[Chrono]

They had been traveling for months with no direction. Each turn was something mysterious for them both, unknowing if they were going in circles or gaining ground on the home they used to know. Chrono trudged on with a heavy heart, one with sorrow and confusion. Crenate had been so soft to him in his childhood, but something... something corrupted the very veins he resided in. By the time Saboro had fallen under the weight of ash once again, the boy could see that his 'father' had grown into a hungry monster.

And so under the cover of ash and fire, he decided to run. His loyalty and his love faltering. His family wasn't even his real family. Gray had made sure of that, to make the yearling unwelcome and it worked. Detachment fell into resentment. Saboro wanted blood, it was always thirsty for it, but Chrono refused to succumb to the inevitable fate that crossed the battle-born souls of the red nation. Instead, he let go.

He wanted to go home.

The boy couldn't remember the sweet scent of lilac trees and the summer warmth that graced the soft green meadows. All he could remember was flashes of red and teeth, of blossomed bellies and slick crimson mud. The sweet aroma was replaced with sharp iron, the memory piercing his soul until he felt bile rising in his throat. Many nights he spent wondering if they'd hunt him down and slay him like they did his parents when war was very much alive. In a way, he didn't care if they killed him. The boy however was trained to stay silent and to cover his tracks. As a spectre, he was a ghost and therefore disappeared without a trace.

When the pale girl from his childhood found him, Chrono was astonished. How did she get this far from the territory and how did she find him? Questions had whirled through his mind but his silent nature only led him to just that — Silence.

For some time he allowed her to follow without words exchanged. It wasn't until he grew comfortable and used to the idea of a companion did he start to slow his pace and actually spend time in her presence. Ever so silent, her voice (if she decided to speak at all) a calming antidote to his anxiety. It was a weight he carried with him, not knowing if they were in danger or heading the right direction. There was a chance a string of jaws were waiting for them, to throw them into the depths of spikes that would spear their lungs and brains and to leave them rotting for flies. There was, however, a chance he would find the land of blossoms and warmth. Of forgotten memories of comfort and milk.

Red eyes glanced at the pale girl as he smiled with reassurance. Just a little longer, then we can take a break. For the last few days they could smell the salt in the air. They were close to the ocean, something he had never seen before. It was an indication that they were, indeed, far from Saboro. Far from the violence and corruption. The forests no longer climbed the mountains, the land stretching flatter now into soft hills before dipping into the strait. As they came over the hill, he stopped.

The wind brought warmth and the smell of flowers, of purple lilacs that blanketed the area. Chrono paused, taking in the scene as the sun slowly dipped below the mountains behind them. It was beautiful, and for the first time his memory was filled with happiness instead of death. He couldn't remember his mother's face, only that she smiled at him and told him to go out and play.

Go play, we'll be right behind y-

He glanced to Yurei again, tears threatening to fall but never did. The boy swallowed before turning his head back to the purple forest.

"I'm home..."

✦ ✦ Speech Text ✦ ✦
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Double Acceptance with @Huckle

[Yurei]

In the beginning, Yurei didn't know why she followed him.

When she'd been alone, all she'd done at first was wander and hide, as blind in this new world as she'd been in Saboro, a little white pearl drifting in a sea with no compass to guide her.

She wasn't sure what had ultimately driven her to abandon her home, leading her to question the wisdom of her decision sometimes. She'd been far out of her depth in Saboro, struggling to keep her head afloat its turbulent surface, but out here was a different story.

Out here, she was on her own, with all of her family lost and scattered. She'd tried searching for them in the hopes that they'd all find each other again, but it wasn't her family she'd ended up reuniting with.

No. Against all odds, it was her saviour.

She'd found him underneath an open sky, a lonely one, a frightening one, a free one. She'd found him, the red eyed boy, the one who'd once stopped Death from taking her soul between its jaws and severing it in two. She'd found him and followed him because, despite not understanding why, something in her for once told her she was right to. And she was glad she'd listened.

Her persistence had eventually worked out in the end, despite his initial distance and mistrust.

She stood a little ways behind him now, wary and tense, carefully scanning the darkening territory while scenting the air. Her mother and father had fought here, once upon a time, the echoes of their battles lurking behind their scars. A lot of blood had been shed here, a lot of terrible, grievous red.

It was that reminder alone that kept Yurei from fully relaxing, though she did draw closer to brush her fur against Chrono's in an attempt to quietly comfort him when she noticed his watery gaze.

Saboro had never had any kind words to say about Inaria, but Chrono had been born here, the roots of his bloodline buried somewhere beneath this soil. He would have never led the two of them here if he didn't think it wasn't safe. Yurei trusted him.

She would never have followed him if she didn't.

coding © vixxie's codes

[Luna]

ooc: Luna called for someone else, but that doesn't stop her for thinking she's able to investigate lol.

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Everyday the flower princess grew, starting to slowly take in the stronger stature of her father, but with the sweet, gentle face of her mother. At least it would be, if she wasn’t always looking like she was ready to challenge everything that crossed her path. A butterfly, a small petal, anything; like a pouncing cat she was always practising her combat skills, or what she considered those to be, anyway.

If she wasn’t practising, she was nearly strutting everywhere she went. Looking about, looking for faces to give orders; like a terrible, spoiled soldier. Did she care that she was barely shy of a year? Not at all, and she didn’t expect others to care either! With wide eyes on alert, she caught sight of some strangers standing at the borderline. Luna, immediately on alert, raised her head to almost raise a howl to summons, but she hesitated.

Were they… young? Luna, the fearless girl she was, decided she could take these strangers. Mom and dad would understand, right? The princess stood and watched for another minute before feeling a moment of guilt and then raising her little maw to the air, giving the shortest, sharpest howl before charging down to the border herself.

There, no one could get mad at her now! Haha!

Charging up to the pale duo standing at their borders, Luna with her head held high and her tail in the air, halted a fair distance away and barked at them. “Halt!” They’d already stopped, but… that felt the most appropriate thing to say.

“You! Strangers! Why are you on the border of MY home?” Luna didn’t care that she was shorter and younger than them. Instead she continued to give them a stern face and await their answers. She’d just barely noticed the wetness in the green-grey one’s eyes.

“Hey, why are your eyes like that!” Luna took a step forward and looking at him with scrutiny, eyes then flickering to the ghostly pale figure beside him. “You two are pretty close….” Ah, ever perceptive, Luna.

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