Totoka River a snapshot in the family album

forward-dated to whenever you need it. @Vaati

Compared to her convalescence from the injuries inflicted by the Shadow Mountain wolves, her recovery from the poppy incident was a breeze. It flew by, leaving her more bored than anything else. She was starting to lose interest in Wheeling Gull Isle; it was pretty enough, but it lacked a certain. . .je ne sais quois. It failed to capture her attention like Blackfeather Woods had.

So today, Maegi dared to do something she hadn't thought of before--she crossed the bridge to the mainland.

It was thrilling, feeling her paws against the silty sand, traversing the narrow bar, her gaze fixed on the cliffs ahead. Where was her birthplace, in all of this? Past the mountains, over the hills? She still had no idea how far from home she really was; all she knew was that it was far enough that Coelacanth felt at ease, on the island, and that it had taken some time for Moonshadow to find her.

Finally, Maegi landed on the other side, her hobbling gait leading her up the banks of a clear, fast-flowing river. The girl didn't know how long she would stay over here; she should probably get back to Undersea before anyone started to worry. Reed, especially, would have a fit if one of her precious patients strayed too far. Rolling her bicolored eyes, she slid down to lap at the river water, excitement pooling in her stomach.

She was free, really. She didn't often think of her own freedom--but it was abundantly clear to her now that she could do anything she wanted over here, or anywhere. It was liberating, this feeling, and she laughed, droplets dribbling from her chin.

The lack of kill had driven him momentarily north, to where he knew the land met the sea. He had been once before, when the world was much simpler and he was respected. But now it was a desperate thirst that propelled him forth, like a lowly scavenger searching for any scrap of meat he could find. Nothing filled his days but the hunt, a parasite in his brain that thought of nothing but when next to kill. At the back of his mind, he knew it was compensation for something, to be someone again, to have something in his life besides a history that nobody else would want to have. Whatever it was, he knew it needed to be fed. So, when he picked up the trail of a wolf nearby he did not think but act, blindly gliding forward in ambition to kill.

That was halted abruptly, of course. He knew who she was as soon as he laid his eyes on her - no question about it. There was simply no way he could forget or misidentify his favoured sibling, even though time and circumstance had ripped them apart. But he didn’t bound towards her like he felt he should. Instead, Vaati watched her without a sound. He watched her as smiled and laughed, something so pure that had been sorely absent about the girl during their time in the dark woods. Even as a child, he couldn’t recall a time he had ever heard her chiming laughter ring about the forest. The thought made him frown, knowing that the reason she hadn’t ever done those things was a reason he could have saved her from. He had protected Maegi from birth, first from their mother’s fangs and then from her words. Yet, the latter had occurred anyhow right under his nose. He had been too preoccupied with his own moral dilemmas to save the girl from her’s, even when the sanctity of her childhood had been worth more than his. Perhaps, had he been as good of a brother as he was a murderer, he might have saved her from being swallowed by the dark woods and all the curses it had to offer. It was a fact that he regrettably could not change, for she was grown now, and had likely grown the skin she needed to survive a long time ago. Such a fate was cast upon nearly all the children to come out of Blackfeather Woods, for generations beyond Vaati was even aware of, and if he knew that, perhaps he would not have felt so guilty as he did at that moment.

The thought crossed his mind to simply leave, to crawl away back to his hollow life fulfilled only by bloodshed and the impending threat of a death sentence, saving his sister from bringing up a past he was sure she wanted to leave behind. Why else would she have been so far from the dark woods without the traces of the trademark stench of death, if she had no intention of returning any time soon? Perhaps he could do her what he could not to before, and save her from confronting someone who lived only in her past. And he almost did, had she not turned her head.

The laceration was deep, split all the way to the bone of her gum and dragged upwards, displaying every jagged tooth she had on the left side of her face from her incisors to her molars. His blood turned to liquid fire in his veins, overcome completely with a white-hot rage he had yet to feel since his return. It was a feeling he had not felt even as he killed, a passion that was unparalleled in any action he could commit himself. It was likely that he was stomping as he barrelled towards her, and it was also likely that he looked like he was going to kill her, but he stopped short before her breathing heavily through his nostrils. “Who did this to you?” It came as a demand, a bellow in fact, that he really couldn’t consider any way better to reunite with his long lost, little sister than this.

Her time spent on the island had made her less alert than she used to be; the scent drifted in and out of her nostrils without concern, for even if it did have a touch of the familiar to it, it was probably just a trick of her imagination, or--worse--Hemlock coming after her, admonishing the girl for leaving the island so soon after her brush with death. She sighed, shaking her head with a groan. Heavy, angry pawsteps soon reached her ears, and she turned to face her retribution, an irritated but resigned look painted over her face.

