Firefly Glen lost is all i will be

@Floki, @Wildfire, @Charon... someone from Moonspear? ;)

Dusk was falling. His mind was still a storm of thought and emotion that he could not begin to deal with. He hated trees. But the glen ahead attracted his attention with its dancing and twinkling lights. He also did not want to die out in the open. It wasn't dignified. Not for kings as he was. It would be best to die on the seashore where the tides would carry him out beneath the waves. Rain had blocked his path and altered his course. He was not strong enough to make it back.

He ducked beneath the canopy as he followed the lights. The rain had flooded the glen and the ground was wet beneath his paws. His mind was still a storm. Regret. Pain. Anger. Regret. He should not have run from the one that knew his name. It had to have been Floki or Jorunn. Family was everything but they had left him for dead in the storm. He could not deal with the pain his brother's voice had awoken. It was too late now.

Kaylan found a dry patch of grass beneath the sturdy trunk of a tree. He lay there with his back leaning against it. Lights twinkled in the darkening glen and he watched the patterns they made. They looked like galaxies and stars. It felt like coming home.

It was unseasonably warm today, the air fresh and the sky clear after a long and rainy night. Wildfire spent all day tracking and hunting small prey in and around the territory, adding her occasional catches to the stockpiles. By the time dusk fell, she was feeling quite accomplished... and also very hungry, thirsty and tired. In fact, she dropped right where she stood, one paw resting absently on the carcass of a gopher she had managed to nab just fifteen minutes ago.

Something flashed in her peripheral vision and Wildfire turned. She blinked as she watched a few fireflies drifting around the gloomy glen. It was very late in the year. Perhaps they were confused (or simply drawn out) by the day's remarkably tepid temperature. Whatever the case, she stood slowly and moved nearer, momentarily abandoning her kill as she followed the drifting specks of light through the trees.

His eyelids were heavy and the swirling fireflies only made him more drowsy. He was young and did not know that death was not yet ready to claim him— that was at least a week away. Kaylan's energy reserves were merely flagging as his thin body was beginning to tap into the last of the fats it could before it would move on to muscle and organs. He did what he could to fight sleep. He thought if he slept he would never wake. It was too difficult to fight the encroaching slumber. He couldn't even find enough energy to get angry despite his storm of emotions. Even those were fading to a more peaceful state.

Kaylan's blue eyes closed. His breathing shifted to the steady rhythm of sleep.

She drifted after them a while, even making a halfhearted attempt to snap at a few. Eventually, Wildfire's weariness caught up to her again and she turned, trotting back to where she had left the gopher. She plucked it off the ground, then began loping back toward Moonspear. En route, however, she stumbled across a pale body slumped beneath a tree. Wildfire slowed, then stopped, amber eyes blinking. It was that wolf from the other day!

He had behaved awfully aggressively and normally she would have shuffled past him and went on her way. However, he could be Floki's other long lost brother, Kaylan. Hesitantly, she lowered her head and dropped the carcass. Wildfire's black tail twitched pensively as she deliberated several moments before finally letting out a soft woof.

His ears twitched in his sleep as the sound of footfalls whispered nearby. He did not wake. Not at first. In his sleep he was once more a thousand warrior kings. Memories of lives before teased the edges of his awareness. He was floating and suspended in a brilliant tapestry of stars. He could see worlds being born and worlds being destroyed. At the center of it all was Yggdrasil.

A great wolf appeared and its voice boomed. It rattled his bones. He could not understand it although he desperately wished to.

Kaylan's eyes fluttered in the realm his body was tied to. They opened at the sound of another's voice. His lips peeled back but the motion was weak and no sound emerged. He could barely lift his head to see her and the world was spinning too quickly to even focus on her.

His silence broke. A soft and hoarse whine. "Let me die."

Immediately afterward, Wildfire took two steps back, just in case. If this wolf was aggressive when fully awake, he was probably a total bear when abruptly yanked from sleep. But she needn't have worried. He barely stirred. He showed his teeth but in a way that couldn't even be called halfhearted. He then rasped out three quiet and chilling words.

Her brow furrowed. She hadn't realized he was dying. Suddenly Wildfire thought back on that dead yearling near the bypass. Her stomach felt like it was full of ice cubes. She looked at him for a long moment, then took a steadying breath and called for, "@Floki! @Charon!" This was their brother and surely they wouldn't want to let him die on their doorstep.

I'm going to be out of town this weekend, but wanted to squeeze in a reply before I leave!

The sound of Wildfire's voice was always pleasing to Floki's ears, especially when she was specifically requesting his presence. But there was a tone of urgency in this message, and she mentioned Charon by name, as well. The young outrider frowned, but quickly set his paws into motion, using his ears, eyes, and nose to track her down.

Luckily, he had been near the borders anyway, so he ventured quickly out into neutral territory. He traveled northeast through the failing light, emerging from Moonspear's protective copse of trees and into a wide, open expanse of grassland. There were a few lights twinkling here and there; he was momentarily confused before he realized that they were fireflies.

