The Sentinels A long journey

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Winchester had walked a long way, searching for a new home after a war had begun at his old one. Oh, the choices he could have made to make it all better! He had so many regrets. But now was not the time for them. They would make him even more sad, and he couldn't have that.  Not when he could smell the other wolves' scents. Maybe they would accept him as one of their own, and maybe he would have to keep looking for a home. Winchester wasn't sure. 

Winchester was hungry, and he was tired, and his paws ached, but his heart leapt into the air as he smelled a familiar scent, that of his old friend from home, @Cas, and he felt like he could run. Then, he tried to actually run, and failed. He sighed, almost ready to give up. But he plodded onward. If he could just make it a bit further, he could find hope.

The borders had become his home. Working them was methodical, it was familiar, and be could make his progress and ensure that what wickedness had touched Poughkeepsie never came here. It meant for the massive wolf odd hours, and according to some, reclusiveness. Still he didn't care - the opinions of others had never mattered at all to the guardian. The den of healers that it was had its own dramas and he was fine to be far removed from that. 

A drifting breeze threw him off his plan and Castiel froze, his eyes narrowing for a moment. There was a cant of his head, shifting and processing the information he was given until he put it to the memory it belonged with. He had assumed - he never would have left otherwise.... 

Without a word the large male took off, running as quickly as he could although his legs did not propell his girth with much speed. A distance from his borders was a figure he didn't think he'd see again, the gait as familiar as his own. Castiel barely stopped a couple feet from the male, chest heaving just a bit as he struggled for the proper words to say. "You - I thought you were dead."  

"Cas..." Winchester looked at his old friend, pain in his eyes as he remembered, "I'm sorry." Winchester sighed, "Man. I never thought I'd see you again after...well, you know." Winchester gave a halfhearted chuckle. He had given up on seeing his friend. Either he left or he was killed in the war. It had felt like a massacre, and Winchester had never thought to check on his friend. 

But there was a time to dwell on the past, and this wasn't it. Winchester launched into questions about his friend. "What happened? Have you seen anyone else? What is this place? Are the wolves here friendly?"

Winchester seemed well enough. He certainly wasn't dead, as Castiel had expected, but then he hadn't really stuck around to check on everyone. After realizing his parents were gone - though he hadn't found his father and he'd been separated off from most of his siblings - Castiel hadn't stayed in the lands. He'd left, giving himself a chance to heal before attempting anything else. It hurt standing across from him. It hurt looking at him. It hurt breathing in his scent again and knowing that his closest friend had betrayed him.

Perhaps most of all it hurt to know that despite this he still cared for the male. 

Castiel's pelt bristled and a little tremor ran down his body, tracing the length of his spine all the way to the tip of his tail. "You - you did this!" It sounded disgustingly desperate, needy, but he had been family. He had been one of their own, and the betrayal cut him to the quick. "You did not care what happened to me, to our friends, to my family - so..so why care now? Why pretend?" He asked. He wanted answers before he even attempted to handle how he felt or what he might do with having Winchester there now. 

Winchester looked shocked and disgusted. "Pretend? I left because I thought everyone was dead. Of course I cared!" he sighed, then said, in a waivering voice "But...I won't deny that it was, partly my fault. Believe me, Cas, please. I thought I was doing the right thing. I...I never would have guessed it would happen like this." His emotions crashed around inside him, but he covered them up. Couldn't let Cas see. Didn't want Cas to worry.

Winchester could see the obvious emotion in Cas. His friend had never been the type to cover up what he felt, or at least, that was what Winchester thought. Winchester felt much more secretive when he compared himself with his friend, and he also felt bad about it.

He'd always been so expressive. It hurt more than anything to see Winchester in pain - but Castiel could not break right then. He could not shift and run to the male. He had to contain himself. "You lead them to us! My parents are dead because of you!' He said bitterly. How bad he felt trying to decide what to listen to - the part of him that was angry and hurt and bitter or the part of him that still cared so deeply for Winchester. It was like ripping off him own paw. 

"Why did you come here?'  why of all places could he imagine that Winchester had shown up at his packs doorsteps with the sole ambition of finding him or was this truly just a fluke? 

Winchester winced as Cas let out his anger. He couldn't blame him. If he was Cas, he would have done it the same way. "I'm sorry Cas!" he yelled back "I thought I was doing the right thing." Winchester cringed as he used the same excuse again. He thought it was all he had going for him right now, all that would convince Cas that he did care, and that he was sorry. "I thought it would protect all of us. Damn, I sound like an idiot, but I did. I would never try to hurt you."

