Sunset had come to descend upon the world once more as golden hued optics watched the fading light transform the glass like surface of the lake from shades of aquamarine to those of pastel pinks and purples. The sandy shoreline delicately being lapped at with each wave that attempted to place a wet kiss to the toes of Vespertio's paws. Yet, such affection seemed unregistered to the patriarch as eyes seemed unfocused glancing towards the horizon ahead with the sinking sun at his back. A million different thoughts taking their turn in rampaging across the forefront of his mind. He needed space to clear his thoughts and such serenity couldn't be found on his lakeside estate. No, he needed to go further, higher.

A single glance towards the silently looming mountain was the only consolation Vespertio needed to set his creamy limbs into motion, aimed for those specific rocky slopes behind the nightshade flowers that had been untouched since his sunset rendezvous with the ivory woman that once held his heart captive. Inside his chest he felt a calling that didn't need to reach his ears to beckon him forth, urging him to follow the path skyward to that tiny outcropping they shared a special moment with. The Vuesain male couldn't place his paw on why he had an inquisitional feeling that he would find the answers he sought up there, but the strength behind the invisible tug was too much to ignore. Thus he began the climb.

Loose rocks tumbled down the mountainside as well trained muscles scaled the craggy heights. Lungs accustomed to the thinned air lifestyle bringing the needed oxygen easily to his muscles and flowing blood. It didn't take long for him to reach the tucked away overhand that as expected, but what wasn't expected was the colorless form that he found sitting upon this special spot. Shivers coursed along the length of his spine in the form of a chill far too cold to be caused by the decreasing temperature associated with the coming of night. 'I'm dreaming this..' His mind tried to make an acceptable excuse for this obvious hallucination, eyelids closing and squeezing tightly to give his optics time to correct the sight he couldn't possibly be seeing. It was far too long ago that she deserted them, him, for it to be plausible for her to be here now.

But when they slowly lifted open the ghostly form of Athena didn't disappear, if anything she seemed more real then ever. Inhaling deeply he could smell her unique perfume, the memory of her aroma during their time together flooding over him in drowning waves. "Athena.." He whispered slowly, unsure how real this dream could truly be.

Like a slow motion picture her skull turned to face him upon the whispering of her name, his irises taking in the now fully exposed features of her marred face and milky single eye. Single, fiery orange eye burning into his gold with such familiarity his stomach twitched as if a pinch was far to weak to wake him from this dream state. Tawny body remained frozen as Vesper watched her rise and hesitantly approach, the muscles beneath his gradually thickening coat in preparation for winter tensing for the physical contact he half expected to feel as if nothing had happened between them on her behalf. 

However the touch did not come. No coal black nose nuzzled its way into his undercoat upon his chest or shoulder in search of the warmth his body radiated as it had so long ago. Ivory limbs halted half way from where he stood and white fur lined lips parted to allow her ghostly voice that once registered as the most angelic song in the world to speak his name. Vocal chords tightened to suppress the whine that would begrudgingly reveal the weakest, sliver like portion of himself he fought so hard to lock away all those days ago as her voice threatened to bring it back to the light. Body aching for the familiarity it knew her body against his could fill with ease, but those days were gone. Submerged under layer by layer of cemented heart after succumbing to the fact Phineas had been right about the woman that now stood before him. She had abandoned him at his most vulnerable moment.

With this realization the dream shattered and the pieces of their history together fell around him like broken glass. Where Vespertio's throat once tightened in weakness it now tightened in anger. The pain of her desertion fueling his body with an exponential amount of adrenaline. 'I can explain.' Her words rolled off his shoulders, ears refusing to hear whatever excuse the female could have conjured up on the journey here. Steeling himself for what was to come, leathery lips pulled back in full force as his gaze hardened in a flash. Ebony licked tail steadily rising to begin flagging above the curl of his spine. "Please do because I would love to know why you are foolish enough to step foot near my home again." Vesper gave Athena no time to answer as he dove right in with his verbal assault. "Do you know how many days and nights I spent pushing my body to the limit in search of you and the entirety of the pack?" How could she though?

