Rhyme raced away from the place he had met with Rhythm. Both of his ravens appeared in the sky above him, obviously concerned with his erratic behavior. The slate alpha hadn’t been this angry since Tana had told him about the treatment of her previous masters. In reality he had no right to be so upset at his mother, but her rejecting his offer and so blatantly choosing Valentine over himself had caused him to relapse. His emotions were impossible to control and he just wanted to race to the ends of the earth.

Solitude and Imperia circled above him, their keen eyes searching for anything that might bring harm to their disturbed master. They would have taken up beak and talon to help keep him safe. They didn’t question his decisions, they just did as they were asked to the best of their ability.

The day was growing stale by the time he reached the edge of the plains. He stopped at the edge of the cliff that hung over the ocean as he watched the sky grow darker. His chest heaved and his jaws hung open as he gasped for breath after the intense exertion. Still the ravens circled above his head. Rhyme stood heaving as his worried gaze sought out the answers he so needed in the horizon. His tail hung at his marked alabaster legs and sorrow hung about him. Rhyme felt as lost as he had the day he’d been taken from Imperium.

The circling shapes of the ravens told her exactly where Rhyme was. They where like carrion birds, circling a wounded animal. Only, the injuries to her second where on the inside, and the birds where his companions not his enemy. Not that she knew this yet, trotting in the direction they circled and finding him was as far as she had gotten.

She caught sight of him, and approached with quiet steps. His two inches of height where unrecognisable these days, he didn’t seem to hold himself with the same pride he once had. It rankled her, that she couldn’t fix his heart. That she couldn’t truly understand the things he had gone through, and understand why he did the things he did.

Not that it mattered, because she had long since decided to stay by his side. Not as a mate, that ship had sailed, and well she was sad to see it go, she was simply grateful that she had not lost him. He meant more to her then he might ever know, this broken hearted knight on the edge of greatness.

“Rhyme” she whispered softly, seeing the distress in his eyes. It seemed every time she found him, it was there. He was between a rock and a hard place, with his family slowly turning against him, with his father cutting him off, with his past and Tana and children, the bad decisions he had made that were catching up to him. Or the right ones, that still didn’t lead to an easy course. He had it rough, her Rhyme. ‘What happened?”

His breaths came in ragged breaths as he searched the horizon for a lifeline that wasn’t coming. He was too tired to pace, but his body swayed with the breeze as it raced over the ocean. Again Rhyme found himself alone with tumultuous thoughts, and craved that forbidden drink that tempted him with promises of erasing his problems, if only for a fleeting moment. He refrained for now, but had made up his mind to seek one of those ichor bottles out to soothe his feral mind.

”Rhyme.”

It was both the most beloved and loathed voice, the voice of love and reason when he wanted hate and destruction. He turned, eyes wild with pain as he looked Shaye over. Her presence was gentle, and she offered him understanding as she asked him what had brought him to this state. His distress so obvious she had known to come to him only by the position of his ravens. Rhyme didn’t deserve her.

Breathing still ragged he looked at her for a long moment as he stood silhouetted against the darkening sky. He felt like he had come to yet another turning point in his life. He had two paths to walk, one led him to the welcoming darkness and the other the hard light of truth.

”Valentine doesn’t deserve my mother’s loyalty.” He stated, his voice oddly icy with the fire that flickered behind his eyes. ”She would rather stand with him than her own son.” There was venom in the last word. ”I have to take her, Shaye. I can’t live knowing that he has her at his side instead of mine.” His head lowered as his eyes bored into the ground, his long black fur whipping around his face in the wind. He knew that Shaye would never approve of his vendetta, but just thinking about Rhythm with Valentine after all he’d done made Rhyme’s blood boil.

