Firefly Glen but if the silence takes you, then i hope it takes me too

CAMEO BECAUSE AW TAG

He'd left the Caldera feeling...Empty. He could have been pleased with himself, for trying to confront his newest fear, but he didn't really recognize it as an accomplishment as it hadn't taken his fear away. He'd merely learned that if he squished himself against the side of a den's walls, he could more or less survive his panic attack, and had realized that a cave-in wasn't going to happen every time he was underground. Still; he didn't want to risk it. The fear was still there and it was still very real. 

What made him feel so hollow was how he hadn't exactly resolved much of the conflict between himself and Fennec, and he knew that if he had decided to stick around to help care for her, she probably might've resented him even more. She'd had very little words for him, but the ones she had spoken had made it clear that she didn't want him around, and that she hadn't enjoyed being given gifts or acts of service. So staying at the Caldera to hunt down food for her seemed like the wrong thing to do if he wanted to have any hope in redeeming himself. Still, leaving her behind felt wrong, even though he knew they would care for her. It just felt like he was giving up, at the end of the day, as he dragged his footsteps the whole way home. 

By the time he reached the pack, he'd begun to leave behind faint pawprints in the freshly fallen snow, as it melted beneath the warm pads of his feet. When he crossed Meerkat's path he followed it almost instinctively, wanting to find her to seek out some sort of comfort, and maybe talk to her about how Fennec had been. Her trail was very fresh, so he knew she'd be easy to find, and he wasn't far behind at all when he began to approach the small clearing, wandering through the woodlands that surrounded it. 

But through the air he heard her excited voice, and perked his ears, pausing when he realized she wasn't alone. Lowering his head, he sidestepped so he might see past the trees to make out the form of whoever she was talking to- only to find his view blocked, but his answer apparent enough when he heard Atlas speak. Normally, he might have still considered himself welcome, but he knew what this was. With the small, light snowflakes falling around him and coming to rest on the ground, he felt a coldness in his heart which matched the chill in the air when he realized that this was her first date. 

The emptiness he'd felt before faded away, and was replaced by a pang of loneliness. Wordlessly, he turned and padded away as quietly as he could, and would spend the night in the foothills of Moonspear, shadowed by its solemnity in the quiet falling of snow.