FIX me -or- CONFLICT me (Shade/Annelise)

[Sivoncé™]

Where did my life go?
It was a question Annelise found herself thinking of a lot in the past two years of her life. Two whole years, gone to torture and pain and violence and heartache. How many times had she feared for her life in those two years? She was sure she couldn't count. It seemed like a constant feeling, after a while -- constant like breathing. It was strange not to fear -- stupid, too. After all, she had come home six months ago, returning from being maimed by Babylonia and then hiding from her clutched in the Twilight Clearing, only to be taken a short while later by the very same wolves for the very same mistress. Regulus had been a stroke of luck that she wouldn't ever be able to count on again in her lifetime. Third time's a charm. If they ever find me again, I'm dead.
She was still afraid.
And more now than ever.
She wanted to find Shade so badly her insides ached. She didn't remember the last time she saw him. He didn't know of the miracles they had brought into the world. She didn't know how much the pack had imparted about her capture, or if they chose to keep it a secret. Perhaps Shade didn't know she'd been in Blood Mist at all, which was a great possibilty. Maybe he came looking for me....and found nothing. Tears leaked out of the corners of her blue-gray eyes. Life had seemed so simple when she met Shade, and even when they fell in love Annelise had never questioned the situation. She never felt bad about loving a Yozoran and continuing to do the job her pack expected of her. She still didn't feel wrong about it. But Annelise knew too much about being close to death to not be afraid. What happens if I die, and they're left without a parent? What happens if I can't be there for them anymore? How will they ever know their father?
She wanted to find him, but she was too scared to leave when death was waiting right outside the door.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

It always felt calm this time of night. It was odd, really, considering all the violence, all the hell that was yet to erupt—all of it, invisible under the shroud of darkness. But, plain as day, they all knew what danger lurked in the woods. They knew how close the shackles of war grasped at their ankles, snapping with echoes of ill promise. But at least in the dark, there were no bodies to see; looking at the stars, you could almost pretend nothing was wrong.
Almost.
The way his heart galloped between his ribs, the dark marauder figured he had made the escapade of the century, even considering that their territories were adjacent to one another. Every step felt like falling into an alien world, where the ground was the ceiling and a map of infinite stars hung just below. Nothing was stable, nothing familiar, and he nearly choked on his own stomach.
His life had been long, he knew. Not ancient, like many of the elder Alphas or even the few remaining seniors that occupied the Yozoran dens. No, not like that… but he felt old. Like he had already seen too much or lived too long for one lifetime.
A bird fluttered from a nearby brush, and Shade nearly toppled into the nearest tree at the sound.
Even before the Hellfirian mess, what had there been? A kidnap. Not some grand vendetta like the other packwolves; just a gang and his brother. He had lived, which was a miracle enough… only to get captured again? To get permanently disfigured, nearly crippled, and temporarily comatose?
But there was Annelise.
Odd enough, the thought alone eased his memories, his wounds, and anxieties. It had been far too long since their last meeting—long enough that he could have sworn this all a dream. Too many wounds, too many battles… was she even alive anymore? Stop that. But, stepping lightly amongst the grasses of a silver-bleached meadow, he caught a familiar scent, and knew it to be reality.
You couldn’t fake that scent. Not in the best nightmare.

[Sivoncé™]

Annelise breathed deeply, taking in the perfumes of the herbs that sprouted from earth. Thanks to the coming of Spring and the nearing of Summer, fresh herbs were sprouting around her in the Wintermint Meadow. She loved it here, not only because she was a healer and the best herbs in the territory grew in these fields, but the medicinal scents served as calming agents. The smells soothed her, though she was troubled beyond imagination. The tears that had wetted the fur around her eyes were drying now. Annelise did not cry often, anymore -- she'd been hardened too much for that. She'd made a promise to herself to shed tears no more than once a day, and no longer than five minutes.
The tears might've dried, but her heartbeat suddenly quickened. Intermingled with the rich, floral scents of the herbs was wolf-scent. It stood out starkly from the flowers, but it tasted so much sweeter than any other aroma she knew.
No, no, it can't be....
Annelise stood, body tense. Her eyes scanned the scenery, and her senses reached feverishly outward.
It can't be, it can't be...
Her eyes locked on a dark, familiar figure, only a few yards away from her. A gasp of surprise tumbled from her lips.
It was.

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Please, if anything be real… let this be real.
The ebony male stood almost crooked, fixed with a combination of awe and disbelief. If only his reflection could have stood beside him—a webbing of scars consumed part of his face, a ribbon of red ran raw and dried down his flank, and his hind leg had atrophied during its months of disuse. And now, to his angel—a vision corrupted by the loss of limb and the weight of ages of abuse.
How worn they both looked, each bursting at the seams with riddles of pain. But, perhaps, they could create a complete being, united as one. And, regardless, with the starlight spinning through her pelt like liquid crystals, she was a portrait of beauty in his eyes. No… still an angel.
His heart pounded as the distance between them rapidly grew short. Somehow, he found himself dizzily standing mere yards from where she stood, and his mouth grew dry. Nothing to say, nothing he could say without ungluing his lips—and that would take too much precious time already.
Instead, he shuffled forward with slight hesitation, until he came to a stop before her. Lightly, Shade touched his nose to hers, and held his breath. Anxieties blurred his mind again—does she hate me? Love me? What happened? What now? Why couldn’t we have…—
And then nothing.