Winchester answered Cas's question about how he came here "Of course I wasn't looking for you" he scoffed, "I thought you were dead, remember? And I don't know if I look it, but I'm feeling half-dead now. I smelled other wolves. It was just by chance that you were here." Winchester felt like crap. Emotionally and physically, but he wasn't about to let Cas know the emotional part.

Castiel would never going to be able to understand why Winchester had made the choices that he had. For Castiel standing next to the dark furred male only brought him more grief. He glanced back towards the packlands, frowning for a moment as he realized how exhausted Winchester was and struggled for what to do. He couldn't just turn him away and let him suffer. No matter how hard it was there was the part of him that would always be weak where Winchester was involved. 

Was he forgiven? No. And he wouldn't be. However he knew that while the move was fueled by perhaps good intentions, Winchester had truly believed in the cause. Castiel just couldn't see that. "There are healers here." He said, more quietly. "I cannot lie to them if you seek to join - they will know of our history, but I cannot explain your actions." 

"As it should be." Winchester said as Cas explained how he had to tell the truth "But it must be the real truth, Cas. Which means both of us." While Winchester was glad that Cas was taking him to a healer, he had the feeling that he still wasn't trusted. Winchester could understand why. He'd been a jerk, he was the reason everyone was dead. But still, if just Cas told the story, it might make him seem like a vicious child murderer or something, because right now, it seemed that Cas wasn't too pleased with Winchester.

Winchester had cuts all over his paws, he was hungry, his fur was matted. If he had seen himself, he wouldn't have been terribly happy. But what he felt was worse, so Winchester hoped that whoever Cas was taking him to knew what they were doing. Or that it was actually a healer and Cas wasn't playing some practical joke on him, which he doubted, but one never knew.

A cursory sweep over Winchester's body showed plenty of wounds, plenty of places that the male had been weakened. He frowned, his blue eyes shifting over the darker male again before he slowly lead him towards the packlands. Still they stopped along the borders, Castiel nodding towards Winchester to come to a halt. He lifted his head, calling for @Deirdre - knowing she was an active healer along the ranks. "I will not hurt you." The male said as he stepped closer to Winchester, slowly beginning to tend to the more superficial wounds that he saw. 

"What will you tell them of what happened?" Castiel asked, curious for his own knowledge too. He still couldn't understand what was going through the male's head when it came to letting someone into their pack with the intentions of letting there be bloodshed. 

"I shall explain myself. Hopefully, they will understand how easy it is to let illusion and trickery clog your mind. Especially with...those wolves." Winchester hoped that they would accept him, or at least heal him enough so that he could continue his journey. It would be harder though, leaving Cas behind after thinking him dead.

Winchester didn't know any of these wolves, but he hoped they were kindhearted, and could see he was a generally well-meaning wolf. He had been limping as Cas brought him to the border, and the journey had tired him out. Winchester felt ready to fall asleep. But that wasn't any way to make a good impression, was it?

Just beyond the border was a small clearing that Castiel had started to rest in. It was no den, certainly not, but he lead Winchester to it all the same and motioned for him to lay down. Castiel was slow and methodical as he started to clean the other male's wounds, sighing softly with his words. It was hard to understand and even harder for him to process considering everything that had happened. 

Still, the stubborn, perhaps foolish part of him that wanted to trust in Winchester - there was the part of him that always would. It was the part of him that couldn't help himself, his affections blinding him even if he did not admit it. "They are a kind lot here. Perhaps foolishly so." He admitted, giving a small frown. He couldn't say that his impression of the wolves had all be good - there were tensions he didn't know about or understand. "You need to rest." Castiel said bluntly, looking down at the male. "I can call the leadership later."

Winchester followed Cas. "Trust is a fragile thing, Cas. I am sure they would not be as stupid as I was," Winchester winced as Cas started cleaning his wounds. Cas suggested calling the leadership later "I'd rather meet them myself, have them know I'm here, ya know? Wouldn't want them thinking some random stranger came to crash the party. Heh." Winchester continued "And I'm fine, see? Still alive, still talking."

Cas leveled a look at Winchester as he started to argue. "I'll remind you who didn't show up on a pack's borders with more cuts than sense, Winchester." He said as evenly as he could. There was the slightest edge of humor to his gravely voice, even if the male was arguing with him. "Relax for a bit, at least, and get your thoughts in order." He instructed as he continued to clean the male's wounds. "What happened to you?" He asked after a moment, looking him over again - it twisted his stomach considering how Winchester looked. 