A face that soon grew blank with complete and utter shock.

So long had she been away from the Woods that the structure of the place, in her mind, was beginning to crumble. Everything was muddled, murky, as if in a fever dream. But one look at the white wolf, barreling toward her, and Blackfeather was brought quickly and suddenly to life again. The sounds, the smells. Every single emotion she had ever felt flitted through her mind, a sort of 'life flashing before your eyes' moment. He looked wrathful, and she supposed she couldn't blame him. She had left without word, after all.

Before Maegi even had time to accept her fate, he had come to a halt, and Vaati Melonii's voice rattled through her skull like cannon fire: "Who did this to you?"

Pain seared through her jaw, and the girl winced, closing her eyes tight. "May Sithis strike me dead, then." Skullchaser's final words to her, lost in the immediate aftermath of her injury, came like lightning to her mind. She tasted blood, and felt not the warm summer's breeze against her pelt but a cool alpine chill, battering against her ribs. Shivers ran from nape to tail, over and over, threatening to overcome her--

Until it all stopped, and was replaced quite quickly with anger. She blinked, once, twice, and saw her big brother in front of her, demanding answers. And she bared her teeth at him. A snarl in her throat. No 'Hello,' 'how are you?', 'I've missed you'--but an inquisition into her most disturbing moment? He could have prevented it. Could have gone looking for her, could have made peace with the enemy, instead of leading them into a war that had left them all shattered and indelibly changed. How dare he harass her so--no matter how good his intentions were--after all this time?

"No," she finally snapped, shaking her head. "I'm not going to tell you. I don't want to talk about it. I came all this way, left it all behind--"

Then she was a child again, suddenly, walking beside Vaati under the boughs of Blackfeather. Saw his face again for what it was, a great, young leader, full of promise. Not the disgraced rogue he was now. Not a savage. Her brother. Her stomach clenched violently in barely-contained sobs, and her face crumbled, as she continued, "Damn it, Vaati--where did you go? Why did you leave?"

Her response was to be expected, shrinking back as he barged unto the scene and disrupted what peace she had stumbled upon. However, it did not last long. Returning the gesture, she growled at him, and though he did not feel threatened, he took a step back. Perhaps she was a different person now, someone he didn’t really know. Vaati only allowed himself to think such things for a moment or two, before refocusing to her shaking her head. At least her defiant courage was still intact, and he felt more assured that this was indeed the same Maegi he had left behind.

Vaati snarled heavily at her refusal to confess who had hurt her so viciously, casting his eyes way in an attempt to distance himself from his own anger. He knew it was a sensitive subject as his own scars were to him, but in that moment he cared too much about her - it - to let feelings get in the way. “I will kill whoever did it, I promise you,” Vaati vowed to her, returning his gaze to rest upon Maegi’s still youthful features that remained remarkably pure despite the obvious disfigurement. She was still his sister, and that fact brought him down to earth. His gaze softened as she begun to fall apart before him, touching her cheek delicately with his nose in the most affection he could offer. Her questions were questions that even he did not have whole answers to, things he cast aside and refused to confront. But he could not simply stand there and offer her nothing after so long, and he could not walk away having not given her any explanation. Condescendingly, he sneers. “Why would I have stayed? I lost it all.” Hearing the words spill out his own mouth felt harrowing, having held the answer within him for months and simply ignoring its truth. “It all fell apart right from under me and there was nothing left that I could do but watch as everything I had and worked for, fall away with it.” In truth, he had never felt close to Blackfeather in the way his family had. Not until he had to step up to the plate and inherit it’s crown, did he feel a sense of entitlement towards it. That had only increased as time went on, but there was always a fraction of him who wanted something else, and once such an option became available to him, had taken it without a second glance. “There was nothing left for me there but betrayal and failure, Maegi. Everything that I am and was is gone.” He isn’t the same. In some senses, yes, but not in all. He had once been driven by the power and greed, taking what he could because he felt like he owned it. The only difference now was that everything he takes is because he needs it, because in the absence of everything else, he needs something. And so he does what he can to bide the time until fate finds him once more; unlike the Vaati who would write his own path by cutting down everything and anyone who stood in his way. What he was and who he had become was not something even he knew, and as the words flowed out his mouth, he felt the slightest bit liberated. Odd, he wondered.