[Sivoncé™]

Her eyes were wide, her body was frozen, but her heart raced a million miles a minute. She blinked back at Shade in disbelief as he moved forward and slowly touched his nose to hers, sending an electric shock shuddering down her spine. Was it that simple? Was he really here right now, or was it just a dream? Had her sanity finally unhinged and she was just imaginging things?
Oh, but even if he's just a dream, or a figment, he's here with me I can feel it...
"S-Shade? Is it you? Is it really you?"
She wanted to tell him everything, but she felt that time was of the essence. Every second apart was a second that had been wasted, and now there was no more time to waste.
"I was pregnant, Shade! They took me again -- Blood Mist took me -- for Babylonia's pups -- there was a traitor, he got me out just in time -- they're here, the little ones -- I was so scared, I was too scared to look for you! -- So worried, I didn't know if you were alive or....or...." She sobbed miserable tears of joy onto his shoulder.
"Shade, please tell me it's really you!"

[.Rabid Lycan.]

It had been far, far too long.
He received her, gently but enthusiastically with a caressing motion of his muzzle over her head. Her scent solidified into touch, into physical experience, and some relative of nervous laughter spilled joyously from his tongue. Too overjoyed to speak—Of course it’s me; is it really you, too?—and too ex—
“…w-what?”
A startled blink, his brain shutting down as he recoiled. It wasn’t enough to fully separate their bodies, but his head retreated with a shocked gape on his fce.
“S… could you… s-slow down there a second? Blood Mist? Little ones? You…”
He needed to sit down. The world was spinning too fast.

[Sivoncé™]

Her smile faltered when he pulled away from her, confused. She cursed herself from being so surprised -- of course he would be confused. He hadn't even known she was pregnant. But still, fear pricked at her heart and tears collected in her eyes.
"Before the fighting broke out in the Twilight Clearing, I was going to tell you something. But I didn't get to, because we were attacked. I was going to tell you I was pregnant. But then you got hurt, and I was taken back to my pack. I was going to find you when they caught me and took me again -- took me to the Blood Mist camp this time. Babylonia had died giving birth, and they needed someone to feed her pups until she reincarnated, so they took me. I don't know what she was planning to do with me or our pups after they were born, but something happened and I got lucky -- I got so, so lucky. There was a Destinian captive named BurnNote, and she was able to win over our primary guard. He set her free, and then took me and ran in the other direction, towards the mountains. I had to stay there for a while until the pups were fit to travel, but then we made it back. And here we are."

[.Rabid Lycan.]

Still too fast. Like... "riding the spinning tea cups ride at Disney Land at 200 miles per hour" fast.
His throat caught on some invisible hook, struggling to form some derivative of a response. But there weren't quite words for this moment. So much had happened; so much had transpired without his knowledge. Here, he'd been half confident that Annelise had been absorbed back into the safety of her pack. Not that he imagined she would forget about him, but in his visions, she had been at home. She stood on her own. Happy, perhaps.
Suddenly, all those months of his idle, near-comatose existence were poisoned with realization. Annelise had been suffering; she'd been taken and he hadn't done anything to stop it. I've been perfectly awake for at least a month now... no, I could've gone before then! I should have known something would be wrong; Babylonia wouldn't give up that easily. I... no...
And there were pups, too. I'm a... father?
Finally, just enough breath trickled into his lungs to force him forward, embracing Annelise with a combination of shoulders and the marred half of his visage. Not crying, but there was a deep regret, almost guilty, that glassed over his eyes. "I'm... I'm so sorry..."

[Sivoncé™]

Somehow, even though all of this was rather sick and twisted and peace was far from their grasp, Annelise found she could breathe again in his embrace. It had been so long -- too long -- since she'd felt his warmth surrounding her in this way, or tasted his familiar, comforting scent. Wolves would never understand how she could love a wolf of another pack; there were times where the packs wrinkled their noses and turned their faces away from each other in disgust. But Annelise knew better. She wasn't so blind as the others; she saw him for what he was. Different, true, but that only made him special, and all the more desireable. Annelise pulled away slowly from the embrace, hating to break it, but not wanting to look at him and memorize his face. The images her mind had stored away of their time together had become murky from space and time. She wished she could burn this face into her head forever, and then she'd never have to fear being apart.
But as her eyes traced over his scars, the fear choked her up once more.
"Shade...when I was in Blood Mist...I caught wind of a few things that happened in the packs. Did the Yozorans really break the alliance with the other packs? I'm worried for you, what's going on there?"