the weeks after his return re-exploring his home, familiarizing himself again with the land he'd grown up with. This day was unlike any other, or at least that's what he'd thought. He was out for the day, a very rainy and dreary day at that, but still the young man didn't turn away the chance to explore his home. It was actually rather refreshing to be out in the rain, feel his paws splash in the mud with each step he took, feel the cold water pelt against his back and head, soaking him to the bone. Spring was here and the shower was breathing life back into Alacrits. While at the same time returning the creatures of the land back into the earth. A sharp howl pierced the rainy atmosphere, catching Gael's attention. That voice. He had heard that voice before. Cairo, his adopted grandfather, but a grandfather to him nonetheless. He had met the russet man back in his puphood, but after his extended absence, he hadn't taken a moment to revisit the old man. The call from his grandfather was weak in its pitch, setting off alarms in the yearling's head. Was something wrong with his grandfather? The conversation he'd had with his uncle Syrinx reverberated in his mind. Cairo's days were numbered. Was this the day that the earth decided to reclaim the Adravendi Patriarch? With his heart in his throat the young man spurred himself into action, ivory tipped paws, now brown with mud, beat against the wet landscape, carrying him swiftly towards the origin of the call. No...not his grandfather. His grandfather couldn't be dying...He just couldn't. He was strong. He was the leader. He was supposed to take care of everyone. How would his father Collision react if he found out his father had died? Praying that his grandfather had merely gotten hurt the boy sped on, determined to get there in time. Cerulean gaze fell across the fallen figure of his grandfather, the once great man now reduced to a shell of what he once was, lying in the mud before his den, his amber eyes closed off from the world, an ivory woman curled up beside him, holding. Grandfather! But obviously there was no response from the elder man as the young Adravendi came to his body, gaze roaming over his body, temporarily ignoring the porcelain woman who was curled up around his body. There was no movement, no rise and fall of his shoulders that would tell him he was breathing, no twitching of the eyelids, no flick of a tail or even an ear. He was completely still. Gone. Cairo was gone and he was never coming back. He was truly and permanently gone. And Gael hadn't had the chance to say goodbye. He had come too late. Haunches folded beneath the young man, splashing in the mud that had accumulated, shoulders hunched as he stared at his now dead grandfather, silent tears trickling down his earthen face, undetected as they mixed with the rain that pelted him. I'm so sorry grandfather... He murmured, throwing his crown up, earthen lips coming together as a mournful howl erupted into the thundering atmosphere, audits lying flat against his skull, his song choking in his throat as the flow of tears poured relentlessly down his face. Valhalla would never be the same. Talk like this

Erani

The wind lashed and buffeted at her fur, rain laying it flat to her skin, the under fluff that was her insulation long since drenched. In her jaws, she held herbs that would help Cairo stay strong, though in her heart, she knew he was fading. She shook it away as another dazzling flash of lightning lit the sky and the field she was crossing. She picked up her pace, eager to be inside her dearest friend?s dry, warm den, and enjoy a conversation. The children were asleep, Nova with them. She gave herself an ineffectual shake, trying to clear some of the water from her coat. Ah the joys of Spring. While beautiful, it still held downfalls. Heavy rain, for one thing. She had coached her children in staying in the den, and had also dug a path up to the area above the ravine, should the area flood too high for the den to stay dry. Gabriel?s constant absence worried her to no end. She was losing her son. Her baby. Erani lowered her eyes to the dark path under her paws, as the sky lit again with electricity. A powerful boom coincided with a brilliant flash, and she dropped to her belly in the mud. A bolt of lightning had slammed it?s fist into the earth not a hundred feet away. She shot to her paws. She couldn?t say what caused it, but she suddenly felt dread squeezing her heart. ?No?? She ran. She hardly registered the muddy earth that flew beneath her paws. She had to get to Cairo?s den. She had to get there before? Erani skidded to a halt, the herbs falling from her jaws as she saw him fall. He uttered four words, and then his eyes closed. She gave a broken whine, and charged. The world had narrowed down to just that wolf. She reached him at the same time as another. She started to make the checks, but then something eased. She instead curled on his other side, pressing against him, securely protecting him between herself and that other body. Nose turned in to press into faded chocolate fur, inhaling his scent, while grief sang through her heart. After a moment, her head rose, and her voice intertwined with the voices of the rain and thunder. A sweet dirge of love, grief, and farewell. She sang for his life, which she only knew so little about, and for the wonderful years of his reign, for his happiness with Guinevere, and his children. After a while, the song finished to a soothing end, and her face returned to his fur. And she let the tears flow. He was gone. But not. He was in her heart. In Valhalla?s hearts. And there he would stay.

