[ooc: I know Crusade is tagged, but if anyone really feels the need to butt in and see if he's okay they can xD]

He wasn't a coward. He never had been. He'd always been one to rise to the occasion when life demanded it. If he had to protect his family he would. If he had to take down a bear to protect his pack he would. Anything that was asked of him he would do it, even if it resulted in his own death. He'd always been that way. He'd found something to be loyal to and give servitude to for the rest o his life. He'd been doing that for some odd years now. He'd done so faithfully and in return they gave him a home, loved him, and even valued him as a pack member. Course, now he'd probably be seen as the pack's psycho. He was intent on getting as far away from that blasted volcano as possible. Reality still hadn't set in yet. To him the earth was shaking, ash was falling from the sky like gray snow and lava was oozing from crevices while the eruption bathed even the sky in red. Everything was red. He hated it. Hated the feeling of terror as it pierced his heart. Hated the adrenaline that pushed him away from the so-called foe he was distancing himself from. He hated running, but it wasn't something he could fight. He'd feel even more ashamed that was was running from images in his head. It was too real though. How could it not be? His breath was labored. Thankfully he was used to high climates, but still it was a strain on his body. Part of the problem was he was still hyperventilating. He'd never had a panic attack. Sure he had bad dreams about this. The incessant worry that he'd never find them. It'd left a toll on his mind. Sometimes he'd have nightmares that he was forever lost, drowning in a sea of magma, but ti'd never been as bad as this. Never. Then again he'd never been this close to an active volcano. Not since the initial eruption. He was still very out of it. He still couldn't see that his faithful companion tailed him in the sky, or even that his loving wife was chasing after him. The only thought was to get away, which was rapidly bringing him to the Delta. Speech,

Crusade had run and run til her paws and her back and her leg- till her everything ached. Poor Cifer, who was seriously gone out of his head with worry, had had a head start, made longer by Crusade's pause to help Ithurial, and with pure terror aiding his paws, he'd used to it get far, far afeild. Add onto that that Crusade was odd. She had plenty of war wounds covering her legs to make this hard. And she was old. Older than Cifer. Even if she'd made ten look like the new eight, this was asking a bit much of her. "Dang flang it Cifer!" she called, faltering. She had to stop for just a second, hanging her head and panting, sucking in great lungfulls of air. "I'm too old for this." she growled to herself, but a second later she was taking off again.

They were well out of the foothills now. The ground evened up and Crusade could see Cifer clearly out ahead. How was he still running that fast? He'd never liked running and yet here he was with enough energy to have outstripped Insomnia if he'd wanted. Crusade pushed herself harder and harder, forcing her old legs to faster and faster. It hurt like heck, but so what? She used to be able to push all care about pain out of her head. She would do so again if she head to! Of course, without the rush of adrenaline given in a fight, it was more difficult than she'd ever anticipated.

But somehow, somehow, she started to shorten the distance between them. A shadow across the land, had her chin raising and eye darting to the skies. Some good that bird was doing. Crusade had never seen any use in companions - even Frisk had just been a snack she was saving for later. That was it, distract her mind - think about old times, push the pain out of her head. One stride after another, she just kept pushing until finally she found herself right behind him. "Cifer!" she shouted. "Cifer, get a grip!" But if he'd run this far it was unlikely that words were going to do any good. Luckily, her poor aching body did the work for her. It tripped - sending head over heels, falling onto Cifer's back end.