She could see the distress and frustration etched into his features. Hear it in his jaggard breaths. His eyes, when they turned to her, where more than a little wild around the edges. She stepped forward, instead of back. She had no fear of him, even when he did look more feral then sane. When he spoke, she could begin to see the edges of the problem plaguing him. It was to do with his last name again, that and his mother. It seemed Rhythm had not stepped up and defended him, or at least not chosen Rhyme over Valentine. She let out a soft sigh, oddly enough, she had been in his shoes once. When she was very young, she hadn’t understood how Rhythm had chosen Valentine and his pack over her and Abaven. She had been confused for a long time, until she had eventually found balance. In doing so, she went against her mother's wishes and snuck out to see her Auntie whenever she could. “So you would make the choice for her? You would take away her freedom?” she asked him softly, delivering the blow as gently as she could. “You are not a child, you are a grown man, and she is your mother, and a woman in her own right. A wolf that is old and weary. If this is the path her heart leads her down, then that is her right. You can’t take away her freedom from her, if you did that you would see her as miserable and bitter until the end. I fear that would hurt you far more than how you feel now.” she pointed out to him, leaning closer and resting a paw against his shoulder, offering him comfort as she attempted to save him from himself. “She is not a prize to have at your shoulder, but a wolf who has been through a lot and deserves peace. I understand how you feel, I miss my mother with all my heart, and when I was a child, I wished that Rhythm had chosen us over him. Of course, if she had done that, you would not exist, and the world would be poorer for it.” she smiled at him, a sad, lonely sort of smile, but a smile nonetheless. "speech"

Rhyme wasn’t thinking straight, though he would have admitted the fact to no one. His emotions were high and there was little outlet to the marathon he had run. The wounds were deep as they were raw, and he couldn’t see a path through the one forged through violence. He had been taken from and he needed to take something back. He had already dismissed his mother’s own opinion and need for freedom.

Shaye’s words were incredibly harsh and cutting as she zeroed in on the evil he would commit against his mother to get back at his father. She opened up a future he was blinded by rage to, and he could see the truth in it as well. The she wolf placed a dark paw on his shoulder as Rhyme burst out with his rage again, roaring his anger as he swiped at the ground with his paw. His actions didn’t deter the woman he loved most.

Shaye persisted, guiding him back towards the path of light, her words soft and sweet as she gently lifted him up after tearing down his emotional reaction. Of course she couldn’t reduce the hurt he felt, but suddenly the rage gave way to the vast ocean of pain it had been hiding. The confusion and betrayal he felt deep in his heart ached as he fell to his knees at Shaye’s side.

He grit his teeth as his nose touched the ground and he convulsed softly as he shook with tearless sobs. Rhyme was a grown wolf, his parents were free to make their own choices. They did as they pleased and the result was the pair of them ripping his heart out. He wanted them to feel the same way he did, hopelessly defeated and abandoned.

Shaye tried to point out the brighter side, that if Rhythm hadn’t made the decision to stand by his father all those years ago he would not even exist as they spoke. For a moment he wished she had chosen Shaye, and he never existed to feel this pain.

His breathing didn’t change much, but his determination to wreak havoc on Legion subsided. Shaye wouldn’t have to worry about him going after his mother. Even through everything he would not be the one to take his own dam’s freedom again.

”What do I do, Shaye?” He whispered, his eyes squeezed shut as he muttered into the ground. ”The pain threatens to take me.” His limbs were numb, but the hole in his chest throbbed with torturous emotion. How could he think to stand tall again when even Rhythm had turned her back to him?