WHEN THE IRON IN YOUR SOUL ~*~ The fae came like a ghost out of the earliest shreds of dawn. Her pelt made to complete the illusion, and a out of the blue tinted half light came the glow of one gold-green ember. Long she had waited just outside the border, fighting with herself, trying to decide if it was the right thing to visit the wolves that held so much of her life within their memories. There were fewer of them there now, after all the moves and all the years... mainly there was just Cairo. But oh, that one name was a story in and of itself. So much of her beginning, of her character was wrapped up with his, in some of the best of times, and some of the worst. She hadn't seen him in years, but, all that had passed between them? It wasn't something a girl could just forget. Perhaps that was why, when she heard the faint traces of the wounded howl tugging at the wind, all her indecision vanished. She was running past the border before her consciousness even recognized that that howl had indeed been Cairo's. Without hesitation the old she-wolf sprinted through the trees and fields. Ten years old, one eye and a game fore-leg and she could still run like heck. Just the other week she'd been in Seracia and helped them bring down a wolf-murdering bull. She was far from the invisible force she'd once been, but Crusade was still Crusade, old age or no. But she knew that not all wolves had her genetics and luck. Cairo was old now, very old, heaven forbid he'd gotten himself into some sort of trouble now in his twilight years. And damned if Crusade was going to let him face it on his own. There was a time, once, when she'd stood straight and tall at his side. She'd been his Commander, trained his troops, cared for his pack members, and fought shoulder to shoulder against the dark monster that had plagued the pack then known as Starlite. She'd kept herself away from the Valhallan borders, from Cairo, for so long. She had a mate now, Cifer, and she finally had kids of her own. Her life had turned out very different from the dreams she'd had went she met the dashing blue eyed Alpha on that wintry border so many years ago. But she realized something now; no matter how much bad water was under the bridge, no matter how many years had danced by... she would still come when he called. If she heard he needed help she'd be there. But when she reached the source of the sound, her paws slid to a stop in the melded shadows of the trees. She saw the multicolored shapes of other wolves, and she knew that, with how far she'd trespassed she ought to have been worried, but no, she wasn't. What held her back was the sight of what lay in the middle of the gathered wolves. It was Cairo... Cairo was dead. Crusade swallowed. She'd lost many wolves; friends, pack mates, a mother, a daughter, a mate - with the kind of life she lead, she knew a thing or two about heart ache and mourning. But each new loss brought it's own brand of pain. And this one? This one was so sad it was bittersweet. All that was... All that could have been... All gone. And Crusade hadn't even been there to see his last breath. The old she-wolf, after a long minute, slowly unfroze and let a breath escape from her maw. It was only then that she realized her muzzle was trembling, and she stilled it by sheer will. A single tear, from her remaining eye, pooled and then sunk down into her ivory cheek fur. She dipped her head low, she closed her eyes, and then, after a moment, she lifted her skull to the sky ... and before she let her presence interrupt anything, she turned away and vanished once more into the haze that came before the dawn. Only when she came to the border again did she let her steps falter and pause. Another shakey breath pulled itself from her lungs. She couldn't have spoke there, even if the fact that she'd been trespassing was off the table, she never could've put voice to such personal thoughts in the presence of others. This was something between herself and the Alpha who hadn't wanted her to call him 'Alpha'. "Hey..." she breathed, glancing upwards. "You're a soul now, right? A wolf spirit floating around up there, probably getting ready to head off towards the happy hunting grounds - this is - if you're lucky." She swallowed. "You weren't supposed to go without saying goodbye you know. I keep feeling like... like there's something missing. There was more we were supposed to say. Well, I guess I'll say my part then." She blinked back another tear "You were an idiot. A two-timing, crown-happy, warlord who made years go by before he'd give up a grudge... and you were probably the best wolf I've ever known. Strong, deep, a fighter through and through. That same stubborn streak that I hated, I also loved. It kept you from ever giving up on those that hurt the ones in your care. You were the most powerful lupine I've ever met, and I've met plenty." The old fae straightened herself up as the dawn started staining the clouds. " And in the end ... I still loved you. I knew your best and your worst, and my piece of my heart was yours no matter what. But you know me, " a weak, bittersweet chuckle drew itself out into the mists, "I was an idiot too." Crusade swallowed hard, but nothing seemed to get past the lump in her throat. Didn't matter now, she was done. Letting her head hang in the shadow of her shoulders, she strode across the border and back into no-man's land. --EXIT-- ~*~ IS THE ONLY HOPE YOU'VE EVER KNOWN

"you have no idea what it's like when the monsters of your nightmares come back for you." The black brute hadn?t been far from the Vahallan borders when he heard anguished howls. Then again, it probably wouldn?t have mattered if he had been lands away, he would have know something was wrong. It was that knowledge, that drove him over the border of his once home, and he ran, his legs stretching, languid strides eating the ground as he ran. Topping the hill he was met with a horrible sight, Aislyn, was crouched over a wolf, and two others were there, the grief evident in the air. He padded forward slowly, cautiously, and his crystalline blue eyes were met with a sight he knew he?d never erase from his mind. The great king of Valhalla, and one of the wolves that, Chronos deeply respected lay. A whine escaped his jaws, and he rushed forward, looking at all the wolves around, wanting to deny what had happened. He was no fool, he knew what had transpired. He padded forward to the lords side, and lowered his head, and gently nuzzled him, crystalline tears forming in the corners of his eyes. ?Thank you for everything, friend. I shall never forget you.? His stolen words were whispered. Taking in Cairo?s scent, with a deep breath, he took a few steps back, his head bowed in grief. Moments passed, and he tilted his head up, a mournful howl escaping his jaws. He stood there for a while, his jaws coming to rest from their position in the sky, his eyes staring dully at the ground, as he remembered everything. It was the end of an era. Taking a couple steps back, quietly, he turned and padded sullenly up the hill, leaving his family and pack to grieve for the fallen lord. Stopping at the edge of the Valhallan border, he paused for a moment, looking upward to the sky, a final tear falling from his eyes. A sigh escaped him, and he crossed the border, leaving behind his once king, and what was once home. -exit chronos- Speech,