Haunted Wood Way down low where the light is gone.

He couldn't murder anyone on an empty stomach, so the first thing that Revui did after leaving the company of the dark giant was seek out a cache, only to find it empty. That, and the next one, and the next one... There was a theme building, one of absence and of hunger. Revui was still agitated and had been so since his escape from the pit; no matter what was promised to him or what freedoms he held, that sense of innate aggression did not leave him. If he did not find something to eat soon he would become far too volatile, and the wolves here would suffer as he suffered.

By the fifth cache (visited, dug-up, torn apart—then abandoned, exposed) the swagger had left his gait. He sulked between the trees, absently drawing himself towards more familiar sections of the forest, until he found himself standing on the ledge overlooking his previous home: the pit. It was empty now. He glared down at the depths of it, his eyes roving to the cavity of roots where he'd once rested; to the ruined wall which had been his method of escape; then he drew back from it all, and carried on his way.

The pit was behind him now — physically and metaphorically. He was free, he was a soldier, but that would not satisfy him for long.

she did not much care for the captives; it seemed entirely stupid to keep potential enemies, competition, in a hole in the ground. news of their escape was then not entirely surprising to the girl (she did not think keeping strangers in a hole to be a very sustainable practice) and she was rather glad that the boy seemed to have vanished. she'd expected him to have, too, though she neared the rim of the pit to see him standing opposite her. 

she eyed him a moment, not at all willing to close the distance. "what are you gonna do now?" she'd expected the whole captives thing to result in their eventual freedom; though his choosing to hang around seemed decidedly odd.

He'd barely turned from the pit's edge when a voice burst from the other side. This made him stop, turn, and with a glance Revui spotted the smaller wolf. It took a few seconds for her actual words to register in his head, then a few more for him to formulate a response. He was thinking about how viable it would be to start at the bottom of the totem pole; she was young, small, weak by comparison to himself, and would be an easy kill. However, she had not tormented him in the pit—not like the others. It would be more suitable to start at the top of the proverbial food chain and find the biggest threat, the man who had put him in the pit in the first place, and Black Hat was not here.

What will he do? I am a soldier, he states grimly, I will fight. And kill any who rise up against his nigh-infernal sense of righteousness and rage. The boy stared at her across the expanse of the pit and his confidence was unwavering, he was beyond confident. Such arrogance may result in weakness, but it was one insignificant crack in his armour.

his answer in convincing, but vague. she eyes him a moment, inquiring bluntly, "with, or against us?" somehow, it feels odd to refer to the Nightwalkers as "us", even after all this time. he radiate arrogance, and she wondered if he would make a good teacher. she'd already decided the more adults she could learn from the better, though she could not trust the captive-turned-soldier in a friendly spar, not when she was part of the "us" that had put him in the pit, though certainly not directly. perhaps, he had his own agenda that had little to do with them or revenge, though should she have been the one thrown in a pit, she would hardly let that grudge go.

It was curious that she would consider herself one of them; they had been antagonistic at their best of times, full of vitriol and hungry to watch him suffer in the pit. She had only ever been watchful, questioning of him. He did not link her up with the rest—which kept her safe, at least for the time being. Her question strikes him as odd.

I want the ones who brought me down, he elucidates in his truncated way, his blunt and sluggish tone as indifferent as before. What did it matter if he explained himself? What did it matter if she thought the whole of the Nightwalkers would bend to his will and break to his teeth? So they live in fear of him, so what.

But she does not deserve his spite. Too young for it—and innocent of any crimes against him save for the allegiance to this horde of mayhem. Not you. Was that enough?

not against all of them, then, but only against those directly responsible for his time in the pit. he clarifies a moment later that she'd not included on his hit list, which she accepts with some relief (though does not her wariness slip). "alright." if he's made his escape, and his wandering around apparently been accepted, she supposes it's his right to seek vengeance if he so wishes. she'd surely do the same, though she could not imagine ever ending up in any pack's pit. rip to revui but she's different.

"what then? will you stay, or go?" does he remain only out of spite, vengeance or does he have some other motive in remaining here? but he does not answer, and a moment later, she takes her leave of the man.