"No," she repeated, but it was not a snap this time. It was a declaration, weighted heavily with finality. It was the answer to a question she had asked herself many moons; it was the full stop on a promise she had made. "I will kill him. His death belongs to me." There would be no argument. Memories of him did not bother her, from day to day. . .but rest assured, the moment they crossed paths again, she would take his life.

She listened to Vaati, listened carefully, savored every word that flowed from his lips. Part of it she agreed with, but she found herself shaking her head once more at some sentiments, an unconscious denial of the truth. The truth, yes. He was right about it all. That didn't mean that she had to like it, or even agree with the way it had all come down upon them.

"We all fell apart," Maegi murmured, meeting his steely gaze. That, at least, had not changed. "Nothing is as it once was. Vaati--Ramsay and Euron. . .I haven't seen them in moons." This admission made tears come to her eyes, and a sob finally escaped her as she continued, "I don't know where they are. We went to find Cicero, and we found him, and he took them to a safe place. . .but I didn't go with them. I stayed behind. And then when I went to look for them--"

Wake up. Prisoners don't die unless we allow them to. Stone, once again, under her paws. Cool wind. The sound of mountain birds, cawing overhead. His teeth inches from her face. Pain. . .her face throbbed with it. Panicked breaths came hard and fast through her nostrils, and she closed her eyes, squeezing her lids tight. Opened them again. . .

. . .and saw Vaati, standing with her by the river. Maegi let out a shuddering gasp, pelt prickling along her spine. It took her a moment to regain her composure. "You were one more wolf I had to worry about," she said, simply, caught between anger and sadness. "One more wolf I'd lost. And beyond being Dark Master. . .you're my brother, Vaati. I needed you, even if the Woods didn't."

post sucks sorry

Maegi would not kill him. Maegi couldn't kill anyone. If she could, she would have hunted him down and slaughtered him in his sleep months ago. It was not something Vaati would not simply allow to slide. Why should he allow his sister’s attacker to continue the pleasure of breathing longer than necessary? It was foolery in his eyes, and an extreme injustice that scum continued to live. Vaati would not budge on the topic, looking to her with an unbreakable plead. “Give me a name, at least.” It was a bargain, as any indication as to who this man was and why he thought he could get away with maiming Vaati’s sister so maliciously was valuable information to him.

The mention of their brothers did very little to sway Vaati’s emotions. Admittedly, he had never been close with the two boys, and neither was he in contact with those of his own litter. Family was so nearly foreign concept to him, that if not for Maegi, it already would be. Where Euron and Ramsay currently resided mattered considerably less to him than he feels Maegi believes, but he doesn’t comment to correct her. Learning that she felt somewhat responsible for him, struck him in an odd way feeling a new sense of genuine guilt. Yet, he was cold in his reply, “You have never needed me, you have only ever needed yourself to survive in this world. I knew that, even if you didn't.” And so was the Blackfeather way. It was a harsh reality, and one he viewed as tough-love with all the right intent. He would not have left if he felt she could not survive his absence, or had he even considered it? But perhaps he was simply deflecting, emotionally unavailable to place the burden of abandoning his family, solely on his shoulders. 

Maegi scoffed, almost rolling her eyes at his response. His cruelty knew no bounds. She shouldn't have been surprised. This was the Melonii way, the Dark Brotherhood way. Every man and woman for themselves. Evidently, that rule extended down to children, as well. Her time with the seawolves had made her soft, though, and blinded her to the reality of her old home and customs.

"It doesn't matter what you knew or what I knew," she responded, teeth gritted. "I was a child. I lost everything and everyone. I loved you, Vaati! I loved you so much." Her voice dipped suddenly low, a rough murmur. "If saying that makes me weak. . .whatever. I survived, Vaati--but it wasn't living. Not without Euron and Ramsay. Not without you."

No, survival did not guarantee a life. Her time in the Woods after the war had been a dreary existence; she had been forced to live without parts of her heart. Even now, the chunk left hollow, barren, by Vaati's absence throbbed, as if it was trying to heal itself--but she knew that the minute they departed, she may never see her brother again. That void would never be filled.

She sighed, shaking her head. Pondering his earlier request. "Skullchaser," she said, finally, after a moment of silence. "He called himself Skullchaser." The hairs on her spine rose at the name, and she resisted a shudder, instead meeting her brother's icy gaze with her own mismatched eyes. Challenging him, to. . . "If you kill him, bring me his tongue," Maegi added, her stare gimlet. "He maligned me, and blasphemed our gods."