Winchester thought back to his little adventure. "Well, it was mostly thistles and thorns and stuff like that. Occasional fight with another wolf, and of course, there's a few re-opened wounds from Poughkeepsie." He winced as Cas went over a rough spot. "It's fine, Cas, really. I'm not dying, right?" Winchester felt a bit stupid, telling Cas that he was fine when he felt awful. But he didn't want the other male to worry about him. He was sure Cas had problems of his own that were much more important than some old friend.

Castiel was quiet for a moment, regarding what Winchester had said. He was fine. He claimed it anyways. But he'd never been that good of a liar and Cas knew better. "I still can tell when you lie." Came his gruff response, but he lifted his head and called @Aria anyways to come to them, letting her know that they were inside the pack's borders but that he knew the approaching wolf. "Aria will come to us, then. Try not to get sent away." Because of course it was hard to imagine Winchester here, with him, it would be even harder if the male was gone. 

Castiel didn't know which he would choose if it came down to it. 

Aria came quickly, glancing at Castiel for a moment before looking at the stranger. She didn't directly speak to the black male, but mentioned him without hesitation. "A friend of yours?" she asked, noting the lax way the pair seemed to regard one another. She waited for a response from the black male to herself, but truthfully any friend of Castiel was a friend to her-- the male had proved both loyal and a useful pack member.

Winchester gave Cas a smile as he remembered how bad of a liar he always was with Cas. He nodded as Cas called Aria, whoever that was. Then, a wolf came up. Winchester assumed this was Aria, the wolf Cas was talking about, and tried to seem friendly. "Hello. I am one of Cas's friends, or maybe...was one of Cas's friends." He didn't really know what else to say. He had never had to join a pack, he'd only known the one he was born into, and then the lonerhood afterwards.

Castiel straightened up a bit when Aria approached, nodding at the pale woman's assumption. "Winchester, Aria, the Alpha of Donnelaith." He offered in his gruff voice. "Aria, Winchester comes from my former pack." He said quietly. "I found him outside the borders, I brought him here so he might rest and heal his paws." He was honest though not forthcoming - he couldn't supply Winchester's reasons for what he had done after all. He could only offer what he himself had done. The rest would be up to the dark male. 

deirdre had recovered from her own incident, though her head still ached. she had been cared for and tended to, and again would resume both her responsibility and her calling. when summoned she moved swiftly, having recently ingested medicines to ease the pounding at her temples. the wounds she had received were healing perfectly and would not scar, but at present her flawless features bore the mark of bear claws across her cheek.

castiel, she spoke warmly when arriving, her eyes moving to aria before falling to the unkempt and injured man beside him. she assumed they were from his travels, but wished to know for certain. her gaze was inquisitive upon the man decorated in knotted fur, but she remained silent. she hoped the other, or castiel himself, would tell her what had happened to him.

"We are a sanctuary," Aria said softly, glancing to her side as Deirdre appeared. She watched the girl for a moment before looking to Winchester. "Are you looking for a permanent home here, as well? You are welcome to heal here." She gently nosed Deirdre, letting her know she could go and inspect the man if he'd let her. "Deirdre is a wonderful healer," she added with a smile.

Winchester was a bit nervous with all these wolves around him, but he nodded to who he thought was Deirdre, the healer, to let her know he was okay if she wanted to check him or anything medical like that. Winchester never was one to learn all the medicine stuff. He was more of an action wolf. 

"Maybe a permanent home here would be nice? If it is not too much for me to ask." Winchester felt the attention, and it ruffled his fur a little. He wasn't one to fuss about being hurt or anything, usually, he was the 'grin and bare it' type of wolf.

Castiel did not move himself from beside the dark furred male, though he felt no comparison to the two pale women as they approached it was a clear line of possession. Winchester was his - alive by his choice alone, and it was Castiel's wishes to see the man in one piece again. "I will assist in his care until Winchester can comfortably stand on his own." The guardian offered, swallowing a brief sigh as his blue eyes drifted across the dark male again. His gaze softened the slightest bit when on him. 

deirdre surveyed the others injuries, and knew without question she would aid him. after aria decided if he would have a place here, she would do just that; in the meantime, she awaited the pale womans judgment. she nodded toward castiel's aid, glad for it, and she gave him a grateful look.

"You are welcome here," Aria repeated, dipping her head. She nosed Deirdre softly before taking her leave, figuring the rest would be done by the leader-to-be.