She could see the emotions he was going through, they played easily on his face. She was surprised at the force of his anger, and he took it out on the ground with no gentle swipe. His large paws gave a ‘thud’ as they fell, and she could just about feel the earth tremble beneath the mans unwaning anger. A rage that he hung onto for a little while longer, before sagging and looking to her in defeat. His rage surprised her, though she did not show it. She had seen edges of it, seen him blink or force back a snarl of ranger here and there when things that went against his view of the world appeared. Like how he had spoken when he had told her how Tana’s masters had treated her. Never had he looked so lost, as he let the anger leave him, and let it turn to disappear. He fell to the earth before her, helpless with his emotions now that his rage wasn’t there to guide him. She had felt blinding rage only twice in her life, and she knew how blinding it was. She felt a little sad that she had to be the one to tear the blindfold free, and show him the path of his desires, but it had to be done. She could not allow him to break Rhythm, his mother, and a woman she had so long loved and adored. That is what would happen if he had gone through with his rage, he would have broken her. He seemed to think that who he was revolved greatly around the choices of his parents, he, a wolf well in his prime, who was already forging a new path for himself. How would she feel, if Motif had taken their family name from her, and told her she wasn’t worthy of it? The emotion made her feel uneasy, because she knew she would be just as irrational as her Second. Still, he had asked her what to do, and she only had one response for him. “You become who you want to be” she said gently “Despite them.” she leaned closer, resting her head beside his. “I am proud of who you are, and what you stand for. I know your way has gotten so tangled and confused, I know you don’t know who you are any more. Perhaps it would help you, if I told you who I see. I see a wolf who stands up for wrongs, who fights for this pack and everyone in it. I see a wolf who still stood strong after slavers had tried to tear him down. I see a wolf that saved his mother, because I know she would not have survived without you. I see a wolf I am proud to call my Alpha, and am excited to see what we do with our future.” she voice still gentle, bearly a whisper, with strength behind it. "speech"

He could feel himself slowly catch his breath, his lungs no longer ragged as he breathed in. His nose was still to the ground as he awaited Shaye’s response patiently. He grit his teeth harder, but felt his ears press against his head as she began. There was no easy answer to this but Shaye tried.

“You become who you want to be.”

Rhyme shifted slightly as he turned to her, her words bringing forth new thoughts and hope. Having Rhythm refuse to stand by him still hurt, and he knew it would for a long time, but he couldn’t wallow no matter how much he wanted to. There were too many responsibilities weighing on him for that.

Shaye encouraged him with what she saw in him. He didn’t know how she could feel so positively about him, even now, but she was. She saw someone he couldn’t see himself, but felt himself becoming determined to be. He was tore down, but would be built back up stronger than before. He managed the most fleeting of smiles as he pulled his head back up to look her over. A heavy sigh left his lips as he tried to slip out of the emotions that overtook him.

”Seems like I’ve got an awful big role to keep playing.” He lifted his features back up to the sky, the stars starting to appear over their heads. ”I would have gone crazy a long time ago were it not for you,” He told her as a kind of thanks. He hated to think about where he might be without her. Nowhere nice.

She told him what she saw in him, losing herself in her words, a soft smile on her lips as she considered him. Her Rhyme, the Alpha at her side. By the end of it, she caught herself, and blushed slightly. It was all too easy to sing his praises, even despite everything. Despite Tana, and the children he had had with her, despite his love for the bottle, or the rash decisions he could make. Despite the love they had had, and lost, and the future that divided their hearts. It was all too easy to love Rhyme, the dashing knight in her story, and forget his flaws. She couldn't allow herself to do so again. She had too much to lose now, with Abaven, and her children. “You do, but I know you can full it” she said as he turned their attention to his role in Abaven. “Who says your not crazy?’ she counted him, her smile returning. A touch more reserved this time around. "speech"

Rhyme couldn’t help but wonder if Shaye had too much confidence in him with how easily she sang his praises. He took in a deep breath, finally catching it as night washed over the sky. He moved to lean against her, surprised at how easily he’d settled the vicious anger that threatened to topple all that he helped to build. If Shaye wasn’t his other half… he shook his head mentally. Finding it odd how easy it felt to be next to her in that moment. Maybe it was a comfort knowing that she supported him so fully when his own parents would not.

”Who says you’re not crazy?”

He looked at her a little sternly with the words she uttered. Quirking a brow as he sought her gaze. ”You don’t want to entertain that thought.” His voice were oddly serious in the light of the words that were veered towards a joke. Rhyme had seen crazy though, and the horrors it could bring. Crazy was a state he wished to avoid. The slate alpha aimed to place an icy paw over the top of her midnight toes. ”Thanks for keeping me from doing something I would regret.” The man was sincere as he looked up towards her.