He couldn’t recall a time where he had been loved. At some point he must have - he knew that - but never had the words been uttered aloud to him. Not even by his own mother, nor the family he had laid his life down for. For Maegi to confess these things only under the circumstance of the pain he brought her, it wasn't a good feeling. But she loved him… she loved him and the depth of the realization of how awfully he had wronged her caused him to be at a shocking loss for words. Wide eyes simply stared at her for a few moments in an unnerving silence and he could think of nothing other than to utter an apology. The words did not make it past his lips, however, before the spoken name of the cretin who dared to lift a claw to his sister met his ears. Skullchaser. It sounded tacky, reminding him unfondly of a Blackfeather rank title. Yet, it’s intended ominous effect did nothing to sway Vaati’s desire to rip the coward apart into an unrecognisable state. Likely the name was a moniker, but even that could be traced back to its owner with due diligence. And malicious determination was something Vaati held in vast quantities, both to his own demise and others. He nods in acceptance of the task; he would do more than just bring her its tongue.

“Come with me,” It felt wrong to leave her again. That was a guilt he could not carry with him, not after everything that had been said. To run the risk of surrendering her to the fate of the wilds without his protection seemed like the most foolish thing he could do. She really was the last thing he had left and if he thought for a second that she too would be lost to him, he had to treat it as a certainty. “I won’t lose you again.”

There was remorse in his eyes; it shocked her. For the proud Vaati to have regret. . .she must have said something right. A smug feeling twisted its way around her heart, snakelike, slithering away when he spoke again. Slithered away, and left her small and fearful again. Never mind that she had been without him all these moons--now he wanted her back.

Did he know? Did he know the sleepless nights she had endured, wishing she had gone with Cicero and her brothers? This was his way of trying to make things right again, and for a moment, she was tempted to take him up on his offer. Life might not be simple, by her brother's side, but she would not want for excitement, and there would be family. Family, at last.

But what of the wolves of Undersea--were they not her family, too? She cared for them just as much as all but a few of her comrades from the Woods. Maegi couldn't--could not--up and leave them without word. Even with advance notice. . .it seemed a slap in the face, to choose Vaati over them. Vaati, who had abandoned her. Whereas the seawolves had taken her in without a second thought, healed her, loved her. . .

There was no question. Vaati had made his bed: now he must lie in it.

"I can't," Maegi murmured, shaking her head. She dipped her muzzle toward the dark mass that was the isle, rising above the rolling water like the hump of a whale. "I live there, now. The wolves there. . .they love me. They've taken care of me. That is my home, and they're my family." Even if the Melonii blood did not course through their veins. That hardly mattered, anymore--not as far from the Woods as they were.

Her refusal comes as an insult to him, even if the intent was otherwise. For all her talk of his abandonment, he finds it hypocritical that she should deny him and herself the opportunity to bridge the gap between them. As if she could not drive the stake further, she trades what little true family she had left in exchange for those who would come and go and leave her without the slightest regard for what they had. What he offered was not without its unpredictability, but he was her brother, and blood was everything. “But I am your family. Or is blood no longer thicker than water?” His brow narrows a fraction as he leans his head in back to rest on his shoulders in affront.

But he does not wait for the answer, knowing that she would not go with him even if he begged. He knows her loyalties are strong, and while she had been by his side for so long, those loyalties no longer lied with him. With desolate optics does he issue a cold scowl, “I think now it is you who betrays me, sister.” Loyalty; it was the one thing he craved and would never receive. He turns his back next, departing his sister’s company without even a simple goodbye. She made her choice, just as he had, and he would not put up a fight to keep her under his wing if it was not by her own choice. Vaati would always care for her, kill for her, and likely catch his death by worrying for her -- but it was clear she was no longer his responsibility. Instead, he spares both of them a potentially weathering farewell and carries himself away without batting an eye to look back.

She opened her mouth, about to tell him that family stuck together, didn't leave--and promptly closed it, realizing that, if she did so, she would be a hypocrite. She had chosen to stay behind, to not remain by her brothers' sides. She was just as bad as Vaati, if not worse: he had presumably been looking for his siblings, licking his wounds, but she. . . Maegi had simply been selfish. That was all.

His words stung, not like fire but like ice, and she blinked slowly, trying to absorb the blow without breaking down in front of him. She had no parting words for him; before he could speak, he was gone, off like a ghost in the night. In a way he was a ghost; Maegi had thought him dead, and now struggled with his resurrection right here, in front of her.

Perhaps it would have been best if he had died, or at the very least, she had never seen him again. Now they both would have to grapple with the fact that they were changed, and not for the better. They would always be brother and sister. . .but no more would they enjoy the warm, unbreakable bond they had in Blackfeather Woods.

That kind of love between them was best left to memories, now.