++.alone. [anger]

[»Ιmαgε]

Zytico
^{Don't let go. . .}

<sup>Run. Gotta run. Have to get out of that presence. . . Zytico's blackened bodice raced easily across the pale rocky ground, slipping by the rough, chiseled edges of the canyons walls as he rocketed to it's core. Emotions ran rampart as he slowed, but his claws lashed out against the ground, deep marks of pure hatred and fear laced there for all who wandered by to see. He tore at the dry ground, a painful and twisted cry released in the process. Within the cavern, it ricocheted off the sides, a chilling howl to be reckoned with. Sounding more lifeless than he'd ever been before, Zytico suddenly stopped the attack he'd made on the earth before him, his whole bodice released into a state of submission.

Rava, his mate, wasn't to be found anywhere. He'd followed her last trail scent around the territory, but the night's rain had washed most of it away and his nose wasn't strong enough to decode one faint odor from another. Another invisible blow to his pride. Head hung low, it's crest barely touching the slayed ground, and the once-pride filled tail drooped to drag the dirt. Zytico had become one of the weakest Alphas in the last moon, his standards dropping quickly as his power slid out of his paws. He didn't know how the whole concoction had started--he only knew how it was ending. But he couldn't blame her could he? Trying to gain control of his slaves, he hadn't paid much attention as his anger had mostly been running on an extreme high.

Zytico lifted his bodice and began running yet again. His claws torn up chucks of terrain as he was swept down into the canyons, his lungs gasping for more air as he readily refilled and reused the stores. Onyx brute met the end at a large trickle of water and there he slowed to a calm trot, his optics closed as he sat by the edge to take a peek. Looking down, Zytico saw his gaunt face, the muscular baron he'd been months ago only a fantasy now. He needed Rava. He needed Chey. He needed that special someone to call his mate. To stand by his side and actually take a force in ruling.

For a moment, Zytico paused, a vague vision settling in the pool. It seemed the water had answered his silent prayer, forming a familiar face. But the brute only gasped as it appeared. His pads hit the ground as he dashed away, haunted by the facade he'd seen there. Water couldn't do such a thing. He'd wished for the image of her, had numerous dreams about it before in which Rava had woke up, comforting him as he held his nightmare to himself.

It had been Sizzle.

Zytico found a rocky outcrop of which to follow to the top of the canyon, and the inky stag pulled himself up, his claws scraping mercilessly on the slabs of ground. The wind blew hard and the sun beat down tirelessly up here. Zytico paused, and let loose his call of a lonely male, searching for the female that made his whole. He howled the lost song, a song that echoed to the mountains of which he called home. He called for the one he'd like the whole time but never let anyone know.

And he meant it.</sup>

[Bengal Brat]

Sizzle
Can't move on...

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Depression weighed the vix down as she made her way into a new place to her... Wild Canyons. Although the she-wolf had obviously heard of it before, she had never actually been here, so this was something new for her. However, this was one wolfess who was not at all in the excited type of mood.

Tough paw pads of a rich chocolate brown hue kissed the ground as they made their way down the steep sides of the canyon with a great amount of ease. Unusually long, feathered tail was high to show all of those who dared lay an eye on the fae that she was a force to be reckoned with; although her body language showed that she had power, it was only just above that of a regular free wolf's. Once the all-powerful Alphaess of Amareta Forest, this sleek, glossy-pelted fem of many colors was the Senior Alphaess, a position most unheard of by all wolves in nearby packs.

She was reduced to nothingness several moons ago, when the love of her life, Salem, gave up everyone and everything that he had ever worked for to go live his life as a worthless slave in the lands of Dunen, a slave to the heartless brujo Xenith. He had given the one wolf that had ever really and truly loved him, his mate, Sizzle, up for a dreadful life in a desert. Now, his 'ex'-mate knew d.mn well that he had never once had any feelings for her or the pups in which she had carried for him so many moons ago. Her heart broken into so many pieces that it would be impossible to ever restore to its original self, she lived her life as a depressed wolven who had nothing to look forward to. Such a sad, sad story, isn't it? Well... it's her life now, and she couldn't do anything.

When she reached the base of the steep canyon walls, Sizzle's fur was ruffled by the speed in which she had gained descending from such a great height, and her paw pads had been scored just slightly along the very tops from several sharp rocks jutting out from the ground. Giving herself a good, thorough shake and complete grooming, the wolfess's slender bodice was outlined beneath her silky pelt of multiple colors. Sizzle was really a goddess of a wolfess -- if you actually took the time to look at her, that is. Eyes of cinnamon reflected nothing but sadness as they looked around for someone --anyone-- that she might know. However, nothing came up as she scanned the area, so Sizzle went back to pulling a small thorn-like pebble out from between two pads on her front right paw in which she had been having difficulty removing only moments before. Ah... much better.

