Blackfeather Woods He hurt him away

The first to arrive at the scene had been Potema, a chuff having been offered before she'd settled down nearby. His gaze had trailed after her up until that point, wondering if she'd anything to say, but having quickly found that she didn't. With his attention elsewhere, he'd not noticed Cicero's arrival, nor had he spotted him through the shadows when he'd finally looked away. His mind lingered elsewhere, a multitude of worries having begun to creep up into his skull. What would happen to him? It was the most important out of all the questions that crowded his mind, as well as the one that he had the least amount of insight on. Xan knew what happened to traitors, to those that simply abandoned the woods without so much as a twitch of their nose, but he knew not if the same fate might befall him. The boy was not deserting them, he was giving word of his plans, yet there existed, still, a sinking feeling within the pit of his stomach.

When Damien had arrived, the boy's ears folded back and he'd lowered his head. The assumption made would have possibly agitated him at any point prior to his attack, but, presently, there'd been no sort of challenge spoken against the older male's words. Rather, he'd lowered himself without having been prompted or forced to do so—it was, most likely, the first time he'd ever done it, too. His gaze remained averted, focused on the ground upon which he stood, never to raise or steal a glance towards the darker individual. "I do want that," he'd voiced, but his tone was notably hesitant. "But... there's something else that I want more." His honour restored, and so much more, but many of those things were something that he'd never be able to get back. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, no way to reach out and take back all that had been torn away from him. There was no way to achieve the majority of his desires, but there was at least one that he wanted to think he might stand a chance at acquiring.

"I want to leave the woods," Xan had eventually said, daring not look up. He didn't want to see the other's expression, his reaction, or his attack coming, should one be deemed necessary. "Not just on a trip, but... I can't live here." Not anymore. It wasn't safe, despite the fact that it housed his family. They wouldn't understand what had happened, nor would they be able to fix it; they couldn't heal his mind, they couldn't fix him.