He paid the lightning bugs little mind, however, as he set off to pinpoint Wildfire's exact location. When he found her, he rushed to her side, giving her a quick once over to make sure she was okay. "What's--" he started to say, then he looked down and saw the white wolf slumped a few feet away. "Kaylan?" he asked, though he could already tell that it was doubtful his brother would be too responsive.

Charon heard the note of urgency in Dhole's call as well, and so he ventured out to find her as soon as possible. Ears perked forward he approached her and Floki. He instantly noted the slumped white wolf, but didn't think it was anyone he knew.

What's going on? Who's this? he asked, and waited for a reply from any of the wolves gathered.

He did not think he had it within himself. Kaylan's health was poor and his hunger was great. These things had killed lesser wolves. His visions teased at Valhalla or Freya's battlefield. But it seemed that it was not yet his time. Kaylan faded in and out of consciousness as the collection of wolves gathered around his body.

"Freyja," he whispered hoarsely to the fiery woman before him. Two kings sat on either side of her. He struggled to his feet to stand before them all. His body swayed as his brows knit together. She had shouted the names of his brothers. Kaylan's ears went back and lucidity filled his eyes.

He ran for the second time. Snarling. He hoped to discourage them from following. Kaylan would not be able to outrun them for long. If at all. "Leave me be." The warning laced his every hair. His brothers would not see him die.

Floki arrived first, looking stricken the instant his eyes fell on the prone form at Wildfire's feet. I think he's dying, she wanted to say but couldn't bring herself to voice such terrible and hopeless words. In any case, Charon showed up a moment later. He didn't seem to recognize Kaylan. Her brow furrowed, then she remembered that he probably hadn't seen his little brother in a very long time.

Before Wildfire could identify him, Kaylan suddenly sprang to his feet, snarling before pivoting and running again. The young she-wolf blinked at him, amazed by his sudden energy—perhaps it was just adrenaline—before glancing sideways at her two cohorts and asking, "Should we go after him? He's... in bad shape." It was kinder than saying he was dying but there was a weight to her words. Despite the fact that he'd just jumped up and ran off like a rabbit, he wouldn't get very far or last very long.

Charon arrived shortly after Floki, though there was confusion evident on his face and in his words. As Floki turned to look back at his older brother and explain the situation, Kaylan suddenly took to his feet. Although he was unsteady, he issued a warning growl before taking off once more, fleeing the scene and leaving his two siblings behind.

Floki stared after him, the fur on his shoulders prickling with uncertainty. He swiveled an ear towards Wildfire, who asked if they should chase Kaylan, and he hesitated before slowly shaking his head. This was the second time he had encountered Kaylan and the interaction had ended in his littermate running away. There was something wrong -- this wasn't the Kaylan that Floki had grown up with.

"No," he replied quietly, then he looked to Charon once more. "That was Kaylan. Wildfire and I ran into him once before and he acted the same way. Something must have happened to him," he said, frowning and gnawing contemplatively on the inside of his cheek.

Charon did not seem too startled when the raggedy stranger suddenly bolted. Dhole asked if they should chase and Flóki was quick to reply. Charon did not really understand what was going on; not until Flóki mentioned who exactly the wolf had been. Charon hadn't recognised Kaylan, and the gods only knew however Flóki had.

"Fuck, really?" he asked incredulously; he could barely believe it. "He doesn't look anything like he used to." Well, beside growing up and all. Charon wondered what the fuck had happened to Kaylan for him to turn out like he did. Charon nosed Flóki's cheek in silent comfort while he decided to act casual to comfort his brother and said: "Whatever, it's his own decision. Let's go home." He decided not to let his emotions show, 'cause it'd probably only make it harder for Flóki. Who knew if they'd ever see their brother again.

Neither one of them wanted to pursue their prodigal brother. Charon's flippant tone caused Wildfire to furrow her brow slightly, though she decided it was none of her business. Kaylan was their brother, not hers. When the Alpha indicated that they should head home, she turned to walk behind him, waiting for Floki to fall in step beside her. She shot him a sympathetic glance that clearly said, I'm here if you want to talk about it, but otherwise remained silent as the three of them shuffled back to Moonspear.

I'll archive. :)

Charon seemed surprised by the revelation that they had just come face to face with their estranged sibling. But that feeling quickly passed and he gave a more flippant response, gesturing for the threesome to return to Moonspear. Floki, still frowning, gave one last glance in the direction that Kaylan had gone. It was like Jorunn, and yet not -- Kaylan was clearly changed by circumstances that neither Charon nor Floki could fathom, but Jorunn had at least been capable of interacting with his brothers. Kaylan's behavior was strange and erratic, and it left a funny taste in Floki's mouth.

He glanced at Wildfire and shrugged, then dutifully followed Charon back to Moonspear, though his thoughts were miles away with Kaylan.