Heron Lake Plateau Have you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?

Note to readers: this post references events that haven't entirely unfolded yet, however there's a mutual agreement on the outcome. ;)

Everything felt like a mess to Towhee, so it was difficult—no, it was impossible—to enjoy their victory. All she could do was ignore her exhausted body and mind, and patrol the borders again and again, enforcing and reinforcing markers in the hopes that @Screech and his sidekicks would stay away. Meanwhile, she worried about what the rest of the pack thought about yesterday's events. How did she feel about them?

Trying hard not to think too much and just focus on the task at hand, Towhee nonetheless brewed one hell of a headache. She stopped in the plateau's shadow to take a very brief break, her attention snared by a shadow gliding across the ground in her direction. She squinted upward and felt her heart lurch as she saw X preparing to swoop down and join her. When he landed, she gave him a steely look, then turned away.

"I trusted you," she said coldly after a long beat of silence, still refusing to look at him. "I gave you one job. You failed me, you know. You failed all of us." If the hawk responded in any way, she didn't know it. A moment later, she felt the soft beat of his wings as he took flight and vanished into the distant skies. She felt terrible for a second—could she really blame the bird for this mess?—and let out a long, dog-tired sigh.

They may have lost the battle for the plateau, but Screech wasn't about to take this insult lying down. It was hard enough to be faced with his entire family after everything he had been through; it was beyond painful to see the looks of disdain and dislike after that, and things sort of spiraled out of control from there. The plateau was lost. The wolves of the caldera were displaced (which he still had questions about). His family was finally here and he had a shot to return to them - but he might've blown it.

He did not go far after the altercation; Screech hadn't seen Redshank or the blond girl since their interception of the Redhawks but he hoped they were safe, and that they didn't hate him. After everything they'd been through together - everything they'd tried to build, all that was promised between them - Screech couldn't let go of the potential reunion with his family. So he was pacing the routes he had been hard at work mapping out; that was one advantage he held over his family, having arrived before them. He knew this place pretty well. He could sneak around for a few weeks at least before being chased out for good - but he had a mission in mind right now.

He was angry. No, beyond that (as always), he was fucking pissed off. As soon as he spotted the floating eyelash that was that damned bird in the sky, he knew where he was going. The closer he got to Towhee the more insistent his movements became, the more agitated he became, until he was just a raging bull of a boy. He came bursting from the scrubland in a similar manner to their first encounter upon the plateau, but this time he didn't stop — Screech locked on to her figure with his good eye and he tore after her with the intent to run her down.

She picked up her feet a moment later and began plodding along the borders again. She wished she could say she was enjoying the change of scenery and the excitement of a brand new home. But Towhee couldn't get all of the noise out of her aching head. She was only doing this out of a sense of duty, and in the hope of avoiding further conflict. It really was so stupid to come all this way to avoid a fight, only to pick another. What a fucking mess, she thought again and again. She felt bad about X, about the pups, even about her wayward brother...

Naturally, she didn't hear the inbound train coming right at her. And there was no X to warn her of the danger at her back. She must've sensed something, because she began to turn, but Screech veritably clobbered her to the ground. Towhee let out screeching snarl of surprise as she slammed to the dirt, then immediately began kicking her way out from beneath him in an attempt to regain her feet and fight back.

He connected with her, taking her by surprise, and felt a rush of adrenaline that burned upon the embers of his resentment. The boy didn't think and just reacted, grabbing at her flailing feet with his teeth, trying to duck away from her retaliation, and trying to keep her down. She was swift - a trained warrior at the very least, which he wasn't - and Screech's efforts were met with a few punches and kicks from his sister.

Stay down, he insisted — entirely forgetting that she wouldn't hear him — but in the end it didn't matter, he was too worked up to speak again. Her landed blows made him take a new approach and he began to circle her, trying to get a hold of her nape so that he could pin her down with all the force he wished he had. Whatever questions he had in his mind were gone now, evaporated, and he was feeling the full weight of everything.

How dare you come here --- and take from me -- everything -- he panted between snaps, stuttered as he tried to avoid her retalitory movements, and in the end had to back off and let her up because he wasn't ready to hurt her, not for real. She was still his sister.

She managed to right herself, only for Screech to yank at her nape and pin her, Towhee's exhaustion slowing her reactions significantly. She struggled mightily against his hold but he managed to land several blows to her head and shoulders, leaving her bleeding freely from several shallow wounds. She couldn't be sure if she managed to shove him off or if he relented on his own, yet a beat later, the Alpha was free to jump to her feet a second time and whirl around to face him.

Breathing heavily, legs shaking, ears slicked back so they disappeared against her skull, Towhee faced her opponent. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have hesitated to counterattack. But she was so utterly wrecked from the long journey and the previous day's fight, not to mention the fact that she hadn't properly eaten or slept in days. She had to pick her battles here, or she stood to lose her life.

