Commission for WanderingPariah :3

You did it again.. * she sighed inwardly brushing a twilit paw over his brow. She let out a long breath, her slender features transforming from the disapproving frown she had worn to one of genuine concern. Somehow he always managed to end up this way - or worse. Constantly putting himself in the way of harm. Almost with a desperate urge to speak to Death herself, it seemed. Sometimes she resented him for it, deeply. And then, in those private moments she found a strange pride for his actions, no matter how reckless. How often did he watch over and guide others, to his own detriment?

How often did he interfere breaking the rules when he knew what it might cost him? They both knew the answer far too well. And yet, while his body lay broken and mending, his resolve hadn't. Ariyah moved a soft, feather light paw over his eyes; delicately caressing his battered and bruised mortal form. What a strange dichotomy of existence. Fragile and yet.. with such strength. It was a curious paradox. The sensation of his warmth. His beating heart. A heart shared. In truth, he had given it up long ago. There were few things he hadn't given up, at one point or another, time and again.

*Her.

The stark realization was met with a single tear rolling down the fur of his cheek, a perfect silver line down the white fur marked its passage. She brushed away the salty tear, blinking away her own. A sympathetic reaction. Contrails of starlight refracting and blooming to life as her own silver star light tear rolled off her muzzle.

As distant as they were at times, they were always close. Never far from thought.

"Kayin... my Kayin" she whispered to his still form, her heart aching to see him thus, even more so. His pain was invariably her pain. The chimes of her voice were small and wounded. "You must wake up now.." she implored, a profound sadness eeking through all of her being. She didn't want to go. But she had to. He had to go. They were going to need him, now more than ever. She couldn't keep him. Not tonight. Not yet. She pushed those selfish impulses aside and stroked his brow again, evoking consciousness.

For a moment, Ariyah shimmered to the world, nothing but an illusion of heat waves. Her form rippled and faded for a heart beat, her very existence in question.

"Wake up my Kayin." she murmured, her voice the sound of a thousand whispered prayers, an ephemeral quality to it that resonated within his mind as he struggled to consciousness past the pain - past the balms of the healers that had found him. Past the desire to dream, only of her. "Goodbye...." she whimpered, her visage shimmering once more, this time - her very image, her nature coming undone as she vanished. A beautiful, fleeting memory.

Consciousness. Waking. The fighting realization that she was gone. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of star light. A starscape. That smell.. honeyed jasmine and an eternity of longing. Fleeting as his fevered dream. Or perhaps, merely imagined. Or perhaps...

Kayin shook his head, blinking away tears of waking; reality imposing its will on him once more. He longed to dream again, but couldn't. He had a duty. His burning will would not let him rest. No matter how wounded. His will would not let him falter. Not when he had to get back... Back to

Her.

Kayin © wanderingpariah (FA)

Ariyah © symphonicascension (FA)