[Ori]

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He wasn't sure how long he had waited.  Hours, days, he wasn't really keeping track of the sunsets and sunrises, but the steady pain in his heart told him he needed to go home.  He didn't want to move, he had wandered for so long, and he wanted to stay out of Gemini, he wanted to be the first to find Kariya, and hug him so tightly, tell him he loved him and missed him.  


But something forboding told him Kariya did not want to be found, Kayira was ... gone - 

The thought hit him like a freight train, so it was on tired, wobbly legs, Ori stood.  He glanced to the vast horizon one last time, maybe trying to catch a glimpse, a small glimmer of hope, as he always did.  But there was no one there, not a glimpse, not a scent, nothing.  His ears drooped, and his tail sagged as he turned back towards his home, a deep emptiness eating away inside his chest.  

He knew that people left, his parents had left, Naru had left, Tauro was no different-  but they had all left by means other then their own, why would you leave the people that loved you willingly?  He didn't understand it, but he would love them anyway, as he always did, as he always would.  It was who he was after all, and nothing would ever change that.  

It's what he knew to do best, to care, to love and to cherish.  To give hope to those who had none.  He may not be brave, or knightly, or courageous, or made of starlight, as his siblings were, but he was a loving, caring, forgiving boy.  Characteristics that were usually taken from others at a young age, or swiped away out of jealousy, with Ori they remained.    

In his wandering thoughts, Ori found himself wandering near a welcoming waterfall.  The cool air that it produced seemed like a perfect place to rest before continuing on home.  The ghostly white boy sighed as he dipped his head down to take a deep long drink at the waters edge, oblivious to the roar of the waterfall that would surely cover up the approaching footfalls of anyone nearby-

- Friend or foe.  

[Zach]

While one youth scanned the distant horizon holding a candle of dwindling hope, another youth searched it as well, carrying only shadows behind him. There were days when Zach swore he could still feel it. The ache of battle in the marrow of his bones. The searing kiss of phoenix fire on his face. The glacial cold spreading like poison in his veins after a bitter goodbye. 

Those were not good days.

It was thirst that eventually led the golden wolf to the roaring waterfall. Shards of light dappled his silky coat as he navigated his way through the dense underbrush, stepping over plants and rocks and spidery tree roots that seemed to reach for nothing. Wading his way through a bed of white flowers that distantly reminded him of Umbra, Zach emerged, silhouetted by the hazy forest light. Almost immediately, his focus zeroed in on the only other creature there.

He paused, studying the other wolf for a long moment, his gaze sharp.

The Alteronian in him immediately saw an opportunity. It saw a vulnerability in that exposed back. A soul that could be reaped. It was almost instinctual. Zach knew what happened to those who let their guard down. He knew that personally. The burn on his face proved that. The scars hidden behind the scarf he wore proved that. Life did not favour the weak. That's what Alteron had taught him.

But that wasn't what he was there to teach today. 

Zach moved, his every step deliberate, measured, the skin on the dark pads of his paws drawing silently against the earth. Something in the sharp look he wore gradually shifted though, with each advancing step. There was something about the other wolf, he began to realize. Something about their pale coat and scent that he couldn't quite put his fang on. The strange feeling only grew more intense the closer he drew. It evaded him like a hand trying to catch smoke.

What was it? What was it?

His long hair fell over his blind eye, and he grimaced slightly, shaking his head. His scalp was tingling, which was a discomfiting feeling yet not entirely unfamiliar. The only time it had ever done that, he recalled, was way back in Inaria as a child, when another pup had—

And then it hit him. It hit him.

He inhaled sharply, freezing. When he spoke, there was a clear note of surprise written in his voice.

"Dandelion?"

[Ori]

It was almost peaceful the way the water came cascading down from the top of the waterfall, crashing onto the rocks below.  The water pooled at the bottom, and created a stream that gave life to that around it.  So much life coming from so much destruction.  So much peace from the chaos.  If he had the time, Ori would stay a while and just listen to the sound of the waterfall, maybe even drift off to it.  But he could not- he had to go back, he had to admit his failure to his mother and his siblings.  The drink he took was long and deep, almost as if he was trying to drink away the emptiness in the pit of his stomach, but it didnt matter how much he drank, the pit was still there, unfulfilled and deep.  With the last deep drink of the water, it was then he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up, and only a moment later a voice lifted over the sound of the waterfall, and caused the ghostly boy to jump.  

