Shy Deer Steppes Nobody's soldier

Intended for @Roan but all welcome!!!

It was barren, here. Nothing but dull, sparse grass broken up by thin layers of snow; all the land beneath the sun's searing eye, it was far from a picture of paradise, and yet..

Synder thought it held a strange beauty to it; maybe it was the breeze in her fur, or the vast horizon that stretched on ahead of her, and in all directions. A baptism of realized freedom in the biting winter winds. She stood by a mass of rocks and old, dead tree, a comfortable shelter nestled further inwards. The dark mask of her face lowered to the ground, watching for lizards darting between the rocks. She liked to keep her skills sharp, even if they served her very little nowadays.

She grew curious of his whereabouts, and lifted her head to howl into the wastes. Roan. Her call was a somber melody, low and purposeful as it hummed through the air.

She was not entirely concerned that others might've also heard the call.

roan appeared from the shadow of the barren rocks, his silhouette sharp against the pale horizon. his movements were deliberate, slow yet assured, as if the land itself bent to his will. he said nothing, his piercing eyes cutting through the space between them, acknowledging her with a flick of his ear.

his presence carried an unspoken weight, a reminder of the authority he bore even in the silence. brushing past her, his gaze lingered briefly on her form before turning to the horizon. he did not stop.

sorry for the wait on this!!

Authority, she felt his presence before she saw him, himself. He commanded a certain intensity to his very step, forcing the air to still, the birds to stop singing; and all of this, all of it should've told her not to dig deeper, not to stay and instead to go, just go.

This was how it started in the first place, trust placed where it shouldn't have been.

Synder's gold eyes held him in dangerous curiosity. Worse, cunning beneath it all. She could use, just as she could be used.

She clambered down the small slope with a surprising bit of precision, every thought, one spared to each mechanism at use; her balance remained to her and she caught up to walk alongside him, in the shadow he cast on one side.

Have you found anything? She picks a moment to shatter the silence, an unusual lightness to her step today, one unhaunted by the cruel sear of pain in a wound that had been around longer than it hadn't.

there used to be wolves here, roan said, his voice low, rough as the stones underfoot. his eyes didn’t stray to synder, fixed instead on the horizon where the land rolled out in waves of desolation. he moved with purpose, every step deliberate, his broad shoulders cutting through the cold air like a blade.

he didn’t slow as she fell in step beside him, her lightness a sharp contrast to his own grim presence. for a moment, silence filled the space between them, heavy and unyielding. then, like a jagged edge, his words came again.

a lot of them. but there...there was a flood.

his jaw tightened, the faintest flicker of something—memory, perhaps, or regret—briefly crossing his hardened features. but it was gone as quickly as it came, swallowed by his stoic nature.

he didn’t explain further. didn’t ask if she wanted to know more. just kept walking, his pace steady, his focus unbroken. the land held its own ghosts, and he had no interest in summoning them.

The air grew thick, a grim, dark heaviness she was unprepared for in her optimistic state. They stood in stark opposition, though, not for much longer.

She listened in silence, ears slowly falling until they pressed the back of her head. Her voice held a solemn air to it, breathy and uneasy. That's...

He didn't give her much time to sift through it all, his pace was unrelenting. Synder took the challenge of meeting it. She caught the change in his stare, though he was indecipherable again in an insant.Terrible... You know this for sure? Did anyone survive? I can help them if they survived-

She perked up, a light hopefulness to cut through the thick silence, she quickened her steps, now alight with an urgency.

roan moved sharply, his massive frame stepping into her path, cutting off her movements with a sudden, decisive motion. no! he barked, his tone low and gruff, though it carried an edge of warning rather than anger.

his gaze bore into her, cold and unyielding, before it flickered briefly to her tattered leg. the sight of it deepened the grim line of his jaw. those who perish cannot be helped, he grumbled, his voice gravelly, as if weighed by the finality of his words.

his eyes returned to hers, steady and firm. you’ll get yourself hurt, he muttered, the faintest trace of concern hidden beneath the bluntness of his tone. but there was no softness in his posture, only the resolute barrier he placed between her and whatever lay ahead.

The sharp turn of his body blocked her path, staggering her steps, she took one back. They cannot be helped. A deep pit grew in her stomach. It became clear, as she studied the grim scowl of his face; the cold and unattached look in his eyes. He had found no survivors.

And yet she could not rescind so easily. Guilt tugged at her heart, she could not truly be cold as ice, even the facade of it could not stand against everything. We have to try, at least- She protested, though it came more as a plead than she had meant it to.

