Zethrox lifted his body from the earth, shaking his head in a dazed confusion as he looked at his surroundings. How did I get here? he wondered, a sense of panic raising in his bones. He did not remember how he had gotten back to the hot springs. He had no recollection of the trek back; what had happened to Dust? The brute was trying to find some source of sanity, but he was coming up short. He had no memory past when he had left to head back to the pack lands. Zethrox shivered; there was something strange going on here.
How could a whole segment of his memory be missing? Zethrox yawned, his body tired from whatever was going on. He was in need of a long nap, but how could he be sure that he would wake up where he had been in the first place? He had been fully conscious, and there was little that he could attribute the blackout to at this point. All his problems had been physical; the blood, the flashes of nausea. There was no reason to completely zone out for a long stretch of time like that was there? He strained to remember anything that had happened, but all he kept coming to was a flashback...
"Zethrox!" Rixes yelled out angrily, storming after him as he exited the dens. The two were but pups once more; nothing horrendous had happened. Rixes was still bitter about her situation, but she had come to accept that she was not going to be freed from the band anytime soon. The best thing she could do was give the wolves hell and hope they eventually tired of her. Escaping alive was not necessarily in the cards, and she realized that. "If you do not come back here..." her voice trailed off menacingly.
The younger Zethrox turned, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "You'll do what, bitch?" he spat at the female. Zethrox did not like to be challenged, and that was exactly what Rixes was doing by threatening him where they could potentially be overheard. She was inferior to him, and she needed to learn that quickly. He glowered at her, waiting for the answer that would never come. "That's what I thought," he huffed, turning his back on her once more as he stampeded off to do whatever he felt like doing. She was not the boss of him, and one day, she would learn, just like the others...
Zethrox could not figure out for the life of him what that meant. It was such a basic memory; he had regretted the way he treated Rixes for many years, but why was that one thought nagging him? He could not do anything to change the situation that had happened all those years ago. The least he could do was continue living his life and hope that everything turned out okay in the end. He was not looking forward to what may lay in wait for him on the other side, but he had come to terms with his behavior years before. He had been a monster, but no more... Right?
((OOC: Could have been better, but it's all I could muster at the moment. My muse is steadily running lower for him x.x))
Dust looked at the fantastic scenery that past her by. Of the open sky’s and the winged delights that took it as there own with just a few brushes of long, dark, and elegant feathers. She thought of chasing one, of it coming down, down, down to the earth. With each drop of it’s height, size would gain upon it’s bulk. When finally it touched the earth it would be so great in size that she would be able to climb upon its back and it would take her, soaring, into the sky. Laughing out load with joy she fixed her eyes upon one of these birds and willed it to come down to her, willed it to touch the earths back and give it the chance she needed to take root in it’s warm, comforting feathers.
However, she could stare at it for as long as she liked, and it would make no difference. Her thoughts where her own, her words to soft to reach it so high upon the air, and a bird would not take to silent wishes. With a sigh she turned her eyes back to her travelling companion, only to find in surprise that he was no longer there. More then that, the scenery she had admired it what seemed like only moments early had warped and changed. The bird! It must have taken her upon its back, she must have fallen from her perch and the land had rusted across her memory so she had no recollection of time passed. Of course, how simple, that was it.
Realising she would have to find her way back from where ever the bird had brought her, she chose a direction and random and stuck to it as best she could. Pure luck, or maybe a part of her brain had recognised the scent of the other in the air, but soon enough she could see him on the ground a short distance away. She stayed where she was, watching him in curiosity as she wondered what exactly he was doing. He must have lost his mind, gone crazy! Silly bugger, lying on the ground like that.
He seemed to come to his sensors now, standing and looking about him in confusion. She waited a little longer, simply watching him, studying in open curiosity. Finally she ventured forward, towards him, her light voice travelling through the air in laughter. “What are you doing, silly wolf? Sleeping isn’t going to find this pack of yours!” She pointed out to him lightly. Still laughing as she moved to stand beside him.
Zethrox stared at Dust with glassy eyes. He had zoned out once more; when had she arrived? Or had she been here the entire time watching him, and he was simply more spaced out that he had originally thought? The brute shook his head, dazed and confused by whatever had just happened. He let out a strangled grunt, finding his eyes to be level with Dust's. I wonder if she will think it is weird if I ask her how we got here... He cocked his head to one side, curiosity filling his eyes. I obviously had my sights set on Kamari, but it should not have been such a dull trip that I don't remember it.
The brute finally decided to gather up his pride and ask. "I'm sorry my dear," he apologized with his head tilted toward the ground. "I do not recall anything that has happened since we returned here. I do not know where my pack is, what I have been doing, or even if you have been here next to me since whatever dreadful sleep fell over me. I am quite confused right now." The steam from the hot springs was relieving some of his stress, but right now his mind was elsewhere. He continued to replay the memory of himself and Rixes in his mind. It was not as if she had been far from his thinking before; Zethrox was constantly reliving the horror that he had put the femme through while he was with the band. Indeed, he had grown to regret every action, every sour thought, and every word he had spoken negatively toward her. But why would that be bothering him now? There were much more pressing issues; his health, Dust, finding what was left of the pack... He sighed.
"We can move on whenever you desire, sweet Dust," he said, resigned to whatever chaos was going on. Zethrox would have to sort this all out later. He was aching all over from whatever hell the travel had put his tired bones through, and now they protested as he stretched. It would not be long before the brute was of no use to Akihra. After all, the alphess was quite displeased with him for losing sight of Sariya while she was out handling business. If he could not even fulfill the task of pupsitting whild she was attending to pack matters, what use would he be to Haishin?