His paw slipped on the bank of the waterfall, causing him to slip into the water, his entire body falling, not able to catch himself.  For a moment he was submerged and he wanted to stay that way, he didn't know who it was waiting for him on the surface.  He didn't quite catch what the voice had said, all he knew was that it was someone, and he didn't know if they were friendly.  He'd met more of the latter on this journey then he'd care to admit.  

It took him a few moments to build up a small amount of courage to lift his head form the water, blinking his eyes as the water ran down the front of his face, he shook his head, and the water cleared, leaving only clear line of sight to someone who had once caused Ori a great amount of fear.  It took Ori less time then Zach to figure out who it was standing in front of him, the image of a tough, angry boy, never left Ori's memory.  Though the Alteronian had changed since the last they saw each other.  He was riddled in scars, burns, all sorts of disastrous wounds, and Ori's first instinct was to comfort him, but he had to make sure it was him first, he had to make sure it was his friend.  "Z-Za- Zach?"  He asked as the rest of his body lifted from the water, dripping, his legs wanted to bolt, to run as far away as possible, his muscles begged him to move, to go, to get away!  

But his heart would not let him.  "W-wha-.. H-how.."  The right words failed him, the proper questions to ask a long distant acquaintance faded on his tongue, and were replaced by a kind hearted, caring friend.

"I-it's good to s-see you.. Are you a-alright?"

[Zach]

He remembered a journey. He remembered a kingdom with raining flowers. He remembered a fight and a timid child. He remembered pain and humiliation and seeing red. Rage had been etched across his heart in burning lines, a black inferno that continued to simmer, even to this day, a persistent ache that ran deeper than his own pride.

It would have driven him to hurt the other boy, bury his teeth in, he knew, he knew, had his brother not chosen to intervene that day. 

Zach didn't expect Ori to fall into the water. He could only look on in stunned silence as the other male disappeared into the cold pool, waiting for a moment, before taking a few steps forward. Hoping that he wouldn't have to fish the other out, he paused, watching as the water rippled, dark and unseeing, before a pale head finally broke the surface. Seconds later and the rest of Ori's body followed.

There was a brief standstill as the two wolves finally met each other's gazes. Recognition quickly lit up in Ori's blue eyes, along with something else Zach couldn't read. Was it fear? Would he run from the golden boy again, like he once had, back when the pair were only children? The Alteronian continued to watch the ghostly wolf, wondering, his tail softly swaying.  

"Z-Za- Zach?"

A slim brow rose in place of a nod, because really, how many wolves had Ori actually met with golden coats, especially ones as bright (and lovely) as his? 

Not that many, he imagined.

"Falling for me already?" he quipped, smirking a little. It was rare for the Alteronian to joke, but for once, he couldn't resist. The situation had practically called for it anyway.  

"W-wha-.. H-how.."

He waited, with rare patience, for Ori to find his words, genuinely curious as to how the other male would receive his former bully.

"I-it's good to s-see you.."

He didn't react, not at first. For a moment, he simply stood there, staring. Staring because out of everything he'd expected the other boy to say, it certainly hadn't been that. He hadn't even been close. It befuddled Zach, befuddled him just as much as it filled him with some other emotion he was hesitant to put a name on. 

"It's good to see you too," the buried part of him never said. Instead, what came out, with deliberate casualness, was: "It's been awhile." And then he moved, quite suddenly, brushing past the other male to stop at the edge of the water, his long hair shielding his face as he lowered his head to drink, hiding whatever emotion that could have been lingering there.

"Are you a-alright?"

Zach stilled before he could quench his thirst. For a moment, he was very quiet. 