Even in this, she was selfish. Wanting to help others in place of those she left to a doom uncertain. Like it fixed anything.

I can handle myself.

he growled low, his amber eyes narrowing as her defiance stoked the fire in his chest.

fine, he bit out, the word sharp, cutting through the cold air between them.

but his posture shifted, a step closer, the weight of his presence heavy and unyielding. he wouldn’t let her go alone, no matter how stubborn she was. she could protest all she wanted, but he would follow, a silent shadow ensuring her safety whether she welcomed it or not.

Half of her hadn't expected him to give in. Even if his acceptance was sharp and unwilling as it came from his lips, he listened, heard her. And maybe it was just to show her that there was no point in hoping, but still he followed her. It toyed with the strings of her heart in a way she struggled to make sense of. She nods firmly at his reluctant approval, eyes of cornsilk gold expressed the feintest flickers of gratitude.

She welcomed his shadow while it loomed over her, unyielding even when she challenged him like she had. She wanted to show him that she could do something, for the weight of his stare against her leg through each day and night burned some fire in her bones.

roan’s form towered over her, his presence heavy as they moved through the desolate stretch. the bodies scattered along their path were grotesque reminders of the futility of her hope. his lip curled slightly, the unsightly scene grating against his instincts.

knew this was a bad idea, he grumbled, the words barely more than a growl under his breath. his amber gaze flicked to her briefly, lingering on her determined stride, before returning to the grim trail ahead.

They carried on further through the wastes, where the land itself began to change and shift into something far more grim. Even the sky itself clouded over with dark, rolling clouds, a funeral veil for each soul they passed by. Cold reality felt like ice in her throat, and the urgency with which she'd carried herself before turned to a slower, wary pace. Floodwaters had carried all these bodies from the red mountains that laid ahead

Her hope waned, but was not extinguished, she kept her ears sharp for any struggled breaths, or muted calls for help, but all that broke the still silence was the sound of their own steps as they walked through this mass grave. None of them have been put to rest. She murmurs, pausing for only a moment before carrying on. The death of a community, and none were left to bury them.

It was not that Synder had never seen death, before. She saw it when it came mercifully, and when it came cruelly all the same.

But it was still death, something profoundly sad. She stopped, still in her tracks as her eyes caught the the clouded gaze of a young girl, the fear of her last moments etched permenently onto her features.

And on they continued, marching through a valley of ghosts.

the bodies scattered like fallen leaves told a story he didn’t care to hear, each one gnawing at his patience. his jaw tightened, his amber gaze hardening with each glance at the carnage they passed.

not our job, he snapped, his voice sharp and low, cutting through the silence like a blade. he grimaced, the smell of decay thick in the air, and shook his head as if to rid himself of the weight pressing down on him.

his gaze flicked to synder, catching the way her eyes lingered on a lifeless child. the grimace deepened, and he growled, maybe she didn't suffer.

he turned away, the stiffness in his shoulders betraying more than he’d ever admit. his steps quickened, though his breath remained steady, forcing himself to look ahead and not at the graveyard that stretched around them.

Somehow I doubt that. she replies in a somber cadence, before willing her eyes to tear away.

Her leg strained through the march, tendrils of liquid fire wrapped like gnarled roots around her joints; pushing on despite it, all for the sake of others who were already beyond saving. She pushed on because she resented it. At least now they passed by the field of bodies the floodwaters had spat out.

Synder didn't have much faith, no gods or commandments, only superstitions repeated a hundred times. Unburied souls would roam forever, trapped between borders of life and death. Nowadays, she knew there was no difference between being buried in the dirt, or being devoured by scavengers; either way, you were returned.

One certainly had more dignity, though.

She tried to quicken her pace despite the futility, and halted abruptly as the limb locked itself, biting back the strain on her tongue.

roan’s lip curled, his frustration boiling over as he caught sight of synder’s faltering stride. i fucking told you, he growled, his voice low and sharp, cutting through the heavy air around them.

before she could protest, he moved closer, pressing his broad body against hers to steady her. the pressure was firm but not unkind, a reluctant support as much as it was a command to stop pushing herself beyond her limits.

we need to get out of here, he snapped, his amber eyes scanning the horizon for the safest path forward. the tension in his jaw betrayed the worry he wouldn’t voice outright.

without another word, he nudged her forward, his presence a shield against the weight of the grim scene they were leaving behind. whatever argument she might have, he wasn’t about to hear it. survival was all that mattered now.