Wake Me Up When September Ends

[Ärï]

The form of an ivory brute appeared in a clearing, trees and undergrowth all around. Lids parted revealing what looked like pools of liquid topaz. Slowly, the brute pushed himself up until he stood tall and proud, as he had been in life though now his heart no longer beat. Everything around him seemed calm and relaxed, the forest was in the midts of spring or maybe early summer. Above him, stars and moonlight glittered cooly, shedding their light upon the newly-dead wolf. Burning gaze swept the clearing in which he had lain. No one else was around. He was alone. Just as he had been in life. Had Mosca died? Had she lived? He had no idea. Maybe she was coming close behind? He had no way to know. Turning his muzzle skyward, Halo let out a deep, unearthly howl, a summoning howl. Anybody could come he just needed somebody to tell him. He knew he was dead. That wasn't a problem. He needed to know if Mosca had followed his path or not.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

A black fae appeared, a mile or two away from where Halo was. She lay, half awake and half asleep, on a cushion of moss. Gradually, awareness sunk in. She was dead. The bullet in her heart no longer burned nor made her body feel numb. She was simply there, in this place defying reality.
Slowly, she came to a stand, staring shakily at the empty ground before her. Something, somehow, wasn't right. Not right at all.
What is wrong? she wondered.
And then she heard a distant howl. Perking her ears, she uttered a soft, wispy howl in reply. Not the strong howl she had been known for.
What... is revenge all there is to me? Her thoughts trailed to Bain again. Do I still loathe him more than death?

[Ärï]

Halo heard the call. It was Mosca. Halo took off running. His head was spinning. She had died with him. That was wrong. No. She couldn't die. He'd led the humans away from Star and everyone he'd wanted to protect...that included Mosca. No. She wasn't supposed to die. Slowly his last moments settled into his mind. She had died. She'd been shot but when he'd closed his eyes for the last time....Mosca had been alive. He ran faster, almost panicking but the difference was that Halo didn't panic, never. Finally he saw her through the trees and kept running, weaving through the thick undergrowth.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Mosca lowered her head to stare at her paws. She didn't know what to think at the moment.
Can I not learn to forgive?
She licked her lips in a slow motion.
Hadn't I sworn that I would kill him?

[Ärï]

Halo stopped running. He was hidden by a screen of undergrowth, golden eyes burning through it to watch Mosca. She looked troubled. Halo's heart sank. He knew why. She had deid. It was because she had come after him. If he had just gone a little farther away, run faster, run farther, chosen somewhere far from Mosca to lay down and die then she may not have come for him at all or maybe come after the humans and hounds had left. Maybe she would still be alive if he hadn't stepped in her way....

Slowly Halo withdrew, turning and going back farther into the undergrowht. His heart was heavy and worried thoughts flitted through his mind. 'What ifs" kept popping into his mind, things he could have done to keep Mosca alive, to protect her. Now they were both dead and Mosca.....she was unhappy about it. Halo however, accepted his death. He'd done it for the right reasons though it seemed he hadn't tried hard enough to save Mosca. Looking over his shoulder Halo whispered, "I'm sorry" before turning and continuing to walk away, his pace slow and ladened.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Mosca continued whispering to herself, and then--
"Oh my god," she whispered, staring forward. She whirled around, raising her voice. "Oh. My. God."
She lunged into a sprint, howling.
"COME OUT, COME OUT, FATHER!"
It was a furious howl.

[Ärï]

Halo froze, as if he had been turned to ice. Mosca was howling about something. For several moments Halo remained frozen, debating quickly what he should do. His fur was rising in suspicion though he didn't move. He waited. Slowly, Halo turned his head in the direction of where Mosca had been. What was going on? Had she seen someone else? Had she seen him?

[.Rabid Lycan.]