It seemed like not even a month ago, he had been at his full glory. Now, Zethrox needed to pull out every measure to be sure that he was not thrown from the ranks. He was no longer in a position of power, which he acknowledged, but there was a desire to live in him. However, that was slowly starting to fade; how long would it be before he let go of what little conviction was left, and he allowed himself to spiral into an endless cycle of misery?
Dust watched the confusion flittering over the face of her momentary travelling companion. He seemed to be coming in and out of his own world, his mind was stealing him from this reality. She watched him, almost hungrily, as he spoke of his confusion. He had one step in his world, and one step in hers. Which would be the one to claim him? Would she no longer be an anomaly in this strange existence, or would reality snap him away from her...
“I flew here, on the back of a great winged bird. It must have dropped me near by to you; I don’t doubt it knew the path I wished to take. So here I am, but I can not say what happened to you or how far we have travelled. The paths of a bird are different to that of a wolf, after all” She explained pleasantly. She tilted her head, still watching him with that open curiosity.
She wondered if her first guess of this brute, that he was a ghost, wouldn’t be all that far off. There seemed to be something missing from him, something that symbolised life in another wolf. Maybe his soul was slowly slipping from him, taking his life with it. Maybe he was turning into a ghost before them all, slipping away from the world that little more with every passing breath. Dust’s eyes focused on him now, and there was a little more reality shinning in them then what had been there before. She felt almost sorry for this brute. No doubt he had lead an eventful life and it was hard to see it slip slowly from his grasp. Zethrox, maybe you need to let the quieter life take you now. Stop fighting; it only saps your strength. Let us find your pack, and you can life peaceful, maybe you can give yourself as some wise elder now. Your generation has past now Zethrox. Calm the remains of your life so you may live it in peace” It was the only advice she could think to give it, and she said it from her heart rather then her mind. So maybe something of it rung true, rather then filled with the fantasies that over took her mind these days.
Dust's foolish story made Zethrox snort in response. She was being a bit too animated for the elder wolf, and he was growing impatient. He had never had this problem before, but it seemed as of late that he was struggling to keep hold of the essence of his character. All of his life was changing rapidly, and he could not get it to slow that. That is why when Dust suggested that he settle back as an elder of the pack, his mind silently agreed. But there was a fire in the brute that kept him from being useless. He had been this pack's alpha; he had been lucky enough to be allowed to remain in the pack when his granddaughter took over, and yet he had contributed nothing at all. He could not even watch Sariya properly when he had been asked to do so. Indeed, he was more of an impediment to the pack than he was of help.
He could not sit around and do nothing. Akihra would surely boot him from the pack to die on his own. Zethrox knew that she was not an unreasonable alphess, but he had put her pup into danger unnecessarily by failing to watch her. He would be surprised if she did not resent him because of that fact. I'm a washed up wolf. What good am I anymore? he thought, shaking his head in disgust. If her words had been intended to make him feel better about the situation, then they had failed.
Zethrox growled quietly, irritated by his lack of control over the situation. He lifted his crown towards the sky, howling out for Akihra to meet them where they stood. He was not going to risk spacing out again as he wandered his pack's territory. The last thing he needed was for someone that he was not familiar with to stumble across him. They may think he was dead, or worse, they might realize that he wasn't and kill him where he lay. It was too much of a risk that he would not take.
Sighing, the brute took a seat, resting on his hind legs rather than lying back down. "Akihra should head this way soon. She is the alphess of the pack here," he explained, attempting to appear bored by the fact. The truth of the matter was that he was still a little bitter about losing his pack. Now, he was seeing why it was a good idea for him to take the back seat and just live his life, but at the time it was humiliating. She had belittled him in front of another pack, for that matter. Zahir would talk for years about how the former alpha of Haishin had been taken out by a barely two-year-old female.
He had been a fool for wandering there in the first place. Zethrox had allowed his greed to cloud his sight, and that was his first major failure in his leadership. He had put his pack in harm's way, severed an alliance that could have one day benefited his pack, and angered several wolves that could have killed him on the spot had Akihra not appeared. I am a fool.
((OOC: I'll bring Akihra into this thread after you post =D))
The other seemed to snort in response to Dusts recollection of what had happened to her. Let him laugh, he knew her life and the paths she took. If he wished to scoff at her words then so be it, all she needed was her own thoughts to keep her company. At the fustrated thoughts swirling inside of her, an old memory, worn and long lost returned to her. She thought of another wolf, two of them in fact, tha she had stumbled upon not long after her guardian (Kastiel) had left her. She had told them things from her heart, and her own perseption of the world. They too had scoffed at her, but they had done worse then that. They had attacked her, with words and with claws. The mind-injured wolf had been helpless, and well the words had meant nothing to her, the claws had shaken her. She watched Zethrox, weary that her mind was telling her that any past event could have a re-run.
There was a slight delay, as through mayeb the other was chewing ideas over in his mind, but when he was done a growl emmited from his throat. Dust's fur bristled in anticipation, her eyes slipped closed and her mind willed him to return to her. Oh, her guardian, why had he abandoned her? He had been her knight, her protecter. He had hunted for her, watched over her.N some cases he had even managed to keep her sanity chained to this colourless earth. He had laughed with her, for there had been so much life in the one that had taken her on and called her kin.
Nothing came from the other wolf, no impending attack of hostility. Instead he raised his head and he howled for an Alphess to find them. She watched him as he sat, explaining to her the name of the Alphess and that she would find them. She herself sat down, but some of the energy that had followed her wild-spin stories had faded. She lapsed back into silence, as through some of the trust she had given the other had faided. She instead simply waited, wondering what this Alphess would be like.