Whether it was a means to distract him and/or throw him off or because it was somehow critical that Towhee know, she blurted an apparent non sequitur: "Did you kill Galaxy?"

He wanted to beat her - not to death, but competition wise, his need to be on top had become so important in the past few weeks. Seeing her bloodied made him feel a sense of bittersweet pride in himself.

But the question did throw him off. He glared at her, feeling his empty socket pulse with the memory of his trauma. Bristling, he reminded her coldly, No. How could she still think of him as a murderer? The accusation within the question hurt more than he expected but Screech wasn't going to stop just because he had some feelings. If anything, it only fueled his desire to prove himself and ruin her - see how she likes it for a change.

He paces around her in search of an opening, and enunciates carefully, Do you really think I'm capable of that? Because what - I was captured by Blackfeather? Turned? He couldn't help but wonder if Towhee knew of the deal he had to agree to with Hydra. Had his own sister put them on his trail? Would she have stopped them? Then, a thought so foreign and painful that for a second he lost his fire - Did you send them after me? They're the reason -- Hydra, her sisters, they wrecked my face. They made me leave, he wanted to say, but couldn't. He grit his teeth in a scowl after that, his mind set. Moonspear is the enemy. That whole area is fucked.

It was as frightening as it was frustrating the way he circled her. It made it really difficult for Towhee to follow what he was saying. She wanted to tell him to stop. She actually wanted to hear what he had to say. But it seemed less dangerous to just keep both eyes fixed on him and do her best than to snap at him to stand still.

"No," she said as soon as she could get a word in edgewise, when the implication of his words really sank its teeth into her. He hadn't killed Galaxy, yet Hydra and her sisters had torn out his eye, not to mention what they'd done to Gannet (not that he seemed to hold it against them). A shudder passed through her battered body as Screech cursed Moonspear.

"What really happened then?" She genuinely wanted to know, to hear his side of the story. She wanted to be able to take her own brother's words over that of a friend's, though Hydra had earned her trust where Screech hadn't. Towhee also also wanted to forestall any further attacks. She was a fierce fighter, but this was one situation where she stood to gain more by diffusing the situation rather than fueling the fire.

When she did not attack him immediately that made his guard weaken just a little; suddenly he was invested in this conversation and, unlike the other versions he had told, this time it really mattered that he tell the truth and get his side of things out in the open. As irritated as Screech was by the unfolding events (and as much as hr wanted to keep fighting and let off steam) he had to pause and take a shot - his only shot.

I went for a run to test my leg, since mom -- Raven -- had been looking after me after Blackfeather. When I found the borders of Moonspear, I was gonna pop by and say hello but this girl came running at me outta nowhere, and before I could do anything - she passed out. At least he thought she had fainted. Everyone knew what happened after - so he didn't go in to detail about that. His ears slicked back regardless as he added, I didn't touch her.

None of it mattered now.

If Screech's story was true, then his only crime was being a dingus (for wanting to pop by and say "hello" at another pack's borders, of course). He insisted he had never touched Galaxy. Towhee stared at him for a long moment, right at where his eye had once been, deliberating. Was it possible Hydra had twisted the truth, accidentally, maybe even purposefully? It had been an emotionally-charged situation, after all. Towhee's head pounded and her stomach clenched at the ramifications. She supposed it didn't even really matter anymore. When the Blackfeathers had forced their hand, it had effectively ended the alliance between Towhee and Hydra. The entire Barrier Mountains stood between them now: a literal impasse.

After a lengthy pause, during which Towhee's heavy breathing evened out somewhat and her legs quit their trembling, she said, "I believe you." She had been crouched somewhat, her posture entirely defensive, but she straightened out slightly even while keeping a wary eye on Screech. She winced as the movement aggravated her wounds, though she paid them no mind otherwise.

She felt brave enough to say, "I don't like you, but I believe you." That was the bald truth. "And..." she continued, Towhee's voice somehow slower than usual, "I still don't want to fight you. I never thought you'd try to fight back when I said what I said." She was, of course, referring to her threats the prior day. "I mean, it was was four-on-one odds, for fuck's sake. Who does that?" She exhaled sharply. "And I didn't expect the kids to do what they did. But anyway... Tit—Screech—whatever-the-hell your name is now... why couldn't you have just joined us?"

He wanted to believe her when she spoke. To put all of this behind him. It was a temporary relief that flooded him though, because she went on to (essentially) point out his recklessness and stupidity in the next breath. It didn't bother him that Towhee admitted her dislike - but he defended his actions all the same.

His voice was oddly level as he pointed out, Why would I join you if you don't care for me? If you can't defend me, give me the benefit of the doubt? You have to admit it Towhee - you don't just dislike me. None of you love me -- but as he said this he realized how weak it sounded, how childish, and he felt so exposed in that instant that Screech couldn't finish his thought. He choked on it.