"EVERY DAY!" she howled. "EVERY FREAKING DAY I'VE FELT YOU THERE, DRAGGING ME UNDER!"
She skidded across the ground, jumping through a gap in the trees and racing up a hill.
"NOT THIS TIME-- THIS TIME I'M GOING TO DRAG YOU UNDER!"
She snarled to the sky, venom engulfing her voice as she stood atop the rocky rise.
In a soft, child-like voice, she hissed, "Where are you, Raggy?" She paused, wind ripping across her pelt.
"Raggy?" she whispered coldly. "Where are you?"

[Ärï]

Halo followed Mosca from a distance, keeping a large space between himself and the fae he had learned to love. She was raving mad, furious. If she wasn't careful Halo was sure Mosca's rage would get her drawn into Hellfire. Turning his head skyward once more Halo let out a deep, soothing howl. The call was deep in tone, vibrating slightly in the brute's chest and ringing through the silence of the Realm of Eternal Twilight. He was trying to calm, Mosca, soothe her rage. Halo just hoped it worked, at least a little.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Mosca gritted her fangs, hearing the familiar howl. She forced her head to incline, and she bit down on her tongue so hard that she began to bleed from her maw once again.
Very lightly, she began to quiver. Son of a cat... it was you who made my brother act this way, Father. Now come out so I can RIP YOU APART.
Her eyes were furious flames as she tried to resist the urge to scream again.

[Ärï]

Halo let his song die. It wasn't helping. Mosca was furious, beyond furious. Her eyes were alight with a flame of fury that Halo had never seen there. He stood in the undergrowth, uneasy, wary and unhappy. If only he'd tried harder Mosca wouldn't be here, feeling this fury.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

"Oh Raggs... Raggy..."
Mosca stood, narrowing her eyes at the forest below. In a simple second, Mosca saw something slide by. A ghostly figure, watching from the undergrowth at the bottom of the hill.
She snarled.
"I see you, Raggy..."
She pelted down the slope and launched herself into the thicket.

[Ärï]

Halo tensed. They weren't alone, or at least not as alone as he had first thought. Another wolf was hiding among the trees. Halo turned his head as Mosca called out. He saw another shape in the undergrowth. It was the wolf Mosca was hunting for. Halo sighed softly and stepped into the undergrowth, hiding himself away. Now he no longer had to worry about Mosca dying. They were already dead after all. She could fight until her fur was torn off and she would still be alright, just probably paralyzed for a long time.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

"Well, well, well... if it isn't my little baby girl?" the figure underneath Mosca's paws crooned.

"SHUT UP!" Mosca hissed, pressing a paw down on her father's throat. "You are no father to me. You never have. You never will be."

"Even after all I've done for you?" Ragg growled sarcastically, grinning.

"Like trying to drown me in the river?" Mosca snarled.

Ragg kicked her off of him, and she fell against a tree. "Oh, so you did get my little present?"

"I finally realized that it was you this whole time," Mosca drawled on. "You fed all that abusive bulls**t to Bain, and now he's a traitorous murdering hirefang!"

Ragg laughed. "Oh, and are you not so different?"

"He kills the innocent for pay," Mosca growled, heaving her body up from the ground. "I kill the guilty for salvation."

"And are you not guilty?"

"I never said I wasn't."

"Point taken," Ragg murmured, standing to reveal is true, towering height. "Although I am curious... what do you intend to do with me when I'm already dead?"

"Do what mum should've done," Mosca hissed. "Even when impossible... fight back!" She lunged forward, sinking her fangs into her father's foreleg... and relishing the moment.

Ragg snarled in rage, and dug his own fangs into her neck. "You are a fool..."

[Ärï]

Halo looked away from the fighting pair. His eyes closed as he turned and walked away, laying down in a clearing not far from where Mosca was fighting. His mind was churning once again like an unsteady sea before a storm. Memories flashed before his mind's eye at random. The dead elder, killed from an adder's strike. His own family trying to kill him. Merci saving him. Fleeing, running as if hellfire was on his heels. All that fear, all that work to survive, staying together and standing tall even when the world beat them down. It had come to this. Even in his death wolves still fought, they still felt hate and hurt, still couldn't let go of what they couldn't control.