A low growl interrupted his words, settling on the electrified air between them. "Kassander, Andromache, Ren, Rayne, you all gone in the blink of an eye.  What little was left to come home to was the only thing that kept me going. Do you even care the amount of pain you brought me in the process?" There was no going back now as wave after wave of suppressed pain and anger fought and scratched its way to the surface, voice as sharp as daggers with every intent of inflicting this woman with the pain she dealt to him. An eye for an eye, a wound for a wound.

Satisfaction began to trickle into his veins as Athena began to cower beneath his shadow and the weight of his words. The flinch her body portrayed in response to his onslaught stroking that scarred wound over his heart. Oh how badly he had wanted to bombard her ears with these words, how badly he wanted to make her feel as  helpless as she had him those following lonely mornings. The struggles he endured to keep a hold on what they created together and now ultimately belonged solely to Vespertio. This was no longer their lake, but his and now with this unexpected encounter the tawny man could find the closure his heart desperately needed.

Muscles tensed further as the woman at his feet whined his name, the opening line to her fictional story that would make everything she had done suddenly okay because a sob story was always the answer to ones problem. Golden optics refused to meet her single orb as she spoke, shifting their attention to the view just over the ledge of their secret ledge to watch the canopy of the forest below being cast aglow with the fading light of sunset. Although eyes refused to see, rust tinged ears did perk forward to catch the assumed lies that slithered off her treacherous tongue. Apparently her excuse was due to hallucinations and a healer that refused to let her leave until healthy once more. It took an extensive amount of self control to keep from snorting his disbelief in her face. Did she really expect him to believe anything he heard come out of her mouth?

It was the sound of crying, though, the finally brought his vision back to her marred face. The tears that began to roll down the fur of her cheeks and the sincerity he saw behind that burning orange optic cracking the steeled resolve he spent so long building around his heart in the aspects of Athena. Instantly once aggressively pivoted ears swung back to nestle against the back of his skull, a part of him wanting to reach out and console the hurt behind her iris. To touch the woman he loved so long ago to fill the emptiness she left behind, but flashes of Namid and their children filled the cracks in his foundation. Eyelids closed once more as the world around him began to spin. Thoughts of both woman that had come to take precedence  in his life swimming across his mind. Here Vespertio had come for answers, yet found himself drowning in more questions.

A whimper was the only clue to his internal struggle as he backed up slowly, dark masked face shaking from side to side as if the action could rid the numerous thoughts clogging his mind. How could he still feel something for a woman that left him in pieces? How could he let another woman slip into his mind when a wife and family waited for him at home? More confusion ensnared the Vuesain than clarity. What was he to do?

Golden eyes remained sealed tightly as Athena's words danced around the velveteen fur lining the inner workings of his audits. How pleasant her words sounded promising to take away all the pain and heartache she had caused to begin with, pleading her defense that Athena Moon was now a changed woman. Gradually his tear slicked eyelids began to lift and reveal those tormented iris below, body remaining tense as they watched the blurred, ivory form before them inch closer and closer. Audits flicked mildly upon the sound of her whimpers that echoed his own that continued to fall from his swarthy lips. Could Vespertio truly come to ever forgive this woman, his vixen as he had nicknamed her so long ago?

Silence settled between the duo, his goldenrod gaze shakily meeting that of her single burning orange optic. Their extended time apart had come to change the agouti man as well. No longer was he the power hungry brute of yesterday, but a wise and justified leader. No longer was he a man beaten by the memories of a love not meant to last, but a man lavished in never ending adoration from both a wife and three beautiful children whom he never would have had had life not followed the path they did. Could he bring himself to merge his past with his future? What possible thoughts would run through Namid's head if the man she loved so unconditionally brought home the woman of his past?

A growl of confusion rumbled within the confines of his chest, each and every different type of scenario playing out across the forefront of his mind. "Athena things are different now that you need to know.." His voice fell tenderly as if speaking had become a task in itself. "I have a wife and children now. If you stay, you will have to accept that she is at my side." Deep down he could feel the pain his words would cause to the woman before him, like a fresh lashing to an already open wound. Yet, could she truly be all that upset considering the time that had come to past? The pack still needed a leader, their legacy needed to thrive. Regardless of her absence life moved on, refusing to pause for any one person.