"I'm fine," he finally said, after what seemed like an eternity, and there was something decidedly stiff in his tone, something final, something that almost bordered on a warning. It was a simple question, a kindhearted one in Ori's case, but Zach grew agitated by it almost immediately. It was a dangerous question to ask, especially for a male of his disposition. The golden wolf refused to open that door.

It was safer that way.

He drew a deep, steady breath to ground himself. Then, just to be sure, he drew another. And another. When he finally turned to face Ori, he appeared impassive. Practiced. Composed.

"Are you alright? Where's your pack?"

It suddenly struck him as strange to see the pale boy out here all alone.

[Ori]

o r i  //

It was horrifying for the ghostly white boy to imagine what sort of trauma his friend had gone through since the last time they had met.  Ori had decided to not think about their last meeting as a negative one, after all they had formed some sort of bond, even if it had started out by Zach wanting to probably rip his face off.  They were here now, and he hadn't suggested acting on that impulse, in fact he was doing the opposite and-  making jokes.  

"Falling for me already?"

The fear that had been placed his muscles moments before ebbed away, and a soft smile crossed the boys face.  It was him.  Zach.  The fear and uncertainty from before replaced with comfort and warmth, even when standing in freezing water.  He let out a soft laugh at the joke, "Yea.. w-well you k-now me.."  Feeling like he was finally, finally, getting somewhere after months of searching and not finding a single familiar face.  While this wasn't one of the familiar faces he had been searching for- it was oh so very welcome none the less.  White tail dipped in the water began to sway behind him, but he still did not budge from his watery perch, he waited to be invited back to shore, not wanting to invade his friends space.  

"It's been awhile."

Light blue eyes scanned his golden friend once more as he walked towards him, getting a drink from the pool.  The scars and burns looked healed, but even he knew that physical scars healed quickly, it was the ones on the inside that took the most time and the most care. Zach brushed past him, and the sensation was almost overwhelming, he wanted to throw his arms over Zach, hug him, and tell him he was sorry for whatever had happened.  Sorry that he couldn't have been there to help.  Sorry about his hair form so long ago.  Sorry he wasn't a better friend. He was just-

SO.  SORRY.

He wanted to help, he wanted to reconnect, something familiar was what he longed for, but the harsh, abrupt answer from Zach told him he would probably have to wait a bit longer before he wold receive the embrace he was searching for, the embrace he so desperately wanted to give.

"Im fine."

They said words didn't hurt-  They were lying.

Ori swallowed the growing lump in his throat, his eyes leaving the scarred form of his friend and found the water.  Ripples forming around his legs, he held back the impulse to cry.  Tears beginning to form in his eyes, threatening to join the water surrounding him, but he held them back.  He couldn't cry- not again- not in front of Zach.  He had to be strong- he'd been through so little compared to his friend, he had no right to cry.  

"Are you alright? Wheres your pack?"

Ori's eyes were focused on the ripples underneath him, ashamed to lift his watery blue eyes to meet Zach's earthy green ones.  The impulse to cry crept up on him again, in waves the feeling came but he held them back each time, building a dam of strength to hold them back.  "I-"  He paused, almost sobbing out that one word.  He cleared his throat, taking a few breaths, blinking his eyes clear, before lifting his head to meet Zach's gaze.  "I'm great."  he said in a meek tone, attempting collected composure- even though it was a complete and utter lie.

You don't lie to your friends Ori- that's not what friends do!

But he had to, just this once- for Zach.  For his friend.  "My pack is back h-home."  He stuttered out home, oh how he missed it so.  "I'm l-looking for Kariya."  NAMES ORI NAMES GET YOU IN TROUBLE REMEMBER?  He knew, but Zach was not a stranger he was friend, so he could say names in front of him, Zach wouldn't hurt him over names, like Miss Katti, or Miss Oriana.  

But they were nice too, good ladies deep down, right Ori?

"Y-you haven't seen him out here.."  Maybe? Please say you have, please.  "..h- have you?"

He wasn't here Ori.  You silly boy.  He wasn't anywhere. Kayira is gone.

[Gyr]

[ I boop this with love for myself to keep track of <3]