Finally satisfied that her looks were good enough for anyone nearby to look at without snorting in disgust, the vix made a quick meal out of a scrawny mouse that just so happened to be dumb enough to run right out in front of the mighty wolf and stare up into her pools of brownish-red. Dumb rodent. When are they ever gonna learn? She hoped never, for it was, in her eyes, a great amount of fun to swiftly drain the life out of something whenever she felt the need surge through her. Then, she lay down and rested the very tip of her bushy tail on her nose, no doubt ready to take a quick 'cat nap,' even though she was by no means cat-like. In only a matter of moments, Sizzle was asleep, dreaming about whatever felt like pushing itself into her mind.

--Start Dream--

"B-but... but Mama! Why?"
Those were the words that escaped from the squarely shaped muzzle of a year old brute that looked identical to Sizzle except for his shocking flame-colored eyes. There was no doubt in the minds of every single wolf in Amareta Forest --or anywhere, for that matter-- that Sizzle was his mother.
"Your father felt that it would be best for him and for the pack if he left and went to Dunen. I know it's hard to understand, my boy, but it's happened and there's nothing that any of us can possibly do about it."
The soon-to-be Senior Alphaess of Amareta Forest spoke with such a tenderness to her youngest son that he couldn't help but believe her. However, he couldn't help but let just one more question escape his lips.
"I understand, Mom. I really do. I just want to know... why did he go if he loved you?"
Sizzle stared back into his pools of orange and red, her own cinnamon-colored orbs flashing multiple times with surprise. She thought that he knew, all along! But... how could she expect one so young to understand the ways of a long-term relationship, and what was just a fake.
"Salem claimed to have loved me, and for a while, I'm sure that he did. But... but coming towards the end of his time in our magnificent forest, your father's affection for me seemed to burn out until it was nothing but a scorch mark on the blackened earth. I honestly don't think that he cared much for me when it came time for him to make the decision that he did. Now, don't get me wrong; Salem is by no means a bad wolf, but he just doesn't know how to show his emotions, and that's what made everything come crashing down around us all. It was his decision, and his alone. No one could make it for him. It was either he stay with me and leave his pack open for possible attacks, or kick me to the curb to save the wolves in which he seemed to be ready to abandoned --except your half brother, Thunder, of course-- anyway."
The young gray wolf cross nodded in the kind of manner that screamed that he only understood about half of what his mother was telling him. Wild Fire truly loved his mom, and boy oh boy did he deeply care for his dad, Salem, even though he had paid slim to no attention to him while he was still living in his own lands, but his respect for him was dying at a fast pace. No matter what Sizzle said, he simply could not believe that his father really and truly was the wisest wolf in the ways of everything, especially on that of a relationship; he seemed to be one to pretend to fall in love and then let it come crashing down when he thought that he could become the hero that everyone knew.

--End Dream--

Sizzle's sensitive twin towers picked up a long, mournful howl that instantly awoke the multi-colored fae. She sat bolt upright, eyes glowing brightly. Salem? When the wail of something very close to distress came yet again, this time much, much shorter than what had come before it, all hopefulness faded from her eyes in a heartbeat. It wasn't Salem. However, even if it wasn't the wolf that she had first fallen head over heels in love with at first, it was his best friend, Zytico, the alpha of Suyaust. True, the pair had gotten off on the wrong foot, but he and Sizzle had developed a very odd bond that didn't seem to ever be able to be broken. Love? No... not love. At least... not on Sizzle's part; not yet, that is. She had a strange respect for the brute who had come up with the 'bright' idea to torture her just over a moonflight ago when she was still a slave to Salem. Why? Because he had had the nerve enough to apologize for his wrong doings and pretty much beg for his ex-rival's forgiveness.

Tail a bit higher than it was before she had dozed off, at the height of a true Alphaess's, Sizzle took off at lightning speed in the direction in which Zytico's howl --and scent-- was coming from. When she reached him, she slowed her pace to a graceful trot and walked the last few feet with her eyes shining a bit brighter than a few minutes ago, but still reflecting a deep, burning sorrow. She gently gave his shoulder a delicate lick; not necessarily a sign of affection that a mate would give to a mate, of course, but just a friendly greeting to a good friend. One who didn't know who the two were or that they were civilized to one another, however, would take it that they were much, much more than friends, which they really weren't.

"Hello, Zytico."

1,500 words long, not including the codes or this extra text. I posted because we could probably start the plot here from random dialogue. xD.

[Bengal Brat]

ooc: immeh?