The fight had been snuffed out if him though. The living bomb had been diffused for the time being.

Even as the words left her lips, she wondered if things were damaged beyond all repair. Could she extend the same amnesty to him again, after everything that had happened, not only yesterday but over the entire course of their history? As Towhee mulled over that, his lips moved and she saw his face crumble. She knew then that, at the very least, the physical danger had passed. She would get out of this with a few cuts and scrapes, nothing worse.

"I can't speak for anyone but myself," she began, voice now so sluggish that it might have been playing in slow motion, "but you have to earn my respect, and my affection, especially if you've broken my trust. You vanished. When I found you again, you denied being my brother. Then you vanished again, under very suspicious circumstances. Why would I defend you? Like you, much less love you?"

Somewhere in there, she'd come to squint at him, though she relaxed her face somewhat as she took a pause before continuing. "But I'm tired, we just lost the caldera, and I'm sick of fighting battles where everybody loses. I'm willing to give you another chance, just one more, but this is my final offer."

It bothered him that she was right to some degree, but even before she finished speaking he was cutting in sharply, Bullshit. I didn't leave on purpose, and when I found my way back - okay, I was admittedly a little shit - but its not like you welcomed me with open arms. Clearly he remembered things a certain way and there would be no remedy for that. I didn't just vanish either - Hydra said she would kill me if I so much as looked in the Caldera's direction. But you didn't care; you didn't look for me or anything, did you? Too happy to see me leave, replacing me with those bitches.

He was being a little hyperbolic, a little dramatic, but that was his way. He didn't calm much afterwards but at least there was a gap for Towhee to make her final offer - and he snidely responded, Stay? And what about my friends? This was our home before you came and took it away. This plateau is everything. He knew Redshank wouldn't like this, which meant Screech had a choice to make and yet, he wasn't ready to do that yet. According to them, the plateau is mine.

Besides, whose to say Screech wouldn't just take his heartless sister out of the picture to get what he wanted? There was always the chance he would turn around and take the plateau back. There was a certain level of trust they both had to extend to one another or this bridge would be sufficiently burned.

With the threat of another attack moot, Towhee didn't attempt to control it when her face screwed up incredulously. He had denied his very identity and relationship to her and still expected her to welcome him back anyway? What kind of total bullshit was that? Did he know the first thing about her? She bit back any sort of actual verbal retort, listening despite herself. If what he said was true, Hydra had really played Towhee in a way. It made her stomach knot, though she reminded herself that it didn't really matter anymore. The past was the past. It was time to look to the future, start fresh and leave all this bad shit on the other side of those mountains.

She was tempted to tell Screech his friends could go jump, though she knew that would go over like a lead balloon. She didn't like making the offer much more than she had yesterday, especially after the kerfuffle, but Towhee ground her teeth together and said, "I'll extend it to all three of you. But you and them will have to prove you're worthy of trust and respect." She didn't bother mentioning love. Perhaps, in time, they could get along, but she just couldn't see herself loving Screech at this point in time. "You'll have free run of the plateau, other than where we're keeping the pups. It's Uncle @Elwood's and Aunt @Finley's call when you're welcome there, if ever." She shrugged one white-streaked shoulder.

"This plateau belongs to the Redhawks," she finished in the next breath, "not any one wolf. If you're a Redhawk again—and your friends are too—then it belongs to you as much as it belongs to me or anyone else." There was sort of a begrudging look on her face as Towhee relayed this, because she didn't much like it, but it was a fact she would stand by. "Final offer, Screech."

Last from me !

He listened impatiently until the final word was issued, and by that point he knew that his usual scream-first-run-later technique would not fly here. It felt wrong to give in to her demands but he had to think of the bigger picture; the safety of his friends had only recently become important to him, but already he was putting them first. That too felt strange to be doing - but Redshank, Niamh, even Sorina, were all too important to him to put at risk.

He stalked backwards a step as he considered his options, and came to heel as he murmured, Fine. We will stand down. But Towhee - watch your back, his one eyed glare said as he began to leave her to her wounds, It's in our blood - I will always be a Redhawk.

By her own rules, that made him just as entitled to the territory (and perhaps the leadership) as she was.

An utterly nonplussed Towhee shook her head rapidly (which made it throb all the worse). She was glad to hear in his own words that he would stand down but what did the rest mean? Her mouth opened and closed but he was already walking away. She wanted to charge after him, demand clarity. Are you staying or going? Instead, the Alpha's jaw clenched and she watched him go. She would give him a time—not much, but some—to pledge himself and his friends properly and begin contributing with the rest of the Redhawks. If that didn't happen, well...

Honestly, she didn't even know what she would do. Towhee was having trouble thinking at this point. She remained sitting there a long time after her brother disappeared before finally finding her feet and resuming her patrol. It was tempting to mark over every single one of Screech's scent deposits, yet she left them for now.

Thank you for the excellent thread, my dude!